Cooper Union College - Cable Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 27 text:

c 'vi ngi eerin Many have wondered about the group of men who always stand on the street corner long after the bell has rung. They do not seem like derelicts of the Bowery in appearance, but their talk is strange. The conversation seems to embrace philosophy, politics, socie ology, and a certain amount of talk about free-body diagrams. It's no secret as to who these people are. They are the Civil Engineering Sophomore Class. Leading the political discussion are Jim Boulgarides, Noah Sirota, and Stanley Haug. Harvey Sherman, Don Kirchhofer, and Ted Merkin are gathered around Frank Kovacich as he expounds weightily on some aspect of philosophy. To some members of the class, a correct ap- proach to science is almost as important as a Physics test. Not as concerned with abstractions are Artie Schwartz, Harry Margolis, Billy Michael, and George Polyn. They are talking about the good old days before the war, when you could Hunk a subject three or four times, and still remain in Cooper. The rest of the class are niaterialists- they talk about school work. It takes ten minutes before someone remembers that this is Cooper Square, not Union Square. The signal to go in comes from Leon Laster, who puts the cover on his inevitable pipe and reluctantly deposits it in his pocket. As they enter through the doors, some of the group burst into song. XfVolf Homburger is the leader of the school glee club, and most of the class are in it. The classes are as lively as the discussion preceding them. Perhaps it is one of those inimitable Physics sessions. Somehow Mr. Levin could never quite convince us not to worry about it as he handed out the familiar yellow sheets of paper for another quiz. If it's Wfednesday, and shortly after lunch, the class can be found in the library, busily concocting speeches that would sway the world, or better yet, Mr. Grover. It was in Public Speaking that we discovered that Joe Paduana was an expert bartender, and that Tony lick likes

Page 26 text:

1 '91 'ar 5,1 'if' ,V .., , +w...' mmm - 1554 4- Fi I NJ, 4 350' W ....f nV.2.wf' ' ' -,jf'? af K if WWA -. w 4 45 '51

Page 28 text:

to mess around in boats. And talking about discoveries, imagine our surprise when we found out that Bob Lenz wasn't Tom Sherrier's bodyguard, but actually a member of the class! The Geology held trip is a little excursion that is familiar to all who study Civil Engineering at Cooper. It consists of the inspection of a large variety of rocks in New Jersey, and constitutes an important part of the course. The field trip also gave us our first chance to see what the CE night men look like. YVhen we first saw them climbing into the bus we couldn't believe our eyes. They looked just like real engineers-the Xfkfarshaw ideal-fellows from way out in the field. However, when Howard Elliott started muttering a menacing gripe about Cooper Union courses, we were assured. The night men were only students after all. Mr. Roberts' disregard for all obstacles that would prevent him from dis- playing the New Jersey rocks to his students has become legendary in the Department. This year it rained pretty hard, but Mr. Roberts was not discour- aged, at least not until he noticed that most of the students were being washed away by the current. Then, when he saw that the number of students leaving the bus to look at the rock had dwindled to a mere six, we called it a day. Back at Cooper we sometimes manage to stay Monday evening for the ASCE meeting. That's the time when we talk things over with the other CE's and hear about the strange characters in the junior class. Not only do we hear of such characters as Jack The Gonef Gonick, Leon Abdul Pasha, and Glamor Boy Sicular, but also of the things the class has done. The Juniors have something the school could use more of-and that's spirit. In intra-mural sports there's always a good team in there, fighting. Last year the 3CE's were placed Iirst in practically everything they did, with a few excep- tions when they came in second. This certainly is a tribute to their hustle and willingness to get away from their studies for a while. The latter practice is, however, not as universal as one might suspect. This year the class is loaded down with three labs and it's amazing to find it still playing ball.