The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
ewspeak St. Patrick's Day Edition
Volume Twenty-six, Number Seven
UMass student dead after fall by Leigh Faulkner Massachusetts Daily Collegian (U. Massachusetts-Amherst) (U-W1RE) AMHERST, Mass. — U n iv e rs ity o f M a s s a c h u s e tts sophomore Andrew B. Sala, 19, of M endon died on the m orning of M arch lO1” after allegedly falling from a window in Cashin Residence Hall. S ala’s body was found on the first-floor ledge of Cashin at ap proximately 8:30 a.m. According to a press release is sued by the University News of fice, UM ass police were notified about the incident by a Resident A ssistan t and they im m ediately called the Amherst Fire department for an ambulance. “Ambulance personnel were un able to assist due to obvious signs o f death. At that time, the medical e x a m in e r w as c a lle d and p ro nounced him dead,” the press re lease stated. Very little information was known about Sala’s cause o f death Tues day night. “He was found this morning. A residen t o f Cashin aw akened to raise his shade and saw A ndrew’s body there. At this time we have no indication o f how long he may have been there,” Dean of Students Jo-Anne Vanin said in a press con ference last night. Although it has not been deter mined that Sala fell out his fifth floor room window, Vanin said the w in dow s in Sylvan residence halls “are split windows that open in and out,
as opposed to up and dow n.” Cashin resident, freshman Mel issa Johnson, who lives on the sec ond floor, said screens exist on the bottom part of the windows but not on the top. Johnson said she w oke up be fore 9am to commotion outside her window.
“I heard police officers and their walkie talkies. So I got up to look out my window and I saw him lay ing on the first floor balcony,” she said. U M ass P o lic e C h ie f Jo h n Luippold would not com m ent on the investigation, however cam pus and state police are w orking to
gether to investigate the incident. No foul play is suspected. The U niversity is waiting for re sults from the M edical Exam iner’s Office for the cause of death, Vanin said. Follow ing investigations con ducted yesterday, Vanin said there See Umass Death, Cont. to pg2
Massachusetts academy teacher to receive presidential award Courtesy o f WPI News Service Joshua Abram s o f R oslindale, M ass., a master teacher o f math e m a tic s at th e M a s s a c h u s e tts Academy of M athematics and Sci ence at WPI, will receive one of the n atio n ’s highest com m endations for K-12 math and science teach ers. He has been selected for a Presi dential Award for Excellence in M athematics and Science Teaching by the National Science Founda tion. Abrams previously was one o f three finalists from M assachu setts to receive a state award. The letter o f notification noted that “your exceptional talent, lead ership abilities and dedication as a teacher are qualities that place you a m o n g th e r e c ip ie n ts o f th e nation’s highest honor for m ath em atics and science teaching. You stand firmly am ong the nation’s b e st s c ie n c e and m a th e m a tic s teachers.” Abrams will be honored in Wash ington, D.C. in June during a four-
day event that will include a m eet ing with members of the executive branch of the government, a din ner cruise on the Potomac, and an awards cerem ony at the National Academy of Sciences followed by a reception and dinner at the State Department. Awardees will also attend seminars and engage in pro fessional d iscu ssio n s w ith their peers and with national legislators and educational policy makers. The award includes a $7,500 grant to the academy for the school’s sci ence and mathem atics program. “T h is aw ard is te stim o n y to Josh’s innovative approach to the teaching of mathematics, and to his relentless goal o f connecting the learning o f m athem atics to real world applications,” said academy director James Hamos. In 1996 and 1997 Abrams served as the conference chair of the First and Second Annual Conference on Mathematical Modeling in the Sec ondary Classroom . Sponsored by the academ y, the M assachusetts Department o f Education, the Alii-
NEW SPEAK A R CH IV E P H O T O
WPI President Edward A. Parrish
WPI President Edward A. Par rish, in a State o f the University m eeting to the WPI community to day, addressed W PI’s present po sitio n , o p p o rtu n itie s and c h a l lenges in both a local and national context and how costs impact the U niversity’s strategic position. At the luncheon meeting held at Al den M em orial H all, Parrish ad dressed the big question of how can institutions cut costs while im proving quality, maintaining com petitiveness, and m eeting the de m ands o f students and their par ents for the am enities they expect. Parrish also cited the recent Na tional Commission on the Cost of
Higher Education, Straight Talk About C ollege Costs and Prices, and how it m ade convincing argu ments that higher education is a good investment and that expenses are not out o f control. “Controlling costs is a national issue,” he said “and WPI is facing it squarely with aca d e m ic p ro g ra m s re v ie w e d against performance criteria and by addressing our financial aid strate gies. We are also experim enting with Program-Based Budgeting and a major reengineering effort. Last fall, for example, we implemented a W eb-based re g istra tio n system that not only saves money, but also makes the course registration pro cess faster and more convenient for stu dents.” In a separate letter to parents of
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Th e N a t i o n . thousands o f com puters nationwide crashed after an In te rn e t-b a s e d a tta c k on M onday. The attack affected computers running the Microsoft Windows 95 operating system and Winm m rs-2 PH O TO C O U R TESY O F W PI N E W S SER V IC E
Joshua Abrams ance for Education and WPI, the program featured hands-on work shops by classroom teachers, cur riculum researchers and professors at W PI, M ount Holyoke and Smith colleges. In 1996 he received the M a ssa c h u se tts A sso c ia tio n for S u p e rv is io n and C u rric u lu m D evelopm ent’s Peter Farrelly Edu cator Award for excellence in creat ing learner-centered classrooms.
President Parish addresses State of the University, challenges and needs Courtesy o f WPI News Service
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W P I s tu d e n ts P a rris h h ig h lighted these above item s and noted a five-year plan for tuition and fees that addresses invest ments in specific initiatives that will im mediately benefit current students. This five-year plan will increase tuition and fees for the 1 9 9 8 -9 9 a c a d e m ic y e a r to $20,648, and to $22,108 the fol lowing year and then closely tie them to the rate o f inflation the final th ree years. R oom and board will increase 5.5 percent for the coming year. The increase will bring W PI’s price closer to its peers and more in line with current program quality. Noting that the cost to educate a single See President, Cont. to pg5
Sp o r t s . T 'he W orcester IceC ats faltered nine seconds into o v e rtim e g iv in g up a sh o rthanded goal to the Flam es’ Eric Landry.. ^
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Contents. N ew s......................................2-5 National N ews.........................2 Sports........................................7 Arts & Entertainment.... 9,12-15 West Street House...................10 Computing.............................12 Editorial.................................11 Letters to the Editor............... 11 Club C om er...........................16 Announcements.................... 17 Star Search.............................IS Classifieds.........................«... 19 Comics....................................19 Police L og ..............................20 What's Happening................ 20