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MIT’s The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Cloudy, 73°F (23°C) Tonight: Decreasing Newspaper cloudiness, 63°F (17°C) Tomorrow: Partly sunny, 80°F (27°C) Details, Page 2 http://tech.mit.edu/ Volume 128, Number 30 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, August 8, 2008 AYCTE Pilot for Simmons Dining Canceled Missing ’95 Amid Controversy Over Implementation Alumna By Natasha Plotkin munity. It is time for a dialog within Arrested in NEWS EDITOR Simmons.” Simmons residents were official- The committee will submit a se- ly informed on Thursday that their ries of recommendations to Karen Afghanistan dorm would return to an a la carte A. Nilsson, senior associate dean dining system in the fall, reversing for student life. Nilsson will make By John A. Hawkinson a July 24 announcement that a new the final decision on how Simmons STAFF REPORTER trial of the “all you care to eat” buffet Dining will be run next spring and Aafia Siddiqui ’95, missing since system would be tested instead. in the future. 2003, was arrested in Afghanistan A committee of Simmons resi- The AYCTE pilot that would and was arraigned Tuesday morning dents, chaired by housemaster and have taken place came as a surprise in Federal District Court in New York professor John M. Essigmann PhD to Simmons residents who had gone City. She is accused of picking up ’76, will further discuss dining is- through a six-week trial of AYCTE an assault rifle and shooting at U.S. sues over the fall term. dining at the end of spring term and personnel when she was in Afghan “We have heard loud and articu- voted, narrowly, not to implement police custody. late voices on both sides of the is- AYCTE permanently in the fall. During the Tuesday hearing, one sue,” Essigmann said. “But we have of Siddiqui’s lawyers, Elizabeth M. also heard that the level of satisfac- AYCTE trial revoked Fink, told the judge that allegations tion with the system in place before Outgoing Dean for Student Life that her 90-pound client had attacked last spring was marginal at best. Larry G. Benedict informed Sim- Americans with a rifle were “patently Returning to it permanently with- mons residents of the new AYCTE absurd,” according to The New York out considering other options seems MICHAEL MEYER Times. contrary to the interests of the com- Simmons Dining, Page 11 Simmons Dining Hall, pictured above, will return to a la carte service Siddiqui, who received a biol- in the fall, while a new committee will decide future changes. ogy degree from MIT, disappeared in Karachi, Pakistan in March of 2003, Columbia’s Colombo Will Charges Dropped Against along with her three children. Elaine Whitfield Sharp, who represents Siddiqui and her family, Student Arrested in NW16 maintains Siddiqui has been secretly Be Dean for Student Life By Austin Chu Office declined to comment. held prisoner in U.S. custody at the By Angeline Wang will leave MIT this month. STAFF REPORTER Short was found in a caged room Bagram Theatre Internment Facility NEWS AND FEATURES DIRECTOR Steven R. Lerman ’72, dean Felony charges against Michael in the basement of NW16 on the in Afghanistan since her disappear- Costantino “Chris” Colombo, for graduate education and chair P. Short G related to his arrest in night of June 7 along with Harold S. ance, a charge that is flatly denied by dean for student affairs at Columbia of the search advisory committee, the basement of NW16 have been Barnard G and Brandeis University the United States. University’s undergraduate schools, said that he was “incredibly excit- dropped. According to the motion graduate student Marina Dang. Ac- was chosen as MIT’s new dean for ed” about Colombo’s appointment. filed by the prosecution on July 18, cording to the police report filed by Arrested in Ghazni, Afghanistan student life. Colombo, whose ap- Lerman said that Colombo is “an dropping the charges is “in the inter- officer Duane R. Keegan, Short vol- Siddiqui pointment is effective beginning incredibly thoughtful and wise indi- ests of justice as discipline proceed- untarily showed how he had used a Bagram and a teenage Aug. 18, will move into Next House vidual” who brings a great deal of ings will be conducted by the MIT tool made from a Diet Coke can to Kabul boy were ar- Ghazni with his family. experience to MIT, having held the internal discipline board.” open the combination lock that had rested by the Colombo replaces Larry G. analogous position at two other top- Steven J. Sack, Short’s lawyer, secured the room. He was subse- Afghanistan Benedict, who has held the dean tier universities. expressed satisfaction at the resolu- quently arrested and charged with AFGHANISTAN—Siddiqui was hos- National Po- for student life position since its in- Colombo, who has worked at tion of the criminal charges against breaking and entering at night with pitalized at Bagram Air Base, 30 lice in Ghazni miles north of Kabul, the capital. ception in 2000. Benedict, who an- Short. According to Sack, Short was intent to commit a felony and pos- Ghazni is 80 miles southwest of on July 17, nounced his retirement in October, Colombo, Page 14 hacking at the time of his arrest. session of burglarious instruments. Kabul. according to Short himself did not respond to re- Neither Barnard nor Dang have been the Justice Department’s criminal quests for comment. charged in connection with this inci- complaint. The complaint alleges that MIT Files Patent Suit Against The Middlesex District Attorney’s dent. Siddiqui’s handbag contained a veri- Office did not respond to repeated re- table panoply of terrorist parapherna- quests for comment. The MIT News Hacking, Page 14 lia, including “numerous documents Biotech Company Affymetrix describing the creation of explosives, By Joyce Kwan others to infringe by marketing the of chemical weapons,” and of biolog- STAFF REPORTER technology in the United States. It ical and radiological weapons; papers MIT filed a lawsuit against bio- cites E8 Pharmaceuticals and MIT describing U.S. landmarks; excerpts technology company Affymetrix as plaintiffs. E8 Pharmaceuticals is from the Anarchist’s Arsenal; and last month, alleging the company’s a company co-founded by MIT Bi- “numerous chemical substances in GeneChip technology infringes an ology Professor David E. Housman, gel and liquid form that were sealed existing MIT patent. who is also a co-inventor of the pat- in bottles and glass jars.” The complaint, filed on July 1, ented technology. A representative from the Ghazni accuses Affymetrix for knowingly Governor’s Office, Ismail Jahangir, infringing the patent and involving Affymetrix, Page 11 speaking through a translator, said that Siddiqui was arrested because “they thought she had a bomb.” Ja- In Short hangir said he did not know if she ¶ MIT is offering new commuting last four years, left MIT in July to actually had a bomb, nor any details options, including an increase in become the vice president for com- subsequent to the arrest. MBTA commuter rail subsidies and munications for Oberlin College, Ghazni officials publicized her free transit passes for September for his alma mater. Jones designed the capture at a news conference on July employees who park at MIT five “MyMIT” Web portal, including the 18. days a week. For more information, well-known admissions blogs. see http://web.mit.edu/facilities/ Shootout at Afghan Police Station transportation/. ¶ Scott D. Sewell, popular techni- After the press conference, a cal instructor for Physics Junior Lab party of U.S. personnel conducted a ¶ Kerri A. Mills, who was a Cam- (8.13 and 8.14), will be leaving MIT meeting in the Afghan Police Station. pus Activities Complex manager for this month. He is widely admired by Siddiqui, unrestrained, was present several years, has replaced Laurie students for his assistance with what in the meeting room behind a yellow Ward as the financial administrator is considered one of the most ardu- curtain, the U.S. sworn complaint of the Student Activities Office and ous classes at MIT. alleges. The complaint states that will manage the financial accounts ERIC D. SCHMiedl—THE TECH she picked up a U.S. Army officer’s of student groups. Ward left the po- ¶ Karl W. Reid, associate dean and MIT hackers illuminated the Green Building with a bat signal M-4 assault rifle and fired shots at sition in January to become the fi- director of the MIT Office of Minor- on the night of July 17, in honor of the midnight opening of the U.S. personnel, missing them. (See nancial administrator of HST. ity Education, is leaving MIT to take 2008 Batman film The Dark Knight. a liaison position at the United Ne- Siddiqui, Page 13 ¶ The Central Square Theater, gro College Fund. located at 450 Massachusetts Ave., opened to the public last month. The ¶ The new Ashdown House NEWS World & Nation . 2 new black-box theater will house (NW35), located near Sidney-Pa- In Memoriam: d’Arbeloff, Opinion �� 4 two professional theater groups and cific graduate dormitory, opens this The Tech will next Chittick Campus Life �� 5 is the result of a collaboration be- month to residents. publish during the week of tween MIT, the owner of the prop- Page 12 Arts �� 6 Orientation, with daily issues erty, and the City of Cambridge. ¶ URLs on scripts.mit.edu are Anna Tang’s motion for Comics & Fun Pages �� 8 from Aug. 25–29. changing to http://lockername. greater freedoms denied ¶ Ben Jones, who has been the scripts.mit.edu/ from the current style, Police Log �� 15 communications manager for the http://scripts.mit.edu/~lockername/.

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