Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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Ian Smith comes to WPI B term opened this year with the announcement that Ian D. Smith, the former Prime Minister of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), would speak in Kinnicut Hall. This speech was to be the first in a series of lectures on technology and third world countries. Mr. Smith is a highly controversial figure, at the very least. After becoming Prime Minister, he declared his country independent from Britain. International economic sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe. Smith s leadership has been both praised and criticized due, respectively, to his adherence to free market principles and his maintenance of white minority rule in a country 96% black. Smith spoke at length about his country and its history of free market economics. He also perceived a growing Soviet threat on the African continent which threatens to subvert his country’s economic principles. The only solution he could see to this perceived threat was the investment of large amounts of capital by the United States. Zimbabwe is a land rich in minerals; some, Smith contends, available nowhere else in the world but the Soviet Unions lands. Smith expressed dissatisfaction with the economic sanctions imposed on his country for such a long period of time, claiming they discouraged investment.

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The chickens were fit to be fried as the plucky campus police, egged on by students, herded 11 of them down three flights of stairs and cooped them up in a first floor bathroom for the night. The Animal Rescue League was going to pick them up today. It was rumored that one chicken was still at large. Students said they counted 12 last night, but the police caught only 11. “We think we have them all,” Ms. Begin said. There was no serious damage to the dormitory except for some soiled rugs, although some feathers reportedly were ruffled. “Some of the chickens had very good manners and used the bathroom, but some others . . . well. And we’re talking big chickens here, not little chicks,” she said. She denied rumors that the dining room would feature chicken dinners Sunday. (Reprinted Courtesy of Worcester Telegram Gazette Inc., Worcester, Mass.) Campus Police Cry Fowl As Chickens Go To School By Christine R. Dunphy of the Gazette Staff There was a great deal of clucking at Worcester Polytechnic Institute this morning as school officials tried to find out who sponsored “the hen party that caused a peck of trouble on the third floor of Sanford Riley Hall early this morning. About a dozen chickens appeared mysteriously in the hallway at about 2 am, said Janet Begin, assistant dean of students. She said she didn’t know who cooked up the fowl caper (or capon) but thought it might have been students from the other floors. “There are conflicting reports. Some people think it was a fraternity prank,” Ms. Begin said. College officials are still trying to figure out how the students managed to pullet off. 11

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0 vehicles U0»£fi ON] NTH. FIELD A question and answer session followed the lecture, in which tempers flared. A number of people in the audience were from outside the WPI community per se. This was to be expected, as Smith is a famous figure. A few of these people were actual citizens of Zimbabwe, students of neighboring colleges, and they were highly critical of Smith. In a press conference following the lecture. Smith claimed that his detractors were “in communication” with others across the country and followed a pattern of creating disturbance. WPI Newsbriefs, a publication of the WPI News Bureau, expanded on this, calling the detractors a “well organized oppositionWorcester Magazine contacted some of the detractors and found no evidence of such organization. 13 tat