Volume 131, Number 42 Tech.Mit.Edu Tuesday, October 4, 2011
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WEATHER, p. 2 TUE: 63°F | 52°F MIT’s Mostly cloudy Oldest and Largest WED: 63°F | 42°F Newspaper Breezy THU: 59°F | 38°F Sunny Volume 131, Number 42 tech.mit.edu Tuesday, October 4, 2011 Admissions video ‘recreates CPW in Lobby 10’ Ambitious goals at State of the Institute By Janelle Mansfield “more successful in more ways than I STAFF REPORTER could have imagined.” She credited its success to the large amount of partici- In her Monday morning State of the pation, and encouraged the audience Institute address, President Susan J. to visit the MIT Idea Bank (http://idea- Hockfield spoke about MIT’s prepara- bank.mit.edu/) to share their feedback tion for the future in four main areas: about the event. attracting and retaining high-quality students, faculty, and staff; digital “Innovation cluster” learning technology; encouraging the One of the main items on Hock- growth of this region’s “innovation field’s agenda for MIT’s future is cluster”; and making strides in the area “fostering” the “innovation cluster” of advanced manufacturing. in Kendall Square and around Cam- Hockfield’s address was followed bridge. This is part of the “MIT 2030” by a question-and-answer session with framework — a set of goals MIT hopes Provost L. Rafael Reif, Chancellor Eric to achieve within 20 years. MIT hopes L. Grimson PhD ’80, and Treasurer and to develop the property around Kend- Executive Vice President Terry Stone all Square and recruit high-tech com- SM ’76, during which questions cen- panies. Hockfield noted that “Kendall JOSEPH MAURER—THE TECH tered mainly on budget concerns. Square has more biotech and IT firms Admissions Counselor Chris Peterson directs a new MIT Admissions video — a tour of MIT led Hockfield began her speech by re- per square mile than anywhere else on by Tim the Beaver set to, and incorporating motifs from, the song “Pure Imagination.” capping MIT150, MIT’s 150th anniver- sary celebration, which she said was Hockfield address, Page 14 Reporter’S NotebooK New off-campus places! IN Short A community reception will be held this Thursday from 3:30 Thousands come together p.m. to 5 p.m. in the lobby of E62 to mark the departure of Execu- tive Vice President and Treasurer Terry Stone SM ’76. in Occupy Boston protests Add Date is this Friday. How By Kit Haines The Tech estimates. many classes will you add to your While there is a general consensus schedule? Last Friday at 6 p.m., several hundred among protestors that things need to people were already milling about Dewey change, what exactly this change entails The Nobel Prize in Physics will Square by South Station in Boston. A man is yet to be determined. They call this oc- be announced, at the earliest, to- with buttons lining his hat took the mega- cupation a discussion of, by, and for the morrow morning. Keep your ears phone to start the chant, “Whose city? Our people: “Our country is owned by the top peeled in case an MIT researcher city!”; Dan, it was explained to me, was an one percent. We are the 99 percent. Join the wins! old face at protests in the city. conversation!” Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street pro- As people started filtering into Dewey The MIT Global Education & tests — thousands of protesters have been Square, drumbeats resonated throughout Career Development office has camping out in New York City since Sept. 17 the air, providing some entertainment for revamped their website. Check it — Occupy Boston has gathered thousands the growing crowd. People held signs high out at http://gecd.mit.edu/. CHRISTOPHER A. MAYNOR—THE TECH of people who also want to join in on the with slogans that became iconic of the Oc- discussion about economic equality and cupy Boston movement: “We are the 99%,” Veggie Galaxy, a vegan diner and bakery, is Did you miss the MIT State of now open in Central square. democracy. The occupation, which started “No war but class war,” “United Against Wall the Institute address? See the last Friday in Dewey Square, had drawn al- Exam season is starting up again! But if you de- online archive video at http:// most 2,000 people that evening at its peak, Protests, Page 12 cide to take a study break and get out of the bubble, mitne.ws/qswC1U. Retail, Page 10 Send news information and tips to [email protected]. Nobel Prize comes a bit too late Recipient dies 3 days before award announced By Lawrence K. Altman humously. And so the Nobel committee, and Nicholas Wade which had believed Steinman to be alive, faced THE NEW YORK TIMES a quandary. On Monday morning, one of Steinman’s When a representative of the Nobel Foun- daughters, Alexis, saw the email from the No- dation could not reach Dr. Ralph M. Steinman bel Foundation and contacted Rockefeller by telephone Monday to deliver the thrilling University, where her father had worked. The news that he had been awarded a Nobel Prize president of the university, Marc Tessier-Lavi- in Medicine for his breakthrough work in im- gne, immediately called the chairman of the munology, he sent him an email about the Nobel Prize committee to inform him. honor. Then, the committee, at the Karolinska In- But Steinman would never see the message stitute in Stockholm, scrambled to figure out nor learn of the prize. He died of pancreatic what to do. As heartless as it might seem, would cancer on Friday, three days before the phone the prize for Steinman have to be revoked? call from the Nobel committee. He had been “This is a unique situation — Steinman died battling the deadly disease for four years, using hours before the decision was made,” Göran a treatment he devised to try to prolong his life, K. Hansson, secretary of the Nobel commit- KIT HAINES essentially turning his body into an extension tee for physiology and medicine, told Swedish Occupy Boston protesters organize into small groups for discussion. By 8 p.m. on of his research. Friday, approximately 2000 people had arrived at Dewey Square for the event. But Nobel Prizes cannot be awarded post- Nobel prize, Page 13 “GOOD GUY TECH MLB Postseason calls Keeping tracK OF RED soX SECTIONS World & Nation . .2 Nick Myers and Carlos Greaves pick obama”? the past collapse! Opinion . .4 apart the upcoming season. SPO, p. 16 Not so fast. The Tech Model Railroad Club Only the worst-case Fun Pages . .5 president is not the InstitUte DOUble taKE is one of the MIT’s oldest scenario could bring Campus Life . .8 bipartisan figure he may and most unique clubs. them down. Did it? Sports . .16 seem. OPINION, p. 4 New Tech photographers show off mad CAMPUS LIFE, p. 9 SPORTS, p. 16 skillz. CAMPUS LIFE, p. 8 2 The Tech Tuesday, October 4, 2011 Dozens of arrests reported in D central Syria Emails reveal White House BEIRUT — The Syrian government said Monday that it had arrested dozens of people in a central Syrian region that has become a flashpoint in fighting between defectors and secu- concerns about Solyndra rity forces waging a brutal crackdown on a six-month uprising. The military said this weekend that it had retaken Rastan, By Eric Lipton and from private investors, including cans have emphasized. The emails, WORL a restive town on the corridor between Homs and Hama, two Matthew L. Wald one Democratic campaign contrib- though, do provide new evidence of Syria’s largest cities. It reportedly deployed more forces THE NEW YORK TIMES utor who wrote to the White House of a concern by lawmakers that the N Monday in Talbiseh, near Homs, another town that has defied the day before President Barack broader loan guarantee program government authority for months in a revolt that has shaken WASHINGTON — Some White Obama’s May 2010 visit to Solyndra might be troubled. the four-decade rule of the Assad family. Since the summer, House officials were so concerned to urge officials to reconsider the An Solyndra investor, in an residents say, both Rastan and Talbiseh have appeared vir- last year about the financial health trip. email sent to the White House in tually occupied, with tanks and soldiers guarding the towns’ of Solyndra, a solar equipment The Solyndra loan, which was late 2009, asked why the govern- entrances. manufacturer that had received completed in September 2009 and ment had been willing to offer the “The defectors were the main reason behind the war on federal loans, that they warned that could cost taxpayers a half-billion solar startup so much money. ATIO Rastan,” said a resident there who gave his name as Hassan. a presidential trip to the company’s dollars, has come under congres- “One of our solar companies “Only women were allowed to leave their homes. The men California factory could prove a sional scrutiny since the company with revenues of less than $100 were detained immediately.” Though he was unable to give major embarrassment, newly dis- declared bankruptcy last month. million (and not yet profitable) an estimate on the number detained, the Syrian news agency closed emails show. The business is also under investi- received a government loan of SANA said arrests numbered “in the dozens.” The emails, gathered as part of a gation for possible fraud by the FBI. $580 million,” the investor, Brad —Anthony Shadid, The New York Times congressional investigation into the Obama, on Monday, defended Jones of Redpoint Ventures, wrote Energy Department loan program, the government’s investment, say- in December 2009 to Lawrence Report on Medicare cites offer new insight into just how wor- ing that “hindsight is 20/20” and H.