The Student Newspaper of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
W e a t h e r ... Today: Chance o f flurries. High near 40. Wednesday: C onsiderable cloudiness. High around 40.
Thursday: Fair. High 45 to 50.
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Tuesday November 16, 1999
Volume Twenty-Seven, Number Twenty-two
WPI Celebrates Founders Day Joe Frawley Class o f ‘03 On N ovem ber 11, this nation celebrated Veterans Day. This holi day gives the A m erican people th e o p p o r tu n ity to re m e m b e r those w ho h av e m ade an e n o r m ous contribution to the U nited States. On the sam e day W PI cel ebrated Founders Day, when we rem em ber not ju s t those people who created W orcester P olytech nic Institute 131 years ago, but also those w ho have contributed to W P I’s history. On Founders Day, WPI holds many events to com m em orate and celebrate W PI’s history. O ne o f the central events is the G allery o f A rtifacts. T he artifacts that w ere at the G allery were lent by m any o f the o rg a n iz a tio n s and d e p a rtm e n ts o n c a m p u s. T h e Physics D epartm ent, for exam ple, lent equipm ent that past W PI stu dents w ould have used such as voltm eters and ohm m eters. The P hysical E ducatio n D epartm ent lent sp o rts e q u ip m e n t used by form er W PI stu d e n ts such as a basketball and a uniform . T here w ere new spapers that would have been seen by W PI students who
WPI Fraternity’s annual food drive places it among the top in nation
had been here in the late 1950s. At the G allery o f A rtifacts there were student handbooks that stu den ts w ould have receiv ed had they been stu d en ts a t d iffere n t points ranging from the 1960s to the 1980s. T here w ere m any other events to mark Founders Day on campus. At m idday there was a birthday cake for W P I’s birthday. Channel 12 sh o w ed both F o u n d ers Day Pop-U p V ideo and a video about Founders day every fifteen m in utes. From one o ’clock to three o ’clock there was a live goat on the Q uad. There w ere also sev eral different m usical groups that perform ed at the fountain such as S im p le H a rm o n ic M o tio n , the Trom bone Ensem ble, the A frican Percussion E nsem ble, and Inter state 8 . Bernie B row n, w ho is the Vice President for Student Affairs, delivered the Founders Day ad dress. C elebrity Squares was held Thursday night, w hich is one of th e e v e n ts o f th e F re s h m a n Sophom ore rivalry. Founders Day gives the W PI com m unity the o p p o r tu n ity to a p p r e c ia te th o se who have m ade W orcester Poly technic Institute the college it is today.
COURTESY OF WPI COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity’s recent food drive was a “huge success” according to brothers at the WPI chapter. The brothers collected 50,755 pounds o f food for the Worcester County Food Bank and Friendly House, a local shelter. About 75 brothers collected the food over several weeks from more than 17,000 homes. The WPI chapter placed sixth in the nation for the most food collected. Friendly House officials noted that the efforts will mean Thanksgiving baskets for 4,000 families.
WPI President helps inaugurate scientific talks with China Courtesy o f WPI Communications Group BEIJING - In the world o f science and technology, national borders and state secrets are blurring and breaking dow n. W hen so m uch knowledge is available at the click o f a mouse over the Internet, how do scientists deal with sensitive research? M oreover, when the goal is to solve global problems such as AIDS or environm ental issues, can we afford to keep what we know to ourselves? These were the kinds o f questions posed at the first SinoU.S. Joint Science Policy Seminar in Beijing at the end o f October. Among the invited speakers at this first in a decade-long series o f talks was W orcester Polytechnic Insti tu te P re s id e n t E d w a rd A lto n Parrish. He w as am ong an elite group o f 12 government, scientific and engineering leaders from the United States, with a like number from China, w ho attended. Within that group, seven were asked to m ake a p re se n ta tio n , in clu d in g P arrish, “ap p aren tly because o f W PI’s global program , my several previous interactions in China and my international activities within the Accreditation Board for Engi neering and Technology (ABET),” he explained. The Beijing seminar, “Linking the Production, D issemi
CONTENTS... N ews ............................... Arts & Entertainment..... .... 4-9 Staff Editorial................. 10 West St. House................. 10 Letters to the E ditor ......... ..... 11 SGA Elections................. . 12-15 Club C om er .................... 12 Announcements.............. 18 Classifieds....................... 19 Comics............................ 19 Crossword Companion .... .... 19 Police L og ....................... 20 What's Happening.......... 20
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n atio n an d A p p lic a tio n o f R e search,” was developed by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Natural Science Founda tion o f China (NSFC) to strengthen and deepen the science-and-technology relationship betw een the two countries. Despite such hopes, it w as a d iscu ssio n that alm ost never happened. Parrish was on a plane midair between Boston and Beijing when his office was noti fied the meeting might be canceled. James F. Sensenbrenner Jr., chair man o f the House Com m ittee on Science, withdrew from the roster when allegations o f Chinese espio nage in the United States came to light. Feelings ran high, and it fell to President Clinton to make the fi nal determ ination on the confer ence. However, Clinton left the de cision to the NSF, which decided to proceed. A fter all, the problem un derscored the conference goal - to find common ground on technologi cal policy among international sci entists and engineers. Parrish re joiced in the decision to go ahead. ‘T h is was the first in a series of seminars on science and engineer ing policy issues and research and developm ent,” he said. “ Having this sem inar canceled seemed an unnecessary irritant to that pro cess. The Chinese will develop so phisticated technology indepen
dent of whether we cooperate with them o r not.” The world is chang ing, and it is clear WPI will play a role in the success o f the future. “In the next five years, we will be in a 'know ledge econom y,” ’ Parrish said. ‘T h e new capital is knowl edge. It’s not skilled labor; it’s not equipment; it’s not location. We will need the best scientists and engi neers from all over the world join ing hands to m ake progress. To shut the door on China, with the largest population in the world, makes no sense. Besides, it’s to our advantage to have these kinds o f relationships. If we arc collaborat ing, we know what other countries are doing.” In fact, Parrish noted, this collaboration may lead to peace, not war. “Wars in the future are going to be dependent on technol ogy,” he said. “The better that tech nology gets, and the more people are aware o f it, the more incentive there will be not to use it. In addi tion, these country-to-country part nerships give us a common inter national context for universities to do research and for companies to do business in a global m arket place. T h a t’s to everybody’s ad vantage.” WPI President Help Inaugurate Talks, page 3-3-3 Other U.S. partici pants in the Beijing conference in cluded Richard C. Atkinson, presi
W hat's in s id e ..
dent o f the University o f C alifor nia, and John McTague, retired vice president o f technology at Ford M otor Co. The second event in the series, tentatively scheduled for spring 2000 in Washington, D.C.,
S e e w h o Y O U s h o u ld v o te fo r d u r in g S G A 's c a m p u s e le c tio n s . 1 | P a g es 12 -1 5
See China, continued to pg 2
Freshmen get the goat: The latest on the rivalry Joe FitzPatrick Class o f ‘03 A fte r v ic to ry at C e le b rity Squares, the freshm an class was one point closer to becoming the true ow ner of the G oat’s Head. The celebrities, freshmen, and all four sophom ores trickled out o f Riley C o m m o n s. T he few re m a in in g freshmen inside may have thought the day’s festivities were over, but the freshman ambush teams at each o f the exits were still unaware the event was over. When the G oat’s H ead suddenly appeared, it was im mediately escorted out the east exit from Riley, straight into the waiting ambush. The escaping goat and its esco rt w ere sw iftly “e s corted” to the ground by the fresh m en. A flo c k o f fre sh m en d e scended upon the goat like vultures on a fresh corpse. The sea o f hu manity flowed down the hill until it heard the solid clang o f bronze
Student body president responds to questions about the Campus Center...
Groovy baby... "Mike M yers w as his good old self and Heater G raham w as being herself: hot and sexy. Unfortunately E liz a beth Hurley w as better and the old Mike Myers w a s also better..."
against the sidewalk. An unidenti fiable character swiped up the figu rine and bolted west down Institute Road. The remaining freshmen were not ready to give up the goat so easily and only stopped pursuing the character when they realized he too was a freshman. The trophy was placed in a getaway vehicle waiting on West Street, and was then quickly taken away from the center o f the action to an as o f ye< undisclosed location within xh mile o f the edge o f campus as per ri'ie #3. The G oat’s Head will be touring the campus over the next few days Photo opportunities may be a\ ail able. Several sophom ores began a p p e a rin g aro u n d R iley ab o u t 12:30, only 5 hours late for C eleb rity Squares. We would like to in form them that they would have better luck showing up and trying to win the final three events than trying to steal the goat from the freshman class.
Reader Response
At the Video StoreTwo movies that are totally
Letters of Candidacy
will be a forum for Chinese scien tists to discuss their accom plish ments and plans. Three main top ics were addressed in this first meet ing: Science and engineering indi-
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"While there are many things w e e ach have on our personal wish list to s e e for the school, the cam p u s center and the two other buildings on the w ay will provide several n e c e s s i ties for the majority of the students in the near future."
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