By Zach Crizer
Courtesy Solo via NPR.org
Why do you pick up the red Solo cups before a party? There are cheaper alternatives, but unlike Xerox or Kleenex, Solo doesn’t seem to have a problem with being the brand name associated with party cups.
Now, as NPR explains, it is getting more notoriety because of a glorifying Toby Keith song.
While they don’t seem particularly glamorous, they certainly are everywhere in the college lifestyle.
By Zach Crizer
Virginia Tech students who use Bank of America can rest easy that they will no longer be charged $5 a month for using their debit card. This is largely thanks to a national outcry. I made a Storify to show a business backpedaling as angry customers express themselves.
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In an email distributed to university faculty and staff, President Charles Steger confronted the looming issue of budgetary woes and revealed several strategies to cope with the cuts.
Steger said he had asked deans, vice presidents, and other “senior resource managers” to prepare multi-stage plans for the reductions. The first stage will be to offer the so-called Alternative Severance Option and other layoff options for faculty and staff.
“I make you aware at this time of this planning because I am sure that campus cross-talk is churning,” Steger noted in the email.
The use of ASO, Steger said, would be limited but would offer severence benefits or enhanced retirement options in early Nov. to eligible employees with the goal of eliminating several employees’ salaries from the budget. Use of ASOs will be at the discretion of the senior resource managers.
By the 2010-2011 fiscal year, Tech will have experienced $68 million in reductions in state funding over three fiscal years.
This year’s budget appropriations were offset by Governor Kaine’s decision in early Sept. to accelerate the use of $30 million in stimulus monies. However, the cost of lessening the cuts’ immediate impact on Tech is to increase the gap in the near future. Pk
In what is billed as its first major effort to reach out to supportive, heterosexual members of the campus community, Tech’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alliance will hold ‘Queer 101: The Straight Survival Guide to the Next Civil Rights Movement’ in Haymarket Theatre on Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m.
The event will serve as an introduction to LGBTQ culture for the average person. The agenda includes such activities as debunking stereotypes and inviting the audience to play “Guess Who’s Gay,” a game in which strangers will get on-stage and give the audience a chance to guess at his/her sexual orientation. Pk
Graduating seniors or graduate students completing their degrees in 2009-2010 will be able to register themselves for Career Services-sponsored job search clubs until Friday, Oct. 2.
These clubs will discuss job search techniques in group settings in six weekly, 90-minute meetings from early Oct. to early Nov. More information can be found at http://www.career.vt.edu/Student/JobSearchClubs.html. Pk
International Student Volunteers, an organization that enables student groups to travel abroad for cultural tours and volunteer projects, will be holding an information session for interested parties on Sept. 17 in the Cardinal Room at Squires Student Center.
One session at the top of each hour will be held from 9am to 5pm. ISV’s destinations include Australia, New Zealand, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Thailand, and Eastern Europe. Trip durations can last from two weeks to three months. Pk
An e-mail to Virginia Tech residents Tuesday announced new Saturday hours of operation for Hokie Grill.
The dining facility, which is typically open from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, has been operating from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Now, the facility will open and close one hour later on Saturdays, opening at noon and closing at 8 p.m.
Hokie Grill was closed on Saturdays and Sundays at the beginning of the 2008-2009 fall semester, but began operating on Saturdays in the middle of the semester due to high demand from students. Zc
Virginia Tech Union, the Student Government Association and Hillel will present rock band Maroon 5 on Nov. 10 in Burruss Auditorium.
An e-mail with announcements from student organizations said tickets would cost $30 for Virginia Tech students. Public tickets will cost $40 tickets, with both going up by $5 on the day of the concerts. Tickets will be sold through UUSA.
The show will be at 7:30 p.m.
No announcement has been made as to the day the tickets will go on sale. Zc
Hokies United will be holding a remembrance ceremony for two students found dead last week in Jefferson National Forest.
According to this university press release, it will take place on the Drillfield near War Memorial Chapel. Zc
Virginia Tech Police arrested a local man Sunday who has been charged with carrying a concealed weapon while intoxicated.
Eric Huff, a 28-year-old who is not a Tech student, was arrested in the Prices Fork parking lot.
VT Police filed charges against Huff for possession of marijuana, appearing intoxicated in public and carrying a concealed weapon with a permit while intoxicated.
Huff holds a permit for the weapon. Zc