WPI Journal - The Magazine for WPI Alumni

SPRING 2014

The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)

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6 Spring 2014 Revisiting Games I commend the WPI Journal staff for publishing Pro- fessor Sanbonmatsu's essay, "Virtual Murder," in the fall issue. Since the essay was critical of big busi- ness, the NRA, the military, and the government, I'm sure it caught reader attention. It's good to know that there's not just formulaic number crunching going on at my alma mater, but critical thinking as well. What the professor points out is that violence in America has become big business, and we Ameri- cans have become numb to it. A single murder is barely news. It has to be a mass shooting to be newsworthy. What does this say about us as a society when every evening on TV there are programs show- ing bodies being shot and mutilated, but if a four-letter word is uttered during the violence, it must be bleeped out because impressionable children may be watch- ing? As a loyal reader of the Journal, I look forward to more such articles. We don't all need to agree, but we do need to think. PATRICK C. WELGE '90 Congratulations to Professor Sanbonmatsu for his fne essay on the likely effects of violent gaming on society, particularly with respect to mass killings and misogyny. I would only like to add that, as a Vietnam veteran, I fnd it insulting and appalling that game developers, like the ones graduating from WPI, glorify war and make it entertainment. Anyone who has served in a war zone will tell you (and it may be the only thing they tell you) that war is not entertainment, it is hell! What a singular and strong statement it would be if WPI closed down its Department of Interactive Media & Game Development. Ending war should be so easy. PAUL A. CROCE, SC.D., LFASME VP (Ret.), FM Global; member, WPI Fire Protection Engineering Advisory Board Gym Dandy I am a proud parent of an architectural engineer- ing major at WPI, and as such, I just received my frst WPI Journal and was very impressed with the layout and content. My congratulations to the Journal staff for a job well done. I can tell you it is every bit the equal of other alumni publications we receive from larger, more fnancially endowed schools. I read with great interest the story on the Alumni Gym project and wanted to share with the project team a reference that may be of some help regarding the fexible spaces within the gym. Stanford University, my alma mater, undertook a renovation project on a larger scale about fve years ago to design a space for their Design School. It is a school where every class is based on collabo- ration and interaction and where fexible space is paramount. The designers were so successful they were asked to write a book about what they had done, which can be found at dschool.stanford.edu/ makespace. I hope you will share it with the design team for the Alumni Gym, and I look forward to your next issue. MAYNARD A. HOLLIDAY, P '16 I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article on Alumni Gym, the building I was located in for 40 of my 42 years at WPI. My only disappointment was that the article gave no mention of WPI Wrestling, which took place in that building (the only New England Division 3 wrestling team with over 500 victories). After Harrington Auditorium was built in 1968, wrestling became the only WPI varsity team using Alumni Gym as its "home court." Because of the boisterous and unruly crowds, Alumni Gym soon became known as the "The Pit" by our competitors as they certainly did not like wrestling against us in that venue. The record book shows 50 years of wres- tling in Alumni Gym, from 1962 to 2012, producing a record of 506–310–11. Our wrestlers, parents, students, and fans have some great memories from Alumni Gym. PHILIP J. GREBINAR Associate Professor, Physical Education WPI Head Wrestling Coach (1972–2005) Branching Out The "legacy tree" image in the last issue was a nice piece of artwork. We, of course, immediately looked for—and found!—our family name. My father-in-law, husband, Letters to the Editor pi The Alumni mAgAzine of WorcesTer PolyTechnic insTiTuTe fAll 2013 journal can history repeat itself? The Transformation of Alumni Gym Summer 2012 21 THE TRANSFORMATION OF ALUMNI GYM IN 1915 WPI ALUMNI STARTED THEIR OWN FUNDRAISING INITIATIVE AND TRANSFORMED THE CAMPUS. CAN HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF? BY SUSAN BURLINGAME 20 Fall 2013 WPI_spring14_LetterstoEditor.indd 6 3/9/14 11:52 AM

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