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The Weather MIT’s Today: Cloudy, rain likely, 52°F (11°C) Tonight: Cloudy, rain likely, 49°F (9°C) Oldest and Largest Tomorrow: Cloudy, rain likely, Newspaper 50s °F (11ºC) Details, Page 2 Volume 126, Number 25 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, May 12, 2006 Proposed Revisions to GIRs Are Unveiled Waitlisted Kelley Rivoire NEWS EDITOR At a town meeting Wednesday, Students the MIT community heard a status report from the faculty task force on MIT’s educational mission. The committee proposed several Get in For tweaks to the General Institute Re- quirements, including eliminating the Institute Laboratory require- First Time ment. But the basic structure of the MIT-wide undergraduate require- ments won’t change much. Since 2002 “Increasing freshman enthusi- asm and motivation is an important By Marissa Vogt goal,” said Dean Robert J. Silbey, NEWS EDITOR the committee’s chairman. For the first time in four years, “The freshman motivation and MIT has admitted students to the enthusiasm declines a lot from incoming freshman class off of the when they come in to Thanksgiving waitlist. Thirty of the 320 students re- break,” he said. “They come to MIT maining on the waitlist were admitted wanting to rule the world, change this week, and the rest of the applica- the world.” tions will be held for another week. The committee’s proposed Sixty-nine of the students originally changes, which are to be finalized placed on the waitlist had already this fall, will most significantly af- withdrawn, according to an e-mail fect the current science core. Only from Dean of Admissions Marilee Calculus I and II, along with Phys- Jones. ics I, would remain as strict require- Of the 1,474 students originally ments, half the six mandatory sub- RICARDO RAMIREZ—THE TECH admitted to the Class of 2010, 987, jects in the current science core. Dean of Science Robert J. Silbey introduces a plan for a new core curriculum that includes engineer- or 67 percent, have decided to enroll, In addition to these three sub- ing. The task force charged with reevaluating the General Institute Requirements held a town meeting Jones wrote in an e-mail. That per- jects, the newly-christened “Sci- Wednesday afternoon in 32-123 to receive community input on proposed new requirements. centage matched last year’s recent- ence-Math-Engineering core” could choose. HASS requirement quite closely to human nature, revolutions, or even high yield of 67 percent for the Class would require one subject from five Additionally, the Institute labo- the current model. The only major love, Silbey said. of 2009, when the admissions office of six categories: Math, Physical ratory currently departure to the Three pilot freshman experience decided not to admit anyone off of For a selected history of the Sciences, Chemistry, Life Science, required would eight-subject re- HASS classes, such as “How to the waitlist. Higher-than-expected GIRs and a diagram of the Computation and Engineering, and be subsumed into quirement would Stage a Revolution,” in addition to yields in the past few years and MIT’s proposed changes to the GIRs, a project-based freshman experi- departmental pro- be a freshman six science and engineering project- pledge to eliminate crowding in dor- see page 15. ence, with the latter two making grams, as would experience class, based experiences, two of which are mitories have prevented MIT from their first appearance in the core restricted electives in science and selected from a range of about 10 to related to energy, are already under admitting waitlisted students since subjects. Each category would offer technology. 16 classes, that would tackle a “big 2002. a few subjects from which freshmen The proposed changes to the idea” like poverty, globalization, GIRs, Page 15 “We purposely calculated high so we’d go to the waitlist,” wrote Jones in an e-mail. Thirteen percent of the applicants for admission to the Class Secretary Bodman Gives of 2010 were admitted, smaller than the Class of 2009 in terms of both the number of admits and the acceptance Views on Nuclear Energy rate. Jones did not say what the target By Curt Fischer tion were nuclear energy and cellu- size for the Class of 2010 had been. STAFF REPORTER losic ethanol. “It is a happy day when we can By the time secret service “We in this country need more admit waitlist students,” Jones wrote. agents led U.S. Secretary of Energy nuclear energy,” said Bodman. “Because we’re able to admit just 13 Samuel W. Bodman ScD ’65 into “I am convinced we will see new percent of this stellar applicant pool, the Stata Center’s Kirsch Audito- nuclear plants in our country,” he there are so many wonderful students rium on Tuesday, a packed house said. “We don’t need six new reac- we really want to admit on the wait- sat waiting to hear him speak about tors, we need 16, we need 26, we list. Some of the staff have developed America’s energy future. The talk need 46.” relationships with some of those was sponsored in part by the Ener- Another new nuclear thrust dis- students and we were all very, very gy Research Council and followed cussed by Bodman was Bush’s new happy to admit them.” the release of the council’s initial Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, Jones said that she expects about report last week. an international effort to develop 90 percent of the waitlisted admits In his talk and in the follow- responsible management of nuclear will matriculate. Most of the students ing question and answer session, waste through advanced reprocess- still on the waitlist “are ready to come Bodman, a former associate pro- ing technology. on the spot,” she wrote in an e-mail. fessor in chemical engineering at This technology relies on ad- “It’s tough because within the past MIT, highlighted proposed federal vanced burner reactors, which can two weeks they had to tell another budget increases to several energy use fast neutrons to consume and school they’d be enrolling and some research areas, including solar and eliminate elements which are other- of their hearts will be torn a bit.” As a wind energy, clean coal, and effi- wise removed from today’s reactors result, MIT tried to let students know cient hybrid vehicles, but the two as soon as possible if they would be topics that received the most atten- Bodman, Page 16 accepted off the waitlist, she said. Research VP Gast To Be Lehigh President By Marie Y. Thibault oversees 18 research laboratories, the together around a common agenda. NEWS EDITOR press release reported. All of these qualities will serve her Alice P. Gast, vice president for MIT President Susan Hockfield — and the university — very well as research and associate provost, will commented in the press release, Lehigh’s next president.” CHRISTINA S. KANG leave MIT and become the president her “leadership on issues relating Gast said that “It is a tremendous Heather A. Levites ’08 brings the first act to a close with of Lehigh University in Pennsylva- to research policy and organization, honor to be asked to serve Lehigh “WhatChu Know About That,” choreographed by Christina nia on Aug. 1, according to a news faculty governance, and intellectual University as its next president. I am Huang ’06. MIT Dancetroupe’s spring show, “Guilty Pleasures,” office press release. property, to name a few, is more extremely excited about the trajecto- runs until this Sunday in Little Kresge Auditorium. See page 12 Gast organizes research policy, than impressive, as is her ability to ry and momentum of this university,” for additional photos. copyright and patent licensing, and bring people with different interests according to the press release. Comics MTG Performs NEWS World & Nation . 2 “Chicago” New Undergraduate Association Opinion . 4 officers Page 16 Arts . 8 MIT Gets Study Abroad Dean Police Log . 13 Page 17 Sports . 20 Page 6 Page 9 Page 2 THE TECH May 12, 2006 WORLD & NATION Influence Inquiry Turns Toward Senate Agrees to Extension House Panel By David Johnston and John M. Broder THE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON Of Tax Cuts, Mostly For Rich Federal investigators are examining the activities of several members of the House Appropriations Committee, including Rep. Jerry Lewis, R- By Edmund L. Andrews But even as Senate Republicans Senate. Calif., chairman of the panel that wields broad influence over government THE NEW YORK TIMES celebrated, they failed to reach agree- The tax bill, which Bush is ex- spending, government officials said Thursday. WASHINGTON ment with House Republicans on pected to sign as early as Friday, The officials said the inquiry is focused on the relationships among The Senate voted 54-44 on Thurs- scores of other popular tax breaks, could set the stage for budgetary lobbyists, contractors and committee members who seem to steer lucra- day to pass almost $70 billion in tax including tax deductions for college heartburn in the years ahead. tive government contracts to favored vendors virtually free of outside cuts, mostly for the nation’s wealthi- tuition and a savings credit for low- Virtually all of President Bush’s oversight through a process known as earmarking. est taxpayers. The action ensures that income people that expired last year. tax cuts — rate reductions for indi- The officials, who had been briefed on the investigation, were granted virtually all of President Bush’s tax Democrats charged that the tax viduals, a bigger child tax credit, the anonymity so that they could speak more candidly about a case that re- cuts will be locked in place until af- bill focused almost entirely on cuts elimination of estate taxes and the mains under federal investigation.