No Classes on Monday! MIT’s The Weather Today: Partly cloudy, 72°F (22°C) Oldest and Largest Tonight: Cloudy, 68°F (20°C) Tomorrow: Partly cloudy, 70°F (21°C) Newspaper Details, Page 2 Volume 125, Number 39 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, September 16, 2005 Building 46 Lights Up the Brain MIT Observes Const. By Hannah Hsieh Each wing contains state-of-the- are located on the second floor, al- Who knows how the natural light- art laboratories, wireless access, though classes will not be held there ing, bold colors and bamboo forest conference rooms, student reading until later in the semester. of the new- rooms, and clinical space. The Brain Day on the Internet ly-minted and Cognitive Sciences classrooms BCS, Page 12 By Ray C. He reach out and teach something new.” Feature B u i l d i n g STAFF REPORTER 46 will af- True to form, MIT has chosen to Actions required by law unclear fect the research of MIT’s leading celebrate the new, federally-mandated “The law doesn’t require any real cognitive scientists. Constitution Day in an online format. activities,” Stewart said. “It turns out The building, due to receive its Within a week of tomorrow, all uni- that an activity could be posting up a new inhabitants beginning next week, versities receiving federal funds must Web site or making available material will bring together three previously teach the Constitution, according to — you don’t have to have a talk or in- separate groups of researchers into an amendment added by Senator Rob- vite a real audience.” a space designed to facilitate inter- ert C. Byrd to a federal spending bill. The loose requirements may also mingling. The Department of Brain MIT is no exception and is featuring contribute to cynicism, he said. “You and Cognitive Sciences, the Mc- Constitution Day on its Web site with could argue that MIT or virtually any Govern Institute for Brain Research, links to a resources pertaining to the university is engaged in educational and the Picower Center for Learning founding document. opportunities that teach the constitu- and Memory will live under a single “What we decided to do this year tion,” he said, just by having materials roof, creating an intriguing potential is to basically provide some informa- relating to the Constitution available for collaboration. tion through the MIT spotlight and the in their libraries. Web site this weekend,” said Charles The legislation may be an attempt Lost? Just follow the colors H. Stewart III, head of the Department to fix a perceived lack of education. MIT’s newest addition is nearly of Political Science, who is coordinat- “It just assumes that because we’re finished and looks about ready to ing Constitution Day activities. “In the not having students standing around hit the ground running. Following in future, we’ll try to build on what we’re reciting the preamble, we’re forgetting the footsteps of my tour guide, Ruth doing this year, which is to highlight a the U.S. constitution,” Stewart said. T. Davis, communications manager theme that’s related to the Constitution “People complain that Introduction to for Facilities, I first discovered the at MIT.” Astronomy doesn’t teach people the central hub of the building, a mag- Stewart, however, expressed mixed constellations. It’s really a simplistic nificent atrium. Located on the third feelings about the event. “Nobody view on education.” floor of the main flight of stairs of likes to be mandated to do anything,” the Vassar Street entrance, the hub he said. Lecture also teaches Constitution includes two seminar rooms and a ”It’s a very naive piece of legisla- In addition to the Web resources conference room that will be shared tion and very poorly thought out in that will be provided, World Wide Web among the three departments. a lot of directions, which encourages Consortium Technology and Society The new building has many of the universities to treat it cynically,” Stew- Domain Leader Daniel J. Weitzner “same qualities as the Stata Center, art said. “It’s also a bad piece of policy presented a guest lecture on the Inter- with space for intermingling,” Davis given what they’re trying to achieve net and the Constitution, Stewart said. said. — if anything I think there’s more “There should be a link to the lec- The atrium leads into a maze of irony to it than anything else.” ture given by Weitzner on the spot- maroon-painted halls, known as the The mandate is not completely in- light,” he said. The lecture will appear McGovern wing. The entire build- appropriate, however, he said. “MIT in a streaming video format and was ing is color-coded according to de- LIANG HONG—THE TECH does receive federal grants, it’s not un- taped yesterday from “Ethics and Law partment; the Picower halls are blue, Building 46, the new Brain and Cognitive Sciences Center, ap- reasonable for the federal government on the Electronic Frontier,” a class and the Department of Brain and proaches completion. A soaring central atrium is surrounded by to expect universities to do certain taught by Harold Abelson PhD ’73, Cognitive Sciences walls are bright seven floors of mostly research and laboratory space. The building things,” Stewart said. “We want to do professor of Electrical Engineering orange. arches over the railroad tracks that run just north of Vassar Street. something that’s serious; maybe we’ll and Computer Science. Crowding in Dormitories Rarified Air Makes Noise at Building 54 By Benjamin Gleitzman you may hear the sound of the gods’ an abstraction of science into a per- Like any layer of the Earth’s atmo- pinsetter emanating from Building sonal experience. Is the Same As Last Year, sphere, the 54 tonight. By translating waves of Captivated spectators slow their ionosphere plasma running through the Earth’s pace near the installation as they en- Feature provides an upper atmosphere into audible Despite Remedial Efforts abundance of benefits to the human sounds, the installation transforms Ionosphere , Page 18 race, from assist- By Christine Lee mitted 11 undergraduate students ing radio commu- Undergraduate dormitories are from schools affected by Hurricane nication to creat- overcrowded by 71 students, said Katrina, however, the Housing Of- ing the vibrant Robin Smedick, assistant director fice delayed decrowding. Aurora Borealis. of undergraduate housing. What’s next for All dormitories except Ger- Crowding a long-term problem this atmospheric man House that can accommodate In early 2002, Chancellor Phillip behemoth? This crowding are crowded, she said last L. Clay PhD ’75 vowed to eliminate week Carolyn J. Wednesday. dormitory crowding, achieving his Bodle SM ’05, in This year’s smaller incoming goal the following academic year. conjunction with class — 995 freshmen as opposed Crowding returned in fall 2003, Haystack Labora- to last year’s 1,080 — should have however, and the undergraduate tory, is broadcast- relieved crowding. Because of a dormitories have remained crowd- ing ionospheric greater number of upperclassmen ed since. sonatas from living in dormitories, however, the Dean for Student Life Larry G. MIT’s Green number of students in crowded Benedict said in 2002 that crowd- Building, home rooms is almost identical, Smed- ing was not an option for the MIT to the Department ick said. Last year, the number of housing system. When asked about of Earth, Atmo- OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH crowds was 70. this pledge, he said that MIT would spheric, and Plan- Speakers installed on the facade of the Green Building lie dormant overnight. Under normal circumstances continue to admit a smaller incom- etary Sciences. Projecting an aural interpretation of activity in the ionosphere, the Sonification/ some students in crowded rooms ing class and encourage more un- If thunder is Listening Up project aims to interest passersby in the complex interactions go- would have moved into vacant the bowling of ing on overhead. Following its last daily sounding today from noon to 1 p.m., the rooms. Because MIT recently ad- Crowding, Page 16 the gods, then project will culminate with the “Sound Off” event this evening from 5 to 7 p.m. NEWS Romney Proposes Surveillance of Comics Fundraising Events for Katrina Mosques, Foreign Students World & Nation. 2 Page 14 Page 22 Opinion . 4 Mass. Legislature Vetoes Gay Arts . 7 Police Log Marriage Ban Sports . 24 Page 16 Page 21 Page 10 Page 2 THE TECH September 16, 2005 WORLD & NATION Afghan Candidate Shot In Leg; In Katrina’s Aftermath, Bush Two Backers Abducted By Carlotta Gall THE NEW YORK TIMES Confronts Problems at Home KABUL, AFGHANISTAN A parliamentary candidate was shot in Nuristan province on Wednes- By Richard W. Stevenson of housing and health care and job cut such programs or rein them in, has day morning, and two of her supporters were kidnapped, in an attack be- THE NEW YORK TIMES training. He reached with rhetorical long been a flash point in his relation- fore the national election on Sunday, local officials said on Thursday. WASHINGTON confidence for the uplifting theme ship with poor and minority voters. The candidate, Hawa Alam Nuristani, an anchorwoman on the state- George W. Bush, whose stand- that out of tragedy can emerge a bet- But if this was big government, it run Afghan Television and Radio in Kabul, was traveling by car to a ing for the last four years has rested ter society, and he groped for what he was at least in part on his ideological campaign meeting in Nuristan, her native province, in the east when primarily on issues of war and peace, lost in the wind and water more than terms: Federal reimbursement to al- she was injured.