Pluralism gets a boost from the WPI community by Mike Cuprio Associate Editor Last week. (>4 leaders invited from the WPI campus community met fora two-day. sixteen hour long conference in the Gordon Library Seminar Room. Those attending were representatives of lour different divisions on campus consisting of students, faculty, staff, and administration - and one group representing the community ol the city ol Worcester. Graduate students were invited, hut unable to attend the con ference. There was a great amount of participation among the heads of Ad ministration. including such names as Frank Lut/. Dean of Undergraduate Studies. Bernie Brown. Head of Stu dent Affairs. Janet Bcgin-Richardson, Dean of Students, and Neil Norum. Director ol WPI N ew sservice. Pres ident Strauss even managed to make a brief two-hour appearance following his return from the conference for Pres idents and Provosts in Washington. D.C. The conference was sponsored by Ron Macon. Head of Multicultural Affairs at the WPI Project Center, in order to bring the community together and take a strong, scrutinizing look at the problems and complications sur rounding the achievement of diversity and pluralism. The "search conference.” as it was touted, was titled "All In The Same
bringing about on the flipchart. storming on various topics between Boat: Learning How ToRow "and was Feelings about the conference and facilitated by a triool'conference man two different small groups, one com its success were mixed, but on the agcrs nam el\. Paul Mc(iowan. Gilbert posed of a cross-section random as whole positive. Warren Smale, SGA Steil. and Denise Washington. I'orsignment of individuals from the cam pus. the other of what the managers President, commented that: "It's been merly olthe Digital Equipment ( orpofun... productive. I lost track of the ration. who are now acting as profes called a "stakeholder" group, which hours we spent: it's been a good expe sional consultants in the areas of plu uniformly consisted of single divisions ral ism and multicultural ism. rience. It's surprising how Marvin Weisbord. author of on-board people are. People really believe in the process... Productive Workplaces and '“It is critically im p o rta n t th a t ev eryo n e re c that we re really all in the D isco v erin g Com m on o g n ize p lu ra lism as an essen tia l in g re d ie n t f o r same boat. Barbara Doyle. Ground was the creator of b u ild in g a n d m a in ta in in g ’c o m m u n ity ' on o u r many of the processes used SGA Vice President: ca u in c rea sin g ly diverse c a m p u s .” tioned."It's important (hat the at the conference by the con -Ron M acon, H ead o f M ulticultural A ffa irs initiative has been made... but ference managers. Activi maybe we re being too opti ties included the creation of m istic." Brian Bikowicz. what the managers called a a.k.a. Megazone, supported the pro - students, faculty, etc. The end result “database" o f information that con cess: “ I think that it's an important of these Iirst 12 hours of brainstorm ing cerned the global environment, the was the formulation of action steps by arena of ideas... it's important to find WPI community, and individual hu out where community leaders stand... each of the stakeholder groups for steps man experience. The first part of the it's those intersections of interest we that can be realistically taken by the conference was aimed at defining what groups the individuals represented. need to start with."Christine Jesensky happened in the past in those three noted, however, that "|T hcre was| a The conference concluded with a areas, followed later on by definitions noticable avoidance of gay. lesbian, moving speech from Provost Diran of events in the present and what could and bisexual issues." Apelian - a truly multicultural individ happen in the future. The goals of the ual himself, as his description of his At this point. Ron Macon will con conference, as stated in the distributed various life experiences demonstrat tinue the process by organizing his worksheet packet, were: “ |ercate| a ed. The Provost spoke of changing pluralism planning committee, which vision of the WPI Community in the will take all the information and sug attitudes and the air of cooperation year 2000, and the contribution of Plu gestions from the conference and work that pervaded the last part of the con ralism to its success and vitality; |sugtowards their implementation. The gest | first steps towards the creation of ference that he was able to attend. Dedication to taking the action steps following quotes are from a statement that vision; and |em power| everyone issued by Mr. Macon: was signified by each individual sign in the room to contribute to the future ing their name to steps that they fell "The conference exceeded my ex Of WPI." pectations in terms of participation they would personally take a hand in The process involved hours of brain
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Tuesday, January 18,1994
• On Thursday evening (1 / 1 1/94), at about 11:00 PM. one of our students was walking along West street (across Highland Street) when a male subject approached her from behind. He pressed something against her back and demanded that she give him her money. She handed him the cash she had and the individual lied the area on foot. The Worcester Police Department is investigat ing this robbery. •
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A WPI student's vehicle w'as stolen from the Salisbury Estates parking lot. several days ago. We have also received a report that several (ires were slashed in their park ing lot, this same week. WPI and Worcester Police have been notified. Numerous thefts (of money, wal lets. pocket books, keys, coats and books) have been reported to Campus Police during this past four week period. Many have occurred during the day time in Goddard Hall and Olin. For the most part the thefts have been ‘crimes of opportunity' involv ing a theft from an unattended coat, pocket book, desk top etc.
SAFETY T IPS
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UTILIZE the Campus Police escort service by calling 8 3 15433 REPO RT suspicious persons, vehicles or activity to the Cam pus Police at 831-5433 or by using an emergency phone (lo cated in 19 locations around cam pus) TRAVEL along well lighted routes when walking and do not walk alone during the hours of darkness SECURE your valuables in a locked drawer, closet, car trunk or other secure location. Only carry small amounts of money with you (in a front pocket or other safe place) IK ) NOT RESIST an armed or unamied assailant
These C R IM E PREVENTION T IPS may prevent you from becom ing the victim of a crime. "REMINDER! We continue to need your support and cooperation in mak ing our campus community a safer place.
Campus Police are working closeiy with the Worcester Police Department
New Club/Greek Corner policies See page 9
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WPI names new Graduate Dean
on the investigation of those crimes which come under their jurisdiction. They alsocontinue to maintain stepped up patrols of the peripheral property areas in an attempt to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of these robberies. High visibility patrolling should also serve as a deterrent.
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Coniinued to page 2
Volume Twenty-two, Number One
Campus crime alert There have been a number of per sonal safety and security related prob lems that Campus Police has been investigating during this past month that you should be aware of.
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and output. The quality of the event reflects not only the expertise and prep aration of the conference managers (Paul McGowan, Gil Steil, Denise Washington), but also the time and effort of the Pluralism Awareness Pro gram Planning Committee (See at tached roster). The senior administra tion also played a key role in the suc cess of the conference, starting with President Strauss and Provost Apelian, by their leadership and support for this effort." “There were some conference par ticipants who felt that the discussions were too polite and avoided the diffi cult issues that are bound to arise as WPI moves forward with its diversity initiatives. The conference was not designed to encourage people to bare their souls or to grapple with thorny issues such as backlash from individ uals or groups opposed to the goals of pluralism. That is the challenge for the pluralism awareness program." "Symbolically the conference was just the beginning of the hard work that lies ahead of WPI in creating a pluralistic ethos and a pluralistic com munity. Very shortly a planning com mittee will begin meeting to develop a pluralism program for the entire WPI community. The work of the planning committee will be guided and shaped by the output of the Search Confer-
William W. Durgin of Holden, Mass., Kenneth G. Merriam Profes sor of Mechanical Engineering and a ssista n t to the p ro v o st for multidisciplinary activities at Worces ter Polytechnic Institute, has been named the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research. He succeeds Kevin A. Clements who will return to the Elec trical and C om puter Engineering Department to continue teaching and research. The change is effective January I . Durgin directs W PFs Aerospace Engineering Program. He earned his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees at Brown University and his m aster's at
the University of Rhode Island. He joined the WPI faculty in 1971 and has served as head of research and development at the Alden Research Laboratory and head of the Mechani cal Engineering Department, and was the George I. Alden Professor of En gineering. He played a role in estab lishing the Aerospace Engineering Program, the Advanced Space De sign Program and (he Fluid Dynamics and Thermal Processes Laboratory. W PFs graduate program includes more lhan 1.000 full-time and parttime students with m aster's degrees awarded in 1^ disciplines and Ph.D. degrees awarded in 14.
W illiam D u r g in , Dean of Graduate Studies and Research
Forum: How and where to find the $$ "How' and Where to Find the $$" is the topic for the January meeting of the WPI Venture Forum. The program w ill be devoted expressly to assisting the entrepreneur to understand the capital markets. The Tuesday, Jan. 18 meeting will be held on the WPI campus and is open to the public with a registration fee of $5. Registration begins al 6 p.m. in Salisbury Labs with the meeting start ing at 6:30p.m. “Because the WPI Venture Forum understands how important the need for funding is to its audience, the January program will be devoted solely to this subject," noted Forum chair Robert Creeden. “Normally, we also have a case study, but instead will devote the entire time to speakers who will ad dress private funding, venture capital funding, non-traditional sourcesof mon ey, bootstrapping techniques and legal issues in raising money." The experienced group of panelists will answer questions such as:
— Who really is getting the money? What types of companies and in what industries? — How do I attract an investor? What do they look for in terms of the manage ment team, market growth and exit strategy? — What do I have to know about the tenns? What will I give up for this money? — What really isthecurrent environ ment for financing and where do I find it? The panelists include: Daniel J. Holland, a partner with the venture firm of Morgan Holland Ventures Corp. in Boston: Charles A. Gammal Jr., presi dent of Rimala Associates which pro vides financing assistance to emerging companies; Robert Norton, founder and CEOof Homeview Inc. which provides a unique information service utilizing multimedia technology tosimulate home tours; Jeffery L. Donaldson, partner with the Worcester law firm of Mirick, O'Connell, DeMallie & Lougee, who
practices in corporate finance, venture capital formation and operation, securi ties regulation, and general corporate and business matters: and Robert Johnson, managing general partner for the Founders Capital Group in Cam bridge, a group who invests in earlystage companies. The WPI Venture Forum, sponsored by the WPI Alumni Association, has as itsgoal the creation o f opportunities for entrepreneurs, investors and others to share and benefit front others. To be placed on the Venture Forum mailing list and for more information call 8315821.
Upcoming story:
SGA to reorganize
Table o f Contents In The N e w s ................................................................................2 N e w s..............................................................................................2 Arts & E ntertainm ent............................................................... 3 A n n o u n cem en ts..........................................................................5 Com m unity Update.................................................................... 5 E d ito ria l.......................................................................................6
C o m m entary........................................................................... 6, 7 Student G overnm ent Association............................................7 Club C orner.................................................................................8 Greek C o rn er.............................................................................. 9 C lassifieds................................................................................. 11 Newspeak H u m o r.................................................................... H