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Oldest and Largest i Today: Sunny, pleasant, 67°F (190C) Newspaper „ -' i^Il l ";'^Tonigh:. lear,:cool, 48aF (9C) Tomorrow: Warmer, 72°F (22°C) · E5>t "~-~_-----~.- D details,Page 2 Volume 114, Number 47 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, October 7 , 1994 Student Center Power Shut Off for 4 Hours - -- I I I By Sarah Y. Keightley in 45 to 60 minutes, and the fire Networks will re-open today at EDITOR IN CHIEF department gave the initial all-clear 11 a.m. The Student Center was evacuat- to reopen the building, Walsh said. A -. ed Wednesday evening after a Then it was discovered that water Athena servers shut down grease fire in Networks set off the was leaking into the basement. In addition to the fifth floor sprinkler system and water flooded "The city inspector who was Athena cluster, the Student Center the transformer room in the base- here on site and the electric compa- machine room houses equipment ment, said Phillip J. Walsh, director ny told us we needed to go to emer- vital to the rest of the campus net- of the Campus Activities Complex. gency shutdown," Walsh said. The work, including about half of The power was shut off, and the fire department was called back to Athena's user lockers and important building was closed for about four be on hand, as well as the Physical network support equipment, said hours, Walsh said. No one was Plant crew that deals with high Coppeto, a systems programmer for injured. power situations. "It could have Distributed Computing and Net- Though the original problem was been a very dangerous situation," work Services. the fire, the more serious problem Walsh said. Students' individual files, or was the water from the sprinkler, The transformer room, which is lockers, are stored on servers located which started to drip down to the beneath Networks, is not vulnerable in several buildings on campus. The electric transformer room in the because of a building flaw, Walsh largest concentration of servers is in basement, Walsh said. The trans- said. Rather, it was just an "unfortu- the Student Center and any student II former carries 13,400 volts, he said. nate set of circumstances." whose files were stored on a server The power outage also disrupted "Everyone did a terrific job of there could not access them during access to the Athena Computing responding" to the situation, Walsh the power outage, Coppeto said. Environment. About half of the stu- said. A router for the campus back- dent lockers were unavailable Scheduled and emergency power bone, which provides the major because they are stored on comput- outages often occur, but this has underlying connection for comput- ers in the Student Center, according never happened before, Walsh said. ing across campus, is also located in to Thomas J. Coppeto of informa- The building returned to mostly- the machine room, Coppeto said. tion Systems. normal operations soon after it was Though there are power outages Around 5:15 p.m. a grill-oven in re-opened at 9:15 p.m. "There was all the time, the Student Center is Networks ignited, Walsh said. The contact with personnel from Athena especially sensitive, Coppeto said. fire was under control almost imme- to get back on-line," Walsh said. The outage in the machine room, diately because the heat from the The 24-hour Coffee House opened ,with "such a concentration of fire activated a sprinkler and the around 10 p.m., and LaVerdes servers for that length of time," has " Networks employees used .fireextin- stayed open !ate in response to the never happened befor, he said. guishers, Walsh said. special circumstances, Walsh said. The machines are on battery Smoke spread through the first Frank LaVerde, who owns backup, but the backup runs out of floor, Walsh said. But the damage LaVerde's, said that when he was power after 10 or 20 minutes, Cop- was limited to the grill and the area outside the Student Center he over- peto said. immrr-nediately above it, which includ- heard several students saying that All but one of the file servers ed a duct and ceiling tiles, he said. they wanted to buy food. To were up again at about 11 p.m., respond to this need, LaVerde's was Coppeto said. One did have prob- IlnMA3 K. KA RL-- int, I Lt-E Water in basement open until 2:30 a.m. Wednesday lems, but this was fixed once some Firemen climb up the truck's ladder toward the roof of the Student This situation was taken care of night. hardware was replaced, he said. Center after Wednesday evening's evacuation. I i -- - -- -------1- - rl -- -·L--- - - I I - -I _ -aa --- -- --C I - -- --I · ___ __, GAMRT, IFC Strive For Commumciation By Daniel C. Stevenson public, was held on Thursday, Sept. NEWSEDITOR 22 and wzs organized by GAMIT, Tensions continue between the according to Joaquin S. Terrones Interfraternity Council and Gays, '97, political coordinator for Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transgenders, GAMIT. and Friends at MIT, but a recent The IFC called a follow-up, series of meetings has helped to, closed-session meeting on Sunday, open lines of communication Sept. 25 to further discuss the ten- between the two groups. sions between the groups, Dunn The meetings followed a display said. in GAMIT's display case in the Infi- At the second meeting, Dunn, nite Corridor describing instances of IFC President Prashant B. Doshi homophobia within the Greek sys- '95, IFC Vice President Brian D. tem at MIT over the last 15 years. Dye-'96, and IFC Secretary Lizette The IFC objected to the display Arce '95 met with Terrones, case particularly because of the tim- GAMIT General Coordinators Tere- ing during Greek Week, said IFC sa W. Lau '95 and Chelle L. Gente- Judicial Committee Chair Daniel J. mann '95, and former GAMIT Gen- '----------------~~~~~---; ~-~~- ~- -JMw Y OCNC-GHETEC 7' Dunn '94. eral Coordinator Kristen K. Student volunteers from MIT acting classes help open the Bread and Puppet Cardboard Circus on The first meeting between the Kresge Oval on Wednesday. two groups, which was open to the GAMIT, Page 15 _ L1_1 I -- Biology Building Formally Opens Today INSIDE By Jennifer Lane commitment to the future of biology," said Pro- Richard O. Hynes PhD '71, who is director of fessor Phillip A. Sharp, head of the Departmnent the Center for Cancer Research, and architect Students see mice in ....... Th. bio...o.iny!. .department's .. new 250,000,_- ..ofBi.lo _. ......-... , ..... .... ... Joan Goody of Goody,-. Cancy & Associates. square-foot, $70 million building will be for- A few hundred people are expected to one of the designing firms for the building, will Lobdell. Page I 2 mally opened this afternoon with a dedication attend the event, said Mary L. Morrissey, direc- also speak at the event. ceremony and dinner. On Saturday, a sympo- tor of special events. Several building tours, a reception, and a o The Coop will not sium will be held highlighting speakers who Chairman of Corporation Paul E. Gray '54 dinner in Walker Memorial will follow the cer- once worked or studied in the biology depart- will preside over today's:dedication cere- emony, Sharp said. Brace M. Alberts, president offer an annual rebate ment at MIT. monies. The event is a time of"celebration of MIT's Sharp, President Charles M. Vest, Professor Building, Page 14 thisyear. Page I 2 . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.. ___,_ ,_II _ s, I 1. i - ," ; C . -,,r- " D a, ' , 4 TI -V i i ogcyi. I THRI 'Tiror" October 7, 1994 i rageJvJI NAI Oi - -- ____WORLD NATIONit Monarchists Mobilize 0ilt ubLb~P~e To Restore Russian Czar LOS ANGELES TIMES MOSCOW In an ornate building near Red Square that was once the palace of the Russian nobility, more than 1,000 monarchists gathered Thursday sition. with the aim of restoring the Romanov dynasty. By Michael Ross will work to their advantage in the In a cross between political convention and costume party, the LOS ANGELES TIMES Nov. 8 elections. Democrats charged that the first meeting of the All-Russian Monarchist Assembly attracted royal- WASHINGTON With Congress set to adjourn Republicans were simply trying to ists from every political and fashion sect of the new Russia. A bill to curb the influence of Friday, the chief House and Senate keep anything on President Clin- Elegant descendants of Russian nobles, some introducing them- lobbyists was all but killed in the sponsors of the lobbying bill said ton's legislative agenda from pass- selves as princes and counts, came in bow ties. Neo-fascists came in Senate Thursday, the victim of one there would not be enough time, in ing Congress before November black leather jackets. Cossacks in tall woolen hats, teen-agers in of a half dozen filibusters Republi- any case, to negotiate any signifi- elections. knee-high leather boots, middle-age men in White Army officer uni- cans have been using to delay or cant changes and that the legislation Republicans, however, said their forms, and Russian women in heavy eye shadow all gathered in a hall doom key Democratic initiatives in was effectively dead. objections had nothing to do with bedecked with 46 massive chandeliers to proclaim their royalist the waning hours of the 103rd Con- "A Republican-led filibuster has the gift ban, but to another provision creed: "God, Czar and Country." gress. apparently killed the best chance in which they feared might impose The leading candidate appeared to be the Grand Duchess Maria Although the Senate passed the 40 years to enact tough lobbying unfair restrictions on grass-roots Vladimirovna, who is descended from Nicholas' brother, or her son.