WPI President XIV Dr. Parrish beyond the press releases pressed with the en th u siasm and c a p abilities o f the people here, e v ery one seem s to u n derstand the u nique ness o f this p la c e— and everyone W P l’s 14th P resident, D octor E d seem s to be having a b a ll— WPI is w ard A. Parrish, is genuinely im truly a special u n iv ersity .” pressed w ith w hat he has seen o f the President Parrish expressed som e school so far. Sim ilarly, it seem s regret at the fact that his re a s o n a b le th a t the WPI w ife S h ir le y is n o t in com m unity w ill be equally “ I'v e b ee n im p re sse d w ith th e en th u sia sm W orcester to enjoy the cool im pressed with what we will w eather we have been e x see o f the new president in a n d c a p a b ilitie s o f th e p e o p le h e re , e v eryo n e p erien cin g , for she is in the years to com e. se em s to u n d e rsta n d th e u n iq u e n e ss o f th is N a s h v ille s e llin g th e ir Parrish was form ally the p la c e — a n d e v eryo n e se e m s to b e h a v in g a house. O r as w ent on to D ean o f the School o f E ngi b a ll— W PI is tru ly a s p e c ia l u n iv e rsity ." say, the 1850's farm w here neering and C entennial P ro •President E dw ard A. Parrish, Ph. D. he sp en t the last elev e n fessor o f E lectrical E n g i years renovating and rais neering at V anderbilt U ni ing c a ttle , a m o n g o th e r versity in N ashville. T en things. He ex p lain ed th at this w as President P arrish, w ho w as a ju d g e nessee. Prior to that he was a m em all for fun and that the w ork was: for the Freshm en d esig n projects. b e r o f the faculty at the U niversity o f “ the eng in eer in me, I like to do W hereas o th er schools w ould ju st V irginia in C h arlo ttesv ille for 18 th in g s.” take new students to the library and years. C u rrcn tly , he is the edito r-in His hobbies include w o odw ork the com puter labs, here an honest ch ief o f the IEEE journal and chairing (he plans to move h is shop into effo rt is m ade tow ards building a elect o f the E ngineering A ccred ita the P resid en t's house som etim e soon) com m unity spirit. " I 'v e been im tion C om m ission o f the A ccred ita tion Board for E n gin eerin g and T ec h nology. W hen these arc not taking up his tim e, his cale n d ar is full o f m eetings and atten d in g o rien tatio n events. T he content o f W P I’s o rien tatio n for students w as very im pressive for
by Brian Parker E ditor-In-C hief
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P resident P a r r is h ’s only regret a b o u t com ing to W P I is not being allow ed to do his own h om e renovations. and m usic, from ja z z to classical. President Parrish seem s to have a natural talent fo r picking up m usical instrum ents; he took piano from the tim e he was five or six until he g rad u ated high school. He also played the clarin et, sax o p h o n e, g u itar, o boe, trum pet, and baritone in school and
Air Force bands. He m entioned that he m ight like to try cross-countryskiing and that he never caught on with d o w n h ill, p o in tin g out that t h e r e ’ s n ot m u c h sn o w in C harlottesville and N ashville. And as far as hobbies g o , “the rest is ju s t
See Parrish, Continued on page 2
The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
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Volume Twenty-three, Number Fifteen
WP11995; Recollections of 1945 by John iMtt Brown Former Interim President [Ed. Note: These remarks were made by President Brown over the summer fo r the WPI community.!
SKETCH COURTESY OK WPI NEWS SERVICE
One a rtis t's conception of the ped estrian m all on W est S treet.
West Street closed for good by Kristen Greene Editor-In-Chief M any first-y ear students may not have no ticed , but the WPI cam pus changed dram atically, right before their ey es on Saturday, A ugust 19. At 3:15pm that day, the section of W est S tre e t co n n e c tin g In s titu te Road and Salisbury Street was closed to thru traffic, this time for good. This ch an g e probably d id n 't affect them that day, but a few parents must have been co nfused as they left the parking lot near the Quad and d is covered that they co u ld n ’t turn left. D espite the lack o f traffic, most upperclassm en can ’t seem to get used to the idea, as a lot o f them arc still sticking to the sidew alks. E v en tu ally, they will get used to it, e sp e cially w hen the new pedestrian mall is finished. The trustees are b e g in ning to search for an architect, a n x
ious to begin the project as soon as possible. The main reason for WPI w anting to close the street was that it w as a m ajor pedestrian safety issue, w ith an estim ated 8000 crossings per day. In addition, with a unified cam pus, WPI can better m arket the school and attract more students. WPI had tried two tim es unsuccessfully in the past to close the road; the first w as in 1972, and perm ission to close the road tem porarily w as given. A se c ond attem pt was m ade in D ecem ber o f 1986, but the proposal w as w ith draw n due to o p position from the com m unity. The third and final attem pt was launched last spring. V olunteers from several student o rg anizations, including Student G overnm ent A s sociation, Student A lum ni S ociety, and Skull, along w ith m em bers of sororities and fratern ities gathered
See West Street, continued on page 2
Ta b le
Orientation: A look back See pages 6 &
signatures for petitions which su p ported the proposal. Several m eetings o v e r the su m mer helped to secure the closing of the street. The first was a m eeting of the T raffic C om m ittee on July 10. Many m em bers o f the com m unity spoke in support o f the proposal. The first to speak was C hief John Hanlon, D irector o f Public Safety at W PI, who expressed his concerns that this portion o f W est Street w as a significant pedestrian safety pro b lem. Hanlon was follow ed by David Hersel o f Sasaki A ssociates (an en gineering firm which conducted traf fic studies o f the a re a last fall), Cathlcen C onnelly, Student G overn m ent A sso c ia tio n P re s id e n t, and Bernie Brown, Vice President for S tu d e n t A f f a ir s . P ro f . S te v e W ein in g ercalled W est Street “a gash
What has been an exciting and re warding activity for me is moving to ward and end. WPI will install its fourteenth president on August 7, this summer. W ith the decision o f Jon Strauss to leave WPI last Septem ber to accept a very exciting jo b opportunity with the H oward Hughes. Medical Re search Institute, our Board o f Trustees decided to fill the vacancy in the president's office with an interim ap pointment and to procecd with a na tional search to find a permanent (or at least, long-term ) replacem ent for him. The search has been dram atically successful. Dean Ed Parrish o f the Vanderbilt College o f Engineering has agreed lo take over the leadership of our university and he is em inently well qualified to do so. For the re mainder o f m y tenure at WPI. I will be working tow ard the further develop m ent o f so m e interesting projects w e've started since my arrival and serving as President Parrish’s repre sentative on the campus. The last seven months have pro vided me w ith one o f the most interest ing and rew arding opportunities o f my short and happy life. It became appar ent fairly quickly after I retired in 1992 that I was going to have a difficult time getting the hang o f retirement in the traditional sense. I’ve had a num ber of interesting jo b s since then, but none can com pare with returning to my alma mater and presiding over C om m ence ment fifty years after my own gradua tion in 1945. It was a memorable day. WPI is different than it was back in the I940s. T he choices o f curriculum are much richer. Engineering rem ains a most im portant option, but the engi neering curriculum is complemented by required courses in humanities and social sciences. Aspiring engineers are required to undertake projects which explore the implications o f tech
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In the N ew s ..................................................................................... 2 N ew s .......................................................................... 2, 4, 9, 10, 14 Sports ...................................................................................................? Arts Entertainment...................................................................4 Special Feature ......................................................................... 6, 7 E ditorial .......................................................................................... fi Commentary ............................................................................... ti, 9
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nological developm ents for society. All o f our engineering majors becom e involved in projects that provide them with experiences much more like the activities that occupy practicing en g i neers. Students learn to see the larger picture, to integrate the various co m ponents o f the knowledge in address ing realistic problems in the context o f a working team. Traditional engineering, chem istry, physics, and m athematics are not the only areas in which one can earn a degree. O ther areas include econom ics, management, pre-m edicine, preveterinary science, pre-law, and a va riety of areas in the social sciences. C om puter technology is a relatively new and exciting area o f concentra tion. A nother major difference in WPI since my days as a student here is the presence of women in the student body. They represent only 20% o f our stu dent body but they include a d isp ro portionately high percentage o f our very best students. T h at's because there are so many societal pressures that continue to foster the antiquated notion that a career in engineering “isn ’t for a woman". A chievem ents for our women graduates certainly belie (hat outmoded idea. The mid ‘90s are an exciting tim e in the history o f higher ed u catio n . T here are finally indications that the educational process is on the brink of som e m onum ental changes. T u ition at WPI is over $17,000 p er year. In my day, it was $500 p er y ear and that seem ed like a lot o f m oney at the tim e. The thirty fourfold in crease is significantly g reater than the overall increase in the co st o f living over those years; ed u catio n costs are rising faster than the co st o f living and som ething must be done to stem the tide. In recent years, the b u s in e s s c o m m u n ity h a s g o n e th r o u g h m a jo r c h a n g e s , w ith d ow nsizing, im plem entation o f total quality m anagem ent, reengineering and other efforts to do the jo b b etter,
See Brown, continued on page 2
ontents Student Government Association .............................................. 9 Ask CDC,........................................................................................... 9 Entertainment.............................................................................. / 1 Club Corner .................................................................................. 12 Greek C orner ................................................................................13 Classifieds ..................................................................................... IS Around Campus ........................................................................... 16