Volume 127, Number 35
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Activities Midway in Johnson Today The Weather MIT’s Today: Mostly cloudy, chance of shower 77°F (25°C) Oldest and Largest Tonight: Gradual clearing, 64°F (18°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Mostly sunny, 76°F (24°C) Friday Details, Page 2 Volume 127, Number 35 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, August 31, 2007 More Frosh Request Housing Adjustment Lower Percentage of Frosh Move This Year By Angeline Wang students wanted to leave.” Smedick EDITOR IN CHIEF said she had anticipated that a higher A higher percentage of eligible number of freshmen would request freshmen entered the Housing Ad- a move because the Class of 2011 is justment Lottery this year as com- larger than the Class of 2010. pared to last year, with a lower per- While there are currently 1,067 centage of those entering the lottery freshmen that need dormitory hous- being allowed to move into a differ- ing in the Class of 2011, only 849 (or ent dormitory. The lottery, which 79.5 percent) were eligible to move, closed on Tuesday, allowed fresh- according to Smedick. The remain- men to either choose to stay in the ing students were not eligible be- ALEX CHAN building they had been temporarily cause they had been placed in Next Eddie Moore, Jr., Kieran A. Mclaughlan ’11, and Leah R. Dancy ’08 (left to right) eat lunch on assigned during the summer or rank House or McCormick Hall, which Kresge Oval after Moore spoke at Wednesday’s Orientation diversity event. Moore is the director up to four other dormitories to which offer Residence-Based Advising, of diversity at the Bush School in Seattle. they would like to move. during the Summer Housing Lottery. Of the 209 freshmen who entered Of the students who were eligible to the Adjustment Lottery earlier this move, approximately 25 percent en- week, 154 (74 percent) were able to tered the Adjustment Lottery and 18 Fall Sorority Recruitment Begins move to a different dormitory. This percent actually moved. By Nick Semenkovich made in December 2005. According cruitment could boost membership. percentage is lower than it has been Last year, there were 791 eligible NEWS EDITOR to Annika S. Larsson ’08, president “During fall recruitment, friendships in previous years, though it repre- freshmen out of 1,004 students that Sorority recruitment begins to- of the Panhellenic Association, the are newer and more pliable,” the re- sents a larger number of students. needed dormitory housing in the morrow with day-long activities as move was prompted by a desire to port states. “Women may be more Last year, a total of 152 freshmen Class of 2010. Of the 791 eligible potential new members of MIT’s five connect to first-year students. Joining inclined to make decisions indepen- entered the lottery, with 124 (or 81.6 to move, approximately 19 percent sororities try to find the right fit. This a sorority offers a “support system” dently of their orientation friends percent) able to move. (For more sta- entered the Adjustment Lottery and is the first time since 2002 that soror- with “upperclassmen to help you out than they were with their friends tistics, see the tables on page 15.) 16 percent moved into a different ity recruitment will occur in the fall. if you’re stressed out,” Larsson said. from the first semester.” “I’m comfortable with the number dormitory. During the last four years, recruit- “It’s nice to have an extra semester of Larsson said that a spring recruit- of moves,” Robin Smedick, assistant The most popular dormitories ment took place at the end of the In- … that support system.” ment was not as effective, since “a director of Undergraduate Housing, this year, based on the number of dependent Activities Period. The de- A 2005 Panhel report analyzing said. “[A large number] of requests cision to shift recruitment to fall was the switch suggested that fall re- Recruitment, Page 16 were for Baker House, but only nine Housing, Page 15 Fraternity Brothers Allowed Police Chief Discusses Work, Family By Joyce Kwan NEWS EDITOR To Wear Letters This Rush This is the fifth interview in a By Nick Bushak tion,” Eads said. According to Eads, seven-part series introducing incom- ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR IFC held a meeting on Aug. 29, ing students to some of MIT’s faculty, Rush kicks off with the Greek 2007 to distribute the rush rules to staff, and student leaders. Today, The Griller tomorrow in Killian Court presidents of fraternities. Since IFC Tech interviews MIT Police Chief at noon, and fraternities are prepar- is a “self-governing organization,” John DiFava, who talks about his ing to lure freshmen with free lob- fraternities are responsible to watch background with the Massachusetts ster dinners, off-campus jaunts, and for potential infractions, Eads said. State Police and security at MIT. other pricey events. Evan D. Walton ’09, IFC judi- The Tech: What is your role at In the time leading up to rush, cial committee chair, declined to MIT? fraternities have already begun comment on the judicial process for John DiFava: I was hired as the meeting potential new members. rush or for the school year. chief of police. My role has been Christopher G. Whitfield ’09, co- This year, Dormitory Coun- expanded, so now I have responsi- rush chair of Chi Phi, said Orienta- cil and the IFC signed an alcohol bilities as the director of security and tion leaders who are also fraternity agreement, stating that DormCon campus police services. brothers “are our greatest resource “encourages all dormitories to limit I oversee the police department in reaching freshmen” before rush. the scope of their events held dur- and I also oversee the security initia- Fraternities are not allowed to re- ing Labor Day Weekend.” It also tives within the Institute that basical- cruit before rush, so they focus on emphasizes that events must allow ly are in its very early stages. … We promoting general Greek life in- “participating first year students to opened [the Security & Emergency stead, Whitfield said. flow freely to and from the event Management Office], so I have a Rush rules changed this year, at will.” Eads said that these stip- three person office working with me permitting brothers to wear cloth- ulations are in place to make sure that deals with issues of security on ing with their fraternity’s letters. freshmen may choose between campus. Daniel S. Eads ’08, president of the dormitory events and Greek re- I’m also what they call a facility Interfraternity Council, said that cruitment, and that “DormCon was security officer. What that is — the this move makes Greek life less understanding that … the first two Defense Security Service oversees mysterious, freeing brothers from days are important.” any entity that has dealings with the “hiding their affiliations.” Broth- According to DormCon Presi- federal government for sensitive is- ers, however, still need to abide by dent Sarah C. Hopp ’08, this year’s sues. And although we don’t do any the existing rule that they may not agreement between DormCon and kind of top secret work on campus, bring up their affiliation unless it is IFC is more permissive than last nor do we have any secret or classified a “natural response” to a question, year’s. Last year, according to Hopp, documents on campus, I still have to according to IFC’s rush rules. dormitories were not allowed to use maintain a list of key personnel that To prevent recruitment rule in- are eligible to be able to go up to Lin- fractions, “the first step is educa- Rush, Page 18 coln Labs, so I maintain their security clearances and things like that. In Short TT: How did you become involved with MIT? ERIC D. SCHMIEDl—The TECH ¶ Athena Cluster printers no lon- PE classes begin Sept. 10. See http:// MIT Police Chief John DiFava spoke with The Tech about how he be- ger require special Kerberos soft- web.mit.edu/athletics/www/physed/ DiFava, Page 14 came part of the MIT community and his plans for the future. ware to print, effective today. IS&T index.html. has removed the authentication re- quirement in order to make it easier ¶ The Mass. Ave. repaving that was NEWS DAILY CONFUSION World & Nation ......2 to print, especially from Windows scheduled to take place last night and Mac OS X. The KLP printing was canceled by the City of Cam- State panel criticizes What does this year’s Opinion .............4 software had been a significant head- bridge. No new date has been set. Va. Tech campus fraternity rush and Arts ................5 ache for students. See Ask SIPB on Updates can be found at http://web. page 19 for details. mit.edu/facilities/construction/up- security ............17 sorority recruitment Comics / Fun Pages ...7 dates.shtml. Daytime Boston Shuttle have in store? Ask SIPB ...........19 ¶ The Physical Education lottery is open and runs through Wednes- Send news information and tips to finds funding........19 Page 9 Sports .............20 day, Sept. 5 at 1 p.m. First quarter [email protected]. Page THE TECH August 31, 007 WORLD & NATION Two Boston Firefighters Independent U.S. Panel Urges Die in Restaurant Blaze By Katie Zezima THE NEW YORK TIMES BOSTON Purging Corrupt Iraq Officers Two Boston firefighters were killed and 11 others were injured bat- tling a blaze that appeared to start in a grease-caked ventilation shaft By David S. Cloud from summer recess. But the Jones Iraqi police forces was underway. at a Chinese restaurant on Wednesday night, officials said Thursday. THE NEW YORK TIMES commission’s assessment is likely Morrell said that Pentagon officials They were the first Boston firefighters to die in the line of duty since WASHINGTON to receive particular attention as the believed that such an effort could 1994.