The Student Newspaper o f Worcester Polytechnic Institute
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Tuesday, Septem ber 22, 1998
Volume Twenty-six, Number Seventeen
New Class Ring program promotes WPI Traditions by Justin Greenough News Editor T his w eek, Jostens Inc, along with the W PI Ring Com m ittee and the WPI Alumni Association will sh o w ca se its new C lass R in g , which was unveiled on April 15lh of this year. T he new ring design is the initial step in a new program, which will promote WPI traditions and unity. Last year, a com m ittee o f stu dents, adm inistration and alumni was formed to design a uniform ring for the Institute. “The students and the Alum ni association wanted to return to an old tradition o f having ju s t one W P I c la ss r in g ,” c o m m e n te d
Jo sten s rep resen tative Joe Butz. “ To c h o o s e th e d e sig n , we brainstorm ed all o f the sym bols that students thought represented W PI.” Som e o f the sym bols the stu dents chose included Earl Bridge, the School Seal, the Twin Towers and G om pei’s Goat Head. In the end, the design incorporated three o f these items. These included the Twin Towers on one side of the ring, the goat’s head on the other side and school seal and crest, interwo ven with a garnet stone on the top o f the ring, garnet being the clos est gem in color to W PI’s traditional Crimson. “You can’t wear your Diploma,” com m ented Joe Butz, “But when
you wear this new ring, everyone who know’s WPI will easily recog nize you as a graduate, wherever you go.” Also, as part o f the new “Ring Program” , the Alumni Association will be holding a Ring Presentation Ceremony at Higgins House in De cember. Every student who ordered a ring will be invited to the recep tion, at which they are hoping to have President Parrish preside. Butz noted that the new design was already doing its job, even in the short time the ring was offered to Seniors last April. “We saw an increase of almost double o u r sales from previous years,” noted Butz, “We would re ally like to see the number of partici
pants in the Ring program reach two to three hundred students per year.” Other schools which have tried this program include: MIT, Geor gia Tech and many o f the Armed Forces Academies. Each has had its own successes. Representatives from Jostens will be on-hand in the Wedge beginning this week and will be taking orders during Homecoming Weekend, O c tober 1SI, 2nd and 3rd. Orders may be made from 10:00am until 4:00pm in the Wedge. All Juniors and Seniors are eligible to purchase a ring and Josten’s will be offering a $50 dis count off the price of a 14Karat ring to Juniors who purchase at this time. Rings will be presented at the recep tion on December S ^ a t 7:30pm.
A &E
Fraternity Indicted on Charges of Manslaughter, Hazing by Douglas E. Heimburger The Tech (U-WIRE) CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The MIT chaptcr of Phi Gamma Delta has been indicted by a Suf folk C ounty grand ju ry on one count o f m an slau g h ter and one count of hazing following the death o f Scott S. Krueger ’01 last fall. In announcing the indictments, Suffolk County District Attorney Ralph C. M artin II said they “arc based upon specific actions that occurred on the night o f Septem ber 27, and that those actions were related to traditional pledge event sponsored and sanctioned” by Fiji. The fraternity as a whole “acted in a reckless and w anton w ay,” which fits the criminal definition of manslaughter, Martin said. MIT, the Malcolm Cotton Brown Corporation, which owns the Fiji house, and sp ecific in d iv id u als were not indicted yesterday. The fraternity as a collective body was indicted because “a cer tain set of events was set into play by the fra te rn ity th at led to [K rueger’s] ingestion o f alcohol,” Martin said. Those “living at the house at the time o f the death” make up the Phi Gamma Delta group indicted, said James Borghesani, press secretary for Martin. T he grand jury investigation, which lasted for over 11 months, initially focused on the individuals nearest to the incident, Martin said. The investigation later moved to the organizations involved in the event, such as the Fiji fraternity.
W hile charges were considered against MIT, Martin and his staff decided not to prosecute the Insti tute. While the decision not to pros ecute was closely debated, the o f fice was fairly united in its opinion that a conviction could not be ob tained, Martin said. W hile M assachusetts law does not differentiate specifically be tw een voluntary and involuntary m anslaughter, the case will be tried as an involuntary m anslaughter case, Borghesani said. The indictments were sealed be tw een M onday, w hen the grand ju ry returned the indictment, and yesterday to avoid the illusion that they were being released during the prim ary elections in an attempt to bury the news, M artin said. K rueger died on Sept. 29 last year after spending three days in a com a from acute alcohol ingestion. Prosecutors allege he was served and ingested alcohol as part o f a pledge event at the fraternity. No individual charges T he d istrict attorney and the g ran d ju ry decid ed not to press charges against individuals at the fraternity. "All we can do is bring the avail able charges and perhaps put other fraternities on warning” about the potential consequences for alcohol abuse, Martin said. W hile the grand jury did dis c o v er who am ong the fraternity purchased the alcohol, “merely go ing to the store on an errand is not re c k le ss and w anton c o n d u c t,” M artin said, and thus it did not fit the requirem ents for manslaughter.
“My office determined that the indictments should be aimed at the fraternity that promoted and orches trated the activities that ultimately led to Scott K rueger’s death, not at the people who were sent on a pur chasing errand,” Martin said. “If there had been one person who stood in the place o f this orga n iz a tio n ” that e v e n in g , “ they would be held re sp o n sib le ” for Krueger’s death, Martin added. Although the individuals at the fraternity were not charged with felonies, they may still face pros ecution from Boston Police for mis demeanor charges related to alco hol possession and consumption, Martin said. Those issues alone are not handled as part o f a grand jury process. Krueger’s parents and their at torney, Leo F Boyle, signaled yes terday that they will likely sue indi vidual m em bers who were con nected to the event. Charges uncommon in state The decision to criminally charge a fraternity with manslaughter and hazing is unusual, Martin said. Under common law, unincorpo rated groups can be sued, Martin said. A ttorneys for the d istric t attorney’s office concluded that the law could reasonably be extended so that unincorporated groups can be indicted. “It is unusual but there is prece dent,” said Suffolk University Law Professor Mark G. Perlin. “We have many cases that corporations have been indicted with manslaughter.” The group will be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on O ct.l.
Music Technology projects on-line by Tim Miranda Class o f ‘99 W hether you arc interested in acoustic design of studios, teach ing high school music theory, or working with the latest profes sional digital recording eq u ip ment, the WPI M usic Division has a project for you. The Music Division has forged several exciting alliances with lo cal businesses, schools, and or ganizations. All o f these project locations are close to WPI, and are easily accessible to any stu dent. Students can conduct their Suf ficiencies, IQ P’s, or an indepen dent study project at these sites. Some projects can be completed
in one term, while others will be spread across several terms. For example, at the Audio Palace, near the Centrum , students get to work as a recording engineer, as sisting with professional record ings. Students can get experience with CD mastering, midi recording, sequencing, and digital processing. Students also have the opportunity to help record “on-location” con certs. Students interested in acoustics and studio design can work with W CCA TV to improve the sound quality o f live broadcasts and m u sic perform ances. The project will culm inate with the production of a music video that shows off the new studio and audio layout. At Notre Dame Academy, stu
dents can apply their knowledge o f music theory w hile gaining great education experience. Stu dents can teach a variety o f mu sic topics at this private high school, from instrum ental and choral groups to general music theory. Those are just a sampling o f the many exciting projects available th rough the M u sic D iv isio n . Many of these projects are sched uled to start next term, so if you are looking for a Suff, IQP. or an ISP, you should definitely check out the listin g o f a v a ila b le projects. This listing of all music and mu sic technology projects is avail able at http://www.wpi.edu/+music, under the “Projects” option.
Martin said that he expected an at torney representing the group to appear on that day, but added that he was unsure who exactly would represent the group. Under M assachusetts law, man slaughter can be punished by in carceration for up to twenty years, or by a fine o f up to $ 1,000 and im prisonment for up to two and one half years. Hazing can be punished by a fine o f up to $3,000 and impris onment for up to one year. With organizations, however, fi nancial penalties are generally the only ones exerted, Perlin said. “You cannot in carcerate an o rganiza tion.” Prosecutors confirm ed that no one would serve jail time if convic tions are obtained from the indict m ents, the A ssociated Press re ported. Fiji is most likely the first frater nity to be charged with manslaugh ter in the country, Martin said, and it is also the first to be charged with hazing in recent memory. O ther fraternities have faced lesser charges for recent drinking deaths. Last month, the Louisiana State University chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon pleaded no-contest to 86 counts o f purchasing alcohol for underage drinkers and agreed to pay $22,600 in fines. In 1997, a 20-year-old SA E pledge at LSU died after ingesting alcohol. T he chapter closed after the incident. M IT administrators criticized While the grand jury decided not to indict MIT, Martin nonetheless criticized the Institute for not chang ing its housing system earlier. “It is clear that the administra tion moved too slowly in address ing a trouble-plagued fraternity and in addressing the larger issues of inadequate housing capacity for MIT freshm en.” Martin said there was no agree ment between the District Attorney and M IT reg ard in g its housing changes since the incident. At W ednesday’s faculty m eet ing, President Charles M. Vest said that external factors played a role in the A ug. 25 decision to house all freshm en on cam pus. How ever, “there was and is no a g re e m e n t that the g rand ju ry w ould, o r w ould not, take any specific action in exchange for de cisions about freshm an housing or dealing with dangerous drink ing or any other matter,” Vest said. In a statem ent released after the decision, Dean o f Students and
See Hazing, continued to page 2
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Kansas Fest and the Apple II From indoor frisbee to the sharing o f steak and song. K ansasFest is as m uch ab o u t the people as it is the com puter. P^4M
Long Distance Love O nce th at p e rso n is not a ro u n d a n y m o re , you’ll find that quickly changes. You still love them , but you learn to live w ithout them and then find you still want som eone in your life,
Contents
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Sports ................................................ Person on the Street ..................... 5 West Street H ouse ......................... 8 International H ou se ...................8 Editorial .......................................... 8 Arts & Entertainment................. V Club C orner ................................ 12 Commentary .......................... 13-14 Announcements ......................... 15 Classifieds .................................... 15 Com ics ............................................15 Police Ijo g .................................... 16 What's Happening .................... 16