The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
W e a t h e r ... Today: Partly sunny. High around 50. Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy. High 55 to 60. Thursday: Partly cloudy. High around 50.
Tuesday, November 9, 1999
Volume Twenty-Seven, Number Twenty-One
Autocross Club pulls ahead of Brown FSAE at recent Horseneck Beach race by Kenneth Cho Class o f '00 H o rsen eck B each - T he W PI Autocross Club secured a l st place victory against Brown U niversity’s Form ula SAE (Society o f A utom o tive E ng in eers) Team . D espite W PI’s many unfortunate technical difficulties, the WPI AutoX Club relied on its racing and driver ex pertise to extract the first place tro phy. Brow n U niversity entered the SCCA SOLO event for its first time and brought its latest ’99 FSAE car to com pete with. Although WPI brought its ’96 and ’97 FSAE cars, the ’97 car suffered from engine problem s and could not be entered into competition, despite its advan tages in vehicle design and perfor mance. With competent skills and consistent lap times, Brown m an aged to maintain the lead in the first three o f four heats with a low lap time o f 52.020 seconds. During the third heat, WPI fresh man Chris Cam m ack, an ex p eri enced autocross driver, lost control of the car and landed in the hilly
A night at the Pops
sand dunes. The accident, which was caused by a faulty steering wheel attachm ent, caused heavy damage to the car bodywork, elec tronics, and front suspension link age. Quick teamwork in the pits re sulted in minimal downtime and the WPI car was again running strong with a new ly fitted main pow er sw itch and suspension rod end. However, the nose was dam aged beyond repair and the AutoX Club was forced to finish the com peti tion sans nose in the fourth heat. Still in the third heat, Brown suf fered from a gas leak at the fuel pres sure gauge. With the assistance o f its hired mechanic, Brown was back the race again. In the fourth heat and last heat, Brown still maintained the lead. How ever, W PI graduate student Eric Detmer managed to power a 51.911 second lap time from the handicapped ’96 WPI car and secured the best time in the FSAE division. A failure in the steering linkage prevented Brown from completing further lap times, leaving Detmer's coveted lap time to stand alone.
PHOTOS COURTESEY OF SARAH THEMM
Above: Members o f the African Percussion and Dance Ensemble groove to the beat of a different kind of drum. Left: Stage Band delights the audience with a variety of world sounds.
Concert anything but ordinary by Catherine Raposa Class o f '02
WOWI safety walk gives pointers on campus safety By Jennifer Scheipers Class o f '03 Last Tuesday, November 2,1999, WOWI (Women On W om en’s Is sues) and the Healthy Alternatives O ffice sponsored a cam pus-w ide safety walk open to males and fe males. The walk around the cam p u s w as lead by O ffic e r R on M cKendrick, a state police trooper. The purpose of the walk was to pro mote awareness and help teach stu dents and faculty how to avoid dan gerous situ atio n s in w hich they might have to defend themselves. For those o f you who w eren’t able to attend, w e’d like to review a few key points that we discussed on the walk. Stay in well-lit areas. W hile this is not always going to protect you, it will help make it easier to see an attacker coming toward you. Stay alert. If you are looking around and making eye contact with the p eo p le you pass, you com e across as less o f a victim to attack ers and appear more aware o f your surroundings. Time is your ally. If you can take a safer path that might be longer or wait for a SNAP van to com e pick you up, that is probably a lot safer
C O N T E N T S... News ............................................2 Goat's Head .............................. J Arts & Entertainment...............4 Club Com er ............................ H Letters to the Editor................. 8 Movie Review........................... 9 Announcements.....................10 Classifieds..............................II Comics.................................... II Crossword Companion.......... II Police Log .............................. 12 What's Happening................ 12 — — — — — ........ ... ......................................... . ..
than laktng a path you are unfam il iar with or a path that may be dan gerous. Don't cut through parking lots. Not only can som eone be hiding behind cars, but they can be in them too. If you’re not parked in that lot, d o n ’t cut through it. If you are parked there, walk through the open areas (w here the cars norm ally drive) to your car. Though you need to watch for cars, it is actually safer to walk in the middle o f the driving lane than on the side. Walk in the middle o f an open ing or so that you can see around o b je c ts an d co rn ers better. As y o u ’re w alking around a corner, stay far from the building so you can see around it. If you’re exiting a passageway between two build ings, walk in the middle so that you can see around both sides o f the buildings more clearly. Always look fo r an escape route o r somewhere you could get help. Try not to walk through an area where all your escape routes can be easily blocked. B etw een two buildings, for instance, is easy to block off. Avoid bad areas. If you see a See Safety, continued to page 2
On Saturday night. Alden Memorial was filled with the sound o f wailing saxophones and thumping drums. It was the Annual Pops Concert presented by the WPI Concert, Stage and Jazz bands along with special guests the W orcester Youth Ballet and the Af rican Percussion and Dance Ensemble. Parents, students, and Worcester natives arrived to a night o f exciting music, from classi cal Jazz pieces to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace theme. Douglas Weeks, the Director o f the Concert Band, lead his large See Pops, continued on page 10
WPI devotes time, money to renovations Courtesy o f WPI Communications Group W ORCESTER, Mass. - The big gest ticket item involved an over haul and rehabilitation of Morgan Hall, a massive brick building on In stitute Road encompassing a resi dence facility, dining hall, meeting rooms and offices. That job alone cost W orcester Polytechnic Insti tute $4.1 million. Besides the M or gan renovation, WPI spent another $1.7 million keeping its plant and property in top shape this summer. “A busy summer,” John E. Miller, director o f W PI’s physical plant, said understatedly in a recent re port to President Edw ard Alton Parrish. “My people did a good job.” Here are a few of the jobs Miller and his people pulled off over the summer:
W hat's Inside... Meet the Goat Keepers J o e F itz p a tric k , K a tie A rch e r, Frederick John Tan, and Britt Noga keep the tradition alive.
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•New chemical engineering labs were added to Gtxldard Hall and Olin Hall. •An expanded biochemistry lab improved the Goddard Hall facili ties. •Three new faculty offices were constructed in Stratton Hall; 23 others were refurbished. •Classroom renovations (which are still going on) included: •Two new computer science labs in Fuller Laboratories. •New air conditioning, paint, fur niture, lighting, acoustic treatment and writing surfaces in Salisbury Laboratories’ room 11. •New projection screen, carpet, painting, ceiling, lighting, furniture, writing surfaces and window treat ment improved Kaven Hall, room 204. •New projection screen and new d ra p e s fo r a c o u stic p u rp o se s
Director visits WPI with film about African-American struggles in Japan "Global Affairs invited Harlem-born pro ducer/director Regge Life to W PI on Thurs, 28 O ct, w h ere he p re s e n te d h is film 'Struggle and S u c c e s s : The African Ameri can Experience in Japan'"
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spruced up Higgins Laboratories’ room 114. •New furniture and projection screen for Washburn Shops, room 323. Then there are the peripheral neig h b o rh o o d p ro p ertie s, often rented to faculty and sta ff or used as o ffice space. T hree o f these were repainted and three w ere re roofed The renovation of Morgan Hall is part o f a four-year, $14 million project to refurbish and modernize W PI’s residence facilities. Similar renovations have been com pleted on Daniels Hall, with other resi dence halls to follow. In all, during the sum m er of 1999, M iller and his people com pleted m ore than 20 major projects and 15 other minor ones. W ho says a univ ersity slow s down in the summer?
HIV Quiz How much do you really know about HIV and A ID S ? What you know could save your life...
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