New plan announced for room selection process by Amy L Plack Associate Editor Housing lottery - the very mention o f those tw o words invokes fear in some, hatred in those who have suf fered at its unyielding cruelty, and gen eral unhappiness in those who detest spending an entire evening waiting in the Wedge fortheirnum berto be called. Fear no more, folks - the housing lottery has been abolished! T hat’s right - no more lottery! Instead, Residential Services will run a room selection pro cess which, while it will take nearly an entire week to get through, will cut down on lines, keep people on campus who wish to stay, and ease up the process. Kris Neindorf, the assistant direc tor, drew up a proposal for the new system and presented it to the Student G overnm ent Senate in B-term. She based the proposal on “twelve years o f experience at three other institutions,”
the lottery. To make things easier, the - 630 rooms, according to estimates and was impressed with the feedback staff al Residential Services is pre from the Admissions Office. After she received from the senate, which pared to mediate between roommates that, students who wish to rem ain in the helped her put the finishing touches on who both wish to “squat,” but do not same building, but not in the same the proposal so that it could be pul into wish to live together. She feels effect for 1996-97 room se thal, in most cases, such me lection. diation will lead to one room The new system allows The n ew sy ste m a llo w s s tu d e n ts c u rre n tly mate willingly moving to an students currently living on livin g on c a m p u s to " sq u a t," o r rem a in in th e other room in the sam e build campus to “squat,’’or remain sa m e ro o m f o r th e n e x t a c a d e m ic yea r. S tu ing but, if it doesn’t, the staff in the same room for the next d en ts w ish in g to sq u a t w ill g o to R e sid e n tia l will decide who stays and who academ ic year. Students S e rvices on a d e s ig n a te d d a y a n d sign up. wishing to squat will go to Residential Services on a designated day and sign up. If all is harm onious and roommates room, will be allowed to sign up for spaces on a first-come, first-served basis wish to stay together and in the same in the Lower W edge. The next night, room, everything is fine, and they’re finished. students who wish to changes build ings will sign up, again in the Lower Realizing thal this isn’t alw ays the case, N eindorf kept such eventualities W edge, and again on a first-come, firstin mind w hen designing the system. served basis. It sounds a bit disorganized, and The next day, after students who want Neindorf says that, "it'll take two years to stay in the same room have signed up, she will block o ff enough spaces for to get through all the bugs,” but she next year’s incoming first-year students thinks it’s a much belter system than
m oves based on w hen the $50.00 housing deposit from each student is received. Students currently living off-cam pus have a chance, albeit a slim one, to move back on-campus. A student wish ing to live with another student or stu dents currently living on cam pus can have his/her spot reserved when the oncampus student(s) “squats.” The staff at Residential Services will reserve a spot in that student’s name (provided s/ he has turned in a housing deposit) until either the student signs up for it on the
last night o f selection, or until there are no rooms left unreserved for students currently living on-campus. In the case o f the latter. Residential Services will begin filling the reserved spaces with students living on-campus. It’s a big change from the outdated lottery system , says N eindorf, and, while this isn’t exactly a “cutting-edge” system for room selection, it’s a little more up to date - Neindorf knows o f no other schools which still use a lottery system. One inevitable change which even tually will be brought about by this new process will be the designation o f floors and residence halls for certain classes and even genders. For this year, N eindorf says the genders o f all the floors will rem ain the same, and M or gan Hall will probably remain a male, first-year student hall, but that may change in the future. For instance, she predicts that a majority o f the students See Lottery, continued on page 2
The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
PEAK
Tuesday, February 13y 1996
Volume Twenty-four; Number Five
Student government executive candidates square off in debate by Brian P arker A ssociate E ditor L ast T hursday, the low er w edge w as the site o f the annual student governm ent executive candidates d e bates. Dan Hebert, serving as m od e ra to r, d irected q u estio n s from a p a n e l o f r e p r e s e n ta tiv e s fro m S ocC om m , N ew speak, the In tern a tional Student A ssociation, and the P anhellenic Council. Betw een thirty and forty people show ed up for the deb ate s, including the candidates. T here was som e trouble getting all
o f the candidates together, because o f som e previous academ ic co m m it m ents, but everyone who w anted to speak was given the chance. First to g o were the candidates for Vice President: G regory Snow , C raig O ’R ourke II, and C indy V o llaro (Tim othy A dam s w as not present). Greg Snow m entioned in his o pen ing rem arks that “change is th e law o f life” an d m entioned that he has spent the last year fighting for change in the student governm ent. A m ong his accom plishm ents he m entioned the changes to the fiscal structure.
Campus renovation schedule moves along by Amy L Plack Associate Editor W hile this sum mer will most likely not see the renovation o f Alumni G ym nasium towards the upcoming C am pus and Recreation Center, the WPI cam pus will see a lot o f changes. For one thing, the $250,000 renova tion o f West Street will be done. John Miller, director o f W PI’s physical plant, is currently chairing a committee o f stu dents, faculty, and staff whose mission it is to draw up plans for the renovation. Nothing has, as of yet, been set in stone, but final plans should be announced sometime late this term or early in Dterm. Another big project will be the reno vation of Sanford-Riley Hall, which will begin immediately after classes end, according to Kris Neindorf of Residen tial Services. Plans include installation o f an elevator on the Daniels-side o f the building, and replacement of all win dows, furniture, and carpet in the hall. Unfortunately, in order to do the work required on the windows, it appears the legendary ivy will be tom down. For all it’s beauty, the ivy has infiltrated the mortar between the bricks of the build ing and, since minor work is planned on the mortar and front entrance, the ivy will be cut away from the building. The
ivy won’t be the only thing being dis placed. Residential Services predicts the loss o f twelve bed spaces to the elevator shaft, and the Newspeak office will be moved across the hall into an office currently occupied by Plant Ser vices personnel. Come August, how ever, Sanford-Riley will look great, and students moving in will be more than pleased with the improvements. Salisbury Labs will undergo a $1.8 million dollar renovation this summer, although the exact details were not avail able at the time o f this printing. Other projects planned for the notso-distant future include renovation of Daniels and Morgan Halls, as well as some m ajor work on the EllsworthFuller Apartm ents. The original in tent for the apartm ents was that they would be tem porary, with a life o f only twenty years, but they have proved useful to the Institute which most likely cannot afford to dem olish the build ings and build dorm itories on the land. Instead, the apartm ents will be reno vated. New kitchens and bathroom s will be installed, as well as better ven tilation system s, carpet and furniture. No one is certain at this time which of these projects will begin in the Sum mer o f 97, but it is likely that the apartm ents will need their face-lift before Daniels and Morgan Halls.
Valentine's Day Special Feature See pages l O & l l
He stated that there was som e resis tance to change am ong the executive branch o f SGA, while m entioning that he considered his fellow execu tives to be his friends and that he m eant no offense to any o f them (Snow is currently SGA T reasurer). He m entioned that he o ffers leader ship with a vision and said that he intends to keep his prom ises and be accessible to senators and students in general. It is his feeling that the executives should be united; he stated that he is ready to oversee the opera tions of the senate with his running mate, Justin Sprague. Snow was asked w hat could be done to get m ore students involved
in SG A . He responded by saying that SG A should do more to prom ote its ideas and put less o f an em phasis on finances. He also said that sen a tors should do more about going out and so licitin g opinions from people on cam pus. A nother question was raised about people feeling uncom fortable about going into the SGA office. Snow said that the office isn ’t such a bad place and that if more things Iike the exam ination files w ere in th ere, more people w ould com e. He said that his strongest personality traits were his co m m it m ent and dedication. C raig O ’R ourke II was the second can d id ate to speak. He said h e’s
been around W PI for three years and has been active in soccer and o th er g ro u p s lik e w o m e n ’s b a sk e tb a ll. A long the w ay, he stopped in SGA and “upset a few people” ; he said that his tim ing was all w rong. “W hat I w anted to happen c o u ld n ’t be c o n ducted [at that tim e].” But now h e ’s back and h e ’s running for VP be cause he realizes that the cam pus is more than ju s t buildings. S tudent governm ent, O ’R ourke.feels, should be a unify in g force on cam pus; it sh o u ld b rid g e the g ap s b etw een G reeks and non-G reeks, athletes and n on-athletes, etc. He ended by say ing that the apathy on cam pus has to See SGA, continued on page 2
Winter Carnival Fun!
NEWSPEAK STAFF PHOTO / EMILY BRUNKHORST
Lindsey Bullard, Jason Cooper, David Smiley, and Sarah Wilcox play broomball, one of the many events held at the Winter Carnival last weekend.
Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s N e w s ..................................................................................................2 S p o rts................................................................................................ 3 Student Government A ssociation....................................... 4,5,9 Campus N ew s..................................................................................6 A rts & E n tertain m en t............................................................... 7,9 C om m en tary....................................................................................8 le tte r s to the E d ito r...................................................................... 8 \ __________________________ _______________________________
Counseling a n d Student Developm ent C enter....................... 8 C om puting........................................................................................8 Special Valentine's Day F eature....................................... 10,11 Club C o rn e r..................................................................................12 Greek C o rn e r............................................................................... 13 Ugly Man on C am pus.................................................................14 C la ssified s..................................................................................... 15