Obsolete lighting could leave auditorium in the dark

By Chris Donovan

This extension cord and plug melted sometime last week due to an excess amount of energy flowing through it.

These SAT packs are supposed to be portable devices that are used temporarily. They are currently the primary lighting devices for the UMD auditorium.

The UMass Dartmouth Main Auditorium is host to many events: Theatre Company and 20 Cent Fiction both put on all their theatrical productions, CAB puts on both Mr. and Mrs. UMD and a host of other organizations hold a variety of events throughout the year — it was even the location for a gubernatorial forum before this year’s election. Every single one of these events for the past couple of decades has run under the glow of an inadequate lighting system.

According to an anonymous source from within the UMD auditorium staff, the lighting system that is currently utilized has been in use since the auditorium’s birth over forty years ago. “The system was designed to last for twenty years, and it’s been in use for forty,” the source claims. “It finally ended up dying in October.”

The system dying means that the lights themselves have no power, and the dimmers for the lights are broken. Some students may have noticed that some events in the past couple of months had to take place with the house lights still on. “People complained a lot during Anne Frank and the CAB movie nights,” a staff member claims.

In order to compensate for this outdated setup, portable systems have been purchased to power the auditorium. These portable SAT(short for satellite) packs “were originally purchased as a backup” and since have become the primary source of power.

“It’s like the difference between a flashlight bulb and an actual lightbulb, with the SAT packs being a flashlight, and a new lighting system being a lightbulb. First off, the lightbulb will last a lot longer than the flashlight, and secondly you would never use a flashlight to light your whole room” says the source.

The temporary SAT packs have a shorter lifespan in the auditorium because of their location. The packs are meant to operate at room temperature, and are currently on the catwalk where temperatures can reach 120 degrees farenheight. “These packs are already malfunctioning. We shut the lights off, but the SAT packs still have power running through them so the lights never actually turn off,” explains the source.

There’s also potential for the problem to become dangerous. This past week there was an incident where the connection of an extension cord and one of the SAT packs melted because of the amount of power that was flowing through it.

The source expressed fear of this situation saying “before this [the cords melting] happened, a circuit breaker should have tripped...but it didn’t.” The only reason the problem was noticed is because “a SAT pack wasn’t working and we didn’t know why.” It’s unknown if the cord melted due to an electrical fire, or if it was just the heat of the energy flowing through it.

The lighting problems have been brought up to administrative and Campus Center officials in the past— even to the extent that “plans were drawn up years ago, but never implemented.” As a result, in addition to the potential for other lights shorting out, “organizations such as the Theatre Company and 20 Cent Fiction have to rent equipment just to turn the house lights off,” said the source. The Theatre Company spent close to $1,300 on lighting for “Moby Dick the Musical,” and 20 Cent has spent $650 on lighting for “The Who’s: Tommy.”

In order for this problem to be solved the old wiring needs to be gutted and new dimmers need to be installed. Parts and labor have been estimated to cost a total of $300,000. The labor itself could take two to three months depending on how many people would be hired to do the job. This would mean that the auditorium itself would be shut down for the time required to complete the repairs. According to the source, “no matter when they actually did the repairs, it would cancel some events, but at the same time, it needs to be done soon.”

Online room selection leaves mixed feelings

By Nate Silva

As students file into the Woodland Commons to fill out their housing contracts, the university will find itself at the close of this year’s selection process-which for many will be one long remembered. For the first time ever this year, the OHRL stepped away from the traditional selection process that plagued the campus center in the past by hosting all housing sign ups for students via a new online system.

The impressions denizens of UMass Dartmouth have regarding the new selection method are widely varied— a situation that comes as no surprise to OHRL Director Victor Culatta. “Of course with any first time process, there have been lessons learned and our staff is already planning to improve the process for next year,” explains Culatta. “We plan to incorporate the feedback students have offered to make changes that will benefit students in future years. We also plan to solicit feedback from the residential life advisory board (students) and RHC to further improve next year’s process.”

Upon logging into the system, prospective residents were given only five minutes to enter their required information to stake their claim, a problem that many students claim to have prevented them from getting their first choice. “It was bad,” says sophomore Jimmy Paddon. “The five minutes to choose was the most stressful thing ever. All the apartments filled up with at least one person in the first couple minutes.” For sophomore Kyle Mills, the system being case-sensitive was another irritable and confusing factor for many users. “The fact that it was caps sensitive and we didn’t know it screwed over a lot of us,” says Mills.

According to Culatta, the system also unexpectedly went offline for a time last Friday due to the crashing of an off-site server. “Housing staff were available throughout the process all week and were in the office until 8:00 p.m. that evening to assist students who were unable to select a room online,” says Culatta. As in previous years, significant amounts of residents weren’t able to secure their first choices for housing arrangements, though Culatta claims that the high demand of premium options was the cause for this- not the new online selection process. “The system worked as it was designed,” explains Culatta. “However, as with all room selection processes, not everyone receives their first choice in housing. This was not a result of the system but the reality that premium housing options were in very high demand.”

Though many were clearly less than satisfied with their experience with this year’s selection process, there were also a significant amount of students that were pleased, finding the system relatively easy to use. “It went pretty smoothly,” claims junior Deanna Mustachio. “It went fine- I had one of the first choices and I was staying in the same apartment.” Senior Gordon Johnson was also fairly pleased with the way this year’s selection was operated- especially in comparison to years prior. “It was my fourth year of the process,” says Johnson. “The fact that everything was online made the process easier. It gives you immediate verification of what’s going on. It made pulling people in easier.”

Now that such an abrupt change to the school’s housing selection is in the past, Culatta states that the process will only improve in the coming years. “Change is often times difficult. However, I believe that this change and process is moving us in the right direction to take advantage of the available technology and make room selection more convenient for students. Our staff is committed to continually improving the process.”