MIT’s Oldest and Largest The Weather Today: Sunny, 66°F (19°C) Newspaper Tonight: Cloudy, 53°F (12°C) Tomorrow: Rainy, 67°F (19°C) Details, Page 2 http://tech.mit.edu/ Volume 129, Number 42 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Tuesday, October 6, 2009 All-Sorority ’13 Council Elected Next House Residents By Meghan Nelson STAFF REPORTER The Undergraduate Association Bemoan Teeny Meals released the results, but not the indi- vidual vote tallies, of its fall Senate Many Complain Food Is Worse, Portions Shrank and 2013 Class Council elections on Saturday. A little over a quarter of un- By Robert McQueen dergraduates voted. Danielle A. Class ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR and Amanda C. David were elected It all started on September 20, President and Vice President, respec- with a third of an ear of corn, snap tively, of an all-female, all-sorority peas, and a stuffed portabello mush- Class of 2013 Council. In a special room. Sean Y. Liu ’10 was disgusted election, Sojung C. Lee was elected with the size of his dinner, so he took Class of 2011 treasurer. a snapshot and sent it out the next-fo- Twenty-eight senators were also rum mailing list for everyone to see. elected. Nine were write-ins. All can- Within minutes, Liu’s e-mail had didates for senator who officially reg- prompted a chorus of complaints istered with the UA before the dead- about Next Dining, and about how it line were elected. has deteriorated since last year. The eight-member 2013 Class “A portion that can feed us last SEAN Y. LIU Council is composed solely of wom- year, has shrunk to perhaps snack The dinner that launched a dozen en, all of whom belong to either Kap- size,” one student wrote. e-mails. pa Alpha Theta or Sigma Kappa. “Nearly every dinner I have had portions. Liu did not attend the meet- Five Class Council members are has been smaller than the small- ing, but in an e-mail complained that sisters in Kappa Alpha Theta: Dan- est dinner I had last year,” another the manager told him that his third ielle A. Class, president; Nancy Z. wrote. of an ear of corn counted as a “serv- Chen co-social chair; Jamie J. Kang “And the counter lady just makes ing.” “Being charged an increased and Veronica L. Barrera, co-publicity ARFA AIJazi—THE TECH up prices sometimes!” someone fee ... for ‘half-off’ meals, when I chairs; and Claire A. Frigo, treasurer. New Freshman Class President Danielle A. Class ’13 on the entire added. have to buy two is pointless,” Liu The remaining three Council Freshman Class Council consisting of sorority pledges: “We’ll need The complaints quickly spread, added. Others criticized the quality members are sisters in Sigma Kappa: to think outside the box, we won’t just focus on Greek life… We’ll be reaching the UA Dining Committee of the meals, and the quality of the Annabeth Gellman, co-social chair; a strong team, and bring ideas to the table.” and eventually Rich D. Berlin, direc- preparation. One person complained Bahar B. Shah, secretary; and Aman- tor of MIT Campus Dining. Berlin that the stir fry chef kept mixing the da C. David, vice president. ficial complaint, Kim wrote. elected in total, nine were write-in sent an e-mail Next House residents meat and non-meat spoons. Another In order to “preserve the privacy Voter turnout was slightly higher candidates. No official candidate lost. on Sept. 24 to reassure them that the said that the kitchen kept running out of all candidates,” elections chair Sun this year: 28.2 percent of undergradu- Many races had more Senate seats situation was being addressed. He of supplies: “They advertise specials K. Kim ’11 declined to release spe- ates voted, up from 20 percent last than candidates running; the four wrote that he and Simon Nasser, the and don’t actually have the neces- cific candidate totals. It will remain fall. Kim attributes the higher turnout newly elected senators of Baker and Campus Dining operations manager sary ingredients.” Another student unknown how many votes each can- to increased awareness and interest. New House were both were write-in had met with the management of Bon complained that fruit cups were no didate received and how close the The election ran smoothly. “There candidates as there were no official Appetit, which runs Next Dining. longer filled up all the way. races were. were no mishaps, no official viola- candidates running for those dormi- He acknowledged the complaints Many students also complained The Election Commission tions. Everything ran as planned.” tories. and said that “immediate corrective about the erratic pricing. One e-mail “believe[s] there is little benefit from Kim wrote. Also: “Naked Abe Lin- In e-mail correspondences with actions” were being taken. to next-forum accused the Next Din- releasing the results,” Kim wrote in coln won Bexley, as expected.” The Tech, several new senators ex- All House Dining Halls including ing cashier of “making up” prices. an e-mail. The Commission will, pressed their hopes and plans. Next House Dining are operated by One student said, “I picked up a however, keep all the information on Senators share ideas, concerns The ILG senator, Alex R. Sch- the Bon Appetit catering company. piece of cake today and she asked the UA server in the event of an of- Out of twenty-eight senators wendner G, wants to improve trans- Marietta Lamarre-Buck, General me if there was a price listed, which portation to off-campus housing, Manager, of Bon Appetit declined to there wasn’t. She promptly typed in writing that he intends to work with comment. $4.50 for the price, even though I’ve the MIT Transportation Office to im- Students rehashed their com- never seen any desserts above like prove Saferide schedules and Next- plaints last Wednesday when they $3.50.” Bus. met with Next House Dining Chair Students also pointed out the Baker senator Janet Li ’12 wrote Ron M. Perez ’12 to discuss their pricing on the Arizona Iced Teas. dissatisfaction. UA Elections, Page 7 First there was the problem of tiny Next Dining, Page 10 Admins: Increasing Enrollment Could Boost Endowment Top MIT administrators discussed budget cuts Chancellor Phillip L. Clay PhD ’75, Dean for at a Q&A session at the Undergraduate Association Graduate Education Steven R. Lerman ’72, Dean for Senate meeting on Monday, October 5. Student Life Chris Colombo, and Dean for Under- graduate Education Daniel Hastings ’78 discussed the Institute-wide Planning Task Force’s cost-cutting report and the 20-some ideas that directly affected undergraduates. Clay said that the Task Force ideas could improve MIT even as they reduced costs. “It’s the difference between pruning a tree, and cutting a tree,” he said. “When you prune, you can make it better.” Most talked about was the proposal to adjust the undergraduate class size. Undergraduates are expensive, Clay said: An undergraduate student’s education costs MIT about $60,000; tuition is only $38,000. MIT foots the difference. Hastings said that one solution is to fit more stu- dents into the same facilities. MIT believes it can ed- ucate more students while keeping the total amount spent on education the same. So, increasing enroll- ment would increase revenue with little cost to MIT. Another is to give students the “3+2” option of Jeff Guo—THE TECH YUANYU Chen—THE TECH Vice Chancellor and Dean for Graduate Education completing three years of their bachelor’s at another Members of MIT’s Cuban salsa dance group Casino Rueda per- Steven R. Lerman ’72 (left) talks budget cuts as school and transferring to MIT for two years to get form a dance at the Latino Heritage Celebration Kick-Off, spon- Chancellor Phillip L. Clay PhD ’75 looks on at the a master’s degree. The panel said that distributing sored by the Latino Cultural Center, on the steps of the Student first Undergraduate Association Senate meeting Center Sunday. of the academic year Monday in W20-400. Budget Cuts, Page 10 Mission of Burma In Short ¶ Want the MIT Student Extend- section on sex at MIT, to be pub- plays in East Campus World & Nation . 2 ed Insurance Plan? If not, be sure lished on Oct. 30. Send stories to courtyard Opinion . 4 to cancel by tomorrow, the deadline. [email protected] or visit http:// Comics/Fun Pages . 5 Find out more at http://medweb.mit. tech.mit.edu/myfirsttime. Entries edu/healthplans/student/. will be anonymous. Also, look for Sports . 12 our upcoming sex survey! Page 9 ¶ Send in stories about losing your virginity for The Tech’s special Send tips to [email protected]. Page 2 THE TECH October 6, 2009 WORLD & NATIO N FTC Will Require Bloggers to Prepaid, But Not Prepared Disclose Gifts Or Pay By Tim Arango THE NEW YORK TIMES For Debit Card Fees For nearly three decades, the Federal Trade Commission’s rules re- garding the relationships between advertisers and product reviewers and By Andrew Martin inquiry, 50 cents for each purchase, “If you look at these products to- endorsers were deemed adequate. Then came the age of blogging and THE NEW YORK TIMES $4 for monthly maintenance, $2 for day compared to even a checking ac- social media. Buying a prepaid debit card these inactivity after 60 days and $1 for a count, many consumers have found On Monday, the FTC said it would revise rules about endorsements days is just about as easy as picking call to customer service.