T E LEGR A Mtechthe-w orcester polytechnic institute-

Contents

Our First Issue 1New CFRA Process Gets Business Done 1Encouraging Midterm Course Evaluaations 1Financial Request Statistics 1Major Student Life Improvements in the WorksMajor Student Life Improvements in the Works 2Spring Budget Review Brings Necessary Cuts 2An Uncommon Combination 3March Events Calendar 3Sudoku 3

Issue 1, March 2010Published by the WPI Student Government AssociationEmail techtelegram@wpi.edu with feedback/submissions

2 The Tech Telegram

O U R F I R S T I S S U E

It’s been a long and exciting road leading up to the publication of our first issue of the Tech Telegram. Since the beginning of C-Term, all of us on the staff have been working hard to learn the ins and outs of what allows a student publication to be brought to fruition. We hope that you enjoy it.

The Tech Telegram was originally envisioned by the Student Government Association as a way to better and more directly communicate with the students with regard to our projects and other initiatives. In addition, the mission of the magazine has been expanded to become a way for clubs and organizations to make their events known to the student body as well as a way for students to expand their cultural horizons a bit.

In that spirit, we’ve styled the magazine to be cozy and inviting, yet professional. The border you can see on the cover and on the interior pages is modeled after the old air-mail envelopes of yore, and some of the features are designed to evoke images of cultural gems like the New Yorker and the Saturday Evening Post. In putting together the calendar on the back page, we have strived to curate and include events of interest outside the WPI community, in order to promote an enhanced awareness of the things happening around the city. We’ve also put together a short column that highlights something interesting and different-but a bit hidden-that you can find in the city, so you might be provoked to explore what Worcester has to offer on your own.

I’d also like to personally invite you to submit your photographs, art, creative writing, or poetry to us. We will print the best of the submissions we receive somewhere in the magazine. If you are a painter or photographer, you may be featured on the front cover. If you’re a writer, you may get a sidebar all to yourself. We want to promote culture and the arts, and that is just one way we can think of how.

Hopefully, you enjoy what we put together. We will be incorporating your submissions and feedback into our future editions. Send your work and your thoughts to techtelegram@wpi.edu. I’d love to hear what you think. With that, let’s get on to the magazine!

Your Editor,

Gregory Dracoulis

New CFRA Process Gets Business Done This year, SGA’s Committee on Fiscal Responsibility and Assistance (CFRA) started a new system to help streamline the financial assistance process. The day before Financial Board, CFRA will meet and discuss the requests being heard the next day. We look for general problems with the requests as well as ways to improve upon them, and we now inform the requester of these issues prior to Financial Board.

There are several reasons why this new process is beneficial. First, it helps those who are requesting

for the first time or those who are unsure of the process. Financial Board can then shift the discussion from tedious procedural problems and

more onto the actual merits of the request. Second, it simply helps good requests get passed. There have been times where requests have been failed just because of minor errors or inconsistencies, and Title 7 of the SGA Bylaws states:

"Denied requests may not be resubmitted in part or in whole by either the original organization or another organization

within the same fiscal year. They may also not be resubmitted as part of the SGA Sponsorship Funding process.”

The only way this can be overridden is by a majority vote of the Senate. As such, bringing back a denied request takes up Senate time and if the request is for a time sensitive event, it may be over by the time the requester gets the money. SGA is about serving the undergraduate student body, this new process helps us do that even more effectively.

-Bryan Pasqualucci

Encouraging Midterm Course Evaluations On Tuesday, February 16th, the Student Government Association passed a resolution recommending and praising the use of midterm course evaluations by professors. The Committee on Academic Issues wrote this resolution after collecting student feedback and meeting with teachers to craft a resolution that would please both students and faculty. This resolution encourages professors to hand out anonymous course evaluation forms after midterms, and to incorporate the feedback from those evaluations into the second half of the class. A similar resolution was brought to senate a year ago, but was not passed because it was worded in a way that implied that faculty would be required to implement the evaluations. Fearing backlash from a hastily passed resolution, Senate decided to encourage further

discussion about the need for this resolution and how it might benefit both students and faculty.

We hope there will be several good things that come from this resolution passing. First of all, students should be more inclined to take the time to thoughtfully fill out a midterm evaluation than a final course evaluation because they will directly benefit from their own feedback. This will help professors because they will be receiving more useful input than the randomly selected boxes and blank open-ended questions that are often seen on final course evaluations.

In addition, we anticipate these evaluations will help open the lines of communication between professors and students. Not only will students be able to express what they like and dislike about a certain course, but professors can explain why certain course expectations or requirements are they way they are, or even adapt those requirements going forward. As a personal note, in A term of this year I was enrolled in a class that I thought I was going to love, but was miserable for the first several weeks. Most students in the class were confused about the material and what was expected of us on homework and quizzes. After the professor sensed our frustration, she handed out a midterm course evaluation looking for feedback to improve the course. After that evaluation, the course did a 180 and ended up becoming one of my favorite classes at WPI. This is exactly the sort of behavior that our resolution is designed to promote, and it is easy to see how this could help enhance the quality of courses and learning for both students and faculty.

-Alyssa Ascare

73.1%of financial requests brought to

SGA so far this term were passed.

This amounts to exactly

$53,540.17as of February 21, 2010.

SFRs for clubs and organizationsconstituted 95.3% of all requests

brought up for consideration.71.8% of them were passed.

SSFs requests totaled $3,475.90,and all of these were passed.

The Tech Telegram 3

Major Student Life Improvements in the Works    The Committee on Student Life Issues (CSLI) has been very busy working to create more storage for bicycles on campus, as well as to find more available quiet study space and extend the hours of the library. In addition, we have been collaborating with the Goat’s Head Ad-Hoc Committee to help finish the decorations in the restaurant, among a number of larger initiatives.

The first of these endeavours is the SafeRide program. You may remember SafeRide as a program that SGA ran in cooperation with Worcester Red Cab in A Term of 2009. SGA was able to put forth $5000 worth of funding to this pilot program, but the trial run had to be terminated when the $5000 was depleted. Because the program was so popular, CSLI is looking into sustainable ways of funding the SafeRide program in future years. Our current pursuit of funds involves working with the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life as well as the Office of Donor Relations. Our goal is to set up an account to which parents and alumni can donate to help keep WPI students safe using SafeRide.

Another large initiative that CSLI is working on is obtaining free printing for students. To do this, we are working with the IT department as well as contacting academic departments to see which ones do offer free printing and where those printing funds come from. We are in the process of contacting the IT department to assess the possibility of setting up a separate account for printing on WPI ID cards.

Our final project is planning a Red Sox Opening Day Party on Sunday, April 4th. The Red Sox will be taking on the New York Yankees at home at 8:05pm! This event will be similar to the Super Bowl Party that was held in the Odeum on February 7th. The

location has yet to be determined. Food will be served and might include baseball stadium themed hotdogs, nachos, pretzels, and crackerjacks. Look for more information in the coming weeks!

CSLI is always listening to student suggestions and concerns. You can leave a suggestion on the SGA website, in the suggestion box on the info desk in the Campus Center, or in the suggestion binder in the SGA Office. If you leave your mailbox number, you’ll even get a free bowling ticket to use at Gompei’s Gutters—so make your voice heard!

-Melissa Castle

Don’t forget to send your comments and submissions to

techtelegram@wpi.edu!We depend on your contributions to make improvements. Photo, poetry, and creative

writing submissions are encouraged. We may feature you on the cover or somewhere in the magazine. If your club is having an event, let

us know and we can help promote it.

*Later in D-Term, join us for snow cones at Spring Meltdown, and enjoy some good food at the SGA Spring Bar-B-Que on the quad! Be on the lookout

for details as they become available.

Spring Budget Review Brings Necessary Cuts    This year the Organizational Class Finance Committee, made up of three Class Treasurers and 33 total representatives, undertook the task of allocating roughly $615,000 from the undergraduate social fee and approving all budgeted clubs’ 2011 financial requests. Classes I, II, and III separated and met 4 times each over a two week period to make changes and finalized budget recommendations. Representatives were from selected clubs and were taught by Treasurers the fiscal structure of SGA. The OCFC representatives had the responsibility to help clubs comply with both SGA and SAO guidelines, as well as to teach clubs how to budget correctly. A large part of this was discerning between budgeted items and SFRed items. Throughout the budgeting period, the representatives learned a great deal about how financial board works and also volunteered their time to help the process go as smoothly as possible.

There was a great increase in submitted budgets from past years, as 28 clubs were granted a 105% appeal and the Club Sports Administration issued raises and hired several new coaches. Class III has the largest cap of all the classes and distributes funds to organizations like SocComm for student interests and activities. RHC was a newly budgeted Class III organization for 2011. This is a big development because it allowed for a larger cap for Class III, meaning more money is used to benefit the students. One important obstacle that was overcome this year was budgeting for the Ultimate Frisbee and Men’s Lacrosse teams in Class II. SGA worked extensively with these clubs to correct budgeting errors and allow each team to keep their season while eliminating all past debts. Despite these setbacks, the total goal was met this year by making close to $30,000 in cuts.

-Michael Egan

Spring is Coming SoonIn the Northern Hemisphere, spring officially starts on the day of the vernal equinox. This year, it begins on the 20th of March.*

S E Q U O I A C L U B

4 The Tech Telegram

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat1 2 3 4 5 6

1-4p Consortium Art Exhibition, ARTSWorcester Aurora Gallery4-6p Off Campus Housing Fair, CC Odeum

8p SCP: Super Comedy Action Team

4:30-7p AlchemyOpening Reception, Clark University Schiltkamp Gallery

Last Day of C-Term Classes7-8p Voices of Extreme, Union Music Performance Space

5:30-7p Five Months Photo Book Launch Party, Dr. Gonzoʼs Uncommon Condiments

7 8 9 10 11 12 13Who Shot Rock & Roll Exhibit Opens, Worcester Art Museum

8-10p Comedian Ron White, Hanover Theatre

14 15 16 17 18 19 2012p St. Patrickʼs Parade, Park Ave

12-11p St Patrickʼs Parade After Party, Worcester Hibernian Cultural Center

First Day of D-Term Classes11a-2p RHC: Pi Day Plus One

3:30p Baseball v. Johnson & Wales, Class of 1893 Field

2-7p Biological Foundations of Morality Conference Begins, Holy Cross Rehm Library

6p Gaming Wknd Begins, CC6-8p New Again Opening Reception, ARTSWorcester Aurora Gallery8-10p A Chorus Line Opens, Hanover Theatre8-11p Michael Buble, DCU Center

6:30p Comedian Eric OʼShea, Goatʼs Head Restaurant8p The Blindside*, FL Upper Perreault Hall

21 22 23 24 25 26 277:30-10:30p Carrie Underwood, DCU Center8p The Blindside*, FL Upper Perreault Hall

1-4:30p Consortium Career Fair, DCU Center6-9p Tastefully Tower Hill, Tower Hill Botanical Garden7p Love Your Body, Olin 1078-10p Electro-Acoustic Piano Recital, Clark University Razzo Hall

11a-1p IMGD Speaker, FL Lower Perreault Hall12-4p Biotech & Bioengineering Career Fair, CC Odeum3-4p Poet Anne Waldman, HL 116

10:30a M/W Track and Field, Alumni Field12-2p Softball v. Smith, Class of 1893 Field12-4:30p UniverCity Scavenge8p Sherlock Holmes*, FL Upper Perreault Hall8-9:30p Coffee House Jazz Concert, Green Rooster Coffeehouse

28 29 30 318p Sherlock Holmes*, FL Upper Perreault Hall

7-9p Taylor Guitars Road Show, Union Music Performance Space

11a-6p Senior Salute, Campus Bookstore

March 2010This month is full of surprises

�Arts �Academic/Campus

�Fun/Entertainment �Sports

*Film titles listed are subject to change

An Uncommon CombinationYou’re a person who likes the thrill

of adventure. A person who lives life to the fullest. A person who takes chances. You’re exactly the type of person who would be intrigued by the concept of riding a motorcycle, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, or eating miniature gummi bears rubbed with a scorching hot blend of chili and spices.

You heard us right-introducing Gummi Bites, the gummi bears that bite back. Available now, right here in Worcester at Dr. Gonzo’s Uncommon Condiments for $5 a

pound. According to the good doctor himself, late in the evening, he surgically implants teeth into these mini gummi bears because they have a hard time defending themselves. They don’t anymore.

Dusted with a proprietary blend of spices and chili powders, these are candies that pack a punch. An intriguing twist on an old favorite, they’re prefect for those with a more adventurous palate. The pairing of spicy and sweet is something you have to try for yourself, unless you’re not bold enough to mess with a bear like this.

We’ll understand.

-Greg Dracoulis

Dr. Gonzo’s Uncommon Condiment Emporium

122 Main St,Worcester, MA 01608