The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
I n T h i s I s s u e ... ...3 Music review ................ ,...5 Campus Center ...........,...10
Volume Twenty-five, Number Six
Tuesday, February 25, 1997
Over 400 students show support tor Campus Center by Dave Koelle E ditor-in-C hief Emeritus Support for the proposed cam pus center was strong last week as over 40() students attended an open campus meeting last Mon day while nearly 1000 students signed a petition calling for the immediate construction of the cen ter. T he fev ered attitu d e at M onday’s meeting sent a m es sage to the committee in charge of. among other things, authoriz ing the campus center. The com mittee agreed with the students that a campus center should be a high priority. SGA President Matt Freimuth spoke at the meeting on behalf of the students. He spoke about Perreault how for students, a campus cen originally ter has been a dream at WPI since the I920’s, and interest in it surged again in the 1960's. To date however, the efforts ex pended at these two periods o f time have been unfruitful, while millions o f dollars have been spent on other projects. ‘T h e school cannot continue to ignore our voices,” Freimuth said. He then presented a petition calling for the immediate construction of a campus cen ter, which was signed by nearly 1000 stu dents. “This is ridiculous. We’ve been neglected for so long,” echoed Jim Pavlat '97. The committee promised to bring these thoughts to the trustees in the hopes of get ting them to approve the construction of the center.
Courtesy o f WPI News Service
N E W SP E A K S T A F F P H O T O / E l) C A M E R O N
Hall was filled to capacity with attendees of the Cam pus C enter inform ational meeting, to be held in Higgins Labs 116 last M onday night.
Other students wanted to meet with the trust ees face-to-face to express their desire for a campus center. At the trustee meeting on Friday, Janet
“...r ig h t now , we live in a hom e without a living room. ” -SGA President Matt Freimuth
Richardson presented in her report to the trust ees a slide composed o f five points regarding the recent initiatives of the student body: Over 4(X) attended an open campus meeting in sup
port o f the campus center; nearly 1000 stu dents signed a petition for the center; the center should be made the highest priority; the students want to meet with the trustees; and funding should be procured immediately. Freimuth then spoke to the trustees. “The need for a campus center is critical,” Freimuth stated. He mentioned how hun dreds of students make their home at WPI, “and right now we live in a home without a living room.” The trustees agreed that a campus center is needed. For a while, the center has been intended as the cornerstone of the next capi tal campaign, which will be commencing shortly. At least $2.5 million has already See Meeting, continued to page 10
Sacco launches career at Northeastern Courtesy o f WPI News Service Chem ical Engineering D epartm ent Head A lbert Sacco Jr., is leaving WPI to assum e the George A. Snell Chair in Engineering at N ortheastern U niversity, his alm a mater. His resignation, subm itted Feb. 18, is e f fective June 1. An internationally reco g n ized ex p ert on zeo lite cry stal g ro w th , Sacco was a payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Columbia during its 16-day
Milton P. Higgins II, long - time trustee, dies
U.S. M icrogravity Laboratory-2 mission in 1995. S acco received his b a ch e lo r’s degree in N ortheastern in 1973. He was the keynote speaker at the university’s com m encem ent last June, when he was aw arded an honor ary d octorate in engineering for his work with N A SA and for his accom plishm ents in research and education and was named O utstanding Alumnus in Science and Tech nology. He joined the W PI faculty in 1977 after receiving his Ph.D. from MIT and has
been departm ent head since 1989. In 1996 he received the Board o f T ru stees’ Award for O utstanding C reative Scholarship. “WPI w ishes Professor S acco every suc cess in his future at N o rth eastern ,” says WPI Provost John F. Carney III. “ He has been a valuable m em ber o f the WPI com m unity for the past 20 years as a teacher, researcher, departm ent head and m em ber o f num erous boards w orking for the ad vancem ent o f our university. His leader ship and council will be m issed.”
W orcester Polytechnic Institute is sad dened to announce the death o f T rustee M ilton P. H iggins who died February 19lh, at his hom e in W orcester. M ilton and his family have been benefactors of W PI since its founding. His grandfather, for whom he was nam ed, was appointed to the first fac ulty as su p erintendent o f the W ashburn Shops. His father, Aldus C. H iggins, was a 1893 graduate o f WPI, a president o f the WPI Alumni A ssociation, and served as a trustee for alm ost three decades. M ilton H iggins w orked for the b etter ment o f W PI and the W orcester com m u nity throughout his life. He served as a m em ber o r trustee o f practically every m a jo r institution in the com m unity. At W PI, M ilton H iggins served as a trustee for 31 years and as Board C hairm an from 1971 to 1978. His leadership guided the affairs o f W PI at a lim e w hen h ig h e r e d u c a tio n th ro u g h o u t the nation w as being c h a l lenged to seek better ways to serve its con stituents. The WPI Plan that was im ple m ented during his tenure was revolution ary in concept and has helped m aintain W PI’s nationw ide reputation for excellence in undergraduate technological education. He served as chairm an o f the W PI C enten nial Fund (1965-68) which made possible the construction o f G oddard Hall, G ordon Library, and Harrington A uditorium . M ilton would be the first to give credit to others for the significant accom plish ments o f W PI during his tenure as Board C hairm an, and the im portance o f his faith in the institution and his effective leader ship during unusually com plex tim es was beyond m easure. He was a man who cared, w as involved, inspired all those around him, and fostered excellence - all tem pered with a special sense o f hum or and hum il ity. He will be greatly m issed by the entire W PI com m unity. Expressions o f sym pathy may be addressed to his wife, Alice, and their five children, at: 757 Salisbury Street, W orcester, MA 01609