Recognition 89 caps off the year by Chris Barcus N ews Editor Recognition 89 took place April 23rd in Harrington Auditorium, full of a wide variety o f students, parents, and faculty. This was the second year which aw ards were presented in a cerem ony which combines academic aw ards with extra-curricular activi ties. It is also designed to recognize outstanding service of advisors and coaches to organizations. The program is sponsored by the school in support o f achievements and the level o f excellence reached by the students o f WPI. The idea is to bring faculty, students, and parents to gether.
Plans for this years ceremony were begun in October. The committee consists o f a collection o f faculty members, administration, staff, as well as students. The guest speaker for the cere mony was Judith Nitsch, a 1975 graduate, who stressed that involve ment in activities can make all the difference. The following awards were pre sented: outstanding women students, departm ental, alum ni. Com m unity Service, et al. W inners of the Presi dents IQP Awards included Lori DeBlois, Cheryl Church, Anthony Pecbulis.Scott Dresser. Adrian Caceres, and Janis Berka.
The Class o f 1975 Award was e s tablished by the Class of '7 5 to pro vide start-up funds for students to conduct a project which they have designed on their own. W inners were Ira Nydick and Kenneth James. United Technologies corporation Minority Award was presented to an outstanding minority undergraduate student, Daniel Yip. The Class o f 1X79 Prize for O u t standing Projects in the H um anities is given each year to three students for excellent work in Sufficiency proj ects. This years winners are C hristo pher Buntel, Marc C ham pagne, and Jeanette Cheetham. Campus Leadership Honors and
A wards are presented to undergradu ate students in each class who have contributed and have made a differ ence at WPI through their personal contributions. The Winners o f the Freshman Excellence Award for Extra-curricular Activity were Jehan T anboow alla and Gregg Pelleren. The w inners o f the Sophomore were Tamatha Perry and Donna Roche. Rhodia Christodoulidou and Kim berly Lemoi were winners for the Junior Class. And the Award for Senior Excellence for Extra-curricu lar Activity were Lori DeBlois, Leslie Reed, and Kevin Webb. The Graduate Student E xtra-curricular A ctivity winner was Thom as Nowak.
O utstanding Student Organization Awards were also given out. The winners were Alpha Phi O mega and CHOICES. And the outstanding Advisors to a club or group were Tia Koziak, advisor to the WPI C heer leaders. and Dave Roy, Advisor to the WPI Hockey Team. The G reek system at WPI was also presented with various awards. The o u tstan d in g so ro rity w as A lpha Gamma Delta, and the outstanding fraternity was Sigma Alpha Epsilon. The outstanding Greek Awards were given to Danielle LaMarre o f Alpha Gamma Delta, and David Stec o f Alpha Chi Rho.
The Midgets stand tall in the Pub by Troy Nielsen N ewspeak Staff A first in Pub shows this year, there was an WPI student “talent night” last Friday in G om pei’s Place. Four bands, each with a different style of music, perform ed for a pretty small but enthusiastic crowd. Up First was “D ispolinapothis.”
The first thing I noticed about Dispolinapothis was their tons of equipment. Not only do they own excellent equipm ent, but more im por tantly, they KNOW how to use the equipment to enhance their music. The first song they played was “Organic Philosophy,” which fea tured an interesting chord progression with a melodic lead on top. Between
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T h e Q u e s tio n s in a c tio n . W hat this m eans I do not know. What I do know is that this band is now one of my favorite all-guitar bands. The tw o guitarists comprising this band displayed m uch talent, excellent m usical sense, good com position techniques, and a very good use of electronic effects.
the two guitars, there was an excellent use o f tonal contrast. One electronic effect the band that was tastily used was an “octaver,” which added a lower octave to one o f the guitars. Next up a sort of King C rim son-influ enced composition that featured a thick, fat, and distorted sound on the
lead guitar. A nother effect used ex tensively during the perform ance was a digital delay, which a spacey and eerie quality to the music. “Sometim e in October” was the title o f the next song. It hecame evident to me in this song that the band had great ideas and technique, but they didn’t take the time on stage to musically develop the ideas. In other words, they should’ve jam m ed out a bit, thereby resolving the musical ideas. The next band was actually a solo guitarist, Steve Pavao. 1 enjoyed the contrast between the bands, and this is in part due to the diverse talent in the W PI m u sician s that p e rfo rm e d . Steve, who relied on minimal equip ment— acoustic guitar, pickup, voice, and a large amount o f performing talent. He started off with "Pinball W izard,” a very difficult tune for solo guitar and voice. Then he played “ Love Me Tw o Tim es" by the Doors. This song gave Steve an oppurtunity to highlight his excellent vocal abili ties. The one original song that per formed was about a town bum called “ Red.” The song featured harm onica and Steve’s thoughtful lyrics. Also played was “ Psycho Killer” (from the Talking Heads) and "A qualung” (by Jethro Tull). A truly entertaining perform ance. For the next band, “ R eckoning,” this was their second pub appearance this year. This band opened for The Apple Creek T rio a while back. Reck oning is consists o f two guitarist (Tim and Steve Hall), who also sang. They opened up with a mellow blues jam
Infirmary cuts discussed by Chris Barcus N ews E ditor A fter the protest which was held on cam pus over a week ago opposing the cuts in the health service, Presi dent Strauss agreed to talk w ith a group o f students which were con cerned about the issue. T h e in firm a ry w as p a rt o f $150,000 cut from the Student Af fairs Budget. O ther areas which were cut include varsity sports, cam pus police, admissions, m ateri als and supplies for the offices, con ference attendance, and travel. The students were concerned with the fact o f money being spent, while the infirm ary was being cut. Such expenditures include repaving the parking lot in the quad at a cost of $70,000. O ther areas include the M ajor Selection Program through the adm issions office and rounseling
center, which has a budget o f $47,000. The students proposed an addi tional $12 to the health fee which w ould m ake up the $35,000 differ ence. However, the idea was quickly shot down saying that a majority o f the money would be com ing from the school via the students who are on scholarship. Information w hich had not yet been discussed was also brought up at this meeting. W ith the cut back in the infirmary hours, the num ber o f hours which a doctor will be available to treat students will be the same as what we currently have, but the hours would all be in the day. P an o f the reasoning behind this is the fact that there is a shortage o f physicians who are willing to work for such low wages. W PI currently has a contract with Hahnemann, in which they sup ply the physicians. Since they are
having problems staffing the various centers, they are relying more heav ily on nurse practitioners. The main theme of the meeting seem ed to be com ing up w ith alterna tive answers in regards to cutting the budget in such a way that the infir mary staff and hours would not b e cut back so drastically. Strauss agreed to set up a group consisting o f adm ini stration and students to recreate the budget situation and see if there are other areas which can be reduced. At the conclusion o f the findings, a final decision will be made. Even if the decision is not re versed, President Strauss is trying to appease those students which are concerned about the problem and is willing to listen to what is being said. But, students will have to wait and see if these plans are actually carried out and w hat the outcom e is.
type o f song that the crowd enjoyed. This band was good at jam m in’, as demonstrated by their instrumental numbers. One o f the covers they played was “O hio.” Reckoning per formed this timeless song was an acoustic style that was refreshing to hear. O f course both of the band members were serious Dead fans, and it was thus appropriate that they played a favorite Dead cover, “ Sugar Magnolia.” Unfortunately, this band was somewhat marred by technical difficulties after each song. Needless to say, it broke the momentum of their perform ance. The final band was “The Q ues tions.” Perhaps you saw them at the New Voices 7 Cafe. This band falls under the category of “rock." Instru ments present in The Questions were bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals, and drums. I’m glad that they chose to go with a relatively quiet sound because all of the other bands were basically mellow bands. The evident leader of the band, Jon Lamkins, wrote and sang most of the songs from their set. The first tune was “Breeds There a Man.” It featured a lead repeating riff from the keyboards with chord ac
companim ent. The tune was fairly generic in nature. The next song was “ Land o f Steady Habits.” Again, a generic tune. The band changed the pace to a more ballad type of song called “The Girl W ho is Herself." 1 couldn’t quite catch the lyric content because Jo n ’s deadpan voice was not loud enough in the mix. The Q ues tions, like Reckoning, experienced tech problems on stage. One Q ues tions song that I did like was “V ise.” The lyrics were catchy, and the song grooved. The guitarist, who happens to a m em ber of the first band, per form ed one his originals called “W elcom e To the Real W orld.” This song w as enjoyed by the audience. M em bers o f the audience demanded that the Q uestions play “ Louie. Louie" as an encore. 'Fortunately the sound system crashed before the song ended, because the cover was really pretty lame. I’m pleased that this M idgets o f Rock thing occurred. 1 also like the crayon gimmick. There were crayons on each table so that you could draw on the paper-covered tables. Kept the audience occupied between bands.
Condom machines to appear on campus by Chris Barcus N ews Editor In a m eeting w ith President Strauss, the Students for Social Awareness were able to convince Strauss to place condom dispensers in the bathrooms o f residence halls. For the past two years students, faculty, and administration have sup ported the placem ent of condom machines in the various residence halls. The hangups in the past have been due to the executive staff, which was worried about the school’s image
with parents and potential students. W hen the group began presenting other sides to the story, Strauss said that he would take the heat from the rest of those opposed and would see that they are in place by A term. The argum ents which helped sway Strauss included the fact that the infir mary hours are being reduced and the availability of condoms would be reduced. Also they stressed that to day’s parents tend to be more realistic about life and would not take offense to the placement o f the machines.
House future uncertain by Chris Barcus N ew s Editor Lambda Chi A lpha's house will not have any boarders at the beginning of the 89-90 academ ic year. The residents of 12 Boynton Street have found other sources o f housing, leav ing the building vacant. The house is owned by the school and no decision has been made as to its future. However, the house is not going to be tom down and converted to a parking lot. The options which the school is considering include turn
ing the building into office space or resident housing. Before anyone can occupy the building, however, major renovations need to be done. If the building is to be used for residence, the amount of work would be greater than if it were used for offices due to fire codes for housing establishments. The reconstruction may begin this sum m er, but the building will not be ready for occupancy by August. How ever, by the end o f A term there is a chance that the building may be com pleted.