SGA update: RVAN KAMPHUIS UTSAV GANDHI ca""PUSCH’technews Foreign Languages progress update By Brian Kibbe SGA PRESIDENT lllinois Tech students are one step closer to having a pilot program of foreign language classes on campus to aid students seeking a minor This weekend the Student Government Association submitted a proposal to the Dean of the College of Science and Letters, Russell Eetts This version of the proposal follows an endorsement from the Undergraduate stud ies Committee in Fall of 2010 The Commit tee voted in favor of pursuing the creation of systematic language classes and acknowledged budgeting concerns surrounding the hiring of necessary faculty The submitted document lays out a possible structure for a language program beginning with one language and adding more dependr ing on demonstrated student interest The class would be designed to qualify students for a minor in their chosen language with four sequentially dimcult classes and a fifth cultural class totaling fifteen credits lder ally these would also be paired with a study abroad experience to give students a means ingful ability in and understanding of their chosen language Members of Student Government will meet with the Dean and others in the col lege to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal Over this semester they will discuss how to change the proposal such that it can be submitted to Provost Cramb for ape proval and implementation There is still sig nificant work to be done, but time will show the longevity of the Workstudents are putting inright now The Chase 2011 competition By jenny Beverage recunews weiree ln February, llT will be hosting weekendr long events ofthe local chase (the preliminary to the Final Chase in Fall 2011) All majors are Welcome and, in fact, needed its free to par ticipate and one has the opportunity to win cash prizes What is the Chase? lts an event designed to have students solve a realrworld problem given by a sponsor at the event 10 to 15 other schools will be participating simultaneously during the Weekend at their own schools for the local Chase The Final Chase will be held in Chicago in the fall, with the best team from each college competing against each other in a headron entrepreneurial competition To take part in the chase, get a group of five people together and head to leadthechase comby Febr ruary 7 During the Chase, “students will be racing to complete a series of entrepreneurial chalr lenges (such as problemrsolving, presenting an elevator pitch, writing a business proposal, creating aworking prototype, conducting mar ket research, resourcerallocation, technical knowledge testing etc) that will be centered around a relevant problem or product,” (ac cording to their website) Worried you don’t have the skills? This was factored into the competition During the competition, there are differ ent paths that teams can take A team could choose to have less time to work on their project, but attend a seminar from experts on the subject of, say, creating prototypes The expert would show them how to create an effective prototype to show to judges or potential investors Thatway, students Withr out entrepreneurial training have the chance to learn something new and to win the come petition chase has a history with llT Originally started by two in“ students years ago, it has continued on to be bigger and better than ever, while still being studentrled llT has a growing entrepreneurship program, with a scholarship program (KIEA), an lnnovation and Entrepreneurial Academy (lEA) that hosts regular events, an entrepreneurship minor, and lPROs that teach students to cre ate and develop products MING"! I Tuesda February] 2011 Wake up and smell the Coffee (Club) By Haisiiita [yer recunews weiree You don’t see them at the Student Orgar nization Fair You don’t see them listed in the online list of Student Organizations on the HT website Maybe they’re a myth, maybe a lie But the truth is, they are among us Despite no official status as a club, Cofr fee club is still a perfect example of to what clubs are all about Every Saturday or Sunday, the club meets up at MTCC at 11 am, and leaves to visit a coffee shop They go to a new place every time, unless a location has really caught the clubs attention, in which case a second trip is made When it was founded a year ago, inlanuary 2010, itWasjust a way for people who liked coffee to join together, go out, and enjoy their favorite beverage, while discovering the atmosphere of little unr known cafes around Chicago ln the words ofits founder, Kelly Lohr, (MMAE ‘13), “cor fee club is a purelyselfrmotivated club” There are no weekly ‘meetings’, they don’t have any SAF funding, and find that they dont really need SAF funding This is What makes the club truly a success lt is free to grow which ever way it needs to without depending on any funding, which is very liberating When asked what her inspiration to start coffee club was, Kelly replied saying that she had started to drink coffee towards the end of hersophomore year, to stay awake studying for her prerACTs What started out as something she did because she had to soon turned into a passion When she came to UT, she found that most people didn’t drinkcoffee And so she got a group of people together and put the word out , the club Wasborn The “executive board” (consisting of Kelly, alongwith Giorgia Grisot and Dmitriy Vysotsr kiy) discuss and decide the next coffee shop to visit and maintain a blog (coffeeclub posterr ous com) They get ideas from other peoples recommendations and read about coffee shops online The only problem with such a loose bur reaucracy is that once the people who started it graduate, there may no longerbe leadership for the club To this, Kelly responds with a slight smile, she has thought about this as well, and hopes that it stays the way it is, even after her departure Coffee Club is the perfect break from the mundane and a great way tosee the little place es you might miss out on otherwise So ifyou want to join in, just email iitcoffeeclub@gmail com to be added to their mailing list Or even easier, just show up at 11 am at the MTCC, next to Global Grounds on a Saturday or sun day, and tag along with the group of people you see, onto the next coffee adventure 17th murmsy Michael Simmons/him TechNews corrections in the Students Speak survey special issue we released in the previous week TechNews incorrectlystated that Galvin Librarys 24/5 hours were a direct result of the Students Speak survey While the survey spurred some great new initiatives at the library, expanded hours at Galvin had been a topic of discussion before the survey TechNews regrets the error Public Safety update: tips for protecting your valuables By Ray Martinez DiRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY A while back, i wrote an article titled “Crimes of Opportur nity” (Refer http//techneWsiitcom/story/crimesropportunity, or the paper Edition of TechNews, Tuesday, November 16th 2010) in that article, I stated that the #1 crime affecting the in“ community were crimes that were committed because con ditions were right for the taking These crimes involved theft of property which include but are not limited to, purses, book bags, wallets, textbooks, laptop computers, lPads, lPods, MP3 players, GPS devices and clothing The thefts occured in a verysimplistic way theywere stolen when the victim left their property unattended for a short pe riod oftime The victim either left their property unsecured on a table, in a locker, in a classroom or in the cafeteria The victim left for ashort time to use the restroom or in some cases, left to attend class When they returned, the items were stolen We live in a society where we have to take additional mea sures to safeguard our personal belongings Although, we want to find the good in people and trust them, we still have to take reasonable measures to protect our possessions The following are simple steps you can take to protect and safeguard your pose sessionswhile on campus, at home, or in yourvehicle 1 Always take your belongings with you Whether you are going to the restroom for 2 minutes or are going to class, tak ing your possessions with you will ensure that you will not lose sight of them 2 wherever possible, secure your belongings with a lock Several thefts have occurred at Keating gym where students have placed their belongings in a locker and have not used a lock 3 Alwayslockyourdoorwhenleavingyourroom Although you may know your neighbor, someone else may bring friends to the residence hall that may notbe as trustworthy 4 Always remove valuable items such as GPS units, cd playr ers, loose change, purses, and bags from plain view in your yer hicle Thieves willsearch parking lots looking for vehicles that have items in plain view Regardless it your doors are locked, criminals will take whatever measures to get to your valuables 5 lfyou ever observe someone inyour area that lookssuspir cious or appears that they don’t belong, contact Public Safety immediately at 875353 Keep in mind that Public Safety is here to provide a safe learning environment while on campus Stop by our oihces lo cated in Farr Hall for additional information on Safety Awarer ness You can visit our website at www publicsafety iit edu The Public Safety Blog is up! http://blogs.iit.edu/publicisafety/ Leave feedback. See public safety reports. Stay connected. —