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The WeatherToday: Sunny, 68°F (20°C)Tonight: Clear, 49°F (9°C)

.• ~ .. Tomorrow: Partly cloudy, 80°F (27°C)Details, Page 2

Friday, October 31, 2003

Records, Page 15

Contents of admissions fileThe admissions file contains

Parts I and 2 of the MIT admissionsapplication, letters of recommenda-tion from two teachers and highschool guidance counselor, a high

In response to an inquiry by TheTech, MIT has reaffirmed its policyof providing a copy of a student'snon-confidential records whenrequested by that student.

"Students may read anything intheir file that they have not waivedtheir rights to see," said Dean ofAdmissions Marilee Jones.

This means that students canaccess their admissions scores andapplication reader comments, pro-vided that they are still present intheir admissions files.

Detailed admissions recordssuch as reader comments aredestroyed at the end of freshmanyear, simply because of a lack ofphysical storage space for them.However, all numerical scores arearchived electronically, and avail-able for viewing upon studentrequest.

Star, Page 17

By Waseem S. Daher

a'Halloran declined to commentabout the MIT proposal to Star Mar-

UMOC, Page 8

said Oliver E. Kosut '04, theUMOC project chair. Last year,UMOC raised $1222.43 for theLeukemia and Lymphoma Society .

He thought that the amount of

students who didn't go there beforemight go there now, or students whodo go there might go there moreoften."

Alpha Phi Omega's week-longcharity fundraising contest featuredseven candidates and raised a totalof $379.41, which will be donatedto the Greater Boston Food Bank.

The amount of money raised thisyear decreased from previous years,

their card."The advantage for vendors,

Cummings said, "is that it willwiden their customer base because

RENECIiEN-TIfE TECII

Jay Wu '07 pays for his groceries during his weekly Shopping trip to Star Market. Star Is considering aproposal to allow students to use TechCash to make purchases.

Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

DAN BERSAK-TIIE TECH

"The failing leaves drift by my window. The autumn leaves of red and gold. I see your lips, thesummer kisses, those sunburned hands I used to hold. Since you went away, the days grow long.And soon I'll hear old winter's song. But I miss you most of all, my darling, when autumn leavesstart to fall." Lyrics by Johnny Mercer.

Option benefits students, StarReuben L. Cummings '04,

Undergraduate Association diningcommittee chair, said that additionalfood vendors accepting TechCash isgood for students since "there willbe additional locations where theycan go to,''' and "because some stu-dents don't pay for the money on

By Tongyan UnSTAFF REPORTER

By Kathy UnASSOCIA TE NEWS EDITOR

Star Market has received a pro-posal from MIT Enterprise Servicesto accept TechCash via the MITcard. In addition, a local restaurantis now accepting TechCash, andanother will be accepting it in thenear future.

University Park Star MarketManager Marty O'Halloran said thathe is aware that a proposal was sub-mitted by MIT, but only recentlybegan working at Star Market andhas not had a chance to look at it.

Passport restaurant, located atthe Sidney-Pacific graduate resi-dence, has been accepting TechCashfor about eight months now, saidRestaurant Manager Gregory Seri-no. Polcari's, a new restaurant inTech Square, is planning on accept-ing the MIT card soon.

Star Market To Consider Accepting CardAi ,

I i'lt •

Random Hall's nine-year-old. milk took first place in this year'sUgliest Manifestation on Campuscontest with a total of $136.48raised.

Volume 123, Number 53

By GlreeJa Ranade

,/

Health premium rise a surpriseLast year, "no one expected that

the health insurance premium wouldincrease as much as it did," Colbertsaid.

He said that one critical factor inthe rise in premiums was that MIThealth insurance serves a relativelysmall population, as opposed toother heath insurance programs thatserve tens of thousands of people,but still have a lot of the same fixedcosts.

In addition, MIT Medical hadbeen running a surplus in its budgetfor several years and five years agodecided to increase services. The

Grad, Page 9

ExpensesDiJlicultForGradJ;

Despite efforts by the MITadministration to buffer the effectsof a 60 percent health insurance

• ======== hike and

Analysis ~~~~,~d~uate stu-

dents continue to feel the pinch."Extra costs are all piling up,"

said Stefan D'Heedene G. "My rentwent up by about $50 per month.For my finances I felt it necessary tohave a summer job and freelanceafter hours," he said.

Graduate student rents increasedby an average of 6 percent this year.However, rent for some apartmentsincreased by much more because ofa realignment in rent based on thequality of facilities. The realign-ment, while neutral overall, causeda sharp jump in rents in several dor-mitories.

"Food is really expensive," saidAnand Rajagopal G. Costs have"gotten a little bit better from lastyear, but it's still very expensive... Money which you could spendhaving fun and partying has gonedown" compared to before, hesaid.

Moreover, in the current budgetcrunch at MIT, it looks like costswill only continue to rise comparedto income .

•"Given the financial situation

MIT is in, I can't expect that therewill be any dramatic increases instipend levels this year," said Deanfor Graduate Students Isaac M. Col-bert. "We are looking at everyaspect for how we can make it pos-sible for students to live and surviveat MIT," he said.

MIT cannot do much for marriedgraduate students, Colbert said,since stipend increases only coverthe costs for the student, and not hisor her family.

• ~.~,

~II

1 ..~.. ',.,

A secondMITblinddate runsafoul.

Page 6

Comics

Page 11

OPINIONJeff Roberts explains why stu-dents should pay attention toMIT's changing campus.

Page 5

World & Nation 2Opinion 4Features 6Events Calendar .14Sports 20

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•October 31, 2003

political vulnerabilities.One, they said, is that the upturn

in economic activity has not yettranslated into new jobs to offsetthose lost since Bush took office.Depending on what measure is used,the economy has shed between 2.6million and more than 3 million jobssince '.January 2001.

The other, Democrats said, is thatthe surge in growth was the result ofan unsustainable tax-cutting bingethat mostly benefited the wealthyand drove the budget deficit to levelsthat will bedevil the nation decades.Persistent large deficits, Democratssaid, could undermine the expansiondown the road by forcing interestrates higher and limiting the nation'sability to address long-range prob-lems like the mounting imbalancesin Social Security and Medicare.

"We've lost more than 3 millionjobs, 3 million people have falleninto poverty, the budget deficit andnational debt ar~ growing, healthcare and college tuition costs areescalating," said Sen. Joseph I.Lieberman of Connecticut, one ofthe Democratic presidential candi-dates. "And this president still hasno real plan to sustain this growth,translate it into jobs, and rebuild astrong middle class."

ond-highest ranking member of theIraqi government at the time of theU.S.-led invasion and who isdescribed by U.S. officials as playinga significant role in the insurgency.

Ibrahim, who is No.6 on theU.S. most-wanted list, has beendescribed by some Defense Depart-ment officials as having recentlybeen in contact with members ofAnsar ai-Islam, a militant group thathad been based in northern Iraqbefore the U.S.-led invasion andwhich is linked to the terrorist orga-nization al-Qaida .

. Such contacts would be theclearest evidence to date of coordi-nation between forces loyal to Sad-dam and members of the extremistgroup in the campaign against U.S.forces in Iraq.

president said earlier at a fund-raiserhere for his campaign. "But we willnot stop until there are jobs aplentyfor those looking for work."

Continued success, he said,required enactment of the rest of hisagenda, including making permanentelements of his tax cuts that will oth-erwise expire in coming years andpassing energy legislation pending inCongress that would promote moredomestic oil and gas production.

In a shot at the nine Democraticpresidential contenders, all of whomhave called for rolling back some orall of his tax cuts, Bush suggestedthat their approach would derail therecovery just as it is gatheringsteam.

"Just as the economy is comingaround, some over in Washingtonsay now is the time to raise taxes,"Bush said. "I strongly disagree. Taxrelief put this nation on the rightpath, and I intend to keep Americaon the path to prosperity."

Faced with the prospect that thestrong growth figure would under-mine their campaign theme thatBush has the worst economic recordof any president since HerbertHoover, Democrats sought to focusattention on what they said weretwo of the administration's greatest

Officials acknowledged that thereports of a significant role by Sad-dam could not be corroborated, andone senior official cautioned thatrecent intelligence reports containedconflicting assessments. Nonethe-less, three senior officials describedreports of a larger role by Saddamas credible, and a Defense Depart-ment official said the informationhad given a fresh sense of urgencyto the U.S.-led manhunt for the for-mer Iraqi leader.

"There are some accounts thatsay he is somehow instigating orfomenting some of the resistance,"another U. S. official said of theintelligence reports.

Saddam is believed to have metwith Izzat Ibrahim, a fugitive formergeneral who was officially the sec-

WASHINGTON

By Richard W. StevensonTilE NEW YORK TIMES

COLUMBUS. OHIO

The White House claimed crediton Thursday for the surge in eco-nomic growth, saying the tax cutschampioned by President Bush hadhelped the nation overcome reces-sion and the economic effects of theterrorist attacks, two wars and" cor-porate scandals.

The news that the economy hadexpanded in the third quarter at a7.2 percent annual rate - the bestperformance since 1984 - gaveBush and his party a compellingpiece of evidence to back theirassertions that they have put thenation back on the road to prosperi-ty a year before Election Day.

"The tax relief we passed isworking," Bush said to whoops ofapproval from several hundredworkers during a speech at an alu-minum processing plant in this statethat could be be critical for his re-election bid.

Continuing his strategy of neversuggesting he is satisfied with theeconomy, Bush said the good newswas only a starting point for hisefforts to bring down unemploy-ment.

"We're making progress," the

By Douglas JehlTilE NEW YORK TIMES

Saddam Hussein may be playinga significant role in coordinatingand directing attacks by his loyalistsagainst U.S. forces in Iraq, seniorU.S. officials said on Thursday.

The officials cited recent intelli-gence reports indicating that Sad-dam is acting as a catalyst or even aleader in the armed opposition,probably from a base of operationsnear Tikrit, his hometown andstronghold. A leadership role bySaddam would go far beyond any-thing previously acknowledged bythe Bush administration, which hassought in its public remarks to por-tray the former Iraqi leader as beingon the run and irrelevant.

Saddam May Have ImportantRole inAttacks on U.S. Forces

WASHINGTON

WORLD & NATIONWhite House Says Bush TaxCuts Caused Economic Surge

FDA Declares FoodFrom Cloned Animals Safe

North Korea Ready to ResumeTalks on Nuclear Program

Web Site Recovers Edited PortionsOf Justice Report

TilE NEW YORK TIMES

mE NEW YORK TIMES

An internal report that harshly criticized the Justice Department'sdiversity efforts was edited so heavily when it was posted on thedepartment's Web site two weeks ago that half of its 186 pages,including the summary, were blacked out.

The censored passages, electronically recovered by a self-described "information archaeologist" in Tucson, Ariz., portrayed thedepartment's record on diversity as seriously flawed, specifically inthe hiring, promotion and retention of minority lawyers.

The unedited report, completed in June 2002 by the consultingfirm KPMG, found that minority employees at the department, whichis responsible for enforcing the country's civil rights laws, perceivetheir own workplace as biased and unfair.

Among the censored findings: "The department does face signifi-cant dive~sity issues. Whites and minorities, as well as men andwomen perceive differences in many aspects of the work climate. Forexample, minorities are significantly more likely than whites to citestereotyping, harassment and racial tension as characteristics of thework climate. Many of these differences are also present betweenmen and women, although to a lesser extent."

BEIJING

North Korea said on Thursday that it was ready to enter a newround of negotiations about its nuclear weapons program with theUnited States, China, and other countries in the region. Theannouncement suggests that President Bush's offer last week to dis-cuss a security guarantee may have been enough to revive the on-again, off-again dialogue with North Korea.

North Korea agreed "in principle" to new talks, according to Chi-nese Central Television's main news broadcast, which announced theresults of a two-day visit to Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, by atop-level Chinese delegation.

After Thursday's announcement by the Chinese, the official NorthKorean news agency issued a more qualified endorsement of talks,expressing a willingness to take part "if they provide a process ofputting into practice the proposal for a package solution based on theprinciple of simultaneous actions."

TIlE NEW YORK THIES

Milk and meat from cloned animals are safe to eat, the Food andDrug Administration has tentatively concluded, a finding that couldeventually clear the way for such products to reach supermarketshelves and for cloning to be widely used to breed livestock.

The agency's conclusions are being released on Friday in advanceof a public meeting on the issue Tuesday in Rockville, Md. Agencyofficials said that after receiving public comments, they hope by latenext spring to outline their views on how, if at all, cloning would beregulated, including whether food from cloned animals should belabeled.

But if the preliminary conclusion stands, labeling would not beneeded and there would be little regulation, Stephen Sundlof, direc-tor of the agency's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in an inter-view.

"There appears to be few if any safety concerns," Sundlof said.He added, "If we consider them materially the same as traditionalfoods, the role for the FDA would be minimal."

Page 2 THE TECH

WEATHEREarth, Wmd, and Fire

By Robert Undsay KortySTAFF METEOROLOGIST

By 1962, California had surpassed New York as the most populous state,the Brooklyn Dodgers had left for Los Angeles, and the certain promises ofsunshine and new beginnings lured millions to leave behind the East, thecold, the past. If there was to be a flaw in the golden weather, it would comemost often in October; Joan Didion called it "the bad month for the wind."The Santa Ana is a hot, dry wind that descends down the San GabrielMountains, races through the passes, warming as it compresses, andbreathes an uneasy air all the way to the Pacific. Fires grow with an omi-nous rapidity, and the wind ushers in a tense mood across Southern Califor-nia. In her essay "The Santa Ana," Didion described it this way: ''just as thereliably long and bitter winters of New England determine the way life islived there, so the violence and the unpredictability of the Santa Ana affectthe entire quality of life in Los Angeles, accentuate its impermanence, itsunreliability. The wind shows us how close to the edge we are."

The wind has turned onshore again across much of Southern California,returning maritime moisture and cool breezes, and halting the westwardexpansion of the fires that have raged unrelentingly for days. Back East,westerly winds descending down the Berkshires and Worcester Hills willwarm Boston to temperatures more common in September. Enjoy thisweekend; another of New England's "reliably long and bitter winters"looms on the horizon.

Weekend OutlookToday: Sunny. High 68°F (20°C).Tonight: Clear. Low 49°F (9°C).Tomorrow: Party cloudy; near record warmth. High 80°F (27°C).Sunday: Partly cloudy. High 70°F (21°C), low 50°F (IO°C).

Situation for Noon Eastern Standard Time, Friday, October 31, 2003o~o~o~o~o~o~..\..\..\ _\ ..\ ..\ ..\ ..\

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Compiled by MIT.... Slalionary Fronl Heavy ~ . Metecrology Slaff.. and TIw T~ch

Russian Prosecution FreezesBillions in Oil Company Stock

Senate Strikes Down Climate ChangeControl Bill on Economic Grounds

CDC Tightens Oversight on LabsCapable of Fueling BioterrorismBy David Wahlberg anthrax is stored and who has access CDC previously had a list of labs_CO_X_N_E_W_:S_SE_"R_V_IC_E to it. that transported agents, but didn't

ATLANTA "The goal is to help deter the require notice of when each sampleSo many labs across the country potential use of these agents or the was shipped and who was responsi-

store dangerous germs that could be release of these agents, which could ble, Sage said.used for bioterrorism - 414 at last harm human health," Sage said. The rules also didn't apply tocount - that the Centers for Dis- Under the rules, labs that keep storage of the germs.ease Control and Prevention is any of a list of 49 biological agents Nearly half of the newly regis-requiring they register and submit to considered dangerous to humans tered labs have been inspected. Theinspections and security clearances. must register with the CDC by Nov. searches have revealed some short-

"Up until this rule, we had no 12. So far, 414 universities, govern- comings, including inadequate secu-idea who possessed all these agents ment agencies, businesses and rity plans and the need for betterin the United States," said Mike research foundations have signed door locks, CDC officials said.Sage, deputy director of the Atlanta- up. Making all lab workers clear FBIbased CDC's'Office of Terrorism The CDC won't release the list background checks led biologistand Emergency Response. "Histori- of labs, saying it would pose a threat Daniel Portnoy of the University ofcally, you just put it on a UPS truck to national security. California, Berkeley, to destroy hisand sent it." Labs that use 33 other agents bubonic plague samples.

While some researchers say they considered harmful to animals and He said he's one less scientistunderstand the need for tighter secu- plants must register with the U.S. who may have helped developrity, others claim the new regula- Department of Agriculture, which countermeasures for the disease.tions are interfering with studies on will inspect the labs. "I work in a lab where there aredeveloping drugs and vaccines to Both agencies are required to undergraduates, rotating studentsrespond to bioterrorism. inspect each lab at least every three and people coming in for office

Some cite the indictment of a years. Laboratory workers - hours," Portnoy said. "CompletelyTexas Tech researcher who goes on including scientists, students and eliminating any access to the labtrial Monday on charges he mishan- secretaries - must undergo FBI would have been too difficult."dIed plague samples as reason for background checks. Some researchers at Emory Uni-concern. The CDC's list of germs versity in Atlanta have also discard-

CDC officials say the rules, man- includes anthrax, ricin, smallpox ed samples instead of facingdated by the 2002 Patriot Act and a and botulinum toxin, as well as less- increased scrutiny and paperwork,separate public health security law, er-known pathogens such as the said Kristin West, director ofaim to avoid problems like those Lassa and Marburg viruses, which Emory's Office of Research Com-that arose during the 200 I anthrax can rapidly cause severe bleeding pliance. She would not identify theattacks: confusion over where and organ failure. researchers.

•

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October 31,2003

By Steven Lee MyersTHE NEW YORK 77MES

MOSCOW

Russian prosecutors on Thursdayfroze stock worth billions of dollarsin Russia's richest company, YukosOil, raising the stakes in their inves-tigation of its imprisoned chief exec-utive, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky.

The move came as the Kremlinannounced that President VladimirV. Putin had removed his chief ofstaff, Aleksandr S. Voloshin, whohad already submitted his resigna-tion to protest Khodorkovsky'sarrest. Putin replaced Voloshin withDmitri A. Medvedev, 38, a lawyerwho had been Voloshin's deputy.

Compared with Boris N.Yeltsin' s presidency, Putin' s termhas been noted for its stability. Themove on Thursday was the most sig-nificant change in his inner circlesince he took office nearly fouryears ago and demonstrated the widepolitical ramifications of Khodor-kovsky's arrest.

With the promotions ofMedvedev and another aide, Dmitri

By Jeff Nesmithcox NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON

The Senate held Congress's firstvote on regulating the causes of glob-al warming Thursday and turned theidea down, 55-43.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) saidthe vote on a bill to control emissionsof greenhouse gases such as carbondioxide were only the beginning ofan extended campaign.

"I want to assure my colleaguesthat we will be back," McCain said.("We have to begin to address thisissue."

McCain co-sponsored the billwith Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Con-necticut, a Democratic presidentialcandidate.

"Today we scored an importantmoral victory for protecting our envi-ronment and combating global warm-ing," Lieberman said. "PresidentBush has denied, delayed andderailed any action on global warm-ing."

Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio)

N. Kozak, who assumesMedvedev's old position, Putinappeared to solidify the power of acoterie of advisers who have workedfor him since he served in St. Peters-burg's reformist government afterthe collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Yukos situation has high-lighted a political struggle in Russiabetween reform-minded officialsfavoring a market economy and oth-ers, often with a background in thestate security services, who aredetermined to retain a strong dose ofstate control. Putin has been tryingto steer a course between the two.

The Prosecutor General's officeannounced its action - by far thelargest freezing of assets here - asPutin met with major foreigninvestors to try to reassure them.

The freezing of 1.2 billion Yukosshares - 44 percent of the total, thecompany said - sent the country'salready reeling stock prices plungingstill further. The seized shares areowned by Khodorkovsky and hispartner, Platon Lebedev, who wasarrested in July. Those shares were

described opponents' chief argumentwhen he called the legislation a ''jobsbill for Mexico" and said it wouldcause 178,000 manufacturing jobs toleave Ohio.

"I can hear the giant sucking soundof jobs leaving our country every timeI go home to Ohio," Voinovich said.

"This bill would mean the end ofmanufacturing jobs in my state,"Voinovich added. "It will exacerbatethe loss of jobs in my state and driveup the cost of energy."

McCain and five other Republicansvoted for the bill, along with indepen-dent James Jeffords of Vermont and37 Democrats. Two senators, Ben Nel-son (D-Neb.) and Democratic presi-dential candidate John Edwards ofNorth Carolina, did not vote.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) recalledlooking back at the Earth from thespace shuttle during the mission heflew as a House member in 1986. Hedescribed the planet as a "beautifulblue and white ball, suspended innothing."

"It is so beautiful, yet so fragile,"

WORLD & NATION

worth $14 billion at the start of theday but $12 billion by the end.

A spokeswoman for the prose-cutor general, Natalya B. Vish-nyakova, said in televised remarksthat the freezing of the shares didnot represent the "confiscation ornationalization" of Yukos assets.Still, the government could in theo-ry end up with a large stake in thecompany if prosecutors prevail incourt.

In an e-mail message sent afterthe meeting with Put in, StephanNewhouse, the chairman of MorganStanley International, said of theRussian president: "With regard tothe recent Yukos events, he assuredus that this does not represent acampaign against business, nor anychange in the government's com-mitment to the market economy,"

But Voloshin' s resignation hasled many analysts to conclude thatthe struggle between reformists andhard-liners has been won by theKGB veterans, some of whombelong to the St. Petersburg crowdPutin brought to the Kremlin.

Nelson said, adding that one expect-ed impact of climate change, sealevel rise, would "have a devastatingeffect on my state of Florida."

Environmental groups declaredthat 43 votes for the bill was betterthan they had hoped, even thoughMcCain and Lieberman had rewrit-ten their original bill to make it lessdemanding.

The bill voted on Thursdaywould have required industrial plantsto cut pollution from burning fossilfuels to 2000 levels by 20 I O. Itwould have set a national cap ongreenhouse gas emissions andallowed companies to trade "pollu-tion rights."

"Although the bill did not pass,the strong show of support from law-makers from every region of thenation exceeded our expectations,"said Jeremy Symons of the NationalWildlife Federation.

Fred Krupp, president of theactivist organization EnvironmentalDefense, called the vote a "big repu-diation of the president."

THE TECH Page 3

Senate Panel Demands AccessTo Iraq Documents

TIlE NEW YORK TIMf."SWASIIINGTON

The Senate Intelligence Committee, in a letter to CondoleezzaRice, the national security adviser, demanded Thursday that theWhite House "must lift" its objections to handing over to the paneldocuments related to intelligence about Iraq and its illicit weaponsbefore the war.

The panel set a deadline of noon Friday for compliance by theWhite House, the same as it has set for the Central IntelligenceAgency, the State Department and the Pentagon to provide docu-ments and schedule interviews that the committee has been seekingfor months.

The committee, headed by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Sen.John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) is trying to determine how theBush administration reached its conclusions about Iraq's suspectedstocks of chemical and biological weapons and its nuclear program.

Among the documents sought by the committee, congressionalofficials said, are copies of President Bush's daily brief, a documentprepared by the CIA that the White House has until now claimed wasoff-limits to Congress because of the doctrine of executive privilege.

The congressional officials said the documents also includedmemorandums between the CIA and the White House discussing dis-puted claims that Iraq was seeking to obtain enriched uranium fromNiger for its nuclear weapons program.

A letter signed by the two senators and released by the committeecalJs on Rice to authorize the CIA to release documents and allowinterviews with individuals whom the panel suggested she had previ-ously declared off limits.

Women with a Toy Gun Shuts DownHouse Office Building

COX NEWS SERI'ICEWASHINGTON

Two women carrying a Halloween costume and a toy gun passedthrough a security checkpoint in a House office building Thursday,causing a massive police search and lockdown of the facility.

Staffers and lawmakers said the incident reveals weaknesses inthe Capitol complex's security system.

"I don't think they had any ill-intent," said Capitol Police ChiefTerrence Gainer, of the women. "It was just an unusual set of Hal-loween circumstances that unfolded on us."

The two women, identified only as House employees, had enteredthe building and put a back pack with the costume and gun on theconveyor belt of a metal detector.

When an officer, who had been distracted by someone asking aquestion, noticed something that looked like a gun on the X-rayscreen, the women had already left the area, police said.

"You could not tell from the X-ray whether it was plastic or real,"Gainer said.

As a result of the confusion, police told occupants of the CannonHouse Office Building to remain in their offices while they searchedroom by room for a possible gunman. They later moved hundreds ofpeople into a large rotunda, where they waited to exit the building.

Scientists Explain Lemmings'Boom And Bust Cycle

TIlE NEW YORK TIMES

For centuries, people have puzzled over lemmings, the northernrodents whose populations surge and crash so quickly and so regular-ly that they inspired an enduring myth: that lemmings commit masssuicide when their numbers grow too large, eagerly pitching them-selves off cliffs to their deaths in a foamy sea.

Scientists debunked that notion decades ago. But they have neverbeen certain what causes the rapid boom-and-bust cycles that gaverise to it. Now, in a study of collared lemmings in Greenland, beingpublished on Friday in the journal Science, a team of Europeanresearchers report that the real reason has nothing to do with self-annihilation and everything to do with hungry predators.

After 15 years of research, the scientists report, they discoveredthat the combined actions of four predator species - snowy owls,seabirds called long-tailed skuas, arctic foxes and weasel-like crea-tures known as stoats - create the four-year cycles during whichlemming populations explode and then nearly disappear.

Congress Fumes as U.S. FindsChinese Currency Policy Legal

COX NEWS SERVICEWASHINGTON

Treasury Secretary John Snow told Congress on Thursday thatChina is not violating U.S. law by manipulating its currency to gainan unfair trade advantage.

But both Republican and Democratic lawmakers attacked Snow'sreport, saying it ignores China's efforts to depress the value of itscurrency to make its exports cheaper. They said currency manipula-tion has contributed to the loss of 2.7 million U.S. manufacturing jobsover the past three years.

"This report is a whitewash," said Sen. Charles Schumer, co-spon-sor of a bipartisan bill that would impose a 27.5 percent tariff on Chi-nese goods entering the United States.

Bill co-sponsor Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) said that regardless ofwhat the Treasury report says, it is obvious "the Chinese are cheat-ing." But Snow defended the Bush administration's decision to con-tinue putting quiet diplomatic pressure on Chinese officials, ratherthan publicly declaring them in violation of the law.

"We're engaged on a nwnber of points" with the Chinese on theircurrency, called the yuan or the renminbi, Snow said.

Snow presented the Senate Banking Committee with his depart-ment's annual report. It found that China's tight control of the yuan'svalue did not meet the "technical requirements" that would triggereconomic sanctions set forth in the Omnibus Trade and Competitive-ness Act of 1988.

Page 4 THE TECH

ChairmanJyoti Tibrewala '04

Editor in ChiefChristine R. Fry '05

Business ManagerRoy K. Esaki '04

Managing EditorDavid Carpenter '05

Executive EditorEun J. Lee '04

NEWS STAFF

News and Features Director: Jennifer Krishnan'04; News Editors: Keith 1. Winstein G, Lauren E.leBon '06, Beckett W. Sterner '06; Associate Edi-tors: Kathy Lin '06, Marissa Vogt '06, JennyZhang '06; Staff: Jeffrey Greenbawn '04, MichaelE. Rolish '04, Jay K.. Cameron '05, Sam Hwang'05, Jessica A. Zaman 'U5, Tiffany Kosolcharoen'06, Lakshmi Nambiar '06, Jennifer Wong '06,Tongyan Lin '07, Julian E. Villarreal '07;Meteorologists: Samantha L. H. Hess G, RobertLindsay Korty G, Greg Lawson G, Nikki Prive G,William Ramstrom G, Michael 1. Ring G.

I 'IWDUCT/U,v snFF

Editors: Hangyul Chung '05, Kevin Chen '06,Tiffany Dohzen '06; Associate Editors: Sie Hen-drata Dharmawan '05, Nicholas R. Hoff '05; Staff:Andrew Mamo '04, Albert Leung '06, Jolinla Lin'06, Y. Grace Lin '07, Jooathan Reinharth '06, JermiferHuang '07, Yaser M. Khan '07, Sylvia Yang '07.

lJl'ISION S/:4FF

Editors: Andrew C. Thomas '04; Associate Editor:Vivek Rao '05; Columnist: Philip Burrowes '04;Staff: Basil Enwegbara SM '0 I, Gretchen K.. Aleks'04, Ken Nesmith '04, AtifZ. Qadir '04, W. VictoriaLee '06, Daniel Barclay '07, Ruth Miller '07.

October 31, 2003

OPINION.DeBergalis for City Council

For the city council elections on Nov. 4, one busines~es and transp.ortatio~ to se.rve the studentcandidate in particular has demonstrated that he populatIon, a populatIon typIcally Ignored bywould serve the students of the Institute with Cambridge government.

diligence and excellence. MIT alumna Aimee Smith PhD '02 is also aEditorial The Tech officially endors- candidate for city council, running as a member ofes Matt DeBergalis '00 for the Green-Rainbow party. While we do not believe

a position on the Cambridge city council. that her platform would best represent the stude~tFrom the beginning of his campaign, DeBer- body ofMIT in general, she has proven her dedI-

galis has shown dedication and respect to the cation to the issues she supports and to the partyprocess of democracy. He has spearheaded voter she represents. She would fight zealously for.herregistration drives on campus, which netted over issues, the most prominent of which seems to be1,000 new registered voters in Cambridge, and rent control. There are nine positions open for 20enlightened the student body on the power their candidates. Because votes are cast in a preferentialvote carries at this level. Cynics may see this as a manner, one can appropriately rank candidates 41.means to merely obtain votes; rather, DeBergalis's the order of support. We strongly recommend that.drive has been largely independent of his election Matt DeBergalis appear as your number one pref-campaign through cooperation with dormitories erence on the Nov. 4 ballot as a vote of support forand community members. For this educational the interests of the MIT community.effort alone we would support his candidacy, For those students who live on campus, the

The issues controlled by the council that affect voting location is Kresge Auditorium; for thoseMIT are many. The relationship between MIT and who live in Random Hall, ADP or WILG, theCambridge City Council has been very adversari- polls are at the Salvation Army Headquarters. Foral; in any sort of negotiation between these two off-campus voters, check your mail for wardentities, it would benefit both parties to have com- information.mon connections to the other. DeBergalis would For more information about DeBergalis s cam-act in an excellent capacity. His platform includes paign, visit http://deberg.org. For more informationaffordable housing for students, not just at MIT, about Smith s campaign, visit http://www.elec-but Harvard and other institutions of higher learn- taimee.org. Information about the election can being. He is also in favor of extended hours for local found at http://www.cambridgema.gov.

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•Letters 10 The Editor

Isaac Moses, G

for it exhibit "the intolerance at the root of theproblem."

I wonder how Professor Hampton w~uldlabel students who complained of discomfort inclasses populated by people with different skin .tones. Or, if students told him they found thepresence of a rainbow flag "unwelcoming," I:-V0nde.rif .~e ~oul1. advoE~e ,tl.ml ~he,.~ousingOffice advance their message.to that ,flag:sowner. If not, is "But Israel's different" an argU-ment that an a political administration should bemaking?

HandicappedClassroo~~: Lecture

Accessible?To the Editor:r d like to tell you Tech writers and editors

that my thumbs have been constantly up at yousince I arrived here last year. However, I wasoffended by a slick side comment in the StataCenter article ("Glass, Bricks and Angles", Oct.24). Actually, it made me queasy. The articlequoted Christopher 1. Terman '78, a senior lec-turer in the Department of Electrical Engineer-ing and Computer Science as saying that themultimedia capabilities of the new Stata Centerclassrooms will make "'chalk-talk' lectures athing of the past." As a former teacher with nineyears of high school, college, and corporateteaching experience, I really appreciate "chalk-talk." (God, that's such cheesy market-speak.) I.have developed curricula for and taught withsome of the latest presentation software, anima-tion, video, and display technology, but rm stilla sucker for a really well-delivered lecture -with extra chalk.

While I realize that Dr. Terman is not nec-essarily talking about replacing standard lec-

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tures, he should realize that\&~s:h facilitiesn.shape teachip.g techniques. For, m~i' delj~ing i....

"chalk-talk" falls i!l..Iin~!WAt\1) ~n j~gg~l1!~Pi;;,>temphasis on learner-centeredrenyj~on.ment~, ,multimedia presentation, and the apotheosis., . iof learning today; interactivity. !,emp9-,~~ize>

. the latter word, because I think "chalk-talk"c_a.nlJ_eihi~hly' i~.!~{d\ve!but doesn't getbilJed as such. A~re.!llly' engaging -speakerengenders inteiactivity. You know? Listen-ing, I mean really listening to another personspeak,' is about the most interactive thing wecan do. However, funding isn't directed thatway. It's directed towards tools to capture ourattention, ergonomics to keep us plugged in,and classrooms made for multitaskip.g ratherthan oratorical elaboration. Multimedia forme wouldn't be an iss~e if there weren't seri-ous problems with finding strong; lecturers atMIT and at the university level in this "Infor-mation Age." Right now I have a class withan amazing lecturer. I know he's amazingbecause as he speaks hands go up while peo-ple are writing. Sometimes he'll take ques-tions and sometimes he'll keep going. TheClass is three hours long, features a little mul-timedia, a lot of chalk, and students that areriveted.

It mystifies me that MIT has put millions ofdollars into improving learning with interactivecomputer systems and done so little to refineprofessors' lecturing skills. Instead of multime-dia tools, I'd like in-service funding for profes-sors to get more training in presentation skills.I'm not going to argue that multimedia, Inter-net, and shi-shi lecture halls have to go, but Ithink it would make a powerful statement tobalance such expenditures with investments inhuman skills. And if Frank Gehry is really try-ing to build a human village in the Stata Center,such training would be essential.

Michael EpsteinMIT Comparative Media Studies

To Reach Us

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An Issue of ToleranceTo the Editor:I agree with Dean Larry Benedict ["Blowin'

in the Wind," Oct. I0] and Professor KeithHampton ["Responding to Flag Flap," Oct. 17]that it is perfectly reasonable for MIT Housingto enforce a regulation forbidding unauthorizedexternal decorations, provided, of course, thatthe regulation exists on the books and isenforced universally and blindly to politics. rllleave others to argue about whether JonathanGoler's and others' flags were ordered inside asa result of such fair practice. (As an exercise forthe informed observer, though, I suggest a tallyof the non-flag devices outside dorm windows,such as air conditioners and flower pots, thatseem to have eluded the administration'snotice.)

However, as Professor Hampton also notedin his column, "there remains a much largerand more serious issue" - that of MIT's abil-ity to be a tolerant and welcoming communi-ty. Clearly some people on this campus have amistaken understanding of the meaning of tol-erance, but Professor Hampton's column doesnothing to help the situation. In a display ofpure Orwellian doublespeak, he asserts thatthose who cannot tolerate living in view of aparticular country's flag are "not motivated byintolerance." Somehow, demanding the flag'sremoval (which the original complainer did,even if the Housing Office didn't) lives up toProfessor Hampton's expressed ideal of"accommodat[ing] others, respect[ing] differ-ences, and go[ing] out of our way to makeeveryone feel welcome," and for some reason,it is the Housing Office's duty (besidesenforcing regulations) to communicate thatexpression of prejudice to the flag's owner.On the other hand, those who dare to stand upto such unwelcoming behavior and protestagainst the Housing Office acting as a conduit

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Why.the Cambridge HousingMarket Is Not Free

OPINION

Campus Planning and You

Current MIT students are seeing the com-pletion of one of the largest campus devel-opment programs in the history of the Insti-tute. Expectedly,' MIT' s newest buildingshave been the subject of much criticism bystudents, along with most others in the com-munity. But as students criticize what theysee, it is important for them to do so with aneye towards how MIT might develop itscampus in the future. While students are notlikely to see much more construction occurin the near future, MIT will be preparing theplanning and design work necessary for

. future building projects. I believe that stu-dents should be aware of this planning workas it occurs, and I feel that MIT as a wholemay benefit from their input into the campusplanning process.

. Students may not be particularly interestedin MIT's campus planning because of theirrelatively short tenure. Though there are manystudents who remain at MIT for a very long

-time, the typical student "generation" lasts forfour to five years. Many current students haveseen massive projects being built, includingthe Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center, Sim-mons Hall, and Sidney-Pacific, but might notrealize that the planning work for these pro-jects began as early as the 1970s. The plan-ning decisions MIT makes over the next fewyears will have major impacts that might notbe realized until long after the current genera-tion of students has left.

However, while individual students areonly at MIT for several years, the larger com-munity of students has enduring characteris-tics. One of the hallmarks of MIT is the con-tinual informal interaction that occurs amonggenerations of students, resulting in the trans-mission of ideas from one generation to thenext. Students of the past, present, and futurewill tend to share many similar values, partic-ularly with respect to the environment inwhich they study, live, eat, and socialize.Some values of the student body may changegradually over time, as the world around MITchanges, and as individuals thoughtfully chal-lenge long-held beliefs. If campus develop-ment intends to support a high quality of stu-

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October 31, 2003

Jeff Roberts

Aimee L. :Smith

As election day rapidly approaches, manypeople are talking about Question I on theballot in Cambridge and the effort to bringback rent control.

First, let me explain why the Cambridgehousing market is anything but "free."Because housing is a basic necessity, and Ibelieve a human right, and because housingand land are finite in a densely populated city, .zoning and development choices shape thehousing market - not idealized models ofsupply and demand. Further, because it is theresidents of a city that make up the communityfabric, idealizing tenants as interchangeablewallets of varying size fails to capture how acity sustains and protects itself - through net-works of people who participate in communityat the neighborhood and citywide level and/oras part of religious or ethnic or cultural orinterest community. Long-term residents havegenerally deeper roots, and are more central toenabling the functioning of various communitynetworks. If exorbitant rents drive out toomany of the long-term residents too quickly,the city is not able to function in basic wayssuch as keeping crime low and keeping themorale and effectiveness at the primary andsecondary schools high. Universities like MITunderstand this concept well. Whenever MITwants to change a policy or defeat the momen-tum of student demands, they simply have towait a few years. At my former university, afull contact self-defense class was funded foraround five years. Then, once those who initi-ated the project had graduated and moved on,it hit the fiscal chopping block. I hope this isnot going to be the fate of MIT's commitmentto include rape awareness education in newstudent orientation, but it is certainly a possi-bility.

The city is a little harder to push around.People who are lifelong residents have strongdesires to preserve their neighborhoods, tokeep their friends around, and to develop thecity in a way that serves the residents of thecity. Large universities like Harvard and MIThave other plans for the city. They want togenerat~. re~earch and development related

dent life, it is vital that students are engaged inthe planning process at all times, so that long-held planning goals can be continually testedagainst the changing desires of the communi-ty.

Students are also the segment of the MITcommunity that interacts with the campus vir-tually all day, every day. Most faculty andadministrators interact with the campus as aplace of business, while students experiencethe campus as a living environment as well asa working environment. Current students canadd value to the campus planning processbecause they can scrutinize it from a perspec-tive that administrators, professionals, andothers cannot. While professionals may beable to study and identify potential shortcom-

. ings of the campus, students live with thoseshortcomings every day. Thus, students devel-op an instinct for whether development choic-es might have a positive or negative impact ontheir quality of life.

Earlier this year, I undertook a study basedon conversations with resident students aboutthe quality of the MIT campus. The resultingthesis, entitled "Is MIT a Good Place to Live?The University Campus as a Residential Envi-ronment" (http://web. mit. edu/thejoker/thesis),provides some examples of where MIT'splanning ideals and student desires mightdiverge.

For instance, MIT's planning over the pastfifty years assumes that academic and researchactivities should be confined to the area eastof Massachusetts Avenue, and the west cam-pus should become a comfortable residentialenvironment. MIT accordingly planned for itswest campus residences to have river viewsand proximity to athletics and recreation facil-ities, and internal facilities for study, dining,and socializing. However, the research in mythesis indicates that students "living on westcampus feel isolated from the main campusand from students in other dormitories, andthat the athletics fields, which are difficult toaccess, are a hindrance rather than a conve-nience. Most students would prefer residencesthat formed smaller blocks with courtyardssituated closer to the main campus, whichwould sacrifice river views and the conve-nience of athletics fields but would result in agreater feeling of community within. -

industries that will synergize with their coremission: to carry out world class research. Thisdevelopment brings jobs to the area, but manyof these jobs will be filled by people whomove here from other cities. That puts pressureon an already tight housing market. The devel-oper seeking a variance to make R&D spaceinstead of the promised housing at 100 Lands-downe St. is a typical example. IfMIT were topromote different development on its vast landholdings, the market would be affected quitedifferently.

Imagine if MIT built enough housing tohouse its graduate students and staff. Less than40 percent of graduate students can be housedin Institute housing and many MIT staff andcontract staff do no~ make enough to live inthe area. That means they then need to com-mute from long distances, often in a car,increasing traffic, pollution, and parking pres-sure, and taking away precious time from theirlives. Instead, MIT land is used to make moreR&D space, the housing market becomestighter, and then MIT uses this manipulatedmarket to turn around and increase rents forstudents in Institute housing because that iswhat the "market" rate is. (In fact, MIT contin-ues to increase rents as the "market" is level-ing off due to the recession, but we will leavethat for another time.) Well, the housing mar-ket in Cambridge is a market, but what is notdiscussed is this large role that MIT plays inmanipulating that market.

If inflating the real estate and rental pricestoo quickly drives out long-term residents anddestroys a city, won't that cause the housing"market" to correct itself with a crash? Yes,that will happen. Meanwhile, neighborhoodsand communities have been lost and smallproperty owners whose homes were theirretirement nest eggs will be hit hard. Largelandowners like MIT and Harvard will be ableto weather the storm, of course. And then theywill be able to take over more land and furthershape the city in their interests with much lessinterference from those pesky residents whothink that everyone should be able to access the

. river, and that wetlands should be preserved.Rent control is a mechanism to mediate this

manipulation. It stabilizes the rental marketand. thereby the property market._ It sets fair

As another example, my research showedthat students are generally unhappy with theaesthetic "look and feel" of the campus, manyfeeling that it is cold and industrial, andresembles a workplace instead of a collegeenvironment. The MIT administration pro-motes its current campus building initiative asa means of improving the. aesthetic characterof the campus and creating a more iconic lookfor MIT. However, in the course of myresearch, students criticized these new aesthet-ic features, ranging from large projects likeSimmons Hall to small ones like the newLobby 7 information kiosks, as reinforcing thecold aesthetic character of the campus, andmaking the campus feel more like a work-place than a living and learning environment.

I don't mean to imply that students shouldmake campus planning decisions themselves.Some people may reasonably argue that stu-dents, because of their immersive campusexperience, might lack the perspective tothink of creative new ideas. My intent is onlyto suggest that students can use their experi-ence to complement the expertise of profes-sional planners, designers, administrators, andothers involved in the campus planningprocess. Specifically, I think students can helpin defining problems and criticizing recom-mended solutions. If they are integrated intothe process thoughtfully, students can helpguide professionals towards excellent plan-ning solutions.

I hope this will serve as a call to studentsto take an interest in future campus develop-ment, as well as to administrators to think ofways by which students can aid their decision-making. Planning decisions are being made atMIT all the time - in the Department ofFacilities, in the Building Committee, in theoffices of the vice president, chancellor,provost, and deans. From the next new studentdormitory to future changes in MIT's build-ings, pathways, and landscapes, the decisionsMIT makes will impact students far into thefuture. Students, individually or in groups,within or outside of student government orga-nizations, should think about how they canhelp guide this planning process towards afavorable outcome.

Jeff Roberts is a graduate student in theDepartment of Urban Studies and Planning.

prices for rents so that renters can stay andlandowners can recoup costs. "Affordablehousing" subsidies in an unregulated marketform a bottomless pit because the "affordable"rate is pegged to 80 percent of the median ofthe market - that same manipulated market Ihave been describing. A few years ago an MITpostdoc wanted to move into an affordablehousing unit, but found that her salary was toolow to get in the door, the minimum at thattime was $45,000 per year. The well-keptsecret about "affordable housing" is that itisn't affordable. Estimates are that one-third ofthe jobs in Cambridge do not pay enough toenable living in Cambridge. The fraction ofhousing slated as "affordable" is a tiny drop inthis bucket.

People talk about democracy and how thewill of the masses promotes selfish behavior.There is some truth to that, but what is moreinteresting is how masses of people can betricked into going against their own interests.Rent control would benefit most students andemployees at MIT, yet many students cling toabstractions over "free markets" and inapplic-able models from Economics 101 rather thanthinking about why their housing costs are sojacked up and about who is laughing all theway to the bank. Perhaps someone else is pay-ing your housing bill? Or maybe you figure itis noise on your tremendous tuition debt. Orperhaps you figure you won't be living herefor too long, so it isn't worth getting acquaint-ed with the policies of the city. Whatever thereason, the whole point of democracy is todistribute the self-interest as broadly as possi-ble so that the interests of a few are notattended to at the expense of the many; thatmeans we all need to be paying attention andparticipating.

I hope you will vote Yes on Question I onNov. 4. I also hope you will consider me foryour vote for Cambridge City Council. And ifyou can't vote or didn't register, I hope youwill consider getting involved in city politicsone way or another. There is a lot to belearned from long-time residents of Cam-bridge about the city, struggle, and communi-ty.

Aimee Smith PhD '02 is a candidate forCambridge City Council.

THE TECH Page 5

Limits ofSpeech

Thouis Jones

Recent events have led me to wonder exactlywhere the boundaries of safe discourse lie in theMIT community regarding racism. The Insti-tute's willingness to bring a formal complaintagainst the authors of the "ghetto party" e-mailobviously indicates the e-mail was close enoughto the line to warrant close scrutiny, at leastaccording to the administration.

I'll be conservative and cross "making fim ofnegative racist stereotypes" off the list of accept-able behaviors. Did Margaret Cho break thisrule? Does that mean I can't show an episode of"The Simpsons" to some friends? Can I tack acopy of Boondocks to my door? Is a more seri-ous discussion of racist stereotyping off-limits, aswell? Do we accord more or less weight to levityin discussions of race?

What about political discussions? Am Iallowed to stump for Buchanan? What aboutputting up a David Duke poster? Is a black stu-dent allowed to wear a "Farrakhan for President"shirt? Are we allowed to argue about reparationsfor slavery, for or against? What about the costsand benefits of affirmative action in collegeadmissions?

How about academic discussion? Can we talkabout racism and its social perception in classes?Are students allowed to analyze the data given inThe Bell Curve? Will they be docked points ifthey fail to show its statistical invalidity, or willthey be sent before the Committee on Discipline?

Can we form student groups others mightfind offensive? There's a Black Students' Union.Would forming a White Students' Union beallowed? If black students protested outside theWSU's offices, could a complaint be filedagainst them? What if white students were toprotest in front of the BSU's offices?

Is it really the case that there exists a doublestandard with regards to racism and who can saywhat at MIT? I could easily believe it. Of course,it would be nice if someone in the administrationwould let us know. We could all get a list duringOrientation of "Things you can't say if you'rewhite! black! asian! Jewish! mald female/etc." Itwould clear things up quite a bit. Surely the"ghetto party" e-mail wouldn't have been sent ifsuch a list existed

Of course, no administrator is willing to goout on that very shaky limb. Drawing a "brightline" wouldn't cover all the cases they would liketo, and would allow loopholes they'd ratherclose. Regardless of the inability to delineateevery case, it's an inherently untenable positionto draw the line at all, particularly at a placewhere academic freedom is supposed to be fim-damental. Yet, the administration's actions cer-tain~y seem to indicate that there are unwrittenrules, and that they include a double standard.

Lest I be misunderstood, I'm not arguing thatanyone should do the more offensive thingsabove, or that if someone did, that they shouldn'texperience the social disgrace that would result.But I do believe that the administration's willing-ness to intervene in situations like this is wrong-headed. The result will be for those formerlywilling to think about and discuss racism openlyto become less willing to do so. People will bemore careful in what they say, but out of fear ofsaying something that will get them in trouble,rather than of an understanding of why somethings are hurtful to others. This will lead tofewer opportunities to convince people that racialstereotypes are wrong, rather than just unaccept-able to express.

There is sometimes a need for the adnlinistra-tion to step in and limit speech; for example,instances of harassment and discrimination inhiring need to be dealt with, both from a moraland legal standpoint. But the e-mail that led tothe questions above was not harassment, exceptwlder MIT's extremely vague and overly broaddefinition, which could include even the mostinnocuous items above. The e-mail that startedall this wasn't even particularly offensive in con-text, given the level of discourse usually seen onthe lists to which it was sent. It neither warrantsnor needs an official response from a disciplinarycommittee. The student response was moreeffective at convincing the senders of the e-mailthat they erred than any official response couldever be.

Either our community is strong enough topolice itself against transgressions of this sort, orit is no community at all. If the only way we candeal with those that express ideas offensive to usis to cry "harassment!," we've failed as an educa-tional community. Open discussion of dangerousideas implies a certain level of risk of receivingoffense. We should be willing to take that risk,and when we are offended, respond in a way thatstrengthens the community, rather than divides itfurther ..

Thouis Jones is a graduate student in Elec-trical Engineering and Computer Science.

Page 6 THE TECH

FEATURESOctober 31, 2003 •

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And that was that. The date was over, themovie was about to begin, and to top it all off,they. invited one of Kristin's neighbors towatch the movie with them. <,.; I if' e>! " "/~

So precisely where and why did this cIatego wrong? Unfortunately, folks, this date wasdead on arrival. .'," ....

Andrew had e-mailed me before t~e date togive me an idea of his type of woman: "Sheshould be smart, in good physical condition(not necessarily an olympic athlete, but I likesomeone who can keep up with me), goodhygiene, receive humor well and be able tojoke herself (for ex[ample]: sh~ would think

my parrot is funny,not stupid)." I'm fair-ly confident thatKristin fulfills thisdescription - she isthe type of girl who'dbe forgiving of badjokes and the like.

"I didn't reallyhave that much inter-est in her," Andrewsaid. "It was at thebeginning," whenAndrew decided this,he said, based pri-marily on her looksand the fact that theirpersonalities "didn'tclick."

Now, I'm a believer in catch theory. Inalmost every relationship, there is a "catch."By standards of looks and personality, oneperson is always "the catch" and the otherperson is simply lucky to be in a relationshipwith "the catch." As far as I'm concerned,Kristin was the catch here. Though a tadsullen, the girl has an animated sense ofhumor, is tolerant of a boy who's in love witha speech-deficient online cartoon, and is quiteendearing both in the character and looksdepartments.

So, another blind date runs afoul becauseanother guy has overestimated his self-worth.I suppose MIT might be predisposed to inse-cure girls and overconfident guys. Regardless,there is hop~. This weekend, two couples willbe going on dates sponsored by The Tech, andwe're hoping to get a dart back on the dart-board this time. If you're interested in findingyourself or your friend a Tech date, let meknow by e-maiJing me at devdoot@mit.edu.

Name: Andrew GreenhutClass of 2006; Course 2

Dear Nuttv B.I am in a ~risis. I just looked myself in the mirror and I just real-

ized I look like crap. When [look into my wardrobe, the on~ thing [see is jeans and t-shirrs ..

I am going out on a date this weekend. [ am sure wearing what [have definitely won ~get me a secoTU)date. Help!

- Fashion CluelessDear Fashion Clueless,Well, I am not exactly one would call a fashion CQosultant. I, too,

simply wear clothes that the majority of the MIT population choose.However, I will see what I can do for you.

What makes one looks good, I find, is usually of self-confidence(but not arrogance). The aura around a person who believes in him-self or herself is significantly different than that around a personwho is never sure of what he wants.

However, if you plan to go to this date dressing semiformally, apair of white pants with perhaps a white jacket like the one worn byEthan Hawke in the movie Great Expectations may look good onyou. A fit turtleneck sweater with khaki pants may also be suitable ifyou are into a more casual look.

If this lady friend is the biker-chick type, then perhaps wearing aleather jacket will help. If all else fails, then perhaps call The Learn-ing Channel and sign up for "A Makeover Story" and see what theycan do for you.

Don't worry too much. If she is already agreeing to go on a datewith you, it means she is already attracted to your personality ratherthan the way you dress. Good luck!

The point is, there is nothing wrong with speaking with anaccent. As long as people understand you (and you understand your-self), the purpose of communication is fulfilled. Try to relax andjust speak like how you would normally speak and you will be fine.Tata.

Loveboard Moral:Never date a Homestar

Runner fan.

Blind Date Recap

pIe - dinner and a comedy club. And unfor-tunately, the evening's conversation attainedthe standard depth of, at best, a UPN sitcom.

From the post-date reconstruction, it seemsthat they discussed common hobbies (shelikes hockey, he plays soccer), academics (shestudies hard, he's learned how not to), andHomestar Runner. Andrew commented, "Itseemed like she wasn't too happy workinghard. I tried to give her some advice aboutgetting out."

Homestar Runner - unknown to me, butapparently a cult favorite (http://www.homes-tarrunner.com) - serves as Andrew's nick-

name at his house, primarily because of hismanner of speaking and its likeness to the car-toon character. Hrabak did consider the con-versation as "not really deep," but didn't takeissue with it. "When there were awkwardsilences, they were short," she said. Luckilyfor the two of them, they didn't have to talk toone another during their stay at the comedyclub, though both enjoyed the Improv Asylumthoroughly.

And, after four hours of idle chatter, thecouple came back to Kristin's room in BakerHouse to watch a movie, "Harry Potter andthe Sorcerer's Stone." Here's where it was sup-posed to get juicy. But of course, this was abad date, so none of that happened.

However, Kristin epitomized true feminism(and should be applauded) for asking Andrewpoint blank if he had a good time. "Yes," hesaid. "Yes, as in we're going to do this againor yes as in just friends?" she asked."Friends," he said .

Ask Nutty B

Death by ZeitgeistBlind Date: Dead On Arrival

Name: Kristin HrabakClass of 2005; Course 10

-HarryDear Harry,You are worried about your accent, eh?I have to agree with your friends in this case. There is nothing

wrong with having a distinct way of speaking. Even in the U.S. peo-ple speak differently in different regions. A cowboy from Texas isvery likely to be surprised by the way a Bostonian say the wordpAAAk when he really just means park.

In fact, I find speaking with a little accent often adds a flavorinto the language and makes the whole speaking experience inter-esting.

As a matter of fact, I have been trying to emulate the Britishaccent with much effort. Whenever I see a foxy lady, I find adding afew British lingoes into sentences help me catch her attention.Indeed, even when I just excuse myself to go to the 100, my compa-ny always seems to be excited by the word. This trick is truly bril-liant and it works all the time.

However, because of the lack of practice, my faking effort some-times backfires and makes me sound like one from the ghetto sideof London. Bugger!

By Nutty BCOLUMNIST

Nutty B is currently a graduate student at MIT. Please e-mailhim with whatever question you would like someone to listen to. andhelp him have an excuse to procrastinate at 3 a.m. Please send all

questions to askNuttyB@yahoo.comColumn Dear Nutty B,_________ I am an international studellt. I think Ican command the English language with ease. but I have this dis-tinct accent that no matter what I do people always notice. MyJriends always tell me it s no big deal, but I have become self-con-scious whenever I speak anything to anyone. This is driving mecrazy. What should I do?

By Devdoot MajumdarSTAFF WRITER

Have an idea for a feature? Comments about the section? Want to write for The Tech?

After my first try at matchmaking for TheTech, I received a steady trickle of e-mailsfrom many types of people - the brooding,the sketchy, and the flat-out undate-able.

Ten short e-mails came my way frommembers of Zeta Psi reading, "I know this guyAndrew Greenhut. He'd be a real good blinddate candidate."

Every year, fraternities mess up and let themost irritating of freshmen join by mistake;these people eventually become the butt ofthat frat's jokes for the next four years. Withthe Zeta Psi outpour-ing on Andrew D.Greenhut '06, I hadthe kid sized up asprecisely that walk-ing joke. And sinceI'm occasionally inthe business of pub-lic mockery, Ithought I had foundmyself a walking tar-get.

However, as itturned out, Andrewwas just a normalZete. Though noFriendster informa-tion was available, areliable source on thesoccer team (on which Andrew plays) men-tioned that Andrew's a wily fellow and a goodsport, even though he doesn't get to play allthat much. That was endorsement enough.

Kristin D. Hrabak '05, a very sweet, some-what shy, and fun-loving junior from BakerHouse was the girl I found most suitable forAndrew. Her optimism would rescue even theworst of scenarios, I figured. Though she wasa tad taller than him, Nicole had four incheson Tom.

To his credit, Andrew showed up on time,dressed nicely, and with a flower, even. Hishousemates had warned him about the awk-ward silence phenomenon, and to avoid exces-sive talk of academics. "I've seen the BlindDate show many times, and I know all aboutawkward silences," Andrew said.

Their date consisted of Mexican food atFajitas and Ritas in Boston followed by a bitof comedy at the ImprovAsylum. It's all stan-dard date stuff for standard west campus peo-

Dear VA,I saw that the Graduate Student Council

had a whole bunch oj events last weekend tocelebrate their 50th anniversary - how old isthe VA? Why don't we get any cool events onour anniversaries? No way we're gonna letthe GSC out-party us!

- Overgrad, not VndergradAfter a little research, we discovered that

there isn't a simple answer to that. It turns outthat the origins of our current undergraduatestudent government are based on somethingcalled the Institute Committee, InsComm forshort, which began in 1893. So in certain waysyou could say we're 110 years old (take that,grad students!). This committee started off asa group of ten people with two to three mem-bers from each class, but grew and evolvedthroughout the early 20th century to includemore members and many subcommittees. In1913, the Undergraduate Association wasformed to supplement InsComm and provide alarger forum for undergraduates. So, if youconsider that, then this is in fact our 90thanniversary. However, the UA continued tochange and a new constitution was drafted andapproved in 1969 to better organize the stu-dents and more effectively represent studentopinion. That makes us 34. But, any way youlook at it, the UA is damn old. Time to partylike it's 1969! Or 1913. Or whatever.

Dear VA,I've been seeing posters around campus

asking for input on where to put bike racks -what is this for? Are the bike-riders unionizingand forming a coalition Jor equal rights atMIT?

- SpeedracerThe bikers are not unionizing that we know

of - however, one of the VA Senators fromBaker, Jennifer Peng, has made it her projectto get more bike racks around campus. Itseems that the ones that exist at the momentare always full and a lot of the time it's hard tofind a place to secure your bipedal vehicle.

So she is going around taking pictures ofthe current state of things as evidence of theneed for more racks, and then will look intofacilitating the regular replenishment of racksby the school as well as getting additionalfunds from M IT to buy more racks to bestrategically placed.

So if you have an idea of where more bikeracks are needed, let Jen know atjpeng@mit.edu so she can better help her fel-low bike-lovers.

Got more questions? E-mail uaqa@mit.eduwith your quizzicality. Want more inJonnationon any oj the issues raised this week? Visithttp://web.mit.edu/ualwww/uaqa.

UAQ&A

Tax questions? Call TeleTax for recorded informationon about 150 tax topics, 24 hours a day.

By Harel Williams and Rose GrabowskiUA COORDINATING COMMITTEE MEMBERS .

Dear U4.What do the Class Councils do? I know we

elected some last spring and some this Jall.and I've been seeing tons oj posters lately forclass events like The Matrix pre-screening andHalloween at Salem - so does Class Counciljust try to do entertainment/social sort ojstuff?

-Neo-phyteClass Councils are more than just a social

group - their goals are to promote classunity, which includes a lot of social events likea formal and class trips, and to be advocatesfor the issues and concerns of their class. Theyrepresent their fellow students when talkingwith administrators and faculty and are able topress topics that could potentially influencethe lives of their constituents.

In addition, they assist students with careerplanning, including the Career Fair and otherjob search activities, plan community serviceevents and opportunities, and select the RingCommittee which designs and displays eachclass' Brass Rat.

So your Class Council really serves tounify the class and bring forth their concernsto the larger community. If you want to getinvolved with your Class Council, e-mail themat 200xCOUNCIL@mit.edu.

Tax info, toll-free.

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October 31, 2003

Sex and the SafeRideSingle and Looking

FEATURES THE TECH Page 7

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sounds interesting to you.maybe you're the person we'relooking for. A Peace Corpsvolunteer. Find out. Call us at

Peace Corps.The toughest job you'D cvu love.

ochica32, hottie23Items bequeathed: 2 half-empty cans of

Starbucks Doubleshot Shaken Espresso, twotokens on the T, and dirty laundry.

If we knew the dates of our deaths, everyday would be more important. Although itwouldn't be practical for one to know his dateto R.I.P. because life would be experienced asa ticking time bomb. Life in the grand schemeflips our daily priorities upside down.

Will our lives even be memorable enoughfor an obituary to be written? What will peo-ple say about you? Who will be your undyingfriends?

Obituaries are subjective truths. Your lifeis written by those you hold dearest, and theonly elixir to life is to live through the eyes ofothers.

At the end of the day, it is your memories,your time, and your impact on others that willmake your life successful.

The time you surprised your best friend forher half-birthday or made your best buddy ahome-cooked meal will be remembered forev-er. It puts the personal goal of getting a 5.0GPA all in perspective. Who gives?

As we dress up as skeletons and ghosts (or,for the seniors, feel the spirits on your boozecruise), visit graveyards, and conceal our-selves in black, think before you mock deathon this night of All Hallows Eve.

On this Halloween, the trivial Salem tomb-stones that costumed trick-o-treaters walk onwith total apathy could be ours - unless wemake our lives worthy of something more.

Instead of acting just plain wicked, pleasedo something kind unto others. Have a memo-rable Halloween, MIT.

maybe a teacher, a mechanic,or a recent college graduate.

We need someone tojoinover 5,000 people alreadyworking in 60 developing coun-tries around the world. To helppeople live better lives .

We need someone special.And we ask a lot. But only be-cause so much is needed. If this

We have a unique opportu-nity for someone very special.

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By Tiffany Kosolcharoen. STAFF REPORTER

You and I are equal for approximately sixhours a day. You are also on par with BritneySpears, the Queen of England, and the drunk-en dude on Massachusetts Avenue at 3 a.m. inthe morning. Yes, 100% equal.

Whether the thread count of your sheets isten or 200, or your bed is a cold pavementrather than a cozy mattress, the realm of sleepmakes us all the same. Is this what the realmof death feels like, too?

This Halloween day is the most appropriateday of the year to examine death. After all, "Idied on this test" is said all year round, andSalem, the town of witchcraft, is just a puffaway.

Amid the graveyards of Boston, it is oddthat humans are so fascinated with death -its numb, cold nothingness - rather thanways to defy it.

You can never truly "die" if you play thegame of life well. Your life's ultimate reportcard will be written after you die by someoneyou cannot control. The obituary.

Sadly, the hours spent cramming formidterms in Hayden will not end up there.What will we all be known for if today, tomor-row, or the day after were your last day tolive?

Name: MasochistCause of Death: Nervous breakdown from

6.111, commonly called "digital death lab."Aspirations: 5.0 GPA, triple-major.Remembered for: playing loud music,

showering freshmen, and pulling all-nighters.Survived by: One goldfish, unnamed.Virtual Friends: 1M list of gqboi232, xox-

ph - 617-625-3335fx - 617-625-0404

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serving the M.I.T. Community since 1989

Alright, you can SlOp laughing at me now.Actually, I've gotten a little addicted to it. Icreated a profile, put up my picture, andnow I check everyday to see if I've gottenany messages from anyone.

You're wondering what dating service Iuse? No way in hell I'm going to let thatinformation out. I'm still a little embar-rassed that I couldn't find a date in person.

Aside from all of that, it is a pretty legitway of meeting people. It could neverreplace actual human contact, but hey, I'mat MIT. Actual human contact is in shortsupply. What do you do when someoneactually contacts you, though? Is there somesort of etiquette to this? I've always hatedthe idea of asking someone out over e-mail,but I suppose there's no way around it here.I haven't talked to anyone yet, but I can'timagine how I'd respond to someone's mes-sage of "I'm interested in you." What if I'mnot attracted to this person? I guess it's rudeto ignore them, but that's the route I'mgoing to take. Hey, I'll deal with it if it hap-pens to me.

Online dating not for you? Well, here aresome old-fashioned alternatives: arrangedmarriages, amass a huge fortune, beatingyour love interest over the head with a club,or challenging the alpha male for domi-nance. I'm pretty sure women go wild overthe last one.

All kidding aside, you could always getset up through friends, meet people throughclasses, take a PE, or join a new club/orga-nization. I personally enjoy letting otherpeople do the work for me, so lately I'vebeen relying on my friends to set me up.We'll see what they come up with, andhopefully they'll at least find me someoneinteresting enough to write about.

I guess you can see by now that dating isa big pain in the ass. But frankly, anythingworth doing is going to be a pain in the ass.I'll keep you posted on any developments inmy love life, although I won't go into graph-ic detail. Hope this gives you some ideas,and as always, good luck with your romantic'endeavors .......

Daniel Chai is a pseudonymous maleundergraduate who writes a weekly columnabout sex and relationships in college froma male s perspective.

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By Daniel ChalCOLUMNISf

There are some people who really enjoybeing single. I am not one of them.

I'm not sure why I dislike being singleso much. I think it lies in the security ofknowing you always have someone to counton in a relationship; that you'll always havesomeone to hang out with you on Fridaynight ..

However, many college students believethat you shouldn't tie yourself down likethat. People tell me that college is the timeto explore, to leave your options open, .andto broaden your horizons. As such, they sayI should try to date around, figure out whatI want in a woman, and have fun. These areall great suggestions, but I don't think peo-ple have taken into account my situation: Ijust got out of a five year relationship a cou-ple of months ago.

I've never really learned to date casually;I've always been the serious type. Come tothink of it, I never really learned how todate. It's a little ironic considering I writethis column ..

If you're like me, you've gotten tired ofgoing to clubs and parties to try to findsomeone.

The type of woman I'd be interested inprobably wouldn't be partying hard anyway.I'm very much a homebody that likes towatch movies and play board games. Sohow do you go about finding a girl tnatlikes to stay at home? Do you just go knock-ing on doors in the dorms to see who's stay-ing in on a Friday night? I could see howbad that would turn out:

(knocking on door)Girl: Who the hell are you?Me: The man of your dreams ... wanna

play. Monopoly?Girl: What?Me: Monopoly! Do you play with money

on free parking? -Girl: Get away from me before I call the

CP's on your ass, you freak!Scratch that idea. So how do you meet

people outside of the patty scene, then? I'veturned to something that I never thought Iwould: online dating services!

Some might call it desperate; I'm justgoing to say that the ends justify the means.

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UMOC Final Results

Lobby 7Kiosks, MITLogo Win Pity Prizes

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given pity prizes, which consisted ofplastic spoons with vibrant greenfeathers attached with duct tape.Only the Lobby 7 kiosks were pre-sent to accept their pity prize.

Of Random Hall milk's victory,Michael J. Salib '04 said, "I thinkthe milk's ugliness is well-deserved. "

The Random Hall milk begancompeting in the contest eight yearsago. Its expiration date is October20, 1994. This year's win is abounce back from its fourth placefinish in last year's UMOC.

The MIT logo, a new contestant,took second place, while the Lobby7 kiosks took last place with $18.93 .

UMOC promotes charityVoters donated money for the

ugliest manifestation last week at abooth in Lobby 10.

Kosut said that the purpose ofUMOC is "to raise money for chari-ty and to promote ugliness' in theworld."

The UMOC charity fundraiser isa tradition of the national APO ser-vice fraternity.

CharityGreater Boston Food BankBoston Harbor IslandUnknownUnited WayRosie's PlaceAmerican Red CrossLiteracy VolunteersWinning charity

ContestantRandom Hall MilkMITLogoSimmons HallFreshmen Housing PolicyMIT Web siteStata CenterLobby 7 KiosksWrite-ins

AnonymousHack nomination (New $20 Bill)

Week Total

Ugly prizes presented to winnersA representative of the Random

Hall milk was not present, but Zhoushowcased the first place prize, theUgly Hat, which he said would"keep [Random Hall milk] warm onthe long, cold, bitter nights in therefrigerator." The hat is made ofneon colored feathers and shinygold cloth. Zhou wore it briefly foronlookers to marvel at.

The other six .contestants were

UMOC, from Page I

participation had been "going downbecause people don't run anymore."The last time a person ran was fouryears ago. Instead, objects or con-cepts were the choices this year.

You Zhou '07, UMOC awardschair, offered another explanationfor the lower contest total: "The can-didates were all rather ugly so votersprobably had a hard time choosing."

The Random Hall milk earnedover $50 more than its competitors.Zhou announced the results at theawards ceremony Wednesday nightin Lobby 7.

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impact of the unexpectedly highpremium increases."

However, less than half the grad-uate students are supported asresearch assistants, about 850 asteaching assistants, and the rest areeither supported by fellowships orpay their own way, Colbert said.The stipend increase would onlyaffect RAs and TAs and thus notaffect the overwhelming majority ofstudents, he added.

Stipend levels are recommendedto the Academic Council by a com-mittee composed of the dean forgraduate students, faculty from dif-ferent schools, directors of majorresearch laboratories on campus,graduate student representatives,and Associate Provost Alice P.Gast.

According to a June memo sentout by Colbert and Gast, theresearch assistant and teachingassistant stipend levels wereincreased by an additional $30 permonth as a result of the health pre-mium rise. The cost for ExtendedHealth Insurance at MIT, however,is $45 a month, leaving a $15 gapeach month.

Cost of living is only one part ofthe consideration in setting stipendlevels. Another consideration is"what faculty believe the researchaccounts are able to bear," Colbertsaid.

Currently, MIT graduate stu-dents are among the most expensiveto maintain in the nation in terms oftuition and fixed costs.

join@tt.mit.eduW20-483, 617-253-1541

than undergraduates.Rajagopal said that despite the

increased costs, "the Z-Center hasbeen great."

Int'l students particularly hit"Domestic students probably

have a lot more options to pay.Rules are stricter for internationalstudents," said Danielle Guichard-Ashbrook, director of the Interna-tional Students Office. For instance,international students cannotincrease their workload beyond 20hours per week, and spouses ofinternational students are notallowed to work.

"Immigration is not particularlysympathetic about health insur-ance," Guichard-Ashbrook said, andwork hour regulations would notchange as a result of increases inhealth premiums.

She said that both domestic andinternational students are facing theconsequences of the insurance hike,and although none of the studentshad complained to her particularly,she said she knew it was on theirminds.

In addition, a new $ I00 fee maybe levied on future incoming inter-national students for the mainte-nance of the Student Exchange andVisitor Information System.

Stipend levels increase slightly"Many departments increased

stipend levels in response" to theincrease in health insurance, Colbertsaid, in order Uto help reduce the

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surplus ran out last year during anunexpected increase in the usage ofmental health services.

The actual increase in thehealth insurance premium was 70percent, but the Institute hasabsorbed 10 percent of it, Colbertsaid.

The Medical Department is nowinvolved in the process for settingstipend levels, and health insuranceinformation will be taken intoaccount, he said.

Students face several greater costsBoth graduate and undergraduate

students have faced increasing costsrecently with the imposition of anew student life fee on top of healthinsurance and rent costs.

D'Heedene said that the new$200 student life fee led to an addi-tional burden on the students. Somegraduate students feel that they arebeing made to pay for facilities thatthey do not use as much as under-graduates.

The fee was instituted last yearin part to provide funding for thenew Zesiger Center and in part asextra funding for the Student LifeOffice.

Colbert said that "it's a questionof who has access to [student lifefacilities]. Nothing stops a studentfrom going over." He said that sta-tistics do not show that graduate stu-dents use the facilities and partici-pate in student life programs less

October 31, 2003

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October 31,2003

TheTech

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Positive SinkingOstentatious and Delicious

tonight as, you party away All Hallow'sEve - ditch the costume and rub yourselfwith pumpkin pie. Guys dig it.. Now I know many of you are asking,"What exactly do you'mean by 'ditch the cos-tume?'" And to you I say, "You heard me."And then you ask, "So what are you, Mr. NotSin King, doing for Halloween?" And to you,I say, "Driving out of state in a van full ofgirls." And then you raise your eyebrows and'ask, "Uhm, isn't that a bit kinky?" And toyou, I say, "Not really, it's part of a carpoolheaded to Talbot House." And you say, "Oh,"in a disappointed voice. And to you I say,"But maple syrup will be involved."

Of course, you ladies may not be able toget your hands on pumpkin pie before thebewitching ,hour, so I encourage you toexperiment with other types of pie such aspecan pie, apple pie, or rhubarb pie (Whatexactly is a rhubarb again? Does it make yourandy, baby?).

But the major point here, men, is thatcologne doesn't make us look skinnier. NowI know it's been a big craze recently for guys

go to on the "cologne diet" despite FDAstudies showing the negative effects of suchbehavior, but here is concrete proof that itjust doesn't work if you're keen on impress-ing members of the opposite sex... or tailors.Them tailors are wily folk.

lfyou're really keen on hitting on a tailor,you're probably better off not ditching yourcostume, assuming it's a well stitched pieceof handiwork. But I digress.

The real issue at the heart of this study isa startling one indeed. One that shakes me tothe very core of my very bones and then doesa tango with my conscience while gettin'down and dirty with my bad self and does itsbest to make my jaw drop. It's the kind ofissue that finds you awake late at night star-ing at the ceiling trying to reconcile ideas asdifferent as elephants and mountain climbers:What kind of fruit is Squeeze talking aboutwhen they sing "Tempted?"

You know, "Tempted by the fruit ofanotherffempted but the truth is discovered."Squeeze (being the avid horticulturists thatthey are) is obviously not referring to pump-

kins since they are in fact vegetables (pump-kins, not Squeeze - though this is a disputedfact). Are they then referring to apples?Maybe they're talking about oranges... I'vealways been partial to oranges. Or perhapsit's actually mangos... Yeah, I think I couldbe tempted by another's mangos. Or avoca-dos, but then again the song would probablygo "tempted by the guacamole of another" ifit were avocados. Oh, if only we knew.

What's your opinion 011 "The NovemberRule" for upperclassmen (and. theoretically,grad students) datingfreshmenz?

-bootyScrew the rule - you've got 24 hours, so

go crazy. Remember to use pumpkin.Are )'ou a lonely female seeking a pump-

kin companion? Would you like to hear thepatter of little Positive Sinking's in futureissues of The Tech? Well then send e-mail tosinking@mit.edu and we'll promise to chuga bottle of old spicefor every e-mail received(offer subject to change, see Web site fordetails).

ACROSS1 Fictional whaler5 Semis9 State14 Gulf of the Celebes Sea15 Churchill's successor

. 16 Model Campbell17 Prep, for an angler?20 Get back to21 Type of rug22 Menlo Park initials23 Lateral part25 Camper's quarters27 Varnish ingredient30 Actress Merrill32 Geological layers36 Singer Tori38 Foster title role40 Chair designer41 Prep, for a farmer?44 Rocker John45 Formerly46 "Clair de _47 Scorched49 Bleak51 Free (of)52 Waste allowance54 Vanities56 O.J.'s judge59 Bridal wear61 Like some Easter bunnies

65 Prep, for a pearl diver?68 "Middlemarch" author69 Biblical preposition70 New York canal71 Attorney general Edwin72 Host before Carson73 Diplomat's forte

DOWN1 _ patriae2 Partner of faith and

charity3 Bellicose god4 Unexpected sum5 Like the outgoing tide6 Wash. neighbor7 Actress Rowlands8 Derisive noise9 In the way10 The way to Lao-tzu11 Wrongful act12 Poet Lazarus13 Get up18 Surrounded by19 Professional charges24 Juan's winter month26 Use a trotline27 Fills the hold28 Soap plant29 Terra_31 for the ride

33 Love affair34 City near Roma35 Invited37 Brief39 Filthy money?42 Sap of energy43 Reside beside48 Act50 Othello, e.g.53 Bind55 Wintry forecast56 Thing57 Fable58 Dust Bowl migrant60 Chanteuse Horne62 Doctor Zhivago's love63 Of the ear64 Hone66 Greek Aurora67 Mom-and-pop grp.

Page 14 The Tech lC (8][fIJ(lJ~}(5) * (fHIIHfIJ [fJ~ IiEHSl October 31, 2003 •Events Calendar

EventsCalendarappears in each issue of The Tech and features events for members of the MITcommunity. TheTech makes no guarantees as to the accuracyof this information, and The Tech shall not be held liable for any loss-es, including, but not limited to, damages resulting from attendance of an event..Contact information for all events is available from the EventsCalendarweb page.

Visit and add events to Events Calendar online at http://events.mlt.edu

Friday, October 31

9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. - M.I.T. Ubrarles' Booksale. Selection of mate-rial from diverse areas including Engineering, Sciences, Computer Sci-ence, Math, Histocy, Architecture, Urban Studies, and MiscellaneousGeneral Interest. Proceeds benefit the Libraries' Preservation Fund.Open to the M.I.T. community only. Free. Room: Bush Room, 10-105.Sponsor: MIT libraries Gifts Office.10:00 a.m. - Admissions Information Session. Admissions OfficeInformation Session gathers at the Admissions Reception Center.Groups over 15 people need to make special reservations. Free.Room: Admissions Reception Center. Sponsor: Information Center.10:45 a.m. - Campus Tour. Student-led campus tours are approxi-mately 90 minutes long and provide a general overview of the maincampus. Please note that campus tours do not visit laboratories, liv-ing groups or buildings under construction. Groups over 15 peopleneed to make special reservations. Free. Room: Lobby 7. Sponsor:Information Center ..12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Writers Group. New writers are invited tojoin our weekly Writers Group (sponsored by the Writing and Communi-cation Center). Share a piece of your writing with other interested andsupportive writers. Open to all MIT students, staff, faculty, and spous-es. Free. Room: 14N-417. Sponsor: Writing and Communication Cen-ter.12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Rainbow Lounge Open. MIl's resourcelounge for lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgendered, and questioningmembers of the community offers a place to hang out, various activi-ties, and a lending library during its open hours. Free. Room: 50-306.Sponsor: Ibgt@mit.12:00 p.m. - Vision Seminar. A new view of the function of the prima-ry visual cortex. Room: E25-401. Sponsor: Brain and Cognitive Sci-ences.12:10 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. - GABLES Lunch. GABLES is the MIT Ibgt staff& faculty group. The lunch is an opportunity for us to gather in a socialenvironment to meet and greet one another. It is also a venue for usto talk about issues of interest to the MIT and larger communities.Our colleagues from the wider community are invited to join us. Free.Sponsor: GABLES.1:10 p.m. -1:50 p.m. - Muslim Friday Prayer. Weekly congregationalprayer for Muslims. People of other faiths welcome to attend. E-mailmsa-ec@mit.edu for more information. Free. Room: Wll-ll0. Spon-sor: Muslim students' Association.2:00 p.m. - Admissions Information Session. Free. Room: Admis-sions Reception Center. Sponsor: Information Center.2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. - George Hart: Sculpture from SymmetricallyArranged Planar Components. George Hart PhD '87, sculptor, mathe-matician, engineer, researcher, writer, computer scientist and educa-tor, is artist-in-residence through Nov. 4. Free. Room: NE43-510.Sponsor: EECS.Office of the Arts, Special Programs.2:45 p.m. - Campus Tour. Free. Room: Lobby 7. Sponsor: InformationCenter.3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Chemical Engineering Department Fall SemI-nar Series. Water-Mediated Interactions Relevant to Protein Structureand Stability: Understanding Pressure Effects on Proteins. Free.Room: 66-110. Sponsor: Chemical Engineering.3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. - SSL Seminar (Soon-Jo Chung). Model-BasedOptimal/Robust Control vs. Adaptive Neural Control for PrecisionPointingjTracking of ARGOS. Free. Room: 37-212. Sponsor: AeroAs-tro.3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Special String Seminar. Quantizing StringTheory in ADS(5) X S5: Beyond the PPWave. Free. Room: Center forTheoretical Physics. Sponsor: Laboratory for Nuclear Science.4:00 p.m. - BCS Colloquium. How Chipmunks, Cherries, Chisels,Cheese. and Cellos are Structured, Computed, and Impaired in theMind and Brain. Room: E25-117. Sponsor: Brain and Cognitive Sci-ences.5:00 p.m. - lAP 2004 Print Guide Deadline. The print lAP 2004 Guidewill be available in December 2003. Free. Sponsor: lAP.5:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Eastgate Halloween Party. 5:30 p.m. - 6:30p.m.: dinner. 6:30 p.m. -7:30 p.m.: children's games and crafts, 7:30p.m. - onwards: trick or treating. Free. Sponsor: Graduate StudentCouncil, Eastgate Community Association.6:00 p.m. - Shabbat Services & Dinner. Celebrate Shabbat. MIT Hil-lel's three religious communities hold Shabbat services. Dinner after-wards. Cost for dinner only. Room: Religious Activities Center (Wll).Sponsor: Hillel, MIT.6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. - Halloween Potluck Party. Join us for Hal-loween fun for kids and adults. including trick-or-treating and pumpkincarving. Please bring a dish to share: 8 servings of a meat, veggie,salad or dessert. Everyone is welcome to come in costume! Free.Room: Simmons Hall. Sponsor: spouses&partners@mit. MIT JapaneseWives Group, Simmons Hall.6:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. - Cambridge latino Film Festival. "Nicaragua;The Children Are Waiting" (50 min) Marta Bautis. Q/A with directorafter the screening. 7:30 p.m.:"Ni uno Solo" (70 min) Pablo Hadis."Aguante Animal" (51 min) Heloisa Cardoso. Free with MIT 10, other-wise $5. Sponsor: Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Lati-no/a Cultural Center.7:00 p.m. - 11:59 p.m. - MIT Anlme Club Showing: Halloween cos-tume contest, Anlme Music Video contest, ninja apprentices, a col-lector of spooky tales, and steampunk aerial dreadnoughts. The MITAnime Club shows the best of both recent and classic Japanese ani-mation. Showings are open to the public. Tonight we'll have our annu-al Cosplay contest, with prizes for the best costumes, we will alsohold the judging for our tirst Anime Music Video contest. We will berejoining the ninja apprentices from "Naruto, " show more of thesteam punk aerial adventures of Klaus Valca, Lavie Head, and the restof the cast of "Last Exile." We'll conclude our showing tonight with anepisode of the creepy new series "100 Stories," about an Edo-era col-lector of spooky tales and his encounter with haunts. Free. Room: 6-120. Sponsor: Anime Club, MIT, UA Rnance Board..7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - 28 Days Later. $3. Room: 26-100. Sponsor:LSC.7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Bible Study. Is there more to life than gradschool? We believe the answer is "YES'" Come study the word of Godwith us. There will be dinner provided and games afterward. Free.Room: 4-149. Sponsor: Asian Baptist Student Koinonia Graduate Divi-sion, GSC Funding Board.8:00 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. - Sangam Movies. Screening of popularmovies. Please subscribe to sangam-request@mit.edu. Free. Sponsor:Sangam, GSC Funding Board.8:00 p.m. - Antigone. Jean Anouilh's play, directed by ElizabethJochum. $8, $6 MIT/Wellesley students. Room: Kresge Little Theater.Sponsor: Shakespeare Ensemble.

9:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. - Warehouse Halloween Party. The annualWarehouse Halloween Partyl Games, food, drinks (proper 10 required),OJand dancing. Wear a costume and see if you can win the best cos-tume contestl Free. Room: NW30. Sponsor: The Warehouse.10:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. - 28 Days Later. $3. Room: 26-100. Spon-sor: LSC.

Saturday, November 1

10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - MIT Furniture Exchange Open House. TheMIT Student Fumiture Exchange is hosting a Fall Open House. We wel-come you to stop by and enjoy some refreshments with us. We areopen to all affiliated with the Institute, but you must bring your univer-sity 10 to make a purchase. If you have never had the opportunity tostop by and browse, you don't know what you've been missing! Free.Sponsor: MIT Women's League.12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - New England Rugby Football Union DivisionIII Women's Rugby Championships. Championship toumament forNew England women's rugby, Division III. E-mail wrugby-admin@mit.edu with any questions. Free. Room: Briggs Reid. Spon-sor: Women's Rugby Club.1:00 p.m - Drowned Out. A film by Franny Armstrong. "The forest isours. The land is ours. The River Narmada is ours. We are not going toleave all this. We will drown, but we will not move." Rim will be fol-lowed by a Q&A session with director Franny Armstrong. Suggesteddonation: $5. Room: 54-100. Sponsor: Amnesty Intemational group133, AID-Boston and Alliance for Secular and Democratic South Asia1:00 p.m. - Varsity Men's Soccer vs. Coast Guard. Free. Room:Steinbrenner Stadium.2:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. - Michael Joo: artist talk and reception. Free.Room: List Visual Arts Center. Sponsor: List Visual Arts Center.3:00 p.m. - Varsity Women's Ice Hockey vs. Wheaton College. Free.Room: Johnson Athletic Center.3:00 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. - Cambridge Latino Film Festival. Free withMIT 10, otherwise $5. Room: MIT Bartos Theater £15. Sponsor: Soci-ety of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Latino/a Cultural Center.4:30 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. - TMRC Build TIme. These are our normalmeetings, where we build the layout. Free. Room: N52-118. Sponsor:Tech Model Railroad Club.5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. - Michael Joo Reception. Organized by MITLVACdirector, Jane Farver, this is the tirst survey of the works of NYbase-artist Michael Joo. Consisting of more than 35 works createdbetween 1992 and 2003, the show includes sculpture, video, andworks-on-paper, and will also be the world premiere of CircannualRhythm (pibloktok), 2003, a three-screen digital video installation,shot on location in Alaska. Joo's art explores how science, religion,and the media shape consciousness and knit together the physicaland the metaphysical. It is about energy and waste, the visible, andwhat cannot be seen. Free. Room: List Visual Arts Center. Sponsor:List Visual Arts Center.6:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. - Caribbean Cultural Night. Enjoy high-qualityfood and entertainment at MIT Caribbean Club's 16th Annual CulturalNight! Entice all your senses with: Good Music and Pelau, Jerk Chick-en and Talented Dancers, Sweet Vocals, Curry goat, Guest Appear-ance, Rice and Peas. $10.00. Room: Lobdell - MIT Student Center(W20). Sponsor: Caribbean-Club.6:00 p.m. - Varsity Pistol vs. Coast Guard. Free. Room: MIT Pistoland Rifle Range in DuPont Athletic Center.7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - The Housekeeper. $3. Room: 26-100. Spon-sor: LSC.7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Seminar on Immigration Laws. Seminar onImmigration Laws. Main Topics are: Immigrant/Nonimmigrant-relatedissues concerning F-l Holders; J-1 Waiver and strategies for J-1 hold-ers' Green card application; New development of Labor Certificate andH-l application in the condition of the deteriorating US economy andthe increasing restrictive INS policies toward immigrants; Alien ofExtraordinary Ability E8-1(a), Outstanding Researcher/ OutstandingProfessor E8-1(b) and National Interest Waiver(NIW); New develop-ment of the third country visa application; Green card application byconcurrent filing of 1-140and 1-485. Free. Room: 35-225. Sponsor:Chinese Student and Scholar Association.8:00 p.m. -11:30 p.m. - Sangam Movie Special. Free. Room: 2-105.Sponsor: Sangam, GSC Funding Board.8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. - Patrol. Travel to strange new classrooms.Meet interesting, unusual people, and kill them! Patrol is a high-actiongame of live combat with rubber-dart guns. Shoot your friends, thenwatch out as they try to take their revenge. Free. Room: 36-115. Spon-sor: Assassins' Guild, MIT.8:00 p.m. - Antigone. Jean Anouilh's play, directed by ElizabethJochum. $8, $6 MIT/Wellesley students. Room: Kresge Little Theater.Sponsor: Shakespeare Ensemble.8:30 p.m. - 11:30 p.m. - Vienna Teng Concert. By the time San Fran-cisco-based singer/songwriter/pianist Vienna Teng, 24, quit her full-time software engineering job at Cisco last August, she had signedwith an independent record label and was preparing for the release ofher debut, Waking Hour. A few months later, she was featured onNPR's Weekend Edition and, soon after, made her network televisiondebut on the Letterman show. Vienna will be performing at the WongAuditorium in the Tang Center. $5. Room: Wong Auditorium, Tang Cen-ter. Sponsor: Graduate Student Council, NE43-313 Lab.10:00 p.m. -12:00 a.m. - The Housekeeper. $3. Room: 26-100.Sponsor: LSC.

Sunday, November 2

10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - New England Rugby Football Union DivisionIII Women's Rugby Championships. Free. Room: Briggs Reid. Spon-sor: Women's Rugby Club.11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. - MIT Endicott House Presents ArtistsBehind the Desk. Enjoy a festive fall brunch and concert at the MITEndicott House. Reservations required. $30/person for brunch andconcert (inclusive of tax and service charge). Room: MIT EndicottHouse, Dedham MA. Sponsor: Artists Behind the Desk, MIT EndicottHouse. Council for the Arts.11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Ashdown Sunday Brunch. Free. Room:Ashdown. Sponsor: Ashdown House, GSC Funding Board.1:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. - Ballroom Dance Lessons - Rumba, Foxtrot,Swing. No partner required. Social focus rather than competitive .Check Web site for Halloween and Winter balls. $1-$5 depending onlevel. Room: lobby 13. Sponsor: Ballroom Dance Club.2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Cinderella's Ball. Relive the magic and won-der of Cinderella, the gracious Prince, the kindly Fairy Godmother andmore as Morss Hall in Walker Memorial is transformed into a grandeCinderella's ballroom. Make your own crown and magic wand; leamballroom dancing from the MIT Ballroom Dance Team; feast on tine

ballroom confections; listen to a storyteller read stories of Cinderellafrom around-the-world; take in a recent Rogers and Hammerstein filmadaptation of the children's tale. An aftemoon of joy and enchantmentfor all. Optional Black Tie dress for all ages most welcome. Purchaseby October 31st. $ 5, ages 3+. Room: Morss Hall, Walker Memorial.Sponsor: MITAC.2:00 p.m•• 4:00 p.m. - Nati Security & Civil Uberties/CongressmenHonda & Frank. U.S. Congressmen Mike Honda (D-CA)- whose fami-ly was intemed during WWII at a camp for Japanese-Americans - willspeak on "National Security & Civil Liberties." His talk will be followedby a roundtable discussion featur!ng Congressman Bamey Frank ofthe 4th District of MA, as well as MIT Political Science Professor Ken-neth Oye, Merrie Najimi of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Corn-mittee, and Margie Yamamoto of the New England Japanese AmericanCitizens League, the co-sponsor of this event. Topics will include theUSA Patriot Act. A reception will follow the event. All are welcome.Free. Room: MIT Medical Building Auditorium (E25-111). Sponsor:Center for Intemational Studies. New England Japanese American Citi-zens League.7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - 28 Days Later. $3. Room: 26-100. Sponsor:LSC.7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. - Hungarian Movie Night. Free. Room: 4-237.Sponsor: Graduate Student Council, Hungarian Student Association ofMIT.8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. - International Folk Dancing (participatory).Intemational folk dancing. Teaching and beginners' dances from 8-9pm. A mixture of all skill levels from 9-11 p.m. Our repertoire includesdances from Eastem Europe as well as other parts of Europe and therest of the world (Israel, France, Russia, even England and the US).Note: We will move to La Sala de Puerto Rico (on the second floor ofthe Student Center) if it is available. MIT/Wellesley students free; $1donation (or more) requested from others. Room: Student Centerroom 491. Sponsor: Folk Dance Club.10:00 p.m. -12:00 a.m. - The HousekeePer. $3. Room: 26-100.Sponsor: LSC..

Monday, November 3

9:00 a.m •• 12:00 p.m. - Open House - Technology and Polley Pro-gram, ESD PhD and SM. The event is intended for prospective stu-dents interested in applying to the MIT Technology and Policy SM pro-gram and to the MIT Engineering Systems PhD program, including theTechnology, Management, and Policy track. Free. Room: E40-380.Sponsor: Engineering Systems Division. Technology and Policy Pro-gram.10:00 a.m. - Admissions Information Session. Free. Room: AdmisJsions Reception Center. Sponsor: Information Center.10:45 a.m. - Campus Tour. Free. Room: Lobby 7. Sponsor: Informa-tion Center.12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. - LBGT and Questioning Student SupportGroup. Bi-weekly discussions on topics you want to talk about. Sup;port and discussions for all LGBTand questioning undergraduates andgraduate students- not just for coming out. Safe and confidental! EmilyMeghan Morrow Howe from Women's Studies and Peter Kassel fromthe Mental Health Service of MIT Medical will facilitate a drop-in brownbag lunch. Free. Room: 5-104. Sponsor: Ibgt@mit, Women's StudiesProgram, Student Life Programs. Counseling and Support Service~ andMIT Medical.12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Design Innovation In the UK. This is the fifthin a series of seven public sessions on "Design at the Frontier of Engi-neering and Architecture." Anthony Hunt is a leading structural engi-neer who has worked on some of the most innovative architecturalprojects over the last 40 years in the United Kingdom and whose firmis an intemationalleader in this field. Free. Room: 3-401. Sponsor:Department of Architecture, Building Technology Program.2:00 p.m. - Admissions Information Session. Free. Room: Admis-sions Reception Center. Sponsor: Information Center.2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Monday Research Seminar. Seeking the Truthand Beuty of Single-Top-Quark Production. Free. Room: Center for The-oretical Physics. Sponsor: Laboratory for Nuclear Science.2:45 p.m. - Campus Tour. Free. Room: Lobby 7. Sponsor: InformationCenter.3:00 p.m. - Film making on the Margins: Vulnerable Women andGirls In South Africa. Talk by film maker Julie Frederikse, who will alsoscreen a film and lead a discussion. Free. Room: 14E-304. Sponsor:Women's Studies Program, Comparative Media Studies.3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Environmental fluid Mechanics SeminarSeries: Modeling Water Waves with Smoothed Particle Hydrodynam-Ics. Free. Room: 1-350. Sponsor: Civil and Environmental Engineering.4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. - Pharmaceutical Ties: Family, Medicine, andthe State In Brazil. STS Colloquium. Free. Room: E51-095. Sponsor:STS.4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Einstein metrics and complex slngularitles.Free. Room: 2-143. Sponsor: Differential Geometry Seminar, Mathe-matics, Department of.4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Mechanics Seminar: Influence of GrainBoundaries on the Heterogeneous Deformation of Metals. Pleasecontact Professor Simona Socrate for additional information, Room 3-334, 452-2689. Refreshments will be served at 3:50 p.m. outsideRoom 3-370. Free. Room: 3-370. Sponsor: Mechanical EngineeringDept.4:00 p.m. - Media Under Pressure. Jean-Marie Messier is the formerCEOof Vivendi-Universal, and will be talking at Sloan about thelessons he leamed during his time there. Free. Room: E51-345(Sloan's Tang Building). Sponsor: MediaTech. European Business Clubof Sloan.4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. - Analytic and Topological Techniques for Mul-tivariate Asymptotlcs. Refreshments beforehand. Free. Room: 4-231.Sponsor: Applied Mathematics Colloquium. Department of Mathemat-ics.5:30 p.m. - Urban Parades and Processional Theater: Director,designer, teacher writer Mark Sussman. Participation in Fall Depart-ment of Urban Studies and Planning seminar. Respondent: Lisa Peat-tie, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Urban Studies and Plan-ning, MIT. Free. Room: 10-485. Sponsor: Department of UrbanStudies and Planning.5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. - Aga Khan Program at MIT Lecture. Bour-dieu's Battle in Algeria: War, Ethnosociology, Photograph. Free. Room:56-114. Sponsor: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture.8:00 p.m. - La Notte (1960) Directed by Michelangelo Antonionl.Roman nights film series: Four nights of Rome in the cinema spon-sored by the "Envisioning Modemism" and MHistoric Cities in the Mod-em Age" seminars of the History, Theory and Criticism of Architectureand Art program. Free. Room: 3-133. Sponsor: History, Theory andCriticism of Architecture and Art.

•

•

•

October 31, 2003 THE TECH Page 15

FERPA Guarantees Access to Most Student RecordsRecords, from Page I

school transcript, and the highschool final grade report.

Many students, however, waivetheir rights upon applying to viewtheir letters of recommendation andcannot receive copies of them. If thestudent was interviewed by an Edu-cational Counselor, the report ofthat interview is also present in theadmissions file.

In addition to these records,freshmen have an E-3 card. Thiscard contains a summary of theapplicant information including SATscores, the applicant's NumericalIndex and Personal Rating, and com-ments about the application by thereaders. The Numerical Index andPersonal Rating are two calculatedscores that determine where a partic-ular applicant lies relative to the restof the applicant pool. (See belowfor a description of the E-3 card.)

After one year, the E-3 card isdestroyed, so it is not available tosophomores, juniors, or seniors.

However, all of the numerical infor-mation on the E-3 card (includingthe Numerical Index and PersonalRating) are archived electronicallyand can be requested. In short,everything but the application read-er's comments are available for stu-dent request.

After five years, the completephysical admissions file isdestroyed, but the electronic recordsare stored "pretty much indefinite-ly," Jones said. These data are thenused for statistical purposes by theadmissions office, to track trends inSAT score or grade point averageover the years, for example.

Students have right to documentsTwo documents come into play

in giving students the right torequest their records. The FamilyEducational Rights and Privacy Actstates in 20 D.S.C. Sec. 1232g; 34CFR Part 99 that "each educationalagency or institution shall establishappropriate procedures for thegranting of a request by parents for

access to the education records oftheir children within a reasonableamount of time, but in no case morethan forty-five days after the requesthas been made."

The document goes on to saythat if the student in question isenrolled at a post-secondary institu-tion such as MIT, the rights grantedto parents in the document are thentransferred to the student.

MIT's Student Information Poli-cy (http://web.mit.edu/policies/sipl)also says that "the right of accessincludes a right to an explanation orinterpretation of the record, and theright to obtain copies of the record."

However, both FERPA and theStudent Information Policy includeprovisions that protect the confiden-tiality of letters of recommendation.If an applicant has waived his or herright to view his or her letters of rec-ommendation when he or she appliedto MIT, these portions of the recordsremain confidential and cannot beviewed by the student in question.

Furthermore, the language of

both these documents is intentional-ly broad. "Educational records" arenot just limited to admissionsrecords, but also include housing,financial, disciplinary, and academicrecords.

"In principle and in practice,there is no question of the right" ofthe students to access these records,said Dean for Undergraduate Educa-tion Robert P. Redwine.

Unfortunately, requests for mul-tiple records may take a substantialamount of time since not all studentrecords are stored in the same place.

"When students request informa-tion from many offices, it takessome time to assemble it. The truthis, we are not set up administrative-ly to easily provide that informationto large amounts of students. Wedon't get a lot of requests of thissort," Redwine said.

Student reactionsMany students seem unaware of

their rights regarding their admis-sions folder.

"I had no idea," said Mark D.Mascaro ' 07, when asked if heknew that he had the right to see hisapplication scores and comments.

"I totally want to do that," saidMelissa W. Gregson '06. "That'ssomething I'd like to know."

Some students see other purpos-es beyond personal curiosity, how-ever.

"For personal satisfaction, I feellike getting in is enough," saidCaitlin T. Mueller '07. However,she said that "maybe I'd do it if Ihad friends in high school and theywanted to know" where they wouldstand in the MIT applicant pool.

"I don't want anyone to beundermined by something as simpleas this," Jones said. The summaryhas "no meaning in and of itself. It'sjust a tool in the selection process"and is only relevant during admis-sions.

The scores are "not a selectiontool," she said. "Every single stu-dent admitted to MIT should thrivehere."

Description of Elements of E-3 Card, Ranking Gridaccepted on 12/6/02, and notifica-tion was mailed on 12/13/02 (thiswas an Early Action application).

8. The student's Grade PointAverage and highest possibleGPA at the applicant's highschool. Adjacent to that is classrank and class size (rank was notcalculated in this case). Then,each reader indicates the date theapplication was read, and fills inthree values, R 1, R2, and R3,respectively representing "co-cur-ricular" activities (e.g. sciencefairs), extracurricular activities,and general initiative and otherpersonal characteristics.

9. The "A" under "ReplyAction" indicates the applicantaccepted the offer of admission.The date of the response along withthe college that he chose to attendare also listed.

I O. Used for comments byReader I about the application.Gaps appear where the readerwrote direct quotations from lettersof recommendation, and wereremoved because this applicantwaived the right to view them.

II. Used for comments byReader 2 (see number (10)).

12. This box contains informa-tion about the applicant's parentsand siblings.

Explanation of GridThe Numerical Index and Per-

sonal Rating are "just a tool in theselection process" and do notdecide admission, Jones said. Theyare used to layout each applicationrelative to all of the other applica-tions, as follows:

A grid of 24 cells is created.Cell 1 represents the highest group-ing of NI and PR scores, within theranges of 4.5 to 5 and 3.7 to 5,respectively. The Nl score rangedecreases going to the right and thePR going down.

Ninety-five percent of acceptedapplicants come from cells Ithrough 9, although the percentageis not fixed. Jones said that in somecases the NI is artificially low if theapplicant came from a particularlychallenging high school, and that istaken into account.

In addition, even if a student hasboth a low NI and PR, but the read-ers feel that the applicant wouldthrive at MIT and contribute to itscommunity, he or she wilJ still beaccepted .

Jones said that both indices donot solely decide admissions andcan only be used to compare appli-cants within a given year.

For a detailed explanation of theadmissions process itself, see theNovember 2003 article "Who GetsIn?" from the Technology Review,available at http://www.techre-view.com/articles/atwoodJ J03.asp.

l. The top number (470130) isthe College Board's number for theapplicant's high school. The num-bers that follow below are thenumber of applicants from theapplicant's high school, in reversechronological order. In this case,two students applied to MIT in2003, 2 in 2002, 5 in 200 I, 4 in2000, 3 in 1999, and 3 in 1998.

2. The applicant's name andbirth date appear at the top. Underit are the Grade Point Average, themaximum GPA, and the percentageof students from the applicant'shigh school that go on to four-yearcolleges (73 percent). Under that isclass rank (which was not calculat-ed at this school) and the depart-ment that the applicant picked as apotential major (Course VI). Antic-ipated major has no bearing onadmissions decision, said Dean ofAdmissions Marilee Jones.

3. The applicant' s SAT scoresappear here. The MAX row con-tains the applicant's maximumscores on the various tests alongwith the dates that they weretaken.

4. Each applicant is placed intoa quintile (1-5) based on resultsfrom the following categories.CRK. is class rank (again, not cal-culated in this case). MCB repre-sents performance on the SAT Iand II Math section and test, SCBis science-related performance,and HCB is humanities-relatedperformance. G PAis the gradepoint average, and TFL is perfor-mance on the Test of English as aForeign Language, not taken inthis case. NI represents theNumerical Index on a scale of I to5 that is the result of an algorithmapplied to the applicant's GPA,class rank, and standardized testscores. The far right number(21610) represents a batch num-ber.

5. The batch number (21610)appears here, as does the name ofthe Educational Counselor thatinterviewed the applicant alongwith the counselor's identificationnumber. Under this information arethe Application Ratings (AR) thatthe various readers gave the appli-cation. Reader I gave this applica-tion a 3.3, Reader 2 gave this appli-cation a 3.7, and there was no thirdreader. The significance of thisvalue wilJ be described in (8). Seethe explanation of the grid for adefinition of "cell."

6. The check box in "Competi-tive" means that this applicationpassed "Triage," a first quickexamination of the application.Competitive applications are re-read, non-competitive applicationsare not.

7. The letter "A" under "Form"means that this application was

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Page 16 THE TECH October 31, 2003

Alcohol at MIT: A Quick GuideThe fundamental villa. of the lilT Community Ia the health & safwty of Its students.Most IAn- students eith.,. drink moderafely or a"mlnt'rom drinking. Howev.,., MIT

acknowledges tINt. theN may b. tlmes when ~ face dIIngenws slfuatlona involvinglllcoho/. The following guidelines may help yofIln lime. of need:

The following are signs of alcohol poisoning:Breathing fewer than 8 times per minutePassed out, unconscious, cannot be wakened

. Cold, 'clammy, pale or bluish skinVomiting while sleeping or passed out

. No pulse, stopped breathing

If you are concerned that the person has alcohol poisoning:

If the person is suffering from ANY of these signs, it could be alcohol poisoning.

. DO have another sober person with you to helpDO stay with him/her

. DO continually monitor him/herDO check his/her breathing

. DO ensure that he/she is laying on his/her side

• DO NOT LEAVE THE PERSON ALONE .. DO NOT put another drunk person in char~ of caring for him/her

DO NOT give food, drink (including coffee) or medicationto try to sober him/her upDO NOT give a cold shower or try to exercise the personDO NOT allow him/her to leave alone •

When In doubt, call for Helpl Medical Transport ••• =--::~t.~~:':1212

It Is MA State law and M/T policy that you must be 21 years or oId!:Jrto pu~hS&e orconsume alcohol. For more alcohol policy information. please visit web.mit.edU/aicohol

Community Development & .,.Substance Abuse Programs !J!Ik

Questions? emai[

October 31, 2003 THE TECH Page 17

It Restaurants Near MIT Added to TechCash SenriceStar, ~om Page 1

ket since he has not yet looked at it.However, he said that he consid-

ered a similar plan to MIT's whenhe was working at the Star in Fen-way, and said "it could be a goodthing," although it depends on theproposal. He said that the other planhe looked at was not approvedbecause of a "big upcharge," or ini-tial fixed costs. That plan, unlikeMIT's, was nationwide and wouldhave allowed students from manyuniversities to use their individualcards under one system.

Cl.!IJlITlingssaid that proposals toadd TechCash usually require thecompany to pay for the card reading

machines and also to pay a percent-age of sales fee to MIT.

However, "generally the increasein sales more than makes up for thesales fee," he said.

"So far, people seem prettyexcited, and most people want tosee more locations added to thecard," he said.

TechCash continues to expandDirector of Campus Dining

Richard D. Berlin III said that thereare ongoing discussions about howto go about adding vendors.

Passport and Polcari's are thetwo new vendors for this year, andthey are going to "play it "by earand see how that affects the cam-

pus operators and wbether it's suc-cessful for the off-campus ven-dors," he said. "If you add tons ofrestaurants, then it doesn't becomeworthwhile for anyone operator todo it."

Serino said they decided toaccept TechCash at Passport "tohelp the students out," and that "agood amount" of people use it.However, it has not increased busi-ness so far.

Eddie Bisher, manager of Pol-cari's, said that Po1cari's also decid-ed to"accept TechCash "because ofthe students. Sometimes they preferto use the card." Bisher viewed thepossibility of paying with TechCashto be a benefit for patrons and hopes

that this new form of payment willincrease business.

Berlin said that he and the MITCard Office- are currently working toget Po1cari' s on the card, and "thatshould happen shortly." A nice fea-ture about Polcari' s, Berlin said, isthat unlike residential dining Pol-cari's is open on weekends, givingstudents an additional option.

Alpine Bagel and Arrow StreetCrepes, both of which accept thecard, are "both doing great," Berlinsaid.

Survey to gather feedbackThe UA is preparing an online

survey to collect students' feedbackabout having TechCash accepted at

Star Market."We're in the process of fixing

the minor details and plan to releasethe survey on Monday," said Cum-mings.

The survey is supposed to"quantify student support for thisproposal," and "information gainedfrom the survey will be used to pro-ject future sales increase and givenas a report to Star Market," accord-ing to the UA 2003-2004 GoalsChecklist.

The survey will be sent to allundergraduate students, and Cum-mings said that little publicity will beneeded for the survey, since thenature of the issue makes it some-thing students would be interested in.

MITConcert Band Puts on Spooky Performance

The MIT Concert Band played a Halloween Concert Thursday nightin costume in the of the Student Center. Clockwise from top left:A French horn-playing nurse shows off legs and brass.

Gretchen M. Poehlman G plays the French horn in Grainger's "Lin-colnshire Posy."

The trumpet section, dressed as the self-flagellating monks fromMonty Python, in Wagner's "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral."

The sax section belts out "Jupiter," from Holst's "The Planets."

Cristina M. Wilcox '07 plays the bassoon in "Lincolnshire Posy."

Photography by Dan Bersak, Peter R. Russo, Brian Hemond, andChristine R. Fry

Page 18 THE TECH October 31, 2003

October 31, 2003 SPORTS THE TECH Page 19

not draw adequate attendance.This lack of pride kills some of

everyone's enthusiasm, the athletesincluded. Sure, they take satisfactionin their performance on the field, butwithout support from the fans, theirperformance goes unnoticed. Onceagain, I don't proclaim to understandhow we can let these sports suffer bynot noticing them.

But I guess I'm just a sports per-son who doesn't understand actionsof regular people.

Cleveland Browns (3-5) could bothvie for the title. However, as muchas Cincinnati has improved, theirtough schedule will make it difficultto win, and the Browns aren't con-sistent enough. And the PittsburghSteelers (2-5) have no offense tospeak of and no heart to play.

AFC South: This will be thebest division race to watch down thestretch. The Indianapolis Colts(6-1) and the Tennessee Titans(6-2) are both great teams with all-star quarterbacks. The Colts. wal-loped the Titans the first time theyplayed, so the Titans need to even itup if the want to take the division. 1honestly have no clue who will win,but it doesn't really matter becausewhichever one doesn't win will getan AFC Wild Card. The HoustonTexans (2-5) and JacksonvilleJaguars (1-6) are bad, but not as badas the NFC cellar-dwellers.

AFC West: This division ispractically sewn up. The KansasCity Chiefs (8-0) are likely the bestteam in the NFL and hold a threegame lead over the Denver Broncos(5-3) who are without their startingquarterback for a couple moreweeks due to injury. The Broncoswon't be able to catch up to theChiefs, but if they play well I thinkthey can take the second AFC WildCard over the Dolphins and the run-ner-up in the North. The OaklandRaiders (2-5) and the San DiegoChargers (1-6) are again a pair ofhuge disappointments, the Raidersdue to old age and the Chargers dueto just plain bad football.

So who will win the SuperBowl? From the NFC, 1 still like theMinnesota Vikings, because 1haven't fully bought into St. Louis'sre-emergence yet. In the AFC, Ihave to go with my hometown team,the Chiefs. And 1 hope the Chiefswill win the Super Bowl as well,capping one of the greatest years ofsports Kansas City has ever seen.

And by the way, these predic-tions come with an "any or all pickswill be wrong or your money back"guarantee. It's the least I can do.

Jacklyn Y. Wang '06 moves In to hit the ball, keeping theEngineers alive in the third game against Wellesley Collegelast Tuesday. MIT lost the match In three close games, withscores of 29-31, 28-30, and a nall-bltlng 35-37.

PETER RUSSO-TilE TECH

Pride, from Page 20

rather disturbing and disgusting as asports person. Do we have so littlepride that the only reason we would .go to a game is to get free food? Or agift certificate?

Sports is all about pride. Withoutpride, nobody would care whichteam they rooted for and which teamthey hated. Without pride, there is nosense of hurt when a team loses, orwhat is far worse, when a team does

Free Food Shouldn't Be theOnly Draw of MIT Atbletiffi

NFL, from Page 20

ever strings together consecutivewins and plays as a team, Carolinamight be in trouble. It will probablycome down to the Tampa-Carolinagame at Carolina on Nov. 9. I dothink that whoever doesn't gain thedivision will get one of the NFCWild Cards. The New OrleansSaints (3-5) and the Atlanta Falcons(1-6) are both huge disappointmentsthis season, and won't sniff theplayoffs.

NFC West: While the NFCSouth has the potential to be a closerace, this division already is. The St.Louis Rams and the Seattle Sea-hawks are tied atop with division at5-2, but the Rams, coming off afour game winning streak, look likethe more solid team, while Seattle'swins always seem to leave ques-tions. The consensus from the sportspeople is that the Rams will take thedivision, and I think they are right.But, I think that Seattle is a moresolid team than Philadelphia, and sothey will get the second NFC WildCard. As for the San Francisco4gers (3-5) and Arizona Cardinals(2-5), I say get a better kicker, andsee you next year.

AFC East: The New EnglandPatriots (6-2) are atop the divisionwith a big win against the MiamiDolphins (5-2) two weeks ago. Nei-ther team can score well, but thePats have the better defense andthey have people coming back frominjury in the next half of the season,so they are likely to hold on to thedivision lead. The Buffalo Bills(4-4) could contend if they couldever score and defend in the samegame, but they do not look capableof that. The New York Jets (2-5)are hoping they don't get as bad asthe Bears or the Cards. Whoops,they already are.

AFC North: This division isinteresting only because none of theteams in it are great so everyone hasa chance to win. The BaltimoreRavens (4-3) are in the lead now,but the Cincinnati Bengals (3-4) or

T/G12.010.810.710.310.09.49.39.38.77.7

SOURCE: NEFC

Total84867572807565656154

join@tt.mit.eduW20-483 , 617-253-1541

session, the Bison moved to first-and-goal on the seven, but weredenied the end zone and missed afield goal.

Fittingly, the day did belong toseniors - Relihan, Harvey, Shearerand Tanis L. Fidelholtz '04 cor-ralled a hard-hitting defensiveeffort that saw three Nichols tail-backs leave the game with injury.Also seeing their last game in thered jersey were offensive linemenJustin M. Nelson and captain KeithG. Reed, linebacker Michael A.Terry, and defensive linemenChristopher P. Anderson and MarkA. Jury.

MIT finishes the season with twomore games on the road. Tomorrowthe Beavers travel to Newport,Rhode Island to face the Salve Regi-na Seahawks (1-6). Last year MITdenied Salve's bid for a conferencechampionship with a 16-8 win, theprogram's first ever win over theSeahawks.

SchoolFraminghamSalve ReginaMaine MaritimeMITNicholsWorcester St.FitchburgSalve ReginaMITEndicott

away to clinch the match and a gold medal for theteam.

Although the intermediate teams had been the keyto MIT's success in the last season, graduation and pro-motions caused the team to lose much of its depth onboth the men's and women's sides. The women's B2team (Radhika Jagannathan '05, Lee, and Yu) squeakedinto third place when NYU bowed out, and they fella-3 to Cornell Bl, the eventual champions. The men'sBl team (Bobby B. Ren '05, Ho, and Andrew D. Selbst'04) advanced past two rounds, anchored by the experi-ence and continual improvement of Ren. Ho showed alot of heart in his first tournament back from a tomPCL, with a phei10menal sense of timing and distancein this new division. Selbst used his size and strength tooverpower his opponents, though carelessness forblocking to the head caused him to lose a 7-7 tie deci-sion in the semi-finals.

MIT trails Cornell by a nominal margin of 404 to432 as the season begins, and looks to rebuild and comeout strong as the defending INCTL Champions at thenext INCTL tournament, which is to be held at CornellUniversity on November 22nd. In the meantime, sever-al members (Chao, Nathan F. Hanagami '04, Archaum-bault, and Madigan) and alum Christina S. Park '02win travel to Seattle, Washington, for the National Col-legiate Taekwondo CKarnpionships on Nov. 7-8.

Avg.39.538.236.935.535.535.3

SOURCE: NEFC

UPCOMING HOME EVENTS

Punts282834333342 .

Saturday, Nov. 1

12 p.m., Women's Rugby, New England Rugby Football UnionDivision III Championships

1 p.m., Varsity Men's Soccer, Coast Guard3 p.m.; Varsity Women's Ice Hockey, Wheaton College6 p.m., Varsity Pistol, Coast Guard

Sunday, Nov. 210 a.m., Women's Rugby, New England Rugby Football Union

Division III Championships

Name1. Eric Guilmette2. Brian Galvin3. Dan Rosen4. Phil Zakielarz5. Shane Szydlo6. Daniel Walker7. Frank Famularo8. Scott Ferrell9. Mike Harvey10. Jesse Blackwell

phere '06 combined for 94 yardson 24 carries.

MIT's defense went to work inthe third quarter, denying the Bisonon two scoring chances. Nicholslooked like they were back in thegame, driving to the Beaver 25-yard line. But defensive captainDaniel Relihan '04 hit the. quarter-back on his blind side, forcing afumble that was comically bobbledby two Nichols linemen beforeRelihan fell on it, extinguishing thescoring threat. On their next pos-

SchoolWorcester St.NicholsWestfieldUMass-Dart.CurryMIT

NEFC Leaders: Punting (through Oct. 25)

Women's Beginner Team Wins Gold

Name1. Zac Attaway2. Michael Carven3. Mark Puchalski4. Derek Bealby5. J.:r. Eakins6. Matt Ramirez

Beavers take controlMIT immediately capitalized.

Kilpatrick beat his defender downthe left sideline and caught a per-fect pass from Love, streaking 50yards for the score. After the kickthe Beavers held a 14-7 lead theywould never relinquish. Love fin-ished with 13 completions in 25attempts for 195 yards. Kilpatrickwas again his favorite target,catching seven passes for 136yards. The offensive surge wasalso felt in the running game -Ostlund and fullback Ryan J. Lan-

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Kilpatrick Goes for 50-yard TD Strong KC Chiefs MayFootball, from Page 20 Wim AFC west Divisi.. on------- NEFC Leaders: Tackles (through Oct. 25)Matt Ramirez '06 was good, and thescore tied 7-7.

Flummoxed by the MIT defense,led by Spencer M. Cross '05, PhilipT. Zakielarz '05, and senior MichaelJ. Harvey (12 tackles apiece), theBison attempted a fake punt on thenext series. The punter took thesnap and fired a pass to the sideline,but David A. Blau '06 broke theplay up, giving the Beavers posses-sion.

October 31, 2003

SPORTSFootball Seniors Go Out Wmners

NEFC Leaders: Receiving Yards (through Oct. 25)Name School No. Yds YdslGI. Matt Yvon Westfield 46 847 121.02. Tom Kilpatrick MIT 42 722 103.13. Carmy Cesaire, Jr. Fitchburg 40 626 89.44. Ben Karter Nichols 26 648 81.05. Levon Cuyler Worcester St. 42 620 77.5

SOURCE: NEW ENGLAND FOOTBAll CONFERENCE I)

Football, Page 19

a nine-play drive that ended in theend zone. Twice in the drive, quar-terback Adam C. Love '07 went toTom Kilpatrick '05. The first time,the Bison were flagged for passinterference; the second time, Lovecompleted the pass for II yardsand a first down, then took aroughing the passer penalty thatpushed the ball to the Nichols six-yard line.

On 3rd and goal, tailback DavidJ. Ostlund '04 gathered in a screenpass right off the blades of grass,sidestepped a defender and flew intothe end zone. The extra point by R.

MIT had to win it twice,though, as Nichols recovered a per-fect onside kick and looked todrive for the win. But after a hold-ing penalty moved the ball back tothe Beaver 45-yard line, Nicholsfired a pass that was tipped byMark D. Boudreau '05 and DavidW. Shearer '04 before fa11ingharmlessly to the grass, sealingMIT's first win in five games andpushing their record to 3-4 (1-3 inNew England Football ConferenceBoyd division).

Nichols drew first blood, return-ing an interception for a touchdownon MIT's second offensive series,but the Beavers answered later with

By Christopher P. AndersonTEAM MEJIBER

In the final home game of theseason, MIT's football team senttheir seniors out with the perfect

.,

gift - a win. TheBeaver offense scoredtwo quick touch-downs early, thedefense stopped threecritical second-half

drives, and Brennan P. Sherry '05blocked the final extra point tosecure a 14-13 win over theNichols Bison.

Trailing 14-7, Nichols took pos-session on their own 14-yard linewith 8:25 to play. Moving down thefield, and aided by a third-downpass interference penalty, the Bisonfinally scored with I :34 on the clockon a fourth-down fade pass toDaragh McCann. To preserve the14-13 score, MIT had no choice butto block the extra point kick. Theright side of the line collapsed underheavy pressure, and defensive endBrennan P. Sherry '06 buried theba11 as the sideline and crowdexploded.

By Brian Chase

NFL Week 8:The Midpoint

We're halfway through the 2003....()4NFL season, right at the timewhen all the sports analysts re-predict who will be in the postseasonbased on the first half of the games. So why should I be any differ-

ent? Here's how the NFL divisions standColumn now with my guesses as to who are going on________ in the postseason:

NFC East: The Dallas Cowboys (5-2) are in the lead now, butthey have shown that they aren't prepared yet for tough opp~nents.But that won't matter too much because I think the PhiladelphiaEagles (4-3) will not be able to mount an effective campaign to chal-lenge the Cowboys for the division title. Quarterback Donovan McN-abb is too banged up, and the rest of the team is mediocre. The Wash-ington Redskins (3-4) and New York Giants (3-4) are bothon-again-off-again teams that won't really factor into the playoffs.

NFC North: The Minnesota Vikings (6-1) are three games aheadof the Green Bay Packers (3-4) for the division title, and with theVikes playing the way they are, that's a lot. It is going to take a hugeeffort by the Pack just to get the wild card, and I don't think they willdo it. The Chicago Bears (2-5) and the Detroit Lions (1-6) are bothunutterably bad.

NFC South: This division could be a tight race between the Car-olina Panthers (6-1) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-3). If Tampa

Page 20 THE TECH

MIT: Show Some Pride in Your TeamsNFL, Page 19

DMrrRY POR TNYA GIN-THE TECH

Candace N. Wilson '04 sprints by a WPI defender last Tues-day afternoon. MIT lost the game 1-0, but despite the lossand the recent 1-5-2 record, the team grabbed one of thelast spots In the NEWMAC conference playoffs.

By Yong-yl ZhuCOLUMNIST

There are two kinds of people inthis world: normal people and sportspeople. I happen to fall in the latterfl l category.LlO umn It's quite

-------- sad inmany ways.

Instead of thinking about whenthe next problem set is due, youthink about how to work your nextproblem set into that night's Red Soxgame. Instead of thinking about whatto eat for dinner, you think abouthow to get the meal on the table justas the game is starting so that youdon't miss any of it.

Yeah, we are a pathetic race. Ourpriorities are very out of whack. BillJames, a baseball analyst, describesour predicament fairly well: <'Now,look, both of my parents died of can-cer. It would be very easy for me tosay that cancer research is moreimportant to me than baseball - butI think about cancer research a fewtimes a month; I think about baseballvirtually every waking hour of mylife" (Michael Lewis, Moneyball).

It's true, we don't seek to createsense of our lives, we simply live itthrough baseball, basketball, foot-

ball, ESPN, and whatever we can getour hands on. In fact, there have beenpeople who have named their chil-dren after ESPN commentators orprofessional sports players. Onceagain, our priorities are very out ofwhack.

When two sports people gettogether, it's difficult to get themapart again because they simply donot stop jabbering about sports. Trustme, I've done it.

However, when normal peopleand sports people get together, oftentimes they will not understand eachother. I don't proclaim to understandhow a person can do work or gowatch a movie on the night of gamesix of the World Series. I don't pro-claim to understand how someonecannot be completely obsessed withthe Super Bowl.

This brings me to the reason whyI am writing: MIT and its lack ofsports people. I guess it makes sense,we are all academically inclined.

True, during the Red Sox run,much of the school was infused withthe spirit that the rest of Bostonadopted. People were sitting in frontof TV s, getting score reports duringtests, and just plain caring about theteam. Students here were fans for

once.Believe me, it's not too often that

the MIT body becomes sports fans.After the Red Sox's loss, the <'obses-sion" with baseball suddenlystopped. It appears that the fans werenot rooting for the Sox but rather forthe city of Boston. The attachmentwasn't to the players an<ppe te~mbut to their proximity to a IstadiuIlJand to a city. '.0" ..

Also, an incident at MIT is ,themain reason I thought about com-menting, on the lack of sports peopleat MIT. The other day, I received ane-mail about a soccer game that wasgoing on during the weekend. Iopened the e-mail exp~cting a mereflyer about the match; however, whatI received in addition to a. flyer. W3$an ad to make posters t9 bring to thegame. The best poster at the eventwould receive some sort of prize. Ofcourse, the posters could not be neg-ative in any way.

Clearly, there is a need for morespirit at the soccer games and moresupport for the players. Apparently,there must to be some sort of incen-tive, a bribe almost, to get fans tocome out to the games. This I found

Pride, Page 19

MIT Taekwando Finishes Second at Cornell Northeast, Ivy TourneyBy Christina ParkTEA,\( COACII

Last Sunday, the MIT Sport Taek-wondo Club sent a 34 member teamto New York for the first Ivy/North-_. east Collegiate Taek--:r~ wondo League tourna-P: .jZ:: ment of the 2003-2004

/~-tJ.1 season. After a long

... day of competition, theMIT students emerged

in second place.The tournament day began with

forms competition, where each stu-dent performed a choreographed setof techniques to be judged on meritssuch as grace, balance, power, andagility. The women continued theirdominance from last year, sweepingnearly half the available medals witha first place finish from Wendy M.Pierce '05 (black belt), and secondand third places by Margaret H. Cho'04 and Jaime Lien '05 (red belt),Grace Y. Kim G and Delphine M. D.Dean G (blue belt), and Stephanie K.Lee '06 and Sandra M. Yu '06 (greenbelt). The beginner and intermediatemen also added to the medal count,with a first and second place finish byRyan B. Huang '06 and Brandon R.Kam '04 in the green belt division,and a gold in the yellow belt divisionby John C. Ho G.

After a brief break, sparring beganwith the black belt teams. The

women's black belt Al team (EricaY. Chan '07, Nancy 1. ArchaumbaultG, and Cho) received a bye in the firstround and then faced Cornell A2.Despite being illegally punched in theface twice, Chan responded by kick-ing the tall lightweight in the facetwice, and Archaumbault fo11owedbydominating the timid middleweight toadvance the team into the semi-finals.

The West Point AI women werefierce, and the lightweight came outstrong to take the match. Cho facedthe heavyweight and won on a 3-3 tiedecision to leave the team with thedeciding match on the middleweights.Archaumbault was the unfortunaterecipient of a bad judgement call fromthe referee when she sprained herankle, but was disqualified for failureto continue. Despite the appeal andprotest for an injury time-out by hercoach and several officials, the teamwas eliminated and finished in thirdplace.

The men's black belt A I team(Nima Viseh '07, Con or F. MadiganG, and Richard 1. Sinn '06) avengedtheir counterparts with a spectacularperformance. Madigan and Sinnanchored the team, clearly outclassingthe Cornell A3 team in their firstround. Although Sinn had to bump upto heavyweight, he held his own and

Taekwondo, Page 19

STEPHANIE LEE-THE TECH

Nancy Archaumbault G lands a hlgh-sectlon kick to the head against her opponent from Comell to win5-0 at the Ivy-Northeast Collegiate Taekwondo League tournament, hosted by West Point MilitaryAcademy on Sunday. The MIT Sport Taekwondo Club competed against 10 other teams and placed sec-ond overall after Cornell.