Student Government takes new initiatives in reorganization by Warren Smale SGA President PHASE I. The Mission Since its creation just over three years ago, the Student Government Association has existed without a m is sion. We are proud to announce that: The Student Government Associa tion of Worcester Polytechnic Institute exists as the voice of the entire student body to encourage and facilitate com munications between that body and the WPI community. The purpose of the Student Government Association is to improve the quality of student life, both academically and socially, by addressing student needs and con cerns, providing the fiscal structure of student clubs and organizations, and representing the students in a profes sional manner. With that in mind, we are beginning the first of many new initiatives. PHASE II. Initiative One: C om mitment to Pluralism
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Recognizing the benefits of inter action among different students, SGA considers the endorsement of the WPI Campus Creed as presented by the Student Diversity Committee, an in dependent groupofconcemed students. On January' 20th, SGA adopted the creed as follows:
o f others ideals and motivations. Freedom The WPI community acknowledges each member’s right to personal free dom. You are free to express yourself in any manner, provided you do not impinge on another’s right to do the same. Each memberof the community is responsible for exercising their freedom in a considerThe WPI Campus ( ’reed ate manner. Compassion T h e S tu d e n t G o v e rn m e n t A sso c ia tio n o f Cooperation The WPI community de W orcester P o lytech n ic In stitu te exists as th e sires your actions to reflect a The WPI community can voice o f the en tire stu d e n t body to en c o u ra g e co n sid eratio n for o th e rs ’ accomplish more through coa n d fa cilita te c o m m u n ic a tio n s betw een th a t thoughts and feelings. We operation than would be body a n d the W P I c o m m u n ity . hope that we can work togeth achieved through the actions er to alleviate anguish, both o f in d iv id u als or sm all mental and physical, that may groups. With communica unnecessarily be inflicted on members Understanding tion and a mutual respect and under of our community. The WPI community asks that you standing we can work together to make Responsibility make an effort towards understanding WPI a better place for all community The WPI community asks that you the diverse aspects in the community. members. exercise moral responsibility in your Understanding comes from experienc C om m unication decisions and actions. This responsi es, both within and without the com The WPI community encourages bility should be tempered with respect munity, which enable you to make members to develop an understanding and understanding, both for yourself intelligent decisions. Decisions based on intellectual and personal levels. and for others. on sympathetic, careful examination We strive to resolve conflict in a pos
Tuesday, January 25,1994
Campus police warn of recent assaults in area A lone student is walking along one of the many side streets around the WPI campus. An assailant approaches the individual from behind and puts an arm around the victim’s neck and a hard object to the victim’s back. The assail ant claims to have a weapon and de mands money from the victim. The victim hands over what money there is, and the assailant runs off. This rough scenario of a robbery has been repeated seven times during 1993 in the peripheral property area of WPI. Of the seven cases, six have been non violent in nature, with only one involv ing an actual ‘battery’ (a student was struck with a bottle). Here are some other similarities: •The assailant(s) claimed to have a weapon. •The assailant(s) were male. •The crimes occurred at night (9PMI AM). •The victim was traveling alone. John J. Hanlon, Jr., Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety states, “These robberiesareessentially‘crimes of opportunity.’ Thecriminalchoosesa potential victim who is traveling alone in a poorly lighted area and is only interested in getting some quick cash and escaping, while allowing the victim little or no chance of being able to identify him. These robberies took less than two minutes to commit.” Chief Hanlon also said that police investiga tors are of the view that these robberies were committed by only two or three individuals. He went on to say, “Our community members can play a significant role in not only preventing these types of robberies from occurring, but also in assisting law enforcement personnel in the apprehen sion of the criminals involved. Forexam ple, we have had recent reports of a money making scam that may involve the same suspects who are comm itting these robber
ies. A lone male subject approaches his victim in a parking lot or on the sidewalk (sometimes during daylight hours) and asks to borrow a small amount of money (anywhere from $5 to $20). They claim that their vehicle has broken down, they ran out of gas, or that they need cab fare. They will be very insistent and somewhat intimidating. Ifthis occurs, you should tell the person that they can obtain assistance from theCampus Police or that they should remain there and a Campus Police Officer will be sent to assist them. It is very important that you obtain a description of this individual and that you report it imme diately to the Campus Police (8 3 1-5433 or use the emergency phones located around campus). Chief Hanlon also offers advice to all students: •Walk in groups or call the escort service. •Walk in well lighted, open areas and on heavily traveled streets when possible. •Be especially careful at night during the hours of 9 P.M. to I A.M. •Report all suspicious persons and activities to prevent these crimes. •If threatened, cooperate fully, flee only if there is a good opportunity. Campus Police offers the following services to prevent these types of rob beries: •“Street Smart” programs •Peer education program •Crime Alert Bulletins to all students and employees of WPI when these crimes occur •E-mail of Crime Alerts •The Newspeak articles and police reports •The annual report with crime statis tics distributed in ‘A ’ Term The best way to prevent robberies is to exercise good judgment by walking in groups or calling the escort service. These “crimes of opportunity” can be prevented by not offering the opportunity!
Summer employment opportunities r
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itive manner, and not to let stereotypes and labels become a substitute for communication and reason. Individuality The WPI community consists of a diverse group of distinct individuals. Each member has their own interests and talents to contribute. Through a developed sense of self-worth and un derstanding, we can learn to value the different viewpoints each member of the community brings with them to WPI. While being part of the larger whole of the community, each person has their own values, desires, and needs which make them important on their own. - Developed by the Student Diversi ty Committee, Spring 1993
PLEASE continue to read Newspeak fo r further developments as the Stu dent Government Association readies itself to effectively lead students into the future.
r Polytechnic Institute
The Student Ne
N ew by Eric Craft Associate Editor
Respect The WPI community hopes that you will respect yourself for your ideals, feelings, and rights. Establishing your own dignity in this way, you can then honor others as equal members of the community and respect their ideals, feelings, and rights.
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Volume Twenty-two, Number Two
Pluralism, Diversity and Multiculturalism: Operational Definitions standings within ourcommunity as we discuss and embrace these concepts. Diversity is a concept that promotes the value of heterogeneous communi ties. Proponents of diversity on col The advent of d iv ersity , multiculturalism, and pluralism has not lege campuses seek to establish and preserve academic communities that produced a broadly accepted set of tenns to facilitate the ongoing discussion of reflect the real world. It is a world their merits. The resulting misunder where we exist with people from dif standings have given rise to fears of: ferent economic, national, and cultur al backgrounds, different religious political correctness. Western culture bashing, devaluation of higher educa beliefs, lifestyles, and physical abili ties. as well as gender and racial dif tion, reverse discrimination, and so on. I offer a set of definitions that at ferences. tempt to clarify these terms which are Multiculturalism is a concept that incorrectly used interchangeably. If instructs us to experience, understand, we can create a common understand appreciate, and value cultures other than our own. Proponents view the ing and accepted usage of these most world as a global community. We are frequently encountered “diversity” terms it will help minimize misunder now neighbors, literally and figura by Ron M acon, Special Assistant to the Provost fo r M ulticultural A ffairs
tively, of people from every continent (except one) on the planet. To be good neighbors, we must know something of other cultures. Pluralism is a concept that regards everyone as having value and having a contribution to make, and that every one is entitled to a commonly shared set of rights and privileges. Propo nents of pluralism on college campus es advocate the removal of barriers to full participation by women, people of color, the physically challenged, ho mosexuals, and any other group. In addition to being the right thing to do. it is argued that for institutions of higher education and the nation to maintain (or regain) our competitive edge in the world, we must encourage and use the talents of all Americans.
WPI Venture Forum to focus on selling Having started the company, identi fied the market, assembled the man agement team and raised the $$$, the emerging entrepreneur must now sell the product to a real customer. February’s WPI Venture Forum meeting addresses the issue of selling the product, the company, and yes, yourself. Registration begins at 6 pm with the meeting set for 6:30 pm in WPI’s Salisbury Laboratories on Tuesday, February 15. The speaker will be Stephen M. Pytkaof Biscom Inc., headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts. Pytka is president and chief operat ing officer of Biscom. Prior to joining Biscom, Pytka was executive vice pres ident and a founder of BIS CAP Inter national, a NYNEX company. His responsibilities included worldwide marketing and sales. Pytka was also a co-founder of P&R Microtech, a com puter retail company. Previously, he held managerial positions at Xerox Corp., Wang Corp. and the General Electric Co. Pytka is a well-known authority on imaging technologies and has spoken at worldwide industry con ferences and engineering symposia and
has published in the major industry magazines in the United States and abroad. Pytka has experience in stra tegic planning, product marketing and business development. Biscom Inc. produces a family of intelligent facsimile front-end proces sors and servers, called FAXCOM, which work with most major mini com puters and personal com puter based local area networks. The devic es allow users on a minicomputer or local area network to send facsimile documents directly from the screen of their computer terminal, without hav ing to print out a hard copy and feed it manually through a facsimile machine. V arious versions of the FAXCOM sys tems are currently in use in many different applications across business and industry. The case presenter will be Jenna Seaver, founder of KidsCare Software Inc. of Framingham, Massachusetts. KidsCare is a software development company that provides high quality child care center management soft ware developed on Microsoft Access for use with Microsoft Windows. As the number of working parents
increase, the demand for childcare will grow proportionately. Current projec tions indicate that by the year 2 0 0 0 , there will be m ore than 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 childcare centers in America serving approximately five million children. TTiis represents a 20 percent increase over today’s numbers. Themajority o f these centers do not use a computer in their operations. However, as the cost of new technolo gy decreases and the ease of use and the power of new technology increas es, a new trend will develop in childcare management utilizing computer tech nology. The company projects that more than 40,000 childcare centers will be seeking a new computer system in the next few years. KidsCare is request ing that the panel and the audience focus on the following topics. — Advice on developing interna tional, as well as national marketing plans and strategies. — Advice on attracting equity $$$ so they can intensify and accelerate marketing and sales activities and ex pand business operations (including Continued to page 2
Table o f Contents In The N e w s............................................................................... 2 N ew s......................................................................................... 2, 5 Newspeak H u m o r ......................................................................2 Community Update....................................................................2 Arts & Entertainm ent............................................................... 3 A n n ou n cem en ts...............................................................?, 7, II
C om m entary................................................................................6 Student Government A sso cia tio n ....................................7, / / Club C o r n e r................................................................................H Greek C o rn er..............................................................................9 C lassifieds.................................................................................I / What's H appening.................................................................. 12