Volume 128, Number 48

Welcome Families! MIT’s Oldest and Largest The Weather Today: Mostly sunny, 56°F (13°C) Newspaper Tonight: Clear, 41°F (5°C) Tomorrow: Mostly sunny, 51°F (11°C) Details, Page 2 http://tech.mit.edu/ Volume 128, Number 48 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, October 17, 2008 Students Plan Sit-In Admissions To Protest Handling Blog Post Of Student Life Issues Removed By Jeff Guo top grievances, which include MIT’s NEWS EDITOR surprise eviction of Green Hall resi- At MIT’s Students are planning a sit-in to- dents last year and its comments day in Lobby 7 to protest the admin- about the Logan Airport arrest of istration’s treatment of student issues Star A. Simpson ’10, whose actions Request like hacking, housing, and dining. an MIT press release labeled “reck- As campus opens up for Fam- less.” By Pearle Lipinski ily Weekend, the protesters hope to An e-mail sent from campaign- The ‘admissions blogs,’ weblogs draw attention to their complaints, [email protected] last night sponsored by the MIT admissions which have one common theme: that also mentioned the “state of dining office, have seen at least two entries students are cut out of the Institute’s and dining halls at MIT including removed within the past year. The decision-making process. Simmons, Baker, W1 and Pritchett first, relating to last spring’s Ring “MIT’s big spiel is that MIT stu- Dining.” Students might be con- Committee flame war, was removed dents will change the world — but cerned that the Phoenix Group din- following requests from Admis- we can’t even change MIT,” said ing plan, which charged the NW35 sions. The other, drawing criticism Nathan S. Lachenmyer ’10, who is undergraduates $600 at the begin- for what was deemed inappropriate involved with the protest. ning of the fall semester to receive content, was removed by the blog- In their mission statement, the free all-you-can-eat meals (from ger. The student blogs are generally protesters ask for more transparency 6–8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday), student-run and do not usually have from the administration, publicly might be applied to other dormitory content removed after it is initially available notes from any meeting in- dining halls without student input. posted. volving students, and monthly town For instance, MIT has tried repeat- The first post to be removed, hall meetings between the adminis- edly to introduce all-you-can-eat written by sophomore Michael J. tration and students. dining to the Simmons Hall. Snively, was posted in May 2008 The protesters are calling them- “The administration consistently and discussed a lengthy conversa- selves the “Campaign for Students,” disregards student opinion,” the pro- tion across several dormitory mail- a name taken from Susan Hockfield’s test organizers write in their mission ing lists about the composition of effort to raise $500 million, also statement. “Students feel misled into the Class of 2011’s Ring Commit- PERRY HUNg—THE TECH called the “Campaign for Students.” believing that decision makers will tee. Snively’s entry detailed the Bryan L. Newbold ’09 watches a screening of the third presi- Their website, www.campaign- developing flame war, which arose dential debate on Wednesday evening in the Coffeehouse of forstudents.com, lists some of the Protest, Page 19 when students discovered that the the Stratton Student Center. The screening of the debate was ring committee had no members a joint presentation of the MIT Forum on American Progress, from the east side of campus. The Current.com, and the Student Activities Office, and featured Prof. Haldeman’s Novel entry brought the discussion from live commentary from users of Twitter, an internet blogging service. ‘Forever War’ Picked Up MIT Blogs, Page 12 By 20th Century Fox Film MIT Experts Weigh In on Economic Woes By Omar Abudayyeh drew Lo of the MIT Sloan School said. By Michael McGraw-Herdeg the protagonist finds that the world STAFF REPORTER of Management. “In the short term, The crisis, however, likely could EXECUTIVE EDITOR has changed in his absence. With a long recession looming, more banks and businesses might have been averted if regulators act- Twentieth Century Fox Film Cor- Basically, The Forever War is “all the government is enacting drastic close,” said Lo. ed sooner. “It’s understandable why poration has acquired the rights to about Vietnam,” said Haldeman, a measures to curb the recent financial Students will also be hit by the there was a crisis. For a period of The Forever War, an award-winning draftee who served in Vietnam’s Cen- problems, but when will things im- crisis; Lo said that they would most several years of very low interest 1974 novel by science fiction author tral Highlands in 1968. “I didn’t sit prove? Is Congress doing enough? likely find it harder to secure jobs rates allowed for easy money,” said and MIT writing professor Joe Hal- down and make a chart or anything,” Can Congress even solve the prob- after graduation. Lo. For years, people effortlessly deman. The film will be directed by he said, “but the [Vietnam] war was lem now? Ricardo Caballero of the MIT borrowed money and the economy Ridley Scott, whose last science fic- my model. The book won a Nebula From a frozen credit market Economics Department said that boomed. “There was a housing mar- tion films wereAlien and Blade Run- Award and a Hugo Award, two of sci- to major financial firms declaring although student loans will be nega- ket that would never go down and ner. The producers are now search- ence fiction’s most coveted honors. bankruptcy, there are many ways tively affected, the effect would die strong market trends. Now people ing for a writer. Americans can be hurt by the finan- down soon. But, he said, university are paying the price,” explained Lo. In Haldeman’s novel, a physicist Film to draw analogies to War on cial crisis. The unemployment rate endowments are sure to be hurt. Lo said that careful attention is drafted into a long-fought war Terror (currently about 6 percent) is likely According Caballero, before any must be paid to proposed govern- against an alien race, where dis- Today, the book is still relevant as to rise as more Americans lose jobs strong recovery can occur, the gov- mental plans. “To avoid another tant battlegrounds are reached by a sharp rebuke of the Iraq war. while credit will remain hard to ernment must become more flex- crisis,” Lo said, “we have to deal faster-than-light travel. The battles When Ridley Scott wrote about come by during the recession that is ible. An “economic come-back is with lessening the number of fore- are short, bleak affairs against an obtaining the movie rights, he said likely to follow. all politics at this point,” he said. closures and helping banks that uncommunicative enemy, with fre- Before the economy gets better, The government failed to respond quent casualties. When he returns, Forever War, Page 16 it’ll probably get worse, said An- until the downturn began, Caballero Economy, Page 10 Initiative Seed Grants Fund 17 Energy Projects In Short By Robert McQueen Reja Amatya G, who is seeking said she hopes to expand the limited ¶ MIT cats will be featured on The ship award, the top honor out of STAFF REPORTER her doctorate in Electrical Engi- function of the solar cookers to store Today Show today between 8:30–9 the 20 awards in its annual list. The For the second time this year, the neering and Computer Science, is energy in batteries. That way, she ex- a.m. The Today Show was on cam- magazine called Smith “a visionary” MIT Energy Initiative awarded over heading one of the funded projects. plained, villagers who lack reliable pus Sept. 15, filming students in Se- and said she is “an inspiration to stu- $1.7 million in seed grants to energy The goal of her project is to install sources of energy can adapt their nior House, Bexley Hall, and Ran- dents and volunteers who dedicate research. The grants fund 17 energy solar-cookers to generate energy in solar cookers to power other neces- dom Hall. their time to improve the standard projects ranging from designing so- third-world countries, particularly in sities including lighting. of living in Haiti, Ghana, India, and lar cookers for third world countries Nepal. Currently, the project is in the ¶ The MIT Police Bike Auction other countries.” to synthesizing thin-films for ther- By installing thermoelectric gen- will be held today at 290 Albany St. moelectric power. erators in solar cookers, Amatya Energy, Page 15 at noon, with a preview beginning at ¶ A memorial service for Robert 11:30 a.m. The auction is open to the Hulsizer PhD ’48, a former MIT MIT community only, and an MIT professor of physics, will be held ID must be presented to participate. Sunday, Oct. 19 at 3 p.m. in the MIT Chapel. A reception will be held at NEWS OPI N I on World & Nation . 2 ¶ The Harvest Co-op grocery McCormick Hall following the ser- Math skills suffer in U.S. Post-debate impressions Opinion ��4 store, located at 581 Massachusetts vice. Page 13 Page 4 Ave., will begin accepting Tech- Arts ��6 CASH today. ¶ A remembrance gathering for Baylor rewards frosh The need for a nuanced Fun . 7 Alexander Vladimir d’Arbeloff who retake SAT Russia policy ¶ MIT Senior Lecturer Amy B. ’49, former MIT Corporation Chair- Sports . 20 Smith, creator of the D-Lab classes, man, will be held today at 3:30 p.m.

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