LAST DAY OF UA VOTING HAVE A GOOD SPRING BREAK! WEATHER, p. 2 FRI: 62°F | 47°F MIT’s Mostly sunny Oldest and Largest SAT: 70°F | 46°F Newspaper Mostly sunny SUN: 55°F | 45°F Partly cloudy Volume 130, Number 14 tech.mit.edu Friday, March 19, 2010 Student fell, lay for Three days of rain…the aftermath NW35, EC, hours at Stata Ctr. and Next By Michael McGraw-Herdeg housemasters did not respond to a CONTRIBUTING EDITOR phone message. MIT police chief John DiFava House are A freshman was found seri- confirmed the incident took place ously injured after a long fall that but had little additional informa- left him immobilized for hours tion beyond that the student was open for in the Stata Center on Thursday taken to a nearby hospital, indicat- morning. ing that he had more serious inju- MIT Police found the student ries than could be treated at MIT at about 8:30 a.m. after being Medical. DiFava said he was told summer called by a Facilities employee. that the student will be OK. The student had fallen onto the The incident is reminiscent of By Natasha Plotkin floor of the 9th floor stairwell a Jan. 2006 accident when a fresh- EXECUTIVE EDITOR several hours prior. His legs were man fell through a skylight in Build- seriously injured, he had signs of ing 5. She was not alone — she was East Campus, Next House, and the hypothermia, and he was taken by accompanied with about five other Phoenix Group section of Ashdown will ambulance to a hospital. students when she fell. She suf- be the only three dorms open to under- On Thursday night, he was in fered numerous broken bones and graduate students over the sumer, Dean the intensive care unit at Cam- was badly hurt after landing on a for Student Life Chris Colombo an- bridge Hospital. staircase platform underneath the nounced in an e-mail yesterday. He could have fallen from a skylight between the second and The announcement comes after roof-access hatch, accessible by a third floors of the building, nar- weeks of concern among students about roughly 15-foot climb up a metal rowly missing falling several more which dorms would be open over the ladder attached to the wall in the stories. Police were called at 2:34 summer. Chancellor Phillip L. Clay PhD 9th floor stairwell. He could also a.m., shortly after the fall. ’75 first announced in late February that have climbed up the ladder, tried Both incidents apparently in- dorms would be closing over the sum- to open the hatch (which a report- volved exploring. But unlike in the mer. er found jammed last night), and 2006 accident, the student from A four-page PDF file circulated along fallen down while trying to open the Thursday morning incident with the announcement detailed the the hatch. There is no evidence was apparently alone; it is not new summer housing arrangement: that the student was hacking. clear that he was ever in an unau- Of those dorms not open to un- The student’s condition is thorized location of campus, such dergraduates, Bexley, Burton-Conner, unknown. An ICU nurse at Cam- as a roof; his injuries were appar- SAM Range—THE TECH MacGregor, and Random will be closed bridge Hospital declined to com- ently less severe; he might not After a weekend of non-stop rain, large puddles and water- for renovations. ment on his condition. Late last have been at risk of falling much logged debris have turned the machine shop at East Campus into Baker House, Senior House, McCor- night, his graduate resident tutor further; and he was not found un- a soggy mess� See article, page 13. did not respond to an e-mail and til several hours after the fall. Summer housing, Page 13 IN SHORT Admit rate drops below 10% MIT settles Samuel M. Allen has been nominated to serve as Chair of the Faculty from 2011– Class of 2014 experiments with new application with Gehry 2013. For other faculty committee nomina- tions, including CAP, CoC, CoD, and CUP, By Meghan Nelson please see the May faculty meeting notice AssOCIATE NEWS EDITOR over Stata at http://web.mit.edu/faculty/governance/ meetings.html. Facing a 6.2 percent in- crease in applications and a UA elections results are expected this Sat- Ctr. defects urday or Sunday, UA Elections Commis- 9.7 percent admission rate, sioner Sun Kim ’11 said. the MIT Class of 2014 experi- By John A. Hawkinson enced the most competitive NEWS EDITOR MIT’s policy on hidden first term grades admissions cycle yet. The big- will change slightly, assuming a motion gest change to the process was MIT has settled its 2007 lawsuit against made at Wednesday’s faculty meeting pass- a modified essay requirement, the architects and builders of the Ray and es next month. Those grades will no longer be made available to medical schools, eliminating the standard 500- Maria Stata Center: Frank O. Gehry & As- since schools like Johns Hopkins no longer word essay and introducing sociates, Beacon Skanska Construction, require them. But those grades do matter more and shorter essays. and NER Construction Management. — a first term GPA lower than a B would This year’s application NICHOLAS CHORNAY—THE TECH Most of the issues of design and con- disqualify a student from ACG and SMART required students to write Hana I. Khalil ‘13 talks to a prospective member of the struction cited in the lawsuit have been grants, which supplement Pell grants. three 250-word essays on set Class of 2014 on the phone during the admitted students resolved. Aero/Astro may soon have a flexible prompts instead of writing telethon held on Thursday in the Bush Room� The lawsuit, alleging breach of con- engineering degree, 16-ENG, professor one 500-word essay chosen tract and neglige0nce, was officially dis- Ian A. Waitz proposed to the faculty on between two prompts. In the aspects of a student’s back- together as a staff to debrief, I missed by the Massachusetts Superior Wednesday. Well-received, the proposal summer, the Admissions Of- ground and interests; instead want to hear what the rest of Court on Monday, March 8. The last filing will be voted on in April. fice explained why they made of just getting one slice at it, the staff thinks about it,” said in the case was from April 2008, and the the change, saying it would we’ve got three slices,” said Schmill. court noted the case as “reported settled” MIT will study the electric grid to assess “potential benefits of grid expansion as well lead to less stylized and over- Schmill. “The essays them- As a “safety-valve,” appli- on Feb. 5, 2010. as of extensive deployment of new and wrought submissions. selves were actually denser cants could choose to attach a MIT’s lawsuit cited design and con- emerging smart-grid related technologies” Some have decried what in useful information. I would supplemental essay if they felt struction failures in the building. These with a $100k NIST-funded grant, Senator they perceived as a decrease say that in most cases students they had not shared enough. included masonry cracking and poor John Kerry announced Tuesday. in standards and making it wrote better essays; they an- As is generally the case few drainage in the amphitheater; “mold too easy for applicants, but swered our questions.” students chose to submit sup- growth at various locations on the brick Do freshman cheat on MasteringPhys- ics? A new study looks, p. 14. Director of Admissions Stuart While the essay change plements, Schmill said. exterior vertical elevations”; “persistent Schmill ’86 said the modified seemed beneficial he said, The Admissions Office leaks” throughout the building; and slid- MIT’s Jonathan Gruber under fire from essay requirement lead to bet- the Admissions Office has also modified the application ing ice and snow. Congress, p. 15. ter and more personal essays. not decided what format the this year to allow applicants MIT retained outside consultants to Peter Diamond’s Fed nomination, p. 14. “We were able to get more essays requirement will take information about different next year. “We haven’t gotten Admissions, Page 12 Stata lawsuit, Page 12 TECH GOES ON SHOULD MIT BE FREE? WHAT A MAgnifiCENT AT LONG LAST, SECTIONS SPRING BREAK Making MIT free would further its mission MURDEROUS JERK PLASTIC BEACH World & Nation � � �2 Opinion � � � � � � � � �4 This is The Tech’s of educating the brightest� OPN, p. 5 A strong cast makes the Gorillaz’s latest album Arts � � � � � � � � � � � �7 last issue before Shakespeare Ensemble’s blends eclectic STOP WHINING ABOUT TUITION Fun Pages � � � � � � 10 spring break� Regular production of Richard influences for a odd, Sports � � � � � � � � �16 publication will resume The tuition protests are full of coddled, III memorable — and quintessentially Gorillaz on Tuesday, March 30� self-entitled kids� OPN, p. 5 horrifying. ARTS, p. 9 sound� ARTS, p. 8 2 The Tech Friday, March 19, 2010 Looking back, Greenspan says D Wall Street needs tighter rein Former rivals, Obama & Clinton WASHINGTON — Is Alan Greenspan, famous for his libertarian leanings and hands-off approach to Wall Street, hav- forge foreign-policy partnership ing some second thoughts? After more than six decades as a skeptic of big government, the former Federal Reserve chairman, 84, is gingerly suggesting By Mark Landler since the bitter spring of 2008, when be “inappropriate.”) And when Clin- WORL that perhaps regulators should help rein in giant financial insti- and Helene Cooper he sniped that her foreign-policy cre- ton traveled to Honolulu in January, tutions by requiring them to hold more capital.