Economic Near Miss For Metro

THE METROPOLITAN « SEPTEMBER 25, 2008 « METRO « A5

Economic near miss for Metro By andrew flohr-spence [email protected]

down, Metro’s investments would be down as well. With many investors around the “We’ll definitely see less returns country feeling huge losses follow- on our investments, but it is not as ing the failure of three of America’s tremendous as it could be,” she said. largest banks, Metro officials are so McKenna said the overall dofar breathing sighs nations to the of relief. None of school were also the college’s investexpected to be ments were with lower this year any of the failed Loans than normal as firms, but indirect Will be harder to come by, including donors have less effects of the crisis student, home, small business and auto money to donate loans. Interest rates on all loans will may still hit. when the econoincrease. “At this point my is weak. Gas we have not found She added The price of precious metals and oil will any direct impact on rise as investors move their money to that Metro has Metro,” said Cathy more conservative investments. had been very Lucas, Metro’s vice Employment successful in the president of com- As firms cut back to weather the storm, last two years at munications. But jobs will be hard to come by. expanding its prithe problem is intri- International vate donor base. cate. The complicat- Overseas business and travel will become “Last year we ed network of who is more costly. raised the most connected indirectly Inflation money ever, and to the failed firms is Experts predict the $700 billion this year we are government bank bailout will drive up not yet clear, Lucas on track to meet the price of everyday items. said. those levels,” she While much of said. the college’s money At 1 p.m. Sept. 25, in the Tivoli Turnhalle, Economics comes from tuition, Bryan Rocke will speak about the United professor Mostate funding and States’ financial meltdown and mortgage hommed Akacrisis. Students are encouraged to attend the school’s porto learn what the current economic crisis cem said the tion of the parking could mean to them. whole problem revenues, Metro, stems from the like most schools, sub-prime mortinvests privately donated scholarship gage crisis that made headlines this money as well as teacher and staff re- spring, but even Wall Street specialtirement in the stock market hoping ists do not know where it will end. to earn more on the money. There are many ways student The three funds that insure Metro loans could be affected by the econofaculty and staff – the Public Employ- my, he added. ees’ Retirement Association Fidel“In fact, the press is already reportity, and TIAA-CREFF – have released ing loans being harder to get – the probstatements reassuring investors that lem is already here,” Akacem said. they were not considerably affected. “Few people now were around for Assistant Vice President for Devel- the Great Depression, but we saw the opment Maureen C. McKenna, who crash of ’87, the tech bubble and now accepts private financial donations this,” Akacem said. for the college, said while Metro had “It is just a matter of time before very conservative rules on how such the economy recovers – we may not money is invested and was not allowed know how bad it is going to get this to take high risks. time – but we know we hit a rough Since the overall market was patch.”

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Student coordinator Brittany Pyle stands inside the closet that used to house the Metro Food Bank Sept. 23. The food bank moved from the closet, located in the Club Hub, to a larger office inside Sigi’s Pool Hall and Arcade.

Food bank relocates New office has more space for food, employees to work By ROCHELLE SMOLINSKI [email protected] The Metro Food Bank is settling into its new bigger, better home inside Sigi’s Pool Hall and Arcade. The Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board unanimously approved a request Sept. 12 to move the food bank from its old location, a cramped four-by-six-foot closet in the Club Hub, to a bigger space in Sigi’s. “It’s only big enough to hold two shelves of food,” Johanna Maes, assistant dean of Student Life and supervisor of the food bank’s student coordinators, said of the old space. “There is no space for staff to sit or to coordinate the process. We are lucky to have had that space as a start up, but we definitely need more in order to meet our need.” The new space inside Sigi’s is a small office that is taller, with a 20foot ceiling, providing much more

storage for food as well as a small space for the student coordinators to work. It also provides more privacy for students visiting the food bank, as they will no longer have to pass through areas where students gather as they did at the Club Hub location. When the food bank first opened in the spring, only a small number of students were visiting regularly, due partly to inconsistent operating hours, Maes said. Students from all three colleges on campus can visit the food bank and pick up six non-perishable food items each week. At the end of the spring semester, the food bank closed to restructure procedures and hire student staff to take over day-to-day operations, but will reopen Sept. 25 in the new, larger space. When the food bank reopens, Maes estimates that 20 to 25 students per week will visit to pick up food. A new tracking system will be put in place to monitor the number of students picking up items as well as noting what types of food they would

like to see in the future. “We’ve received a tremendous outpouring of students who are in need of the food bank services and are anxiously awaiting its reopening,” Maes said. One of the newly hired student coordinators, Brittany Pyle, first came to the food bank because she was in need of food. When Pyle started at the food bank, only 40 items lined the shelves. Pyle is currently working on setting up partnerships with other metro area food banks, such as the Food Bank of the Rockies. “There shouldn’t be any starving people, let alone starving college students,” she said. In honor of the move, a food exchange was to be held Sept. 24, where anyone who donated a non-perishable food item received a free lunch. Pyle encourages students to continue to donate non-perishable items to the food bank, especially boxed meals, cereal, granola bars or similar items. “We want all of these shelves full,” Pyle said.

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