Volume 131, Number 23 Tech.Mit.Edu Friday, April 29, 2011 Alec Lai Resigns As UA VP-Elect Citing Frustrations with UA Leadership, Lai Leaves 2 Posts
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OPen HOUse GUests, WELcome to MIT! WEATHER, p. 2 Fri: 72°F | 45°F MIT’s Mostly sunny Oldest and Largest Sat: 64°F | 46°F Newspaper Mostly sunny SUN: 66°F | 48°F Mostly sunny Volume 131, Number 23 tech.mit.edu Friday, April 29, 2011 Alec Lai resigns as UA VP-elect Citing frustrations with UA leadership, Lai leaves 2 posts By Rebecca Han thanking Lai for his past con- STAFF REPORTER tributions, and touched on the UA’s next step. “Rest assured, This past Wednesday, Alec [we are] poised to have an ac- C. Lai ’13 submitted a letter to tive and beneficial year,” wrote the Undergraduate Association Miramonti. “[I] will continue to (UA) and undergraduate stu- search for people with a drive dent body, resigning from his to improve student life at MIT. positions as UA secretary gen- The Judicial Committee is cur- eral and vice president-elect. rently working on how best to Lai expressed general discon- fill [the vice president-elect] tent with what he perceived as vacancy, and I will move for- a lack of respect and coopera- ward once that process has tion within the student govern- been decided.” ment, particularly aimed at According to UA President authority figures whom he con- Vrajesh Y. Modi ’11, the Judi- sidered “megalomaniac[al].” cial Board will interpret the UA This stands in contrast to Constitution and explain what the high hopes Lai harboured steps need to be taken. during his campaign in March “I gave some people a BIYEUN M. BUCZYK—THE TECH 2011. Lai also hinted at what he heads-up, and I believe there Students throw colored powder in celebration of the spring season at MIT’s Holi celebration on Sunday. Holi saw to be a negative turn in his are many people who can fill is celebrated widely in South Asia. For more photos of the event, p. 10. relationship with his running in my secretary general role,” mate and president-elect Allan said Lai. “As for my position as E. Miramonti ’13, post-election: Vice President-elect … I fun- “I don’t know if it’s personal- damentally disagree with the ity, or what, but the change principles of the [UA] society has surprised me.” In a March so I feel it would be inappropri- First MIT open house in 30 yrs. 7 interview with The Tech, the ate for me to have my hands all pair had been “confident in our over what happens.” MIT opens its doors to the curious and inquisitive world ability to work as a team … we Asked why he had persisted complement each other well.” in running despite what he saw By Pearle Lipinski MIT community. Good weather is expected to draw more Now, a month later, Lai has as “frustrations throughout NEWS AND FEATURES DIRECTOR Plans have been made to accom- attendees. not communicated with Mi- the year,” Lai said he had con- modate from 10,000 to 50,000 attend- Lagacé, who was a student during ramonti since his resignation. sidered the setbacks to be “a Tens of thousands of the public are ees; in comparison, commencement the Institute’s last open house in 1980, Lai says he had mentioned the learning experience … even if expected to descend upon MIT’s cam- usually has around 10,000–13,000 at- said that the planning for this year’s possibility of his resignation to I disagreed, I thought ‘well, if I pus tomorrow for the Institute’s first tendees. This number is estimated from open house reaches back to President Miramonti in prior conversa- stay on for a few more months, open house in over 30 years. replies to invitations sent to Massa- Susan J. Hockfield’s inauguration in tions. “It came up twice,” said then it’s almost our turn to take “It is possible that 20,000 to 30,000 chusetts school districts, the estimated 2005. “We started talking about [an Lai. “If he didn’t take me seri- charge.’” According to Lai, the people or more will be on campus for attendance of the Cambridge Science open house] again in terms of the ously, it’s not my fault.” final straw was what he foresaw this wonderful day,” wrote John DiFava, Festival, and looking back at the pre- MIT150 celebration, and it made a lot of Miramonti issued a state- director of facilities operations and se- vious open houses, according to Paul ment to The Tech yesterday, UA resignation, Page 19 curity, in a letter to the members of the A. Lagacé ’78, open house co-chair. Open house, Page 17 Cambridge-MIT IN Short The farmer’s market has moved to the East Campus Exchange shrinks Courtyard. Fresh produce will still be available every Program will field fewer students Tuesday from noon to 6 p.m. By Leo Zhou the University of Cambridge Several parking lots will be STAFF REPORTER was forced to make cuts, and closed for the open house terminated the central-level on Saturday April 30. Visit Along with the rest of the funding for the CME program. the MIT Facilities website for U.K., the Cambridge side of Because Cambridge as a a list of closings web.mit.edu/ the Cambridge-MIT Exchange whole will no longer fund the facilities/transportation/ (CME) Program is facing fi- CME program, each individual index.html. nancial troubles this year. The department will need to find number of students that the its own funding to continue Baker House piano drop program can admit this year sending students to MIT. will be this Saturday at 4 p.m. dropped to 15 each from Cam- The engineering depart- bridge and MIT, down from ment was the only department Wellness Week ends today. MANOHAR SRIKANTH—THE TECH 20–30 each in past years. at Cambridge able to find It’s your last chance to grab Night of Numbers, a set of lighted numbers with special significance to According to Malgorzata funding for their students. Ac- free breakfast until 10 a.m. MIT, was installed on buildings across campus by Praveen Subramani G and Hedderick, Associate Dean cording to the department’s Anna A. Kotova ’10 for the MIT150 FAST Arts Festival. It uses LCD projectors of Global Education, the U.K. website, support from BP has Send news information and to put these special numbers and related phrases in the Wiesner Building plaza education sector faced sig- enabled them to send 15 stu- tips to [email protected]. and on the Landau Building. nificant cuts amidst the eco- nomic downturn. As a result, CME, Page 16 UnDerstanDING MUsic, MUsic, MUsic アニメボ ストン ZoninG Petition SECTIONS World & Nation . .2 Our arts writers have been busy this The Anime Boston the GenDer GAP reLeaseD Opinion . .4 month. ARTS, p. 14–15 Keith Yost and Michael convention is more than See MIT’s vision for Fun Pages . .7 Veldman spar off on one A-M-A-Z-I-N-G just anime — characters the future of Kendall Campus Life . .13 of MIT’s toughest prob- from across the pop culture Square. Arts . .14 lems. OPINION, p. 6 Once again, MTG’s Spelling Bee spells world showed up. p. 13 NEWS, p. 18 Sports . .24 our socks off! ARTS, p. 14 2 The Tech Friday, April 29, 2011 After storms kill hundreds, D south tries to regroup Carter criticizes US for TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A day after enduring a terrifying bom- bardment of storms that killed hundreds across the South and spawned tornadoes that razed neighborhoods and even entire withholding N. Korea aid towns, people from Texas to Virginia to Georgia searched through rubble for survivors Thursday and tried to reclaim their own lives. By Mark McDonald serious crisis” over food supplies in Jong Il. The letter told the visitors that WORL At least 291 people across six states died in the storms, with THE NEW YORK TIMES North Korea because of a harsh win- he was amenable to a summit meet- more than half — 204 people — in Alabama. This college town, ter, severe flooding, and an outbreak ing with Lee Myung-bak, the South N the home of the University of Alabama, has in some places been SEOUL, South Korea — Former of foot-and-mouth disease. She said Korean president. shorn to the slab and accounts for at least 36 of those deaths. President Jimmy Carter, after a 48- the withdrawal of U.S. and South Ko- “He sent word he’s ready to ne- Thousands have been injured, and untold more have been hour visit to North Korea, sharply rean food shipments had aggravated gotiate with South Korea or the U.S. left homeless, hauling their belongings in garbage bags or root- criticized the United States and South the already-dire situation, which had or with the other five powers on any ing through disgorged piles of wood and siding to find anything Korea on Thursday for their refusal become, she said, “a matter of life- subject at any time and without pre- salvageable. to send humanitarian assistance and-death urgency.” conditions,” said Carter, making ref- —Campbell Robertson and Kim Severson, The New York Times to the impoverished North, saying Brundtland cited a lack of run- erence to the other members of the ATIO their deliberate withholding of food ning water in hospitals, even in ma- so-called six-party talks that focused aid amounted to “a human rights ternity and pediatric wards, and a on the dismantling of North Korean Move to CIA puts Petraeus in violation.” deep shortage of what she called “es- nuclear programs.