MIT's The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Cloudy, 32°F (O°C) Tonight: Snow, 25°F (-40C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Heavy snow, 30°F (-1°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 123, Number 61 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, December 5,2003 Vest to Announce Retirement Institute By Keith J. Wlnsteln Krueger '01 at a fraternity event Will Close NEWS EDITOR gone awry. Vest responded by President Charles M. Vest, ordering all students to live in dor- whose 13 years at MIT were mitories for their freshman year and marked by a dot-com era building announcing a crackdown on alco- During boom and a sequence of high-pro- hol, moves that were wildly unpop- file deaths that brought dramatic ular among students and brought changes to student life, is expected him student enmity that still per- Holidays to announce today that he is step- sists. ping down, Institute sources and a A student died here every year By Harris Wang student leader said. The news was from 1995 through 2001, including first reported by The New York several high-profile suicides that The MIT campus will be closed Times. brought renewed attention to mental for II days from Dec. 25 until Jan. Vest, whose tenure as MIT's health services and much unwanted 5 in an effort to reduce operational 15th president is the third longest, press attention on the Institute, as expenses. presided over a period of successful well as three multimillion-dollar The closing comes at a time fundraising and investing that lawsuits against MIT, each still when the Institute is facing budget almost quadrupled MIT's endow- pending. cuts following poor investment ment, despite a recent decline of returns and a drop in MIT's endow- more than a billion dollars. Diversity signature issue for Vest ment from $5.4 billion to $5.1 bil- Buoyed by the dot-com boom, Vest's focus on diversity, lion. the Institute started work on sever- equality, and affirmative action While essential services such as al ambitious and signature con- became a signature issue of his campus police and health services struction projects, including the presidency. wil1 be staffed as they normal1y are Stata Center, the Zesiger Center, "Our educational system must on weekends and holidays, other Simmons Hall, the Sidney-Pacific better serve an increasingly plural- areas such as mail and payrol1 will dormitory, the McGovern and istic society," he said in 1990 upon provide very limited service, Picower Centers, and the Media assuming the presidency. "Efforts according to the Finances Web site. Lab Extension. (Only Zesiger and to attract women and students of Instead of normal departmental Sidney-Pacific have been complet- color and to provide an environ- deliveries, mail and packages will ed.) ment in which they can successfully be available for pickup at Mail Ser- In an event that appears to have complete their education must con- vices in Building WWI5. Time sen- permanently subdued student life, tinue and grow increasingly effec- sitivemail such as FedEx may be the Institute was rocked at the mid- tive." prearranged for special delivery. point of Vest's ten1.l:reby the 1997 Mail to the dormitories will not be TECH FlI.E PIIOTO drinking death of freshman Scott S. Vest, Page 17 affected because the U.S. Postal President Charles M. Vest at the beginning of his presidency. Service delivers directly to the dor- mitories, said Marty O. Brien of Second Hanrard Study Finds Binge Drinking Mail Services. Paychecks will be available for pickup in Building NE49 on Projector Wednesday, Dec. 3 I. The Cashier's Less Frequent on Diverse Campuses Office in Building 10 wil1 be closed By Megan Ogilvie tutions with higher percentages of Analyzing data from 114 col- from Dec. 25 to Jan. 4. Installed minority, female and older students, leges in the United States that par- Saferide will operate on normal White male college students may according to a study by Harvard ticipated in four College Alcohol schedule while Tech Shuttle will not be less likely 'to binge drink at insti- School of Public Health researchers. Study surveys from 1993 to 2001, be available during the holiday clos- InInjinite researchers found that binge drink- ing days. By Rlcha Maheshwarl ing rates of white males and under- Residence halls will remain open age students were significantly as usual during the holidays because ..~ Audio Visual Services has lower in schools that had more many students, especially interna- added another digital projector to minority, female and older students. tional students, stay on campus dur- the Infinite Corridor. The new pro- Dr. Henry Wechsler, director of the ing the winter vacation. jector installation in Building 4 Harvard School of Public Health On-campus dining facilities will • follows on the heels of another College Alcohol Studies Program be limited. At least one on-campus digital projector installed in Febru- led the study. food provider wil1 be open during ary in Building 3. In response to Wechsler's find- the break, except for on Christmas "We put up the corridor 4 pro- ings of the moderating effects of Day and New Year's Day. The holi- jector to respond to the increasing student diversity on heavy episodic day dining schedule is posted at demand from the corridor 3 projec- drinkers, Associate Dean of Student http://web.mil. edu/dining. tor," said Louis W. Graham Jr., the Life Daniel A. Trujillo thinks that Audio Visual manager. Each pro- MIT may be ahead of the curve. Closing days, not vacation days jector installation cost about "We do have a diverse student Many employees use their vaca- $8,000, he said. population, and certainly the recom- tion days around Christmas and With $50 per week and six to mendation of spreading the diversi- New Year's because they want to twelve PowerPoint slides, anyone ty, wel1, MIT already has a diverse extend their holidays. Because these at MIT can broadcast a message on population group," said Trujillo. days are general1y "low productivity the projectors for two and a half days," the Institute has decided to hours a day. Each projector runs Drinking rates vary among groups turn them into cost-saving days by from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Although approximately two of closing parts of campus, said Execu- Students were mostly indiffer- every five college students are tive Vice President John R. Curry. ent to the prospect of more adver- binge drinkers, rates vary among For employees, the closing days tising - or more advertising student sub-groups, according to are meant to be equivalent to Insti- opportunities - in the Infinite Wechsler. tute holidays. The closing days will Corridor. Previous studies conducted by not count toward employees' vaca- "I appreciate it when there are Wechsler have found that African tion days. reminders for deadlines" broadcast American, Asian, female and older "It's a form of benefit that will on the projectors, said Cody B. BRIAN HEMOND-THE TECH students have lower rates of binge offset, for quite a few people on this Leung '04. Students crowd the electronics lab In 38-500 the night before drinking (low-risk groups) than do campus, the fact that they will not Groups wishing to advertise projects are due for many classes. Rlkky Muller G (left) white, male, or younger students be getting raises the next year," should contact Paul D. Shay, the demonstrates her 6.302 final lab project, a magnetically levI- (high-risk groups). Curry said. Audio Visual events coordinator. tated miniature toilet complete with real toilet paper, to The study found that incoming Curry is not aware of any previ- Katherine A. Llllenkamp G. Projectors, Page 12 Alcohol, Page 19 Closing, Page 14 OPINION Comics FEATURES Chen Zhao advises Democrats to Sex and the Saferide explores World & Nation 2 take a stand on the gay marriage the pros and cons of long dis- Opinion 4 issue. tance relationships. Features 7 Events Calendar .11 Page 5 Page 9 Page 6 Page 2 THE TECH December 5,2003 WORLD & NATION • India's Leading Hindu party Bush Rescinds 21-Month'()ld Makes Gains in Elections TilE NEW YORK TlJIES NEW DELHI. INDIA Tariffs on All Steel Imports The Hindu nationalist party that leads India's coalition govern- ment decisively won three of four key state elections held on Mon- By Richard W. Stevenson ers and their workers. communities that depend on steel day, according to vote totals that were counted Thursday. and Elizabeth Becker The president said he would for their jobs and livelihoods," The results, seen as a prelude to the general elections to be held THE NEW YORK TIMES continue a program to monitor Bush said in the statement. "The next year, were an unexpected boon for the Bharatiya Janata Party. WASHINGTON steel imports closely to detect any safeguard measures have now They also provided another in a series of blows to the once-proud Citing an improving economy destabilizing surges of cheap for- achieved their purpose, and as a Indian National Congress, whose incumbent governments lost in and cost-cutting efforts by domes- eign steel. The United States result of changed economic cir- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. The Congress Party, the tic steel makers, President Bush would also continue pressing cumstances, it is t~me to lift base of the Nehru-Gandhi family dynasty, retained control only of lifted tariffs on imported steel on other nations to stop subsidizing them." Delhi. Thursday, averting a trade war their own inefficient steel produc- But Pascal Lamy, the top Euro- Indian voters are strongly anti-incumbent, so in one sense the with Europe but risking a political ers, he said.