WPI celebrates first convocation by B ernie Kozioziem ski
Dressed in their regalia with the WPI Brass Choir playing, the faculty proceeded to welcome the freshman class to WPI at the Academic Convo cation. The Class o f 1994 was hon ored as the first class at WPI to be welcomed with this ceremony. The new provost. Dr. Diran Apelian, brought the concept o f convocation with him to WPI. As he sees it, convocation is the beginning o f fresh man graduation, as well as a way to
charge to faculty and students. Dr. Apelian felt it was necessary to have a formal ceremony in order to remind students and faculty o f the decision they have made: that learning is important. The Invocation and later the Bene diction were said by Reverend Peter Scanlon, the Catholic Chaplain at WPI. M. Howard Jacobson, the new Chairman o f the WPI Board o f Trus tees, welcomed the new students, faculty, and the new provost in his address. He also recognized the ex
cellence o f WPI. President o f WPI, Dr. Jon Strauss added his welcome. He also said that this was the first ceremonial welcom ing WPI has had. Brian R. Gosselin, president o f the student government, stressed the importance o f our own responsibility in our education during his speech. The keynote address was given by Dr. Diran Apelian and was entitled, “ Myths and Realities in Higher Edu cation: Opening o f the American Mind.” In his speech, the provost
stressed that we are in a highly com petitive, globally interacting society. Unlike our parents who lived in an America which dominated the world technologically and economically, he states, we find ourselves in an Amer ica which is falling below the produc tiv ity o f other countries. Dr. Apelian challenged the stu dents to focus and strive towards the five issues he feels WPI should dis play as a school. They are: productiv ity, knowledge, equalling power, becoming ambassadors of science
and technology, global thinking, and forming a national identity. He also challenged the faculty to teach students that different subjects are related and to design and build quality in students. He concluded by saying he hopes WPI becomes recog nized by total quality, the envy of its peers and the college o f choice for all students. Dr. Strauss added his closing re marks and then the faculty left while the W PI Brass C h o ir played Gaudeamus Igitur, a traditional Ger man song.
The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute ^
Volume 18, N um ber 15___________________________ Ttiesday, Septem ber 11,1990
DAKA to invade Gompei’s Place by Robert M an de ville
The WPI think-tank never sleeps. Over summer break, when most WPI students were taking E-term classes, earning money, or just enjoy ing themselves, a series o f meetings were held between the Food Service (D A K A ), the Dean o f Students O f fice, and the Business Affairs Office, concerning the future of Gompei’s Place. Their conclusion: the former special-events function hall w ill be renovated, and open daily, under the watchful eye o f D A K A . D A K A w ill renovate what is cur rently the billiard and foosball room in the Basement o f Riley, and turn it into a pizza and deli bar. The room behind the game room (currently used for a back room o f the “ Mocktails” bar) w ill house soon-to-be installed pizza ovens to support the bar. WPI is currently debating whether to reno vate the “ front room” or main area at its own cost, as the rest o f the installa
G o a t ’s fro m
tion w ill be funded completely by DAKA. The purpose for the new pizza/deli bar is twofold: to ease the pressure on the Morgan snack bar, and to achive the tantalizing goal of creating an oncampus meeting place for students and faculty. The demand for lunches outside the meal plan has far exceeded the capacity o f the Morgan Snack Bar/ Lower Wedge facility, as witnessed by the long lines at the former and lack o f seating at the latter. The Riley facility, which w ill probably be open from 11:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M. or midnight, w ill split the work among two kitchens serving seperate and complementary menus. The Riley facility w ill hold sixty-two diners within the back room itself, and w ill be strongly augmented by the front room. The late hours w ill probably cause the Morgan Snack Bar to close earlier in the evening, as there is not enough demand to support both kitch ens at that time.
H ea d
G o r d o n
by Carm en B row n Head o f P u b lic Services, G ordon L ib ra ry
A t approximately 1:00am Monday morning, September 3rd, someone or some people broke into the display case located in the vestibule o f Gor don Library and stole the WPI Goat’ s Head. The Goat’s Head had been featured as part o f an exhibit on WPI
R e s id e n c e w e lc o m e s
s to le n L ib r a r y
traditions. The campus police are investigat ing the robbery. If anyone has any information which may lead to the recovery o f this integral part o f WPI history, please contact the campus police. The Goat’s Head belongs to the entire WPI community. Its safe and speedy return w ill allow present and future members o f the community to enjoy it.
H a ll
C o u n c il
fr e s h m e n
The officers o f the WPI Residence Hall Council would like to welcome all of the incoming freshman to WPI and welcome back our returning up perclassmen. In case you haven’t yet heard, the RHC is an organization dedicated to all o f you, especially those who live on campus. It’s members include building represen tatives (any student wanting to repre sent his or her floor may do so by attending a meeting,) RHC officers, resident advisors, and our director, Judy McGuire-Robinson. RHC is run by and for students and this year we would like to expand our group even beyond last year’ s size. Anyone inter ested in new student activities and changes o f any kind around campus are all invited to attend the R HC ’s first meeting on September 12 at 4:30pm in Stratton Hall 202. Last year we considered changes in the D A K A program, change ma
chines and loft-building ideas. Unfor tunately, our support began to dwindle and our success was limited. This year it is all up to the students to bring the RHC back together again. We need your support, enthusiasm, and the leadership abilities to bring some new changes to WPI. WE are currently planning on organizing resi dent activities and a door-decorating contest. And among other items on this and every year’ s RHC agenda, we re once again planning on helping during the Housing Lottery, Parent’ s Day, and with the key distribution on move-in day at the beginning o f the ’91-’92 school year. Anyone and everyone is welcome to attend our first meeting. It w ill be open to all students. Just get in touch with your resident advisor about RHC or keep a lookout for more information about our meetings. We hope to see many o f you there.
The new facility w ill also keep Gompei’ s open on a daily basis, thus creating a “ low-tech oasis” for stu dents to relax and meet. The first experiment with this idea was perhaps the Wedge, but the placement and atmosphere o f the odd-shaped room has turned it into a Grand Central Terminal, complete with seeming homeless Wedge Rats and peddlers to sell anything from caricatures to credit cards. The second experiment, started last year with “ Cocktails,” was Gompei’s Place itself, the resurrec tion o f the decades-old Gompei’s Pub. The failure o f Gompei’ s is often at-
tributed to the fact that it is only open for events. The plans for the renovation o f the back room is on display in the window o f the Student Activities Office. The old, defunct bar w ill be removed, to be replace by a larger bar for the service line. The tables for billiards and foosball w ill have to be removed, as w ill other items (as this room is cur rently a SocComm storage space, one d ifficulty is simply finding another space for all the old stuff to go). The main entrance w ill be in the back, accessable by wheelchair, rather than the current Riley side doors. The only
structural change to Riley Hall w ill be the installation o f handicap access rest rooms in the back room. The new facility w ill serve salad, deli items, and a pizza unlike what is served in the dining hall and snack bar of Morgan. With a smaller clientele, D A K A w ill use another kind o f pizza dough to compete with the pizza cur rently availible to students. While D A K A is uncertain to this point, its facility may deliver on campus if demand is great enough. The esti mated opening o f the Riley facility is between January and March 1991.
Midnight Snack: College variety on WCCA by Joe P arke r Features E d ito r
WCCA, or Worcester Cable Ac cess T V has been on the air for about a year and a half. Last year, one o f its most popular shows was “ Midnight Snack” which is Produced by our very own Chris Jachimowicz, Director of Student Activities, and directed by Doug Thompson, who works in the Instructional Media Center. The show created such press that it was featured in the July issue o f “ Inside Worcester” Magazine. Its current format is variety type skits, produced by a number of stu dents, not only from WPI, but Holy Cross and Clark as well. Chris’ background is in Radio, TV and Communications, the area o f his Bachelor’ s Degree. When WCCA first opened, he took the twelve week course they offered, just to reacquaint himself with the details. His first idea was for a talk show featuring college students. However, one o f his first duties at the station was to assist with a program called “ About Town” which was also talk oriented. He found the medium to be bland and decided against a talk show featuring students, because it would be hard to find interesting guests. He wasn’t about to give up on the idea o f a show involving and center ing around college students, however. He began thinking o f a show on the lines o f David Letterman, or Johnny Carson. He knew it had to be on late night, just about the time students finish studying, “ Or in some cases, before they start,” he says with a laugh. He also wanted a catchy title. He had this idea o f having the center o f attention for the show to be a kitchen set. He had plans to build one at the W CCA studio when Doug sug gested it would be much more fun to go on location to actual kitchens. Chris started talking to other Stu
dent Activities professionals around Worcester. The ideas became more and more “ o ff the wall” and further away from the potentially bland “ guest sitting next to host” format. Chris’ former secretary, Janis Berka, came up with the title “ M id night Snack,” and production began. The first show began slowly, Chris admits, and featured three field pro ducers sitting around discussing pos sible topics for the show. However, after filming was finished, they found that they needed a two minute fille r to complete the show. There was a piece entitled “ Playful Penguins” which was included as an “ Interlude.” Ev eryone loved it, and it sparked every one to creativity. The move was on from 5-7 minute pieces to 3-4 minute pieces. It was also more interesting to the viewer, because most o f the pieces are filmed on location, not in the studio. After watching a few hours o f shows set in a studio, viewers are suddenly hit with the Midnight Snack introduction, which is a collection o f snippets of things around Worcester, with some added effects. Then the humor of the show takes over. Over the initial seven episodes, technical quality improved as the stu dents learned more and more about the equipment they were using. Mate rial quality also went up, with the finished product being a show to be proud of. Chris said the reason could be that “ It just got fun.” Students had minimal constraints on direction o f the pieces, as long as they were in good taste (the usual language and nudity barriers o f network TV apply), so creativity was not smothered in the process. In the meantime, people cross town got to meet each other and break down the stereotypical walls. “ It was good because people learned that not everyone from Holy Cross was a jock.
not everyone from clack was a L ib eral, and WPI people weren’t all ROTC people o f geeks who run around with pocket protectors.” Chris says. Part o f the draw o f the show is the warped sense o f humor that runs throughout. Chris shares this sense o f humor, and encourages others to find and use theirs. Another major reason is the quality control which Doug as a major hand in. The backbone o f the show is an eight man Production Staff which includes Chris and Doug, o f course, as well as students from WPI, Clark and Holy Cross. They determine the con tent o f each show. In turn are a number o f field producers, who re cruit people to help work on the pieces they need to complete. Last year “ Midnight Snack” ran on Monday and Wednesday nights. This year’ s schedule has not yet been de termined. There is a possibility of the show being run over WPIC, the closed circuit bulletin board network, which can be seen in most o f the lounges around campus. Inquiries should be sent to Student Activities. Should anyone be interested in submitting a piece, all that is neces sary for consideration is a rough out line which the Production staff could discuss. Chris has said that even i f you lack experience, he would be happy to help out in the production. Volunteers are always welcome. Should anyone be interesting in w orking on M id nig ht Snack, in fro n t o f o r behind the camera, there are plenty o f openings. No experience o f any kind is necessary. C hris is c u r ren tly searching f o r a host, preferable fem ale. They do not necessarily need be fun ny, but a sense o f humor is required. Should you be interested, Contact Chris Jachimowicz in the O ffice o f Student A ctivities, near the mailboxes in Daniels.