' - r '. 1. 1,?~ · .. I MIT elB·~ kaPT I 8 Continuous Cambridge - News Service Massachusetts Since 1881 Friday, March 17, 1989 sB ~ ~ l~id ~ ~ \olumeVLad~b~ 109, N~umber 12 Anio/te~l n wn g, / bce Student's vote. oni three-referenda ' By DLawnI Nolt . ny, the pledges were printed up to Antico promises V'oters inr the- Under~graduate look like an o~fficial adcdition to Assoiciatioh elections expressed the commencement literature, pragmatic UA support for both a social respon- and misled many people into sibility pledge at Commencement thinking -that the MIT adnminis- BE4yNa~guel Cantillo and second-term freshman pass/ tration' -upported the social Paul L. Antico '91 and An- no-credit grading. T~hree referen- pledge. -She said that only two drew PF. Strehle '91 were elected i. da on thaese issues appeared on pieces~of-literature are allowed at president and vice president of W~ednesday's ballot. Commencement. One is tlhe corn- the Unldergraduate Association in mencement boosklet listing all the Wednesday's election with a solid The first referendum, entitled names of the gradulatirng class, '"Graduation Pledge," asked vot- margin over Luisa R. Contreiras and the other is a special com- '90 and David L. Atkins '90. ers if they would be in favor of a mencement issue of Tihe Tech., Adsam Braff '91 and Shawn1 J. personal~pledge for· social and en- M~astrian '91 followed in a very vironlmental responsibility that The idea of a pledge is, hardly would be handded out along with original, Advani noted. A univer- close third place. APtotal of 1503 votes were cast, thle diploma at Commencement. sity in- Yugoslavia makes the and the decision was reached af- Thne pledge would be signed. and pledge mandatory for political ter the sixth round of counting. kept as a reminder of the stu- reasons, and a few other Amneri- Antico and Strehle obtained-492 dent's obligation '"to investi- can colleges. have initiated the gate. .. and weigh the. conse- pledge. --- votes (32.7 percent) in the first quences of any professional At the U~niversity of California round and were followed by the Contreiras and Ahtkins ticket, activity that [hae] may undertalke."2 at Berkeley, students of the phys- The referenduma was approved by ics department attempted to dis- Lisette W. M. Lambregts/The Tech which got 396i votes (26.3 p~er- 50.6 percent of the votcing student tribute a pledge that urged gradu- UAP-elect Paul Antico '91 and UAVIP-elect Andrew Strehle cent). Braff and Mastrian came in third with 363 votes (24.2 per- ,body, while 45.6 percent rejected .ates to considqer not using their f91 cent), and the team called "Stove I it and 3.8 ]percent expressed no knowledge for detrimental pur- poses, such as in weapon re- and Cats' trailed in fourth Dlace opinion. egm to3'd search. -The Berkele~y science fac- lalIht course dravvsMwith 97 votes (6.5 percent). 1Matt Accordling to Ajaby Advd~ani '9)1, ulty swiftly stif led this who started the drive to place the movement, according to Advsani.- fire at f acultlAv nneetingg pledge referenerdumn on the ballot, ]By And~rew L. 1Fish~l In addition, the, -faculty, ap- the pltedge would be optional and Advani presenited ]hi8-· idea to Some chem~istry and biology proved several changes to McIT's would not be used forT any reason the UA Council this year and re- faculty members expressed8 dissat- Policies and Procesdures wrhichh other than personal inrspiration.- ceived the support of fellow isfaction with thte Comamittee on were recommnended by the Com-- Advani dfecided to promnote the councilman and former UA 'Prers- the Undergraduate Program's mittee on Reorg~anization and pledge after talking to an individ-- ident MIbanuel Rocdriguez '89. motion to offer an exp~erimnentall Closing of Academic Units. uafl who, along with others, dis- Advani and Rodriguez went year-long integratedl course in tributed approximately 200 -t door-to-door and obtained 500 chemistry, materials science, and Integmted course- criticize 300 pledges at last yrear's.-conm- undergraduate signatures to put biology at Wedn~esday.'s faculty rmencemnent ceremony. The ple~dge.-- ~·the pledgge ref ereadum: on meeting. was ddistributed -·in two "sheets,~the~ -Wednesigiy%' bal~Eoff'l:,'' - The- motiow iii a p recroof~s a Th~e'CUPa introduceed -two -mo-F fiirst, being strictly irnnformative Paul AIntico '91, th6- newvly- plan to afdd a'biology reqmre-;· tions dvhich'would change the! un- andt the second containing the ac- mnent- to the -undergraduate cur- dergradluate cuPrriculatm. One eleced UA-FL president, saiid he would endorse the inclusion of tuaal pledge. supports the social pledge. H~is riculum. A proposal to eliminate thme second semester of freshmafs biology in the science core, the According to Class of 1989 course of action, which parallels reduction of the science distribu- that of Advani and RQddriguez, pass/no-credit grading was also President Carissa Climaaco, who discussed at the faculty meeting. tion requiremenlt to two subjects, also attended last year's ceremo- (Please turn to page 2) and the development of the inte- grated chemistry. biology, and Trial revl.,.- material science course. The sec- Perot callls for U~S ind-usi ond would eliminate the secosnd By David P. Hamilton Thurow,- dean of the Sloan ment and American business. semester of freshman pass/no-- In a talk laced with self-depre- School. Thurow denied rumors "The lesson you learn in Fortune credit grading and allow stu- cating humor and sharp jabs at that Perot planned to make a fi- 500 companies is 'Don't do any- dents, with some restrictions, to lawyers and management consul- nancial gift to MITI and Perot thing wrong,' ' he Said. "That's select one credit/no-credit subject tants, Texas billionaire H. R~oss himself jokin'ly turned aside a terrible lessons. H-ow are you each semester, with a maximumm fPerot deplored the nation's eco-- questions about the matter, say- ever going to learn anything if of sev~en. nomic state and lsaid out his per- ing he Wias at MIT "to get a loan you don't make mistakes?" sonal philosophy in front of a tnyself." The mission for American standing room only crowd in 54-, A man once described by -For- workers is "to create jobsj," Perot 100T yesterday. tupne magazine as .a brilliant ma- ssaid. Somae occupati~ons are more Perot was at MIT as part of nipulator of emotions," Perot productive in this regard than the Sloan School of Manauage- captivated the audience with others, he suggested, asking audi- menat's D)istinguished Speakers plain "farmhouse talk" about the ence members who intended to program- according to Lester failings of the federal govern- become lawyers or consultants to raise their hands. 'Now, this isn't nice," he said once a handful had complied, "but who here is going to do some honest work?" Perot's laundry list of Amneri- can shortcomings is extensive. He told the audiernce that the U~nited States is the largest debtor nation in history, commands a much smaller share of the advanced technology market than it did in 1980, and ranks l~th out of 15 industrial nations in academic achievement. "We beat TFhai- I land," he said, grimacing. "Out of success comes arro-g Ir gance, and out of adversity com~es strength," Perot contin- (please turno to page 1~3) ued. Japan had the opportunity to rebuildl itself after the Second World WCaar,whereas the US be- came used to its premier position in- the global economy, he said. Crucial to the reconstruction effort were the "brains and wits" that allowed resource-poor, is- la~nd Japan to build a first-rate ,economry, Perot said. In 1946, for example, H-onda sold motor Lisette WI. M. Lambregts/The Tech scooters made from sal' ged H. Ross Perot speaks to MIT stuldents about reversing the scrap metal, he said. Now it's one ded e -dof-thd -AeI~bmericanreconomy.~~; (PI16=s tticf--to MgL- 1j -- -- -- -: _ PAGE 2 The Teeh FRIDAY, MARCH' 171989 St>dntsfTavor--' _-' 6t n'.- -a9-'t,~ - os a-/cr0 t a AUTHORIZED d SERVICE ] frm Page Te fncredit to first term only and 'tineD7... he -idea:0f:social-responsil, -'.. A ,(Continuedfrm tj~~--- , ..~ ~~~I ~~~~. .. ~~~ ,,, , . .1 - ke se~'ven will be t6 discuss the:referendtm ity,'ac0 emphasizedi,sthould -:hllow-:studeents to take se :~'x Weatso feature UNrDA, SUPER 286C with, the. Graduate Student .be fostered throughout-:neIs aca-s :courses at any time afterwards on MON.-FRI. 9: AM-6: PM49[I3'4" 5lA, 9: AMES: PM-iy"@ CounCi. demi life at MIT and nt-initiat: credit/no-credit, with some re- (Near_NerhmSquare) SAT. __a Advam pans to send out in:ed: .with-tte-written.-gtrctions..The signing of a last printed option formation and-a respose. form pledge' at-one's graduation; Al:.;-.-Which:is/the one proposed by in the GSC News. This will then ~ohugh she: fe t that the pledge the Committee on the First-Year give undergraduates -an' idea be vague as tbe e almost -Program - was approved by 9 about how graduat f fa/ms,students imaco'stressed that percent of the voters, who want- about the pledge, according to the-idea of social responsibility ed pass/no-credit limited to first- Advani. ' should bekept in one's mindand term freshman year, but also The' UA also plans to talk to heart, rather than written on a wanted the seven pass/fail the MIT administration in order -piece of paper. courses limited to one a term, to get official support andaprid with some restrictions.