CAPITAL TIMES, September 12, 1990
Antics
EVER FEEL LIKE JUST A PAWN?
Upperclassmen who return to Saint
Vincent College (PA) this fall will feel
just that when they play "Human
Checkers." A team captain will decide
who moves where on a giant game board
on the gymnasium floor. And, to capture
an opponent's piece, er, player, students
will physically jump over the potential
captive. No word on what fate awaits
those who are captured.
Around Campus
LIKE A SWARM OF HUNGRY
MOSQUITOES. That was the scene in
Long Beach (CA) at the Society of
Automotive Engineers Air Cargo
competition in July. Teams from 40
universities in the U.S. and Canada
spent months designing remote
controlled airplanes with one goal only:
to lift and land the heaviest payload
using a 200-foot runway. And the
winner is: the U. of Saskatchewan
entry--its 21 pounds edged out runner-up
Oklahoma U.'s entry by three pounds.
"I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT
ART, but I know what I like." And
artist Mags Harries likes a giant human
hair ball that would cost $70,000 and
hang in the atrium at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Actually, it
would be a replica of the four-pronged
hat of a shaman from Lapland, woven
from student hair. But several hundred
students object to the display, on
aesthetic and sanitary grounds.
AREA MERCHANTS ARE
ENTHUSIASTIC about the newly
Fire behind
Jamesway
Plaza
Victoria Cuscino
The contents of a waste-management
truck caused a fire behind the Jamesway
Plaza on Tuesday, September 9.
" I don't know what started it," the
driver of the truck said. "I smelled
smoke and dumped it ( back of the truck)
to keep from burning my $140,000
truck. He then used his extinguisher and
tried to put out the fire before the fire
department arrived.
The cause "could be something one
of the vendors put in their dumpsters,"
said John Rubic, a Lower Swatera
fireman. The fire lasted about 10
minutes.
The driver collected trash from two
garages in town and then emptied the
dumpsters from Domino's Pizza and
Movie Merchants when the driver
noticed the smoke. There must have
been something in one of the dumpsters
that caused a combustion, said Jeff
Meyers, Supervisor of Waste
Management.
This type of fire is "something you
usually don't find the cause of," Meyers
said. Incidents of this type occur once
ever two years and the drivers carry fire
extinguishers. The driver let his truck
cool down and then continued on his
rounds.
Lower Swatara Fire Department, a
rescue squad and an ambulance
responded.
CAMPUS CAPSULES
renamed Teikyo Westmar College (IA).
Last year Westmar had an enrollment of
some 570 students. Early this summer
about 200 Japanese students arrived. And
"they had bucks burning holes in their
wallets," according to one shopkeeper.
The townspeople describe the new
students as courteous and cheerful, but
say their spoken English is weak.
Luckily money talks.
MOUNTAIN BIKES OFF
CAMPUS! There are over 1,500 acres
of wooded and natural areas on the U. of
Wisconsin-Madison campus--terrain
tailor-made for mountain bikes. But in
the past few years, use of the fat-tired
bikes has expanded dramatically on the
many narrow footpaths. The bikes have
a tendency to etch grooves in trails,
accelerating soil erosion. UW officials
recently announced they were restricting
access, to keep bikers away from
lakeshore trails and Indian burial
mounds.
Student government
WE AGREE TO DISAGREE. That
was the feeling at Penn State in July,
when student leaders from nine of the
Big Ten (Eleven?) Conference schools
met. Originally planned as a meeting of
the Big Ten Student Association
(BTSA), leaders agreed to sever ties with
the BTSA to form Net 10. But they
won't represent branch campuses, at least
not necessarily. And three of the student
body presidents at the meeting represent
undergrads only, while three represent
graduate students as well. They plan to
meet again in October at Michigan State
U.
Student groups
IT TOOK 18 MONTHS, but Penn
State Veterans Organization is back
home. A fire destroyed their house in
January 1989, but members raised funds
to buy and renovate another house,
which will open to 17 students this fall.
The organization is also pushing for
legislation for five-year aid from the
state higher education financial aid
atsociation.
Security
GOOD SAMARITANS, FEAR
NOT! Despite a new alcohol policy at
Dartmmouth College that makes
underage drinking a violation of college
rules, the committee drafting the new
policy left intact the "Good Samaritan"
clause of the prior policy. When students
or others bring intoxicated individuals in
for medical care, neither party will be
disciplined.
Athletics
IF YOU'VE GOT ROCKS IN
YOUR HEAD, Oregon State U. is the
place to be. Volunteers recently
converted two raquetball courts into a
rock climbing center. Funded by the
department of recreational sports and the
Outdoor Recreation Center, the project
cost $7,000. The climb features more
than 2,000 holes, with bolted rocks
which can be moved around to change
climbing routes.
MY CAR WAS CREAMED! Not a
demolition derby, but a sign-painting
episode led to several recent complaints
at the U. of Oklahoma. Seems the
Athletic Department was refurbishing
the scoreboard in Memorial Stadium in
crimson and cream, the school colors.
The wind blew some of the cream
colored spray onto cars parked nearby.
OU security says about 20 cars became
Sooner boosters unwittingly.
College Market
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH? A
Colorado entrepreneur, Kelly Green, is
dealing a psychedelic novelty, the Day-
Dreamer. The product, completely legal
and safe, is a sort of mask that "allows
the user to experience intense, near
hallucinatory visual effects." Green
promotes his product as ideal f the new
age: "We exercised our rights in the '6os
and '7os, our bodies in the 'Bos, and we
will be exercising our minds and
imaginations in the '9os."
THE NEXT CATALOGUE IN
YOUR MAILBOX may feature
marketing campaigns by college
students. Land's End sponsors a "Big
Idea" contest that selects three winners in
When you party
remember t 0...
Don't get wrecked. If you're not sober—
or you're not sure—
let someone else do the driving.
A message pro ided by this newspaper
and Beer Drinkers of America
1 0 ( * *
, 0
BEER DRINKERS
OF AMERICA
PARTY*SMART
National Headquarters
150 Paularino Ave., Suite 190
Costa Mesa. CA 92626
71 4 / 5 57-2337
1-800-441-2337
Beer Drinkers of .America is a non-profit consumer membership
organization open only to persons over the age of 21:.
a marketing contest. The kicker:
entrants must devise a plan aimed at
college students. Land's End targets
college-educated consumers and "Big
Idea" is part of a strategy to begin
tracking those consumers before they
graduate.
DOES YOUR CALC BOOK
STINK? If so, you might do better on
your next exam. Frank Schab, formerly
a researcher at Yale U., recently
published results of work linking odors
and memory. Students completed two
word exercises, at a one-day interval.
See Capsules on 9