The Students

Contemporary memes

Students lose phone privileges

Higher end computers are replaced

Cuts on budgets for clubs

This page includes four different pages retrieved from the student newspaper "The Polytechnic Reporter". In each of these, there is a headline that covers certain events that show how the quality of life of students was also suffering in the years up to the merger.

In the first image, there is a satirical piece that targets the situation of certain facilities of Poly and also the rises in tuition. It shows an image of a flooded building that represents how the Nichols Building, which was a building for the Physics department, suffered a flood. The second image shows how the Coed bathrooms that were just introduced were not of the highest quality. 

The first is a headline that reads "Student Phones Lose in Financial Hardships' '. This article talks about how all the phones in the dormitories and living spaces of students were being taken out. The reason for this was that these phones were being abused by students making calls to "Europe, California and Hawaii". There was no way to control how these phones were used and they were beginning to induce a considerable cost to Poly. The phone cuts were strongly opposed by student leadership but these were ultimately to no avail. This article was published in 1971, two years before the merger. 

The second headline is also related to technology removal. This reads "Removal of Computer Affects Poly Future ''. This article states that student leadership was lobbying for the continuation of ownership of an in-house computer. Poly had an IBM 360/50 in 1972 that was going to be removed from Poly due to high operating costs. An important perspective that this article covers is the opinion of Mr. Capuro, Director of Admissions at Poly in 1972. The article states that many highschools were asking to visit the computer lab at Poly and that it was argued that with the removal of this system and that if Poly did not have a decent in-house computer, the enrollment numbers would continue to decrease. It also briefly mentions that schools such as NYU and Columbia have in-house computers, and that prospective students would change their decisions to attend Poly. 

The third article reads "Budgets Receive Cuts". This is a brief article that in essence states that the budget cuts for student organizations were becoming more drastic. The article states that these cuts were increased "due to a decrease in student enrollment and this was reflected in the budget of many organizations. The article includes a satirical conversation between club treasures and the student council treasurer, which is in charge of making the budget changes. The Student Council treasures, which remain unnamed, are shown to be very drastic on the requests of clubs. The article ends with a note that it was "about time that budgeting and rebudgeting be changed" because it " does no justice to either the Poly student or the organizations [there] at Poly". It stated that there was going to be a new Student Council treasurer and hoped that there would be changes made in this aspect of student life at the school. 

These articles show how changes made in the school were affecting students' lives and that they would continue to have repercussions on enrollment numbers as well. It even compared Poly to NYU, by stating that they had a better chance of attracting students due to these changes.