MlT's The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Sunny and wann, 61°F (16°C) Tonight: howers, 43°F (6°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Heavy rain, 47°F (8°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 123, umber 21 Cambridge, Ma 02139 Friday, April 25, 2003 Crowding to Return Undergrad hiFall, But Sparsely S1llVey By Brian Loux crowded rooms completely. That A aelATE FEATURESEDITOR goal was billed as one of the benefits Administrators say it is likely that of the newly-constructed 300-bed Releases there will be a small amount of immons Hall dormitory and the crowding next year in undergraduate "Senior Seque" early move into grad- dormitories, despite previous vows to uate housing for juniors. First Stats the contrary. Last ovember, Benedict and But the number of students Chancellor Phillip L. Clay PhD '75 By Christine R. Fry housed in crowded rooms, currently were far more confident about keep- NEWS EDITOR zero, will still be vastly less than the ing crowding, considered to be Fifty-six percent of seniors who historical levels of 200 to 300 stu- nonexistent this year, out ofMIT dor- responded to a March survey said dents, measured by this year's desig- mitories for next year as well. they were "very satisfied" with the nations of nonnal room capacity. "Overcrowding is not an option as athletic facilities on campus, com- "There will be a handful at most far as I'm concerned," Benedict said pared with only eight percent of of crowded rooms," said Dean for then. There will not be crowding next seniors in a survey last year - Student Life Larry G. Benedict. year - "not if I'm going to work before the eptember opening of the "That is, unless something drastic here," he said. $55 million Zesiger Sports and Fit- happens ... and most of the variables But the hard numbers of students ness Center. are on our radar screen." indicating they plan to move out to The survey, sponsored by the It is those variables, though, and fraternities, sororities, and indepen- Office of the Provost, was adminis- the number of them, that "make it dent living groups have forced a tered in March on the Web to stu- really hard to tell right now" if retreat from that confidence. dents enrolled as undergraduates dur- crowding will occur, said Denise A. ''To the best of our abilities, there ing the Spring 2003 semester. Vallay, the assistant director for will be no crowding," Benedict said The office has begun preparing undergraduate housing. yesterday. JONATHAN WANG -THE TECH initial results from the survey. Com- "I believe we won't be certain ... This year's elimination of crowd- Daniel R. Feldman '02 finishes 25th In the 107th Boston parisons of MIT responses to those at until May," Benedict said. ing was accomplished through a Marathon. With a time of 2:30:27, Feldman nearly qualified other schools, and a more extensive Administrators have had to retreat for the Olympic marathon trials. See photos, page 14. analysis of MIT's results, were not from their vows to eliminate over- CroWding, Page 25 yet available. Forty percent of undergraduates who responded to a survey of current Three Crimes at MIT, But No Big Security Changes students rated their overall educa- tional experience at MIT as "excel- By Emily M. Craparo House Manager Joseph F. Gra- No EC resident has reported changed much after the arrest. lent" and almost 47 percent rated ham Jr. placed'a call to the MIT missing the. item, and Cambridge Driscoll said that MIT dormitories their experience as "good." A Cambridge resident sleeping in Police at approximately 7:30 am, Police have not received any such were already "in pretty good shape" Lydia S. Snover, the provost's the basement of East Campus will and police responded quickly to report from a local business. Driscoll where security is concerned, and that assistant for institutional research, face trespassing charges after his arrest the intruder, who admitted to said that campus environments are keycard entryways are effective in said that in the past, MIT had not arrest last Thursday. Two days later, having no MIT affiliation, Driscoll generally a "good target of opportu- keeping non-residents out. been anxious to survey the student the MIT Police were called to inves- said. nity" for larceny, and urged that lost Following an armed robbery in a body on their satisfaction. But once tigate an armed robbery in the vicin- McKenzie was found to possess items be reported to the MIT Police student's room this past fall, Next MIT fmally administered a survey, ity of Bexley Hall, and yesterday a "small, s,uspicious box" containing immediately. House decided that desk workers she said, students turned out to be as morning, the police reported a sec- an expensive piece of electronic Currently, McKenzie is being had been too lax in bypassing the happy as students at other schools. ond armed robbery near the MIT equipment, Driscoll said. The police charged with trespassing, although keycard system to allow non-resi- Museum. declined to describe the item further, these charges may be upgraded dents entrance. 28 percent had more than 5 drinks Cambridge city resident Noel saying that might hinder efforts to pending a larceny report. Efforts to After the theft, the dormitory's Twenty-eight percent of students McKenzie was discovered sleeping detennine its original owner. reach him for comment were unsuc- security was temporarily increased answering a question about binge in the East Campus boiler room last McKenzie was unable to prove cessful. by requiring any non-resident to drinking said they had consumed week by the house manager, said ownership of the device, which is show an ID card and sign in. This "five or more alcoholic drinks" on at John E. Driscoll, deputy chief of the valued at approximately $1,300, and Only small changes to security MIT Police. it was confiscated by the police. Security at East Campus has not Arrest, Page 26 Survey, Page 21 SafeRide Tracking Project Nears End of Beta Testing By Calvin G. Sizer presentations of their progress. The Shuttletrack project, which Program already in u e provides real-time tracking of the Students have already begun to locations of SafeRide and Tech use Shuttletrack while it i in beta Shuttle on the Internet, is nearing testing. the end of its beta testing. "I think it's really good when it's The project, sponsored by the up," said Stephanie T. Yeh '06. Microsoft-MIT iCampus Alliance, "Simmons is so far. I use it when is currently available for use at I'm in my dorm and running a little http://shuttletrack.mit.edu. late. It helps save time." "We have solved the biggest Phillip W. Hum '06 said, part of the challenge," said Krish- "Yeah, I'm lazy. I use Shuttle- nan Sriram G, a member of the track, and that makes me even project. "Shuttletrack gives a more lazy. If you time it just right, rough idea of the time vans will you can run down right when it show up at a particular stop," he comes out." said. Sriram said that he encourages Beta testing should be complete students to use Shuttletrack while it WAN YUSOF WAN MORSHIDJ within the next few weeks, he said. is in beta testing. "We would like to Loud, early morning construction at the old New England Confectlonary Company site on Albany "Our hope is May 6 " said Salil have people visit the site and send Street has been a nuisance to Edgerton House, a graduate residence, with complaints ranging Soman G, also a member of the pro- comments and corrections on how from shaking walls to hearing problems. See story, page 13. ject, referring to the day when iCampus projects will give public Shuttletrack, Page 23 Wallflowers Comics OPINIO World & Nation 2 gave a rockin' Moshe Alamaro SM '01 says Opinion 4 show Monday MIT's Mechanical Engineering Features 6 in Brookline. qualifying exams are akin to haz- Arts 9 ing. Events Calendar .19 Page 9 Page 16 Page 5 Sports 28 Page 2 ECH pril 25, 2003 WORLD & NATION WHO Makes SARS Advisory . Korea Announces Nukes, Against Travel to Toronto THE BOSTO GLOBE In a warning that could have devastating economic consequences Beijing Talks End Day Early for Canada's largest city, the World Health Organization advised Wednesday against all nonessential travel to Toronto. It was the latest By David E. S nger were referring to two nuclear bombs ton in mid-May. Japan's prime min- effort to curb the global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, THE NEW YORK TIMES that American intelligence agencies ister, Junichiro Koizumi, is also the killer virus better known as SARS. orth Korean officials told believe they have possessed for a expected to come here in May for The advisory was especially stunning because it indicated that American diplomats at a meeting in decade, or whether they were over- consultations on the Korean crisis. authorities regard the outbreak in Canada as posing as much of a dan- Beijing on Thursday that they stating their nuclear capabilities in a On Thursday night, however, ger to world health as the disease's march through southeast China already possess nuclear weapons deliberate effort to deter any attack administration officials were still and other parts of Asia. and have begun making bomb-grade Bush may be contemplating on their trying to determine what parts of the China's capital city, Beijing, and Shanxi province were also added plutonium, officials of the Bush nuclear facilities. orth's assertions were true, what to the health organization's list of regions with levels of infection administration and several informed Powell, answering questions parts were bluff, and what parts high enough to warrant the unusual advisories.