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MIT's The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: unny, windy, 35°F (2°C) Tonight: Clear, cold, 30°F (-1°C) ewspaper Tomorrow: loudy, 47°F (8°C) ~eta.ils, Page 2 Volume 123, umber 9 02139 Tue day, March 4, 2003 Language Houses Struggle for Members MIT Cable By Kathy Un The houses, French House, Ger- HIreally think the administration by not supporting dormitory and ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR man House, Russian House, and is fucking us over," said ven H. fraternity rush, he said. "A huge part Provider In a year when the dormitory Spanish House, are working with Chilton '05, German House presi- of our culture is b ing able to fmd selection process was turned on its the administration and their first- dent. 'First they fucked over the your niche," especially within the ear, language houses saw a signifi- year housemasters to discuss the frats, and now they're fucking over unique Jiving communities, Chilton cant drop in the number of new resi- freshman housing lottery system, the dorms and cultural houses," he said. Bankrupt; dents and had problems retaining which they see as the source of their said. The administration is trying to Others have found the adminis- freshmen who didjoin. recruitment problems. homogenize the MIT student body tration more helpful. Administrators have offered to help the cultural CNN,M7V houses develop strategies to attract more students in the future, said Michael J. Childress '05, president of ewHouse. ' Go Blank Bou e f ce r cruiting crisis By Beckett W. Sterner Overall, the four language hous- ASSOCIATE NEJYS EDITOR es had fewer freshmen interested in MIT Cable no longer carries joining their houses this year, as popular channels including MTV, well as a harder time retaining the ESPN and C N after its content I freshmen that didjoin. provider declared bankruptcy. One problem was the lack of The free basic service for chan- extensive personal interaction nels 6 through 36, including net- between current residents of the lan- work television and the MIT cable guage houses and prospective fresh- channels, were unaffected by the men before the freshmen were outage, which began on Feb. 28. asked to choose where they would Although the monthly rate for like to live. the remaining channels in the sub- Edgar A. Torres '04, one of scription service dropped from Spanish House's rush chairs, said $24.99 to $13.99, so far 70 out 369 that a 10-minutephone conversation "living groups" such as individual JOHN CLOUTIER-THE TECH with a prospective resident is far students and floors in dormitories Erik Garcia 'OS of Gennan House takes advantage of an unoccupied French House bedroom converted from the equivalent of the hour or cancelled their service, said Randall Into a study room. Because of a lack of residents In the language houses, many rooms have become W. Winchester, Team Leader of vacant. (The study room has since been closed because of an unrelated dispute about use of the room.) Language Houses, Page 10 MlT Cable Television. Because MIT's content provider, WS et, was the only companyoffer- Group Urging Walkout Event Regulations Force ing a digital subscription-based ser- vice for uni ities, it is unlikely a replacement company will be found 'Bad Taste'to Start Early in the short term, Winchestersaid. To Protest Iraq Invasion .Jerry Barnes, president of Falls By Jla Xing "People at MIT feel socially By Marissa Vogt that he had "not been involved in Earth Station, Inc., the intermediary responsible for the war. We are a STAFF REPORTER any discussion" about the enforce- between MIT and WSNet, said that MIT's No War Coalition is part of military research and pro- MIT regulations regarding ment of regulations surrounding the the new $13.99 monthly fee for the advocating a campus-wide anti-war jects. We're an institution for mak- events on campus will force the concert. reduced number of channels "just . walkout should the United States ing better bombs. So when Bush Chorallaries' annual Concert in Bad Runnion said that the group barely covers [expenses] if I was invade Iraq. decides to drop those bombs on Taste to change its traditional mid- received word that complaints about providing zero programming." If a war begins, 300 participants innocent people, we have a say night start time and will limit when last year's concert had been filed have pledged to walk out of classes- against it," said Jeff Duritz G, a people can begin lining the halls with the MIT Police through a ''very Few replacement option open ~ at 11 :30 a.m. on the following member of the coalition. "People outside 10-250 to reserve a spot for anonymous chain of information." WS et was the "sole source" in y; school day and congregate in front tend to assume that MIT is not the show. of 77 Massachusetts Ave. They then socially conscious. We're trying to Chorallaries President Ross 1. Bad Taste, Page 11 Cable, Page 13 plan to join a larger rally at Govern- expand people's consciousness and Runnion '04 said' that the major ment Center, according to the No try to introduce the idea that its ok change this year is moving from the War Coalition Web site. to be against war," he said. traditional 11:59:59 p.m. start to The rally will include anti-war "We're not people to commit to 9:59:59 p.m. to accommodate an coalitions 'fr'om area universities registered discontent. We need to MIT regulation that registered including Harvard University, express a serious, deliberate events on campus conclude by 1 Boston College, Boston Universi- response," said Aimee L. Smith a,m. ty, Simmons College, Wellesley PhD '02, a member of the MIT MIT event guidelines (available College, and Northeastern Univer- Social Justice Cooperative. at http://web. mit. edulcampus-activi- sity. Similar protests will be held ties/guidebook/regulations.html) on other campuses across the MIT community responses vary state that events must conclude by 1 country. The coalition has received varied a.m. and that organizers should The group is holding a drive to responses from the MIT communi- "should schedule the music or per- solicit pledges to walk out of class- ty. fqrmance to conclude by 12:45 es. Currently, over 300 MIT stu- "There's a mixed feeling from a.m." dents have pledged to walk out of professors. Several professors Additionally, students will not classes, said Stephanie Wei Wang pledged and many donated the be allowed to line up to wait for the '03, a member of the coalition. fmancial support to us, and some concert until the close of business are speaking at the rally. Others on Friday. "In the past, people have Members feel responsible are more hesitant," said Julia K. begun to line up anywhere from a The members of the MIT No Steinberger G, a coalition mem- day to four days ahead of time," War Coalition are determined to be ber. Runnion said. Last year, he said, heard. Wang said some professors have people began lining up on Wednes- "Last time MIT students got discussed the possibility of a no- day afternoon. together to rally, it was very effec- penalty policy for participants in the "This year ... they're not going tive. People really paid attention. walkout. to let people camp out in the hall- MI HAEL U -THE TECH MIT receives a lot of military "We are planning in the event of way because of the proximity [to Christopher Reeve, star of the Superman series of films, funding; we're here to say that a war; we're not sitting around wait- offices]," Runnion said, "namely speaks at the 2003 Harvard-MIT Conference on Neuroscience we're not cogs for war. We're not ing for war. to happen. We'll be President Vest and the people who last weekend. Reeve sharply criticized PresIdent Bush's poli- going to let this happen," Wang heading a variety of events," said work in that area." cy towards stem cell research and therapeutic cloning. said. Gan GolanG. President Charles M. Vest said Electronic Comics EWS voting for Fall depledge and inter-dormito- World & ation .............. 2 Opinion .................... 4 this year's ry transfer numbers are a first Arts ....................... 6 UAelections measure of impact of new rush Events Calendar ............. 9 UA begins system. • Elections Sports ..................... 16 Thursday. PageS Page 15 Page2 THE TECH March 4, 2003 WORLD & NATION Russian Anus Safeguards North Korean Jets Intercept Found Lacking THE WASHI GTO POST WA HINGTO U.S. Plane over Sea of Japan . A decade-long U.S. effort to safeguard stockpiles of Russian nuclear, chemical and biological weapons is faltering because of By _Bradley Graham tagon account said. mal diplomatic relations, but they bureaucratic obstacles, federal auditors warn in a draft report that and Glenn Kessler The orth Korean aircraft closed traditionally exchange protests at faults leaders in both countries. THE WASHINGTON POST to within 50 to 400 feet of the U.S. Freedom House, a building for The problems already have delayed the destruction of thousands Four orth Korean fighter jets plane, defense officials said, and meetings at Panmunjeom, on the of Soviet-made chemical weapons, while raising the risk that nuclear intercepted a U.S. Air Force recon- were flying at the same altitude as demilitarized zone between North bomb components or deadly genns could fall into the hands of terror- naissance plane in international air- the four-engine RC-135S. At least and South Korea. ists, the General Accounting Office concludes in a report due to be space over the Sea of Japan early one of the North Korean planes "It's a very serious incident," a released to Congress this week.