• - BARUCH PERIODICALS DESK I 3rd Floor (NON-CI RCULATING) Vol. 70, Number 2 Information Now Se tember 18,_1996 Long Elevator Major Lines.at Enrollment 18t'h Street Services Students Claim Shake-Up Unbearable By Eric Lopez Jr. Baruch students have be­ -"'. corrre accustomed to the begin­ ning ofthe semester lines at the bookstore and Registrar's Of- . fice, but many students claim the half-an-hour wait, at best, New building site where explosion occurred. to enter the 18th Street build- ing for the first evening session is too much to handle. Many students can't believe Underground Explosion at 25th the length of these lines, which lead out of the building at ap­ Street Disrupts Registration proximately 5:30 p.m. and fall a couple of feet short of Park Av- enue Soqth. Students are frus- By Malika Thompson trated over their inability to get The Baruch Community was the area causing security to evacu­ to their classes on time and as- shaken up by an underground ex- ate students and faculty from the sert that the 25 minutes travel- plosionthatfraz.zledtheareawhen 25th street building. ing time between classes is not construction workers at Baruch's 'We weren't sure what was enough to arrive to cl-ass on time. newestbuildingsiteon 25thStreet goingtohappen, so theyevacuated ..One student, Patty 'I'usay.. .accidentally. drilled through .an the building. The smoke condi­ says that the wait to get into electrical feeder line. tions could have fled into the 25th the building is unbearable. The explosion, which occurred street buifding," said Thomas or'tn~rslEast-· -.~._ When asked how shedeals\viHi ..dIrectlY -rnrrol!t' --sclnnidt, CbiefEngineer.'-. .. -e-:••• it, she said, "I try not to leave 25th Street (Baruch's Library TheNewYorkFireDepartinent the building. If I knew I have a Building) sent flames screeching rushed to the scene to stop the fire class after 5 o'clock and I'm al- many feet into the air on Monday, from spreading onto the street ready in the buildingl stay here. August26.DrillingsPecialistsfrom whilethepolicedepartmentevacu­ Even if I do nothing." She goes subcontractor,WarrenGeorge,lnc. ated 25th street between Lexing­ t on to say that she avoids leav- were working on an underground ton &. 3rd. It wasn't until Con ~ ing the building in the evening, pipe tunnel that will connect the Edison cut the power to the feeder sometimes waiting inside the heating and cooling systems from that the fire stopped. The feeder - building for two hours for her the 25th street building with was then removed and replaced. next class to begin. Baruch's newest building under The building was officially There are several reasons construction on Lexington Ave. closed for the remainder of the day for this delay. The most obvious According to Baruch's security byPresidentGoldsteinandtheVice one is the influx of freshmen department, atapproximately 1:50 PresidentofAdministration,James this year, who tend to have most p.m. heavy flames and smoke con- Murtha. ditions, that lasted approximately continued on page 3 continued on page 3 three hours, started to develop in Captive AudienceAssures College Bookstore Profits By Coby Herd pared this process with Staples, a major stationary store located Three out of five students in­ across the street from 360'& Buy­ terviewed lastweekexpressedout­ ing in bulk. ''The supplier sets the Contents rage and dismay at the initial cost price, no matter how out of line it and lack of"required course texts" may seem. From there we have to Editoriai . 6 stocked by the Baruch bookstore add on our 25% to make a profit. location of Follett College Stores. Youdon'tcomplainabouttheprices Letters/Op-Eds . 7 Follett, the industryleaderoperat­ of pens and pencils, do you?" he ing more than 500 locations na­ asked. The price of the required' tionwide, generated more profits textbookfor theintroductorycourse 9 than Barnes and Noble in fiscal in Computer Information Systems 1995 but cannot seem to plan far is$85, whilea Bic pencosts 79 cents. & ;'.:""'IC.""'.: enough ahead to assure students According to U.S. News and 13 thetextbooksneededpartiallycon­ WorldReport,theestimatedincrease firmed by early registration last in college textbook prices since 1982 ~~ . 19 May. has skyrocketed 90%, keeping pace Manager Timothy Moreland withthe increaseinnewhomecosts. ~~()~s defended the high book prices say­ New car costs, food expenditures, •....•...•.., . 23 ing that the publishers set the ini­ and median family income have not Next ieseuer Oct. 2 tial suggested retail price and 'We justtackontwentybucks."Hecom- continued on page 5 Ad Deadline: Sept. 26 3 2 en ~ . egistrauon·· CD R Z Baruch.Community Welcomes Freshmen z CD ~ ~ By Kenneth Chan encouraged students to start get- thatstudents would have to mas- Disrupted en CenterforVISWIIIy ImpairedLaunches Talking Directory • • Baruch faculty and adminis- ting serious in their first semes- ter to be competitive in college continued from front page en co CD 0> tration gathered at Morris Hall, ter and warned ofthe typical tri- and the working world .and how The explosion was considered "0 0> By Andrew Scott tactile map and a touch tone key Transit which are accessible fective this device is and then see CD the auditorium atthe23rdStreet als and pitfalls ofthe first year in Baruch would prepare them. secondary to most Baruch stu­ - The visually impairedwill have pad. through the station. how worthwhile it will be to ex­ 3 co building, on Septem- David Kinzelberg, . CT :::: help navigating around Penn Sta­ 'We are the only center which The kiosk audially directs the pand it to other areas." dents who were more concerned CD.., ~ tion thanks to a talking kiosk in­ is using a computer aided design user to place his hand on the map Gupta as well as Karen ber 5th for the Open- the new President of with late registration, which was ..A ing Convocation ~er-· -, Day Session Student complicated when NYNEX shut ex> ~ stalled at the lower level in the system to create something like and then directs him to where the Gourgey,. Director of the Center, ..A emony to welcome Government urged co Ci LongIsland Rail Road terminal by this. As far as I know, it is the first kiosk is located and helps users to hopes that the kiosk will be suc­ down the BOSS phone registra­ co CD en Baruch's Computer Center for Vi- ofitskind," saysKrishanM. Gupta, . find different locations from that cessful and that soon the Center the freshmen class of students to partici- tion, forcing students to register 0> sually Impaired People (CCVIP). manager of the tactual graphic point. will be involved in product devel­ 2001 and officially . pate in their school. In person. Launched, September 9th, the project at the center. ''The biggest advantage is the opment and will be able to make open the academic ''Ifthere is one thing "It's bad enough that we have kiosk is a Talking Directory Dis­ "Wh~~~~the J!l~l.t.i-sen- senseofindependence, the sense of similarkiosks for transit facilities, year. that you can do to registration problems, now this. I :>- The goal of the benefit yourself and wonder if I'll ever get in my o playSystem (TDDS), a three-sided soryi iffl~jnfor:n:a~iOil:at> "~in~instead of depen~­ museums and large complex areas. % Convocation was to Baruch College ·as a classes," complained a junior structurewhichhousesa computer, tractsus~~~~~Cl~~I~~p_:e~-'_I:Q.g ~ 0+_.,- ._ ~ ~'t~ery pOSI­ Meanwhile the CCVIP at speakers" a touch tablet with a ence and InvIting users to try It- tive thing~"Qiii?~?fthekiosk.. Baruch continues to make Braille introduce the enter- whole, it's to get in- when told he could not re-enter ~ out. A proxirn- He adds that there'?s a -vacuum for subwaymaps in plastic binders for ing class to the fac- volved in a club," said the building. .. ity detector such technology which helps the different boroughs. These maps ulty and administra- Kinzelberg. "Grades "Most of the students re­ senses any visually impaired who strive to be haveBraillelegendsandlarge, bold tors ofthe college, al- count but unfortu- mained calm," said Sergeant Wil­ user who ap- independent. face printed directions behind lowing the students nately grades are not liams of Barite Security on hand proaches it Not only will the system be them. Theyare largerthan regular a chance to meet the enough," he warned at the explosion. "They just " ~.... and then the beneficial to the visually impaired maps because things printed in people with who they the lightlypacked au- wanted to get back in the build­ sessionbegins. but, according to Sam Zambuto, Braille occupy more space, so that would have to deal ditorium. ing to register." Users can spokesperson for the Long Island not as much detail is shown. with in the following A video presenta- While no students were hurt, access infor- RailRoad, to theover213,000 com­ Gupta says, ''The school is an four years: Among tion, displaying the it was reported that one mationsuchas muters who use Penn Station on a agent for being useful to the com­ those present on expanded abilities of firefighter was taken to St. LIRR destina- typical workday. munity by being involved in re­ stage were President the newly refur- Vincent's Hospital with ear inju­ tions, specific "I was impressed at the unit. It search in terms ofhow best to con­ of Baruch College, bished auditorium, ries from the explosion. tracks and provides another level of inforrna­ vey information to others." Matthew Goldstein, capped off the cer- According to Jane Crotty, boardingcorri- tion for our disabled customers The kiosk was developed in Pro V 0 s t L 0 i s "-remony by highlight- spokeswoman for Baruch, there dors and ma- beyond what we have been able to collaboration with the American C ron hoi m , Vic e _ ing the many ameni- have been no plans to take War­ jar station ex- put in place with the $190 million Foundation for the Blind and the President for Stu- gties and opportuni- ren George Inc., off the contract.