News

Pastor David Vasquez was selected for a $15,000 grant out of a pool of hundreds of applicants nationwide for the Louisville Institute’s Pastoral Study Program. This grant allows him to take a year-long sabbatical to travel and research, but that doesn’t mean he’s completely disconnected from Luther.

Decorah caught an early glimpse of Iowa’s gubernatorial race last week as current Governor Chet Culver (D) and his main competitor, former Governor Terry Branstad (R), visited City Hall and Luther College, respectively.

Branstad’s visit to Luther was put on by the Branstad for Governor 2010 Comeback Tour. His town hall meeting took place in the Center for Faith and Life Recital Hall March 3.

Student Senate is looking at some changes, both in the way it’s run and in its role at Luther College by looking to rewrite its Constitution. While the process to make these changes has only begun this year, the desire has been around for a while.

According to Associate Dean of Student Life John Lund, the idea of making these changes has been a goal since last year.

In Santiago, the capital of Chile, 300 miles northeast of Concepcion, Luther student Elliott Dejmal (‘10) was awoken by a deep rumbling noise in a hotel room violently shaking back and forth. Dejmal, in Santiago for orientation in his study-abroad program, had never experienced an earthquake before but remembered from orientation to get underneath a door frame as quickly as he could.

“They told us every once in a while they would experience tremors, but after a while I knew this was more than a tremor,” Dejmal said.

From tuition to enrollment to the salaries of faculty, Luther keeps a constant eye on its peers. St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. and Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. are two such schools.

As Sodexo continues to serve the cafeteria, social networking sites continue to serve as a forum for disgruntled students. “Concerned Mouths-- the Luther Community Against Sodexo” is a Facebook group administered by Ben Weiss (‘10) as a way for the community to voice their questions and concerns about Sodexo.

Prompted by the significant amount of snow this past winter, the National Weather Service in La Crosse, Wisc. has issued a heightened flood threat for the Decorah area this spring and summer.

Luther is no stranger to floods. The Upper Iowa’s most recent flood in 2008 caused damage to campus buildings, including the Regents Center, Center for Faith and Life, Union, Norby House and Olson.

While most students have probably noticed the renovations currently underway in Preus Library, they may have not noticed the new technology the library now offers. These and other changes are transforming the library into what Library and Information Services (LIS) hopes will be a more collaborative environment.

Changes began last summer with the construction of a new help desk and the relocation of the writing center, according to Chris Barth, executive director of LIS.

Across the nation, it used to be that all textbooks were bought and sold at the campus bookstore. With the advent of the Internet, however, Web sites like Amazon and Ebay have introduced new — and often lower priced — competition.

Despite the new competition, the Luther College Book Shop remains strong and innovative in the bookselling world.

This past November, the “Decorah Bald Eagle Video Stream” became a part of Luther’s Web site and bandwidth. A project through the Raptor Resource Project, the “eagle cam” allows the public to view live footage of the bald eagle nest located near the fish hatchery in Decorah.

Because the eagle cam streams through Luther’s network, some students are concerned about the loss of bandwidth. However, according to Executive Director of Library and Information Services Chris Barth, the eagle cam should not affect those using the Luther network.

Luther welcomed its Board of Regents to campus for a full committee meeting Feb. 19-20. As Luther’s guiding decision-making committee, members of the Board met for a weekend of conferences and campus activities.

The 30-member board hails from 13 states and board member Steven Schaver, from Madrid, Spain. Also in attendance were four faculty representatives and one student representative.

Library and Information Services has announced that GoPrint, the newly implemented system designed to regulate printing, has already decreased paper waste. However, these claims may be derived from questionable data.

In a Feb. 15 e-mail to the Luther Community, LIS pointed out that students have only used 33 percent of their allotted printing quota, and the LIS Web site uses this fact as proof of GoPrint’s success. However, this does not compare the actual amount of paper used during the pre-GoPrint era. Simply put, the number has no context for comparison.

Luther recently approved a 3.8 percent increase in its comprehensive package, thereby raising the cost of tuition, room and board accordingly. The cost of attending for the 2010-2011 school year is now $38,930.