Sioux Falls, S.D.
Volume 87, Issue 1 Friday, Sept. 18, 1998
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Madsen Center takes shape,
construction crew plans work
inside building this winter
By Geoff Wetrosky
Mirror Staff Writer
Familiarity seems to go hand
in hand with the beginning of
the 1998-99 school year at
Augustana. Students, faculty
and staff have all returned to
familiar surroundings and are
ready to greet familiar faces.
But, there are a few additions
to the Augustana campus this
year. Along with the usual
freshman and transfer students
is the $6.2 million Madsen
Center, all new to campus.
Construction of the Madsen
Center began with an official
groundbreaking last March.
The building project pro-gressed
throughout the sum-mer,
and is coming along well
now, according to Keith Chris-tensen,
vice president for
advancement.
"There was a short delay in
the beginning when we ran
into a water problem," Chris-tensen
said. "We had to
change the design a bit by
moving the building's base up
a foot and a half. Now the
problem is corrected, so
there's no need to worry.
We're not going to float
away."
The final wall of the social
science building's west wing
is being built, enclosing the
west end of the construction
site. The building crew hopes
to have the 61,000-square-foot
building completely enclosed
by November.
"The construction crew will
work throughout the winter
inside the building," Chris-tensen
said. "At this pace, the
Madsen Center will be com-pleted,
and the social science
division will be able to move
in, before the 1999 fall semes-ter."
Augustana's business, eco-nomics,
education, govern-ment,
history, psychology and
sociology departments will be
housed in the Madsen Center.
"It's extremely exciting to
see the progress," Christensen
said. "I think that the Madsen
Center is going to fit into cam-pus
very well."
With finalization of the con-struction
project set to occur
before the 1999-2000 school
year begins, the social science
division is looking forward to
moving into its new headquar-ters.
Social Science division
head, Dr. Glenda Sehested
remarked, "We are very eager-ly
awaiting the completion of
the Madsen Center."
Many, students • are anticipat-ing
completion of the first new
academic building since
Humanities was opened in
1971. As a first year elemen-tary
education major, Heidi
Brunsting anticipates spending
a lot of time in the Madsen
Center. "I'm really excited
about the new prospects that
this building offers," Brunst-,
Madsen Center Update
continued on page 8
Photo by Jill Gunnink
Construction workers continue to erect the Madsen Center.
Work is expected to be completed before next school year.
Matt Wiener
Augustana suffers loss of friend 9
athlete, outstanding student
By Katie Knutson
Mirror Variety Editor
At 4:45 a.m. Monday,
Aug. 24, Augustana lost
one of its best.
Sophomore Matt Wiener,
who friends called a gentle-man
on the court and in the
classroom, was driving
alone early Monday morn-ing
after a long night at
Jackpot Junction in Red-wood
Falls, Minn. Halfway
to his hometown of Mar-shall,
Wiener fell asleep,
and his-car drifted over the
center line. He died in a
head-on collision with a
semi truck, said a deputy at
the Yellow Medicine Coun-ty
Sheriff's Department.
A friend of the family called
all of Wiener's friends later that
morning. Sophomore Matt
Genrich, Wiener's roommate
last year, was at work when he
answered the phone at 8:30 a.m.
"At first, I didn't believe it,"
Genrich said. "I don't think it
really hit me until that night. I
was shocked."
After all, Genrich and Wiener
had been friends since second
grade. They grew up together in
Marshall and remained friends
despite their different interests
— Genrich ran on the cross-country
team while Wiener
played basketball; baseball and
football.
By Ryan Nelson and Matt-
Merritt
Mirror Co-editors
Students attending classes in
the Humanities building may
have noticed their allergies
flaring lately..
High humidity combined
with a malfunction in the air
conditioning system resulted in
the growth of mold in certain
poorly-ventilated areas of the
building.
"We had a problem over
Labor Day weekend where we
had trouble with the central
unit that caused the building to
become humid out of control,
Their different sports brought
them to the same college.
Wiener followed basketball
coach Perry Ford to Augustana.
He also played on the baseball
team and was a good student.
. He made college friends who
did not expect their summer
goodbyes to be their last chance
to see him.
Jacob Tietje, a sophomore
who had lived on the third floor
of Bergsalcer with Genrich and
Wiener; met his Monday morn-ing
phone call with shock.
"It really set in that he was
actually gone when we were
driving up to Marshall," he
said.
A prayer service for Wiener
which then produced mold,"
said Dr. John Bart, Humanities
Division Chair.
According to Ann Rosen-wasser,
a nurse at the National
Jewish Center, a medical facil-ity
for allergies, immunology
and respiratory medicine, at a
humidity level of 60 percent or
higher, mold spores are active
and will grow on a damp medi-um.
And that is exactly what hap-pened
in the Humanities build-ing.
Dr. Bart said that for a num-ber
of days, the Humanities'
humidity level was over 60
was held Aug. 26 in Mar-shall.
His funeral was the
following day.
"The hardest part was
going out to the cemetery
for the ceremony out there,
saying our last goodbyes
and actually walking
away," Tietje said.
Tietje and Genrich said
coming back to school was
not as difficult as they had
expected. Many people
from the Augustana com-munity
knew about
Wiener's death before
classes began; a number of
students attended the funer-al
and prayer services.
Genrich also said that the
week between the funeral
and classes buffered the pain.
Tuesday, Sept. 8, Augustana
held a memorial service for
Wiener in the Chapel of Recon-ciliation,
which was filled near
capacity.
Ford spoke highly of his
team's former basketball player
at the memorial service. He
said later that Wiener was a
"very genuine kid."
"He's the kind of kid you want
your kids to hang around and
learn from," Ford said.
Dr. Jim Meader, a government
and international affairs profes-sor
and Wiener's academic
Matt Wiener
continued on page 8
percent—which isn't uncom-mon
for the building.
"We're always battling
humidity in this building, part-ly
because this building is built
on what is, for lack of a better
word, a swamp," Dr. Bart said.
But with the hot and humid
summer, the conditions were
even more favorable for mold
to spread.
The administration became
aware of the problem when a
number of faculty complained
of poor air quality.
One faculty member in par-
Mold
continued on page 8
Mold in Humanities springs allergic
reactions among faculty and students