MIT's The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Cloudy, cool, 38°F (30C) Tonight: Cloudy, chilly, 27°F (-3°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Flurries, 33°F (1°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 119, Number 10 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, March 5, 1999 Proposed Finboard Legislation Would Reform Funding Process By Anna K. Benefiel voice on this issue." and Sher, both noted that students According to a press release repeatedly voice concerns about A legislative package which pro- issued by Sher and McGann, the how Finboard allocates funding. poses major changes to the proposed legislation would make the According to McGann and Sher, Undergraduate Association Finance Finboard process more efficient, student frustration is directed at the Board was released yesterday. The fair, effective, and "easier and more "blanket ban on funding 'non-cul- proposed legislation will be formal- pleasant to use." Although "current- tural' food" and the process itself, ly announced at this Monday's UA ly the UA does an adequate job of which can seem unnecessarily com- meeting. disbursing funds ... the UA can and plicated. The new proposal recom- Co-written by Association of should do better," the release states. Student Activities Treasurer In an interview with McGann Finboard, Page 19 Matthew L. McGann '00 and UA New House Representative Jeremy D. Sher '99, the proposed legislation Women and Men Rate aims to fundamentally reform Finboard's funding-allocations process, on multiple levels. MIT Equally Satisfying The "central issues" they wished to discuss were flexibility in student By Laura McGrath Moulton of their sophomore year. About 200 group budgets and freedom over the STAFF REPORTER students filled out both class of 1998 budget, McGann said. For the first time, MIT women surveys. "The proposal serves every- are as satisfied with their undergrad- Alberta Lipson, Associate Dean Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema spoke about the body's interests better than what uate experience as M IT men, for Research in the Office of future role of the European military and the need for new ties we've got," Sher said. Sher said he according to the recently released Academic Services, said that the to the United States economy. The talk was held yesterday in hoped to see a large student pres- results of the 1998 Senior Survey. In office is planning alumni surveys for a packed Wong Auditorium. ence at the meeting to enable the addition, 78 percent of participating the classes of 1994 and 1998 in UA to effectively "hear the students' seniors say that they were "generally 1999 and 2003, respectively. satisfied" or "very satisfied" with These "longitudinal" surveys their MIT education. will allow MIT to measure trends Two Teams Wm lAP Design Contest However, those results were tem- over time, Lipson said: Few trends _ pered by criticism by seniors of the are evident so far, however, since By Eric Sit freshman experience in the resi- Young, the other team members are advising in their majors. Seniors the results in 1994 and 1998 were STAFF REPORTER dence halls," said Ricky A. Gresh, Association of Student Activities also said that MIT did little to help "strikingly similar," Lipson said. d1/:. Two teams, the Beaver Dream Program Coordinator of the President Van L. Chu '99, John-Paul improve their communication or The main weaknesses revealed 'I Team and the Dorm-Design Team, Residential Life Office, and a mem- B. Clarke '91, Associate Dean of personal skills. by both surveys revolved around were recently named co-winners of ber of the Beaver Dream Team. Students Mary Z. Enterl ine, The 1998 Senior Survey is the personal communications skills, MIT's lAP Residential Design .~ Seventy-five percent of the resi- Matthew P. Lahaie '01, Associate second such survey to be conducted such as writing and self-esteem. Contest. Both teams will share the dents in first-year houses wi 11be Dean Alberta G. Lipson, by Office of Academic Studies and Three-quarters of students said that first and second place prizes, which freshmen, and each of the freshman Association of Student Activities the Educational Studies Working their MIT education improved their include trips to view the housing buildings will have a dining facility. Treasurer Mathew L. McGann '00, Group. The first was administered to awareness of ethical issues not at all ~ systems at Cambridge University in These houses will be the hub of spe- Undergraduate Association Floor the class of 1994. or a little, and 62 percent said the '-', Cambridge, England, Stanford cial freshman support programs. Leader Ryan K. Pierce '99, Catholic The results of the 1998 survey same of their writing skills. By con- University, or the California The freshman advising system Chaplain Paul Reynolds, and Ri will be compared with the 1994 trast, 95 percent of students said that Institute of Technology. would be heavily concentrated in the Romano, assistant registrar for stu- results as well as a survey given to their MIT education had improved The idea of holding an lAP resi- freshman dormitory. Advisers the class of 1998 on the freshman dential design contest was would live in the dormitory, and Design Contest, Page 21 experience during the first semester Senior Survey, Page 19 announced last fall by Chancellor freshmen could go to them for help, Lawrence S. Bacow '72 to chal- Gresh said. lenge the MIT community to devel- According to the Beaver Dream op a residential design that would Team plan, freshmen would rush for address a series of "compelling upperclassmen housing at the end of ''-J questions" and layout a design for the second term. Upperclassmen the future of MIT's residence sys- would be forced out of freshman tem. The contest was held from housing unless they agreed to be an January 19-29 and was run by the associate adviser, Gresh said. Residential System Steering Gresh believes it will not be dif- Committee. In addition to choosing ficult to encourage upperclassmen to the winners, the RSSC will write live in the freshman residences. their own residential design propos- Most other campuses have no diffi- al drawing ideas from the eleven culty in doing it, Gresh said. groups who participated in the con- "What made this exciting was test. This final report will be submit- we said: Sky's the limit. Start from . ~'.l ted to Bacow in the fall. scratch. See what we can come up with," said team organizer Elizabeth Beaver Dream Team C. Young, coordinator of student According to the Beaver Dream programs in the Office of Academic Team proposals, the ideal residence Advisers. system would include first-year hous- The Beaver Dream Team is com- es, upper-class residences, fraterni- posed of approximately half stu- ties, sororities, and independent living dents or alumni and half administra- groups, family houses, and graduate tors. Most of the students, however, houses. The guiding principle of the have worked closely with the I OMAR R U. team's proposal is to foster a sense of administration in the course of par- Brian Troiano and Jonathan Baker, members of the Fenway Trombone Quartet, perform Cornette's ... ""'.. community and class pride. ticipating in student government Duet in F Major In the Chapel yesterday at noon. "We wanted to concentrate the activities. In addition to Gresh and .'.. Bad Taste '99 Comics Dormitories receive $5.,000block. ~I"World & Nation 2 grants. I~I 0"pInIOn .4 ,I Arts 6 lion The Town .11 I II TechCalendar 16 .. Page 12 Page 14 !i Page 17 l! Sports 24 ...... .. , I ,~ Page 2 THE TECH March 5, 1999" ~ WORLD & NATION Former Supreme Court Justice Military Jury Acquits Pilot Harry Blackmun, 90, Dies .~ LOS ANGELES TIMES WASHINGTON Retired Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, the shy, soft- In Cable Car Tragedy Case spoken Minnesotan whose opinion legalizing abortion set off a loud By Steve Vogel Thursday morning at the end of pressure created by Italy's outrage and bitter national debate, died Thursday at age 90. THE WAS}{fNGTON POST seven hours' deliberation .over two over the accident, called for a con- Blackmun's 24-year career saw one of most remarkable transfor- CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. days. gressional investigation of the mations in the court's history. He was best known, however, as the A military jury on Thursday "Captain Richard J. Ashby, this Corps' behavior. author of Roe vs. Wade, the 7-2 decision that gave women a constitu- acquitted Capt. Richard J. Ashby of court finds you, of all the specifica- "I think it's time, now that the ~~ tional right to choose abortion. The 1973 decision made him a hero to all charges brought against him for tions and charges, not guilty," said truth has come out in the courtroom, millions of American women and a villain to nearly as many others. piloting his Marine jet through Co!. William T. Snow, president of for the Marine Corps to look back at His court colleagues eulogized him as a meticulous, hard-working cables holding a ski gondola last the jury. how this trial came about, and I V' jurist as well as a kind, considerate friend. Once assigned the task, year in an accident that sent 20 peo- A joyous whoop erupted from think it's time for Congress, per- Blackmun plunged in wholeheartedly. He spent weeks researching ple plunging to their deaths in the Ashby's relatives, sitting directly haps, to look at the Marine Corps the history of abortion dating back to Persian and Roman times. More Italian Alps. behind the pilot. "Praise the Lord," once all these issues are resolved so than any current justice, Blackmun focused on the plight of the The verdict produced swift out- said Ashby's mother, Carol Ann and look at what went wrong," ." people whose cases came before the court.