Macalester home page has a new look

The Macalester home page and most major sections of the Macalester Web site have a new look. The three-column format of the home page brings more of the content “above the fold” and provides areas for images, section navigation, and news and event information. There are ten photographs used when the page loads - the one you see is randomly selected when the page loads. A few other important changes are the new “Site Map” tool, which is available and provides linked access to each of the sections of the site, and the removal of the “Groups and Organizations” button on the home page. (Staff reports)

Bigelow goes without heat for two nights

Bigelow residents awoke to frigid temperatures last Sunday morning, and not just outside. The heat system in the dorm failed Saturday or early Sunday morning. According to Caitlin Arkens ’04, the dorm became colder throughout Saturday, but it did not become unbearable until Sunday morning. She slept in someone else’s room on Sunday night to escape the cold. Physical Plant received three calls about the lack of heat, according to Mechanical System Manager David Bergstrom, the first at 10:53 a.m. Sunday.

“Unfortunately all of these calls were left on the Physical Plant phone line which is not answered during the weekend,” Bergstrom said. He added that the machine was not clear about where to direct after hours calls, and Physical Plant would correct it. He added, “an R.A. or Hall Director should know to call Security for a problem of this magnitude. … Staff would have repaired this over the weekend if Security had been notified.”

The problem was a broken sight glass. A sight glass indicates the level of water in the system. When it broke the water drained from the system. According to Bergstrom, David Scheele of the Heating Plant staff found and replaced the broken sight glass Monday morning, before the messages were relayed to the Heating Plant. (Hannah Clark)