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Where You Read It First PM Showers 63/53 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LVIII, NUMBER 16 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2009 TUFTSDAILY.COM Dyson makes the case for nuclear disarmament BY KATHERINE SAWYER nuclear issues. Daily Editorial Board In his speech entitled “Nukes and Genomes: Two Genies out of Distinguished physicist and the Bottle,” Dyson argued against mathematician Freeman Dyson nuclear weapons, voicing his belief yesterday urged openness and that the greatest threat to nuclear cooperation in nuclear disarma- stability in the present day is not ment and genetic advancements, the weapons belonging to “rogue” calling for scientists to continue nations such as Iran, North Korea in their pursuit of knowledge and Pakistan, but the United States’ even though such attempts may own arms stockpile. cause controversy. “These are more dangerous “A more open world is a safer to the world and to us than the world. Openness rather than secre- small numbers belonging to Iran or cy is our best defense,” he told a Pakistan,” Dyson said of the roughly packed crowd in Cabot Auditorium 10,000 nuclear weapons the United as he delivered this semester’s States now holds. Richard E. Snyder Presidential Dyson urged American leaders Lecture, which aims to bring fig- to reduce or destroy their nuclear ures that hold viewpoints that are stockpiles. contrary to conventional thought “The removal of our weapons to campus. would make the world a lot safer, Dyson, professor emeritus at even if other countries kept some the Institute for Advanced Study of theirs,” he said, stating that in Princeton, N.J., is noted for his this would reduce the risk of a work in solid-state physics, quan- nuclear war. tum field theory and nuclear engi- The scientist cited several neering. He has more recently accounts of nuclear disarma- attracted attention for his uncon- ment to support his view that REBEKAH SOKOL/TUFTS DAILY ventional views on climate change, Freeman Dyson spoke in Cabot Auditorium yesterday, calling for nuclear disarmament and continued scientific but his lectured focused instead on see DYSON, page 2 pursuit in genetic engineering. Kwak hopes for government seat despite flyer incident BY ALEXANDRA BOGUS Senior Alex Daniele and sophomore Daily Editorial Board Chris Walczyszyn are also running for the position. Freshman In-Goo Kwak, notorious for The CSL is made up of approximately 10 posting a controversial flyer that some con- members, including student representa- sider racially insensitive, is one of three tives, professors and other Tufts adminis- students vying for the open seat on the trators, according to CSL Chair Brandon Committee on Student Life (CSL), a body Sultan, a senior. that often has the final world in major Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman university decisions. Next week’s special and Judicial Affairs Officer Veronica Carter election will decide which student serves are among the administrators serving on on the Committee. the board. Kwak said that he wanted to promote The group makes final appeals decisions freedom of speech and freedom of the on disciplinary measures passed down to press through the CSL. He said he made the student groups or individuals typically by decision to run for the position before the the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate flyer incident occurred. or TCU Judiciary, Sultan said. The CSL is REBEKAH SOKOL/TUFTS DAILY Full-time employment in journalism is currently at its lowest point since at least 1986. “Some people assumed that I’m running also charged with approving proposed for CSL because I want attention or some- changes to the TCU Constitution and other thing along those lines, which isn’t true,” university documents. Kwak said. “The CSL actually has weight in Sultan said that he thought it ironic that In poor economy, journalism making decisions that ... make a difference schools see rise in applications on campus. That was what interested me.” see CSL, page 2 BY BEN KOCHMAN the Chronicle of Higher Education reported Contributing Writer last week that journalism schools across the Dyson defends nuclear nation are actually having increased rates of When Tufts alum Jeremy White (LA ’09) application — a sign that students more and graduated from the university in the spring more are looking to graduate school in the energy in interview of 2009 after serving as a news editor for the depressed job market. Daily, he hoped to find a job in journalism. But White himself, who admits that he previ- BY TESSA GELLERSON Dyson has authored a number of books, after White sent his résumé out to newspapers ously had “no plans at all” to attend journal- Daily Editorial Board including “Disturbing the Universe” (1979), around the country and was met with no ism school — or “J-school” — applied and was “Origins of Life” (1986) and “Weapons and response time and time again, the harsh real- accepted into Columbia’s graduate program, Renowned scientist Freeman Dyson, who Hope” (1984) a study on the implications of ity began to set in: His dream job would have which reported a 44 percent increase in appli- delivered this semester’s Richard E. Snyder nuclear weapons for war and peace. to wait. cations for this fall’s class. Presidential Lecture yesterday, is professor The Daily sat down with Dyson hours White’s predicament is part of a nation- “I was sort of fruitlessly applying to all of emeritus in the School of Natural Sciences before he spoke yesterday. wide trend in which a shrinking job pool has these different newspapers, writing all of these at the Institute for Advanced Study, where increasingly left qualified prospective jour- obsequious letters, begging papers with a cir- he first began teaching in 1953. Dyson has Tessa Gellerson: I just wanted to start on a nalists out of employment. According to a culation of 5,000 to hire me,” White said. “But attracted attention recently for his challeng- more personal note, if you can tell me a little study from the University of Georgia, full-time I wasn’t getting anything back, and I figured es to traditional thought on climate change bit about your life and what it’s taken for you employment in journalism in 2008 was at its if I’m serious about trying to be a journalist, and global warming. Among a swath of to get where you are today? lowest point since at least 1986. this is the type of opportunity that I really can’t scientific accomplishments in his decades- In the face of these daunting statistics, it turn down.” long career, the physicist is arguably best Freeman Dyson: I started life in England ... seems that students would be less likely to pur- White was encouraged to apply to known for his work on nuclear reactors and My basic skill is mathematics; I was a math- sue a graduate degree in journalism. However, quantum electrodynamics, a field in physics see J-SCHOOL, page 2 centered on electrically charged particles. see INTERVIEW, page 4 Inside this issue Today’s Sections The Daily office Middlebury prod- | Comics 8 reviews the sixth sea- uct Steven Hauschka News Features 1 son of Michael Scott returns to his home Arts & Living 5Sports Back and “The Office.” state to take on the Patriots. see ARTS, page 5 see SPORTS, page 11 2 THE TUFTS DAILY NEWS | FEATURES Friday, October 2, 2009 THE TUFTS DAILY Dyson stresses continued inquiry in contentious areas GIOVANNI J.B. RUSSONELLO Editor-in-Chief DYSON safety and development of the planet. biotechnology allows silicon-leaved plants continued from page 1 “We can never know in advance what to produce 10 to 15 percent more chemical EDITORIAL unilateral action was the most effective dangers new knowledge will bring,” he said. energy than regular plants and decrease the Naomi Bryant Managing Editors way to successfully ridding the world of Dyson highlighted the possibilities that total area necessary for crop land. David Heck nuclear weapons. have become available through biotechnol- Biotechnology has the ability to “solve Alexandra Bogus Executive News Editor He referred to Richard Nixon’s indepen- ogy, a field commonly known for its devel- immediate social problems and alleviate the dent decision in 1969 to ban the use of bio- opment of genetic engineering. human condition,” he said. He illustrated Nina Ford News Editors logical weapons of warfare, which, though He spoke on advancement within the this principle by focusing on the jobs and Tessa Gellerson Ben Gittleson not entirely effective in prompting Soviet biotechnology industry, calling it a “new opportunities green technology could pro- Christy McCuaig Russia’s disarmament, did reduce the risk of revolution in human society” and positing vide for the developing world. Matt Repka a biological weapon crisis, he said. that “designing genomes will be a new art “Rural poverty is one of the great evils of Ellen Kan Assistant News Editors Harrison Jacobs Similarly, he referenced George H. W. form, as creative as painting and sculpting.” the modern world,” he said. People migrate Katherine Sawyer Bush’s decision in 1991 to disarm the U.S. He raised concerns that apply to both into cities due to lack of opportunity in the Saumya Vaishampayan Navy surface areas, submarines and aircraft nuclear armament and the biotechnology rural communities, he said, and the “world Robin Carol Executive Features Editor as an example of how nuclear disarma- industry, asking whether such advance- needs technology that attacks poverty by ment is better achieved through individual ments, which many consider dangerous, creating industry and jobs in the villages.” Marissa Carberry Features Editors rather than group negotiation. Then-Soviet should be stopped. His “dream of resurgent green technol- Meredith Hassett Alison Lisnow President Mikhail Gorbachev responded “What are the limits?” he asked.