The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
T uesday, N o v e m b e r 10, 1 9 9 8
W e a t h e r ... Today: Possible showers. Highs 50’s Tomorrow: Breezy and possible show ers. Highs 55 to 60 Thursday: Partly cloudy and cooler. Highs 40’s to 50’s
V o lu m e T w en ty-six , N u m b e r T w e n ty -o n e
Sold into Service: APO Service Auction by Jon Barlow APO Publicity Chair Alpha Phi Omega held its annual service auction last Wednesday night, October 4. Fast-talking auc tioneer Matt Grabowski led the bid ders through lot after lot as WPI faculty and students supplied ser vices to be auctioned off for char ity. As is the tradition, the person or group who raises the most
money during the evening gets to decide how the proceeds from the event will be used. This year, Interstate 8 - W PI’s own no fella a capella group -sold for the most money, beating out last year’s winners SHM and the din ner for four supplied by Chartwell’s. The group volunteered to give a personal half-hour concert for the highest bidder. Tony Zamarro beat out the other bidders to claim his
personal concert. 18 plans to do nate all the money raised during the event to the American Lung Asso ciation. Some of the other items auctioned off include: a canoe trip with Prof. Pierson, desserts made by Chrys Demetry, a loaf of oatmeal bread, and hard physical labor supplied by vari ous students. Approximately thirty different services were put up for auction during the event. Winning
bids ranged from $3.75 to over $ 100. Anyone willing to drop a few dollars could go away with something - or someone. One student remarked on leaving the event, “I got a plate of cookies, a song, and my roommate to do laundry.” APO would again like to thank everyone who was willing to put themselves on the auction block for a good cause. We hope to see you all again next year.
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Dozens of U. Penn students sick after eating at dining halls by Ben Geldon Daily Pennsylvanian (U-WIRE) PHILADELPHIA, Penn. — An outbreak of nausea and vomiting that many students charge was linked to tainted food in the three main University din ing halls struck at least three dozen people Tuesday night, though the actual total could be almost twice that. Penn officials disputed the food-poisoning claims, saying the illnesses were likely the result of an influenza like bug. The exact number of victims is unclear, with official and unoffi cial tallies varying wildly. Univer sity spokesperson Ken Wildes said last night that 30 to 35 stu dents visited Student Health Ser vices or the Hospital of the Uni versity of Pennsylvania, and sev eral more called to ask for medical advice. Many also suffered symp toms but did not seek medical ad vice, students said last night. University and Philadelphia public-health officials are inves tigating the maladies, Wildes said. The bulk of the illness reports came from Hill College House, where some residents estimated that as many as 50 students had become sick since dinner Tuesday
night. At least a dozen more stu dents from other parts of campus reported similar symptoms, many students said. ‘There’s no common thread that would tie [the illnesses] to food,” Wildes said. “The thinking now is that it is not food-related. It’s some sort of a viral infection.” Additionally, there was no one food that all the sick students ate. Many sick students, however, said their doctors told them it was food poisoning. Wildes said laboratory tests to determine the source of the ill nesses are already underway, and results will be back in a few days. According to people who were at HUP’s emergency room Tues day night, there were at least 11 people in the waiting room with food-poisoning symptoms. Students reported many symp toms, including vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, fevers and headaches. In addition to Hill, several stu dents who had eaten Tuesday night in Stouffer Dining Commons and Class of 1920 Commons said they had gotten severely ill in the 24 hours following dinner. Officials at Dining Services re fused to comment, referring calls to Wildes. Wildes said several students
who had not eaten at the dining halls also reported similar symp toms, which he cited as evidence that the illnesses were not from food poisoning. Most of the sick students seem to have been from Hill, where resi dent Andy Schaps, an Engineer ing junior, said up to 50 Hill resi dents were showing symptoms of food-poisoning, though not all had gone to the hospital. H ill Faculty Master James O ’ Donnell said many students in his residence had become sick, but he had not received an exact count. Hill House Dean Tracy Feld also sent an e-mail to all 540 residents urging stu dents who felt sick to seek medi cal attention. One Hill resident who fell vic tim to the malady, College sopho more Seth Scanlon, said doctors told him that “dozens and dozens” of students came in throughout the night complaining of similar symptoms. Several graduate associates at Hill confirmed that many students in their suites had been hospital ized. Scanlon said he was feeling nauseous and threw up for two hours before he decided to go to HUP.
Once there, doctors gave him antibiotics and an intravenous sa line solution to hydrate him. He stayed in the ER for more than 12 hours. Other students reported similar treatment. “It was pretty bad,” Scanlon said. “I didn’t think I could keep anything down.” Another Hill House resident, who requested anonymity, said she was “in excruciating pain” and “was throwing up for two hours.” Scanlon said the doctors had ordered him to stay away from solid foods for 24 hours, and then to stick with bland foods like rice or applesauce for several days. In addition to the students from Hill, there were several confirmed cases in the Quadrangle and the high rises. College sophomore Nick Kruse, a Hill resident, said he went to Student Health yesterday morn ing and saw several other stu dents with similar symptoms. During his four-hour stay, more and more students were arriving and several additional doctors showed up to handle the tide, Kruse said. Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Jeremy Reiss contributed to this report.
Muslims at USC protest movie by Janet Chang Daily Trojan (U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Muslim students at USC say they are fearful of the portrayal of muslims that may falsely link ter rorism and Islam in the new film “The Siege,” which opens today in theaters nationwide. ‘The Siege,” released by Twen tieth Century Fox, stars Denzel Washington and Annette Bening as government officials and Bruce Willis as a military general tackling a series of terrorist bombings in New York. The film has generated contro versy over negative portrayals and mistaken connections of Muslim and Arab cultures with terrorism. Muslim students at USC have joined several national Muslim or ganizations to express concern that the film may enforce stereotypes that could affect the way others view the Muslim culture. “We already have enough prob lems with stereotyping that we face everyday,” said Sultan Al-Harbi, the president of the Muslim Student Association at USC. “Why do movie makers want us to face more hate and more misun derstanding?” said Al-Harbi, a graduate student in computer en gineering. “It is a clear invitation against basic human rights.” Al-Harbi said that he can under
stand the concern over the film al though he has not yet seen it, be cause he has been the victim of ste reotypes. While running an informative exhibit on Islam on Trousdale Park way in late September some stu dents screamed “terrorist” at AlHarbi and fellow MSA student members, he said. “It is really intimidating some times,” said Rashed Alabbar, a se nior majoring in computer engineer ing. “Somebody who doesn’t know me personally sees the movie and looks at me and has a premeditated reaction. People feel segregated from us.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations has expressed con cern as to how the public might perceive the way Muslims are rep resented in “The Siege.” “Once we watched it, it was worse than we could have ever imagined,” said Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of the Coun cil on American-Islamic Relations of Southern California. ‘They specifically portray the details of Islam and its religious practices, the dress, the beards, re inforcing stereotypes.” In April, CAIR members met with the producer and director of the film, Edward Zwick, and after screening the film, suggested some changes in the film’s script. Al though some of the changes were
accepted, the producers refused to change many parts of the script link ing images of Islamic culture with terrorism, Ayloush said. “Stereotypes were introduced and left unchallenged,” Ayloush said. “Muslims are shown doing rituals and religious practices and these im ages are intercut with images of ter rorism. They show ritual cleaning and prayer, then Muslims attacking schools and blowing up buses.” Al-Harbi said he has read re views on ‘The Siege” and has had discussions with Muslim commu nity leaders about what they find troubling. ‘They show a man praying, then bombing people,” he said. “People around me will think 1am making the ceremony for bombing them while I am simply praying. How will people respect my holy book, '.The Qur’an,’ while they are told that it supports killing innocent people?” , Other Muslims felt that the film does not help straighten out nega tive assumptions about the reli gion. “I have been personally attacked because of what I believe to be the media’s portrayal of the actions of a few,” said Shariffa Carlo, who is married to Al-Harbi. Although not a USC student, she actively partici pates in MSA-USC events. “We don’t want the public to see the violent characters in the movie acting in the name of Islam. Most
people don’t have a clear picture of Muslims when they see the movie, and this is dangerous for Mus lims,” Carlo said. She said was driv ing to help with a campus Islam ex hibit when someone shouted “ter rorist” at her as well. In order to counteract the nega tive stereotypes that might result from the movie, CAIR has initiated a proactive informational cam paign.” “We are going to the premieres of the movies in different locations to hand out pamphlets about Is lam,” Carlo said. Similar events have been planned in communities across the country. The pamphlets make an effort to correct the negative images in the movie by trying to separate fact from fiction, organizers said. One of the false images they outlined is: ‘Terrorists blow up bombs in pub lic places in the name of Islam.” This statement is challenged by a excerpt out of the Qur’an which states: “SAnd whoever kills an in nocent soul, it is as if he killed the entire humanity.” The pamphlet accompanies a public invitation to mosque open houses in locations within their community to learn more about the American Muslim community. There are an estimated six million Muslims in this country and some 1.2 billion worldwide. Islam is one of America’s fastest growing religions.
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R o a d Dispatches
Ken and Steve fin a lly reach the Grand Canyon on their way across the coun try. Find out how the broth ers faired on their horse ride in Arizona. Pg.3
S t r e e t ... W h a t Tradition do W P I students like best? There are many W P I Tra ditions, here are what some
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fe llo w students thought o f their fa vorites.
L e t t e r s ... M u c h disputed topic When do we get more ac cess to our own facilities?.
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C o n t e n t s ... Sports...................................3 Gaming............................... 4 Road Dispatches.................... 4 WestStreet House.................. 6 International House............. 6 Computing...........................7 Arts & Entertainment............ 7 tetters to the Editor............... 7 Editorials............................. 7 Club Corner......................... 8 SGA Elections.................... 10 Announcements.................. 11 Classifieds.......................... 11 Comics............................... 11 Police Log.......................... 12