Class of '95 midyear academic update by Amondo Huang Circulolion Monoger
How is the Class of 1995 doing at the halfway point of their freshman year? Newspeak talked to members of the facu lty and admimstration to get raw data as well as personal perspectives on what those number'l say about WPI's newest class. The 685 members of the Class of '95 entered WPI last fall with a median class rank in the top 9%. and average SAT scores of 1200. " Basically. the Class of '95 is one of the top ten classes ever enrolled," stated Robert Vos<>. Executive Director of Enrollment Management. The fact that 13% of the freshman class had NR-ed
at least one cour.e m A tenn. rising to 16% m 8 tenn. is not unusual m comparison to previou!> freshman classes at WPI. An exception was the Cia'>!> of '94, which wa'> ju<;t "an extraordmary class. especially in A term." explained Ann Garvin. Director of Academ1c Advising. The Class of '95 IS "no worse than any other classes in the last five years," added Jocelyn Smith of the Undergraduate Studies Dcpanment. The number of courses that were NR-ed by the freshman clas'> 1~ "virtually ideoucalto the classes before,'' said Vo~s. However, there were more individuals who are in academic waming. which then dragged down the entire class' average. The "percentage of A
rate is the ~a me as before '\O the freshman class b j~t as capable as any other classe~." reminded Garvin. According to Chemistry Professor Herben Beall. the Class of '95, which he really enjoyed teaching. wa.., very auentive and mteresting, and as 1ntelligent as any other. He believed. however, that the causes for the lower perfonnancemay be the student'!' study habits and society, which is "entirely test crazy," he exclaimed. Tests are the only thing that count in soc1ety llnd thus. the ' tudenl!. then focu., only on the tests to result in horrendous study habits such us cramming, Beall ellplained. The MASH sessions arc a reflection of this idea a' the auendance of the se~s1ons boomed right
before an exam. A noticeable difference m the Class of '95 was that they had the best in-clas:. essays in chem1stry with higher percentages of"really good answers'' and of "good tries." Al~o. the questions were harder this year. "The class tried really hard but they must remember that courses are ' opposed to be fun! They focused too much on those damn exams," Beall pointed out.Physics Professor Roben Long observed that the class of '95 Wlls no different than any other cia~. He agreed w1th Beall on the crammmg in MASH sess1ons before an exam or when a homework assignment is due. Both professor~ encourage students to <;eek more help and to try to study on a '>tcady basis.Onc shocking cau.,e of
the abundance of NRs the first two tenns was that many students were literally ju<>l not attending cla'lses. There are also the nonnal causes such as poor study habits, having to adjust to the college atmosphere. and not bemg used to work so hard as compared to high school. The registrar's office had moved up the review process to the end of 8 term so the students would have more time to get back on track. Those handful of individuals that are in academic warning could help themselves by reaching out for help before it 's too late.The statistics compiled on the Class of '95 are difficult to read but they basically reveal thattheclass is doing"OKA Y".
The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Volume 20, Number 2
Thesday, January 28, 1992
Listen up WPI: beer is back! {ummm ... almost) by Roy Bert Editor-In-Chief
Ah. the rumor mill. Preyer on anticipation and hope. You know its wori..s well: engineering school\ are going to recruit more women: WPI gets easier after the freshman year adju:.tmcnt. The economy IS recovering. Wrong. wrong and wrong. Word ha'i been swirling for "orne
time that Gompci'!. place may once again be <;erving alcohol and is applying for a liquor licen!>e. Thi\ time however, the rumor'l appear to be true. Fir..t. some background on 'The Pub". Gompei'' wu\ truly a pub for many years. but in the mid-1980\. with thednnking age apparently firmly '>el at 21 and the upkeep and admini'tration of the Pub becoming incrca.., mgly problemauc. the liquor hcen'e
was allowed to lap~e. Since that lime. one-day license!. have been obtained from lime 10 time for .,pccinl functionc;. Talk to many alumni from the halcyon dlly'> of the Pub, or even many faculty member-;. and you di\CO\ier a decided no!.talgia for tho~e good old c.lay., when ' tudent<; and profes!.ors could gather 111 an inforn1ul atmo'lphere and 1mb1hc that mo\1 cclcbmted
Culture available at ESA EC w:
by ShDw z; N :;;~rman ' JH rff
Alert! Alert! Unfortunately, my article lru.t week regarding the ESA 's EC Expo hudjust a teensy little error. This was, naturally, not my fault. I am meticulous in my journalistic responsibilities and would never report anything that was not hard, cold. unequivocableunsubstantiated rumor. The mistake was due to secret Swiss Communists. They were using my article as a springboard for their Freedom hating, American-bashing propaganda. Their purpose was to continue their evil plan of infiltrating Disneyworld France and thus imprison all of Europe in their clammy, Oodless claws. The Swiss have been bitter ever since England adamantly refused to let them JOin in any NATO games. This was their twisted attempt at revenge. If you believe this. then you absolutely must get to the ESA EC Expo on Wednesday. 29 January. If you remember. I told you that John Dunkelberg promised to go to the ESA EC Expo and almost immediately received over S700 from his roommates. It turns out that he lied and was subsequently forced to give that money to our landlord. Another imponant reason to go to the Expo.
The Expo is a gala affair, no-hold'>· barred entenainment of the h1ghcst caliber. It w1ll feature mt~mat1.1nJ! students informing you about the1r country. It will provide faculty, members of the Administration and other person of ill-repute impaning their collective wisdom to you. It will feature debates on the future of Europe. And Manlyn Quayle will light her hair on fire to symbolize the tragic plight of Tierra del Fuegans who have no color photocopiers. Also, it is my unfonunate duty to infonn you that Professor Zeugner will not show up as advertised last week. Sadly, his liposuction operation left scars, physical and emotional, so he is unable to recite the EC charter while doing a strip tease. Rumor has it he is recuperating in Guam with his love slave, Minnie Pearl. The revised schedule for the afternoon talks in the Lower Wedge is as follows:
of '>Ocial lubricant!>. Wuh thc!>e memones in mind. ll'> well U'i the general notion that the n:turn of ~omewhat of a pub utmo'> phcre for '>'CCkcnd \hO'>'' and lifter· cia\\ hour.. would he a welcome addilion. the plan hcgan to tal..e !>hapc about a year ago. Several other factor.. provided additionul impetus to pu.,h the 1dea along, hcm,cvcr. One wa' the prc,cnce of DAKA (the 'nack bar) to
Ex~o
petition: I he EC After /9V2 12:50 Mohammed Lauouni, Phy~·~' rArunmcnt ard ,\J\ ""' d 1'1. Muslim Students A~. Topic. Roleoflslamm the Common Market I: I0 Patrick Dunn, Assistant Professor of History Topic: The Former So~·iet Union and the Common Market
Remember. that's not all ! We've got students who came all the way from another continent specifically to talk to you about their country and its place in the EC. They will be available for witty repartee from II :00 till 2:00 PM in the Lower Wedge. After thauhey tum back into kumquats. But WAIT! There's MORE!!! At 7:30
PM we've got lot'\ of fnghtcningly cameM people "ho will be dbcour,. m~ p<t~ .lonutCI) 111 1'<.0~.;"'cll H..' l 111 Atwater Kent. We are not exactly sure who the) will be or what they will be talking about, but we have been assured that they will all be non-Union. How much would you expect to pay for thts weekday extravaganza? $29.95? $19.95? $9.95? NO! For a limited time. if you go tomorrow. you will be admitted to this fabulous chance of a lifetime ABSOLUTELY FREE: I Yes, that's right!!! ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!! Remember. Wednesday, 29 January. II :OOAM ·2:00PM in the Lower Wedge. 7:30 PM in Newell Hall, Atwater Kent. It's a limited time offer. so orderfast!
help manage the proce.,... Another wa~ the sucCC'>'> and absence of problems experienced during the recent aforementioned "'>pccial even~". 'iuch ~ -.enior week and homecommg. Thu,, the licen~mg proce-.., wru. begun last A-tenn. wnh an onginal target date of this C-term. Unfonunately. licenl>ing turned out to be a very long ond exhaustive proces..: one that likely w1ll not be completed until next A-term. Plan' arc \ till sketch} conccmmg many of the details. includmg mauer.. ~uc h a~ what will be served and when. A few thmg'> arc clear: WPI willtech'~lc:tlly hold the licen~. v.h1lc,. repre!>Cntative from the snack bar w1ll serve as manager. Soules will almost certainly be used rather than kegs, both for practical reasons as well as to prevent the creation of a fuii -Oedged ''beer hall" atmosphere, which sometimes led to problems at the old Pub. Finally, decisions about what to serve will take into account student opinion to some degree through interaction with SocComm and the student life office. for example. Cost, obvtously. will be one major issue here. So look forward to a new wrinkle in Gompei 's next year. If you've been burned by the rumor mill before, maybe don't count your brews till they're poured, but you can hope...
II :50 Ann Garvin, Director of Academic Advising Topic. East-West Relations 12:10 Klaus Putzhammer. German Graduate Exchange Student Topic: Undecided 12:30 Bland Addison. Asst. Professor of History Toptc How WtiiWeTaketheCom-
Traditions Day returns by Kale Ranum ond Grtg Lou.ludes
C/4ss o/'93 The WPI Student Alumni Society (SAS) is once again organizing Traditions Day this year. A~ most of you upperclassmen might remember. Traditions Day was launched for the first time last April as a celebration of WPI history and tradition. During the course ofthat day many infonnauonal and recreational activilies took place
at Higgins House. the Quad and other on campus locations. The date selected for this year i Tuesday, April 14, 1992. SAS i\ currently in the selection phase of the activities for this year. Anyone interested in panicipating in the planning and execut1on of Traditions Day '92 is k1ndl y asked to contact Renee LaFountain, Box 742, or Kevin Hunt, Box 9 12.
WPI's Brian Chu attacks his opponent in a match against Univ. or Lowell last week.
Discussion of
WPI