By Jeffrey GreenbaumSTAFF REPORTER

Dormitories held rush eventsthroughout Kresge Oval and theStudent Center for the Class of 2006for four hours last night. Many hostsleft disappointed about the night’soutcome.

Last year’s Residence Midwaylimited dormitories as well as frater-nities, independent living groups,and the Panhellenic Associationeach to a square in the Johnson Ath-letic Center. This year, FSILGs canno longer participate in the Resi-dence Midway.

Some upperclassmen said thatthey appreciate having a greateramount of space and thus the oppor-tunity to hold rush events as a partof the Midway.

However, others said that theydo not believe that many freshmenare interested in entering the dormi-tory lottery. Carly A. Saylor ’05

also said that “the administration isgiving the freshmen the impressionthat where they are now is wherethey should be.”

Chloe J. Tergiman ’03 said thatbecause of this feeling, “the fresh-men seem like they are not going tochange dorms.”

Many upperclassmen said theytried to make the most of last

Freshmenplay gamesduring Orientation.

Page 11

Comics

Page 6

OPINIONTao Yue reminds freshmen tokeep track of the world outsideMIT’s walls.

Page 5

World & Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Events Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

By Keith J. WinsteinNEWS EDITOR

Christopher S. Tresco, the eco-nomics department system adminis-trator who illegally traded andserved commercial software fromthe computers he ran, was sentencedon Aug. 16 to 33 months in federalprison.

Tresco pleaded guilty on May 28to federal conspiracy charges that hecollaborated for 18 months with fel-low members of the “DrinkOrDie”software-trading group to commitcriminal copyright infringement forprivate financial gain.

“What he was doing was work-ing with the rest of the group tocrack software security codes andthen making them available for freeon the Internet to all comers,” saidTresco’s attorney, Gary C. Crossen.“They apparently didn’t appreciatethe significance of the copyrightlaws, and they thought it was a bigchallenge,” he said. “It’s completelywrong and he knows it.”

Tresco, who will start his prisonterm in November, could not bereached for comment.

Raids secure 14 convictionsDrinkOrDie attained notoriety

by trading copies of sought-afterprograms weeks before their com-mercial releases and publishingthem free of charge on the Internet,in violation of the federal CopyrightAct.

The Justice Department’s “Oper-ation Buccaneer,” which raided theMIT economics department as partof a synchronized global crackdownlast December, has so far securedconvictions or guilty pleas from 14members of the group. Trescoappears to be the only memberlinked to MIT.

Some students lost a few weeksof work as a result of the raid, whena file server’s hard drive was inad-vertently erased after federal agentshad made a copy.

At the time, one economics grad-uate student, who spoke on condi-tion of anonymity because he saidhe feared retaliation by the depart-ment, said no backups of the driveexisted because Tresco, the server’sadministrator, “didn’t want to haveback-ups around of the stuff that hehad illicitly on this drive in the firstplace.”

‘LaMacchia Law’ partly invokedBecause Tresco pleaded guilty to

Freshmen Explore Dormitories at MidwayUpperclassmen FearFrosh Not SeriousAbout Major Event

TrescoReceivesThree-YearSentence

By Eun J. LeeFEATURES EDITOR

The Class of 2006 converged as a whole for thefirst time yesterday afternoon at the opening cere-monies for Orientation 2002.

“You have all arrived at MIT to prepare theworld for the future,” a voice resonated above thehushed crowd in Kresge Auditorium.

“The next four years of your life will be spent read-ing ancient texts and listening to even older lectures,”said Orientation Coordinator Alex D. Forrest ’04.

This year’s Orientation has the film-makingtheme of “It’s your time to shine.” The opening cere-mony was true to the theme, including video skitsintroducing the five Orientation Coordinators. Fresh-

men were also called onstage to show off their tal-ents and participate in competitions.

They’ve got brains and talent, tooThe Admissions Office has released statistics

characterizing the demographic and academic infor-mation of the Class of 2006 since last spring, but theopening ceremonies gave the community a firsthandglimpse at some of the talents that were most likelynot included on applications.

Christopher J. Mattenberger ’06, for example,offered his own rendition of the Vanilla Ice song“Ice Ice Baby.” Helen Belogolova ’06 awed her

By Brian LouxNEWS EDITOR

This afternoon marks the firstchance for freshmen to examinetheir academic schedule and stylefor the coming year.

There exist three freshmen classprograms that serve as alternativesto mainstream classes: ExperimentalStudies Group, Concourse, and thenewest program Terrascope. Openhouses for each of the programs willtake place between 3:30 p.m. and5:30 p.m. today.

In addition, freshmen have achoice of advising styles: FreshmenAdvising Seminars, traditional advis-ing, and the most recent addition tothe list of freshmen advising pro-grams: Residence Based Advising.

Terrascope Terrascope is the latest non-

mainstream program under the guid-ance of Professors Kip V. Hodgesand Sallie W. Chisholm.

Terrascope incorporates the for-mer Mission program with special-ized advising seminars. Officiallyknown as 12.000, Mission invitesfreshmen to apply engineering and

TAO YUE—THE TECH

Selected members of the freshman class participate in a pie-eating contest, which closed theOrientation Opening Ceremonies. Orit A. Shamir ’06 (middle) won the contest.

AlternativeAcademicProgramsOffered

Programs, Page 8Tresco, Page 9

Residences, Page 8

Orientation, Page 10

Volume 122, Number 32 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Monday, August 26, 2002

The WeatherToday: Warm and sunny, 80°F (27°C)

Tonight: Clear, cooler, 62°F (17°C)Tomorrow: Sunny, 76°F (24°C)

Details, Page 2

President’s Convocation Today

MIT’sOldest and Largest

NewspaperMonda

y

AARON D. MIHALIK—THE TECH

PLAYING HARDBALL—A freshman takes a cut at an astronaut pinata with President Vest’s face. TheVest pinatas were part of the East Campus activities at the Residence Midway.

Contests Fill Orientation Opener

By Richard A. SerranoLOS ANGELES TIMES

WASHINGTON

Bio-warfare expert Steven J.Hatfill stepped up his efforts Sundayto clear his name, announcing thathe has offered to provide blood andhandwriting samples to the FBI andblasting Attorney General JohnAshcroft for calling him a “personof interest” in the government’sinvestigation of last fall’s anthraxattacks.

“I want to look my fellow Amer-icans directly in the eye and declareto them: I am not the anthrax killer,”Hatfill said at a news conferenceoutside his lawyer’s office in nearbyAlexandria, Va.

The 48-year-old former Armyvirology researcher also said he hadfiled a series of complaints againstthe government, charging that feder-al agents were violating his privacy,continuing to follow and harass him,and “ruining” his life.

Five people died and 13 morebecame ill after a series of letterstainted with anthrax were mailedlast fall to business and government

addresses on the East Coast, includ-ing in New York, Washington andFlorida.

Federal law-enforcementsources have said that between 20and 30 people are considered possi-ble suspects. But Hatfill’s name hasbeen mentioned most often in themedia.

Part of the interest in Hatfillstemmed from the disclosures thathe had been writing a novel aboutbioterrorism, and that as part of hisresearch he, like many of his for-mer co-workers at the U.S. ArmyMedical Research Institute ofInfectious Diseases at Fort Detrick,Md., had been inoculated againstanthrax.

But during a news conferencetwo weeks ago, Hatfill insisted thathis last inoculation was in 1999 andsaid he now is again susceptible tothe bacteria.

He also said Sunday that agentssince January have intensified theirinvestigation — including searchinghis home and car — and that he hadtaken a polygraph test. “I was told Ipassed, and the examiner was satis-

fied that I had told the truth,” saidHatfill, whose current employer,Louisiana State University, hasplaced him on leave.

To clear his name, he said, hehas offered to provide blood andhandwriting samples to the FBI inthe hopes that they will show he isnot the serial attacker. He said theFBI had agreed to the blood sam-ples, which would measure the levelof anthrax antibodies in his blood; arecent exposure would cause a highantibody level, he said. He did notsay whether the FBI had agreed tothe handwriting analysis.

Once the studies are complete,Hatfill said, the government shouldannounce that the samples do notmatch what is known about thekiller. That, he said, will show that“I had absolutely nothing to do withthis terrible crime.”

Hatfill and his lawyer, Victor M.Glasberg, also released copies of sixletters sent over the past few weeks,including complaints filed with theJustice Department and with theFBI’s Office of ProfessionalResponsibility.

WORLD & NATIONPage 2 THE TECH August 26, 2002

China’s Communist Party Sets DateFor Expected Transfer of Power

THE WASHINGTON POSTBEIJING

China’s Communist Party will hold its most important meeting inyears in early November, state-run media reported Sunday, duringwhich senior officials are expected to step down and hand the reins ofpower to a younger generation.

State-run television announced the 16th Congress of the Commu-nist Party would be held Nov. 8, adding that “all preparatory work forthe congress is progressing smoothly at present.”

The congress, generally held every five years, usually takes placein September or October. This year, however, it has been delayed soPresident Jiang Zemin will still hold that title and that of party chair-man when he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetingin Mexico in October and then visits the United States, Chinesesources said.

The announcement followed several weeks of secret meetings atthe summer resort of Beidaihe, 100 miles east of Beijing. Commu-nist Party elders were believed to have bickered over the leadershiplineup.

Georgia Launches OperationIn Lawless Pankisi Gorge Region

LOS ANGELES TIMESMOSCOW

Interior Ministry troops in Georgia cautiously launched an opera-tion Sunday to try to bring the country’s lawless Pankisi Gorge undercontrol, rolling in and setting up seven checkpoints but making noarrests.

The Pankisi operation, a major test for the former Soviet repub-lic’s ragged and demoralized forces, will be closely watched by boththe United States, which fears the gorge could be a refuge for Arabmilitants, and Russia, which has long been pressing Georgia to clearthe area of rebels from neighboring Chechnya.

But there was no element of surprise in an operation that wasannounced more than a week ago, giving Chechen separatists andlocal criminals alike plenty of time to abandon the area.

The gorge in northeastern Georgia has long been a haven forcriminals involved in kidnapping, extortion and violence. Moreover,it has a reputation as a sanctuary for the rebels fighting Russian forcesacross the border in Chechnya.

It took U.S. pressure and military training to nudge Georgianauthorities to take action to bring the gorge under control.

U.S. forces have been training Georgian army forces in anti-ter-rorist operations since May, after President Eduard A. Shevardnadzeappealed to Washington for help.

Sunday’s operation coincides with army exercises near the gorgethat involve 1,500 Georgian troops, several hundred of them trainedby U.S. Special Forces.

Rockets Fired on U.S. OutpostTHE WASHINGTON POST

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

A bomb exploded in a garbage bin next to a U.N. staff house hereSunday night, injuring at least two Afghans, and rockets were fired ata U.S. military outpost in remote Konar province earlier Sunday,highlighting the continued threat of terrorism in the capital and acrossthe country.

The two attacks came during a visit here by Gen. Tommy Franks,head of the U.S. Central Command. Franks told reporters in KabulSunday that “the sense of stability has not yet arrived” inAfghanistan, and “much remains to be done” in the internationalcampaign to eliminate terrorism in the shaky post-war nation.

In the past week, U.S. forces have been conducting a massivesweep in Paktia province, where a pro-Taliban commander is based,and in other eastern areas. They have uncovered numerous caches ofweapons, including rocket launchers, grenades and rifles, anddetained about six people, according to U.S. military spokesmen.

By Kenneth R. WeissLOS ANGELES TIMES

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

Although President Bush is avery notable no-show, more than100 presidents and prime ministersand even a sprinkling of kings willjoin a cast of thousands at a U.N.summit opening here Monday onhow to sustain the Earth.

“By and large, the picture isbleak,” Nitin Desai, secretary-gen-eral of what is being called theWorld Summit on SustainableDevelopment, said in an interview.“So the main point of this summit isaction, not on all fronts, but in criti-cal areas where we need a quantumchange.”

Instead of waiting for allnations to sign a treaty before set-ting to work, U.N. officials arenudging clusters of governments,businesses and citizens groups toforge partnerships to get moving ona specific problem or in one region— and hoping the momentumbuilds.

Many of these partnerships, it isanticipated, will focus on helpingthe nearly 3 billion people who livein poverty gain access to clean

water, proper sanitation and energy— much of it from renewablesources such as solar and wind orfrom alternative fuels derived fromsugar cane or corn. Other partner-ships are expected to tackle pollu-tion in the developed world that iscontributing to global warming andposing other threats to the environ-ment, to endangered species and tohuman health.

“We are trying to change theway people act,” Desai said Sun-day, briefing an auditorium packedwith journalists from around theworld.

He and other leaders acknowl-edged that won’t be easy. But theysaid that the 104 heads of state andother national leaders have commit-ted to the summit, creating a “criti-cal mass” of world leadership to getthings done.

“Even though President Bushwon’t be here, the conference willbe just as successful,” saidNkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, SouthAfrica’s foreign minister.

Bush announced last week thathe would not attend the summit andwas dispatching Secretary of StateColin L. Powell to lead the U.S. del-

egation, but only during the finaldays of the nearly two-week gather-ing. Environmental ProtectionAgency Administrator ChristieTodd Whitman will join the delega-tion with other administration offi-cials.

To soften criticism of its go-it-alone policy on the summit, theBush administration does plan toannounce an additional $4.5 billionin programs to assist developingnations deal with shortages of water,energy and food, and to preserveforests in the Congo Basin.

Meeting with foreign journal-ists last week, Paula Dobriansky,the State Department’s undersecre-tary for global affairs, downplayedthe environmental focus of theJohannesburg summit. She charac-terized it as more of an economicforum, a continuation of theadministration’s efforts at a tradegathering in Doha, Qatar, last falland a development summit inMarch in Monterrey, Mexico. InMonterrey, the United Statespromised $5 billion to developingcountries that adopt sound eco-nomic policies and attack corrup-tion.

Hatfill Says He’s Not Killer,Attempts to Clear His Name

WEATHERAll Quiet on the Tropical Front

By Michael J. RingSTAFF METEOROLOGIST

The first half of the Atlantic hurricane season concludes this week,and it has been a quiet one to this point. There have only been threetropical storms, and not a single hurricane, in the Atlantic thus far.

The suspected culprit for the below-normal activity is the El Nino-Southern Oscillation. El Nino, which perhaps most famously bringsanomalously warm waters to the eastern Pacific, has been strengtheningover the past several months. Associated with El Nino is a shift in windpatterns in tropical latitudes (commonly known as the Southern Oscilla-tion) that is not conducive to Atlantic hurricane formation. While this ElNino is not as strong as the incredible 1997 event, the change in windpatterns has contributed to dampening the hurricane season so far.

Closer to home, the forecast appears quiet as well. Sunny skies andseasonable temperatures will mark the early part of this week. A lowpressure system in the Tennessee Valley will move toward us midweek,bringing us our next chance at rain Wednesday night or Thursday.

Extended ForecastToday: Sunny and seasonably warm. High near 80°F (27°C).Tonight: Mostly clear and mild. Low near 62°F (17°C).Tuesday: Sunny and slightly cooler. High near 76°F (24°C).Tuesday night: Partly cloudy. Low near 60°F (16°C).Wednesday: Clouding up with showers likely toward the evening

and overnight. High near 72°F (22°C) and low near 58°F (14°C).Thursday: Rain likely. Cool with a high near 68°F (20°C).

By Mike Allen and Juliet EilperinTHE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON

Lawyers for President Bush haveconcluded he can launch an attackon Iraq without new approval fromCongress, in part because they saythat permission remains in forcefrom the 1991 resolution givingBush’s father authority to wage warin the Persian Gulf, according toadministration officials.

Bush has said repeatedly he willconsult lawmakers before decidinghow to proceed but has pointedlystopped short of saying he willrequest their approval. The differ-ence between getting legislators’opinions, as opposed to their per-mission, could lead to a showdownthis fall between Congress and theWhite House.

“We don’t want to be in the legalposition of asking Congress to

authorize the use of force when thepresident already has that fullauthority,” said a senior administra-tion official involved in setting thestrategy. “We don’t want, in gettinga resolution, to have conceded thatone was constitutionally necessary.”

Harold Hongju Koh, a professorof international law at Yale LawSchool who was an assistant secre-tary of state in the Clinton adminis-tration, called it shortsighted for theadministration to try to avoid a fullcongressional debate about such anexpensive and perilous operation.“The constitutional structure tries tomake war hard to get into, so thepresident has to show leadershipand make his case to the electedrepresentatives,” Koh said.

Senate leaders — includingMajority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), Foreign Relations CommitteeChairman Joseph Biden (D-Del.),

and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.),who views himself as the guardianof Senate prerogatives — maintainthe president must come to Con-gress before making a massive com-mitment of troops to oust Saddam.

Some congressional Republicansalso are speaking up, including sev-eral who say they fear an invasionof Iraq would place an unacceptableburden on the country’s armedforces.

One compromise would be forBush’s allies in Congress to intro-duce a resolution of support with-out having the president ask for it.Administration officials said theyare concerned, though, that a war-powers resolution might add con-ditions, such as specifying thatmilitary action in Iraq is accept-able only for the purpose of elimi-nating weapons of mass destruc-tion.

War in Iraq Already Approved,White House Lawyers Conclude

United Nations Confronts ‘Bleak’Future at Environmental Summit

August 26, 2002 WORLD & NATION THE TECH Page 3

China Tightens Oversight Of Missile Technology Exports

LOS ANGELES TIMESBEIJING

Bowing to a longtime U.S. demand, the Chinese government hasissued new rules to tighten its control over the export of missile tech-nology, state media reported Sunday.

The regulations, which went into effect Thursday, set up a licens-ing and registration system for companies that want to sell productsor know-how that could be used to make missiles, the official NewChina News Agency said.

The announcement coincided with the arrival here of Deputy Sec-retary of State Richard L. Armitage, who is paying a 48-hour visit topave the way for a summit in October between President Bush andChinese President Jiang Zemin. Arms-control issues are expected tobe on the agenda of Armitage’s talks in Beijing and of Jiang’s visit toBush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The communist regime promised in November 2000 to clampdown on the transfer of sensitive equipment and technology and topublish a list of exactly what kinds of items would be off-limits forexport.

But it has dragged its feet in doing so, in part because of the tensestandoff with Washington last year over an American spy plane thatcollided with a Chinese fighter jet and crash-landed in southernChina. Relations between the two countries on military matters havebeen testy since.

Sino-American ties have improved somewhat since Beijingpledged to cooperate in the battle against terrorism in the wake oflast September’s attacks on the United States. And on Sunday, WhiteHouse Deputy Press Secretary Scott McClellan called the Chineseannouncement “a positive step” and added, “We look forward tocontinuing to work with China to address other nonproliferationissues.”

Nevada Voters May Take a GambleTo Legalize Marijuana

LOS ANGELES TIMESLAS VEGAS

A voters initiative on the November ballot would permit posses-sion in Nevada of up to three ounces of marijuana by persons 21and older. They would be allowed to smoke it in the privacy of theirown homes, but not in their car or public places.

While law enforcement officials are railing against the measure,state officials are quietly pondering how the state-licensed sale andtaxation of marijuana may stoke the state’s coffers by tens of mil-lions of dollars annually.

Legalizing marijuana by amending the state Constitution is atwo-step process. If a simple majority of voters approve the measurein November, it would need to be reaffirmed by voters in 2004. Thesecond vote could be avoided if the measure is adopted next year bythe state Legislature, which already has decriminalized possessionof marijuana. That course is considered unlikely because mostpoliticians — including Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn — are nottaking a stand on the issue, saying they will defer to the voters’wishes.

Nevada is one of nine states that allows the use of marijuanawith a doctor’s prescription, and one of 11 states that has loweredcriminal sanctions for possession of marijuana.

State polls suggest Nevada voters are about evenly split on thequestion. The state’s largest newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, has editorialized that said the measure “would end theneedless harassment of individuals who peacefully and privately usemarijuana.”

Nevada may seem a logical place to test the issue because of thestate’s renowned live-and-let-live philosophy, as already manifestedthrough its extensive gambling and rural houses of prostitution. Andas a practical matter, the debate can be financially waged in just onemedia market, here. Clark County is home to two-thirds of the state’sresidents. But it is also its most unpredictable political audiencebecause of the region’s explosive growth of non-Nevada transplantsover the past decade. Most of rural Nevada is conservative, LasVegas is not.

Militants Kill Palestinian WomanThey Accused of Spying for Israel

THE WASHINGTON POSTJERUSALEM

A Palestinian militant group executed a Palestinian womanaccused of spying for Israel, then dumped her bullet-pockedcorpse in a public square in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, offi-cials said today.

Ikhlas Khouli, 36, is believed to be the first woman killed forcollaborating with Israeli security services during the 23-monthuprising against occupation, Palestinian officials said.

Khouli allegedly helped lead Israeli security services earlierthis month to the hiding place of a militant commander who wasthen killed by Israeli troops, Palestinian authorities said.

“This woman was killed unlawfully,” Izz al-Din al-Sharif, thegovernor of Tulkarm, said in a telephone interview. “This womanshould have been brought to trial and sentenced for her wrongdoing, but we are now under occupation, already 65 days undercurfew in our homes, and we have lost any control over the secu-rity situation in Tulkarm.”

Palestinian militant groups have killed several dozen allegedspies, called collaborators, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip sincethe violence began between Israelis and Palestinians, but all othersare believed to have been men.

In a 30-second segment of a videotape shown Sunday night onIsrael's Channel 2 television, Khouli, speaking in Arabic, said shehad telephoned Israeli security services with the information aboutthe movements of Ziad Daas, a regional commander of the al-Aqsa Brigades. Daas was wanted by security forces for allegedlyplanning the killing of two Israelis in a Tulkarm restaurant in Jan-uary 2001, and for alleged involvement in a January attack in thecentral Israeli town of Hadera in which six Israelis were killed.

Overcapacity Stifling Economy,American Economists ConcludeBy Steven PearlsteinTHE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON

To understand why the U.S.economy can’t seem to muster astronger recovery, it helps to lookfor clues in Victorville, Calif.,where 500 unused and unwantedpassenger jets — some of thembrand new — sit wingtip to wingtipin the desert.

But perhaps the best explanationcan be found in those falling pricesshoppers find for clothing, televi-sions, hotel rooms and cellularphone service. While the bargainsare great for American consumers,they are being paid in the form ofcontinued corporate layoffs, lacklus-ter stock prices, and a sky-hightrade deficit — in short, an economythat’s having trouble building up ahead of steam.

Economists refer to this phenom-enon as overcapacity, which is real-ly nothing more than too much sup-ply chasing too little demand. Inmost every case, it is accompaniedby prices that are flat or falling.

To be sure, overcapacity is a fea-ture of every recession. A slowdownin consumer spending and a declinein business investment suddenlyleave too many companies with toomany workers, underutilized plantsand underperforming stores. In mostcases, it is only after most of thatexcess is cut back, and supply anddemand get back into some roughbalance, that businesses begin hiringand investing again, laying the foun-dation for another period of eco-nomic expansion.

This time, however, that processis turning out to be longer and moredrawn out than in the past, makingfor a slower and weaker recoverythan forecasters, executives and pol-icymakers had expected.

The big culprit in the supply-demand mismatch was the invest-ment boom of the late 1990s,arguably the longest and most exu-berant since the 1920s. Flush withcheap money made available byWall Street, businesses of all sortsrushed out and expanded theircapacity — not simply to satisfy the

increased demand of the moment,but in anticipation of continued higheconomic growth rates well into thefuture. When the growth failed tomaterialize, they suddenly foundthemselves with more capacity thanthey could profitably employ.

Ironically, another reason whythis recovery may be so weak isthat Washington policymakersmoved so quickly to prop up theeconomy when it became clear arecession was in the offing. By allaccounts, those policies helped tomake the recent recession one ofthe shortest and mildest in recentmemory. But according to econo-mist Stephen Roach of MorganStanley & Co., it also meant thatthe necessary task of working offall that excess capacity has beenonly partially completed.

“Like it or not, the post-bubbleexcesses of the U.S. economyremain largely intact,” Roach said.“That’s the unfortunate outcome ofa mild recession — it doesn’t resultin a major purging of long-standingimbalances of the economy.”

By Carol J. WilliamsLOS ANGELES TIMES

BERLIN

Chancellor Gerhard Schroederand Bavarian Gov. Edmund Stoibertook their neck-and-neck race to leadGermany into the homes of millionsSunday with a rigorous televiseddebate that polls showed the incum-bent won despite appearing unchar-acteristically stiff and defensive.

The first televised clash betweenchancellor candidates in Germanhistory surprised most analysts,because the telegenic and easygoingSchroeder had been expected todominate the exchange in style ifnot in substance.

But Stoiber took an aggressivetack from the onset, hammering athis opponent’s failure to reduce 10percent unemployment despite hav-ing made that his No. 1 campaignpromise when he was elected fouryears ago.

Confident and well-prepared, the60-year-old challenger lashed out atSchroeder’s economic record,repeatedly challenging him toexplain why he should be re-electedwhen he has been unable to deliverthe economic turnaround Germanvoters have demanded.

Schroeder stuck to a statesman-like solemnity under Stoiber’s per-

sistent needling — a demeanorviewers apparently considered dig-nified. In a telephone poll of 2,237viewers conducted by the ForsaInstitute, Schroeder won highermarks on all three qualities mea-sured: pleasantness, competence andcredibility.

Two other polls, for publicbroadcasters ARD and ZDF, split intheir assessments of which candi-date “won” the debate.

“Viewers apparently liked that(Schroeder) remained calm andbusinesslike. They see that as amore competent response thanengaging in a fight,” observed polit-ical analyst Stefan Aust of the pollresults. He, like others on hand forthe live broadcast, thought Stoiberhad turned in the more impressiveperformance.

Although Schroeder has longoutpolled Stoiber in one-on-one per-sonality contests, his Social Democ-ratic Party trails the Bavarian’sChristian Social Union and itsChristian Democrat partners bybetween 1 and 3 percentage points.The debate was seen as a chance forSchroeder to narrow that gap byswaying some of the more than 30percent of voters who are still unde-cided four weeks before the Sept. 22vote.

“Schroeder didn’t put on a verygood performance despite expecta-tions, and Stoiber, well, he wasStoiber,” event planner and societycritic Beate Wedekind told ZDFtelevision in one of many post-mortems aired as soon as the candi-dates stopped speaking. “I put thescore at 0-0, as neither of them tookadvantage of their opportunities.”

Schroeder repeated his vow tokeep Germany out of any U.S.-ledinvasion of Iraq unless and until theU.N. Security Council endorsessuch action. Stoiber deftly laceratedthat position while refraining fromany commitment to do otherwiseshould he become chancellor.

While Stoiber clearly scored bet-ter on economics issues, Schroederprobably won over voters shaken bythe devastating flooding with hisemphasis on the government’s com-mitment to environmental protec-tion, renewable energy developmentand compliance with the 1997Kyoto Protocol, which is aimed athalting global warming.

“We want to be the ones whobring Kyoto out of the realm of the-ory and into real practice,” Schroed-er said, noting that Germany hasalready cut greenhouse gas emis-sions by twice as much as all otherEuropean countries put together.

By Chuck PhilipsLOS ANGELES TIMES

The California Senate haswidened its probe of music industryaccounting practices and is investi-gating whether major record compa-nies defrauded artists out of royal-ties through undisclosed licensingdeals with record clubs and videochannels.

The Senate Rules Committee inSacramento, Calif., the state capital,issued subpoenas late last weekseeking documents from artists’lawyers and managers to substanti-ate the allegations, which first cameto light at a hearing last monthcalled by Democratic state Sens.Martha Escutia and Kevin Murrayto examine accounting practices inthe music industry.

During the July 23 hearing, artistrepresentatives accused the world’sfive largest music companies of col-lecting millions of dollars annuallyfrom licensing deals with recordclubs and video channels nevershared with artists. Attorneys also

alleged that companies employfraudulent accounting formulas tobilk artists out of earnings on musicsold overseas.

“We want to find out how thesedeals are structured and whetherartists are getting shortchanged,”Murray said in an interview. “We’realso interested in determiningwhether companies are cheatingartists by using unfair tactics in theaccounting of foreign royalties.”

Escutia and Murray have sched-uled a second hearing on the matterSept. 24 in Sacramento. Theaccounting issue is the latest wrin-kle in an ongoing debate overartists’ rights in the record industry.Performers and musicians havecomplained to lawmakers that musiccompanies use unfair contracts thatbind them longer than other Califor-nia workers and use accountingtricks that reduce their wages, healthcare and pension benefits.

The Recording Industry Associa-tion of America, a Washington tradegroup that represents the nation’s

five biggest music companies,declined to comment on the allega-tions, except to say that artists arepaid in accordance with their con-tracts. Record executives privatelysay labels do not cheat artists onmusic sold overseas nor do theyprofit from covert licensing arrange-ments at artists’ expense.

Entertainment attorney DonEngel, who has sued labels onbehalf of Luther Vandross, Meat-loaf, Don Henley, and the DixieChicks, told lawmakers last monththat companies routinely cheatartists out of royalties.

In an interview, Engel spelledout what he characterized as a seriesof “schemes” perpetrated on artistsby the music industry.

Record companies, he said, pur-port that music videos are promo-tional tools to help generate sales ofCDs. Artists are contractuallyrequired to reimburse companies forat least half of the cost of each pro-motional video before they receive aroyalty check.

Germany’s First Televised DebateGoes to Schroeder, Pollsters Say

Recording Industry Accounting ProbeWidened to Include Fraud Allegations

OPINIONPage 4 THE TECH August 26, 2002

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August 26, 2002 OPINION THE TECH Page 5

Guest ColumnGretchen K. Aleks

Welcome freshmen! This phrase hasechoed throughout campus since yourarrival; you’ve heard it from upperclassmenin the dorms, orientation facilitators, andeven the MIT administration. There are otherentities that are very welcoming to new stu-dents: I’m sure everyone has seen the FleetBank and COOP representatives in the stu-dent center who recognize that new studentsmean a whole new generation to hook ontheir convenient, yet overpriced, goods andservices.

Soon, you’ll meet with another corporationtrying to lure you in with their convenientlocation: Star Market. In a week, when you’veseen every meal cycled through at least onceat Lobdell, and you realize how much you’repaying for food that most people wouldn’tfeed their dog, grocery shopping starts to looklike a good option.However, there area couple things theinformed MIT stu-dent should knowbefore they set footin Star.

Star Market, toput it bluntly, abus-es its employees.Recently, Shaw’sSupermarket, acompany whoseworkers have beenrepresented by theUnited Food andCommercial Work-ers (UFCW),bought out StarMarket, a historically non-union chain. TheUFCW approached Shaw’s with the requestthat they be allowed to unionize Star Market

workers, since they now fall under the aegisof Shaw’s. Not only did Shaw’s refuse toallow the UFCW to approach Star workerswith information on votingfor unionization, butShaw’s began reneging onthe contract it had reachedthrough collective bargain-ing with Shaw’s employ-ees, attempting to force theUFCW to have a two-frontfight: protecting its currentmembers at Shaw’s, whileunionizing Star Marketworkers.

Why is blocking theunionization of its super-markets an abusive, not tomention illegal, action byStar? An employee union atStar is necessary to ensurethat its workers have anadequate standard of living for themselves and

their families. Most StarMarket employees workpart-time, not out ofchoice, but because themanagement does notwant full-time employeeswho require additionalbenefits, such as partiallysubsidized health insur-ance. For these part timeworkers, the hours theywork in a week are highlyvariable, based on a capri-cious managerial decision.A union could ensure thatpart-time workers haveguaranteed hours. Notonly do most Star employ-ees work fewer hours than

they’d like, but their pay for the hours theycan work is pitiful — under eight dollars anhour. In Boston — a city with one of the high-

est cost of living indexes in the country —this hardly represents a living wage. Thehardships incurred by low wages are only

compounded by thefact that part-timeworkers do nothave health insur-ance, and full-timeworkers pay triplethe weekly cost forhealth insurancethan do unionemployees.

MIT studentsprovide substantialbusiness to the StarMarket in Universi-ty Park, and othersthroughout the city.Rather than contin-uing to support anorganization that

has no sense of common decency, we shouldwrite letters to Star management explainingour decision not to shop at a supermarket thatdisdains its workers, and then follow throughby exploring other grocery stores in theBoston-Cambridge area. Trader Joe’s —which has locations on Boylston Street acrossfrom the Prudential as well as on MemorialDrive just past Tang Hall — sells many gro-cery staples and is easily reachable from cam-pus. Bread and Circus is an all-purpose gro-cery store with multiple locations inCambridge and a new store opening inBoston. Additionally, a Harvest Coop is openin Central Square, and anyone looking to buyinexpensive produce can shop at Haymarketby Faneuil Hall on Fridays and Saturdays.With so many options available — and acces-sible — it makes little sense to support a com-pany with such an atrocious labor record asStar Market.

Gretchen K. Aleks is a member of theClass of 2004.

Tao Yue

Today, several hundred bright-eyed fresh-men will be packed into 10-250 in the earlyhours of the morning, calculating surface inte-grals and impulses for 18.02 and 8.01advanced standing exams.

In the test-taking spirit of the day, I’llmake up a test too. No integrals, no deriva-tives even — just international affairs. Ourvery own President-by-court-order George W.Bush failed such a foreign policy test twoyears ago. But this one has only two ques-tions, plus it’s open-ended.

1. Why did a couple of women just getsentenced to death by stoning in Nigeria?

2. Give the history leading up to the evic-tion of white farmers in Zimbabwe.

Now grade yourself. How well do you feelyou know these topics? How well doyou feel you know the world ingeneral? Now consider: howwell do you want to knowthese topics?

The answer to any oneof these questions couldeasily take several pages toexplain, but here’s an all-too-brief summary of eachsituation:

Nigeria, which was oncegoverned dictatorially, has nowloosened up and some predomi-nantly Muslim regions have institutedIslamic law. Several women have been con-victed and sentenced to death by stoning forsex out-of-wedlock, causing religious ten-sion between the nation’s Muslims andChristians.

Zimbabwe has had a rocky road toindependence, starting in the 1960s, backwhen it was known as Rhodesia and an all-white government declared independencefrom the British Empire. This governmentonly gave up power to blacks two decadesago, and only for guarantee d white seats inParliament, but those guaranteed seats openedup at the end of the 1980s and now the gov-ernment is also attacking the economic legacyof imperialism.

Of course, these questions happened to becompletely random — whatever popped intomy mind at the moment. They also both deal

with Africa, but I could just as well haveasked what the economic situation in Argenti-na is right now, or why there are so manyMuslims in Ger-many.

How well didyou do? How welldid you know thesetopics, and howwell do you want toknow these andsimilar topics inworld affairs?

My answerwould’ve variedquite a bit betweenthe start and the endof the summer. Ididn’t know either of these topics nearly aswell as I do now at the beginning of summer.

The reason for that is MIT. This Insti-tute of ours, alternately loved and

hated, has a tendency to envelopits students. Between work, life,

and sleep, twenty-eight of aday’s twenty-four hours areaccounted for. Hence the

famous MITb u b b l ew h i c h

keeps us mostly clueless about things outsidea three-mile radius.

The whirlwind events of the past year, ofcourse, havechanged this quitea bit. Many of uswere personallyaffected, and any-body who, likeBush, was cluelessabout Pakistan ayear ago is nowbombarded bynews of whatMusharraf isdoing. The averageAmerican proba-bly knows

Afghanistan in far more detail than they dideven during the Soviet invasion two decadesago.

But the news only goes so far. Recitingstatistics about Russian helicopter crashes isone thing, but providing a balanced picture ofthe Russian economy is another. To reallyunderstand the news, it is necessary to digdeeper.

Even matters between these shores, oreven just down the river, are important. Youmay be voting in a state where Democratsdon’t hold all ten House seats and both Senatepositions. However, local politics easily reachdown into MIT. The high density of educa-tional institutions around Boston causes lotsof tension between town and gown. Anyonemoving into Simmons now can do so onlybecause the City of Cambridge granted a per-mit. The city and MIT have had numerousdealings, including actions related to underagedrinking at fraternities, which is of courserelated to the current freshmen-on-campuspolicy. It’s all related, and you can’t hope tounderstand one action without knowing thegeneral framework.

Oh, it all seems so boring now, especiallywhen compared to The Week FormerlyKnown as Rush. And pretty soon classeswill start eating into your time. But at leasttry. You may slip a bit in the news, but ifyou try your best to keep up and dig deeperwhen necessary, at least you won’t emergefrom your coccon in May and ask, “Whathappened to the world in the last eightmonths?”

Come Out of the Bubble,Wherever You Are

Know Where Your Bread and ButterCome From

Roy K. Esaki

The people we meet on each flight. Thepeople we meet for a week during orientation.The people we meet for several years during agiven school, job, or living environment.Between takeoff and landing, we have ourtime together, but how many of them are sin-gle-serving friends? And given life’sephemeral limitations, to what extent are tem-porary arrangements based on convenience —acquaintanceships, essentially — inevitable,not only with relationships, but with ideolo-gies, or dispositions as well?

The distinction between an acquaintanceand a friend is a unique one that is to be madeby each individual, certainly, but for the sakeof discussion let us consider the former to be arelationship precipitated and sustained purelyby external circumstances, and the latter to besomething more permanent and intrinsic. Withthe former, when you leave the plane, youexchange business cards to file away in therolodex; with the latter, you don’t need to,because you know you’ll remember to lookeach other up when you find yourselves in thesame town twenty years from now.

This is not an issue solely of permanence,for change, as one of the few bona fide con-

stants, is incorrigible, and time can alteracquaintanceships and friendships alike. Rather,it is an issue that is of fundamental self-aware-ness; to figure out the nature of our actions andinteractions, we need to figure out not only whatwe think, but why we think the way we do.

It is reasonable to presume that ideally,there ought be no real problems in a friend-ship. Differences of opinion, squabbles, andbickerings are inevitable, of course, but theunderlying friendship should be inalienable,and moments of anger or unhappiness shouldbe but fleeting. This is a rather quixotic inter-pretation of the term, granted, and perhaps anunrealistic one; but this is an exercise in ideal-ity, so we shall allow this vision nonetheless.

Yet people often end up being ratherstrongly distressed by friends, close friends, orloved ones; society rationalizes that suchunidealities are a necessary component ofrelationships. While this may perhaps be true,it does not preclude the premise that theacceptance of many problems results fromarrangements of convenience, which yieldlocal, but not absolute, maxima. Do we settlebecause one must compromise, or because itis easier to pretend that we must? Only withhonest self-reflection can that be answered.

This concept of unideal acquaintanceshipscan be generalized to broader modes of behav-ior as well. Jobs, academic paths, lifestylechoices — are they circumstantial acquain-tances, or true friends? It’s awfully easy toblend familiarity with affinity. More insidiousare acquaintanceships with beliefs; variouspolitical identifications, religions, and philo-sophical values have been in our environmentfor a while, and many have fraternized withcertain ones for a while. Whether due to child-hood indoctrination, subsequent pressures,reactionary tendencies, or extraordinary expe-riences, many of these beliefs befriend usrather strongly. Here, more than ever, it isimperative that we allow for periodic honestself-reflection as we meticulously examine ourconvictions. Are they truly right, are theymerely convenient in a given environment, orare we just content that after X years of pon-dering, we’ve finally figured it out?

Single-serving packets or discount bulkpack, what we choose to consume becomes partof us. The results of a healthful or poor dietoften aren’t manifested immediately, if at all,making it easy for us to forget what we’re feed-ing into our system. What values, which people,what actions support and define us? The key toproper existential nutrition is balance, of course,achieved through conscientious effort. Thetake-home lesson: eat your vegetables.

A Single-Serving Life

Between work, life, and sleep, twenty-eight of a day’s twenty-four hours areaccounted for.Hence the famous MITbubble which keeps us mostly clueless

about things outside a three-mileradius.

Rather than continuing tosupport an organization that

has no sense of common decency,MIT students should writeletters to Star management

explaining our decision not toshop at a supermarket that

disdains its workers.

Most Star Market employeeswork part-time, not out of

choice, but because themanagement does not want

full-time employees who requireadditional benefits, such

as partially subsidized healthinsurance.

With acquaintances,when youleave the plane, you exchange

business cards to file away in therolodex;with friends, you knowyou’ll remember to look each

other up when you findyourselves in the same town

twenty years from now.

Page6

August 26,2002

Dilbert® by Scott Adams

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ACROSS1 Poisonous shrub6 Church seats

10 "Pequod" captain14 Fight site15 Mine entrance16 Tabula __17 Stogie or cheroot18 Stand19 Perfume cloud20 Evaded justice23 Homburg or fedora26 High times27 Make happy28 Relaxed30 Merchant's figures32 Evaded justice34 False front37 Cap or pad starter38 __ Paulo, Brazil39 Taj Mahal locale

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Monday, August 26

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. – Course Catalogue Distribution. Anyone withan MIT ID can come by Room 8-119 and pick up a copy of the 2002-2003 course catalogue. free. Room: 8-119. Sponsor: Reference Pub-lications Office. 10:00 a.m. – Admissions Information Session. Admissions OfficeInformation Session gathers at the Admissions Reception Center (10-100).Enter MIT at the main entrance, Lobby 7, 77 MassachusettsAve (domed building with tall pillars). Proceed down the center corri-dor to Room 10-100 on the right. free. Room: Admissions ReceptionCenter, Building 10, Room 10-100. 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. Campus tours start at the conclu-sion of the Admissions Informations Session. The Campus Tourbegins in Lobby 7 (Main Entrance Lobby at 77 Massachusetts Ave).free. Room: Lobby 7 (Main Entrance Lobby at 77 MassachusettsAve). Sponsor: Information Center. 2:00 p.m. – Admissions Information Session.2:45 p.m. – Campus Tour.10:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. – Getting Connected to MITnet. This lec-ture will help guide you through the process of configuring your lap-top or home computer to connect to MITnet so that you will haveaccess to online services available to MIT community membersonly. Attendees will learn about the different options they have forconnecting to MIT from on and off campus. In addition, all atten-dees will receive a CD containing the necessary software foraccessing MITnet and MIT's online services such as e-mail andWebSIS. This session is highly recommended for all incoming gradu-ate students, visiting scholars, and new faculty and staff. Room: 4-270. Sponsor: Information Systems.

Events CalendarEvents Calendar appears in each issue of The Tech and features events for members of theMIT community. The Tech makes no guarantees as to the accuracy of this information, andThe Tech shall not be held liable for any losses, including, but not limited to, damages result-ing from attendance of an event. Contact information for all events is available from the Events Calendar web page.

Visit and add events to Events Calendar online athttp://events.mit.edu

August 26, 2002 THE TECH Page 7

night’s event because of thedecreased duration of dorm rush.Saylor said that last night’s event“was a lot like condensing theweek-long rush into four hours.”

Students fear freshmen squattingSome upperclassmen believe

that many of the freshmen will notmove out of the temporary dormito-ry assignments they have alreadyreceived.

For example, Caroline A.Niziolek ’05 of French House saidthat unlike in past years, “the peoplewho we have now will remain inter-ested in French House and will wantto stay [permanently].”

“The administration has failed toencourage freshmen to enter thedorm lottery,” said Anne KateBaker ’04.

In addition, Saylor said that sheis worried that the freshmen will nothave the opportunity to get a chanceto know all of the dormitories.“They’re going to feel rushed to goeverywhere during rush,” she said.

Overall, some upperclassmenworry this will negatively impactdormitory culture and the fabric ofthe residential system.

The changes in dormitory rush“will take away from the communi-ties within the dorms and the differ-entiation between them,” Baker said.

Residents play with freshmenBecause the length of dormitory

rush has been shortened, upperclass-men said that they have been tryingto make the most of their time withthe freshmen.

Baker said that new format ofthe Residence Midway “is a lotcooler” because the dormitories cando more with the freshmen. She saidthat the turnout was good, though alittle slow at first.

Saylor said that this year’s Mid-way is more social than before

because previous years’ Midwayswere just about meeting people.

However, Tergiman said that “itwas much better when all the dormswere on the same floor. … They[the freshmen] do not seem to knowwhat they are doing.” Tergiman alsodescribed the Midway as a socialevent, but she said that “it’s more asocial event than a recruiting event.”

Freshmen explore passively Several freshmen said that they

enjoyed both participating in theevents at the Residence Midway andlearning about what other events thedormitories will be hosting in theupcoming days.

Fewer freshmen said that theMidway was helpful in their deci-sion making process.

Eva A. Enns ’06 said that“there’s a lot of energy at the Mid-way.”

Vanessa H. Quinlan ’06 alsoliked the Residence Midway“because it provided more of asocial atmosphere to meet theupperclassmen than like a job inter-view.”

Benjamin T. Lamothe ’06 saidthat the Midway was useful becausehe had the chance to get more infor-mation on the dormitories.

Jonathan E. Blum ’06, however,said that the Midway was not themost helpful because “I get to knowa dormitory by going inside it andtaking a tour.” Blum, nonetheless,said the Midway was fun.

Despite the fun times for thefreshmen, many left the event say-ing that they are not interested inswitching dormitories. Most of thefreshmen interviewed said theywould look around other dormito-ries for fun.

“I’m going to look around at theother dormitories, but I think thatI’m going to stay where I’m atnow,” Enns said. “I think that it’s agood idea to explore [the other dor-mitories] to make sure that I’m notmissing out on anything.”

Likewise, Blum said that heintends on staying in his currentdormitory assignment. “I have beenlooking around, but I still like it[Burton-Conner] the best,” he said.

Muyinatu A. Lediju, who is par-ticipating in McCormick’s Residen-tial Based Advising program, saidthat she is happy with McCormickand is not interested in looking atthe other dormitories.

Tristan J. Hayeck ’06 said thathe “[plans] on looking around [atthe other dormitories] because Idon’t know very much about WestCampus.”

Page 8 THE TECH August 26, 2002

science principles to large-scale andreal-life projects. The fall-term pro-gram has stood on its own from itsinception in 2000 under Hodges’leadership until this year. Terras-cope differs from the usual Missionprograms in that participants willnow have advisors tailored to help-ing the students with the Missionclass as well as helping them adaptto the first year of college.

Past projects for the Mission pro-gram include a mission to Mars aswell as sea research and exploration.The program for 2002 asks freshmento develop a system to monitor andresearch the status of the unexploredAmazon Basin rainforest.

Terrascope also requires to fresh-men to take a supplementary coursein the second term. The class, EarthSystems and Engineering (1.016),also required for Course I-E (Envi-ronmental Engineering) degrees, willbe tailored for students to further theproject they began in the first term.

Participation in Terrascope is nota requirement for Mission 2006. Ter-rascope does not permit students toenroll in an Residence Based Advis-ing or a Freshman Advising Seminar.

Terrascope is intended to replacethe Integrated Studies Program afterthe retirement of ISP’s founderArthur Steinberg.

“ISP was generally engineersteaching humanities,” said formerISP participant Mayur V. Kenia ’03.“It was better than most humanitiesclasses because you had a lot morehands on experience.” Terrascopewill use ISP buildings and funds torun its program.

Experimental Studies GroupESG offers the core subjects in

very small classes of about two to

five students. Classes are taught byprofessors, lecturers, graduate stu-dents, and undergraduates affiliatedwith the program.

“Some of the small classes werehelpful, and others were not,” saidformer ESG member Daniel G.Oreper ’04. “I felt the classes taughtby students were better than thosetaught by professors.”

ESG students take all of theirscience and math courses under theESG program, and may opt to takehumanities classes under the sametutelage.

With the close interaction dur-ing classes, a close social commu-nity also unfolds in ESG. “It’s onebig group of 70 people and youmeet all of them,” Oreper said. Inthe mainstream program, “youusually do not meet people inclass.”

Participants also often remain inESG rooms for help with classwork.“There are always people there tohelp with work,” Oreper said. Par-ticipants can expect to spend 10 to20 hours in ESG buildings eachweek.

Oreper said that the best thingabout the program is “you’ll meetsome interesting people there …probably some of the smartest peo-ple on campus.”

ConcourseThe Concourse program is

unique in that it provides a com-pletely structured first term sched-ule, including a humanities classes.The same students are in everyclass. This year will again featureIntroduction to Psychology (9.00).Many of the Concourse lecturesare the same as mainstream ones,and the program relies on its sepa-rate recitation discussions to setitself apart.

The program seeks to maximizea student’s number of core credits toprepare each one to handle anymajor once freshmen year is fin-ished. To do this, Concourse isslightly more fast paced than theusual core curriculum. Concourse islimited to 60 students, to be selectedat an orientation meeting on Tues-day.

Even with all these choices, amajority of students choose to par-ticipate mainstream courses. “Iwanted a more normal college expe-rience,” said Michael C. Hamler’03.

“I wanted to know more peo-ple,” said Richard C. Hu ’03. “Ifigured that I would meet morepeople elsewhere in mainstreamclasses.”

Next House RBA program largerResidence Based Advising was a

pilot program initiated in 2000 atMcCormick Hall. It expanded toNext House in 2001. It wasdesigned with the intent of makingstudent communities at the dormito-ries more close-knit while allowingstudents greater access to their advi-sors.

While participation inMcCormick’s RBA included allfreshmen residents since its incep-tion, the size of the program at NextHouse has expanded tremendouslysince last year, from a handful toover 92 percent of freshmen at NextHouse partaking in its RBA pro-gram.

While McCormick Hall is nowfull, there are about 14 slots remain-ing for freshmen at Next House.Students electing to move to NextHouse during tuesday’s lottery canelect to join an RBA, said Residen-tial Associate Advisor Johnny T.Yang ’04.

Freshmen Have Diverse OptionsPrograms, from Page 1

Some Say FreshmenNot Willing to MoveResidences, from Page 1

Solution to Crosswordfrom page 6

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August 26, 2002 THE TECH Page 9

a conspiracy involving privatefinancial gain, the case only tangen-tially invoked the 1997 No Elec-tronic Theft (NET) Act, which crim-inalized large-scale copyrightinfringement irrespective of finan-cial gain to the perpetrator.

The law was enacted in the wakeof the government’s unsuccessfulprosecution of former MIT studentDavid M. LaMacchia ’95, after heran a file-trading service on StudentCenter Athena workstations.Because LaMacchia did not profitfrom the service, the governmentwas unable to prosecute him forcriminal infringement.

Tresco, however, pleaded guiltyto conspiring to infringe for finan-cial gain. “The government’s theoryof private gain, which is supportedby case law, is that if he had avail-able to him access to other copy-righted works … as a result of theconspiracy, then that constitutes pri-vate financial gain,” Crossen said.

As a result, the NET Act was notimportant to Tresco’s case, Crossensaid, even though it appears to havestrengthened the government’s posi-

tion by defining “financial gain” toinclude “the receipt of other copy-righted works.”

Penalty appears unlikely to deterWhether the DrinkOrDie prison

sentences will have a deterringeffect on casual traders, as themusic, movie, and software indus-tries clearly hope, remains to beseen.

One student, who spoke on con-dition of anonymity because hisown publicly-accessible musicarchive appears to constitute crimi-nal copyright infringement, wasnonchalant about Tresco’s sentence.

“I’m not particularly scared,because it seems to me like he onlygot busted because he was part ofthis pretty flamboyant group,” hesaid. “I know tons of people whohave an archive like this … Oncethey start going after individual col-lege students, I’ll be more worried.”

The student suggested, however,that copyright holders have a lowbar to strike fear into the hearts ofcasual infringers. “I deleted all myMetallica songs once Metallica[threatened] everybody on Napster,”he said.

Catch a ride with the COOP!

FREE SHUTTLE “Safe Ride” Route September 3, 4 & 5 10am-6pm

Sponsored by

The MIT transportation department

is providing the shuttle service and

will follow the “safe ride” route to

dorms and other student houses in

Cambridge, Boston and Brookline.

The shuttle will run on a half hour

schedule (completing the round trip

approximately every thirty minutes)

starting at 10:00 am and leaving from

the MIT COOP at Kendall.

Government ChargedConspiracy For GainTresco, from Page 1

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The Samaritans of Boston, a non-profit, non-denominational suicide prevection center, seeks volunteers(16 years and older) to be trained to help staff our telephone befriending services. Accepted applicantswill be trained to provide non-judgemental listening and support to lonely, desparing, and suicidal indi-viduals. Please call (617) 536-2460 for more information about applying to be a Samartians voluneer.

Page 10 THE TECH August 26, 2002

classmates by wrapping her rightarm all the way around her head andtouching her right ear.

Although the performances sug-gested that these students shouldstick to science and math, theirclassmates were full of energy andcheered them on the whole way.

Many people were eager to cheerfor participants from their own homestate. “I don’t think anyone meantanything by it,” said Yonathon Tek-leab ’06, who was a contestant of theFreshman Feud. “We are all one bigcommunity now.”

“They seem to be a pretty enthu-siastic class,” said Orientation Coor-dinator Joshua S. Yardley ’04.

Competing on stage is easy as pieOne unique event this year was a

pie eating contest on stage for fivelucky freshmen. Pie may not be themost flattering substance one cansmear on his or her face, and manyappeared as if they were going to besick during the competition, but thecontestants said they had a good time.

“It was extremely embarrassing,but I thought it would be the bestway for everyone to get to know mequickly,” said Orit A. Shamir ’06,who won the competition. “I justhope everyone doesn’t rememberme as the pie girl.”

There was also a competitionbased on the television game showFamily Feud, which included thequestion “What do MIT studentslike to do on Friday nights?”

Eloquent, but ultimately incor-rect, answers from the freshman con-testants included sleeping, going intoBoston, doing hacks, and drinking.

Many of those that signed up ascontestants on stage were partici-pants in Freshmen PreorientatonPrograms last week.

“I liked the FLP [FreshmenLeadership Program] support that Igot while I was on stage,” Tekleab

said. “They should call it the ‘Fresh-man Love Program.’”

Benedict gives freshmen adviceThe program also included a scav-

enger with a fun twist. Four freshmenwere sent on a mission to find a bag ofpopcorn, Dean for Student Life LarryBenedict, and his favorite movie, Dr.Strangelove.

They brought back four differentpeople who had on the name tag“Larry Benedict,” and the audiencewas asked to cheer for who theythought was the real Dean. Benedict,clad in a gray suit and sunglasses, gotthe least amount of noise from theaudience.

He gave the students his “three littletips for surviving at MIT.” These tipsincluded: keeping a balanced life bygetting involved outside of the class-room, reaching out and connecting withsomeone in the community, and gettingenough sleep.

“If you follow these three littletips, you’re going to succeed,” Bene-dict said followed by a quote from Dr.Seuss. “And will you succeed? Yes!You will, indeed! Ninety-eight andthree quarters percent guaranteed!”

Best is yet to come, organizers sayThe opening ceremony and the

other events planned for this comingweek have been in the works allsummer.

The coordinators said they arelooking forward to all the events tocome and expect that they will be assuccessful as the opening ceremony.“The rest of the week is gonna benuts,” said Fahad Kajani ’04. “Seri-ously — we’re hard core aboutthis.”

President Charles M. Vest willgive a more formal welcome to theClass of 2006 in Kresge Auditoriumtoday from 11 a.m. to noon. Akeynote speech will also be givenby Professor of Chemical Engineer-ing and Biomedical EngineeringRobert S. Langer ScD ’74.

Benedict Gives TipsOrientation, from Page 1Have a Nice Day!

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DANIEL BERSAK—THE TECH

AARON D. MIHALIK—THE TECH

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Orientation for the Class of 2006 kicked off to a rocking start yesterday.Freshmen were introduced to MIT and their fellow classmates in theopening ceremonies in Kresge Auditorium followed by a barbeque in Kres-ge Oval. The students then split up into their Orientation groups for anafternoon of fun and games. A Residence Midway in the Student Centerended the day’s events. This year’s movie-related theme is “It’s your timeto shine.”

(Top right) Graduate Resident Tutor Xiaomin Mou serves a pancake to AkhilShashidar ’06 during the Simmons Hall brunch Sunday.

(Top left and bottom right) Freshmen attempt to extricate themselves from the“human knot” during an Orientation activity yesterday.

(Middle left) Jim Ghun, a graduate of UCLA and a presenter for PlayFair, address-es the freshman class in Johnson Athletic Center on Sunday.

(Below) Freshmen form a train during a PlayFair team-building exercise on Sun-day.

(Bottom left) A freshman tests his handstand prowess as part of an Orientationicebreaker.

Freshmen ConnectWith One Another

Page 12 THE TECH August 26, 2002

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