1996-02-29

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P.O. Box 1866

Saint John's University

Collegeville, MN 56321

The Record

Non-profit organization

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Saint John's University

Volume CIX, Number 2

Official Student Newspaper Since 1887

February 29, 1996

Quad repairs near completion

Waterdamagefixed in Quad offices, classrooms

By Curtis Ricard

Staff Writer

Just before fall semester finals, frigid temperatures caused a pipe in the Quadrangle's fire sprinkler system to burst, flooding the building and causing extensive property loss and structural damage.

Ken Jones, history department chair, called the situation "chaos." Faculty lostabout $24,000 in books, magazines, pamphlets andother personal items, many of which are irreplaceable.

Jones noted that prior to this accident, faculty and

Damage to offices forced faculty   to temporarily relocate to a classroom.

(photo by Reggie Aligada)

staff members had assumed their personal property would be covered under SJLTs insurance policy. However, the policy only provides $25,000 for damage to employee property.

While the policy was adequate in this instance, Jones warned that the situation "could have been much worse."

If a fire had broken out the damage to employee property would have greatly exceeded the coverage currently provided. "If nothing else," said Jones, "it alerted faculty

to the risks involved in bringing personal items to the office."

Faculty and staff members suffered most from the incident. In addition to their personal losses, at least 25 were forced to relocate their offices to temporary classrooms.

According to the SJU physical plant's assistant treasurer, Br. Linus Ascheman, damages to the building were estimated at over $310,000. Fortunately,         the university's insurance policy covers all but a $5,000 deductible.

The     incident,

which occurred before dawn on Dec. 10, coul d havebeenmuch worse haditnotbeenforthe quick response of workers from housekeeping, the physical plant and other departments, who covered computers and other items with plastic and immediately, began cleaning up the mess.

According to Br. Linus, life in the Quadrangle should soon return to normal. Offices and classrooms on the second and thirdfloois will be fully repaired later this week, and after Spring Break faculty and staff members will be returning to their usual offices.

Dismantling of horse barn begins

By Tammy Oseid Editorial StaffWriter

Continuing along the master plan of the College of St. Benedict, contractors began to remove the small buildings surrounding the horse barn on Monday. CSB administrators expect the large arena to be removed by July 1.

This action is prompting concern by some students who feel that the rush is unwise and that the removal of the barn is unecessary.

According to Merle Jerzak, director of the physical plant, there are several reasons the barn needs to be removed.

tfIt is necessary for the master plan for the whole south end of campus," Jerzak stated. "The barn is in the athletic area of campus — we attempted other avenues of gaining space but we are restricted by the fact that the convent does not want to disturb the agrarian nature of the land to the west of the softball field. We are restricted if we want the athletic fields and facilities all' in one area."

"The primary factor with regard to the timeline is that we need to have tennis courts for camps this summer," Jerzak continued. "New tennis courts are being placed

about twenty feet south of where the arena now stands. Because of the lay of the land, the barn needs to be excavated so the courts will have proper drainage."

However, Jerzak and the physical plant had considered utilizing the horse barn to consolidate all of its components into a single facility but decided against it for several reasons.

aIt would have been more costly to develop the horse barn into a physical plant because it would have needed a great deal of renovation and it would not have had the ability to accommodate all the areas for storage that the physical plant needs," Jerzak said.

Nadine Wetzel, a CSB junior who is a student employee for the physical plant, points out that the horse barn is already used as a storage facility for the physical plant.

"The horse barn is not just used for the freshman barn dance and senior disorienta-tion and J-term broomball and Millstream — those are big things," said Wetzel. "It is also an important campus storage facility."

"I don't think people are aware of all the stuff that was stored in there," she explained. "We had salt, fertilizer, lawn mow-

see Barn page 20

Students present the Asian Dragon dance at Saturday's Third Annual Asian New

Year,  (photo by Peter Raih)

Pat dorm room gutted by fire

FourthfloorresidentPatriclcJosephsonfirst noticed the situation when,

By Jon Brothen

StaffWriter

Fourteen St. John's University firefighters were needed to help to extinguish a fire at St. Patrick hall on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 17.

Nobody was injured or hurt in the fire but the room, Pat 311, was severely damaged.

The fire apparently started when a reading lamp fell over in a third floor room and ignited a sofa a little before 7:00 a.m. and was reported shortly afterwards when Humberto Gutierrez returned to his room after doing laundry.

The fire spread quickly consuming the sofa and then burning a mattress.

Life Safety arrived at the scene first, evacuating the entire building. Meanwhile the call went to the SJU firefighters who were interrupted from their morning hymns to battle the blaze.

Within minutes two engines were on the scene and the firefighters were extinguishing the fire.

Second floor residents Chris Churchill and Dan Aberg awoke from their slumber when Dan noticed, "Water was splashing in my face ... it came in the window."

Churchill and Aberg then went into the hall andrealized what was happening and helped their fellow floormates to safety.

 smoke was coming in the window, and I could see the flames outside." Along with the fire alarms and the word of the situation spreading quickly, the dorm was able to evacuate outside.

Exdbhiting quick action and using their hose, the firefighters were able to extinguish the fire in a manner of moments.

According to Br. Boniface Jacobs the fourteen highly trained firefighters conducted an excellent "team effort." Working together they set up their equipment and supported each other to accomplish their job.

By 8:30 a.m. the excitement was over and most of the Patrick Hall residents were able to return to their rooms.

The damage in the room was quite extensive. According to Bi\JBrad Jennings, who lead the firefighters, the flames in the room were, "hot enough to melt the television and the computer."

However, the fire was contained to the one room and except for a little smoke and water the rest of the dorm was unharmed.

Humberto Gutierrez and Chris Jones who lived in the room were very shocked by the incident. Gutierrez was the first to come across the fire.

see Fire page 4

Senate elections near

Swimmers head for

nationals Page 18