SGA debates bring candidates’ views to forefront by Brian Parker E ditor-In-Chief L ast T hursday, the can d id ates for executive positions in SGA for next year presented them selves to the WPI com m unity in a form al debate. D e spite a m iserable turnout (around thirty p eople, including the ca n d i dates th e m se lv e s atten d ed ) m any good ideas w ere brought up and d is cussed. F irst, G reg Snow, w ho is running unopposed fo r the position o f T re a surer w as g iven a few m inutes to present h im self and an sw er q u e s tions. In his opening statem ent, he re m arked "SG A cannot forget w ho it represents, it is the voice o f the stu dent body, b u t all too often this is forgotten and [SGA becom es] an e lit ist g ro u p w hich hinders progress on cam pus. . .change in the o rg an iza tion and its leadership is needed and I hope to see the leaders view ed as accessible a n d as w orking w ith the stu d e n ts.”
In answ ering som e o f the q u es tion. “ I have looked for a long tim e Snow feels that an e lec tro n ic b u d get filing system should be d e v e l tions, R eidy stated that she did not at w hat SG A do es and I cam e to the see a lot o f SGA m em bers looking conclusion that changes need to be oped and that he w ould w ork to e n m ade. T h is includes rethinking the sure no cuts in student funds from for student opinions. She brought up Senate o rien tatio n , being w illing to the adm inistration. He also feels a proposal, w hich has g otten som e attention w ithin SG A , to assign sen a that there are no m ajor p ro b lem s w ith take q uestions from the student body tors 100 m ailboxes and have them and doing m ore in the academ ic c o m the current bud g etin g sy stem , e x keep in touch w ith those stu cept that in som e cases the five percent cap placed on dents. She show ed som e d is cannot fo rg e t who it rep resen ts , it is appointm ent that the idea had budgets is too restrictive. the voice o f the stu d e n t body, but all too often not been carried out and in W hen he was asked if this is fo rg o tte n a n d / SGA becom es I an elit dicated she w ould do what he w as ready to devote tim e she could to m ake sure that to w ork for a b etter W PI, ist group w hich h inders progress... " students w ere fairly repre he responded w ith a quick -Greg Snow “ I am read y .” sented. Candidate for SGA Treasurer There was an an n o u n ce B utland answ ered in re p ly to a q u e s t io n as to m ent that F iona A bram s w hether SG A served its purpose that m ittees.” had w ithdraw n h er c a n d id a c y for it has “several purposes, including R achel B u tla n d th en g av e her Secretary, so the debates m oved on funding for o rganizations and that it opening statem en t where she m en to the race for V ice-P resid en t, w here Rachel B utland and K irsty R eidy are has done w ell.” W hen asked what tioned her e x ecu tiv e experience (she her view s on W P I’s in teractio n w ith is c u rre n tly S G A S ecre ta ry ) and running. other colleges w ere she said: “ Inter stated: “M y m ajo r goal is co m m u n i Reidy w as allow ed the first o p en action is very im portant. . .W PI stu catio n .” L ate r she w ould say that ing statem ent and she said that she dents should look at w h at’s happen “ the ad m in istratio n should be m ore had seriously con sidered h e r run for ing at o th er colleges and participate open w ith the students and that SGA the spot and that she had d ecid e d on in activities th ere.” should act as a liaison to let the V ice-P resident because sh e felt she R eidy agreed that the other co l students know w hat is going o n .” could do the m ost good in that p o si
leges have a lot to offer and that a lot m ore could be done to prom ote a c tivities o ff cam pus. She said w hen ask ed an o th er questio n re g ard in g w hat could be done about the apathy w hich seem s so prevalent on cam pus that she was “ not sure w hat could be done, but I h av en ’t seen SG A doing m u c h .. .I’d like to make WPI a place w here students w ant to b e.” B utland pointed out that m ain taining open com m unication w ith the G S O was a duty o f the V ice-P resi dent and that SGA could do m ore to w ork w ith graduate students. R eidy stressed the im portance o f the SGA com m ittees and m entioned that they w ere seldom heard from by SG A. In her closing statem ent, B utland talk ed about the fact that “ SG A d e c i sions affect every student at W PI and that her goal was to get all o f the senators to listen to the stu d en ts.” R eidy stated that she had “w it nessed problem s w ithin S G A ” and that she w ants to “get in there and m ake changes so that SG A can be
See Debates, continued on page 2
The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Tuesday , February 14 , 1995
7\PEAK Volume Twenty-three , Number Five
Cynthia Tucker challenges students to overcome ignorance by Brian Parker Editor-In-Chief On February 8th, Cynthia Tucker, editorial page editor for the Atlanta Con stitution, came to WPI to speak about The Bell Curve and its racist implica tions. She started off by saying that she enjoys visiting colleges, for college stu dents enjoy learning and that is an inspi ration to her. She cautioned the audience to be wary of the resurgence of racism in America. The Bell Curve is just one vivid example of a “warped and suspect science,” which claims to talk about economic decline, but instead promotes a fear of all colors and creeds. Tucker said that she did not intend to stand and attack the book, but rather to “give the tools with which you can analyze it and fight [racism] back.” Her first point was that Murry and Hemstein, the book’s authors, argued that IQ is determined largely genetically and therefore any group o f people which score lower on IQ tests is destined to alw aysdo poorly. By further saying that blacks score lower on IQ tests, they present “the very definition o f racism itself— for racism is the belief that one race is better than another.” The idea that “whites are better than
blacks” was popular in the 19th century, when many white scientists came to the conclusion that whites had an intellec tual advantage. However, that was then and more recent research has shown a strong relationship between IQ and en vironment. It is true that African Americans do score lower on IQ tests, but in Northern Ireland Catholics tend to score lower than Protestants. This seems to back up an argument that a group of people in a lower social position have not been ex posed to as many ideas and therefore would not do as well on a test designed to measure intelligence. Murry and Hemstein recognize that there are a significant number o f African Americans who are doing well, but they dismiss that by pointing out affirmative action programs and projects like Head Start. They seem to imply that even with all the assistance that is offered, African Americans have not been able to help themselves. Tucker, on the other hand, pointed out that recent studies have determined that traits such as skin color develop relatively quickly in any species, but intelligence differences do not follow this pattern. The human race simply is not old enough for any group o f people
Winter Carnival ’95 Snow sc u lp tin g (left) a n d fro zen tu rk e y bow ling (right) w ere ju s t tw o of th e m any events w hich w ere held as p a rt o f th e W in te r C a rn iv a l th is past w eekend. T he c a r p ic tu re d to th e left is a rep lica o f a c a r th a t w as scu lp ted d u rin g a Tech C arn iv a l in th e 1960’s, w h ich is p ic tu re d in Two Towers on page 227.
NEWSPEAK STAFF PHOTOS / JASON PHILBROOK
International Career Fair
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to be significantly less intelligent than another for purely genetic reasons. Race is more o f a social construct than a physical difference between people. The information on which Murry and Hemstein based their book is also ques tioned. It was collected by the Pioneer Fund, which had the goals o f “racial betterment” and “sending blacks back to Africa.” The data could be tainted if it was collected by a group which ex pected a certain outcome. There was some question as to how this book could find a publisher (Simon and Shuster) and why it had gotten so much media attention. Usually, racists can’t get in the door at a major publish ing house but racism is on the rise. The Republican Party is ready to cut social programs and white males feel like they are “under attack.” Recently, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynahan called the black, urban population “a new spe cies.” Rush Limbaugh trades in racist stereotypes, such as the “welfare queen.” The Bell Curve only says what some people want to hear. There has been a 12% drop in the income o f white males who do not have college degrees. This is closely related to the revolution o f technol ogy, which in many ways has made the
im possible seem possible. There was a time w hen som eone w ith a high school diplom a could find a blue col lar job, which paid m iddle-incom e wages and provided good benefits, but these days are gone. But this is due to changes in technol ogy and not to any affirmative action programs. It is an unfortunate coinci dence that just as civil rights advanced, the economy underwent such a dramatic change, but this is unfortunate for every one, not just one group o f people. “Ford is not laying people off because blacks are going to major universities.” Unemployment is twice as high for blacks than it is for whites, so there is no strong case that any jobs are being taken away from white males. Tucker stated that “you have a responsibility to see through the propaganda and see what’s going on. It is easy to get inform ation..
.Americans have strong opinions, but often are not well inform ed.. .we often feel that we have a ‘democratic right’ to ignorance.” She said that one cannot get informa tion from a television news program (with the possible exception o f the MacNeil-Leher News Hour, o f which she is an occasional guest). Instead, a major newspaper is a much better source of the information needed to vote, write to Congress, and be a good citizen. She concluded by stating: “ I ask you to think about the country you’ll be living in. WPI graduates will find jobs, but the demographics of this country are changing.. .The ability to grow depends on the ability to overcome the hysteria and prejudice based on ignorance. You are going to need information to do that and I encourage you to do whatever you can to fight racism.”
Interested in Quadfest? by Rich Santora Chairman, Student Activities Executive Council (SAEC) For those o f you who are unfam iliar with the SAEC, it is an organization that was created for tw o purposes. One purpose o f the organization is to maintain open lines of com m unication between many o f the student organi zations that implement social programs throughout the year. The other pur pose, which is germane to this article, is that we attem pt to coordinate large scale events that involve m any organi zations. A previous exam ple is Hal loween W eekend, which took place in B term o f this year. C urrently the SAEC is com posed predom inantly o f Class III student organizations. Quadfest has proven, in its two years existence, to be the largest and most successful o f the numerous events that take place on cam pus each year. This has been m ade possible by the extreme generosity o f the entire W PI com m u nity. This generosity has taken on forms such as monetary donations and
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N ew s ................................................................................................. 2 Sports ................................................................................................ 3 Arts & Entertainment................................................................... 4 Announcem ents .............................................................................5 Student Government Association .............................................. 6 Graduate Student Organization ................................................ 6 Career Development C enter ....................................................... 6
personpower. It is my hope that the com m unity w ishes to continue this tradition o f team work. It has proven to be an invaluable enhancem ent to the quality o f student life at WPI. I w ould like the SAEC to serve as a base for the new Q uadfest C om m ittee. I encourage every student organiza tion to begin thinking of w ays to m ake this y ear’s Q uadfest the best one yet. I believe that the time has com e to start formalizing some o f the ideas I have heard floating around cam pus regard ing what people would like to see at Quadfest. 1 ask that if you are inter ested in joining the Quadfest C om m it tee, let us know. Please send your re s p o n s e s to e ith e r m y s e lf (santora@ wpi) or better yet, ju st mail quadfest@ w pi. The SAEC will com pile the responses and attempt to set up a convenient m eeting time. I plan to call the first m eeting som etime during the w eek o f February 20th. A fter all, we do have a lot o f work to do, but I prom ise you it will be worth it. Thank you in advance for your co operation.
Contents Club C o rn er .................................................................................... 8 Greek C o rn er ................................................................................. 9 Newspeak H u m or ....................................................................... 10 Commentary ................................................................................. 10 Classifieds ..................................................................................... 11 Police L o g ..................................................................................... 12 What’s Happening ...................................................................... 12