Friday, July 14, 2000 Football and baseball DVD review of The Matrix, TECHNIQUE stadium expansion plans because you can never have “The South’s Liveliest College Newspaper” move forward. too much Keanu! ONLINE http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/technique SPORTS page 16 ENTERTAINMENT page 11 Serving Georgia Tech since 1911 • Volume 86, Issue 4• 16 pages Opinions␣ 6 · Campus␣ Life␣ 9 · Entertainment␣ 11 · Comics␣ 12 · Sports␣ 16 Grad students battle for Feature Photo ‘Sylvia’ better health insurance A new plan would be partly school-subsidized and increase competitive advantage of graduate programs, say advocates By Jennifer Hinkel with the help of Dean of Gradu- article which appeared in the April News Editor ate Studies and Vice-Provost for 22 issue of The Atlanta Journal- research Dr. Charles Liotta, are Constitution. Apparently, not even gradu- attempting to change the cur- An article entitled “A Dis- ate students are immune to health rent policy. The students are cussion of Graduate Health In- insurance woes. petitioning for a plan compara- surance Coverage,” published by The Graduate Student Sen- ble to the one offered through a Tech Health Committee in ate (GSS) has been working to the Student Health Center, cost- 1998, touches on the main is- improve the present condition ing approximately $400 per stu- sues of providing some type of of graduate student health care. dent. subsidized health care for grads. Currently, students are able to Significant progress has al- According to the article, “the purchase an insurance plan sim- ready unfolded; task forces have preponderance of evidence shows ilar to that of undergrads through been organized at the Institute that the schools we compare our- the Student Health Center and level as well as in the Board of selves to and compete against Pierce and Pierce, but none of Regents. are offering health insurance as the cost is covered by Tech. Dr. Liotta has assured stu- part of graduate assistant com- Unlike many of Tech’s peer dents that as of Fall 2000 Se- pensation.” Though published institutions, which offer benefit mester, he will be providing 20% two years ago, this realization plans and insurance reimburse- coverage for graduate assistants has yet to come into practice. ment to graduate student assis- out of his own budget. Jenelle Piepmeier, the previous By Kristi Odom/ STUDENT PUBLICATIONS tants and grads in research, University (sic) of Georgia chair of the Health Services Com- Greg (Hugh Meyer) holds his new dog Sylvia (Shana Kerr) back from a students in similar positions at graduate students have pushed mittee, composed the paper, confrontation on the street. Sylvia opens at DramaTech Theatre this week- Tech are not offered any such to “promote the goal of obtain- along with Graduate Student end. Call 404-894-2745 for reservations. Student tickets are $4. Dates of benefits. ing health care coverage for grad- performance are July 14,15, 19-22, and 26-29. Curtain is at 8:00 p.m. A group of graduate students, uate students,” according to an See Health, page 3 RoboJackets featured in Fifth Street Project Partnering with the Midtown Alliance Dragon*Con competition Midtown Alliance, Fifth By Alan Back Live from ringside! “Every person here, at the drop of a hat, will Street Project a perfect match On July 2, the Regency Ballroom help out another team, By Jennifer Hinkel of the Hyatt Regency Atlanta be- News Editor came a battlefield for the last day of lend them tools... if “The Blueprint calls for Fifth Street to be a the 2000 Dragon*Con science-fic- they need it.” Across the canyon otherwise major corridor... Tech has an opportunity for tion/fantasy convention. Design teams known as I-75/85, an empty eight for the Robot Battles contest took Kelly Lockhart acre expanse awaits rebirth, regen- a great urban entertainment experience” over the area to do their best jobs of Robot Battles Creator eration, and the implementation turning perfectly good machines into Susan Mendheim of an $148 million plan that will President and CEO, Midtown Alliance disfigured wrecks in front of a packed carry campus into Midtown. house. veiled an overhauled version of his The Midtown Alliance, creator Creator Kelly Lockhart adapted of the comprehensive development the idea for the competition from 1999 entry, Stingray. Packing a ram- a mecca of retail, restaurants, ming spike, a lifting arm, and a pair plan entitled “Blueprint Midtown,” vehicular corridor is extremely pedestrians, and students, com- Critter Crunch, a similar event held lists more than 30 projects that important to us for a variety of at the annual MileHiCon sci-fi gath- of secondary spikes, Stingray II came plete with plenty of trees and ready to throw down. will be part of Atlanta’s growth reasons,” said Mendheim. bicycle lanes. ering in Denver. Only three teams and improvement in coming years. Midtown Alliance’s reasons entered the first Robot Battles in 1991, “I tried to incrementally improve Mendheim expressed the Al- the design, but ended up having to Susan Mendheim, the president for becoming partners with Tech liance’s desire to assist in the but the field has steadily grown since and CEO of the Midtown Alli- in this project are “to connect then; some 20 robots faced off at redo the whole thing,” Arthur ex- creation of a “vibrant pedestri- plained before the fights began. ance, stressed the importance of Georgia Tech with the east side an experience,” with hopes of Dragon*Con. Tech’s role in the greater Blue- of the Midtown area,” and “to Teams built and armed robots in Meanwhile, Terry Talton, from “bringing hundreds upon hun- Dallas, Georgia, was doing some last- print Atlanta plan. provide a bridge to create a bou- dreds onto the street, enjoying one of three weight divisions—light- “The Blueprint calls for Fifth levard along Fifth Street.” weight (1-10 pounds), middleweight minute testing on his own heavy- restaurants and shops.” weight robot, Tin Lizzie Borden, to Street to be a major corridor,” said The Alliance hopes that the (10-25 pounds), or heavyweight (25- Mendheim. “This pedestrian and project will turn Fifth Street into See Midtown, page 3 50 pounds)—and pitted them against make sure its gas-operated hatchet each other in head-to-head combat. could cut the mustard. He then pro- A robot won a round by either stop- ceeded to chop through the cover ping its opponent cold or pushing it and 200 pages of a hardback book Summer Housing Check-out Reminder out of the ring, and the first to win while an impressed crowd watched. Before Talton’s creation could Due to summer conference scheduling, the Department of Housing has implemented the two rounds advanced. following check-out/check-in policy for those living on campus during this summer: Gesturing at the teams that were show off more of its moves, though, setting up all over the ballroom, Lock- the rest of the field had to be dealt with. You must either move out of your summer residence hall space by August 4 or be able to move to hart said, “They do it because it’s your fall residence hall space on Monday, August 14. If you choose not to store your belongings on their hobby and just for enjoyment… Most of the lightweight entries were built primarily for speed, which August 4, you must be absolutely sure you will be able to move your belongings on August 14. Every person here, at the drop of a Otherwise, a housing staff member will be forced to pack your belongings and place them into a hat, will help out another team, lend backfired on a few of them when they failed to stop at the ring’s edge temporary storage area at a cost of $100 per day. The Department of Housing will not be them tools or whatever if they need responsible for the condition of your belongings. it.” Participants were indeed tossing and plummeted to the floor. ideas and tools back and forth as they Additional information is available at the Housing Web site (www.housing.gatech.edu) under the got ready to lock horns. header, “Summer 2000 Closing” Simon Arthur of Doraville un- See Battles, page 10 2 • Friday, July 14, 2000 • Technique NEWS Summer Semester Final Exam Schedule Class Meeting Time Exam Period Day Date Examination Time MWF 10:40 - 11:50 1 Sat 7/29 8:00 -10:50 MWF 1:20 - 2:30 2 Sat 7/29 11:30 - 2:20 TTH 10:00 - 11:45 3 Sat 7/29 2:50 -.5:40 MWF 9:20 - 10:30 4 Mon 7/31 8:00 -10:50 TTH 8:00 - 9:45 5 Mon 7/31 11:30 - 2:20 MWF 8:00 - 9:10 6 Mon 7/31 2:50 - 5:40 MWF 2:40 - 3:50 7 Tue 8/1 8:00 - 10:50 MWF 12:00 - 1:10 8 Tue 8/1 11:30 - 2:20 TTH 12:00 - 1:45 9 Tue 8/1 2:50 - 5:40 MWF 4:00 - 5:00 10 Wed 8/2 8:00 - 10:50 OPEN 11 Wed 8/2 11:30 - 2:20 PERIOD FOR CONFLICTS 12 Wed 8/2 2:50 - 5:40 Good Luck! NOTE: For a class meeting at irregular times, the examination period is determined by the day and hour at which the regularly sequenced class meets. EXAMINATIONS FOR COURSES SCHEDULED DURING EVENING HOURS (5 p.m. or later): Examinations for courses scheduled during the evening hours will be conducted either during the regular evening class hours during the period of July 29 - August 2, or during the examination period for a daytime section of the course if one is available and the instructor approves.