1997 MIT Mystery Hunt Puzzle 24 Solution

The words spelled out in the columns of letters here are not supposed to be entered directly into the dropquote. Each of them is found as a hidden word in one of the headlines of the other puzzles (with some of them split as two separate words in different puzzles).

Thus, this is the metapuzzle. To avoid spoiling people who aren't ready to see this yet, its solution is on a separate page.