MIT’s The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Partly cloudy, 45°F (7°C) Tonight: Clearing skies, 32°F (0°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Partly cloudy, 43°F (6°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 121, Number 12 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, March 16, 2001 Next House Adopts RBA Pilot Program Half of Dorm’s Freshmen Will Be Selected Over Summer, Live with Advising Groups By Naveen Sunkavally K. Anderson ’02 said a major reason NEWS EDITOR for adopting the program is to make The house government and execu- the dormitory eligible for more tive council of Next House dormitory administrative funds that can be voted unanimously this past Sunday used for residential programming to try out a new residential-based for the entire dormitory. advising program this coming fall. Riordan said that Next House The program will be similar to also chose to try out the program in the one carried out at McCormick order to build a sense of community House last fall. and increase the attention freshmen Under the program, about half of receive to personal issues. While Next House’s freshmen will be pre- there were concerns that the pro- selected through an application gram may create a more classroom- process over the summer and live in like atmosphere in the dormitory, in the vicinity of their associate advis- the end the benefits outweighed the ers, said Next House President costs, Riordan said. MATT YOURST—THE TECH Daniel P. Riordan ’03. The other half About six to seven associate Paula S. Deardon ’03, Maria K. Chan G and Christine Hsu ’03 serve food Saturday at Rosie's of the freshmen living at the dormi- advisers will live in the dormitory, Place, a homeless shelter in Boston. The volunteers came on behalf of the Hunger Action Group tory will rush Next House as usual. and they will be affiliated with both and the Ashdown House Volunteer Committee. For more, see page 15. Next House councilor to the Undergraduate Association Victoria RBA, Page 9 MIT Plans Professors Battle It Out for Annual Big Screw By Jennifer Krishnan “I’m retiring in June, and this is my ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR last chance to to win.” For Spring For once, professors are brag- Professor Michael D. Ernst ’89 ging about how boring they are and asked students in his Laboratory for how impossible their tests are. Software Engineering (6.170) class Weekend This week is the Big Screw, an to vote for him in honor of his birth- annual fundraiser sponsored by day, which was this week. Of his By Nancy L. Keuss Alpha Phi Omega. Students have a nomination, Ernst said his TAs “are ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR chance to recognize professors or just doing this to express their pro- With spring just around the cor- other members of the MIT commu- found respect for me as an educator.” ner, preparations are underway for a nity who screw people over, and all number of Spring Weekend events. of the proceeds go to a charity of the Johnson current leader The event’s coordinating com- winner’s choice. The winner also Christopher B. Johnson, a teach- mittee plans to announce its selec- gets his or her name engraved on a ing assistant for Unified tion for the featured Spring Concert three-foot, left-handed aluminum Engineering, was in the lead as of band within the next two weeks. screw, which he or she gets to keep Wednesday night with donations “A dramatic increase in funding for a year. totalling $146.21. He is closely fol- has left us operating in a different “I give impossible quizzes … lowed by Ernst, who has collected league from before. We’re looking and they’re even at night,” said $131.23. to attract a bigger, more expensive Assistant Professor of Electrical However, that could change very set of bands,” said Satwiksai Engineering and Computer Science quickly. Seshasai ’01, chair of the Spring Leonard McMillan, who teaches “Most of the big donations come Weekend Committee. Computation Structures (6.004). “If in on the last or next to last day,” Financial support for the event that doesn’t deserve a screw, what said APO President Ian S. Lai ’02. derives from a joint contribution does?” “I think I might have even seen a between the Undergraduate Professor Hale Van Dorn Bradt $100 bill one time.” Association and the Graduate ’61, who teaches Physics II (8.02), So far $602.25 in donations have Student Council, as well as funds said he nominated himself “to see been collected. Lai said that total solicited from the Office of the what would happen.” He added, donations are usually in the low Dean for Student Life, the thousands. The Dormitory Council, contest raised Weekends@MIT, and Large Events Previous Big Screw Winners almost $3,000 last Funding. year and $1,380 in A December online poll that sur- 2000 Neal H. Dorow, Assistant Dean of 1999. veyed the music preferences of over Residential Life and Student Life Programs Other con- 800 MIT students for the Spring 1999 Carl D. Martland, Associate Professor tenders in this Concert helped pinpoint the music of Civil and Environmental Engineering year’s race are tastes of the student body. “What the 1998 Course X Senior Year Chancellor KAILAS NARENDRAN—THE TECH poll shows consistently every year is 1997 Neal H. Dorow Lawrence S. The Big Screw donation booth in Lobby 10. Alpha Phi Omega spon- that this campus has a very large 1996 Unified Engineering (16.010, 16.020, Bacow ’72, Dean sors the annual fundraiser. group of people who are interested 16.030, 16.040) for Student Life A fun event for charity in hip-hop and rock music,” 1995 Matthew H. Braun ’93, systems pro- Larry G. Benedict, Community Service Fund. The Seshasai said. grammer, Information Systems and former MIT All the money collected this fund’s donations go towards social Yet beyond this general canvass- 1994 Introduction to Computers and President and week will go to a charity selected by work in Cambridge. ing of musical interests, it is more Engineering Problem Solving (1.00) professors EECS Professor the winner. If Ernst wins, the money will go difficult to choose specific bands 1993 Eliot S. Levitt ’89, staff associate for Paul E. Gray ’54, McMillan’s chosen charity is to the Massachusetts chapter of the from survey data. “The poll limits residence and campus activities who teaches Transition House, a shelter for bat- American Civil Liberties Union. the genre. It’s most useful for giving 1992 no contest Circuits and tered women and children. He said “It’s one stop shopping for every- us ideas about the preferred kinds of 1991 Pascal R. Chesnais SM ’88, Media Electronics he chose this charity because “it thing that matters,” he said. bands but not about specific bands,” Lab systems programmer (6.002). focuses on children.” “Women’s rights, gay rights, work- “I think I chose the best charity,” Spring Weekend, Page 16 said Bradt, who selected the MIT Big Screw, Page 16 ARTS Comics SPORTS World & Nation . 2 Eric J. Cholankeril reviews the Rory P. Pheiffer details his Opinion . 4 recent concert of Weezer and Get selections for the NCAA men’s On the Town . 7 Up Kids. college basketball tournament. On the Screen . .8 Events Calendar . .14 Page 7 Page 12 Page 20 Sports . .Back Page Page 2 THE TECH February 16, 2001 WORLD & NATION Big Apple Population Hits 8 Million Senate OKs Bill to Tighten NEWSDAY NEW YORK New York City’s population broke through the 8 million mark for the first time, jumping 9.4 percent from its level over 10 years ago, Nation’s Bankruptcy Rules according to Census 2000 figures released Thursday. In a city that is 8,008,278 strong, Hispanics saw significant By Kathleen Day U.S. bankruptcy code and make The Senate added an amendment growth over the last decade, amounting to nearly 27 percent of the THE WASHINGTON POST more file under Chapter 13, which that would cap the home equity a population in the five boroughs in 2000. Their numbers now equal WASHINGTON would require them to repay a por- bankruptcy filer could keep at those of blacks. Meanwhile, Asians currently make up about one in The Senate approved legislation tion of their debt over 5 years. $125,000. every 10 New Yorkers. Thursday that would revamp the “Reforming the system will be The House version is more com- “It’s really a very healthy sign for American society that our nation’s bankruptcy law by making good for consumers and families,” plex. It would permit bankruptcy fil- major city is experiencing this population growth,” said Kenneth Pre- it harder for consumers to wipe out said Sen. Charles Grassley (R- ers to keep home equity of up to witt, the former head of the Census Bureau and a dean at The New their debt. Iowa), the bill’s lead sponsor. “It $250,000 if the home was purchased School University. “It’s an important reaffirmation of city life in The 83 to 15 vote — hailed by will bring more fairness for those within two years of filing for bank- American life. And New York is now the most demographically the credit-card industry and decried who work hard to pay their bills.” ruptcy. The equity in homes pur- complex metropolis in world history.” as unfair by consumer groups — Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the chased before then would be subject The previous census high for the city was hit in 1970, when the included the support of 36 Democ- top Democrat on the Senate Judicia- to state homesteading laws, includ- population reached 7,894,086, only to see a precipitous drop to rats.