Volume 124, Number 62 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Wednesday, January 19, 2005

MIT’sOldest and Largest

Newspaper

The WeatherToday: Overcast, 24°F (–4°C)

Tonight: Light snow, 22°F (–6°C)Tomorrow: Partly cloudy, 31°F (–1°C)

Details, Page 2

OPINIONMorality cannot be objectivewithout religion

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Comics

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NEWSGSC recommends a LBGT office

Page 12Professor alleges racism causedtenure bid to fail

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World & Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH

With the help of his wife, Elizabeth, Matthew J. Spenko Gattempts to deduce a problem with his autonomous vehicle.Spenko researches high speed hazard avoidance for the Fieldand Space Robotics Lab.

By Hiawatha BrayTHE BOSTON GLOBE

The Irish outpost of the Massa-chusetts Institute of Technology’sMedia Lab is shutting down, as MITofficials and the Irish governmentfailed to reach agreement on a planto fund the operation.

The closure of Media LabEurope is the second time MIT hasfailed to gain a foothold for theMedia Lab outside the UnitedStates. An Asian Media Lab wasfounded in Bangalore, India in2001, with aid from the Indian gov-ernment. But MIT cut its ties to thelab in 2003, handing it over to theIndian government after disagree-ments about what kinds of researchshould be undertaken at the lab.

The problem this time wasmoney. At its founding in 2000, theEuropean lab received a $45 milliongrant from the Irish government.Media Lab officials hoped to devel-op the facility into a self-sustainingresearch center, financed by grants

from corporations. But the grantswere slow in coming, due to theimpact of the high-tech recessionearlier in the decade.

Officials estimated that the Irishlab, located in a former brewerywarehouse in Dublin, would need$13 million to sustain itself foranother year. But corporate moneydidn’t arrive, and neither MIT northe Irish government were willing tomake up the shortfall. As a result, thelab will begin winding down itsoperations, with final shutdown com-ing at the end of the month. Roughly50 employees will lose their jobs.

Simon R. Jones, the lab’s man-aging director, blamed the lingeringeffects of the technology businessslump earlier in the decade. “In theend, it was too deep and too long arecession,” Jones said.

MIT Chancellor Phillip L. Clayissued a statement, saying MediaLab Europe “was caught in the eco-nomic downturn affecting the digitaland telecommunications industries”

shortly after the project’s launch.The Media Lab’s board of direc-

tors, which include The Edge, gui-tarist for the rock band U2, said thatthe Dublin center had generatedvaluable research during its shortlife. “It is important to acknowledgethe innovative work of the lab sinceit was established,” the board said.“Much of this work has been com-ing to fruition in recent months,with 14 patent applications filed anda number of commercializationopportunities being explored.”

Adrian J. Slywotzky, managingdirector at Mercer Management Con-sulting in Boston, said that the failureof the Irish Media Lab illustrates howcorporations are pulling back fromfinancial support of research projectsthat don’t offer a quick profit.

“It is definitely a common prob-lem in the corporate world, wherepeople have been asking harder andharder questions about when willthis pay off,” Slywotzky said. “Gov-ernments have not filled that gap.”

By Jeffrey ChangSTAFF REPORTER

The Association of StudentActivities is being restructured withthe goal of clarifying their role atMIT while giving the group moreflexibility and increasing its effi-ciency.

In a meeting held in December,Graduate Student Council PresidentBarun Singh G and UndergraduateAssociation President Harel M.Williams ’05 said they plan to fixthe lack of definition of the ASA,which is a joint committee of theGSC and UA.

“What we’re changing now isn’tprocedural things, but the definitionof ASA and roles and responsibili-ties of ASA Exec. All those defini-tions in place were missing prior to

now,” Singh said. “We’re not tryingto set up ASA as a separate studentgovernment by any means — it is apart of the UA and GSC.”

The ASA’s responsibilit iesinclude allocating MIT’s very lim-ited supply of office space for stu-dent groups, recognizing newgroups, and enforcing posteringpolicies.

“It hasn’t been clear how theGSC, UA, and ASA should worktogether to advocate on behalf ofstudent groups,” said Williams.

An unclear relationship makes itdifficult for the GSC “to give theASA the support we think it needs,”Singh said.

By Kelley RivoireASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Aimee L. Smith PhD ’02 wasfound not guilty of the offenses ofdisorderly conduct and resistingarrest at a trial last week in Cam-bridge District Court.

Smith was arrested by policeAug. 25 after calling officers “fuck-ing pigs,” asking them if they“knew anything about 1st amend-ment rights,” and then crossing herarms when told she was beingarrested, according to an MIT Policereport.

Judge Jonathan Brant ruled thatalthough there was “no question thewords used were inappropriate andimpolite… the mere uttering of pro-fanity in a public place” was notitself a crime.

Language alone not a violationSmith waived her right to a jury

trial per advice from her lawyerDavid Beck, since “there was noway the case was even going to getto a jury… no reasonable jury orjudge could have found her guilty,”he said.

Beck cited the 1975 case ofCommonwealth v. a Juvenile, inwhich charges of disorderly con-duct were dismissed against a juve-nile who used language similar toSmith’s, as precedent. “Disorderlyconduct has to be conduct. It cannot

just be speech,” he said. Smith said that she disputes the

accounts given by police officers,

Mystery Hunters StudiouslyDefeat Evil in Normalville

UA, GSC Plan Redefinition of ASA

Smith Found Not GuiltyOf Aug. Arrest Charges

Irish Media Lab to Shut Down

ASA, Page 9

CHRISTINA KANG—THE TECH

Nikhil J. Khanna ’08 prepares to hit the oncoming ball in asquash match held on Tuesday, Jan. 18 against Northwest-ern.

Trial, Page 11

By Kelley RivoireASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Hundreds of people greeted lastweekend with no plans for sleepingas the annual Mystery Hunt

descendedon MITonce again.

The hunt began on Friday atnoon and continued until RandomHall’s team Physical Plant found thecoin, winning the hunt. The con-cluding ceremony was held onMonday morning. As the winners,Physical Plant will write next year’sHunt.

Normalville theme for this yearAccording to the hunt’s Web

site, the theme for this year’s huntwas Normalville, a town celebratingits centennial. Struck by meteorites,evil powers were abound.

Participants were charged withcollecting shards of the meteorites

to destroy the evil powers and savethe centennial celebration.

Once a team solved all the puz-zles corresponding to the meteoritesof one color, the answers combinedto form a “metapuzzle” which yield-ed a superpower when solved.

Another set of puzzles for thatcolor was then given, the answers towhich would give the team an arti-cle of clothing necessary to use thesuperpower. With all the articles ofclothing and superpowers, a teamcould defeat the evil in the town andwin the Hunt.

Physical Plant victoriousAlex M. Vandiver ’05, who par-

ticipated in the Hunt for the fourthtime this year, was a member of thewinning team Physical Plant.

Vandiver said that one puzzle,the answer to which was the article

Mystery Hunt, Page 12

Feature

By David Johnston and Michael JanofskyTHE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON

As the capital prepared to cele-brate President Bush’s inaugura-tion, the city on Tuesday appearedmore like a place under siege. Hourby hour the city of grand buildingsand marble statues seemed to dis-appear behind curtains of steelsecurity fences and concrete barri-ers.

Piece by piece, the massive secu-rity plan that officials promisedwould be the tightest ever in post-9/11 America emerged, temporarilyinconveniencing local citizens andvisitors.

Authorities estimate more than ahalf million or more people will

come into the city for the noonswearing-in at the Capitol, and later,for the parade along PennsylvaniaAvenue. On Thursday night, thou-sands of people are expected toattend formal inaugural balls, pri-vate parties and elegant dinners.

Throughout the day on Tuesday,disruptions were the norm. Utilitycrews with acetylene torches snarledtraffic as they welded shut manholecovers along the route of the inau-gural parade. Drivers found no-parking signs, temporary street clo-sures and public warnings that 100blocks of city streets near inauguralevents would be restricted.

Pedestrians had it no better. Offi-cials tightened the broad perimetersurrounding the Capitol, the paraderoute and the presidential reviewing

stand near the White House as con-struction teams added more securityfencing that put more of the city’sbest known public spaces off-limits.People outside at lunchtime duckedas fighter jets screamed across thesky at low altitude, practicing forWednesday’s pre-inaugural ceremo-nial fly-by.

Elsewhere, security teams sweptdozens of hotels and office build-ings overlooking the parade route.Uniformed officers in cruisers frommore than a dozen law enforcementagencies seemed to be everywhereat once.

Standing outside a security fencesurrounding Lafayette Park near theWhite House, Bonnie McKinney, anadvocate for veterans’ benefits, wasannoyed.

WORLD & NATIONPage 2 THE TECH January 19, 2005

Anger Simmers at HarvardFollowing Summers Remark

By Marcella Bombardieri THE BOSTON GLOBE CAMBRIDGE, MA

A suggestion by Harvard University’s president, Lawrence H.Summers, that women may not have the same innate abilities in mathand science as men has touched off an angry response from manyHarvard professors, including members of a committee on women’sissues who sent Summers a letter Tuesday complaining that hisremarks “impede our current efforts to recruit top women scholars.”

In response, Summers wrote that he did not believe “that womenlack the ability to succeed at the highest levels of math and science.”

“I apologize for any adverse impact… on our common efforts tomake steady progress in this critical area,” he said in a return lettersent within hours of hearing from the committee.

Summers has emphasized that when he spoke Friday at a confer-ence in Cambridge he was presenting provocative hypotheses basedon the research of others, rather than offering his personal views. Butthe Harvard professors who are upset say that the president of aworld-famous university does not have the luxury of speaking as anindependent researcher.

Mayors Ask Bush Not to Cut GrantsBy James DaoTHE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON

With many cities still facing tight budgets and declining revenues,mayors from across the nation urged the Bush administration onTuesday not to cut community-development block grants, one of thefederal government’s last direct aid programs for cities.

The administration is preparing a budget request to Congress thatis expected to freeze or reduce spending on an array of domestic pro-grams like housing and agriculture as part of its efforts to trim thefederal deficit, which reached a record $413 billion in the last fiscalyear.

The mayors say they are particularly interested in community-development block grants because cities are allowed to use themoney for many kinds of programs, including housing, job devel-opment and social services in low- and medium-income communi-ties.

Congress appropriated about $5 billion for the block grants thisyear, roughly the same as in recent years. The administration has notreleased its budget plan for the 2006 fiscal year, which begins inOctober, but there has been wide speculation that the request will cutthe grants by as much as 50 percent.

Businessman Pleads Guilty To Trying to Help Hussein

By Neil A. LewisTHE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON

An Iraqi-American businessman who profited from the U.N. oil-for-food aid program with Iraq pleaded guilty Tuesday to four crimi-nal counts. The case, against Samir A. Vincent, included charges thathe enlisted influential former American government officials, whowere not named, to discuss ways to help Saddam Hussein avoid inter-national economic sanctions.

The plea will result in the first conviction in the investigation ofthe oil-for-food program. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Vin-cent was cooperating with the inquiry.

Vincent, a naturalized citizen who has long been involved inIraqi-American affairs, pleaded guilty to secretly working on behalfof the Iraqi government to lobby American and U.N. officials aboutthe sanctions program. In exchange, he received millions of dollarsafter being given the rights to sell millions of barrels of Iraqi oil,according to the charges.

Rice Refuses to Set ScheduleFor Withdrawing from IraqBy Steven R. Weisman and Joel BrinkleyTHE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON

Condoleezza Rice, PresidentBush’s nominee for secretary ofstate, refused Tuesday to set anytimetable for the withdrawal of U.S.troops after the Iraqi elections at theend of this month, but declared thatthe United States was making“some progress” in training Iraqisecurity forces.

Under persistent bipartisan ques-tioning at her confirmation hearingbefore the Senate Foreign RelationsCommittee, Rice also declared thatbeyond strengthening Iraq’s fledg-ling police and military, the mosturgent task facing Iraqis after theelections was to overcome differ-ences among Sunnis Arabs, Shiites,Kurds and others by seeking politi-cal reconciliation among them-selves.

“The Iraqis lack certain capaci-ties, and if we focus in this nextperiod after the election on helpingthem to build those capacitiesbeyond where they are now, I thinkwe will have done a major parttoward the day when less coalitionhelp is needed,” she said.

By far the most severe question-

ing came from Sen. Barbara Boxer,D-Calif., whose berating tone clear-ly rankled Rice and brought anuncharacteristic flash of irritation. Inthe morning session, Boxer focusedsharply on Rice’s past statementsabout nuclear weapons in Iraq,showing them on a cardboard dis-play.

“I personally believe, this is mypersonal view, that your loyalty tothe mission you were given, to sellthis war, overwhelmed your respectfor the truth,” Boxer said acerbically.

“Senator, I have to say that Inever, ever lost respect for the truthin the service of anything,” Riceresponded, her voice sharpening. “Itis not my nature. It is not my char-acter. And I would hope that we canhave this conversation and discusswhat happened before, and whatwent on before and what I said,without impugning my credibility ormy integrity.”

Democrats also focused onRice’s past advocacy of the Iraq warand her role in deciding how manytroops would be needed there, whileseveral Republican Senators calledon Rice and the Bush administrationin general to be more forthcomingabout its strategy and on specifics toback up its claims of progress.

“I can’t give you a timeline,”Rice said, in discussing how theadministration planned to measurethe success in Iraq that would allowan American disengagement. “But Ithink we will know when the Iraqisare able to have in place institutions,no matter how fragile and no matterhow young, where they’re actuallybeginning to try and solve their ownproblems within those institutions.”

Rice opened the hearing bypledging to reinvigorate diplomacyon a number of fronts, from theMiddle East to North Korea andEurope. But while going out of herway to commend and complimentvarious senators for their questionsand their support, Rice refused tosecond-guess the decisions of thepast or predict the future.

“This was never going to beeasy,” Rice said at one point,responding to a challenge about Iraqfrom Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., whowas making his most prominentappearance in Washington since hisdefeat in the presidential election.

“It was always going to have upsand downs,” Rice added. “I’m surethat we have multiple, many deci-sions, some of which were good,some of which might not have beengood.”

Inaugural Preparations ChangeWashington, Disturb Daily Life

Arctic BlastBy J.R. MoskaitisSTAFF METEOROLOGIST

Yesterday was the coldest day in Cambridge since last January, as bitingnorthwesterly winds ushered in arctic air. The high temperature struggled toreach 13°F (–12°C) after bottoming out Tuesday morning at 5°F (–15°C).Today will be somewhat warmer during the daytime, as the wind turns tothe southwest in advance of a low pressure system approaching the region.This storm will cause some light snow in the evening hours and overnight.After a relatively tranquil day on Thursday, another arctic blast arrives forFriday, likely even colder than the one yesterday. The low temperature Fri-day night will likely dip below 0°F (–18°C).

It is little consolation, but our weather would be considered downrightbalmy compared to that of northern Minnesota recently. On Monday morn-ing the temperature there dropped to –54°F (–48°C), only 6°F shy of thelowest temperature ever record in that state. Now that is truly arctic weath-er!

Extended Forecast:

Today: Overcast, light snow likely towards evening. High: 24 (–4°C)Tonight: Light snow, accumulating 3 inches (8 cm). Low: 22 (–6°C)Thursday: Partly cloudy. High: 31 (–1°C)Friday: Frigid and windy. High: 10 (–12°C)Saturday: Sunny, but remaining cold. High: 20 (–7°C)Sunday: Snow possible, windy. High: 26 (–3°C)

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WEATHERSituation for Noon Eastern Standard Time, Wednesday, January 19, 2005

January 19, 2005 WORLD & NATION THE TECH Page 3

Iranian Officials Reject Bush WarningBy Nazila FathiTHE NEW YORK TIMES TEHRAN

Iranian officials declared Tuesday that Iran would not be intimi-dated by threats, a day after President Bush refused to rule out mili-tary action against Iran if it continues to pursue nuclear weapons.

“We are not afraid of foreign enemies’ threats and sanctions, sincethey know well that throughout its Islamic and ancient history Iranhas been no place for adventurism,” Iran’s former president, AliAkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, told the state news agency, IRNA.

Iran’s defense minister, Ali Shamkhani, appeared to make somethreats of his own, saying, “We have developed a might that no coun-try can attack us because they do not have accurate information aboutour military capabilities,” according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.“We have produced equipment at a rapid pace with the minimuminvestment that has resulted in the greatest deterrent force.”

Rafsanjani announced in October that Iran had successfullyincreased the range of its missile, Shahab-3, to 1,200 miles, puttingIsrael, U.S. military bases in the Persian Gulf and even parts ofEurope in range.

The Mehr news agency, which reportedly has close ties to theoffice of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, boasted in non-specific terms about Iran’s capacity to retaliate against any attacks.“Today, the Islamic Republic has acquired massive military might,the dimensions of which still remain unknown, and is prepared toattack any intruder with a fearsome rain of fire and death,” it said,according to Reuters.

Israeli Banks Criticized forHandling of Holocaust Assets

By Steven ErlangerTHE NEW YORK TIMES JERUSALEM

Israeli banks holding assets from European Jews killed in theHolocaust failed to make a determined effort to return the holdings totheir heirs, and when they were returned, they were not returned attheir proper value, according to a report of the Israeli parliamentreleased Tuesday.

The Israeli government, as custodian for a large part of the assets,also failed to make a serious effort to maintain their value or to returnthem to survivors or heirs, the report said.

What we have discovered, in particular the attitude of the banks,has filled us with disgust,” said the chairwoman of a parliamentarycommittee, Colette Avital, a Labor Party legislator.

Under pressure from the United States and Israel, the banks andgovernments of Switzerland and Austria have worked to disclose theaccounts of those believed to be Holocaust victims and survivors, soassets can be returned to relatives. Switzerland, for example, agreed topay compensation of $1.25 billion after more than 54,000 dormantaccounts traced to World War II or earlier were found in Swiss banks.

The Israeli report, after four years of investigation, found that9,000 people or their heirs were eligible for compensation from theIsraeli government and the banks, amounting to an estimated $31.5million. Of those 9,000 names, about 6,000 were listed as victims ofthe Holocaust by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust museum.

U.S. Cattlemen Angry Over Plan To Resume Canadian Imports

By Jim RobbinsTHE NEW YORK TIMES HELENA, MONT.

Canada is nearly 200 miles north of here as the crow flies, but itlooms very large once again to cattle ranchers like Craig Winterburn.

The Bush administration is moving ahead with plans to reopen theborder with Canada to the import of live cattle and beef on March 7,despite two new cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, com-monly called mad cow disease, in Canada. Both cases were found inAlberta, the province just north of here.

The decision has ignited anger and concern among cattlemenacross the West, who say reopening the northern border could endan-ger an industry that is prospering for the first time in many years. Onecattle producers group has asked a federal court to keep the cattle andbeef from coming into the United States.

The administration announced Dec. 29 that it would allow theimport of cows under the age of 30 months as well as an expandedvariety of beef; the new cases were confirmed since then.

Winterburn, who is in the midst of the calving season on his ranchin the hills near Helena, the state capital, is not involved in the law-suit, but is incensed by the decision to allow imports.

“I truly sympathize with those producers up there in Canada,” hesaid. “They’re in a world of hurt. But it would stymie the chances ofgetting Japan to open up again.”

Airbus Unveils A380, Seating 555By Mark LandlerTHE NEW YORK TIMES TOULOUSE, FRANCE

Europe heralded a new era in air travel here on Tuesday, christen-ing the Airbus A380, a gargantuan, double-deck plane dedicated tothe principle that size matters.

As a blue curtain rose in an assembly hall here to reveal the A380,the plane loomed like some kind of preternatural earthbound bird —with a 262-foot wingspan, a 239-foot-long fuselage, a cabin that cancomfortably seat 555 and a takeoff weight when fully loaded of 1.2million pounds.

It was welcomed by a retinue of European leaders, including Pres-ident Jacques Chirac of France, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britainand Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany, for whom the A380represents not just an ambitious industrial project but a proud symbolof the economic integration of Europe.

The A380’s maiden flight is not scheduled until March. But thepomp and ceremony of Tuesday’s unveiling underscored the criticalimportance of this plane to Airbus and its fierce battle with Boeing.Airbus, part of the European consortium EADS, surpassed Boeing inthe number of planes delivered to airlines in 2004 for the second con-secutive year. With the A380, the company, which is owned byEurope’s aerospace industry, will dominate the lucrative segment ofvery large planes that Boeing pioneered in the 1970s with the 747.

BU Acknowledges ResearchersExposed to Lethal BacteriumBy Stephen Smith THE BOSTON GLOBE

BOSTON, MA

Three Boston Universityresearchers became ill last year afterbeing exposed in a laboratory to apotentially lethal bacterium calledtularemia, university and publichealth authorities said Tuesday.

It was the first known instance ofresearchers in a Boston lab becom-ing infected with a biological agentthey were studying, according to acity public health official, and itcame at an awkward time for BU -when it was seeking local and feder-al approval for a high-security lab tostudy the most feared infectious dis-eases in the world.

How the workers became infect-ed remains unclear, although BUofficials said that researchers hadviolated procedures intended to pro-tect them from exposure. Tworesearchers became ill in May and athird in September, apparently afterseparate exposures, but their illness-es were not linked to tularemia untilOctober.

BU reported the cases to city,state, and federal health authoritiesin November — at about the timepublic hearings on the high-securitylab were being held. But neither theuniversity nor the governmentagencies disclosed the cases to thepublic at the time, saying there wasno risk to public health becausetularemia is not transmitted personto person.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino,who learned of the incident fromBU and city public health officials,also decided against telling city resi-dents.

“Right from the moment that hewas made aware of the situation,the Public Health Commissionassured him there was no publicthreat whatsoever, and he’s made itclear that if there was any publicthreat whatsoever, the public wouldhave been advised immediately,”said Seth Gitell, the mayor’sspokesman.

With Menino’s enthusiasticbacking, the city Zoning Commis-sion gave its final approval to the

high security biolab last week. Thelab must still be approved by theNational Institute of Allergy andInfectious Diseases - which is con-sidered likely because it’s the sameagency that in 2003 selected BU asone of two sites nationally forsophisticated new labs able to studyanthrax, plague and other deadlypathogens.

BU and public health officialsdiscussed the incidents publicly forthe first time Tuesday after mediainquiries.

The president of the Conserva-tion Law Foundation, which hasopposed building the high-securitylab in an urban neighborhood asdense as the South End, said Tues-day night that the accident high-lights the risk of studying dangerousbiological and chemical agents.

“The assurances that BU hasgiven that it can maintain perfectcontrol of these facilities are calledinto question,” said Philip Warburg,leader of the environmental group.“We’re also disturbed that this inci-dent is only coming to light today.”

By Suzanne SmalleyTHE BOSTON GLOBE

BOSTON, MA

A public safety survey commis-sioned by the Boston Police Depart-ment suggests more public distrustthan in past surveys and an increasein citizen complaints about 911 ser-vice, excessive use of force, police-visibility in minority neigh-borhoods, and officers’ profession-alism.

The report, released Tuesday,recommends several overhauls,including improvement in 911emergency services, which wererated lower than at any time since1997.

The report’s authors suggestthat the department examine themanagement and training of 911operators, as well as begin tracking911 calls to evaluate whether theywere handled correctly.

The department’s Office ofResearch and Evaluation also callsfor bolstering community policingbecause many residents complainedabout seeing officers patrolling theirneighborhoods less frequently thanin previous years.

The respondents also said thecity should start more programs tohelp reduce youth violence, and thereport’s authors said the department

should examine policies on racialprofiling and use of force.

Police Commissioner KathleenM. O’Toole said Tuesday that thedepartment is always working toimprove its community outreachefforts and works regularly withcriminologists and scholars at theNortheastern University’s Instituteon Race and Justice to fine-tuneracial profiling and use-of-forcepolicies.

She said 911 response is of par-ticular concern because of frequentcomplaints about response time,usually from people who call withnonemergencies during peak hours.“I think 911 is something we haveto constantly reassess,” O’Toolesaid. “That’s often a citizen’s onlyinteraction with the Police Depart-ment.”

The survey is the broadest andmost recent look at how the publiclooks at the Police Department. Itwas conducted in late 2003 and hasa margin of error of plus or minusone percentage point for citywidedata and 3 to 5 percentage points fordata broken down by Police Depart-ment districts.

Among key findings:The number of people with a

favorable opinion of the PoliceDepartment declined from 77 per-

cent in 2001 to 72 percent in 2003.The number of residents who

saw officers working in their neigh-borhood daily declined from 54 per-cent in 2001 to 47 percent in 2003.

While 48 percent of respondentsoverall said racial profiling is aproblem for the department, 73 per-cent of African-Americans and 54percent of Hispanics said so.

While 25 percent of all respon-dents believed that use of excessiveforce is a problem, significantlymore African-Americans, 49 per-cent, did.

A third complained about offi-cers not being fair and respectful toall people. The gap in opinionbetween white and black respon-dents widened from 23 percentagepoints in 2001 to 31 percentagepoints in 2003.

The department paid $80,000 toAtlantic Research & Consulting, aBoston professional market researchfirm to conduct the survey, whichwas based on phone interviews with2,023 city residents who were askedmore than 60 questions. The respon-dents were called in November andDecember 2003, before a surge inhomicides and the death of severalresidents at the hands of policestrained the department’s communi-ty ties last year.

Iraqi Rebels Release Archbishop ButHold Eight Chinese Workers HostageBy Jeffrey Gettleman and Edward WongTHE NEW YORK TIMES

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

Insurgents on Tuesday released aSyrian Catholic archbishop they hadsnatched from the streets of Mosulthe day before, but a few hours latera new hostage drama opened wheneight Chinese construction workerswere shown forlornly staring at avideo camera with masked menpointing guns at their heads.

Also, the Iraqi interior ministerissued a bleak forecast, saying thatunless enough people vote in theelections on Jan. 30, the countrywould tear itself apart.

“If there are not good elections,we won’t have a constitution, andthere will be chaos, and we willhave a civil war,” the minister,Falah Hassan al-Naqib, said at anews conference in the heavily for-tified Interior Ministry in Baghdad.

Gunfire rattled behind him nearlythe whole time he spoke. Naqib didnot specify how much voter turnout

would qualify as a good election.John D. Negroponte, the U.S.

ambassador to Iraq, said he wasconfident that “elections can andwill be conducted successfully,” buthe acknowledged that there was noend in sight to the insurgency andthat American officials still did notknow how big it was.

“I’m not sure anybody has a han-dle on the size of the insurgency,”Negroponte said at a lunch sessionwith reporters.

Among American and Iraqi offi-cials, estimates of the number ofguerrilla fighters have fluctuatedwildly, from the thousands, as thePentagon has said, to the hundredsof thousands, as many Iraqi officialsbelieve.

The newly released archbishop,Basile Georges Casmoussa, was in ajovial mood as he met with friendsand well-wishers at his Eastern RiteCatholic church in Mosul, a crime-ridden city in northern Iraq that con-tains one of Iraq’s larger Christiancommunities. Christians make up

about 3 percent of Iraq’s total popu-lation.

Recounting his abduction, thearchbishop said he was cominghome from work on Mondayevening, just around dusk, when acar suddenly blocked the road infront of him and gunmen jumpedout. Insurgents grabbed the 66-year-old archbishop and stuffed him inthe trunk.

“I thought these were the lastminutes of my life,” Casmoussa said.

He said the insurgents kept ask-ing the same question: Are you anAmerican spy?

“I told them you do not knowme,” he said. “We are Christians,and we believe the Americans areoccupiers.”

The archbishop was releasedTuesday morning.

The eight Chinese workers arestill missing, and the only clue totheir whereabouts is a hazy videoshot in front of a brick wall andbroadcast Tuesday on several Arabtelevision channels.

Boston Police Survey Finds LessTrust of Service, More Complaints

Letter To The EditorHomecourt Advantage

I arrived early at Tuesday night’s Worces-ter Polytechnic Institute/Massachusetts Insti-tute of Technology basketball game at theRockwell Cage pitting the Engineers againstthe Engineers. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.Serenaded by Fitty Cent’s “Shake that assgirl,” the two teams executed their warm updrills wearing the same exact colors, and thenplayed a hard-fought game with Poly pulling

away from Tech at the end for a four pointvictory.

I recommend these games to all membersof the MIT community. I was pleased to see atleast three MIT professors in the crowd ges-ticulating wildly at times, but MIT did notseem to have the home court advantage wedeserve. Reasons to go: there are cheerleaders(although they refuse to come onto the courtduring timeouts so we can see them), coach

Larry Anderson is a cool guy, the price isright (free), and our point guard, DannyKanamori, is not only a good ballplayer, buthas a role in the upcoming flick, Coach Carter.

Come on MIT, take a break from your labsand libraries and witness a great Americanspectacle, unspoiled. Emerson is in town onthe 20th.

Bob DeLaneyMIT Center for Real Estate ’05

OPINIONPage 4 THE TECH January 19, 2005

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January 19, 2005 OPINION THE TECH Page 5

Ali Wyne

In one of his most celebrated memoirs, InRetrospect, former Secretary of State RobertMcNamara identified eleven reasons why theUnited States lost the Vietnam War. The thirdof these is, “We underestimated the power ofnationalism to motivate a people… to fightand die for their beliefs and values — and wecontinue to do so today in many parts of theworld.” Ho Chi Minh, arguably Vietnam’smost famous statesman, once stated that “Youcan kill ten of my men for every one I kill ofyours. But even at those odds, you will loseand I will win.” Indeed, North Vietnam’snationalism remained fervent and pervasiveeven as North Vietnam sustained uncon-scionable devastation in between 1945 and1975. The Pentagon Papers grudginglyacknowledged that Ho’s revolutionary organi-zation, the Vietminh, embodied the wishesand dreams of the common people. It was“irrefutably nationalist, popular, and patriot-ic.”

Insofar as nationalism plays a vital role inglobal conflicts, Iraq is very much like Viet-nam. In fact, the force of nationalism is sostrong in Iraq that it has, to a remarkableextent, galvanized Sunni and Shi’ite factions— otherwise virulent enemies — against theUnited States’ occupation. The Bush adminis-tration has reacted to this particular develop-ment with perplexity, and has been very reluc-

tant to admit the possibility that resentment ofits policies is common among the Iraqi peo-ple. The reality is that no people will staysilent as their nation is so drastically and vio-lently transformed.

It is for this reason that the prospects forIraq are so grim. It is increasingly clear thatwhoever ultimately triumphs on January 30will have at best marginal support, and, will,furthermore, find it excruciatingly difficult tounite rival factions. Consider that currentinterim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’sapproval rating hovers around five percent,while that of interim President Ghazi MashalAjil al-Yawer stands at seven percent. If his-tory serves as an accurate precedent, Iraq willmost likely be the site of deadly sectarianviolence, similar to that which grippedLebanon during its destructive, fifteen-yearcivil war. There is no reason to expect anyabatement in terrorist activities, and, to thecontrary, it is quite plausible that after elec-tions, terrorists will employ even moresophisticated and lethal means to destabilizeIraq.

In the 1950s, American leaders publiclyhailed South Vietnam as a democraticnation, even though CIA official EdwardLandsdale privately described i t as an“emerging fascist state.” The United States’client leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, was held incontempt by most South Vietnamese citi-zens, partly because he was a Catholic,unlike the vast majority of South Viet-

namese, who were Buddhist. More impor-tantly, he was reviled because of his sup-pression of South Vietnam’s nationalistgroundswell. The Diem regime closed downnewspapers, detained thousands of politicalopponents, terrorized the Buddhist popula-tion, and even employed a 50,000-strongsecret police to silence opposition to its rule.

Today, the Bushadministration mistak-enly touts Iraq as anascent democracy.Allawi is disdained bythe vast majority ofIraqi citizens, partlybecause he is secular,unlike the vast majori-ty of Iraqis, who aredeeply religious. Moreimportantly, he isresented because of hiscasual willingness toemploy repressivemeans to contain vio-lence and instability inIraq. Allawi has already reinstated the deathpenalty, reserved the right to declare martiallaw in parts of Iraq, and temporarily shutdown al-Jazeera — one of the few organs ofindependent media in the Arab world — for“inciting hatred” and “encourag[ing] criminalsto increase their activities.” If terrorismincreases in the aftermath of elections, as italmost certainly will, Iraq’s new administra-

tion will resort to even more draconian mea-sures to assure stability, thereby fuelingresentment and providing legitimacy to terror-ists’ depraved causes. Decently extricatingitself from this vicious cycle of repression andviolence will require extraordinary ingenuityon the part of the new administration.Whether or not it will know how to or be will-

ing to find reasonablesolutions to Iraq’s bed-lam remains to beseen.

What is clear,though, is that democ-racy is a process whichmust be nurtured fromwithin, not a systemwhich can be forciblyimposed from the out-side. It would seemevident that the specterof Vietnam, perhapsthe most painful periodin all of this nation’shistory, would guide

today’s foreign policymakers. After all, theUnited States’ defeat in 1975 represented itsconcession of the futility of force to imposechange. The Bush administration, however,has demonstrated a tragic ignorance of andcontempt for historical lessons. In the epicbattle between nationalism and force which isshaping up in Iraq, it looks as if the formerwill once again prevail.

Nationalism in Vietnam and Iraq

Nicholas Baldasaro

To many of the modern intellectual or lib-eral persuasion, religion is a dirty word. Thecharges frequently brought against religions,and especially Christianity are considerable:that religion has no basis except in revealedtexts, that its adherents are establishedthrough faith rather than reason, and most sig-nificantly, that there is no link between moral-ity and religion and indeed that religion is fre-quently a force for bigotry, exploitation, andall things under the sun considered unfortu-nate in general. These opinions are fundamen-tally misleading and extreme, and a side-by-side comparison ofreligion with moresecular institutionswill reveal the truth ofit.

Too many detrac-tors of religion takethe easy way out ofdebate by pointing to aholy book, like theBible, which is filledwith fabulous and con-tradictory tales ofmythical origin, and concluding that such awork of fantasy is no basis for either a moralcode or a history lesson by today’s rationalstandards. This is a normal reaction; divinerevelation is hearsay to those of us alive 2000years after the fact. The problem with thistechnique of dismissing religion though, isthat every standard that we know, religious orsecular, has such a fault to it — that it is ulti-mately derived from assumption vulnerable toperpetual challenge. Many physicists acceptthe most fundamental postulate of physics,that energy only changes form, and cannot becreated or destroyed. This acceptance is basedsolely on one’s personal experience and thesay so of other physicists — interestingly, all

of science is logically derived from an articleof faith supported by fallible human percep-tion.

One might be inclined to challenge a con-clusion so sweeping, on the grounds thatwhile the basis of science may be an assump-tion, the hard results of science (astronomy,penicillin, eyeglasses) are real and quantifi-able, whereas religion is ad hoc and nebulousthrough and through. This challenge is severe-ly undermined, however, because religion isprimarily concerned not with flying planes,but with producing behavior pleasing to adeity or group of deities, or if one prefers,“ethical” behavior. The useful results of theapplication of science do nothing to change

the bottom line — thatit is founded on a fan-tastic and unprovabletale of matter that can-not be created ordestroyed, and this inan environment full ofcreation. Science ulti-mately does no betterin explaining existencethan religion, althoughthankfully it does pro-duce some useful gad-

gets along the way. Put another way, there isno book not built of grand assumption, noarticle of wisdom not derived from revelation.The religious then, should not be dismissedsimply on the basis of believing things that donot follow from reason.

A second method of detracting from reli-gion focuses not on the supposed absurdity ofits origin, but on the supposed ignorance ofits following. It is often asserted that the reli-gious crowd has come by its beliefs not bylogic and education, but by a sort of groupbrainwashing, where an emphasis on confor-mity and devotion supersede a pursuit ofknowledge, tolerance, or whatever other goodthing one might wish. This challenge, too, is

undermined, because once again the chal-lenge applies to all secular wisdoms as well.The great, great majority of the beliefs aboutour world are based on the hearsay of thosearound us, be they friends, family, or collegeprofessors. Students in primary and sec-ondary school are in a very real sense being“brainwashed,” the only difference is that thatsort of brainwashing has very great consensusamongst our society; we call it education. Idoubt any but a handful of physics students inthe world have demonstrated Maxwell’s laws,or quantum mechanics, or relativity from firstprinciples laid out in their textbooks. Noschoolchild of 18, certified to vote, has anyproof of the history in his history book,either. This is only even the tip of the iceberg,when one considers how much disagreementthere is amongst experts in any given field asto the very basic assumptions of that field.What any person of secular inclination takesas “reason” or “fact” is in most cases trulynothing other than the consensus of his com-munity, hardly a position of strength fromwhich to sneer at the ignorance of the reli-gious. People form the majority of their opin-ions based on immersion with others whoshare that opinion. The same old problem sur-faces, namely that since any person by neces-sity was not present at the conception of dis-covery, he must take his learning byassurance from the more learned.

A final complaint heard frequently aboutreligion is that it is wholly removed from therealm of ethics or morals. Let us suppose thatwhenever someone speaks about morality,they seek to praise one kind of behavior andto damn others, and that the first kind is con-sidered by them to be “good” and the secondkind “bad.” Many complain that religionamounts to arbitrary edicts set forth thousandsof years prior, and that standards for ethicalbehavior should not flow from religion.

Behavioral standards set forth by religioncarry heavy tolls with them — the understand-

ing is that bad behavior leads to punishment,while good behavior is intrinsically pleasingto a higher authority. Additionally, standardsare objective and unchanging. Furthermore,standards that reject religion and deities aresubjective — any standard devised by ahuman being is subject to all the flawed think-ing and baseless assumptions detailed above.Any attempt by a human to detail an objectivebasis for behavior must eventually exploit anassumption, turning it back into a one-personreligion. Therefore, whoever rejects religionnecessarily rejects objective standards forgood and bad, because good and bad are mys-tical character judgments that have no mean-ing outside of some greater power.

And here the problem arises. Behavioralstandards set forth outside of religion are nec-essarily arbitrary and therefore carry no realtoll for deviance. There is a lot of rubbish thatfloats around on the ocean of philosophyabout “self-interest,” and “societal utility” butif good and bad are confined only to a roleconcerned with public welfare, then badbehavior loses its stigma. Why would one careto act good simply to follow an arbitrarysocial standard? What does it mean to be goodwhen “good” becomes equivalent only with“nice”? If one wishes to discuss morals andright and wrong, then one must anchor theirstandard with some assumption about the cos-mos, immediately identifying one as religious.

The conclusion to these thoughts is thatevery person alive is religious, whether or notthey care to identify with a larger body ofworship. The complaints we all make aboutthis misunderstood institution exist in everyother part of our lives. Religion remains avery, very good way to get things done, andthose who claim to despise it live it nonethe-less. Despite its shortcomings, religionremains as credible a tool for deciphering thereality around us as any other.

Nicholas Baldasaro is a member of theclass of 2005.

No Ethics Without Religion

In fact, the force of nationalism isso strong in Iraq that it has, to aremarkable extent, galvanizedSunni and Shi’ite factions —otherwise virulent enemies —

against the United States’occupation.

The great, great majority of thebeliefs about our world are basedon the hearsay of those aroundus, be they friends, family, or

college professors.

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By Marcella Bombardieri and Gareth CookTHE BOSTON GLOBE

A stem cell research scientist atthe Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology said on Jan. 13 that he isbeing denied the opportunity to gettenure because of racism.

Dr. James L. Sherley, one of 28black professors at MIT, said thedecision not to put him forward fortenure is only the latest example ofracism he has experienced at MIT.He said he has been denied suffi-cient lab space, paid less than hispeers, and repeatedly slighted bycolleagues.

Sherley, a proponent of contro-versial theories about stem cells,also said that he has not been giventhe freedom to challenge scientificorthodoxy that white faculty mem-bers are given.

“This is a case of an uppityNegro, and there is a group of facul-ty who would like to see me moveon,” said Sherley, the only black outof about 40 professors in his depart-ment.

Asked to respond to Sherley’sallegations, MIT released a state-

ment saying: “An allegation of dis-crimination is a matter of great con-cern to MIT… These are seriouscharges that will be handled serious-ly, according to our well-establishedprocedures for handling griev-ances.”

Sherley’s accusations touch onone of MIT’s self-acknowledgedfaults — its trouble increasing theshare of non-Asian minorities on itsfaculty. Black, Hispanic, and NativeAmerican professors representabout 4 percent of the 970-memberfaculty, though that proportion is nolower than at most science and engi-neering programs around the coun-try.

Former President Charles M.Vest has said the greatest regret ofhis tenure was not achieving greaterdiversity among the faculty andgraduate students.

“It is a cold, hard fact that therewas a time when MIT was a clearleader in attracting women andminorities to science and engineer-ing,” he said at a faculty meetinglast year. “I do not feel today thatwe can claim that same leadershipposition.”

His successor, Susan Hockfield,who started her job last month, hascited diversity as a concern.

But only 41 percent of juniorprofessors hired at MIT earn tenure,and there are factors that may com-plicate Sherley’s case. The son of aBaptist minister, Sherley is vocal inhis opposition to research usinghuman embryonic stem cellsbecause he thinks this amounts tosacrificing human lives. This standputs him at odds with most of hisscientific colleagues — and onceprompted a shouting match withanother scientist at a faculty dinnerat the Blue Room, a Cambridgerestaurant, he said.

Several stem cell biologists con-tacted by the Globe said on Jan. 13that Sherley’s theories about adultstem cells, which do not require thedestruction of embryos, are contro-versial, and that he had not pub-lished papers in the field’s elite jour-nals.

But Sherley said on Jan. 13 thatDouglas A. Lauffenburger, thedirector of the Biological Engineer-ing division, did not cite Sherley’spublications as a reason for not sup-porting his tenure application. Lauf-fenburger was traveling on Jan. 13and could not be reached.

If Sherley is not granted tenurethis year, he will have to leave MIT.He was hired in July 1998 as anassistant professor, and later pro-moted to associate professor withouttenure.

According to standard practice,Lauffenburger solicited letters fromthe world experts in the field tocomment on the importance ofSherley’s work. Then the senior fac-ulty of the department met inDecember to discuss the letters,Sherley’s publications, and his aca-demic work in general, according toSherley.

On Jan. 3, Sherley said, Lauffen-burger told him that senior facultydid not believe that Sherley’s casefor tenure was strong enough, andthat he would not forward it to theengineering council, the next step inthe process.

In a later meeting, Sherley saidthat Lauffenburger told him the out-side letters were strong, and that thefundamental problem was that hehad not convinced the faculty that

his approach to adult stem cellresearch was truly promising.

Sherley said that he has mademajor discoveries, and that MIT hasfiled 10 patent applications stem-ming from his work, and one hasalready been licensed, a sign of itscommercial interest.

He stressed that he had not expe-rienced any overt racism at MIT,but that the environment was hostilein myriad ways. He recalled manyinstances of being asked whose labhe worked in, when he runs his ownlab. When he didn’t take the adviceof other scientists, he said, he waslabeled “stubborn” instead of inde-pendent-minded.

After a faculty dinner devolvedinto a shouting match about the rela-tive merits of embryonic and adultstem cells, he said he was no longerinvited to the dinners. Slowly, hesaid, he became more and moreostracized, and the atmospherebecome more poisonous.

“This is what racism looks liketoday,” he said.

On Sunday, Sherley sent an e-mail to about 15 people at MIT, lay-ing out his qualifications and exam-ples of how he has been slighted.

“In light of MIT’s current initia-tives to increase diversity among theranks of tenured faculty, you shouldall be embarrassed that I have to besubjected to this,” he wrote. “Butthen, has there ever been a singleAfrican American tenure candidateat MIT who was not?”

In the e-mail, Sherley said hewanted Lauffenburger to give him awritten apology and send his tenurecase forward.

Yesterday, Sherley said he hasmade appointments with the dean ofengineering and provost, both ofwhom were out of the country andcould not be reached for comment.Sherley said that he also requested ameeting with Hockfield, but that heroffice had not replied yet, other thanto acknowledge the request. “I haveno plans to leave MIT,” he said.

Hockfield did not respond torequests for comment.

Sherley’s work focuses on dis-covering the intricate machinerythat stem cells use to divide, andharnessing this machinery to coaxstem cells to grow better in labora-tory conditions.

Page 8 THE TECH January 19, 2005

Prof. Claims Racism Hurt Tenure Decision

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Boston Modern Orchestra ProjectSaturday, January 22, 2005

8:00pmJordan Hall at New England Conservatory

Boston Connection

Michael McLaughlin, Murder (2003)(Selected score from the 7th annual NEC/BMOPcomposition contest)

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TICKETS AVAILABLEat the MIT Office of the Arts: E15-205

T, W, and Th from 10am - 4pmOne ticket per valid MIT student ID

Collage New MusicSunday, January 23, 2005

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No tickets are required for Collage New Music Concerts

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Free tickets for MIT students2 great concerts = one great weekend!

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Williams and Singh said theyhope that allowing for more flexibil-ity will empower the ASA executiveboard to act on its own more, withappropriate checks and balancesfrom student groups, the GSC, andthe UA.

Communication to be improvedPart of the change to the ASA

will be improved communicationwith student groups. Many studentgroups simply want to be informedabout what the ASA is doing, par-ticularly through an improved WebSite where procedures and policiesare made clear, Williams said.

“I don’t think the ASA has a par-ticular difficulty in communicatingwith student groups… it’s just thatthere needs to be more emphasis onkeeping things up to date and clear,”Singh said.

“We will send the information[for students to be involved in thechanges] at the appropriate time,and we will send things out to stu-dent groups and get feedback fromrepresentatives,” he said.

Changes to be written into bylawsThe changes will most likely be

written into the UA and GSCbylaws, similar to the way otherGSC and UA committees aredefined, Singh said. The existing“constitution” will no longer beused. The bylaws will establishoperating guidelines for the ASAand clearly define how they can bechanged.

Singh and Williams first broughtup the issue of the ASA’s unclearrole with respect to the GSC andUA at the ASA General Body Meet-ing in late October.

The GSC will vote on the bylawschange for the ASA in March,Singh said. The UA Senate willprobably also vote in March,Williams said.

Changes to UA, GSCBylaws to Help ASAASA, from Page 1

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Next application deadline:

January 28, 2005!

Important information is available on the web:

Grants Guidelines: http://web.mit.edu/arts/do/funding/grantguide.html

Application form: http://web.mit.edu/arts/do/funding/grantform.html

Please contact the director of the Council for the Arts at MIT, SusanCohen, at cohen@media.mit.edu, to make an appointment to discussyour project and the Council’s application process.

Requests for funding submitted on this deadlinemust be for projects that begin no sooner than March 10, 2005

but regardless, she was “within [her]rights.”

Smith accused of disturbing peaceMIT Patrol Off icer Joseph

D’Amelio, who arrested Smithand was also a transporting officerin her arrest on June 4 at MIT’sCommencement, said that Smithapproached MIT Patrol OfficersBrian J . Sousa Jr . , Kevin M.O’Connor, and himself a tlunchtime near the Student Cen-ter.

D’Amelio said that Smith askedthe officers if they “know anythingabout [their] f irst amendmentrights” and then called them “fuck-ing pigs.”

He said he advised Smith toleave the area three times beforetelling her that she was under arrest.D’Amelio said Smith then “put herarms into her chest” and resistedarrest.

Officer Sousa called Smith’sbehavior “boisterous” and “loud,”

and D’Amelio said that Smith was“disturbing the peace of the people.”

Police account disputed by SmithSmith called the accounts given

by police officers “not factual.” Shesaid D’Amelio threatened her andsaid, “you remember me, Aimee,don’t you.”

Beck called the descriptions ofthe incident by police “imaginativeconstruction[s]” that “weren’tquite accurate.” Police exaggerated“to make their case better,” hesaid.

Smith said that she is encour-aged by the verdict. “I’ll keepingstanding up,” she said.

Smith Alleges PoliceAccounts InaccurateTrial, from Page 1

Solution toKRT Crossword

from page 7

By Kathy DobsonASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

At the January General Councilmeeting last Wednesday, the Gradu-ate Student Council voted to formal-ly endorse the creation of an Officeand Assistant Dean of Lesbian,Bisexual, Gay, and TransgenderedServices.

The new office and assistantdean will “serve as a centralizedplace” to coordinate existing ser-vices and provide support and edu-cation to the MIT community onLBGT issues, said Brian A.Rubineau G, the author of the pro-posal.

The vote passed with 37 for, 5against, and 4 abstaining.

Thomas E. Robinson, programcoordinator of student life pro-grams, said that in addition to coor-dinating LBGT activities and react-ing to issues in the MIT community,the assistant dean would be able toreach out to other groups such asdormitories, fraternities, sororities,living groups, athletics teams, andminorities.

LBGT group initiated proposalThe LBGT proposal was origi-

nally put forth by the LBGT IssuesGroup, a committee of students, fac-

ulty, staff, and alumni that meetsmonthly to discuss projects intendedto address issues facing the MITLBGT community. The proposalrecommends that the new office becreated within the Office of StudentLife.

Currently, LBGT programs fallunder the MIT Student Life Pro-grams, but there is no office or offi-cial position specifically dedicatedto coordinating LBGT services.Robinson said that he and JamesCollin, assistant dean for counselingand support services, have been vol-unteering to coordinate LBGT ser-vices.

“Most of our peer institutionsacross the country have full-timestaffing positions” similar to theproposed position, Robinson said.

Funding tops students’ concernsSeveral council members

expressed concern about funding theproposal given MIT’s recent budgetcuts. “Their concerns were mostlybudgetary,” Rubineau said, referringto the other GSC representatives.

In the proposal, the LBGT IssuesGroup requested $65,000 annuallyfor salary and benefits for the newposition, $28,000 of which hasalready been secured through analumni gift and from the Office ofStudent Life. Rubineau said thatcommittee members are “trying tosecure more of the funding throughdonors so it wouldn’t be a big bur-den for the Institute.”

Robinson said that the GSC isthe first student group to officiallyendorse the LBGT Staffing Propos-al. He said that Larry G. Benedict,Dean of Student Life, was contactedin December regarding the positionand presently, the proposal is “under

review.” Other members of the fac-ulty and administration haveendorsed the proposal, includingAlan E. Siegel, Chief of MentalHealth Service at MIT Medical.

Robinson said that he hopesaction will be taken by this summer.

GSC passes other legislationIn addition to passing the LBGT

Staffing Proposal endorsement, theGSC also unanimously passed twoamendments to the constitution andbylaws.

One amendment simplified thedescription of the operation of thegraduate student-run MuddyCharles Pub at Walker Memorialto allow the Board of Governorsmore liberty in running the pub.The amendment also revokes theex-officio membership of theAssociate and Assistant Deans forGraduate Education to the pub’sboard.

The other amendment changesthe GSC Constitution to make iteasier to add to the council positionsfor representatives of newly-builtgraduate residences.

Page 12 THE TECH January 19, 2005

MACROEPIDEMIOLOGY

BE.102 TR3-4:30 56-169 (U) SPRING 2005 (3-0-9)

Created for new to advanced students interested in a personal integrated

perspective of the physiologic, genetic and environmental causes of common

mortal diseases. Each student will learn by organizing and analyzing

multiple levels of data for a self-chosen disease such as a cancer, vascular

disease or diabetes. Beginning with the quantitative complete history of

common disease mortality in the U.S. (See http://epidemiology.mit.edu.)

students will create qualitative, then quantitative, models based on human

populations genetics, human somatic genetics, cellular and molecular biology

and the history of changes in the human environment. Includes technological

approaches to discover the genes, if any, carrying risk for common diseases.

Bill Thilly, '67, Professor of Genetic Toxicology and Biological Engineering

<thilly@mit.edu>

Campus Safety 101 Margeaux Randolph, Shavonne Hylton

Thu Jan 20, 04-05:00 pm, 2-136

No enrollment limit, no advance sign up

Single session event

Ever wish you could call a cab and charge the fare to your

Bursar Account? Would you like Saferide to come around

more often? When you walk across Briggs Field, do you feel

there should be more lighting?

Well come join us, a group of MIT students, as we address

safety issues that affect all members of our community. We’ll

discuss Saferide; crime mapping; streetlights; a bill we’re

supporting that expands access to information about campus

crime problems; and a project started by students at another

Cambridge-area university, called U-Cabs. Learn how you can

act effectively to help make our campus more secure. And

pick up a free police whistle or Mini Personal Alarm!

Web: <http://student.mit.edu/iap/nsshavone.html>

Refreshments provided

GSC Recommends New LBGT Office, Dean Position

of clothing “tie,” stumped PhysicalPlant for 18 hours. He said that amember of the writing team wentto Random Hall to check on theirprogress and walked by a loungewhere articles of clothing from pre-vious rounds were assembled.When the writer saw a tie, heasked, “What do you mean, you’restuck?” said Vandiver. Only a fewhours later did Physical Plantunderstand what he meant, Vandiv-er said.

At one point, Physical Plant wasso frustrated with that puzzle thatthey “pulled out the Ouija Board,”but unfortunately, it did not givethem the correct answer, he said.

Vandiver said that Physical Plantwas already thinking about writingnext year’s Hunt, but “it’s a processthat’ll take a while.”

He said he heard that about 17man-years of thinking occurs duringthe hunt, and this number “seemsabout right” to him.

Some less serious about HuntYang Ruan ’07 was a member of

the team Forgive Me Father, whichincluded about 30 members fromThird East and Second West halls inEast Campus.

“For us, this year at least, it wasa much more social hunt than like aswat team, super-suave experthunters hunt,” she said.

She said she enjoyed the envi-ronment of the hunt. “In our room,there were a lot of people who weresleeping on the floor,” and we “hadto walk around them.”

“It was like a war zone… in thetrench,” and the “casualties of warwere lying all around you,” shesaid.

Robert H. Speer ’06, a memberof the the Experimental StudyGroup/Mathcamp team ManicSages, which finished in a tie forfourth, participated in the hunt forthe third time this year.

“We were coming up with these

ludicrous-sounding answers… everyonce in a while, one of the ludi-crous-sounding answers would beright,” he said.

Speer said he most enjoyed the“flash of inspiration” that comesafter “you’ve been staring at thispuzzle for hours.” It’s an “amazing-ly satisfying feeling,” he said.

Speer said that the hunt “got[his] adrenaline flowing,” and he“only slept for eight hours in thewhole hunt.”

Puzzles earn rave reviews“I thought the hunt was really

well done this year,” said CatherineHavasi ’03, a member of ManicSages. There were “a lot of reallyneat puzzles.” Havasi slept only fiveand a half hours through the dura-tion of the hunt.

Speer agreed that the hunt waswell-written, saying that the “writ-ing team made sure that all theirpuzzles fit together well” and “had arange of difficulties in the puzzles.”

Speer said the hunt was “morefun this year” than before becausehis team did better.

Brian J. Pepper ’08, a member ofProject Electric Mayhem, a teamcomposed mostly of members fromFifth East hall from East Campusand Tau Epsilon Phi, said that hemost enjoyed the duck puzzle, a fea-ture of each year’s hunt and “anelaborate puzzle which requires youto perform a number of steps inorder.” This year, the duck puzzlefeatured a Lord of the Rings theme,he said.

“It’s so out there that you could-n’t help but smile,” he said aboutthe puzzle.

Puzzlers excited for next yearHavasi plans on participating

next year and said she is excited thatPhysical Plant won since she is“looking forward to the kind of huntthey’re going to write.”

Next year, Pepper said, his team,which came in fifth this year is“planning on winning.”

Mystery Hunt CausesFrustration, PleasureMystery Hunt, from Page 1

This space donated by The Tech

January 19, 2005 THE TECH Page 13

The Tech is in your future

join@tt.mit.edu

Page 14 THE TECH January 19, 2005

The Beinecke Scholarship

$32,000

To current Juniors for graduate school support in the arts, humanities and social sciences

Information Session Thu Jan 20, 4:00pm, Room1-135

http://www.beineckescholarship.org/

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Five Weeks in Japan All expenses paid*

Open to all** MIT students with keen interests in Japan. Fellows will visit Nagoya, Tokyo, and other parts of Japan for approximately five weeks during the summer. The Visiting Fellows will experience as

many aspects of Japanese life as possible, and meet with renowned Japanese executives, politicians, artisans, and educators, all while experiencing and learning about Japanese society from an inside

perspective. Japanese language proficiency is neither required nor an advantage in the selection process.***

Information Session

Friday January 21, 2005 4:00 PM - Room 2-105

www.kawamurafellowship.org *That’s right. Food. Accommodation. Everything. Even some pocket money. **Yes, all. Freshmen, Seniors, Grad Students. All. Your major doesn’t matter either. ***Seriously. You don’t need to speak a word. Nothing.

January 19, 2005 SPORTS THE TECH Page 15

Edwards winning the 100 free and100 back and Carlucci taking victo-ries in the 100 and 200 breast.

Two of those victories were par-ticularly crucial to the final pointtotal, as they lead 1-2-3 sweeps byMIT. In the 100 free, Edwards wasclosely followed by teammates Josi-

ah B. Rosmarin ’06 and Snyder,while in the 200 breast, Carlucciteamed up with Matthew G. Angle’07 and Jeffrey B. Gilbert ’05 todominate Springfield.

Other wins for MIT came fromMark Y. Liao ’06, who produced anoutstanding back half effort in the1650 free to win by less than sixtenths of a second, Matthieu Fuzelli-er ’05 in the 200 back, and KalvinD. Kao ’08 in the 200 IM.

The pair of victories overSpringfield came the day after theMIT squads both beat Brandeis in across-town dual meet. The women’steam won 142–82 while the menwon 126–92.

The men started out their meetwith a victory in the 200 medleyrelay, with the team of Edwards,Carlucci, Varsanik, and Fuzelliertouching first. The Beavers suffereda short setback in the first half of the

meet, failing to win an individualvictory until Kao topped the field inthe 200 IM.

Kao’s victory sprung the teaminto motion, with Edwards,Varsanik, and Carlucci followinghis lead to take the 100 back, fly,and breast, respectively. The stringof individual victories in the strokeevents gave the Beavers commandof the meet again, and they sealedthe victory with two victories in freeevents — Kao and Liao teamed upto finish 1-2 in the 500 free over afast-approaching swimmer fromBrandeis, and the 400 free relay ofFuzellier, Snyder, Kao, andVarsanik touched first as well.

The women had slightly moresuccess in the individual events,with two 1-2-3 sweeps and threeathletes winning two events apiece.The first sweep came with Edwardsleading the way in the 200 IM, fol-

lowed closely by Jacquelyn M.Nowicke ’08 and Dere. The secondsweep came in the 100 breast, withErin M. Zoller ’05 taking top honorsand Dere and Chambers closebehind.

Double individual event winnersfor the Beavers included Thorntonin the 200 and 500 free, Brophy inthe 50 and 100 free, and Edwards inthe 100 back and 200 IM.

Topping off the exceptional per-formance were MIT’s relay squads.Edwards, Thornton, Larsson, andBrophy took the 200 medley relay,while Zoller, Nowicke, Larsson, andJennifer J. DeBoer ’05 touched firstin the 400 free relay.

The weekend victories leave thewomen’s team undefeated at 9–0,while the men’s team moves up to7–1. Both teams are off from com-petition until a Jan. 23 home meetagainst Tufts University.

Scoreboard for Swimming and Diving MeetsWomen, January 16: MIT 157 – Springfield 143Event Place MIT Result400 Medley Relay 1 MIT-A (Julianna K. Edwards ’08, Melissa E. Dere ’06,

Annika S. Larsson ’08, Sasha B. Brophy ’08) 4:12.341650 Free 1 Katherine C. Thornton ’07 17:47.18200 Free 1 Brophy 1:58.32

3 Jennifer J. DeBoer ’05 2:01.19100 Back 1 Moria C. Chambers ’06 1:00.72

3 Erin M. Zoller ’05 1:04.84100 Breast 1 Chambers 1:13.09

2 Dere 1:14.38.200 Fly 1 Larsson 2:19.19

3 Thornton 2:23.8350 Free 1 Brophy 25.661 m Diving 3 Doria M. Holbrook ’08 241.79100 Free 1 Brophy 55.11

3 DeBoer 56.70200 Back 1 Edwards 2:09.89100 Breast 1 Chambers 2:35.74

2 Dere 2:37.12500 Free 2 Thornton 5:19.53100 Fly 1 Edwards 1:01.70

2 Larsson 1:02.503 m Diving 3 Holbrook 229.50200 IM 2 Zoller 2:20.48200 Free Relay 2 MIT-A (DeBoer, Jacquelyn M. Nowicke ’08,

Thornton, Zoller) 1:44.74

Men, January 16: MIT 166 – Springfield 132Event Place MIT Result400 Medley Relay 1 MIT-A (Craig M. Edwards ’07, Joseph P. Carlucci ’05,

Jonathan S. Varsanik ’05, Grady A. Snyder ’06) 3:33.093 MIT-B (Neil J. Kelly ’06, Kalvin D. Kao ’08,

Jeffrey J. Pan ’07, Josiah B. Rosmarin ’06) 3:46.161650 Free 1 Mark Y. Liao ’06 16:37.24

3 Kao 17:14.42200 Free 2 Rosmarin 1:46.97100 Back 1 Edwards 54.01

3 Kelly 57.88100 Breast 1 Carlucci 1:01.33

3 Matthew G. Angle ’07 1:04.30200 Fly 2 Davin F. Fan ’08 2:00.6650 Free 1 Varsanik 21.93100 Free 1 Edwards 48.25

2 Rosmarin 48.853 Snyder 48.91

200 Back 1 Matthieu Fuzellier ’05 2:01.202 Kao 2:02.66

200 Breast 1 Carlucci 2:17.022 Angle 2:18.01 3 Jeffrey B. Gilbert ’05 2:19.25

500 Free 2 Liao 4:50.943 Edwards 4:54.57

100 Fly 1 Varsanik 52.772 Fuzellier 53.09

200 IM 1 Kao 2:02.682 Carlucci 2:06.32

200 Free Relay 2 MIT-A (Varsanik, Fuzellier,Michael D. Dimitriou ’06, Snyder) 1:27.70

3 MIT-B (David H. Friend ’07, Liao, Fan,Boris E. Revzin ’08) 2:33.07

Women, January 15: MIT 142 – Brandeis 82Event Place MIT Result200 Medley Relay 1 MIT-A (Edwards, Thornton, Larsson, Brophy) 1:58.42

3 MIT-B (Laura B. Shimmin ‘05, Chambers,Jessica A. Harpole ‘07, Katrina M. Sorensen ‘08) 2:05.58

1000 Free 3 DeBoer 11:45.08200 Free 1 Thornton 2:03.0650 Free 1 Brophy 26.03

3 Zoller 26.36200 IM 1 Edwards 2:18.27

2 Nowicke 2:23.833 Dere 2:28.29

100 Fly 3 Larsson 1:03.69100 Free 1 Brophy 55.21

2 Nowicke 57.87100 Back 1 Edwards 1:02.84

3 Shimmin 1:08.37500 Free 1 Thornton 5:29.64

2 DeBoer 5:36.88100 Breast 1 Zoller 1:14.08

2 Dere 1:14.173 Chambers 1:14.84

400 Free Relay 1 MIT-A (Zoller, Nowicke, Larsson, DeBoer) 3:53.593 MIT-B (Shimmin, Stephanie A. Sidelko ’07,

Katrina M. Cornell ’06, Jolinta Y. Lin ’06) 4:01.87

Men, January 15: MIT 126 – Brandeis 92Event Place MIT Result200 Medley Relay 1 MIT-A (Edwards, Carlucci, Varsanik, Fuzellier) 1:38.32

3 MIT-B (Revzin, Angle, Liao, Dimitriou) 1:47.741000 Free 2 Angle 10:40.02

3 Harrison K. Hall ’08 10:51.09200 Free 2 Liao 1:49.41

3 Rosmarin 1:51.3950 Free 2 Snyder 22.74

3 Edwards 22.80200 IM 1 Kao 1:59.82100 Fly 1 Varsanik 52.85100 Free 2 Snyder 49.40

3 Rosmarin 49.91100 Back 1 Edwards 53.92

2 Fuzellier 54.77500 Free 1 Kao 4:54.11

2 Liao 4:54.37100 Breast 1 Carlucci 1:00.42

3 Angle 1:05.54400 Free Relay 1 MIT-A (Fuzellier, Snyder, Kao, Varsanik) 3:15.91

3 MIT-B (Rosmarin, Davin F. Fan ’08, Revzin,Dimitriou) 3:25.01

STANLEY HU—THE TECH

Coach Larry Anderson, center, gives instructions to the men’s basketball team during a time outin overtime play in Babson Park, MA, on Saturday, Jan. 15. MIT lost 85–80 in triple-overtime toBabson College.

Swimming, Diving Teams Keep Records Going StrongSwimming, from Page 16

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join@the-tech.mit.edu

By Victoria K. AndersonTEAM ALUMNA

The MIT Men’s and Women’sSwimming and Diving teams tooktheir first ever pair of victories

against New EnglandWomen’s and Men’sAthletic Conferencefoe Springfield Col-lege at home on Sun-day, Jan. 16.

The MIT men last beat Spring-field in 2001 and the women havenot been victorious against them

since 2000; however, at no timehave both squads earned dual meetvictories over the Pride in the sameseason. This year, on the other hand,the women won 157–143, and themen took their meet 166–132.

MIT’s women were led by twofreshman standouts, Julianna K.Edwards ’08 and Sasha B. Brophy’08, who each won three individualevents. Edwards swept the field inthe 100-yard fly, as well as the 100and 200 back. Her 200 back victorywas particularly impressive, as it

involved beating out Springfieldsenior Megan Skinner, who has wonthe event by a decisive margin at theNEWMAC Championships the pastthree years and made the top eightat the NCAA Division III Champi-onships each of those years as well.

Brophy complemented Edwards’work in the stroke events when shewon the 50, 100, and 200 freeevents.

The women’s team point totalwas greatly helped by the efforts ofMoria C. Chambers ’06 and Melissa

E. Dere ’06, who teamed up for a 1-2 finish in the 100 and 200 breast,with Chambers touching first inboth races.

Other MIT women scoring victo-ries over the pride included Kather-ine C. Thornton ’07 in the 1650 freeand Annika S. Larsson ’08 in the200 fly. Additionally, in the 400medley relay, Edwards, Dere, Lars-son, and Brophy won over Spring-field, which has traditionally beatenMIT in the event at dual meets andat the NEWMAC championships.

For the men, the 400 medleyrelay of Craig M. Edwards ’07,Joseph P. Carlucci ’05, Jonathan S.Varsanik ’05 and Grady A. Snyder’06 set the tone for an MIT-domi-nated meet by winning the race withnearly 10 seconds over the topsquad from Springfield.

Varsanik, Edwards, and Carluccialso racked up two individual winsapiece in the meet, with Varsanikwinning the 50 free and 100 fly,

SPORTSPage 16 THE TECH January 19, 2005

Men’s, Women’s Swim Teams Win Against Springfield

Wednesday, January 19Varsity Men’s Volleyball vs. Emmanuel College

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rockwell Cage, 7 p.m.

Thursday, January 20Varsity Men’s Basketball vs. Emerson College

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rockwell Cage, 7 p.m.

Friday, January 21Varsity Pistol vs. Navy . . . . . . . . .MIT Pistol and Rifle Range, 9 a.m.Varsity Women’s Ice Hockey vs. Bates Club Team

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Johnson Ice Rink, 7 p.m.

Saturday, January 22Varsity Pistol vs. Navy . . . . . . . . . MIT Pistol and Rifle Range, 9 a.m.Varsity Men’s Track and Field vs. RPI, Williams, Westfield State

. . . . . . . . . . . . Johnson Athletics Center, 12 p.m.Varsity Women’s Basketball vs. Smith College

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rockwell Cage, 2 p.m.Varsity Women’s Track and Field vs. RPI, Williams, Westfield State

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Johnsons Athletics Center, 4 p.m.

Sunday, January 23Varsity Men’s and Women’s Swimming vs. Tufts University

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zesiger Center Pool, 1 p.m.

UPCOMING HOME EVENTS

Editor’s NoteDue to an editing error, a sentence in Caitlin Murray’s article on

women’s basketball last Wednesday implied that Coach Kristi Straubwas inexperienced. In fact, Coach Straub has nine years experienceand has led teams to NCAA tournaments. The Tech sports departmentsincerely regrets the error.

—Brian ChaseSports Editor

YUN WU—THE TECH

Sarah N. Trowbridge ’08 performs on the balance beam at the gymnastics competition on Satur-day, Jan. 15.

YUN WU—THE TECH

Benjamin A. Schmeckpeper ’05 chases United States Coast Guard Academy’s Mike Flint in the1500 meter race. Schmeckpeper came in third place.

STANLEY HU—THE TECH

Mike Huhs ’05 splits three defenders as he goes in for a layupduring MIT’s 85–80 triple-overtime loss to Babson in BabsonPark, MA, on Saturday. Huhs led all players with 24 pointsand 13 rebounds in the longest game for the Beavers sinceMIT’s five-overtime victory over Wheaton College in 1999.

Love sports but tired out by running?How about covering sports for The Tech!

join@the-tech.mit.edu

Swimming, Page 15