Echo V 110 I 12 January 30, 2004

              Echo
Aup-sburo- College
January 30, 2004
Volume 110
Issue 12
INDEX
COMMUNITY/VALUES page 2
NEWS pagoS
OPINIONS page 4-5
SPORTS page6
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT page 7
FEATURES page 8
Fire stirs confusion,
curiosity in Mort
Ryan Johnson
News Editor
Sarah Sletten
Co-Managing Editor
Alexis Twito
Copy Editor
It was like every other Friday
at Mortensen Hall last week on Jan.
23. with students eager to greet the
weekend.
The average Friday afternoon
quickly took a surprising twist
when the Minneapolis Fire Department arrived at 4:00 p.m. in response to a fire in room 1308 of the
residence hall.
Although no injuries were reported and the fire was well contained, the event struck some chaos
among students and staff who were
in the building.
The area was evacuated and a
potentially dangerous cloud of
smoke was seen inside the building.
According to junior Megan
Ehresmann, resident of the 13th
floor, "my roommate's boyfriend
heard people shouting 'Fire! Fire!'
as he came into our apartment. Then
he told us, 'it's a real fire!'"
"My roommate's boyfriend
pulled the alarm as everyone was
running downstairs." Ehresmann
said. Smoke "was coming around
by the elevators... so I saw the
smoke coming around the comer as
I ran down the stairs."
Ten emergency units responded to the fire call, with two
fire chiefs on site to organize the
efforts. Several local fire departments responded, including Station
7, our neighbor from across Interstate 94.
"The response was quick and
the building was evacuated in a
timely matter," said Augsburg daytime custodian supervisor Dave
Hartgraves, who ended his shift at
3:30 p.m., only to come back to
Mortensen Hall after news of the
fire.
Augsburg Facilities Manager
Peter Chaput declined to comment
on the incident.
After an investigation into
what caused the fire, the Minneapolis Fire Department ruled the blaze
accidental. Director of Safety and
Security at Augsburg, John Pack,
said that the 13th floor fire began
shortly before 4 p.m. and was
caused by a dishtowel, which made
contact with a hot stove burner.
The two residents were not
present when the fire first ignited,
but shortly after one of the residents
returned home, the fire alarm was
activated.
The sheet rock on the walls and
the doors are made of a special fire
resistant material which prevents
fires from spreading out of control.
This helped contain the flames to
just the one room.
The 13th floor of Mortensen
sustained significant water and
photo courtesy of Evan Boyd/ECHO
smoke damage. According to security officer Scott Baker, the majority of the damage to other 13th
floor apartments was smoke damage. Water damage affected apartments for several floors below the
destroyed room.
FIRE
continued on page 3
Prayer, service, and peacemaking:
The new McCarthyism presented at Augsburg
Jenessa Stark
Community/Values Editor
Colman McCarthy, a well-
known journalist and peace activist, encouraged Augsburg to start
the non-violent fight against a
world saturated in violence in his
lecture on campus last week.
McCarthy, who has written for
the "Washington Post" for over 30
years, discussed the alternatives to
\ lolence and the need to make
peace.
The speech began at 7:00 p.m.
on Thursday. Jan. 22 in the
Hoversten Chapel and went for a
little over an hour as students, faculty staff, and visitors to the college v, ere encouraged to ask questions and be active in teaching
peak
Throughout his career.
McCarthy has interview ed such famous people as Dr Martin Luther
K.ing Jr., Desmond Tutu. Mother
Theresa, and more. It is through
these inspirational people that he
ha> gained his insight into the
world of non-violent action.
Besides writing for the "Washington Post", McCarthy teaches at
two area Washington D.C. high
schools as well as at a law school
in that area.
McCarthy praised Augsburg's
commitment to a Peace Studies mi-
The third and final
step in becoming a
peacemaker,
according to
McCarthy, is a
commitment to
non-violence.
nor and declared that he hoped the
college would soon make it a major.
In addition to teaching peace,
McCarthy encouraged three essentials for becoming a peacemaker.
He first stressed a commitment to
prayer. He said that whatever your
religion, you need to ask yourself,
"How do I use my gifts better?" He
also said that people should be
prayerful and contemplative and
find out what it truly means to
love.
The second thing that
McCarthy emphasized was a commitment to service. He encouraged
people to ask themselves, "How
can I serve society when I am
ready?" He stressed the importance of Augsburg's dedication to
experiential learning as an important step in the commitment to service.
The third and final step in becoming a peacemaker, according
to McCarthy, is a commitment to
non-violence. He pinted out the
importance of getting children exposed to conflict resolution early
and encouraged everyone to become "solution finders" instead of
'"problem finders."
McCarthy rounded out the
speech with a discussion of the
overabundance of conflict in the
world. However, he did offer hope
for a peaceful world when he discussed the six governments that
have been peacefully overthrown
since 1985. In all of these cases, few
or no people were killed as a violent government was dissolved.
Though he did not disillusion
the crowd with false hopes of immediate peace, Colman McCarthy
entreated them to simply "Start!"
and work towards peace.
McCarthy spent the day
around Augsburg's campus, visiting English and political science
classes. He was also in direct contact with Mary Laurel True, director of the Center for Service, Work,
and Learning.
Prior to the lecture, Colman
McCarthy had dinner with a mixed
group of about 20 faculty, staff, and
students. The students were selected by professors or advisors
who felt the specific student would
benefit from attending the dinner.
Augsburg
charters
St. Paul
academy
Ryan Johnson
News Editor
In an attempt to reach out to
more prospective students,
Augsburg College is set to open a
charter school in St. Paul next fall.
The Augsburg Health Careers
Academy, which is dubbed
Augsburg Academy, will have a
strong emphasis on health services
learning and on small learning communities to suit the needs of its students.
The St. Paul Public Schools
System has already implemented
the concepts of smaller learning
communities which is the concept
adopted by most charter schools
opening throughout Minnesota.
The Augsburg high school is
unique in that it has a strong
Lutheran base of community partners including Luther Seminary and
Central Lutheran Church.
Because there are public funds
involved from the city of St. Paul,
the school must remain secular in
its teachings.
Although questions have
arisen regarding the future success
of Augsburg Academy due to the
other failing charter schools in the
Twin Cities area, the mood is generally optimistic with a wide array
of contributors.
From Fairview Health Services, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, to the Girl Scouts of
St. Croix Valley, the partnerships
involved in collaborating this new
school are diverse and far-reaching.
Augsburg Academy is part of
the St. Paul Star Schools system,
which means that the school will
not charge tuition but will only enroll one hundred to three hundred
students. Chief Executive of
Fairview Hospital David Page said
in "The Pioneer Press" that the
health facility had "a major concern
in trying to attract and retain people
in the service of health care," of
which will be the Academy's focus.
The goal of the new high
school is to give students who normally would not have an opportunity to practice health care as a career to get a jump-start and get a
feel for how the health care industry functions.
The state of Minnesota has an
estimated charter school population
of 15,000 students and that number is expected to rise over the next
few years
I ■■ \ In-    .
J i
COM ML M TY/l AL L ES-
Campus Ministry s Outreach
program in action
OPIMONS- Sarah
Aune debuts as new
cartoonist
A&E- Ani Dif-ranco
makes an "Educated
Guess "