WPI's Claim to Fame or That Damned Plan WPJ 's cla1m to whatever fame 1t has been enjoying !3tely is its hallowed Plan and everything that nebulous term mcludes. It's all l heard about from the people who convinced me to transfer to Tech . In fact, I had been here a couple of weeks before anyone told me that WPI was a highly respected school ~fore it conceived this magical not1on . In the newspaper article he wrote before Thanksgiving posted on the bulletin board in Boynton last week 1. President Hazzard's praise Cor the American College Student managed to fit in a good sized plug for the Plan. My experience with Admissions would ind1cate dial they dwell more upon Tech's favorite way of not lf:eming (expensively> than Tech's other, more firmly established merits (yes, they exisU. The Plan may have the potential to be everything that Boynton says It is, but it just isn't there yel. Nobody should expect it to be. The Plan is Intended to •void the failures of a ..traditional" education. ll would be unrealistic to assume that it isn't going to generate problems of its own . What does "the Plan" mean? Which of all the new ideas around here does 1t include? I've never seen an attempt to define it exactly, but the '73 operational catalog says : "Aspects of the WPJ Plan include, for example, lntersession, seven-week terms, and the study, studyconference, and IPI modes of presentation." On the basis of Boynton's examples, does the Plan deserve the wholehearted, or even just casual, ac~tance that the administration strives for? No. 1. Havmg not yet attended lntersession, I'm no ~e.
But it is relatively unimportant compared to at follows
2. Seven·week terms are perhaps the favor1te target of OJ2ponents to tht! Plan. The most comrllon argument against it 1s the damage that can be done by a few day's sickness . If your course meets four days a wet.>k and you're stck Cor three, you've JUSt lost out on better than ten percent or the classtime you paid for. The rush to fini sh a course in seven weeks IS even more dangerous. Profs, out of necessity, may cut out sections of matenal they'd usually cover in order to get at the important stuff. The result is that you've got false credit and you think you know everything you should, but in fact you did not get your money's worth out of that course. Also, how often is it that someone crams oneself to the gills for one of two exams in a week <or a day >, only to forget a large amount or it all in the process of walking away from the test? The admmistration isn 't hurting. The prof isn't hurting. You are. Learning takes time, and seven weeks 1sn't enough. People are findmg that out. Whatever happened to that proposal for trimesters, though? There is also talk about putting certain courses back on a semester basis, which would create assorted hassles in scheduling and credit. Make shift repairs are at best shaky. WPI would be far better off admitting that seven-week terms are no good and starling over again, keeping in m1nd the lessons they've learned and using a litUe foresight. 3. W.P. I.'s three modes of presentation are not all unique to Tech. Study is used everywhere, and study-conference is used at least at the U.S. Naval Academy (hardly a progresstve school>. IPI IS a good idea on paper, but something is lacking in the translation . From class to class differences In enrollment, quantity and type or material to he covered, and instructor philosophy all provide an assortment of interpretations on what "fPI in the Spint of the Plan" really is. And how many people use it wisely. compared to those who take advantage of it for easy credit? It may not matter to you whether the next person's learning anything, but it should. You have to graduate from the same school, perhaps a few years later. The Plan hasn' t shown any results in quantity yet, but what happens if the £irst class of mostly Plan students contains an inordinate number of such degree hunters? What happens to WPI and its Precious Plan in the eyes of potential employers, grad schools, and beneficiaries when techies reach the outside world and fail to producE'? You're dishing
I haven't covered all aspect!> of the Plan, nor all the pros and cons on the examples I dad touch But the problems poanted out above are very real , and there as no sign of any kind of effort to improve the Plan. Perhaps Boynton doesn't want to appear to lose confidence 1n 1t for fear of losing grants. etc. t$$$1. but the notion is absurd. The best way to dasplay genuine confidence in the Plan is to keep their eyes open for the problems that must naturally crop up, and remove the sources Tech so Iar has engaged in treating symptoms which makes the Plan look pretty in the eyes o( those with the cash while it continues to get sicker underneath.
We could wait for Boynton to get 'moving, but we could also try to speed up the process. Students and faculty both have to live with the Plan and 1ts shortcomings, and you undoubtedly have ideas. Don't waste them by griping over coffee, beer, or Morgan mystery meat with someone who's only gomg to agree ; spread it around. You pay for this newspaper, too. Why not use it as a common ground to exchange 1deas and just plain get the problems out where Boynton can see them? The worst that can happen is for you to get laughed at, and you're in danger of that just by virtue C? l of being a techie. I welcome any and all response to this ; write it in to Newspeak or to me personally (box 2490>. It's about time techies woke up, anyway.
Doug Knowles
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Results of Last Week's Phys. Ed. Questionnaire
Tuesday, Dec. 4, 1973
How Bout
out the large amount~ of cash: why let WPI degn-es get devalued?
l. Should all Physical Education Requirements be abolished? Yes (854)1,) No (12%> Undedlced <34K,)
Vol. 1 No. 21
What Do You Think of Drucs? Are you curious about Drug Use at
a
WPI
Beer
John FitzPatrick nickel more you get Mlchelob. "Jn heaven there is no beer; Former Pub members wlJJ receive t's why we drink it here." This $2.00 tn free beer to compensate for 11-known lyric could well their paid memberships. me the motto of the newly In observance of state law, only ··-·-·.....,........ ded Pub. those who are 18 or over will be WPI has now adjusted to the allowed in the bar. In addition to nl change in the drinking age the bartenders. there will be opening a campus bar. On students checking ID's at the door. day at 4:00 p.m. the Snack Bar A couple of rules which have been baptized with beer. During the set down are - No card playing t hour students packed the during bar hours; only one guest eviously desolate room and per student will be admitted. It is 1 ce~~•anaged to put away two or three preferred to keep the number or of beer. This is about equal to guests at a minimum as the bar is amount lhe former Pub sold intended to "serve" WPl. 'ng a week (Wednesday and A number of comments per· Friday). Before midnight another meated the air on the opening day o or three kegs were emptied. (and night>. Typical comments of ~==I The opening of the new bar may " not bad'' and "OK" as well as e as a surprise to some, as those not printable, were of no ws of its opening was made surprise. Former Pub members tly by word of mouth. The bar seemed to concur that the bar is till be open six days a week from 4 " not as good as the Pub." One .m. to midnight. These hours are senior suggested, "open up the old ject to change if the need Pub and serve or sell peanuts." 'ses. It is indefinite as to which Comments from the freshman and y the bar will be closed sophomores ranged from "clean it turday or Sunday. For this week up a little" to "there ain't too much is open Sunday. The Snack Bar, on that juke box." Several students ·cb will remain open, has chosen echoed requests for "Schlitz!". extend Its hours to midnight to Janice from Student Affairs inomodate cases of "the mun- sisted that she "liked it better with les." the lights turned down." Many home. Students have no reason to worry were just too busy drinking to talk. about a shortage of beer. A walk-in To predJt.t the success or the bar Bates. rlgerator has been installed at based on its first day would be far end or the Snack Bar foolish . At least now you don't have , home. king area. The refrigerator has to get frost-bitten walking to • capacity of 50 kegs of beer (per Lei trim's or lean on the cigarette ening if need be>. On the other machine while sipping beer at the of the waU are located six taps Boynton . Hopefully, the adtbich lead directly Into the ministration has made an imaway ~rigerator. For a mere 25 cents portant step towards bringing l'ou can purchase a 12 oz. draught students back on campus and Budweiser or Miller, and for a promoting "Student Union."
During the next week or so, a questJonnaire dealing with drug use on campus will be placed in your mailbox. We are asking that you will take just a few minutes to fill out the questionnaire and return it to the campus mailroom. A copy of the survey follows. The purpose of the questionnaire is to provide data for a Newspeak survey which will hopefully classify drug use by class, type of drug used, frequency of use, residence and major subject area. None of the individual data will be used other than for the survey's purpose. We ask that you help us by answering the questionnaire so that we Will have a sufficiently large sample size. The more surveys that are returned the more valid the survey becomes. Perhaps 1f enough surveys are returned we can begin to talk knowledgably about drug use here at WPI
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News p eak
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Editorial~
~ E lections .will take place ~
~ Wednesday night, December ~ ~ 12 at 9:00 p.m. in the ~
~ News pea k Olfice <Green ~ ~ Room - behlad lhe ltage ln ~ ~ Alden.) Nomloat1ons for aU ~ positions must be submitted to ~ ~ the present editora-lo-ebJef by ~Monday, Dec:. loth. To be ~eligibl e for an Editorial ~ position a person must ~ presently be a member of the ~
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AU members or tbe Starr
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vMe. All stan members aboald ~ ~ plan on attendlng. ~
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I I 1 2. Should more Phys. Ed. courses be offered- not II I necessarUy required? 1 I Yes (604)1,) No <23%) Undecided (174K,) I I I II 3. Should the Intramural Program be expanded? 1 I I Yes (584)1,) No OS%> Undecided (24~) ..JI
L---------------WPI JudiciarJ SJslem
In an effort to educate lhe members of the WPI community as to the purpose and functions of the WPI Campus judicial System, We would tike to submlt'this letter as the first in a series· for the benefit of all members of the community. The WPI judicial system is similar to that used by the United States. Each has courts to handle differing types of infractions. In our case, the Campus Hearing Board is designed to handle transgressions which are deemed to have campus wide scope, and the Dormitory Hearing Board obviously would 'deal with those clearly or Dormitory wide consequence. While one is a student at WPI, and he comes into contact with a court, it would most likely be a school board such as those just described. It is most unfortunate that the majority of our students and faculty have little knowledge of the system which exists at this time, and more have an incorrect knowledge of our courts. These boards were created to protect the rights or all members of the WPl community whether student, facuJtv. or administration . The
operational catalog explains the boards well in addition to their functions. The document which is used by the boards to detennine whether or not an infraction bas been committed is called lhe WPI Campus Code which has been published several limes in the Newspeak. Since the inception of the Campus Hearing Board, we have heard cases ranging from larceny, drugs. cheating, computer mischief, to our most recent case where a student brought a member or the WPI faculty before the board charging him with awarding an unfair grade in a course. So you can see, the spectrum is quite broad and the system can be used to benent all members of the WPr community if used properly. Right now, the most important thing is for everyone to become aware of the system and its uses. If anyone has any questions concerning the operalion of the Boards or has knowledge or any incidents which should be brought before the Campus or Dormitory Board, please feel free to contact e1ther John Suomu SA 301 or Lenny Brzozowski Riley 109, Box 383.