The Big Event - IIT Archives - Illinois Institute of Technology

Transcription

TechNews
TUESDAY
technews.iit.edu
April 28, 2009
Student newspaper of Illinois Institute of Technology since 1897
OPINION
Barack
worst?
Obama:
SPORTS
CAMPUS
the
Opinion
Campus
A&E
Slipstick
Baseball: Better or worse
than Stryker Award Winners!? These things are
hard to compare.
Stryker Award Winners: the
best?
page 2
Volume 166 • Issue 12
page 6
page 16
The Big Event: a big success!
By Angela Ng and Lory Mishra
TECHNEWS WRITERS
The
Technology
Sports
2-4
5-11
12-13
14
15
16
A new start
for IIT student
government
By Brian Kibbe
CAMPUS EDITOR
IIT students volunteering at Dunbar Park
Photo by John Dominski
The past Saturday April 25, approximately 200 IIT
students, staff, and faculty participated in the largest Day
of Service the university has ever hosted. The Big Event
was organized by the Office of Student Life, Coalition for
Service Learning and Professional Responsibility, Student
Government Association and IIT Community Affairs and
Outreach. Most volunteers spent their Saturday morning
helping the surrounding Bronzeville community, while some
headed out to the North and West sides of the city, so as to
thank Chicago for allowing IIT to be part of its community.
Volunteers participated in various tasks, ranging from
painting, to mulching trees, to picking up trash from our
local parks. The purpose of this event was to build internal
community within IIT, while giving back to our surrounding
community and this historic Day of Service accomplished
just that. Of course, it was slightly disheartening to see only
about 200 people show up to an event that had registered
upwards of 300 people but those who did attend did report
very good experiences.
Following the service event, volunteers and non-
volunteers alike enjoyed a delicious BBQ in the baseball
field across from Keating Hall. While enjoying their meals,
attendees were welcomed and thanked up President Anderson
and entertained by IIT’s very own a Capella, the TechTonics.
There were a handful of instances when the weather threatened
to dampen all of the days events but ultimately, the rain waited
for us to make it inside Keating Hall before pouring down.
IIT students and college students from all over Chicago
attended the Spring Major Concert hosted by Union Board
at 3pm. The concert began in Keating Hall with Cavashawn
and then Love Me Electric. Cavashawn opened up and got
the crowd pumped up. Love Me Electric kept the crown
going until the headliner band performed. Special fact: Love
Me Electric has two IIT students in its band: Joe Nicorata
and Matthew Cargill! Finally, it was time for The Academy
Is... who played for about an hour. The band definitely got
the crowd moving and the concert was a lot of fun. All
participants in the Day of Service received a free ticket;
however, many attendees were non-IIT students. All proceeds
from the concert went to St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
Burst pipe floods MTCC
Student Organization Center
By Linda Goldstein
CONTENT MANAGER
The Student Organization Center in MTCC started trying
to imitate a bog late Friday afternoon around 5:30 PM. Dean of
Students Doug Geiger’s floor became a highly reflective lake.
Thanks to late-working staff members and passing students,
the problem was noticed almost immediately, and most of
the computers were unplugged and moved out of harms way.
Several hurried phone and radio calls to Maintenance and the
Campus Conference Center (CCC) and the building manager
got the power turned off. Before the power was turned off
to the area, the spreading puddles of water were believed
to be electrified, and those gawkers and helpers wearing
sandals were strongly encouraged to observe (or help) from
a distance.
As the damage began to become apparent, shouts of
“why today?!?” and “oh, crap!” rang out from the Student
Organization Center. The next day was Saturday, the date of
the BIG volunteer event, where more than 300 IIT students
picked up tshirts and wristbands on the MTCC Bridge and went
their merry ways to multiple volunteering locations under the
guidance of more than a dozen student site captains.
The flood seems to have caused by a burst water main
in the second floor/attic of the McCormick Tribune Campus
Center, which gifted the Assistant Dean of Students, Kathy
Stetz, with a shower in her office. The mess even spread
outside the building, primarily via the stairs from the attic to
the outdoors (between the IIT Bookstore and Dean Geiger’s
office). Those same stairs resembled a water slide for several
minutes.
On-site damage control included one Public Safety
officer, one CCC Building Manager, several CCC staff
members, and various student organization members and
leaders who happened to be passing by at the time.
Thanks to the efficiency of those involved, the entire
shebang was totally cleaned up and invisible to the uninformed
eye by late evening on Friday. The problem may have been yet
another symptom of water problems caused by the ongoing
process of switching the campus temperature control system
from warming to cooling.
The last Student Government Association Senate
meeting on Tuesday April 21 was a momentous and long
night. The meeting began with the Students for Justice
in Palestine (SJP) group re-requesting approval from the
senate. The meeting prior, SJP set a precedent as the first
major student organization denial in SGA history. The
Senate felt that there did not seem to be enough student
support to sustain the group’s activities and that they
should combine with a group like Amnesty International
who was already involved with human rights advocacy.
However, the group returned two weeks later with a strong
and impressive illustration of the demand and support for
the group’s recognition. This included a petition, letters
of confidence from other chapters, and details from SJP’s
facebook group. The organization was overwhelmingly
approved. The Students for Justice in Palestine’s goal is to
increase awareness of the plight of the Palestinian people
in light of Israeli abuses.
This approval was followed by various orders of
business. Student Body President elect Ray Ballard and
commuter students Senator Juan Martinez are a part of
the newly formed Inter-mural Sports Steering Committee.
Since the dissolving of the IIT basketball program, the
administration has been looking for the best way to divert
funds in the area of athletics to accommodate the largest
number of students. This committee will collect input from
students as well as meet with athletics administration to put
new programs in place as early as next Fall.
With announcements covered, the Senate moved on to
more controversial topics. Amendments to Finance Board’s
(FB) bylaws were proposed in an earlier meeting and came
to a vote on Tuesday. These changes included adjusting the
number of full voting student members. Those changes
elicited little response, but another amendment that was
included would have allowed the staff adviser for Finance
Board from the Office of Student Life (OSL) a full voting
member. Many strong opinions on both sides of the issue
made for a lively discussion time. The arguments could be
simplified like this: those in favor thought that having the
staff member as a voting member would cause them to be
more involved in the decision making process and create
a smoother flow of information between FB and the OSL;
those opposed believed that the student members of Finance
Board are chiefly responsible for making allocations from
the Student Activities Fund, and that staff members would
have unnecessary influence through voting. The structural
changes to the FB bylaws passed, but this addition of the
staff voting member was voted down.
At this point another resolution was introduced to more
clearly define the role of SGA in the student organization
approval process. This motion was introduced because
of SJP being denied during the previous meeting. Many
senators felt that the process was unprofessional and that the
SGA bylaws did not provide enough structure for how this
process ought to take place. In short, the resolution outlines
what potential organizations are responsible for providing
to the senators, and how the Senate is responsible for
responding to these potential organizations after a vote.
After these rousing examples of democracy in
action, the Senate moved on to a more unsavory duty of
administering sanctions from a Judicial Board hearing. A
head of a student organization was brought before the SGA
Judicial Board under accusations of misuse of SAF allocated
funds. In light of the Judicial Board statements, it became
the Senates job to administer any additional ramifications
for the student’s actions.
The night ended with the inspiring swearing in of the
new executive board members: Sri Kota as Vice President
of Communications, Karen Nelson as Vice President of
Academic Affairs, Purvag Patel as Vice President of Student
Life, Olaoluwa Adeola as Finance Board Chair, Mike
Krueger as Executive Vice President, and Ray Ballard as
Student Body President.
O
pinion
Sick of the Obama “love affair”
2
TechNews
Paul Spears, Editor
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
speadon@iit.edu
By Danielle Madere
TECHNEWS WRITER
I am fed up with the completely obvious (and what I
believe is unjustified) love affair the media (and the majority
of American citizens) have with Barack Obama! Why is it not
a big deal to most people that THREE of Obama’s nominees
for top administration positions had problems with not paying
their taxes!? I understand that two of the three withdrew their
candidacy, but is this not any whatsoever of our president’s
ability to pick administration officials that are in the interest of
the people? Obama hasn’t been in office for four months yet,
and I believe he is making decisions that have put
America in grave danger.
First, he decided it was a great
idea to close Guantanamo Bay. Then,
he decided it was an even better
idea that we release the
methods we use to
interrogate our terrorist suspects.
And this so-called “Bailout”-- it’s going to be a total
sham. In fact, some of the nation’s top economists are entirely
OPPOSED to the stimulus bill, because they know it won’t
work. They’re even going as far as paying for full page ads in
newspapers like the New York Times and signing their names
in the ads, stating the stimulus plan is a bad idea. Nuclear
weapons help ensure our safety and power, right? Well, Obama
is planning on eliminating all nuclear weapons in the world
(including “greatly reducing” the US stockpiles) in order to
prevent nuclear terror attacks. Do we really think this is a
good idea? Even if we THINK all of the nuclear weapons are
eliminated, what are the odds that every single one would be?
While this plan might slightly deter the use of a nuclear
weapon attacks against the United States, it will not thwart
it if it is planned to happen.
Last but not least (and far less important to
American security), there was the infamous comment
Obama made about the Special Olympics on a late night
talk show. While there was some backlash, most people
said “Well, he was just joking, he didn’t mean anything
by it.” If George Bush had been on a late night talk show
during his presidency, how much fire would he have
come under for simply appearing? Probably lots.
Finally, I am sick and tired of people bashing
on former president George W. Bush. I understand the
frustration with the war in Iraq and the current state of
the economy. But before people jump to conclusions and
blame Bush for our poor economy, they should know some
of the facts. Personally, I feel like the economy took a turn
for the worst when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac went toe
up. What was the main cause of the failures of these two
financial giants? Loose restrictions on whom they can lend
to. Who was in office when the restrictions were lessened?
Bill Clinton.
Little is it known that Bush did a lot in fighting AIDS
across the world. A U.S. program launched during the Bush
administration has cut AIDS deaths by 10 percent in targeted
African nations compared to their neighbors and saved
more than a million lives, U.S. researchers said. Last, but
definitely not least, there hasn’t been a terrorist attack
on American soil after September 11. That says a lot
more about the Bush administration than most people
have been willing to own up to. I recommend that if
you want to ensure America stays safe (as well as a
correctly functioning democracy) you keep a close eye
on the headlines... although, they will tell you very little
because the media loathes talking bad about their beloved
Commander-in-Chief.
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Opinion
TechNews
Paul Spears, Editor
3
speadon@iit.edu
Speaking of IIT: DegreeWorks, finals, and cannabis.
By Linda Goldstein
TECHNEWS WRITER
Speaking of IIT, 4/20 was
a celebration of interesting
smoky smells in classrooms,
hallways, residence halls,
and parks across campus.
(The date 4/20 and time 4:20
are both associated with the
smoking of cannabis in the
US and other nations- 4/20
is a counterculture holiday
during which many people
who usually indulge only
o c c a s i o n a l l y, c o n s u m e
cannabis by their preferred
method.) IIT administrators
are probably either unhappy or ignorant about this. Of course
none of them are willing participants (while at work).
I happen to have access through TechNews to the daily
Public Safety reports, and it surprised me that the 4/20 reports
are about: water on the 4th and 5th floors of Gunsaulus Hall,
pocket change missing from a car parked in the D5 lot,
something unidentified missing from a car in the D1 lot, a
student who passed out in MTCC (I actually saw that one
personally- looked like dehydration), a sick student who
got a PSD ride to Mercy, and a visitor to campus who had a
diabetic incident in the HUB. None of the above mentioned
possession or suspected possession of illegal substances (and
yes, marijuana is still illegal in Chicago.) Personally, I was
rather busy on April 20th- I had two classes, and a lab that
I skipped to write a paper, and a meeting or two. Sadly, I
accomplished all of these things only as high as the shelf of
7-11(7E)’s selection of caffeinated carcinogens.
According to Jordan Wilson, staff reporter of the Chicago
Sun-Times, Chicago legislators are expected to vote on a bill
SB 1381 in the coming week which, if passed, would allow
“someone diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition
to legally possess up to seven dried cannabis plants and 2
ounces of marijuana. Qualifying individuals would receive a
registration card from the Illinois Department of Public Health
that would allow them and their caregiver to obtain and possess
the marijuana.” Marijuana is commonly used medically to
stimulate appetite and control nausea in chemotherapy patients,
to reduce intra ocular pressure, and to quench pain without the
dangerously addictive properties of opiates.
Speaking of IIT, “Holy --, I’m graduating” is a common
phrase on campus nowadays. Third, fourth, fifth-, and nthyear students who never thought they would get out of here
have traded paperwork for black robes, and will soon trade
their thousands of dollars of tuition for a piece of paper and a
promise of unlimited kindling from Alumni Relations. Some
students have sworn to never look back. One swore to donate
all of the money that he could/would give to IIT as an alum
to campaign against IIT and prevent any other poor souls
from enduring what he suffered. Some graduates love their
university for whatever reason- or at least their department,
or a few professors, or their classmates, or 7E. IIT Phonathon
workers will have their work cut out for them in ten years
or so.
Back to graduation- Saturday will see the campus covered
in well-dressed men and women, many of them in the loosefitting black dresses that Americans see fit to culminate in.
Those of us non-graduates who are neither running the event,
or volunteering to help direct crowds, nor to walk across the
stage, would be well-advised to stay far out of the way, to lie
low, to escape early, or just to not try to move out of MSV at
the exact moment that someone’s grandparents are trying to
figure out which door to use to get into MSV.
Speaking of MSV, Sox season is here, enthusiastically.
And if you’re trying to decide what time on what day to move
out of MSV or SSV for the summer, take the Sox schedule into
account (if you value your parking space and your sanity).
Speaking of parking spaces (and sanity) I’m curious as
to why parking on 33rd between State and Michigan is no
longer allowed. It was convenient! I know that summer brings
changes, but I’m not sure what that has to do with anythingalthough perhaps parking on 33rd was allowed over the winter
because it meant that there was less that needed to be plowed
free of ice and snow.
Speaking of IIT, the play Mousetrap, courtesy of IIT’s
33rd Theater Group, was quite good. Considering that no one
involved got paid anything, or got class credit, it’s almost
as excellent as my high school theater class could manage.
Of course, those were students who had their sights set on
professional acting, not on building bridges, planes, or new
forms of Calculus.
This past week was the time to schedule classes. I emailed
my advisor less than a dozen times, and only went to Main
building once, where my advisor and I met with one Greg
Welters, in charge of the Educational Services office, and (I
think) in charge of the nontechnical aspects of DegreeWorks,
i.e. what classes are required for what majors. He and my
advisor traded jargon and key terms about requirements over
my head. Every so often I was called up on to say “yep, sounds
good” or “um, what?” in order to move the conversation
along. In less than fifteen minutes, I was assured that I was
all set, and that the irregularities in my academic audit had
been cleared up. It seems that I have a chance of graduating
on time, at this rate.
During the aforementioned meeting, I learned something
about the DegreeWorks, the automatic unofficial academic
audit program that IIT students can access through the Portal.
Degreeworks has a “test” version and a “production” version,
and that the “production” version is often updated with small
individualized fixes, and that the “test” version is updated
with the large ones... and that this coming week, the “test”
version will be merged with the “production” version. This
also means that all the small individual fixes will need to be
re-implemented by student workers in Educational Services. I
hope they have good records to work from, and steady fingers
to work with.
It’s been pointed out that the “red tape” nightmare that
is IIT is actually due to a lack of decent bureaucracy; IIT’s
permissions structure is following a distributed computing
model where, in order to get one thing settled you have to visit
four or more offices, to get permission or help from them in
the correct order.
Speaking of IIT, we need an archery club. Anyone who’s
ever placed an arrow in a bale of hay will agree with me when
I say that there is a unique joy in the twang of a bowstring and
the bruises on your right hand. Furthermore, a nice recurved
bow- or an elegant modern crossbow- are silent and deadly
weapons which are also beyond reproach as works of art. While
I’m not sure how well such a sport would get along with IIT’s
weapons rules, there’s always the option of renting or storing
the aforementioned sports items on-site at the range, or with
Public Safety, if they could rig a suitably temperature and
humidity controlled facility. There are three or four suitable
locations in Chicago proper, with more in the ‘burbs. None
of them are quite as convenient as Climb On, the favored
hangout of the IIT Rock Climbing Club, but that’s all to the
good; after all, accidentally planting an arrow in a Metra train
would probably raise unfortunate insurance problems. The
Fencing club needs to get their act together and be visible,
with trips and classes and maybe a few mysterious dueling
deaths at midnight in the back courtyard.
This past Saturday, “The BIG Event” drew more than
two hundred IIT students to do community service at a variety
of locations. But when they got back to MSV, Carmen, or
Gunsaulus Halls, they discovered that there was no hot water
to shower or do laundry with. As campus changes over the
temperature control system from heating to cooling, there
have been several malfunctions involving water pipes. This
one just happened to have ironic timing.
Speaking of IIT- in general, even college students need the
professor to assign concrete goals. In IPROs, the team leader
sometimes takes over this role, but the role must be held!
Someone needs a complete picture of the desired outcome in
their head, and the ability to break down the process into steps
which are not too daunting for an overwhelmed engineering
student to complete between Monday and Wednesday. Even in
Shimer classes, the goal is to have a meaningful discussion- to
speak intelligently, to make points, and then to write essays.
But in some classes the professors don’t communicate their
goals well, which makes students uncertain of what to do, or
how- and thus student motivation falls by the wayside.
Speaking of studenzt motivation falling to the wayside,
the new kickoff of the Change IIT “don’t let good ideas go to
waste” ethos (and website, and barbecue) will be 5-7pm on
April 30 on Farr Field, which is practically the Quad.
Next week will be the last issue of TechNews this
semester; we can all give up on news and write papers (and do
projects, and practice physics, organic chemistry, and calculus
problems, among other things.)
green line platform, and from there it would only take one train
opening its doors to flood the city with mayhem.
With all of these considerations in place, I believe there
are several actions the civic minded students of IIT can take.
First, I invite you to exam the inside of a door in an average
dormitory room on campus. We have a fire safety plan. We have
a tornado safety plan. What we need is a velociraptor safety plan.
IIT has a unique opportunity here to pioneer the field
o f
velociraptor safety. More than that I
believe that finding ways to improve
the velociraptor safety on campus,
will help improve velociraptor safety
everywhere. It is in this spirit that
I propose IIT’s newest IPRO be
centered around preparing a working
velociraptor safety plan for campus,
and studying and refining velociraptor
deterrent, containment, and elimination
techniques to keep IIT’s campus, and the
world at large, safe from this imminent
threat. Just as old buildings must sometimes
be retrofitted to be safe in case of a fire, we
must find ways to use the existing structures
on campus in a way that does not leave such a
large percentage of the population vulnerable
to a horrible dinosaur related death. Some kind
of emergency access to specially designed
safety bunkers? Changing some of the door
handles on campus to more velociraptor safe
designs? These are simply the suggestions of
one student, and I believe that with further
study the students and faculty of IIT could
design some truly innovative technology. The velociraptors are
not here yet, but they may arrive at any time.
While discussing these concerns and ideas with a colleague
of mine at our esteemed university it was pointed out to me that
velociraptors were not the only looming threat for which IIT
was not prepared. Safety plans for other varieties of dinosaur
are equally necessary as scientists are not likely to hit upon
velociraptor DNA the first time. Also necessary a zombie safety
plan, and protocols what IIT will do when a super intelligent
computer brain takes over the world’s electronics through the
Internet. These are concerns that we likely think about at least
once a day and yet never give the serious consideration they
deserve so I’d like to send up a wake up call to the brilliant
and resourceful students that make up TechNews’ readership.
The time to act to keep our campus safe from all varieties
of catastrophe is now. I think it’s time we told the
university that we do not want to be eviscerated
by or squished by dinosaurs, we do not
want our brains eaten, and we are firmly
against bowing to robotic overlords.
Who’s with me?
Further velociraptor-related concern
By Michaela Healton
TECHNEWS WRITER
I was recently reading TechNews when I noticed an
informative article about the velociraptor safety rating of
various buildings on campus. While I found this article useful,
and generally well researched it left me with a number of
questions. The author of this article assumed that if IIT were to
be attacked by velociraptors there would be no warning. This
leaves me wondering where the velociraptors would originate
from that no warning would reach IIT faster than the land speed
of several flocks of velociraptors. One might almost believe
that this person has information about potentially velociraptor
creating projects right here on IIT’s campus. I think that everyone
can agree that this is not the kind of research we want our
university to be doing. However upon further consideration I
realized there are actually several nearby off campus locations
that the velociraptors could originate from and still beat the
news of their arrival to IIT. Namely, the Field Museum often
advertises that they make dinosaurs “Come to Life” for visitors
and after some consideration, I for one am unsure that they
would not attempt a dangerous project to make this marketing
campaign an actuality. Also, our campus is disturbingly near
to the lakefront, and were the velociraptors somehow to arrive
by boat, they would probably arrive at campus before the first
reports of velociraptor related deaths could reach the Internet.
Also Brookfield Zoo is advertising that they have “Dinosaur’s
Alive,” and that a person can walk among them. The implications
of this are truly worrisome in the context of potential points of
velociraptor origination. And if velociraptors were to take IIT’s
campus, Chicago at large would surely fall soon after as the CTA
has remarkably high velociraptor vulnerability. I do not imagine
a velociraptor would have any trouble getting onto the on campus
4
Opinion
TechNews
Paul Spears, Editor
speadon@iit.edu
Back to the Future: the LA program and its impact
By Vladilena Gaisina
TECHNEWS COPY EDITOR
Most of you (unless you are freshmen) have recollections of
the Learning Assistant (LA) program that was terminated at the
end of last academic year. In general terms, the program consisted
of about 20 upperclassmen, supervised by the Office of Student
Affairs, each of whom was assigned to a group of first-years. The
LAs acted as a go-to person for the younger students, as well as
dealt with any academic or attendance issues the student had. Thus,
the freshmen had a friendly person, familiar with the ins and outs
of IIT life, to go to for help; in addition to being held accountable
by someone, as the LAs were notified if the student’s performance
declined alarmingly.
That is, up until this academic year. As mentioned earlier, the
program was discontinued last spring. At the time, the explanation
had been “financial reasons,” and the disbandment of the program
proceeded quietly, with its only publicity being a TechNews article
by one of the former LAs, giving an overview of the program
and its history and notifying the readers of its cancellation. (For
more information, see “Farewell, LA” by Galina Shpuntova in
the Campus section of the April 29, 2008 edition of TechNews.
It is available in technews.iit.edu archives.) So, when someone
expressed that seemingly healthy programs being unexpectedly
cancelled in spring is possibly becoming a trend (in light of
recent developments with the basketball teams), I jumped at the
opportunity to investigate this further.
I will say right away that there is no connection between the
two incidents. As an amateur journalist eager for big news, I found
these findings disappointing. Nonetheless, I was compelled to report
them, if only so the several interviews conducted would not go to
waste. But perhaps some of you have made the connections on
your own, and were also wondering about a potential link. Now
you can find out.
Even before looking for people to interview, I went back and
read Galina’s article from last year (which I also recommend you
do before continuing on, if only to get a better idea of how the
program was run and what it accomplished, as I will not spend
a lot of time discussing that). I then talked to two former LAs,
one of whom lived in the dorms and one in a Greek house. They
mentioned some potentially intriguing things, which caused me to
seek an interview with Katie Murphy-Stetz, Assistant to the Dean
of Students and a co-founder of the program, and Paul Hubinsky,
Director of Residence Life, who was involved with the Learning
Assistants in the dorms in Spring ’08. However, a discussion
with Katie and Paul revealed that the rumors I’d heard about the
program’s cancellation were mostly just that.
For example, it is not true that the program was discontinued
as part of President Anderson’s five-year plan for the school. In
fact, President Anderson had nothing whatsoever to do with this
decision, in contrast to the basketball team one. The LA program
was funded by Academic Affairs, and it was that office that pulled
the plug on it.
It was also unrelated to the unsuccessfulness of the TGIF
program (something similar to a Freshman Seminar), which was
a challenge to put together, according to Katie, as it is difficult to
achieve Friday afternoon attendance from the students, especially to
something that is not mandatory and is not worth any credits. While
it is true that the payoff of TGIF left much to be desired as compared
to the resources put into it, disbanding LA had more to do with the
program’s future plans*. As Katie explained, there had been talk of
merging the LA program with ARC tutors for a more comprehensive
system of academic assistance. “As we continued our discussion
about changing the program, we realized the price tag,” she said, a
factor that ultimately determined the fate of the program. By that
time, over $100,000 was already being spent annually, with the
bulk expense being board scholarships for the LAs (the Learning
Assitants had their board expenses covered in full).
Finally, there was general discontent among the students
involved as to the timing of the decision. Many were left wishing
it had been handled better. Unfortunately, there was no better way.
Katie said that the decision was announced to the students as soon
as it was finalized and that the website was taken down when the
possibility of having to discontinue the program first came up, which
only coincidentally happened a few days after the applications for
next year were put up. Furthermore, Paul Hubisnky assured me that
the RA hire letters had been sent out even before the process started
for the LA program, contrary to some beliefs. “We encouraged
all those interested to turn in their RA applications, so that if that
did not work out, they still had the opportunity to apply for an LA
position,” said Paul.
Overall, the program has had a positive effect. Both Katie
and Paul said “It helped us get a better handle on what the needs
of freshmen were. The purpose was to keep communication open
with students, to give them someone to talk to.” Student Affairs
were able to catch more problems earlier, because they could look
at the big picture by having input from the LAs, the RAs and the
professors to figure out the problem. And there aren’t many schools
that do that, according to Paul.
Currently, the responsibilities of the LAs have fallen to
Residence Life and Greek Life. It’s harder to monitor students with
so much fewer staff, but they are doing the best they can. And the
retention rates keep going up.
*TGIF was also managed by both LAs and RAs, and the
Office of Student Affairs in general, financed by Academic Affairs.
It was seen as separate from LA, and did not factor into the final
decision of cancellation.
of the time, fundamentalists would confuse rational explanation
with blasphemy. But when the force of reason is strong enough
to break the irrational jail, religion adapts to survive, and accepts,
in this particular example, that the earth is not the center of the
Universe.
This seems a vestige of the past, but this continues to happen
nowadays. Does it not seem strange that religion is associated
politically with conservative parties (or right wing parties)? It is
not a coincidence, it is a result of mutual interest. Religion does
not want its jail to be questioned and conservatives want people
who prefer to leave things as they are.
I do not consider myself atheist nor agnostic. I consider
myself rational. I cannot say that there is not a God, while at the
same time, I cannot say that there is a God. This seems agnostic,
but it is not, because I do not fall in the “agnostic trap.” The
trap is the following: Because we cannot say if there is a God
or not, we give the same importance to both sides of the coin,
50% for each. It is a trap, because we are giving the same weight
to things that we can prove empirically as we do to beliefs. For
example, we can conclude that the Big Bang theory is not clear.
We have doubts. OK, we give it 50% credibility, because even
with rational demonstrations we still have some holes. So we can
teach this theory with its 50% of credibility and leave the door
open for more discoveries (50% of doubts). If we give the other
50% to irrational thinking, we are falling into the trap, because
then religious fundamentalists want to teach creationism at the
same level of credibility. And because we accept this, religious
fundamentalists finally conclude that their belief is 100% true,
because nobody can prove the contrary. They are falling in their
jail - like other people felt some hundred years ago when they
said that the earth was the center of the Universe - and they want
us to fall with them.
War and terrorism, unfortunately, is another example of
irrational thinking. What can drive a young man to be a suicide
bomber? Can you convince anyone to be a suicide bomber
using reason? Obviously, no. There could be an exception with
nationalism - as the Japanese demonstrated - but I do not want
to discuss if nationalism is rational or irrational in this article.
The worst case is when irrational thinking is used by interests
(normally economic, but also political). If your jail supports that
by being a martyr against infidels you are going to go to paradise
with 100 virgins, if this is the jail your thoughts and perceptions are
framed into, then there is no problem in being a suicide bomber.
It fits perfectly.
Erin says that every day she is more convinced that God
exists. Well, Erin is every day fitting and adapting more and more
things inside her jail, and so every day she is more convinced
that her irrational thinking can explain everything. This is not
right, we do not know from where we come and where we go.
We have clues, but no more. And everything else does not have
any credibility. It does not matter how many times you quote the
Bible, this does not make your assertions more true. It is simple,
you cannot prove that God exists. Also, I go further, you do not
have any single clue about God that you can prove now (I mean,
today) with scientific method.
Erin has also used another typical argument used by
creationists, that the human being is so perfect that a superior
intelligence must have created it. I need to tell you that there is
scientific evidence in our body that falls out of your jail, and that
proves that our body is not as perfect as you believe. Scientific
evidence, which points to evolution. For example, we have
completely useless little holes between our nose and our mouth
- the vomeronasal organ - which is also present in some reptiles.
This organ is used by snakes to capture particles of possible
victims in the air. Another good example are wisdom teeth. They
are completely useless now, but with a good functionality in the
past, when we needed to eat plants and other crude aliments. The
coccyx - in my opinion the best example - our old tail. Why we
need such practically useless and ugly bone? To me, God does
not seem a very intelligent designer, if we have something like
a coccyx.
There are other good examples of useless parts of our body,
which show that we are indeed a bad design (from an intelligent
design perspective), like the big toe (used by primates to climb
trees), the long palmar muscle, the male nipples, the erector muscle
of hair - we have that powerful muscle to erect our body hair but,
what hair? (maybe the hair evolved and the muscle did not) - etc.
This, along with other rational explanations, gives us the clue of
evolution. But even with such scientific evidence, I do not say that
evolution of human beings is 100% true. There are holes, things
to discover. What I do not do is give ANY credibility to irrational
thinking, 0%. I am not going to give the same credibility to a
Natural Sciences museum as to a museum about creationism.
For some time I used to believe that I should be passive
about religion (any religion). The more time passes, the more I
realize that irrational thinking is dangerous for me, even when I
do not follow it (or support it). Irrational thinking is always trying
to expand itself to everywhere. Sooner or later, we find ourselves
in a situation where we need to fight against irrational thinking
and it is too late.
I do not say that religion is not necessary for a lot of people in
the world. I understand that religion gives them an “explanation”
about our existence and a way to live so they can feel that they are
doing the right thing; moral and social rules that distinguish the
“good” and the “bad” in a way they feel is morally stable. Also,
religion is an escape valve for the pain caused by the death of
someone you love. Beliefs that his/her soul will be in some place
forever, and so integral death never happens, also give peace to
you. I understand that “to believe in something” is needed by a lot
of people as well. So yes, I respect freedom of belief, but inside
your home and behind your door. The beliefs should never go to
schools, universities, economic institutions or politics. Irrational
thinking can not dictate laws. Society should be based only on
the strength of reason and nothing else, and we need to continue
enforcing such thing, because irrational thinking never surrenders.
We should marginalize the religion lobbies.
Sorry for the length of this article and thanks for reading me
if your are still here. I am also open for debate in person if anyone
desires to, I am not going to post my email here, but I’m sure that
the TechNews staff will give you my email if you ask them.
Rational versus irrational
By Eduardo Berrocal
TECHNEWS WRITER
First of all, I apologize to all those offended by my last article
“Let’s feed the troll.” I wrote that article fast, more with passion
than head, and I recognize that I did not care about religious
feelings. This is going to be the last article (I hope) that I am
going to write about religion, so I want do it correctly, explaining
the reasons that push me to be so aggressive against religion. I
know that I am not going to achieve anything, that I am not going
to convince anybody. Waste of time? Maybe, but after my last
article I want to have another opportunity. I am not saying that I
changed my mind, only that the way I expressed my ideas was
not correct. Second, I want to respond to Erin’s article from last
week, “Thoughts on Christianity.”
OK, why am I so aggressive against religion? Religion
is the slavery of the human mind. Religion annuls the rational
thinking. Why? I want to start with a nice example. Some months
ago there was a campaign on the Internet, where some British
guy (I do not remember the name, neither the web page) was
asking for donations to put an ad on London’s buses: “There’s
probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” The
campaign spread to the US (Washington DC) and Spain (I do not
remember if it went to other countries, too). In Spain, there was a
counter-campaign, where some religious-related organization paid
to put the following ad: “God exists. Enjoy life in Christ”. The
differences are clear. One ad left the question, leaving open the
probability of the existence of God. The other is just “God exists,”
no questions, no probability open, no doubts. This is irrational
thinking, and this is the slavery of the human mind.
All thoughts and perceptions are framed into a religious jail.
This jail cannot be questioned and everything must fit inside.
We have multiple examples in Erin’s last article. One of them is
when Erin sees amazing and overwhelming things like the color
of the Harvest Moon or the way every single snowflake looks
different. What Erin is doing is trying to fit them into her own
religious jail. Of course, there is a rational explanation of the
Harvest Moon visual effect (like millions of other things, which
God is said to be responsible for). When rational explanation
of things starts to appear, believers expand their jail (or make it
more flexible), so it can explain more things in a more general
way. It is a nice paradox that religion (irrational thinking) needs
to evolve to be able to survive, when some religions go against
the theory of evolution.
An example of religious evolution is when people used
to believe that the earth was the center of the Universe. That
explanation fitted well into the religious jail. Why? If God has
created the Universe and God has created us in his image, then
it seems logical that the earth must be the center of the Universe.
When no other rational explanation could explain how the
Universe was, or how the planets where arranged inside the
Solar System, the best explanation fitting in the jail was that.
The problem with this is that when there are people who start
to have a version “outside the jail,” irrational thinking can nail
them to a cross (another nice paradox). This is why irrational
thinking is dangerous (not only to believers themselves). Most
C
ampus
Islam 101 – MSA Islamic Awareness Day
TechNews
By Muhammed Fazeel
Brian Kibbe, Editor
Abrahamic religions, Islam is centered in the concept of monotheism
(one god). We know about Allah from what Allah mentioned about
TECHNEWS WRITER
The Muslim Student Association at IIT held the Islamic
Awareness Day recently. The crescendo of the event was the
presentation/luncheon held on Monday April 20, 2009. An initial
introduction of the MSA was given by the MSA president, after
which a brief introduction about Islam was presented by Dr.
Sabeel Ahmed. This was followed by a lecture about Prophet
Muhammed(s) by Sh. Abdul Rahman Khan. The presenters did an
exemplary job of giving the audience a brief insight to the world
of Islam.
A question-answer session followed the lectures along with
a raffle draw. To conclude the event an Islamic video presentation
was shown to the audience.
The purpose of this article is to give the event its due justice
and shed some light on Islam as a religion.
This article is the first in a series of two; each article will pertain
to one of the presentations.
The first presentation by Dr. Sabeel Ahmed covered the basics
of Islam;
* Allah = The God, the Creator of the universe.
* Islam = Submission to Allah.
* Muslim = One who submits to the guidance of Allah.
* Quran = Word of Allah, given as guidance for
humanity.
* Muhammed (s) = Last Messenger appointed by Allah
to guide humanity.
Firstly Allah- what do we mean by this term? Just like other
IIT studebnts at the MSA Islamic awareness day gathering
Photo by Muhammed Fazeel
Himself in the Quran and through Prophet Muhammad (s).
In the Arabic bible Allah is a term associated with god.
The cornerstone of this term, or rather the first thing that comes
to a Muslims mind upon hearing this word is a merciful and
compassionate entity. Allah is a gender neutral term and as such is
associated with a singular being/entity.
Abrahamic religions do have several similarities; however,
there are many characteristics that differentiate each. In Islam, Allah
alone is considered worthy of worship and as such no one else is
worshiped apart from him and the Prophet Muhammed (s) is but a
5
Bkibbe@iit.edu
messenger of Allah and not someone we worship. He is a guide to
whose principles we try to adhere to.
The similarities of Abrahamic religions are obvious, for those
of you that are in the dark, all the prophets preached and believed
in the absolute oneness of God.
- Prophet Moses
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.“
(Deuteronomy 6:4)
- Prophet Jesus,
“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have “sent.
(John 17.3)
- Prophet Isaiah
“Thus said the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer
the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and
beside me there is no God.“ (Isaiah 44.6)
- Prophet Muhammad(s) preached on the absolute
oneness of God too.
To put the presentation in a nutshell:
* God is one in the absolute sense of the word
* God is the Creator and sustainer and eternal
* God is a just and all loving
* Attributes of the creator and the creation should not
be mixed
* Quran denies a triune God or son-ship of God
* All Prophets of God adhered to the same absolute
oneness of God.
I hope you liked my article, and I shall conclude the coverage
of the event in the next issue of Tech News.
Humanities Dept.
announces Writing
Contest winners
FRESHMAN ESSAY PRIZE
1st: Elnaz Moshfeghian (CS)
Then and Now
2nd: Aditi Kumar (CS)
Mumbai Terror Attack (Memoir)
3rd: Katsiaryna Shpak (ARCH)
Roman Builders
EDWIN H. LEWIS PRIZE FOR NONFICTION
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1st: Kaitlyn Conley (CE)
Perils & Promises of the American Engagement
in Iraq
2nd: Julia Rybakova (BA)
First Person Plural
3rd: John Dominski (PS)
Biting on the Boulevard
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1st: Ben Moran (BCHEM)
Writing on the Legal Pad
2nd: Kaitlyn Conley (CE)
Collection
3rd: Jennifer Randle (PS)
Kiss of Paradise
A reception was held on Wednesday April 22
for all entrants in the MTCC Welcome Center.
All prizes were also awarded at that time. The
following are the prizes that were awarded in
each category:
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1st: Katherine Lazicki (CHE)
Involuntary Action
2nd: Mike Gajdorus (ARCH)
97 Seconds
3rd: Nithin Winston (BME)
Who are the monsters?
MOLLIE COHEN POETRY PRIZE
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- Edwin H. Lewis Prize for Fiction 1st place: $300; 2nd place: $200; 3rd place: $100
- Edwin H. Lewis Prize for Nonfiction 1st place: $300; 2nd place: $200; 3rd place: $100
- Freshman Essay Prize 1st place: $300; 2nd place: $200; 3rd place: $100
- Mollie Cohen Prize for Poetry 1st place: $300; 2nd place: $200; 3rd place: $100
Campus
6
TechNews
Brian Kibbe, Editor
Bkibbe@iit.edu
WISER Hawks Formula Hybrid racing car
By Abhishek Gundugurti
TECHNEWS WRITER
On Friday of last week, the student engineer racing
team, WISER Hawks, launched IIT’s 2009 challengers
for the International Formula Hybrid Competition. They
hosted the send-off party in front of Siegel Hall and the
ECE Department barbecue event. Having been a competing
university for all three years of the competition’s existence,
the IIT team had the highest finish of 3rd overall against 16
universities in the 2008 competition. This year, the team is
officially participating with two cars – the Hammerhawk and
the Scarlet Hawk. The competition is organized by Society
of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Institute of Electrical and
Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and Dartmouth College, NH.
The team held a ceremony to reveal these two cars to the
IIT community last week. In the presence of faculty advisor
and sponsor, Dr. Ali Emadi, the team unveiled the 2007 and
2008 cars. The 2009 hybrid racing car, the Hammerhawk,
was also presented to the IIT crowd. The team had the fortune
of having President John Anderson attend the event. Team
member Donald Ruffatto explained to the President various
aspects of the hybrid drive-train, propulsion and mechanical
systems of the 2009 racing car. The President also talked to
Dr. Ali Emadi, regarding the project and the results from
the previous year. He also had a look at the other two racing
cars and watched the 2007 and 2008 cars demonstrate on the
road with a drag race.
The Scarlet Hawk will participate in the 2009 competition
in Loudon, New Hampshire at the New Hampshire
International Speedway along with the Hammerhawk. The
2008 car, the Scarlet Hawk, has had some minor modifications
to optimize performance. This was also done to meet any
2009 Formula SAE Rules requirements that were changed
from 2008 to 2009. The 2009 race car, the Hammerhawk, has
been in design from summer 2008 and was intended to race
as IIT’s new entry for the 2009 competition. The cars have
been designed, fabricated (in-part by the MMAE Department
faculty/machine shop staff) and assembled by students in
the SAE garage at IIT. The team members have contributed
extensive amounts of time in the past few weeks in the
run up to the competition and the send-off party. The team
members underwent a safety training to handle the hybrid
electrical systems and also the mechanical aspects of the
racing car. The team has been sponsored by Wanger Institute
of Sustainable Energy Research (WISER), Hybrid Electric
Vehicles Technologies Inc (HEVT), Dr Emadi’s Research
labs, IIT’s Alumni dept, Communications and Marketing
department and the Student Activities Fund.
Watching the team atmosphere, it is likely that the IIT
team will finish in the top three with at least one of the cars.
With the team’s efforts and hard work, along with the passion
the team members show towards the work they do, it would
be a wonderful result to see both of the cars finish the races
in the top steps of the podium. About 12 team members will
head down to Loudon, NH for the competition, which is held
May 4th to May 6th. To follow the team’s progress, visit their
website (http:// formulahybrid.iit.edu).
IIT President John Anderson with the IIT WISER Hawks Racing team.
Photo by Abhishek Gundugurti
Record number of S t r y k e r Aw a r d s
IPROs to be offered honor students, staff
this Summer & Fall
By Angela Ng
TECHNEWS WRITER
By Jennifer Keplinger
IPRO PROGRAM COORDINATOR
This summer, eight IPRO teams will
be working on projects that span a variety
of interesting and challenging problems that
address the needs and interests of the IIT
community and Chicago-area organizations.
The array of projects is outlined below, with
full descriptions available at http://ipro.iit.edu/
project-listings/future-projects.
Popular projects continuing for the
summer:
* IPRO 310 – Assistive Technology for
Blind Swimmers
* IPRO 337 – Zero Energy Lab
* IPRO 339 – Adapting Shipping
Containers for 2016 Olympic Housing
* IPRO 341 & 342 – Design and Process
Improvement for Chicago Manufacturers.
New projects for the summer:
* IPRO 301 – IPRO 2.0: Designing the
IPRO Team Collaboratory Space
* IPRO 348 – Design of a System for
Recycling Air Conditioner Condensate
* IPRO 358 – Design and Business
Planning for a Novel Fishing Innovation.
Supported by instructors that span
the professions of architecture, business,
engineering, technology and psychology, from
80 to 100 students will be challenged to organize
and energize as high performance teams like no
other, given the short summer session.
For fall, there may be as many as 45 IPRO
teams and on the order of 500 students from all
fields, organized to work on a variety of new
and continuing projects. Featured new projects
include:
* Two student Idea Challenge entries
(Purvag Patel (ME) and Kunle Apampa (CHE))
set up as Entrepreneurial IPROs (EnPROs)
that will be supported by the Kern Family
Foundation
* Planning the 21st century urban farm
* Designing the Kranti Home and School
in Mumbai (a project inspired by an IIT PSYC
alum)
* Prototyping a zero energy residential
community and energy
* Master planning for Delta Tau Delta
fraternity on the IIT Main Campus
* Developing an on-line student research
forum
On April 23, 2009, several students
were presented with awards, honoring them
for their distinguished service to the school
and campus life. The evening began with
opening remarks from Doug Geiger, Dean of
Students. Put together by Vickie Tolbert and
Katie Murphy-Stetz, the awards dinner was
attended by all recipients and their guests and
Office of Student Affairs staff. The Clinton
E. Stryker Distinguished Service Awards
have been given to students at an annual
spring dinner since 1976. Stryker, a graduate
of Armour Institute of Technology, was on
the Board of Trustees and was very active
in the betterment
o f I I T.
The
honored students
of this award were
Raymond Ballard,
Amy Chun, Kaitlyn
C o n l e y, L o r y
Mishra, Angela
Ng, Hamza Obaid,
Babajide Oke,
Karina Powell,
Crystal Trauner,
Kathryn Weissman,
Photo by Angela Ng
and Erika Wenzler.
In addition, others
were honored for their dedication and service.
Alan Crumb, Provost and Senior Vice President
of Academic Affairs, presented the Richard
Babcock Leadership Award to Raymond
Ballard. The Staff Excellence in Service
Award was given to Amy Henson, Director of
Communications and an electrical computer
engineer. Other award recipients were Aditya
Jayanty (Graduate Teaching Assistant),
Chandresh Mansukhani (Outstanding Student
Employee of the Year), and the Muslim
Students Association (Outstanding Student
Organization). Congratulations to all for their
service to IIT!
C
ampus
Academic 33rd Street Prodcutions
TechNews
7
Brian Kibbe, Editor
Bkibbe@iit.edu
dishonesty presents: The Mousetrap
By Christopher Chock
ASSISTANT EDITOR
What happens when you stick a bunch of CSL professors,
the Associate Provost of Undergraduate Affairs, an expert on
academic honesty and a couple of students into a room and
make them discuss academic dishonesty? Well, the answer
to the question can be found in the recent past.
This past Thursday, the College of Science and Letters
hosted their 5th annual Teaching Enrichment Workshop,
arranged by Dr. Ishaque Khan, Associate Dean of CSL. This
year’s focus was on academic dishonesty, with Dr. Donald
McCabe, professor of Management and Global Business at
Rutgers, an expert in academic honesty.
Professor McCabe has been studying academic
dishonesty for the past 19 years, presenting his findings
mostly from web surveys that he has conducted in the US in
the past six years which involved over 58,000 undergraduates,
10,500 graduate students and 14,800 faculty members from
more than 115 universities. Professor McCabe’s studies
indicate that approximately 21% of undergraduates and 10%
of graduate students have self reported cheating on tests,
while 54% of professors have suspected cheating in the
past two years. The numbers for self reported cheating on
written assignments (term papers, and the like) are 48% and
31% for undergraduates and graduate students while 86% of
professors have suspected cheating.
As troubling as these numbers are, the purpose of Prof.
McCabe’s research and this workshop was to investigate and
reduce the reasons why and the methods that students use to
cheat. Following Prof. McCabe’s presentation, Associate
Provost of Undergraduate Affairs Mike Gosz presented IIT’s
current policy and recommendations from an SGA-initiated
student/faculty committee.
By Brigid Strait
TECHNEWS WRITER
Last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 33rd Street Productions
put on Agatha Christie’s ‘The Mousetrap’, directed by Clayton
Shive. ‘The Mousetrap’ is a murder mystery known for having
the longest initial run of any play in history. Originally a short
radio play named ‘Three Blind Mice’, the first stage
performance was in 1952.
The play was inspired by the real-life
death of a boy who died in the foster care
of a Shropshire farming couple. On stage,
this translated into a murder investigation
at a country bed-and-breakfast run by Giles
and Mollie Ralston. Their odd collection
of guests, ranging from a notably unstable
“architect” to a retired magistrate-turnedbusybody, get snowed together in the day
after a woman is strangled in London. A
police investigator, Sergeant Trotter, shows
up to warn them that the killer intends to go
after someone at the bed-and-breakfast. Soon
after, someone drops dead. ‘The Mousetrap’ has
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The issues with the current IIT policy regarding
academic honesty are that there is no clear definition of what
constitutes academic honesty, no clear uniform procedure
to deal with those reported and no confidential means of
reporting. Among the suggestions presented by Prof. Gosz
were a proposed means to anonymously report cheating and
allowing for more student involvement.
Following this presentation was a short coffee break
and the panel discussion which was open to all there. The
discussion was moderated by Prof. Vivian Weil, director of the
Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions. The panel
consisted of Prof. McCabe, Michael Davis, IIT Professor
of Philosophy, Sandra Bishnoi, IIT Assistant Professor of
Chemistry and Chris Chock, third year chemical engineering
undergraduate and a last minute graduate student replacement
for Alana Platt, PhD student who unfortunately fell ill that
morning.
The panel discussed various strategies that can be
employed to discourage students from cheating as well as
what exactly constitutes cheating. Most contentious among
the hot topics were what exactly constitutes cheating – among
those in engineering, collaboration on assignments and use
of solutions manuals and old exams was considered the norm
and even acceptable while those from other disciplines did
not see eye to eye with that philosophy.
The only viable solution to this inconsistency was that
there needs to be more communication between what each
instructor expects of their students and what they will allow
in their class. The other hurdle that needs to be understood
is on the students’ end – students need to understand their
purpose at the university. If students view the university as a
stepping stone and always have their eyes on something else
in the future, it is very easily justifiable to cut corners here
and there. The students need to be aware that they are at the
university to learn – only in knowing this will the reason for
cheating go down.
In his presentation, Prof. McCabe suggested various
solutions to curb and detect cheating, but he advocated that
the only real means to stop cheating all together was to have
student involvement and have the mindset instilled in the
student body. This is something that no administrators can
effectively tackle anywhere as well as the student body can.
For this reason, the student body has to realize its purpose at
this university, and SGA needs to continue with its leadership
in addressing this problem.
one of the most famous twist endings in history.
A lot of work obviously went into both the costumes and
sets. The side walls were a tad tipsy, but the cast dealt well
with both the walls and the lights, which occasionally flashed
randomly. “Faulty wiring,” Mollie Ralston (Stephanie Marx) said
off-handedly when the lights flashed during the second act.
The cast was spot-on throughout the
performance. All of the characters were
vividly portrayed, and their quirks
brought frequent laughter from the
audience. All in all it was an enjoyable
show, and at the end of Saturday’s
performance the cast celebrated by
giving the director the board game,
Mousetrap.
The cast included Katherine
Hammes, Nathan Fredrickson,
Alex Leasenby, Stephanie
Marx, Christina Goudy, Jad
Jureidini, William Bishop,
and director Clayton
Shive.
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Campus
TechNews
Brian Kibbe, Editor
Bkibbe@iit.edu
Organic beer & Ehren Ebbage at the BOG
By Linda Goldstein
CONTENT MANAGER
Standing alone onstage, he rocked the
house with an acoustic guitar and a mic by his
lips. The bar was serving organic beer, and the
crowd lazed around every table in the place,
save a few in front, which musician Ehren
Ebbage’s equipment-movers, CD-sellers, and
other dedicated groupies had peppered with
their beer bottles.
Ebbage, formerly of the Justin King
band, was scheduled by Union Board
(UB) programmer El to play at the BOG’s
celebration of Earth Day, where there were
free t-shirt giveaways and lots of literature
on being green. Some of it may even have
been printed on recycled paper. Earth Day
was April 23, and many celebrations took
place across the city, including on the IIT
campus. High points of the night included
conversations among friends,Wii games, and
general geekery, including several young men
plugging away on plugged-in laptops at what
we may only assume to be homework, since
WoW players don’t move quite that much.
The event was overseen by UB Vice
President of the BOG Hamza Obaid. Hamza
said that scheduling Ebbage cost the Student
Activity Fund (SAF) $900 for a 75 minute set,
and that the sound setup cost $140.
Campus icons Ray Ballard (the incoming
Student Government Association (SGA)
president) and Saagar Patel (the outgoing
SGA president, and soon-to-be IIT alum)
made appearances. Also highly visible in the
dim post-counter light were several Sodexo
soda jerks, delivering exemplary entrees at
prices cheaper than most Chicago bars. In
short, I’m glad that UB brought Ebbage back
again, and I hope that they keep him in the
back room and pull him out on slow nights
to soothe the audience with his cliche guitar
noises. Ebbage doesn’t rock your socks up
or crack up the crowd- and maybe everyone
just showed up for the beer- but I’ve got
to say that I loved his music precisely for
its derivative mellowness, like a well-aged
wine.
Ehren Ebbage playing guitar in the BOG on Thursday evening
Photo by Hamza Obaid
Unique comedy ChangeIIT: don’t waste good ideas
gets laughs
in The BOG
By Linda Goldstein
CONTENT MANAGER
By Danielle Madere
TECHNEWS WRITER
On Friday, April 17, American Sign Language (ASL)
comedian Keith Wann dazzled an audience in the Bog.
Keith is hearing, but he grew up with two deaf parents.
His comedy, called ‘A hearing child in a Deaf world’
embellishes mostly on his experience with deaf parents. His
comedy is unique, as he does not speak at all during the set
(he speaks through an interpreter, though). About 40 or 50
came out to this event that was predominantly sponsored by
the Office of Disability Resources, which is located in the
Life Sciences building. His comedy was very interactive,
and at one point he had five student volunteers on the stage
trying to re-enact a movie scene that he made up and showed
to them (without speaking!) which was a lot funnier than
one might imagine. The event was definitely a success and
hopefully we can bring Keith back again!
The strange “Change” posters around campus all mention
May 1st, but the big barbecue on Farr field (i.e. Greek Quad)
will actually be on Thursday April 30th (5-7pm). You see, IPRO
Day is on the 1st, and that’s enough excitement for one day.
The burgers, hot dogs, and vegetarian option will be
courtesy of ChangeIIT, the new “don’t let good ideas go to
waste!” ethos that is finding increasing support among student
leaders, administrators and staff in various forward-looking
departments, dissatisfied IIT students, and stymied movers and
shakers everywhere.
In its infancy, ChangeIIT had several start-up difficulties
which were in large part caused by people who disliked IIT so
much that they thought the correct approach to fixing things
was to burn the school down. But nowadays it tries to be civil
and non-abrasive while chasing down the lofty goal of school
improvement. Its main tool is changeiit.com.
As an additional marketing ploy, those people who sign up
for free forum posting accounts at the ChangeIIT website after
12:01 am on May 1, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 13th, 21st, etc.
people to register will receive a free BOG food or drink item
for free from ChangeIIT . This edible tidbit will probably come
at the cost of having your brain picked about what IIT could
improve, but such is life. Besides, gossip is fun.
ChangeIIT is hard to describe, but it’s gotten advice from
many departments on campus, and tens of students. Different
people have different issues with IIT- it depends on major,
minor, degree of involvement in student life, and Greek status.
The older students sometimes feel like things have always been
this way (whatever the current status quo is) and are unlikely
to ever change- while administrators like Doug Geiger (Dean
of Students) and Jerry Doyle (head of Admissions) spout
enthusiastic ideas at whoever is standing closest. Freshmen do
this too, until their ideas go too-oft unregarded.
ChangeIIT is a forum based on the idea that collaboration
is better than sitting alone in one’s room, sulking. A word in the
right ear can work wonders, and ChangeIIT knows which ears
are the right ones, and is looking for YOUR words to fill them.
As Shakespeare said so sweetly in Macbeth, some IIT students
tell tales “ full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing.” But the
written word carries a significant power; after all, books last
decades, and the Internet preserves everything forever (in some
cases, unfortunately).
So come eat a hot dog and mention your most recent
problems with class registration. It’s time for a singularity of
change, and we’ll all be instantaneously registered by nanobots
at the stroke of dawn on the first of the semester.
IIT Lands First Place at Chicago Innovation Chase!
By Zach Hench
TECHNEWS WRITER
The 2009 Chicago Innovation Chase was held on April 17, 2009. Eight teams of the best and
brightest undergraduate entrepreneurs from DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology,
Lawrence Technological
U n i v e r s i t y, M i l w a u k e e
School of Engineering, Ohio
Northern University, Saint
Louis University, University
of Illinois at Chicago, and
Valparaiso University competed
for a top prize of $2500.
Students started the day with
a rousing kickoff event led
by Dr. David Pistrui, Clark
McCain, Program Manager, The
Coleman Foundation, and Dr.
Tim Kriewall, Program Director,
the Kern Family Foundation.
The Chicago Innovation
Chase, a one-day product
design and business challenge,
is the flagship event of the
Entrepreneurship Program at
IIT. Teams of five students are
given a product to design –
such as a cell phone – and then
a single clue. This clue leads
the team through downtown
Chicago, to a dozen attractions
and noteworthy organizations, where judges evaluate the teams on their performance of tasks such as
an elevator pitch, media interview, ethnographic study, rapid prototype, and opportunity assessment.
This year, teams were challenged to design hospitality packs for Chicago’s tourists and business
travelers. Students met with influential business and social leaders from World Business Chicago,
the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, and the Coleman Foundation, then returned to the kickoff
location to finalize their written opportunity assessments and create prototypes of their new devices.
During this time, faculty advisors
and guests from the Kern Family
Foundation networked, met with
students in our Kern Innovation
and Entrepreneurship Academy,
and attended a luncheon
presentation by Thomas Stat,
Associate Director, IDEO. At
the end of the day, the judges
tallied scores from the various
segments of the competition
and the winning teams were
announced:
1st Place: Illinois
Institute of Technology, $2500
2nd Place: Saint Louis
University, $1250
3rd Place: University of
Illinois at Chicago, $500
The Chicago Innovation
Chase is an effective vehicle
for driving interest in
entrepreneurship at IIT and the
surrounding community. One
student, an Entrepreneurship
major from UIC, was enthused
by “the intensity of a raw entrepreneurial experience.” Another student from St. Louis University
enjoyed “the many learning opportunities [that forced] us to think on our feet and innovate.”
Campus
TechNews
Brian Kibbe, Editor
9
Bkibbe@iit.edu
PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT
Incident Type:
LARCENY/THEFT : FROM MOTOR VEHICLE
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : GENERAL PARKING LOCATIONS : D2 LOT - 3350 S
WABASH
Clery Act Public Crime Log
Date/Time Reported:
4/21/2009 09:09 PM
Incident Occurred Between:
4/21/2009 09:09 PM and 4/21/2009 09:09 PM
Case #:
04212009-000288
Int. Ref. #:
Disposition: POLICE NOTIFIED
Printed on Friday, April 24, 2009
From 4/17/2009 To 4/23/2009
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT THAT PARKED VEHICLE HAD BEEN ENTERED BY UNKNOWN PERSON(S) AND
ITEM TAKEN FROM INSIDE OF TRUNK. CPD NOTIFIED
Incident Type:
UTILITY INCIDENT : WATER
Incident Type:
INJURED/SICK PERSON : NON-EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORT : STUDENT
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS : GUNSAULUS HALL - 3140 S
MICHIGAN
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS : GUNSAULUS HALL - 3140 S
MICHIGAN
Date/Time Reported:
4/17/2009 02:40 AM
4/17/2009 02:40 AM and 4/17/2009 02:40 AM
Date/Time Reported:
4/22/2009 02:56 AM
4/22/2009 02:56 AM and 4/22/2009 02:56 AM
Case #:
04172009-000277
Int. Ref. #:
Disposition: HOUSING & FAC NOTIFIED
Case #:
04222009-000289
Int. Ref. #:
Disposition: RESIDENT ADVISOR NOTIFIED
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO REPORT FROM DOOR GUARD OF WATER ON THE 4TH AND 5TH FLOORS AT LOCATION. FACILITIES
NOTIFIED TO RESOLVE.
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT FROM SHIMER STUDENT THAT THEY WERE ILL AND REQUESTED TRANSPORT
TO HOSPITAL. TRANSPORT PROVIDED BY PSD TO MERCY HOSPITAL.
Incident Type:
Incident Type:
LARCENY/THEFT : OTHER
Location:
WABASH
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : ACADEMIC/ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS :
ENGINEERING 1 - 10 W 32ND
Date/Time Reported:
4/17/2009 05:45 PM
4/17/2009 08:00 AM and 4/17/2009 05:30 PM
Date/Time Reported:
4/22/2009 10:42 AM
4/20/2009 08:00 PM and 4/22/2009 08:00 AM
Case #:
04172009-000279
Int. Ref. #:
Disposition: CLOSED PENDING ADTL INFO
Case #:
04222009-000291
Int. Ref. #:
Disposition: UNDER INVESTIGATION
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT OF ITEMS TAKEN FROM PARKED VEHICLE.
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT OF COMPUTER MISSING FROM ROOM.
Incident Type:
INJURED/SICK PERSON : REPORT ONLY : STUDENT
Incident Type:
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : ACADEMIC/ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS : MCCORMICK
TRIBUNE CAMPUS CENTER - 3201 S STATE
Location:
WABASH
Date/Time Reported:
4/18/2009 12:13 PM
4/18/2009 12:10 PM and 4/18/2009 12:11 PM
Date/Time Reported:
4/22/2009 01:28 PM
4/21/2009 08:00 PM and 4/22/2009 07:45 AM
Case #:
04182009-000282
Int. Ref. #:
Disposition: INFORMATION ONLY
Case #:
04222009-000292
Int. Ref. #:
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT OF A STUDENT WHO HAD FAINTED. CFD AMBULANCE ARRIVED AND
TREATED STUDENT WHO THEN DECLINED TRANSPORT TO HOSPITAL.
Notes:
PSD WAS INFORMED OF A GPS TAKEN FROM INSIDE A LOCKED VEHICLE PARKED IN LOT. NO SIGNS OF FORCED ENTRY TO
VEHICLE WERE DISCOVERED.
Incident Type:
Incident Type:
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS : MCCORMICK STUDENT
VILLAGE - 3241 S WABASH : MSV - NORTH
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : ACADEMIC/ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS : TOWER - 10
W 35TH
Date/Time Reported:
4/18/2009 04:50 PM
4/18/2009 04:50 PM and 4/18/2009 04:50 PM
Date/Time Reported:
4/22/2009 07:47 PM
4/22/2009 07:47 PM and 4/22/2009 07:47 PM
Case #:
04182009-000283
Int. Ref. #:
Case #:
04222009-000293
Int. Ref. #:
Disposition: RESIDENT ADVISOR NOTIFIED
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR STUDENT WHO REPORTED FEELING ILL. TRANSPORT PROVIDED BY PSD TO MERCY
HOSPITAL.
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT FROM STUDENT THAT THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE HAVING AN ALLERGIC
REACTION TO SOMETHING THEY ATE. TRANSPORT PROVIDED BY PSD TO MERCY HOSPITAL.
Incident Type:
INJURED/SICK PERSON : REPORT ONLY : GENERAL PUBLIC/VISITOR
Incident Type:
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : ACADEMIC/ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS : HERMANN
UNION BUILDING - 3241 S FEDERAL
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS : CUNNINGHAM HALL - 3100
S MICHIGAN
Date/Time Reported:
4/19/2009 10:40 AM
4/19/2009 10:40 AM and 4/19/2009 10:40 AM
Date/Time Reported:
4/22/2009 10:15 PM
4/22/2009 11:00 AM and 4/22/2009 10:15 PM
Case #:
04192009-000284
Int. Ref. #:
Case #:
04222009-000296
Int. Ref. #:
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT OF A VISITOR WHO HAD A DIABETIC REACTION. CFD AMBULANCE
RESPONDED AND TREATED VISITOR AT THE SCENE. THE VISITOR THEN DECLINED TRANSPORT TO HOSPITAL.
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT OF MONEY TAKEN FROM VEHICLE PARKED IN LOT. NO SIGNS OF FORCED
ENTRY TO VEHICLE.
Incident Type:
DAMAGE TO PROPERTY
Incident Type:
UTILITY INCIDENT : WATER
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY:MAIN CAMPUS:GENERAL PARKING LOCATIONS:D5 LOT - 3420 S STATE
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS : MCCORMICK STUDENT
VILLAGE - 3241 S WABASH : MSV - FOWLER
Date/Time Reported:
4/21/2009 08:11 AM
4/21/2009 08:11 AM and 4/21/2009 08:11 AM
Date/Time Reported:
4/23/2009 02:33 AM
4/23/2009 02:33 AM and 4/30/2009 02:33 AM
Case #:
04212009-000285
Int. Ref. #:
Disposition: POLICE NOTIFIED
Case #:
04232009-000297
Int. Ref. #:
Disposition: HOUSING & FAC NOTIFIED
Notes:
PSD WHILE ON PATROL OBSERVED A DAMAGED PARKING LOT GATE POST AT LOCATION CAUSED BY A CTA TRUCK
TRYING TO ENTER THE PARKING LOT. CPD NOTIFIED AND REPORT COMPLETED.
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT OF A LEAKING PIPE IN ROOM. FACILITIES NOTIFIED TO RESOLVE.
Incident Type:
DISTURBANCE
Incident Type:
LARCENY/THEFT : OTHER
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : ACADEMIC/ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS : GALVIN
LIBRARY - 35 W 33RD
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : ACADEMIC/ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS : 3424 S
STATE
Date/Time Reported:
4/21/2009 06:57 PM
4/21/2009 06:40 PM and 4/21/2009 06:40 PM
Date/Time Reported:
4/23/2009 07:11 AM
4/22/2009 04:30 PM and 4/23/2009 07:00 AM
Case #:
04212009-000286
Int. Ref. #:
Case #:
04232009-000299
Int. Ref. #:
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT FROM STAFF MEMBER THAT A SUBJECT REFUSED TO SHOW ID UPON
ENTERING THE LIBRARY. SUBJECT STATED TO PSD THAT HE LEFT HIS ID AT HOME AND DID NOT HAVE ANY OTHER FORM
OF ID WITH HIM.
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT THAT LAPTOP COMPUTER WAS TAKEN FROM TENANT OFFICE AREA.
Incident Type:
Incident Type:
LARCENY/THEFT : BICYCLES
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : ACADEMIC/ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS : KEATING
SPORTS CENTER - 3040 S WABASH
Location:
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY : MAIN CAMPUS : ACADEMIC/ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS : KEATING
SPORTS CENTER - 3040 S WABASH
Date/Time Reported:
4/21/2009 08:16 PM
4/21/2009 08:10 PM and 4/21/2009 08:16 PM
Date/Time Reported:
4/23/2009 10:19 AM
4/23/2009 09:20 AM and 4/23/2009 10:15 AM
Case #:
04212009-000287
Int. Ref. #:
Case #:
04232009-000298
Int. Ref. #:
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT OF INJURY TO STUDENT WHILE PLAYING BASKETBALL. STUDENT HAD
SMALL CUT UNDER EYE AFTER BEING ACCIDENTALLY HIT IN THE FACE WITH AN ELBOW. TRANSPORT PROVIDED TO
MERCY HOSPITAL BY PSD.
Notes:
PSD RESPONDED TO LOCATION FOR REPORT FROM STUDENT OF BICYCLE TAKEN FROM BIKE RACK. STUDENT WAS
UNSURE IF BICYCLE HAD BEEN SECURED TO BIKE RACK.
Want to get PAID for your
ARTICLES in TECHNEWS?
You have to do the PAPERWORK.
email businessmanager.technews@gmail.com by April 6th, 11:59pm
10
Campus
TechNews
Brian Kibbe, Editor
Bkibbe@iit.edu
University Calendar
Tuesday, April 28
Shimer College Film Screening:
Eyes Wide Shut
Student Forum: Strategic Plan for
IIT
12:45-1:45pm, Hermann Hall Expo
5:30-7:40pm, Shimer, 2nd Floor
Students are invited to attend the Student Forum
to discuss IIT’s Strategic Plan. Please RSVP to
aprice1@iit.edu.
A brilliant retelling of the 1925 erotic
Traumnovella by Arthur Schnitzler. Bourgeois
sexual psychology, guilt, self-discovery,
collective unconscious, textual repetition,
aggressive seduction, dream-state New York
City, and “the end of the Rainbow.”.
Wednesday, April 29
TechNews Writers Meeting
1:10pm, TechNews office (MTCC221)
English Conversation Program: Talk Social Sciences Lecture: “North Athens and Color Radio
8:30pm, The BOG
Time on “Food and Eating Out”
Korea: Still in the Axis of Evil?”
Want to write about something? Have a gripe 12:50-1:45pm, Wishnick 115
about the issue? Need to take some photos? English Conversation Program “Talk Time” is
Need to get paid? TechNews is here
a monthly casual meeting where international
students can discuss a variety of cultural issues
with domestic and international students, faculty
and staff. International students can brush up
their conversational English skills, and domestic
students, faculty and staff have an opportunity
to learn about other cultures and help IIT
international students.
4-5:30pm, Wishnick Hall 113
Professor Cumings will examine the disconnect
between the long history of confrontation
between the U.S. and North Korea, going back
more than 60 years now, and the American
transformation of North Korea first into a “rogue
state” in the early 1990s, and then into part of
the “axis of evil” in 2002.
Come by for a night of improv from 33rd Street
Production’s World Worst Improv Group at
8:30, followed by indie/alternative music by
two Chicago-based bands: Athens and Color
Radio at 9!
Thursday, April 30
NSBE General Meeting
Meet... Frank Crossley
NSBE would be meeting in the E! building
room 106. Issues concerning the conference
and essence banquet would be discussed. Also,
importantly, ways by which members can be
involved would be brought up so BE THERE.
Meet IIT Alumnus Frank Crossley (CHE ‘45, M.
S. MET ‘47, PhD MET ‘50) whose professional
achievements include participating in the US
Navy program that lead to the desegregation
of the US Armed Forces, the first PhD in
Metallurgical Engineering at IIT among many
other achievements
1pm, E1 Room 106
3:30-5pm, E1 Room 123
Friday, May 1
Spring 2009 IPRO Projects Day Humanities Colloquium: David
Conference
Zesmer
A Cappella End of the Year
Extravagana
More than 45 student teams from IIT and
an invitational team from California State
University-Fresno are working to solve these
problems and more. Their work will be exhibited
at the Spring 2009 IPRO Day competition.
Come to the HUB Friday, May 1st to hear your
favorite a cappella groups, X-Chromotones,
Crown Joules, and The TechTonics perform all
the songs they have learned this semester.
9:30am-6pm, Herman Hall
2-4pm, Siegel 218 Conference Room
8:00pm, The BOG
David Zesmer (Emeritus Professor of English,
IIT) will be presenting a paper as part of the
Lewis Department of Humanities ongoing
colloquium series. For more information about
the series visit: http://www.iit.edu/csl/hum/
announcements/seminars.shtml#colloquium
Saturday, May 2
LIFE/SHPE 29th Annual Awards
and Installations Banquet
6pm, MTCC Ballroom
Please come join us in celebrating another year
of hard work and achievement. Adrian Alvarado
from ComEd will be our guest speaker and
afterwards there will be a whole night of dancing
with a live DJ!
Monday, May 4
CMC/International Center
Wo r k s h o p : I n t r o d u c t i o n
to Cooperative Education &
Internships
2-3pm, Galvin Library, CMC
Public Safety will hold two forums in late
January and early February to promote safety
awareness in and around IIT and discuss ways
in which students can protect themselves. The
forums are open to the entire school. Food and
refreshments will be served
Snarky Puppy in the BOG
8pm, The BOG
TechNews submissions due!
11:59pm, technews.iit.edu
At 8:00pm a talented Chicago vocalist, Kristi Want to get an article or photo into the February
Alsip, will be opening for Snarky Puppy at 3 edition of TechNews? Now is your last
9:00pm, a jazz/funk/rock band from Denton, chance!
Texas will be ready to amaze you with their
musical prowess. Snarky Puppy, a Jazz/Funk/
Experimental band, says, “We are a large
ensemble devoted to bringing uncompromised,
original music to a non-exclusive audience. In
a crazy, twisted way, we play dance music. It’s
also art music. I suppose it’s just music.”
Want to get PAID for your
ARTICLES in TECHNEWS?
You have to do the PAPERWORK.
email businessmanager.technews@gmail.com by April 6th, 11:59pm
Campus
TechNews
Brian Kibbe, Editor
11
Bkibbe@iit.edu
The Big Event ‘09 in pictures
Photos by John Dominski
12
A&E
TechNews
Lory Mishra, Editor Tuesday, April 28, 2009
lmishra@iit.edu
Comic Book Reviews: pretty good edition
By Erik Johnson
TECHNEWS WRITER
Image Comics: Viking #1
I went into the comic book store looking for a Thor book, and
left with this. I’ve been told by internet comic elitists that these
days Thor is just fanboy self-indulgence courtesy of J. Michael
Staczynski. On top of that, Thor is at issue 600-something, so
jumping on now is nigh impossible.
So, I left the shop with Viking in hand. It’s a new Image
book that jumped off the shelf at me thanks to its giant size
and brightly colored cover. Unfortunately, that’s one of the few
things this book has going for it. It’s written so the dialect sounds
dated and Viking-ish, but that often becomes incoherent and
confusing. The story also doesn’t exactly go anywhere. Things
jumped back and forth between what I think are supposed to be
the main characters, but they were all so generic and similar I
had a terrible time figuring out what was going on.
When the writing did work, it worked very well. An
exchange very early on involving a Viking with gastrointestinal
problems was hysterical. I really wish there had been more of
that. Otherwise, things were generic and incoherent.
However, the art was beautiful. The book is oversized and
the art was very impressive. In a way, it reminded me of Ashley
Wood’s art. Unfortunately, like Ashley Wood, the chaotic artwork
left me confused more often than not.
I’d say this one is a matter of whether or not you like the
pictures and are willing to stay with the book for awhile to see
where it goes. I’m just not feeling it.
bad guys. The Emperor and Vader are having some drama. It’s
the usual Star Wars fair, but this book is beautifully illustrated.
The art is crisp and vibrant, and maintains a realistic level of
detail that creates a beautiful atmosphere for the book.
Everything in the book has a very appealing western feel to
it. These characters could all be cowboys, and that’s an aspect
of many sci-fi franchises that I really enjoy. If you’ve got any
interest in checking out a Star Wars series, this is definitely a
great time to start reading Dark Times.
Dark Horse Comics: Star Wars: Dark Times #13
After a bit of a hiatus, Star Wars: Dark Times has returned.
The series currently centers around tough guy Jedi, Dass Jennir
and Darth Vader, both cool characters in their own way. I’ve just
jumped into the series, so I was a bit unsure of what was going
on, but this issue is a good spot to start, as it is the beginning of
a three-part story arc.
However, this issue doesn’t provide much in the way of
exposition. Jennir lands on a backwater world, there are some
Steppenwolf’s thunderously good show
By Erik Johnson
TECHNEWS WRITER
After seeing a musical back at my high school and
performing in Midsummer Night’s Dream here at IIT, I’ve
been in the mood for some theater. After much deliberation,
I decided on seeing “The Tempest” at Steppenwolf Theater.
Steppenwolf is fairly well known and well thought of, so I
looked forward to a fantastic show.
“The Tempest” is Steppenwolf’s
first Shakespeare presentation, and
from the questions asked during
the discussion session afterward, it
sounded as if doing Shakespeare is a
large departure for Steppenwolf. “The
Tempest” is one of Shakespeare’s
final works, and follows the sorcerer
Prospero as he uses his powers to
manipulate his enemies. It’s quite
a mix of romance, comedy, and the
supernatural and reminded me a
bit of an island-based Midsummer
Night’s Dream.
I purchased my tickets using the
Hot Tix service (http://www.hottix.
org/), which sells select half price
tickets via their website. Certain
tickets can only be picked up at their
outlet in the loop, but for the most
part one can have tickets within
a few swift clicks. Unfortunately,
Hot Tix may not be as reliable as
one would hope. Upon arriving at
the theater, I was told they hadn’t
received any ticket orders for “Erik
Johnson” (even though my credit
card would disagree). Luckily, they
ushered me into the theater and asked
me to come back and work things
out during intermission. I eventually
had to log into my e-mail and show them the Ticketmaster
receipt. I’m sure Hot Tix purchases are usually okay, but the
possibility of weird things like that is something to keep in
mind. I’m definitely going to print out my receipt and bring it
along with me from now on. Still, props to the Steppenwolf
employees, they were very understanding and handled the
situation well.
I was able to settle into the first row, which was a fairly
decent seat, except when they chose to utilize a few stage
balconies, during which I couldn’t see any of what happened
on the upper left stage balcony. There wasn’t more than five
minutes of action there, so it wasn’t too bad.
The show opened with a bang, as men dressed as sailors
turned a very minimal, industrial set into a ship caught
in a dreadful tempest. The shouting and chaos were most
impressive, and I was surprised at how well they could turn
a few ropes, a giant metal ramp, and a few poles into a ship.
This minimal set remained about the same for the rest of
the show, and it created quite a different atmosphere than I
expected. Where I expected a variety of sets, this set left much
to the imagination (imagination is the theme of the shows at
Steppenwolf this season). However, the minimal set did well to
contrast against the times things did get bright and colorful.
The show was lead by Frank Galati as a very impressive
Prospero, who sort of reminded me of a more manipulative
Gandalf. K. Todd Freeman and Jon Michael Hill played
servants to Prospero, Caliban and Ariel. Jon Michael Hill was
particularly good, driving the show with Ariel’s magic. Tim
Hopper and Yasen Peyankov also really stood out as Trinculo
and Stephano. Their energy and humor kept the crowd going,
and a few raunchy directorial decisions left me laughing louder
than all the stuffy old theater folk that filled the Thursday night
crowd. It was definitely an impressive and interesting cast,
and the diversity of race added an interesting element to the
performance.
Apart from a few
cheesy projection effects,
the show had some really
fascinating technical
moments. The lighting
was great and the use of
music played an amazing
supplement to the action.
Many chunks of dialogue
were turned to song, and
a very unexpected dance
number in the middle of the
show that utilized rock and
hip-hop was hysterically
awesome. These sorts
of little contemporary
things made their way
into the play often, mostly
for the better. However,
a very odd choice left
the spirit Ariel using a
MacBook to “DJ” the
show. This really took me
out of everything and was
definitely bizarre.
Overall, it was a great
show, but I left feeling that
if I had paid the full ticket
price ($55) I would have
been a bit disappointed.
The show was good and there were a few “wow” moments
but it certainly didn’t blow my mind. I’m sure a lot of smaller
theaters could put on a show just about as good for a much
cheaper price. This may partly be because you’re paying for
the big names that are a part of Steppenwolf, but I’m too new
to the theater scene to tell.
If you’ve got the money to spare, I would still recommend
making your way out to see it. “The Tempest” runs until May
31.
A&E
TechNews
Lory Mishra, Editor 13
lmishra@iit.edu
I t ’s B l i t z ! On Beauty by Zadie Smith
an exercise
in restraint
By Udayan Das
At the core of ‘On Beauty’ , Zadie Smith’s third novel, is
the story of two women from opposing families who share a
friendship. I suspect, reading the book, that this was the author’s
central idea when she started out writing it. This, before any of the
other additional themes that came in, were expanded on, explored
and a story became a novel, a book. Unfortunately, somewhere
between the glow of that original idea and its broadly laid out
context, the strength of the narrative got lost. So that the novel
ends up being short of what it could have been.
On the surface, On Beauty relates the tale of two families,
who are literally on opposite sides of a cultural debate. There
are the Belseys, led by Howard, who is a Rembrandt Scholar
that believes there is nothing inherently beautiful in a work of
Art when it is taken out of its historical context. His argument is
that a lot of Art that is celebrated now (and his argument extends
to music and other Art forms)
is really celebrated because of
the influence of Europe from
Renaissance through to the
present day. Take that out of the
equation and a lot of Art just falls
flat on its face. Howard is also
liberal in terms of his political
views: supports affirmative
action, gay marriage, etc. At
the other side of the Rembrandt
debate (and Rembrandt’s work
really is the central point of
argument between the two
families, although liberal
vs. conservative is not an
understatement) is Montague
Kipps, Monty, who believes
that Art is something sacred and
God-given (in the sense that an
artist’s talent is a gift) and tends
to have an overall conservative
point of view. The novel will use
this rivalry as a talking point for
all its other underlying issues:
among them race relations,
the state of women, economic
disparity, communication, class
politics and more.
The rest of the Belseys
include Kiki, who is Howard’s
African-American wife and
their three kids. The fact that
Howard is a white Englishman with African-American kids
implicitly brings race into the equation, although the novel will
also explicitly bring it in focus, especially with a group of Haitian
immigrants with whom Levi, the youngest kid, gets involved. The
Kipps are from the Caribbean and of African descent and are a
family of four, including the mother Carlene.
The novel begins with two important events: Jerome,
Howard’s eldest, falls in love with Victoria, Monty’s daughter
(who, in turn, is not in love with him); and Monty harangues
Howard in a well-known academic publication. Thereafter, the
novel will talk of many different exchanges between the two
families: some pleasant, as in the case of Carlene and Kiki, and
some not-so-pleasant. There are also many other minor characters,
including Claire Malcolm, who is a poet and whom Howard has
recently had an affair with, and Carl, who is a rapper and Zora’s
(the third Belsey kid) crush.
As I said before, this is the background on which Smith paints
a number of relevant themes. Apart from those already mentioned
is a scathing criticism of the current state of academia and a
debate over liberal vs. conservative values. Smith is especially
severe on the humanities and argues that in fact, a number of the
professors have grown so devoted to their own ideas that they have
lost touch with what’s important. Through the ongoing discussion
about the value of art (one that is no doubt inspired by Elaine
Scarry’s seminal essay On Beauty and Being Just; something the
author acknowledges), Smith implicitly manages to distance herself
from the view that Art has value only in historical context, and the
tendency in the humanities in the last 25 years to not give beauty
its due. In fact, it is Howard that embodies most of this negativity
towards Art and beauty and it was fascinating that the author would
choose as her protagonist someone whom she is implicitly opposing.
That said, it is actually too simple a way to look at things, because
after all, the liberal vs. conservative angle complicates it: Smith may
be in favor of beauty but that does not automatically imply that she
is as conservative as the Kipps. She does, however, an admirable of
job of making arguments for both sides. (What was irritating was
that the liberal point of view is the one that was implicitly nonappreciative of beauty, something
which I take offense to.)
In many ways, the novel
works when it tries to be a
discussion about ideas, with
different characters voicing
different ideas, or in fact, standing
for a certain idea in each case (or
argument). Had the novel been
just that, a glorified discussion,
with more thought put in to
fleshing out the themes, I think
I would have really appreciated
it. But it needlessly complicates
itself in trying to also deal with the
human aspects. By introducing us
to the humanity of the characters
the novel opens itself to a
different reading (and a different
line of criticism). Some of the
characters are well-drawn, and
the friendship that develops,
somewhat surprisingly, between
Kiki and Carlene, becomes the
emotional center of the novel,
and in many ways results in the
most endearing passages of the
novel. But having introduced
us to the emotional lives of the
human beings concerned, Smith
sadly fails us by not developing
enough of the characters fully.
Between managing the emotional
weight of the narrative and the weighty themes, the overall novel
gets somewhat lost.
In its structure and the central theme of the novel, On Beauty
is an author acknowledged shout-out to Forster’s ‘Howards End’ (to
the point that the opening is almost exactly the same). The difference
is that Forster stuck to two points of view in his telling and in some
ways his task was easier because there were fewer themes to deal
with almost a century before On Beauty was written. Smith uses
many points of view, which is perhaps necessary because of the
scope of her narrative, but it nevertheless detracts from the flow and
makes the novel seem a little fractured at times. There are several
points where it seemed like the author was going to have a virtuoso
moment (when the writing would rise to a fever pitch), but the she
pulled herself back in order to move the narrative along (or to switch
to a different point of view). And those moments are the ones that
I am drawn to the most, and the lack there-of means that I do not
look forward to reading this novel, ever again.
In effect, Zadie Smith has produced something that those last
25 years of humanities would revel in: taken out of its context,
devoid of its themes, it has no beauty.
books that I consider necessary reading. Not that the list is not
ever-expanding or that there will not be significantly important
literature produced in the next decade or so. But, oh well, one
must have goals.
Usually it is not an embarrassing prospect. Something funny
can be dealt with easily with a knowing smile. On occasion a
guffaw is required but will still save me from too unpleasant
a reaction from my fellow travelers. Reactions of sadness are
easier to handle. For one, the very environment itself causes some
distraction so that a person is never fully lost and second, one can
keep control of the flow of emotion better so as not to give in to a
bout of tears. (Let me preemptively defend by saying that what I
just said does not imply that crying is any less violent, but there is,
as compared with laughter, a distinct lack of spontaneity – in that
one is fore-warned, especially when reading when you can feel
it coming – in which case one can always choose to stop reading
or compose oneself.)
But with Beckett it’s like whoa, hard as I try, I just can’t
help myself. I cannot stop reading, and most certainly, cannot
stop myself from breaking out into random laughter (must seem
random to the idle observer). It is not enough to say that Beckett
is witty, or that he is at times preposterous, that he is having fun
(purely perceptible fun) with the writing itself, and with poking
fun at a more traditional narrative style (Beckett after all milked
the novel for all it was worth before giving up on it and moving
to his Theater of the Absurd), or that he will occasionally rely on
the slap-stick; there is something more, a kind of exuberance in
this complete act of story-telling that may be likened to what a
comedian feels while delivering on stage, celebrating the fact that
his audience is in splits. Beckett is right there, sitting next to me,
slapping me on the back, tickling me, being merciless!
So I endure and think: well this has to end soon (it is a short
book, it ‘must’ finish).
That is, until the next time I pick him up again.
TECHNEWS WRITER
By Karl Rybaltowski
TECHNEWS WRITER
When Yeah Yeah Yeahs
released their first LP, ‘Fever
To Tell’, back in 2003, they
made quite the mark on the
rock scene. Jagged guitar
riffs and histrionic vocals
competed in screaming
through songs, and the
combination of raw energy
and unrestrained sexuality
made the band and its frontwoman, Karen O, fairly
recognizable. Granted, that sound could only be explored so
much, and there was immediate talk of a change in sound.
2006’s ‘Show Your Bones’ was the result - toned down, more
introspective, but with some serious setbacks in terms of how
the sound came together. After another major shift in sound,
they’ve now released the somewhat ironically-named ‘It’s
Blitz!’, a collection of ten songs once again showcasing a
reinvention of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ sound, while maintaining the
same core aesthetic.
For those with no real knowledge of Yeah Yeah Yeahs’
repertoire, there is still hope. That one major song of theirs
that everyone knows - “Maps” - appears to have been the
springboard for this album. The relatively gentle side of the band
it exposed is explored to a great degree on this album, though
a hard edge does make itself known. The main difference,
though, is that the band has taken a direct turn to dance music,
and the electronic influences can barely be called that - they’re
just too blatant. Moreover, the attention to production values
has skyrocketed. The caustic guitar that gave the music its
grimy feel in prior albums has been replaced by smooth, subtle
synths, while the screeching vocals have been toned down to a
more mellow level. The end result is, on the whole, a positive
one, but not without its problems. Transitions like this rarely
go perfectly, after all.
The opener, “Zero,” while full of bombast and energy,
is, in the end, a little tame - Karen O’s vocals sound
uncharacteristically bland, especially once the rest of the album
has been taken in. By contrast, songs like “Heads Will Roll”
and “Dragon Queen” manage to turn into real dance numbers,
while evoking the stronger material the band has put out in the
past. Some tracks, on the other hand, do not work as well. Slow
number “Runaway” feels almost forgettable, and the second
half of the album is, on the whole, less strong than the first half
- more than once, I found myself skipping tracks, even ones
I found to be decent, only because they don’t hold up to the
standouts on ‘It’s Blitz!’ Finally, the transition between some
of the more intense numbers and the softer parts of the album
is a little sudden at times, leading to some awkward internal
transitions.
Though not without its faults, ‘It’s Blitz!’ is a solid album.
There are definitely a few tracks on it that will be appearing on
mix CDs for the next few months, but there are also some that
will drop out of the rotation very quickly. Though it’s enjoyable,
I still can’t shake the feeling that for three years of work, I had
expected a little more from Yeah Yeahs. I still have time to let the
album grow on me - hopefully that’s just what will happen.
Reading Beckett on the subway
By Udayan Das
TECHNEWS WRITER
Frankly, it is a strange experience to be reading Samuel
Beckett on a train. Strange, more so, I imagine for the public on the
train than it is for me. For, what literally happens when in the midst
of reading Murphy (which is what I have been reading recently
on the red line) is that one is caught in the reading, and driven to
throes of uncontrollable laughter: as such not an unpleasant or
strange thing for one’s self, except that at moments, one’s eyes
wander from the page and then one has to suffer the embarrassment
of being plainly stared at.
I usually read something when I am on the train. I find the
40-minute trip in and 55-minute trip out of campus most valuable
reading time. Enough to allow me to finish one decent length
novel (250-400 pages; depending on font size) every week. That
way, I expect that I can read at least 50 books a year, which would
mean that it would take me about 10-15 more years to read all the
The Slipstick
14
TechNews
Across
39. Abbr. on French
envelope
41. “___ we there
yet?”
42. Kind of shot
43. Like leftovers
46. ET’s craft
48. Never bettered
51. Gamble or gambol
52. Certain N.C.O.
53. Eatery
54. Start with while
55. Off-ramp
1. Dry run
7. Self-satisfied
10. Coin-op washer
room
11. From Bangkok
12. Defense Dept
aerial branch
13. Newspaper ads
18. Antlered animal
19. Significance
20. “___ Got a Secret”
21. High ball?
23. New Deal pres.
24. “___-haw!”
26. Radio’s Louisiana
___
28. Domains
31. They’re numbered
in NYC
32. Airport abbr.
33. Celebrate
36. Concisely
38. “I’ll take that as
___”
14. Career-driven
15. Umpire’s call
16. Can
17. Pyramid builders
22. “Citizen Kane”
actor Welles
25. Pillow filler
26. Part of H.M.S.
27. Military
decoration
29. Mal de ___
30. Timid
34. Big cats
35. Like a 911 call
(abbr.)
36. Phi ___ Kappa
37. Clan clashe
40. Plan future course
42. Syrup flavor
44. “The ___
Professor”
45. Bacon piece
47. Square dance
group, e.g.
49. Putin’s refusal
50. Villa d’___
Down
1. Sir or madam
2. Loosely
3. Mermaid feature
4. Currently operating
5. “___ Enemy Lines”
6. Launch
7. Poker variety
8. Untidier
9. Faux pas
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
18
15
16
19
21
20
22
23
26
24
27
28
31
33
17
35
38
39
43
48
29
30
32
34
42
25
36
37
40
41
44
45
46
49
47
50
51
52
53
54
6
7
3
1
1
8
5
5
2
3
3
4
7
5
3
9
6
6
4
3
3
9
7
7
1
4
1
1
4
8
2
7
9
8
2
2
xkcd by randall munroe
9
7
1
8
4
2
5
7
9
6
7
4
2
8
3
5
8
2
7
7
5
2
9
3
1
3
9
3
3
9
7
6
5
1
6
2
8
8
5
4
7
7
4
1
6
8
55
4
1
1
2
4
2
8
1
3
6
4
T
echnology
MOTO Renew eco-friendly, cheap
By Kamakshi Palakodety
TECHNEWS WRITER
Go Green! Go Green! It seems like that’s all
we get to hear nowadays. From planting trees to
manufacturing environment-friendly sprays, we
have come a long way in revolutionizing our
lifestyle so as to have minimum negative impact
on our planet. With this entire excitement going,
how can the phone companies stay away?
They too have started riding the Go-Green
bus and the first to lead the way is none other
than Motorola. Motorola’s new MOTOW233
Renew is pioneering the green revolution in
the mobile phone industry.
True to its name, MOTO Renew is
made from recycled plastic, which comes
from water-cooler jugs. Looking at Renew
reminds me of the old day cell phones, when
we had a small and simple body with no
features except the basic ones. It will fit
in any pocket easily, as it measures only
4.4 x 1.8 x 0.6 inches. It is light weight to
carry around at just 2.9 ounces. The entire
body is made from plastic, including the
keypad, which has plastic buttons. The
screen, like I said, is remnant of the cell
phones of the early days. It measures 1.6 inches,
pretty small compared to some of the phones we are used to
today. Don’t expect any hi-fi, sophisticated features from this
phone, ‘cause you are not getting any. It is just a regular phone
TechNews
Kamakshi Palakodety, Editor that lets you talk to the person on the other end of the line. Period.
It does come with a USB charging port though. No matter how
green electronics go, they will always need electricity to keep
them going. Since the only major functionality in
Moto Renew is voice calls, it fulfills its duties
very well.
Moto Renew works on the T-Mobile network.
It provides excellent voice quality. You won’t
hear intermissions in the voice coming from the
other person on the line as the phone has very good
reception. The voices coming from the background
are canceled beautifully, as its noise cancellation
ratio is great as well! The earpiece doesn’t muffle
the voices and you can hear everyone loud and clear.
So if your boyfriend/girlfriend/mom call you to give
you a piece of their mind, please ask them to tone it
down, else your ears will be the ones to suffer later on!
The speakerphone quality ain’t so bad either. But your
phone will be picking up more noises in the range when
in the speakerphone mode though. However, even then
you are guaranteed a very good incoming and outgoing
voice quality.
Renew operates in the 850/1900 MHz range on
T-Mobile’s 2G network. You can also connect a headset
to the phone. A stereo headset is included. You can load
your MP3 songs/ringtones and use them if you don’t like
the default ones. You can also choose to operate the cell
phone in vibrate mode in case you want to keep the noise down.
Stay alert though, the vibrations are a tad too strong and might
catch you off-guard!
15
kpalakod@iit.edu
The screen resolution is poor at 129 x 128 pixels and as
such, is not much fun to stare at. Text messaging will surely
hurt your eyes as you will have to scroll down several times if
you type a long message, as the screen can only take so many
words at a time, given the default font size. The small screen
size is certainly a turnoff, especially when you want to view
something slightly larger than the screen. All ringtones and
pictures received through messages must be stored using the 1
MB space on the phone.
You can load new ringtones and or pictures through a SD
card, which you can plug into the micro-SD slot. Good luck
finding it, though. I won’t tell you where it is located! You can
load images smaller than screen size and you can load only MP3
song files. Once inserted, the phone will create a music folder
you can go through by song name to play the songs.
Other functionality is pretty much common everywhere like
games, alarm clock, calculator and calendar. The games available
did catch my eye, though -- Sudoku and Tetris! Woohoo! That’s
loads of hours gone into gaming for me right there. I can play
them forever!
Moto Renew’s most attractive feature, apart from being ecofriendly, is that it is extremely pocket-friendly as well. It just costs
10 bucks to own! I first thought I mistook the price, but it really
is that cheap. You can choose from a couple of different colors,
too. Frankly speaking, I will probably not be buying this phone,
as I am too used to the big screen phones and I am a sucker for all
the hi-fi functionalities, such as GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. But
if I had to choose a gift for my 10-year-old cousin or so, I would
definitely buy this one. Cheap and good for the planet! Plus, I
won’t care if he loses it somewhere. It’s just 10 bucks!
Lord of the Rings: Conquest
By Jonathan Mikesell
TECHNEWS WRITER
Platform: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Genre: Third Person Action
The Rundown
During The Great Years, the land of middle earth was a
battleground between the forces of civilized men and the evil
armies of Sauron. Many heroes stood on both sides, and you
must choose which one you will lead to ultimate victory.
Graphics
The graphics of LotR: Conquest are heavily modeled after
the sets and character designs of the films. The character models
are reasonably good, but the backgrounds are so watered down
from their original versions that they appear bland.
The game also supports a limited selection of special
lighting effects, but none of the lightning, fire, explosions, etc.
is anything that hasn’t been done better before in other games
of this generation.
Sound
The game borrows much of its musical score from
the movies, which ensures quality but also means fans will
probably grow tired with it over the course of a campaign.
The sound effects are somewhat generic sounding and
repetitive.
The voice overs are poor quality. The best is the
announcer, and even he tries the nerves, especially when he
spouts the same instruction over and over until you finally
complete an objective. The rest of the dialogue is just imitation
of the films’ actors, all of which is noticeably inferior.
Gameplay
LotR: Conquest is a class-based game, much like Team
Fortress. Players choose between the melee crowd controloriented warrior, the stealthy and deadly scout, the long-ranged
archer, and the spellcasting mage. Each class has definite
strengths and weaknesses; for instance, the archer is adept at
slowing down or knocking over enemies at range to keep them
from closing the distance while dealing damage whereas a
mage can activate a defensive bubble to block arrows while a
scout can sneak up behind the archer for an instant kill.
When a certain point in a mission or a certain advantage
is reached in a multiplayer match, the player can upgrade to a
hero such as Aragorn or Gandalf, which are all very similar to
the four base classes, but much more powerful and resilient.
The game has two separate campaigns, playable alone
or in co-op mode: one in which you join the forces of Gondor
and Rohan as they follow the storyline of the books, and
one for the followers of Sauron in an alternate version of the
story where evil wins. Both are a series of linear levels with
many sequential vital objectives, keeping pressure high and
thought low. Most of the time, players slog through endless
masses of fragile enemy grunts sprinkled with a handful of
heroes, none of which require much thought to dispatch, but
it remains challenging due to the sheer number of enemies.
Further pushing the mindless anxiety are the many monsters
that lash out with one hit kill attacks and the enter correctly
or die quicktime sequences needed to take down the biggest
enemies.
It also has deathmatch, hero deathmatch, point control,
and capture the flag multiplayer game types. These require
more strategy, and without teamwork, it is nearly impossible to
win. If you can assemble a suitable team, these modes pay off;
but if not, multiplayer will only be an exercise in frustration.
Overall
LotR: Conquest is a solid, if simplistic, game at its core,
but it stands out in no area. Ultimately, it is just another
mediocre title exploiting the Lord of the Rings franchise.
Final Verdict
2 out of 5
16
Sports
TechNews
Hawks hit big against Robert Morris College
By Melanie K
TECHNEWS WRITER
Saturday afternoon the Scarlet Hawks played two games
against the Eagles of Robert Morris College. The first of the
two was a slow game. Thomas Hotz scored the first run of the
game in the fourth on an RBI by Andrew Kungis. In the sixth,
Kungis homered, bringing Lorne Turrentine and Hotz home as
well for three runs. Jesse Stepniewski followed with a home run
of his own, bringing the score of the game to 5-0. Robert Morris
tried to catch up, but the Eagles were only able to put two runs
of their own on the scoreboard, ending the game, 5-2. Pitcher
Branden Schombert had a great game, striking out five hitters,
and only giving up five hits.
The second game was more intense. The Hawks started
the game early with three runs in the first. Turrentine scored
on an RBI by Bill O’Toole, and Kungis hit another home run,
bringing O’Toole home as well. Robert Morris scored one run in
the second, and the score was 3-1 going into the third. In the top
of the third, the Eagles scored three more runs, bringing them into
a one point lead. But the Hawks just wouldn’t have that. In the
bottom of the third, the Hawks made a huge comeback. Kungis
started things off by hitting a double. Then Stepniewski hit a
ground ball just past the third baseman, bringing Kungis home
to tie the score, 4-4. Dustin Reznicek scored another run on an
RBI by Brian Sklena, putting the Hawks in the lead. Hotz then
hit a single, bringing Stepniewski home, followed by an RBI by
Kyle Gugleilmo to bring Ryan Bouck home, which brought the
final score of the inning to 7-4. Pitcher James Dodgen played
well, striking out five hitters. In the fifth, the Eagles scored three
Photo taken by Julia Duarte
more runs to tie the game, 7-7. The Hawks answered with one
run, scored by Bouck on an RBI by Hotz. The Hawks held onto
their one point lead through the last two innings with Stepniewski
pitching.
Stepniewski had no hits, and struck out three hitters. With
the two wins, the Scarlet Hawks bring their conference record
to 13-10, with an 18-20 overall. The Hawks only have 3 more
series games before the regional playoffs, so make sure you head
over to Ed Glancy field Friday, May 1st, at 3:30 pm to watch
their game against University of Saint Francis.
Track Club
breaks more
records
By Rachel Hendricks
TECHNEWS WRITER
The second weekend in April, the Illinois Tech Track
Club participated in the annual Chicagoland Outdoor Track
and Field Championships, which lead Sophomore Stephanie
Lucas to be the 2009 Chicagoland Women’s Champion 5k
runner. The University of Chicago hosted this year’s event
on April 10th and 11th, which brought together the best male
and female track and field athletes from around the area for
a two-day competition. Some of the top schools in Illinois
attended, including DePaul, Loyola, UIC, Northwestern,
North Central and host U of C.
Facing some of the best competition both teams will
see all year, IIT track and field came away from the meet
with personal and team achievements. The men’s team
posted two new school records. Joe Kirsch, competing
in the shot put, outdistanced his previous school mark by
launching the 16-pound metal ball a distance of 12.49m
(almost 41 feet). The other record was set by the men’s 4 x
800 meter relay. The underclass quartet of Wes Villalobos,
Brock Williams, Kenny Murphy and Phil Theisen ran
a time of 8:53 to set the standard. Ten other racers set
personal best times during the course of the day. In the
800m run Murphy and Kevin Krupp; in the 1500m run
-- Theisen, Villalobos, Williams and Krupp, and finally in
the 5 kilometer run -- Matt Lumnitzer, Ob Vincent, Kevin
Acacio and Brian Robbins.
The ladies had just as impressive of a day as a team,
plus something none of the other schools could boast.
Sophomore Stephanie Lucas ran to a first place finish
in the 5K, in what could be described as less than ideal
weather conditions by outdistancing the competition over
the last mile of her race. Along the way, she set a new
school record with a time of 18:22.25, which is the fastest
time in the CCAC. Lucas’s time in the 5K run would have
qualified her for the NAIA National Championships in
June*. Also posting new IIT records were Amber Purcell
in the 10k run with a time of 43:32, and the women’s 4
x 800m relay team consisting of Brooke Jeffcoat, Beth
Nielsen, Guadalupe Cortes, and Erin Skvorc. In addition,
six other ladies set personal best times this meet: Skvorc
in the 800m run; Beth Nielsen and Cortes in the 1500m
run; Madeline Jensen and Lisa Nielsen in the 5k run; and
Emily Ryan in the 10k run.
The Scarlet Hawks will be back in action next week
at the Benedictine Invitational.
* As a club team and not yet “officially” recognized
by the NAIA, members of the IIT track club are unable to
compete at the National Championships.
OMG.
Only one TechNews left until Fall semester.
Get your articles in by May 2, 11:59pm.
technews.iit.edu

The Big Event - IIT Archives - Illinois Institute of Technology

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