Brown and White Vol. 114 No. 45

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 114 no 45 tuesday april 17 2007 all the lehigh news first gast inaugurated president by rachel sachs news writer students faculty alumni and guests gathered friday afternoon in stabler arena for the inaugura tion of alice gast as lehigh's 13th president this is the place this is where the adventure begins this is le high gast said chairman of the board of trustees james tanenbaum 70 performed the ceremony during which he presented gast with the three symbols of the university a walking stick in memory of found er asa packer the university mace an academic scepter symbolizing order and academic dignity and the university medallion the of ficial symbol of the university and the office of the president gast spoke in detail about lehigh and the university fam ily since her arrival to lehigh in early august gast said she has felt at home she shared a story about one of her first experiences at lehigh when an excited and confused applicant walked among president gast's moving boxes and eagerly asked if her home was the admissions office lehigh is a place where hard work is respected where people are expected to be independent and do things for themselves gast said but lehigh is also a place where compassion is abundant we respect each other's independence but we look out for one another and share in our successes and our struggles b&w photo by bj shepard gast acknowledged lehigh never has and never will lose sight of its educational commitment she then referenced alumni who have made major contributions to society william gottlieb was a lehigh economics major who was known for his famous pictures of music icons charles marshall and how ard mcclintic helped design the george washington bridge the golden gate bridge and the pana ma canal she spoke specifically about lehigh's strengths in the arts hu manities and social sciences and their coexistence with the natural sciences business and engineering the pressing issues of our time president alice gast was inaugurated as lehigh's 13th president on friday in stabler arena cbe explores writing skill initiatives by kimberly macdonald news writer graduates of the college of business and eco nomics have been taught throughout their educa tion how to manage effectively crunch numbers balance spreadsheets and create a business plan but with some students lacking good writing skills after graduation interim cbe dean tom hy clak has created a task force and is considering new ways to improve business students writing skills business students have core requirements be sides those within their specific majors to help cre ate a well-rounded curriculum hyclak said the curriculum is designed with feedback from business employers of graduates executives on the college and program advisory boards and informa tion on developments in business education among other considerations in the past feedback from faculty has led to changes such as implementing memo-writing assignments in introductory business classes business students are required to take core eng lish and math classes in their first year after their first year most of the core courses are introduction classes to various possible majors within the busi ness school until students declare their major business students then have fewer core require ments and the curriculum focuses more on the student's specific major they are required to take almost half of their credits outside the business college alumni have said business school graduates from all schools tend to be more competent at writ ing short pieces like e-mails or memos but struggle more with writing longer pieces such as proposals hyclak said i always advise students to structure their elec one world forum promotes social activism by danielle signer and rosemary saveri news writers speakers brought by the progressive student al liance encouraged the lehigh community to explore the need for reform in topics ranging from women's rights to the protection of animals in america satur day at the annual one world forum the forum serves as a resource for those students interested in becoming involved in activist causes and gets its name from psa's vision that people could function as a whole instead of millions of sepa rate worlds steve schmitt director of the coalition for appro priate transportation spoke in the humanities cen ter about the risks of america's dependence on cars we are defined by our cars schmitt said schmitt who said he won't get in cars said being car-free gives him a different perspective on life schmitt emphasized the need for a national para digm shift to change into a more environmentally friendly society people need to learn how to consolidate three trips into one schmitt said to recognize their ass is getting fat from using a car and they should consider how much it is costing them americans are driving more often than ever and buying less efficient vehicles schmitt said citing a statistic from forbes magazine in 2000 schmitt said every form of technology has greatly improved over the years with the exception of cars schmitt said that although he doesn't think this change will occur rapidly with more time and technology americans will adopt a more efficient mindset we put up with it because it is the best we know schmitt said but in fact it is not the best we know in another speech college of staten island his tory professor donna scimeca took a broader look at the general idea of social activism during her discus sion about the origins of social activism major social activist movements throughout history and what it means to be an activist scimeca focused her speech primarily on the dif ference between an average college student who be lieves in a cause in contrast to a college student who is an activist both believe in a cause she said but see gast page 4 see business page 3 see one world page 2 students practice ft hawks lose check web site environmentally to midshipmen for spring fling friendly lifestyles ? in doubleheader photo essay page 7 page 16 bw.lehigh.edu