Opinions Editor: Naihobe Gonzalez Technique Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind 8 “ extinguishes candles and fans fires. Friday, Opinions ” — Francois de La Rochefoucauld April 3, 2009 Y OUR VIEWS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OUR VIEWS CONSENSUS OPINION A fading Blueprint Skiles Walkway detour SGA’s Joint Finance Committee oversteps its bounds posed a forseeable When the Student Government As- dent organization whose budget proposal sociation’s Joint Finance Committee met all of the guidelines which the com- campus safety hazard recommended this week that the entire mittee is tasked with upholding. Instead, Upon receiving a crime alert printing budget of the Blueprint, Tech’s members of the committee injected their e-mail, I was greatly dismayed to Write to us: read that two Georgia Tech stu- yearbook and one of our sister publica- personal beliefs about what the future of dents were robbed at gunpoint on [email protected] tions, be slashed from more than $60,000 Tech’s yearbook should be. Fiscal respon- Monday night while walking in last year to a grand sum of zero—without sibility should be an important aim for the “Detour” area. We welcome your letters in However, I can’t say I was sur- response to Technique content providing any reasons for the decision— SGA, but the current process is arbitrary prised. When the “Detour” was as well as topics relevant to cam- the committee made a unilateral decision and murky at best. first put into place, I found myself pus. We will print letters on a timely and space-available basis. about the Blueprint’s worth to Tech that The JFC appears to have a clear com- feeling extremely uncomfortable walking in the back alleys of aca- Letters should not exceed simply does not fall under the purview of plaint against the Blueprint, but neither demic buildings just to get to the 400 words and should be sub- mitted by Tuesday at 7 p.m. in library. its responsibilities. its staff nor the student body is aware order to be printed in the fol- While I do drive to the library, Organizations like the Blueprint whose of the reasons for this complaint. If the lowing Friday’s issue. Include I must use the “Detour” path to your full name, year (1st, 2nd, budgets suffered drastic cuts discovered demand for Blueprint copies exceeds the access the E41 parking lot since etc.) and major. We reserve the their grim fates the same day they were number being printed, or if the publica- library parking is no longer avail- right to edit for style and length. able. After walking the “Detour” to go before the Undergraduate House of tion has become too dependent on SGA Only one submission per person last Sunday night around 9 pm, will be printed per term. Representatives. In the case of the Blue- funds, there are possible solutions that I was so spooked that I decided print, the poor timing of the announce- could improve efficiency without lead- I would not use the library in the evening to avoid the shady walk. which is a mere fraction of our ment leave it with few options for next ing to the sudden demise of one of Tech’s The occurrence of this crime size, can legitimately count 31, year. If passed, the budget decision would most trusted historians, including print- is an outrage. I have never felt so and public peers like Berkeley and unprotected or unsafe within the Illinois have 62 and 21 laureates, eliminate one of Tech’s longest standing ing fewer copies or charging students for Georgia Tech community. As our respectively. traditions with the swoop of a pen. yearbooks, like many universities do. college is located in the middle of Speaking of public peers, com- While the efficiency of the Blueprint A drastic budget cut without explana- urban Atlanta, I accept that crime paring alumni salaries with UGA does occasionally affect our stu- is a total cop-out. Engineering can—and should—be debated, it is not tion, however, is not an effective or trans- dent population. careers tend to pay above average, the JFC’s responsibility to eliminate a stu- parent means of communication. However, a crime of this mag- so of course the average Tech grad nitude should never occur directly will make more than his UGA outside the library, the center of counterpart. Saying that we “are The Consensus Opinion reflects the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the the Georgia Tech campus. More being rewarded for entering chal- Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors. infuriating is the fact that the stu- lenging and valued careers” ig- dents would not have been walk- nores factors like UGA having a ing in the alley if Georgia Tech veterinary school and English ed- Technique Editorial Board had not closed Skiles Walkway. ucation program. Surely we aren’t Craig Tabita, Editor-in-Chief The construction has incon- saying that being a veterinarian or Jenny Zhang Morgan, Managing Editor venienced us all, but this armed high school English teacher isn’t a robbery is more than a simple challenging or valued career. Emily Chambers, Outreach Editor Siwan Liu, Design Editor inconvenience. I refuse to place To be fair, successful sports Vivian Fan, Layout Editor Reem Mansoura, Focus Editor myself at risk. Georgia Tech must teams certainly add to the college Naihobe Gonzalez, Opinions Editor Corbin Pon, News Editor either reopen Skiles Walkway or experience, but using graduation Matt Hoffman, Sports Editor Jonathan Saethang, Development Editor find a safe, open, and brightly-lit rates as a metric can be mislead- Blake Israel, Online Editor Michael Schneider, Photography Editor pathway for the students to use at ing. Vince Young didn’t gradu- Hahnming Lee, Advertising Manager Daniel Spiller, Entertainment Editor all times of day and night. I am ate, but that doesn’t mean Texas disappointed in Georgia Tech for doesn’t have an excellent law the lack of foresight. school, business school or engi- EDITORIAL CARTOON BY CraiG Tabita neering school. Jessica Falcone Calvin Johnson didn’t gradu- Fourth-year BMED ate, but nobody would then con- clude that Tech is a bad school. Tech’s potential remains Moreover, Duke and UNC man- age to be perennial Final Four untapped thanks to stu- contenders, and Stanford has dent complacency more NCAA championships than any other university. We must keep pushing and Last week’s opinion piece en- improving. Only this year did Mi- titled, “Tech academics, sports crosoft recruiters make us a “Tier and salaries excel,” exemplifies a 1” school; we had been considered disturbing trend of students pla- inferior to the likes of MIT, Stan- cated by mediocrity. Former presi- ford and Harvard. As an institu- dent Clough oversaw tremendous tion of higher learning, there is improvements to the university, much that can be improved from internally and to our reputation, our non-engineering programs, to but we must remember that just the diversity of our student body, 15 years ago, most of our under- to overall student happiness. grad programs were not top ten. What does it say about us when Though we are now a top en- so many alumni literally hate the gineering school, why are we so school? It is the responsibility of quick to pigeonhole ourselves, the entire Tech community to when MIT and Caltech, arguably make sure that future generations the most prominent engineering leave with fond memories and that schools in the world, also have top “getting out” becomes a thing of programs in many other areas? the past. While we (laughably) claim Jim- my Carter as an alumnus to give Qiyu Liu us two Nobel laureates, Caltech, MGT graduate student OPINIONS Technique • April 3, 2009 • 13 Twitter leading new internet revolution I’m pretty sure most of “The whole point of social newswire services, which in B Z you reading this newspaper networking is to meet, many cases lets me get break- U Z have heard of Twitter by now, ing news many minutes before Around the Campus but for those uninitiated few, connect and socially interact other news outlets. Want to Twitter is an online “microb- know right now what’s going logging” service that let’s us- with other people.” on in the world? Head over ers post brief messages called to Twitter. I also can follow What do you think about “tweets” with a maximum of Wiliam Brawley different websites that update 140 characters. Assistant News Editor Twitter whenever there’s some- this year’s Sting Break Why 140, you ask? Well, thing new to check out on the that’s the character limit for site. It’s also a great way to find band lineup? a standard text message on a strange or completely random, Twitter turned three years fun and interesting things on modern mobile phone. The the Internet and computers old in March this year, and it the Internet through people purpose of the short and sim- can provide. So, it comes at no has been getting a lot of press posting links in their tweets. ple approach is that at any surprise that someone like my- time lately—literally. For in- There’s also a way for Twit- given time you will have your self—and four to five million stance, CNN anchor Rick ter to function like a wide open mobile phone with you and other users—have embraced Sanchez twitters from his desk chat room discussion on popu- can text out to Twitter what Twitter. on air. The media exposure has lar topics or events with the you’re doing.