News

E-Board approves price increases

Athlete honored as USCHO Unsung Hero

Ed/Op

Staff Editorial
Paperwork valuable in this electronic age

Editorial Notebook
Take notice of area history

Lottery yields unlucky results

Derby
Climate change poses problems close to home

Choose healthy living

College Democrats compose Student Union Bill of Rights

Top Hat
Empowerment comes through involvement

Features

Lee speaks of Big Bang, life in outer space

Dave Barry
Large bunny outfits come with rules and regulations

Anti-flag pushes politics

Sports

Struggles continue for women’s lacrosse

Table tennis finishes fourth again at Nationals

RPI snaps perfect streak with loss to Bears

Rensselaer in Brief
New Ph.D. program
The New York State Education Department has granted its approval for RPI’s new doctoral degree in Electronic Arts. The Institute will begin admitting students to the program for the Fall 2007 semester, and is one of only a handful of universities to offer a Ph.D. program in the emerging field.

The program will be a combination of art offerings at RPI such as computer music, video, sound arts, performance, and web-based and installation-based art, and will also include a myriad of other disciplinary areas that depend on each student’s particular focus.

Possible areas of interdisciplinary study could include computer science, cultural studies, biology, information technology, engineering, architecture, biotechnology, and cognitive science, among others.

The advanced degree will further build on RPI’s Integrated Electronic Arts program (iEAR), allowing undergraduate and graduate art students a complete interdisciplinary integration in which electronic music, computer graphics, animation, installation, and video are taught as different views of the same discipline.

“This new doctoral degree program will challenge students to combine creative experimentation with research, while preparing them to become the artists, professors, administrators, researchers, and curators of the next generation,” said President Shirley Ann Jackson.

EMPAC, scheduled to open in 2008, is intended to support the new ideas and innovations at the intersection of technology and the arts that could come out of this program.

TPD buys new guns
The Troy Police Department will be switching to a new service pistol later this spring, according to Chief Nicholas Kaiser.

The City of Troy will be allocating the Police Department $45,000 to buy 120 new pistols. The model will be the nine-shot Sig Sauer P220 pistol. The City Council is accepting $30,000 in federal forfeiture funds from various drug cases in the city, and the rest of the funds will come from the Police Department budget to fund the new firearms.

Although Kaiser wasn’t happy with the model, he stated, “We found this gun to be the best for our purposes.” The number of rounds is the same as on the old pistol, but this model has a better trigger pull and is much more accurate.

According to the chief, it has been roughly a decade since the Troy Police Department has changed weapons. Kaiser hopes the new .45-caliber pistols will be available by the time the department begins its training in the spring.

The city is in the process of getting different prices and quotes from suppliers for the new handguns. Next, the Troy Police Department hopes to purchase new rifles for the patrol cars, according to the chief.

WRPI veteran resigns
Strife continues between student and community members at WRPI as it approaches its 50th anniversary. Over the past several months, at least five community members have either resigned of their own free will or been removed by WRPI staff. Most recently, the membership of Mickie Lynn, a part of the station for 19 years, was revoked, and another community host, Judith Brink, resigned from the station in protest.

In an interview with the Times Union, Brink said, “I don’t know why community members are being picked off one by one.” WRPI President Trent Gillaspie ’08 said that Brink’s comments show a misunderstanding of the situation leading to Lynn’s dismissal. The decision to dismiss Lynn came out of “a persistent lack of cooperation with the E-Comm,” according to Gillaspie.

Student interest and participation at the 10,000-watt station has soared recently, causing conflict over airtime given to students and community members. The trend for preference is leaning toward students, however. Quoting the station’s mission, Gillaspie noted that the goal of WRPI is “to increase recognition of and participation by the student membership of RPI.” Having community hosts is not uncommon for collegiate radio stations, such as those at Siena, the University of Albany, and Skidmore.

The Union Executive Board issued guidelines earlier this year stating that the non-RPI-affiliated membership should make up no more than 30 percent of the total station membership as of May 15.