wpi

WPI's Kilroy Sketch Comedy hosts "Spring Shorts": a charitable event for Broken Wall Films. Saturday March 29th at Fuller Auditorium. 2:00 pm. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Rd, Worcester, Ma 01609. Parking available on Boynton Street on the WPI campus. Open to the Public. Raffle for Broken Wall Films prizes and Netflix prizes.

This year's Princeton Review entry on WPI claims that WPI is politically apathetic, that they scored lowest on the question "How popular are political/activist groups?" (The link requires registration, but they don't confirm your e-mail, so you can fake it.) The five most apathetic colleges, according to this question, are:

1. Worcester Polytechnic Institute
2. Quinnipiac University
3. Bradley University
4. University of Delaware
5. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey--New Brunswick/Piscataway Campus

They are pleasantly candid about their methodology:

One last note: Our survey is qualitative and anecdotal rather than quantitative.

(NB: I am not a WPI alum or otherwise affiliated, though I do live in the neighborhood. When I was in college, I remember reading the Princeton Review essay on our school—and snickering.) For more on collegiate activism in Worcester, see Cous-cous.

Greetings Activists! There will be a canvassing skill share on Thursday, March 22, at 8 PM in the Mid-Century Room in the Campus Center at WPI. Come learn why canvassing is an important political tool and how to do it effectively. We will be talking in generalities so you can lead your own canvassing outfit and also in specifics, so you can come out with Step It Up! Worcester and apply your new skills getting folks signed up for GreenUp! It's lots of fun and no grassroots campaign is complete without a little face to face interaction!

Today four of us handed out 53 Why Vegan pamphlets in 13 minutes at WPI. I'm too shy to really like handing out literature, at least at first. After the first couple, I get into an extroverted groove. I got a few dirty looks, but no really negative reaction. The last woman to take a pamphlet was actually excited to get one! One of the Vegan Outreach staffers will be in Worcester later this month to do some serious leafleting. If you're interested, you can contact pieandcoffee@gmail.com. (Or pretty much any animal protection activist in town.)

There will be an open screening of the Academy Award winning film, HARLAN COUNTY USA, this Friday, January 19, at 7:00 pm in Kinnicutt Hall, Salisbury Labs. This extraordinary documentary focuses on the struggle by a group of mine workers in Kentucky to win concessions from the coal mine owners--striking for safer working conditions, fair labor practices, and decent wages. In the course of the film, the company hires gun thugs to intimidate (and even murder) the workers, the mine workers union is revealed to be corrupt, and we come away with a greater appreciation for the dignity and courage of ordinary people in challenging power.