I spent last weekend in Cambridge, and spent several happy hours studying in one of Harvard's libraries. Not that there's a lot WPI could do about it at this point (without plastique and a liberal insurance policy), but our library lacks a number of things.
I) Light. This is actually a compliment. For those of you who haven't had sex yet (i.e.: freshMEN) (and no, Binkie, with yourself doesn't count), last year the library had several thousand humming yellow sodium-vapor vibrators stuck in the ceiling. Sorry - several thousand humming yellow sodium-vapor fluorescent tubes stuck in the ceiling. They just sounded like vibrators. This summer, they were replaced with silent white fluorescent tubes. Kudos all round.
II) Quiet. The quiet study area of the library is right next to the Mystery Mechanical Noise. This noise, sort of a high-pitched whine, is audible through most of the first floor. Placing the quiet study area right next to this was just plain stupid. A much better place for a quiet study area would be on the third floor, overlooking Boynton Hill (that is, looking north).
III) Daily Newspapers. This a minor bitch, and considering where students leave periodicals in the library, a difficult one.
A side note: At one point, I found the entire Telegram & Gazette for a week cleverly hidden in the record player inside one of the music listening rooms.
Newspapers? Who cares. Right, right. The point of this. We need daily newspapers in the periodical section. Maybe having an extra copy on Reserve would be a good idea.
Speaking of good ideas, what happened to the referendum to eliminate SGA? Newspeak seemed unable to get to the bottom of this, and the author (not, I assure you, yours truly) never came forward. It may or may not have been a joke, but it wasn't a bad idea. A lot of people complain about SGA's lack of accomplishments, or indeed, activity. If students don't like SGA and aren't satisfied with it, they should have power to remove it.
I was reading the wpi.newsgroups, and came across a number of people on the net defending SGA on the basis of "keeping a student voice in the allotment of funds." Sorry, Binkie, but it just ain't so. Although Student Government does theoretically decide how much certain groups are funded, there is no actual thought in the process: these budgets have been frozen de facto for quite some time.
Last year, student government kept almost all groups within five percent of the previous year's budget. There was no serious attempt to discuss or analyze these budgets. Inflation was five percent last year. Almost every group requested a five percent increase in funding. Thus, all SGA did was shuffle paperwork while freezing the budgets. If these budgets are simply going to remain frozen from year to year, trained monkeys, or a good C++ program (same thing, really) could do the job better.
Which is sad. At some schools, students have a -direct- vote in deciding who their money goes to. At the University of Wisconsin, students at the start of each year were given 58 photocopied dollars. All the student groups gathered, with tables and boxes, in the gym and on the lawn. Students then "spent" their money on the groups they were interested in. The student groups' budgets were determined by the amount of photocopied dollars they had at the end of the day. "Extra" dollars, from students who didn't vote were allotted proportionately to those students who did vote.
SGA does not do this. Instead, there are an abundance of treasurers, assistant treasurers, Budget Class Officers (since student groups are divided by type into different classes), and other hoops to jump through. Groups must have budget items approved by SGA. SGA thus has a strange veto power over the expenditures of any student group on campus. Luckily, most groups dislike this power, and the budgets for student groups are these beautiful works of creative fiction, involving Faraway Fantasy Fake Conferences, Regional Madeup Membership Fees for Nonexistent/Inactive Organizations, and Travel Expenses Around Campus. This money goes to: pizza.
Thus, we have an entire bureaucratic organization, involving literally thousands of pieces of paper, tens of officers, and a hellishly complicated tie-in with Accounting to provide the campus with pizza. It would be simpler to just subsidize Gompei's.
My opinion? We have two good options available to us:
A) Let the students vote directly on funding, a la Wisconsin.
B) Freeze the funding forever, and let groups spend the money on whatever they want.
I'll keep everybody posted during the coming election campaign with highly opinionated coverage.
A Request:
Dear SGA: Please hold two election debates. Hold one of them in BigDAKA (the cafeteria in Morgan/Daniels) during dinner. Hold the other on the planning day, February 16, and give away free food. If the weather is nice, put it on the quad. If the weather sucks, put it in the (Harrington) Gym. I've heard that less than twenty people attended last year's debate for student body President, as it was hidden in the basement of Riley and was unadvertised. Please do not hide this year's debate.
Love,
Gadsen Flag, Esq.
Mystery G. Flag Quiz #1: What is the ratio of hard uncomfortable chairs to soft comfortable chairs in the library? Best guess gets a beer. Send guesses to:
Resident
P.O. Box #337
Worcester, MA 01606
Note: This is NOT a WPI box. This is a post office box. On-campus mail will not help you here.