N o Dilbert. Election Results: N o Foxtrot. Sorry. Mike Astle is the new ASCIT Secetary see page 9 THE CALIFORNIA TECH VOLUME XCVIII, NUMBER 25 PASADENA, CALIFORNIA FRIDAY, APRIL 25,1997 Student--faculty conference: focus on Student Life Committee BY ERIK STREED undergraduate population. An about the current system. The over­ agenda for the session started out loaded advising schedule of professors Editors Note: Last week was pretty with broader topics such as internal in the Engineering and Applied Sci­ busy between prefrosh weekend and communications and advising for ences division cited as a particular die student faculty conference. Since both the undergtaduate and gradu­ source of concern. !he prefrosh were here, the Tech edi­ ate communities. Hot subjects such After these two moderately Ill" felt that it would be better to hold as the failure of Avery"House". Drug peaceful sections the issue of Avery off full coverage of the studendac­ and Alcohol Policy at Cal tech arose. If Avery was to become the airy conference. Many sensitive is~ (DAPAC), and dying traditions such center of the Cal tech Community it sues that nceded [0 be addressed were as fireballs . has so far failed in its mission. A brought up. Extensive coverage of The afternoon starred out with round oflaugher followed the expres­ Ihese could unfairly bias prospective a discussion on communication sion of this purpose for Avery. While students against attending Caltech by within the Caltech Community. Avery clearly has better food then any presenting a skewed view and high, Questions about the existance of a other board option currently available 5ghting known problems out of pro­ Weekly Calander and an to the undergraduate population. its portion. Even so, we the editors feel Ombudsman's office were raised by dining hall is noC designed to host Earth Day '97 at Caltech mat the srudent,faculty conference students who did not know where large influxes from the seven houses. tIon groups. BY TERRY MORAN "'ould be covered in depth to reach chey were. It was generally concluded This led to a joint Blacker Hovse! This year's celebrations promise !he many of you who didn't attend. that the creation of a Single compre, Avery dinner being canceled at the The sixth annual Caltech Earth to be even more robust than past years' Please responsd with your comments hensive listing/database of Caltech last minute earlier this year. Several Day Celebration is to be held today, with over twenty groups presenting a and suggestions [0 personnel and the potentially usefull Avery policies cited by undergradu­ Friday, April 25, from 1l:30am to breadth of environmental issues and oIitors@trch.(aitreh.,du. skills they possess would be a good ates as being contradictory to effec­ 2:00pm in Winnett Quad. The Earth efforts that are currently being ad­ thing. tive student involvement. interest, and Day Celebration was started in 1970 dressed, with booths from the Ameri­ Beginning after lunch, the stu, Discussion then progressed to growth included no cats, murals, or as an international celebration of the can Council for an Energy Efficient dent~ee had the highest the current advising system for un' showering. These are all staples of Earth meant to promote and increase Economy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife attendence of the day. However un' dergraduates and graduate students. undergraduate life in most of the awareness of environmental concerns Service, the Pure Food Campaign, and flergraduate turnout was still less men A need was expressed that the cur, seven houses. A major binding force and policy, and was introduced to the Hemp Shak of Claremont. among average day in Bi 1, which is also rent advising system is outmoded and in the existing houses are waited din' Caltech in the hopes of increasing the others. in Baxter Lecture Hall. In addi­ change should be looked into. Dean ners. Dinner is when houses come community's environmental aware­ Earth Day will also give hungry rion, only a handful of faculry ll'Iem­ Jean Paul Revel expressed his frustra, together as a group to eat and ex' ness by the Caltech Environmental participants a chance to really "taste" bers and relevant staff were present. tion with the syndrome of secretar' change information though Task Force in 1991. Cuttently coor­ the bteadth of the bounry of the earth Conspicuously absent was Kim West, ies signing yellow addl drop catds in annoucements. The Student Life dinated thtough the efforts of the by serving a wide varkty of tasty or­ Ditector of Residence Life, for whom place of consultations with professors Committe~- informed the group Caltech Environmental Task Force. ganic foods and foods produced by en­ student life is a daily concern. about course change decisions. Sev, present that lack of interest in waited the Caltech Y, and the Graduate Stu­ vironmentally friendly processes for J. Strangely. the committee dedi, eral students felt that the need to have dinners killed them at Avery. Ttans­ dent Counsel. Many of the boothes dollar donation, ptovided by the tlted to student life had the fewest an advisor (or a secretary) was super­ fer student Dusan Misevic identified will also give fairgoers a chance to Whole Foods Market, Red Doot bumber of undergraduates on it fluous and thought that they were re' possible sources of Avery's inactivity purchase from a truly unique selec­ Cafe, and other organic food sellers. (Christie Edwards and Jim sponsible enough to select classes for in stating, "Who went to Avery? tion of environmentally friendly The celebration's atmosphere will Buckwalter) who did not appeat to themselves. Students with poor and People who got kicked out of theit goods with proceeds going towards be complemented by the preformance many diverse environmental protec- he an accurate representation of the good advising experiences testified SEE A~C ON PAGE 5 of the reggae and African band Alula. Fourth Annual Media Science Symposium will be May 1 BY MAX BENAVIDEZ on the news media, science report­ Blaine Baggen, vice president at ing. and the public. In a world of KCET and producer of PBS's The Former presidential advisor and news groups, Java applets, one-thumb Astronomers; H arry Gray, director CUrre nt U.S. News & World Report browsing, digital signatures, Web of Caltech's Beckman Institute; Rob­ editor-at-large David Gergen; USC TV, and streaming audio and video, ert Lee H otz, science writer for the Annenberg School for what is the role of traditional media Los Angeles Times; and Kathy Saw­ Communication's new dean, Geoff and what will the landscape of news yer, science reporter fo r The Wash­ Cowan; N P R science host Ira reporting and delivery look like in the ington Post. F1arow; and Caltech astronomer and new century? Will the Internet The symposium will begin with Avery greets summer with a water fight. NASA advisor Anneila Sargent are dominate reporting of science? Will a panel discussion at 9 a.m. in Ramo among the featured participants at the more conventional means of news Auditorium on the Caltech campus this year's Media and Science Sym­ delivery be able to maintain their rel­ in Pasadena. A question-and-answer IN THIS ISSUE posium at the California Institute of evance! What happens to public session will follow. Activities will Technology on May 1. trust in the freewheeling world of on­ continue after a lunch break. The THE USUAL THIS WEEK'S The theme of the fourth annual line news and information? keynote address in the afternoon will symposium is "The 21st Centuty: In addition to Gergen, Cowan, be presented by Gergen. Following STUFF F EATURES The Multimedia Age:' The focus this Flatow, and Sargent, the 1997 sym­ a question-and-answer session, the year will be on emerging communi­ posium participants will include John symposium will adjourn at approxi­ Announcements ............................. 8 ASCIT Minutes ............................. 4 cations technologies and their effect Beard, news anchor for Fox News; mately 2 p.m. Circle of Fire ................................... 3 ASCIT Movies ............................... 5 Dean's Corner................................ ..6 Bookwornl.................... .................... 7 The Outside World ..................... ... 3 IHC Minutes .................................. 4 2 April 25, 1997 OPINIONS THE CALIFORNIA T ECH would be out in the middle of the necessary. if they promotc the Rules are necessary for a civil society desert, since to build the airport greater good of society. This does and expand it the right of eminent not mean I suppOrt more govern. Before government, we lived in less dangerous lives in order to glve domain has probably been used. ment intervention in life. T he dif. a state of complete "freedom," in up a hit of our freedom. Zoning laws are yet another ferences between my views and In Mr. Steven's article, he men~ which we could do anything we Eminent domain is one such example of the governmem telling those of Mr. Stevens. thus, ca n be tions what he sees as the govern~ wanted to. However, people example. Eminent domain refers to people what to do with their land best characterized as follows: he be­ ment continuing to encroach on formed government, giving up the government's practice of fo rc~ for the greater good. Due to the lieves that the fundamental righu our rights as individuals. Although some of these rights, in order for ing people to sell their land so rhe fact that the morons in my county of the individual arc just that, fun ­ I must agree that taxes are much protection and the advancement of governmenc can build important back home refused to vote for zon­ damental and God-given, and that higher than they need or should be, the general good.