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MlT's The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Mostly sunny, 44°F (6°C) Tonight: Partly cloudy, 32°F' (O°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Clouding up. 40°F (4°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 115,Number 57 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday,November 17, 1995 VestProjects Losses FDA Approval of Obesity Drug Of $125Mfor MIT ConldBring Institute Millions \.I "'~l\:~ By A. Arlf Husain of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, \ 'By David.D. Hsu ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR laid the scientific groundwork for NEWS EDITOR In a decision last night that could the discovery in the late 1970s by At the faculty meeting on Wednesday, President Charles M. Vest bring five to eight million dollars in observing that many obese people projected that MIT could lose $125 million per year because of dwin. royalties to the Institute, a Food and suffer from a condition known as dling federal suppOrt. ,. Drug Administration advisory com- carbohydrate craving, which is char- In addition to Vest's address, Dean for Undergraduate Education mittee approved the national use of acterized by an abnormally high Rosalind H. Williams announced the plans for the Task Force on an MIT-patented drug for the treat- carbohydrate intake. Research '.Undergraduate.Life and the Task Force on Undergraduate Learning. ment of obesity. showed that the consumption of car- 'Other agenda items. included voting on the Masters of Science Sales of the drug, dexfenflu- bohydrates raises serotonin levels, ,,\program in System Design and Management and discussing theatti. ramine, are expected to reach $600 leading to the idea that dexfenflu- " tudes of faculty toward retirement . million annually, said Professor of ramine, which IJroduces a similar Neuroscience RIchard J. Wurtman, 'effect, could be used as a potential I~stitQteto solicit private 'funds who was involved in its early devel- treatment. With federaI'.•budgetcuts and re.engineering, MIT is facing chal- opment. The chemical compound of . ,,'flenging times, Vest said. " . "This is the first time any drug dexfenfluramine was discovered ."Our goal is to maintain and enhance MIT~sexcellence in an era has been approved for the long tenn about 40 years ago, but the work Richard J. Wurtman of fiscal constraint and societal ch3nge,~~Vestsaid. treatment of obesity,"Wurtman that led to its use as a treatment for Projected figures show that MITcouldlose $125 million per year. said. The drug can be administered obesity "was all done at MIT ," of an impact on obesity and the dis- This figure includes $35.7 million doHars in reasonably certain annu- for a year or longer, and no side Wurtman said. eases obesity causes like diabetes, al losses:,a loss of $3.? million in.National Science Foundation and effects .havebeen observed. The FDA's approval of the drug as the h~gh blood pressure drugs National Institute of Health Fellowship'subsidies, $2.2 miliion in pro- The .drug acts by increasing lev.. yesterday is an acknowledgem~nt have had on strokes," Wurtman posedNIH graduat~ student tuition caps, $1 million in indirect , els of a brain chemical called sero- that obesity is a serious disease said. chargeS on the U,!dergraduate Resean:;hOpportunities Program, and tonin, which is involved in appetite which requires treatment, Wurtman Dexfenfluramine has been in use $29 million in indirectrecovery costs on research. ~ . control. By raising serotonin levels, said. "There are a lot of people who in 65 othe,r countries for many ,'t Indirect.research.costs ar~ shared by..MIT ~d the government or . r~searchers found that people reduce need a drug for it - the same way years. Over 12 million people hav- ~" :!o-'; other sponsors, but changes tn,contractsm recent years ha~e cost the their carbohydrate intake and subse- there are a lot of people with high ing taken it for obesity treatment. ,quently lose weight. blood pressure who need a drug for The French company Sevier, which Wurtman's wife Judith, a that," he said. ' J:, research scientist.in.tpe Department .'Thi~ dru~ 'could .have as ~uch .~A, P~ge 17 AleolJ.91,»aJ:lll~dfrpmiDelts',H()use; . New Moil Center System Li~IlSing;"()l1rd 4c1$on Cpmplaints Prompts Dissatisfaction By Shang.Un Chuang By Jennifer Lane tenth of the Institute, previously NEWS EDITOR ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR received personal mail delivery and As a result of sanctions from the The Mail Services Re-engineer- often "entire buildings would Boston Licensing Board, Delta Tau ing team will go back to the draw- receive bags of unsorted mail to be Delta may not have any alcohol at ing board this week to address fac- sorted by departmental people." their house for one year. ulty and staff concerns about .the While making more work for some, The conditions, handed. down in new mail delivery system. the distributed mail centers actually a Nov. 2 ruling, stem from neigh- The re-engineering team had set alleviated the workload on depart- bors' complaints of excessive noise up distributed mail centers where ments, Lambert said. late at night, making it the third time faculty and staff could pick up their the board has handled noise com- mail rather than receiving their mail Re-engineering still in early stages plaints against DTD. directly. Many have complained Mail services re-engineering is , The Licensing Board, which is in that the changes have resulted in far from complete, and its most pro- charge of issuing housing licenses .mail delays and wasted departmen- ductive and positive aspects have to residents of the Back Bay, where tal time traveling to local mail cen- not yet been implemented or are in the fraternity resides, decided .not to ters. pilot stages, Lambert said. revoke DTD's license and take the The redesign team will focus on The redesign team is striving fraternity's house away, said DTD the. immediate issue of mail delays, toward completing implementation Community Relations Chairman and attempt to "implement positive of its changes "roughly five years Joshua L. Rosebrook '97. changes to mail services," said from now. When aU outgoing mail "The board thought that taking David F. Lambert, chair of the will be centrally processed, the the house away would be too severe redesign team. "One goal is to turn Institute will make effective use of of an action for such a simple com- mail around witliin 48 hours and to electronic communication, and the .plaint," Rosebrook said. , clean it all out on Friday," he said. amount of junk mail will be cut in In the event that alcohol is.found .The redesign team met Tuesday, half," Lambert said. on the premises before Oct. 15, and faculty and staff should' have 1996, DTD would face a discipli- seen an improvtomentin mail deliv- Mall, Page 17 .nary. hearing. DT~ must also make ery over the past fp,wdays, he said. sure to' contain all noise within' the th~ premis'es of.its house and must Faculty dissatisfied with changes submit a list of names and, contact In the MIT Faculty Newsletter, numbers of its .members to neigh- Professor of Electrical Engineering bOrs.' . and. c.omputer Science. James L. INSIDE 'Kirtley"Jr.:67 expressed a common Parties kept neighbors awake concern of faculty and staff about • Random Hall status .' The.latest .incidentbegan when the distributed mail centers. Jessica Rapciato, .a.neighbor living ~'They replace tho~e efficient addressed. Page 12 acrossthe street from DTD,wrote a people who hustled mail to all of the letter to voice her concerns and offices. Now what happens isevery-. • ~whey continues MIT complaints abo~t the f~ternfty .. , one must gQ.to the mail room to get. Theletterwas sent to two.Insti- his or her mail,"hc said. lawsuit. Page 12 tute officials: President Charles M. Kirtley said that the new process. Vest andt,;.,\ssislant.pean for Frater:- of mail delivery, while it.may save. • Students. discuss mari- nities, Sororities, and Independent moneyo~ the books,. actually ,Living. Groups Neal :H. Dorow. requires Ipore people hours to send '. juana' use. ,~age 12 Copies of the letter were also mailed staff to retrie,'c mail. He also '. '. ." .' , ' ••... , " ,INDIUNATHNEOGY-;-THETECH to State Representative Paul C. claimed that having a pqblic mail • Athena receives 'As' aresu'lrofthe'.ch~rges 'm8,df!.ag8lnst~lta Tau Delta, the frater-c' Demakis (D-Mass.),. theNei~hbor'" room'may invoi'/e a potential secu- new ~Ity \y~I"no longer~'abl~ !oserve.~lcol1~'C)~~ premises for one rity hazard. workstations. Page 15 .DTD, Page 15 ._.,i1tI~~Y:a~\,.;,,;c ...>., "c'l""':"';';~" ~",:;\:. ::,',~'~"';;'J,: ',., '; •.""'" , BurLambCrt said that only one- , "'~ I. " ••,•••";,,-,,,,,,,";.,~ .•~..~.,! ....l,,.},\:1"$.f .. ,~:;;,)f)..,•• ;t'4-l"¥4'f'....i..:1\Y:;;.1t....i':,7:,).~,' ,' ...:" : Page.2 THE TECH November 17,1995 . WORLD&r NATION~~~ .,..:~ Rabin's Confessed Assassin Balk8nLeaders~;.A.Pproacll . Re-enacts Crime for Police NEWSDAY JERUSALEM In. an eerie predawn re-enactment of his cri~e,confessed assassin Pact fuEIldWar ..inBosnia Yigal. Amir Thursday went ~ack to the square in Tel Aviv where he killed Prime Mir:tister Yitzhak Rabin 12 days ago and retraced his By Michael Dobbs ' And the State Department. con- ments. Some Moslem delegate~ ..~_ steps before a crowd of angry onlookers. THE WASH/NGroN POST firmed that Christopher will be back expressing concern that the ~ Surrounded by police barricades, wearing a white bullet-proof DAYTON, OHIO in Dayton on Friday evening, after ~osnian. constitution is so riddJed vest and chained around his stomach to it security officer as he was Balkan leaders in peace talks cutting short a visit to Japan. with qualifications and escape led in, Amir looked glum and impassive but did as he was told. here are close to reaching a compre- "We are likely toWraP this thing clauses that it may prove to be Amir, clad in blue jeans and sweatsh~ with a black yarmulke on hensive agreement on ending the 3 { up in a couple of days," said.

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