Tuesday, September 16th, 2014 | Wm

 

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debuts on campus this week

Shreya Iha
TECHNEWS WRITER

Guess what’s happening at Illinois
Tech from September 15 to September 20? It
has been predicted that Scarlet Fever will hit
every single person on IIT grounds this week,
because Homecoming Week is back to take the
center stage at Illinois Tech. The programmers
for the event, Maria Warren and Merridith
Tedsten engaged in a discussion with Tech—
News to provide their takes on the event.

The current theme for the Home-
coming Week, Illinois TECHnicolor, was
chosen in deliberation. Each day of this week
will be “based on a theme with multiple ideas
which provide for an entertaining backdrop,”
said Merridith Tedsten. The interests of all sec-
tions were taken into consideration while de-
ciding on a theme; the week focuses not only
on the current students at the university, but
also on the alumni of the institution. The repu-
tation of Illinois Institute of Technology as a
university must also be kept in mind while
planning an event which will be attended by
non-IIT members and potential students as
well. A week around potatoes (the most-com-
monly suggested Homecoming theme accord-
ing to a poll on social media) would have been

questionable from the perspective of the cur-
rent graduates of Illinois Tech, who on return-
ing to their alma mater would find it covered
in potatoes. “The theme of IITPotato would
not have been approved by the Student Activ-
ity Fund (SAF) for funding,” said Merridith
Tedsten. It was therefore not viable to create an
entire week around potatoes. “We appreciate
feedback and look forward to getting multiple
viewpoints, but we required a more pragmatic
theme,” said Merridith Tedsten.

So why TECHnicolor, you ask again?
For the reasons given below. The Talon Chal-
lenge is an interactive way to get students in-
VOlved with Homecoming Week. Not only will
people have fun promoting the event, but also
an opportunity to walk away with prizes. Stu-
dents are competing in groups to earn points
while promoting the Homecoming Week and
Carnival. Inspired by ‘The Amazing Race,’ the
competition has been given a positive response
by the students.

Students also get a chance to engage
in an epic battle of laser tag with their mor—
tal enemies this Monday. Registration before
the event is not required. Therefore, those in-
terested have been advised to make a run for
the MTCC South Lawn at 9:00 pm. on Mon—

day night. Soccer under the Lights is an event
where students, including those not on an ath-
letic team, get a chance to play soccer on Stuart
Field under the lights. Students do have to sign
up beforehand, but this will be an enjoyable
experience even for those who will be play-
ing for the first time. “HT is not a very athletic
school, so we want to get more people involved
in Homecoming,” said Merridith Tedsten. It’s
also because everyone has dreamt of soccer
under the lights. So you basically get to act like
a superstar on the soccer field. The games be—
gin on September 17 at 9:00 PM. and end on
September 18 at 10:00 PM.

The committee is also holding a stu-
dent-alumni mixer on Friday at 5:30 PM. after
IIT Explore. It will give the alumni a chance
to realize the extent to which both academic
and extracurricular programs have developed
and how their successors have been doing at
IIT. It also provides students with an opportu—
nity to interact with experienced profession—
als. “Homecoming Week will unite IIT alumni
and current faculty, staff, and students for a
full week of events including reunion socials,
athletic games, a speaker series and an alumni
reception,” said Maria Warren. Friday also calls
for the Raju Speaker Series where esteemed

omeco

ming

Professor Fred Oswald will speak on ‘Using
Big Data in Personnel Selection? Students will
be required to register before the event for the
lecture series.

Our Soccer Scarlet Hawks also plan
to beat the other teams this Friday, while the
annual Homecoming Alumni Baseball Game
will be held the following day at the Ed Glancy
Field.

Illinois Tech will also see the return
of its old Scarlet Hawks for the Athletics re—
ception on Friday and Saturday. Additional
“affinity events” will also be held on Sunday.
Although Illinois Tech does not follow the
traditional definition of Homecoming with a
football game and a semi-formal dance, there
will be a Homecoming Dance where everyone
will be expected to move to the music and
show off their school spirit along with their
unparalleled dance moves. The week will be
rounded off with the Homecoming Carnival at
the end, which will be the highlight as usual
with its obstacle courses, a rock—climbing wall,
photo booths and whatnot. Other things worth
mentioning are Human Foosball, free Liquid
Nitrogen Ice Cream, and a Petting Zoo. Can
there be any more reasons to not miss the
Homecoming Week this year?

Goldman Sachs visits campus

Vijai Baskar
COPY EDITOR

Goldman Sachs Technology, the lead-
ing global investment banking, securities, and in—
vestment management firm, was on campus last
week for the Career fair which happened on Tues-
day, September 9. They were present at the career
fair, with many other companies talking to stu—
dents about the opportuniu‘es at their company
and how to apply to be selected as an employee.

They held a Tech Talk hosted by IEEE
IIT in the MTCC auditorium the following eve-
ning, which saw a lot of aspiring students attend
and get -to know what it takes and what it means,

to be a part of Goldman Sachs.

The human resource manager spoke
about the Technology division of his company
at a glance, giving the numbers of their applica-
tions, engineers, servers, and other vital pieces
that form Goldman Sachs as a whole. He also
spoke about the various tools that engineers at
their firm use to develop applications and also
the number of lines of code that each application
contains.

Goldman Sachs has a number of in—
dustry partnerships in the financial sector, R 8: D
Initiatives and commercial sector, which makes
them a huge name in the industry. He also men-
tioned the company’s strategic areas of focus, a

few being mobile strategy, big data, operational
excellence, and efficiency and application plat-
forms.

GS Connect is Goldman Sachs’ propri-
etary social networking platform with a business
context, it lets global staff across 44 offices and
19,000 live users connect with over two million
messages per week producing 35,000 pieces of
content on the network.

Anita Nandakumar, Vice President
of Information Security at Goldman Sachs—is
an alumni of IIT. Anita started off at Goldman
Sachs as a summer intern. She was then offered
a permanent job at the company after college.
She spoke about the technology risks the com-

pany may face and the importance of having to
take care of these risks to maintain the industry.
She then gave a brief overview of life and work at
Goldman Sachs, and the benefits one gets from
being a GS employee.

Tushar Nair, former student of Com—
puter Engineering at IIT, now an employee of
Goldman Sachs Technology spoke about the proj-
ects that interns within the company work on and
the things a summer intern can learn through the
program. He also asserted that the best way to get
a full time offer at the company was to join them
as an intern and then continue to work at their
firm after finishing your degree.

Krishna Lunch cancellation sparks confusion

Kori Bowns
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Krishna Lunch is a meal that many
students have seen on campus. In the recent past,
there was a hot vegetarian meal served for $5
from the lobbies of both Stuart Building and Sei-
gel Hall each day; the meal was hosted by Vedic
Vision Society, a student organization on cam—
pus. Recently, however, this meal has disappeared
from campus, leaving many students confused
and concerned.

Early on the morning of Thursday,
September 11, members of the Vedic Vision So-
ciety’s email list received an email stating that
Krishna Lunch had been discontinued at the dis-
cretion of the IIT Provost. The email expressed
that the organization apologized for the short
notice and inconvenience and also expressed that
the organization itself was still exploring reasons
why their daily event was cancelled.

After reaching out to discover more
about the situation, Avelo Roy, a student rep-
resentative of the organization, provided some
background regarding Krishna Lunch. “One of
the objectives of Vedic Vision Society is to expand

awareness about Karma~free living, and Krishna
Lunch is one of the means to our goal. Krishna
Lunch started in the fall of 2012,” said Roy.

Roy added that the president of Ve-
dic Vision Society had received a call from the
IIT Office of Student Affairs late afternoon on
Wednesday saying that Krishna Lunch was to be
stopped immediately with little explanation.

Provost Alan Cramb responded to the
situation after being contacted for comment. He
states that he did not cancel their activity but did
inquire as to what the vendors of Krishna Lunch
were doing when he saw them serving food in a
building on campus. He adds that university and
city guidelines have regulations on food being
sold on campus.

He says that the information he learned
after speaking to Krishna Lunch representatives
led to an understanding that the sale of Krishna
Lunch was not fully approved according to these
guidelines. He also states that he was not directly
involved with how Vedic Vision Society was in—
formed of the cancellation of Krishna Lunch.

Roy later added that Vedic Vision So-
ciety met with Katherine Stetz. IIT’s Dean of Stu—
dents. Roy said, “Stetz mentioned that it was her

decision to stop Krishna Lunch on campus as IIT
has a non—competition agreement with Sodexo
and she thinks that Krishna Lunch is competi-
tion.”

The statements given by other admin—
istrators on campus add more to the story that
hasn’t been provided by representatives of Vedic
Vision Society. Both Ryan Miller, Associate Vice
Provost for Campus Life, and Jeanne Hartig, Vice
President of Marketing and Communications,
have other information to add.

Miller says that there were also city
health code concerns brought up regarding
Krishna Lunch. He mentioned that Chicago
health regulations for food service are very strict,
and some may not be met by the current setup to
serve Krishna Lunch.

Jeanne Hartig reiterated this in re
sponse to student unrest expressed on social me-
dia. “City health guidelines, as well as university
guidelines, do not allow groups that are not ap~
proved by the city and who are not approved food
vendors for IIT to sell food on university prop-

erty.”
After providing references to Chicago
health code requirements, she added, “organi-

zations cannot just ‘set up shop’ anywhere in
Chicago and sell food on a regular basis.” Repre—
sentatives from Vedic Vision Society provided a
copy of a food license that the vendors of Krishna
Lunch possess to operate a retail food establish—
ment, but it has not yet been seen whether this
document meets all of the regulations that have
been cited, nor does it show established permis—
sion for Krishna Lunch to operate on campus.

The story is still evolving with new
information this week as students sign petitions
asking to bring back Krishna Lunch and mem-
bers of Vedic Vision Society meet with staff and
administrators on campus. Vedic Vision Society
also hosted a public meeting on Monday night for
supporters of Krishna Lunch and those interested
in helping bring it back to campus.

Roy has some closing remarks regard-
ing the situation. “We have mixed feelings,” said
Roy. “We are disappointed to have to pause Krish-
na Lunch but we are extremely grateful to the
more than 250 supporters who have filled out the
petition to bring back Krishna Lunch. This push—
es us to do our best to somehow provide Krishna
Lunch to the IIT community while meeting the
requirements set by the university.”

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