MIT's The eather Oldest and Largest Today: Mostly unny, 53°F (l2°C) Tonight: Mostly clear 35°F (2°C) ewspaper Tomorrow: Partly cloudy, 50°F (l0° Details Page 2 Volume 121 02139 Tue day, April 10,2001 MIT Makes Changes, Renames Residential Coordinator Position By Matthew Palmer nity input was important to the revi- NEWS EDITOR sion. "The final draft we are now The Office of Residential Life and using reflects student, staff, and tudent Life Program has revised its housemaster input," he said. RLSLP de cription for Residential Coordina- and Benedict held several forums tors, and given them a new name. and meetings with dorms to gauge The latest description focuses public opinion. more on the specific services that the newly renamed Residential Life cormick to hou e an RL Associates will provide. The main McCormick Hall is planning on characteristics remain unchanged; housing an RLA, which may replace four RLAs will still be housed in the need for Burton-Conner House undergraduate and graduate resi- to do so, said McCormick House- dences to provide various support master Charles Stewart III. services to the MIT community. Benedict said the residences of "We always had a support role in the RLAs should finalized by next mind," said Assistant Dean for week. RLSLP Katherine G. O'Dair. "The McCormick will accept an RLA AARON D. MIHALIK-THE TECH fir t [job description) didn't reflect as long as the offices will be in a 320°F mow ZERG-Joshua C. Randall '01 (left) and Jeffrey C. Barrett '02 use liquid nitrogen and that." She said that the new name also separate dormitory, said hall Presi- all-natural ingredients to produce a blend of ice cream unique to East Campus during Campus Pre- better reflects their responsibilities. dent Kelly V. Chin '02. The current view Weekend. The new description says that an plan is to convert several rooms in RLA "offers resources, skills, and Burton-Conner into RLA offices. energy in the areas of crisis response, Stewart said the dorm used to event planning, activities support, have a one bedroom apartment that training, and effective communica- housed an Associate Housemaster. MIT Ranks First in Engineering tion between MIT's student life It has since been renovated into stu- By Maria Wang administration and residence halls." dent rooms, which will soon be con- STAFF REPORTER Engineering Graduate School Rankings "I think the current language is verted into an RLA residence. MIT received top rankings in much stronger, clearer, and allows One concern of McCormick resi- U.S. News and World Report's SChool Overall Score people to really see the proposed dents is the traffic that might be gen- annual graduate school survey. 1. Massachusetts InstitUte of Technology 1.00 functions for the RLA," aid Dean erated by having an RLA in their For the 13th straight year, MIT's 2. Stanford University 91 for Student Life Larry G. Benedict. dorm. Chin said the RLA's room School of Engineering was ranked 3," University of California - Berkeley 88 Specifically, he said it emphasizes should be next to an elevator so stu- first. 4. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor 86 that "this person is not going to be a dents meeting with him do not "It's wonderful seeing our educa- 5. Georgia Institute of Technology 85 disciplinarian. " intrude on the all-female community. tional research program acknowledged 6. University of IIUools - Urbana-ehampaign 83 This draft may be revised until Stewart said that the RLAs that way," said Dean of the School of 7. Callfomia Institute of Technology 82 the RLAs take office, but O'Dair would not only be working from Engineering Thomas L. Magnanti. 8. Carnegie Menon University 80 said major changes are unlikely. their apartments, but also from their Magnanti said that three major 9. Cornell University 78 "We asked for and received feed- offices and around campus. "A lot elements distinguished the MIT engi- 10. University of Texas - Austin 77 back," she said. "The housemasters of the business of [the RLAs] will neering program. "First of all, the SOUR 'E: U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT have approved, and [Benedict) is in be going out and meeting groups of students and faculty. Secondly, MIT the proce s of approving it." students, ' he said. is an icon for engineering. Thirdly, The new job description has the accomplishments of research and department heads were pleased with Head of the Department of "much better stated the intentions of earch for RLAs begin educational innovations." MIT's high assessments, most of Mathematics David A. Vogan PhD the program, which is to provide "We are currently in the proce s ''We're currently working with the them agreed that the rankings have '76, went further, saying, "I don't better staff support and promote of putting together a search commit- Council on Educational Technology their limitations. really have a high opinion of polls; administration and community com- tee with undergraduates, graduates and I-Campus, which is a partnership "There's not a gigantic differ- they're just a popularity contest and munication " said Dormitory Coun- hou emasters, and staff," Roberts with Microsoft to develop informa- ence between 4.9 and 5.0," said hard to take very seriously." Vogan cil President Jeffrey C. Roberts '02. said. tional technologies that improve high- Head of the Department of Econom- added that "the rankings reflect He said the description was recon- O'Dair said one of the first steps er education," Magnanti added. ics Olivier J. Blanchard PhD '77. broadly what is correct and help stu- structed with the help of student in the search process is to do a com- Blanchard was referring to the scale dents understand which five or ten input, much of which was channeled petency review, which will identify Some question value of rankings for average reputation score, in through Dormcon. Although administrators and which 5.0 was the highest ranking. Rankings, Page 20 Benedict also said that commu- RLAs, Page 23 Vest Signs Letter, Urges Stem Cell Research Funding By A.S. Wang tial benefit to human health." human embryonic stem-cell research for the STAFF REPORTER first time. Opponents to this funding, includ- President Charles M. Vest joined over 100 Bush may revoke federal funding ing enate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R- university presidents in signing a letter of peti- Stem cell research, which first came into the Mi s.) and en. John S. McCain (R-Ariz), tion urging the Bush administration to maintain public eye in 1998, is hailed by proponents as a have raised arguments against it because federal funding for stem cell research. promising area of biomedical research becau e embryonic stem cells are obtained by destroy- Similar letters have been sent to President of its broad range of applications in medical ing human embryos. George W. Bush within the last month from 95 treatments, as well as its potential contributions The current policy favoring stem cell members of the House of Representatives, as to biological understanding. However, it is now research may be rever ed if President Bush signs well as from 80 Nobel laureates. also facing the scrutiny of government regula- an executive order blocking federal funds from "Before signing the letter ... I consulted with tions and ethical debate. being used for tern cell research. Bush has JUSTlN KNIGHT several biologists and research leaders," Vest In 2000, the Clinton administration already expressed his opposition to the use of Professor Rudolf Jaenisch said. "MIT currently does no human stem cell pledged strong support for this research by federal funds to study stem cells derived from recently testified before Con- research., but we do some animal stem cell approving a set of guidelines for stem-cell gress on the subject of research, and those faculty foresee great poten- work, and appropriated federal funds for Stem Cell Funding, Page 21 human cloning. Campus Comics OPINIO World & ation 2 music groups Jason H. Wasfywrites that the join in for new OpenCourseWare initiative Opinion 4 CPW will challenge IT to make clas - Events Calendar 9 Concert. es more vibrant and engaging. Art 10 ports 28 Page 14 Page 10 Page 5 \. \ I\I \ . Page 2 WORLD & ATIO u.s. Resolve Stiffens as Plane THE WASHINGTON POST Dispute Enters Second Week orthwest Airlines and its mechanic union reached a tentative contract agreement early onday as a special Pre idential Emer- By Tom Bowman, Jay Hancock The crew member ' a count tions. But in recent day U .. offi- gency Board was preparing to is ue a report that would have ba ical- and Frank Langfitt belie Beijing s contention that the cial had hinted that an inve tigation ly imposed terms of a ettlement on the two sides. THE BALTIMORE SUN Amen an plane cau ed the accident of the incident might cau e them to Detail of the new agreement were not available pending ratifica- by veering uddenly into the Chi- often their stance. ot anymore. tion by the airline's 9,795 mechanic, a proce the union said would ew information from U .. ne e fighter, U. officials aid. Bei- 'The United tates has nothing take approximately three weeks. The mechanic are represented by crew member about the colli ion of jing has aid Wang's flight partn r to apologize for," White House the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal ssociation. a Chinese jet fighter and a avy spy in a second fighter jet saw a hift in poke man ri Flei cher aid Mon- Richard Anderson, orthwest's chief executive officer, said that plane how the merican were the U .