The immImi scfaxj EcoiMMnks and Poiitkal Science fa cekbriuing wlui « nxxlestly I alb tlx Birtlxfay Party of tlx ( rnsenan Lest anyone slvxikl fo«Wt the institutkxiS hundred years of existence, the school has organised a grand list of events to cover the week from July Mia din ner al the House of Commons with Umi (allaglcii i and Sir Edward Heath, a dinner at Guildhall with HRH the Princess Royal, a reception at the House of Lords, a Thames cruise, a younger alumni hall al the < afe Royal lectures by leading academics and countless reunions of different classes, departments, and clubs.

Even those LSE graduates who are either too cynkal poor or indifferent to attend this self-congratulatory fanfan are likely to wonder out loud how lias the LSE come so far?

The school was established in 1B95 by Beatrice and Sidney Webb as a high powered think tank spec ialls ing in the social sciences ; The LSE ■Kitto declares simply. Rerum Cognoscere Causas — 'to know the causes of thinp .

The institution s magk, though, is difficult to pinpoint. For those who have studied there, it is easier to de fine tile place in terms of negatives: it's not beautiful, it's too crammed, and there's no school spirit. The fees are loo high, there is no housing guaranteed. you have to struggle through a sea of humanity everyday to make it to lunch, and the canteen looks like the inside of a bus. The school authorities never bother enquiring about your welfare and the only let levs you re likely to get are about fees and kians due (and the centenary invitation you can't afford).

If you dream of church spires. Frisian cows and rolling hills then forget the LSE. A back street off the Akhvych in central London is an unexpected location lor this so called intellectual hotbed. The architectural clashes whkh constitute the LSE have often been described as a "rabbit warren". where you can get lost even after a good three years. Classrooms are tucked away in little corners where you wouldn't think a broom would fit in. The well stocked library used to be a warehouse, and still looks like one. and another newly acquired building spent its past life as a hospital

Even the school's leftist image is not all that it's thought to be. There are more accountant and yuppie types than you could possibly wish for and the radical elements are now confined to a small egg-throwing lot who are proud of the yolk stains inflicted on visiting government personalities such as MPs Peter Lilley and Virginia Bottomley (LSE alumna).

If it weren't for the gun battles. Dhaka Cniversitv's green surroundings would place it miles ahead of the LSF envinxuixiiL

Why then does the LSE evoke expressions of awe and attract students from all over the world? It's not just big city excitement which draws

them. According to the Times of London, the LSE has a 'sheer hard edged glamour', especially for foreign observers. The International Herald Tribune observed that despite the "miserable clump of buildings', the LSE has, 'more energy. more pas sion to discover what makes the work! tk k in one shabby corner than Oxford has in a hundred manicured quadrangles.'

The place certainly has a stellar academic record. LSE is among the top three universities in England and it doesn't just excel in teaching economics. The Anthropology, Law, So-

cial Work, and Management Studies departments have already been rated excellent" in an ongoing external re ' tew. The fact that 60 percent of the graduating class of 1994 was com posed of overseas students demon strales the LSE s reputation abroad.

Although the school has not turned out to be as "Socialist" as the Fabian founders may have hoped, ISE's history is nevertheless peppered by famous personalities such as Fred erick Hayek. Michael Oakeshott. Harold Laski and Karl Popper. There is no dearth of renowned academics

in its mure mem history and present — lord Wedderburn. David Starkey, Mil fuel '/anktt. Meghnad Desai. Fred Ilalfalai and Rosalyn Higgins to name a few These names x nitribuk in part to the LSE s reputation Students liask in the knowledge that many of the relevant books are written by their professors, even though for some of them watching their prof on the BB or from half way across the lecture room may be as close as it gets.

The students themselves are an I ssential part of the LSE appeal The lee paving learners at the LSE are not pampered at all after the perfunctory orientation, it's sink or swim in big bad london. Although there are ap proximately only 5.M0 students, di v ided evenly between undergraduates and graduate students, the densely packed campus makes you feel like part of a large pulsating breeding ground for new ideas. LSE students may throw paper airplanes during stuck hi oumd mectinyp but they were also the first ones to believe in the wrongly convicted Tottenham Three's innocence.

Although there are visible student groupings at the LSE. they are not ruxessarily insular dir Indian posset the Malaysian and Singaporean crowd, the Greeks, the Italians, the "Let s See Europe" Americ ans w ho come for a year, the Germans, the student council hacks, die Three Tuns (campus pub I lager lads, the (jeogra phy dossers, the trendy clubbers, the alternative crowd, and the potheads to name a few.

With its centenary celebrations, the LSE is proclaiming that this com bination of students and academics produces a heady intellectual atmo sphere indeed. Happy Birthday and party on.