Big Man on Campus ... in a robot suit?
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a stunt required of a fraternity pledge?
The robot walking around grounds, with his aluminum boxed head, tubular pants and electric tape holding his costume together, has created quite a rumbling in the University community.
"Did you just see that?" said an exasperated Ralph Schultz, University language technology specialist, to a student studying diligently in a window in Cabell Hall. "So I didn't just imagine that, you saw it too?"
Wandering everywhere on Grounds from the halls of Cabell to Clemons Library late at night, the robot even made a surprise guest appearance in Prof. David Germano's RELG 254 class Monday.
Second-year College student Chloe Connell, who was sitting in the back of the Tibetan Buddhism class, saw the robot walk in and admitted she was a little surprised.
According to Connell, the robot asked, "How are the Tibetan Buddhists doing?" When Germano asked if the robot had anything he'd like to add, the robot said, "You will all be assimilated into our robot culture," and then left.
"I think it was just in good fun," said Christian Becker, a second-year College student who also was attending the Tibetan Buddhist class. "He didn't cause any harm. Now if he'd stuck around and took away attention from the class, that'd be different."
Becker added that he saw the robot again yesterday sitting on the front porch of a house on 14th Street.
"I didn't want to be mean and stare. Everyone else was walking by all nonchalant like, 'Oh, I see robots every day,'" said second-year College student Saara Siddiqi, who walked past the robot on Tuesday. "I thought it was so cool, and if I hadn't been in such a hurry I would have stopped and talked to him."
You are out of order, delegate
The Virginia International Committee Simulation, an annual Model United Nations-style conference that brings students from colleges nationwide to Grounds for a week, begins today and will continue through Sunday.
"It's going to be our biggest year," said Garron Hansen, fourth-year College student and VICS staff director. "We've been preparing for 11 months, and it'll be nice when the delegates actually get here and we can see that preparation solidify."
Fifteen universities, including Duke, Georgetown, Cornell and Florida State, will attend VICS this year. Over 80 University students who are staffing the conference will join the expected 140 delegates.
Each university was assigned a country about a month ago and researched that country's policies on a specific topic in order to participate effectively in individual committees.
A new addition to VICS this year is the "Press Corps," a team of about five or six participants who will take pictures and notes throughout the conference and then publish a periodical to distribute to all the delegates.
VICS will celebrate their fifth year, bringing in funds to aid the International Relations Organization in participating in conferences, such as the University of Pennsylvania's in the fall.
Compiled by Josie Roberts
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