BARRY STAVER
Limerick conducts interview
ence prof, even kicked Limer-
ick out of his office.
Limerick is not just clown-
ing around. "There is a com-
mon but inaccurate assump-
tion that the fool is trying to
make fun of something," says
Limerick who, like Lear's fool,
is playful yet insightful. "In
fact, I am very serious."
MICHI AEL M EHLE in Boulder
A Pig Issue
at Brandeis
omething isn't kosher at
Brandeis-the menu, to be
precise. This fall students
at the nonsectarian (but two-
thirds Jewish) university can
dine on pork chops, shrimp and
real bacon for the first time.
According to university offi-
cials, the nonkosher, or tref,
fare has been included in cam-
pus dining-hall offerings to
make non-Jewish students
more comfortable and, possi-
bly, to attract a more culturally
diverse student body. The
school's board of trustees called
for the changes when it decid-
ed that limited cuisine contrib-
uted to a misperception that
the school is only for observant
Jewish students.
The shift in food policy will
not affect the kosher section of
the cafeteria, which caters to
300 of the university's 2,800
students. Even so, the new

menu has miffed some students
and faculty members who fear
Brandeis may lose its Jewish
identity. (The school's chap-
lain, Rabbi Albert S. Axelrad,
calls it "the pig issue.") "You
can't have it both ways," says
Bernard Reisman, a professor
of Jewish communal service. "I
don't think one has to give up
[one's] roots to be hospitable."
DAVID BA RBOZ A in Waltham, Mass.
Lasers Fair
at Lawrence
It's called the Laser Palace.
Inside, its name is displayed
in neon letters, and multi-
colored rays bounce off mirrors.
But this is no nightclub. Those
who enter the inviting edifice
at Lawrence University in Ap-
pleton, Wis., are confronted by
a high-tech laboratory filled
with $200,000 worth of lasers,
optical components and spec-
trum analyzers. The tech-
nology is designed to give
science-minded-and not-so-
science-minded-undergradu-
ates a painless injection of
modern physics.
The Palace was dreamed up
by physics professor John
Brandenberger-who
equipped it with grants from
major companies and the Na-
tional Science Foundation-to
give promising undergrads
the kind of hands-on experi-
ence with lasers that used to
be reserved for grad students.
"This shows them what life is
like as a practicing scientist,"
says Brandenberger. Mary
Rodgers, a Lawrence physics
major who's now a graduate
student in integrated optics at
the University of Wisconsin,
played the Palace for
more than a year and finds
her work there puts her ahead
of many peers. "Now I can go
into a [laser] laboratory and
feel comfortable, if not com-
pletely at home."
Brandenberger is also look-
ing to attract students to sci-
ence who feel more at home

COURTESY LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY
Beam me up: Mary Rogers, Professor Brandenbergerplay the Palace

with Othello than oscillo-
scopes. Next April, he plans to
offer an entry-level class, enti-
tled "Light! More Light!"
aimed at teaching humanities
students the basics of lasers.
Brandenberger believes he's on
the beam. "This is the way to
break down inertia and get
them in the door."
JENNIFER KoBERSTEIN
Georgia Tech
Wrecks WREK
Since the late '70s, stu-
dents at Georgia Tech have
often shuddered over the
eclectic noises emanating from
WREK, the Atlanta campus's
40,000-watt FM radio station.
An automated system that
plays records at random has at
times programmed a Bruce
Springsteen hit followed by q.
Vietnamese folk song and
then five minutes of "industrial
noise," which sounds some-
thing like a recording made on
the floor of a GM plant. "Peo-
ple didn't know what the hell
was going to happen when
they turned on WREK," says
student deejay Rusty Fred-
rich. Now, however, ear-weary

students-whose activity fees
give the station $30,000 per
year-are doing something
about the situation.
Last spring Sharon Just,
president of the Student Gov-
ernment Association, sur-
veyed more than 500 students
and found that 71 percent
wanted a more structured for-
mat. The combination of stu-
dent opinion and old-fashioned
economics is forcing the sta-
tion to listen. WREK (as in
"Ramblin' Wreck") needs
SGA approval to get about
$200,000 to improve its shab-
by equipment before its operat-
ing license comes up for FCC
review in 1989. General man-
ager Arthur Davis has al-
ready reluctantly given in to
Just's directive that the sta-
tion tune up or out: a regular
rotation of music, from new
wave to classical and mellow
rock, was added and the indus-
.trial noise cut to two hours per
week. Students may be happi-
er, but some station employees
are unreconstructed. "I think
we caved in to the demands of
musical philistines to meet
budget demands," says WREK
musical director Ron Rothar.
"It was fairly underhanded ma-
nipulation of the station."
JAMES CAGE in Atlanta
NEWSWEEK ON CAMPUS 27

NOVEMBER 1987