The Weather MIT’s Today: Cloudy, 51°F (11°C) Tonight: Cloudy, 46°F (8°C) Oldest and Largest Tomorrow: Heavy rain, windy, 51°F Newspaper (11°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 126, Number 49 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, October 27, 2006 Underclassmen Give In Alumni Campaign By Apoorva Murarka level of participation from the stu- A total of 460 gifts from fresh- dent body rather than raising a par- men, sophomores, and juniors were ticular amount of funds,” Kavanagh collected during the Underclassmen said. Giving Campaign last week. Fifteen “I think it is a great concept but percent of the underclassmen donat- I don’t think that going to the un- ed during the UGC, totalling about dergraduate body is the right way $2,500. Donations ranged from $1 to to raise funds because we do not $40 with the average donation being have much money … I mean, we are just over $5. starved students,” said Irina Shklyar, The UGC, a pilot program started the Undergraduate Association Mc- by the MIT Alumni Association, was Cormick Hall senator. “As a senator, designed to help develop a sense of I did not hear anyone from my con- philanthropy among the underclass- stituency complain to me, but I have men at MIT, as seniors are already heard complaints in general.” contributing to the senior gift, ac- At the end of last week, 15 percent cording to UGC and Senior Gift of the underclassmen had already Advisor Rosheen B. Kavanagh, fund contributed. Freshmen, 20 percent officer for the Alumni Association. of whom had given to the UGC, also UGC will run for another week in the formed the largest percentage of the spring, from February 26 to March donors among the underclassmen. MICHAEL MCGRAW-HERDEG—THE TECH 2. “The participation levels are Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks reads lines from her “The American Play” in 10-250 last night. Parks, UGC’s goal is to achieve a com- pretty fantastic for a week consider- who received a MacArthur “genius grant” fellowship in 2001 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama bined 20 percent participation from ing that last year, Senior Gift had to in 2002, spent her evening at MIT alternately musing on her childhood, discussing the process the underclassmen for the two cam- run from March through June to get of writing, reading and singing from her plays, and giving advice to her audience. “Language is a paign weeks, 10 percent for each physical act,” she said. “It’s not something that happens from the neck up. It’s not cerebral.” week. “UGC’s aim is to hit a certain Giving, Page 14 Grads Enter Finance, Consulting MIT to Collaborate With Survey Shows 33 percent of ’06 Graduates Accepted Jobs in These Sectors By Joyce Kwan Singapore on Game Lab every course entered the financial accepted a consulting job for Bain More MIT graduates, including or consulting industry. (For more & Company. “[A job in finance or By Angeline Wang be complete by January, Uricchio those who majored in science and details, see the table and graph on consulting] gives more develop- NEWS EDITOR said. It will be followed by a five- engineering, are accepting jobs in page 11.) mental security.” MIT and the Singapore Media year initial research and training the financial and consulting sectors. The 2006 survey received 1,550 Friend is one example of sci- Development Authority are currently period. During that time, the proj- Thirty-three percent of 2006 gradu- responses, or 74 percent of the ence and engineering majors at in the contractual phase of establish- ect will be centered at MIT, as the ates — undergraduate and graduate graduating class. MIT pursuing careers in the world ing the Singapore-MIT International program grows in Singapore. Most students included — entered either Jobs in the financial and consult- of finance and consulting. The gen- Game Lab, a collaboration that will undergraduate involvement will also the financial or consulting indus- ing industries are appealing because eral consensus among students and work toward furthering digital game take place at MIT through the Un- tries, according to the 2006 Gradu- they provide both intellectual chal- recruiters is that as disparate as the research and developing academic dergraduate Research Opportunities ating Student Survey conducted by lenges and opportunities to work on fields seem, both require strong programs in game technology. Program. the Careers Office. This is an in- real-world problems, said John B. analysis and quantitative problem- William C. Uricchio, a professor This new project is one of many crease from 19 percent of graduates Nonnamaker, associate director of solving skills. of Comparative Media Studies and that involve MIT-Singapore col- in 2004. the Careers Office. “Science and engineering stu- one of the primary investigators of laboration. Other projects include Of the top 10 employers that “You know exactly where you’ll dents take up very quickly because SMIGL, describes the price tag of the Singapore-MIT Alliance and hired the most MIT graduates, sev- be in five years,” said David H. they have quantitative skills,” said this initiative as “very significant.” SMA for Research and Technol- en were finance or consulting firms, Friend ’07, a physics and electrical “I think it’s fair to describe it as ogy, a project that is currently being and at least a few students in nearly engineering double major who has Jobs, Page 11 the single largest investment in a developed. According to Uricchio, non-military sector university gam- Singapore’s new National Research ing environment,” he said. Uricchio Foundation was exploring ways to declined to give a specific amount intensify collaboration with MIT. A because contractual negotiations are series of mutually beneficial propos- still taking place. The contractual phase should Singapore, Page 13 Revised GRE Longer, More Difficult; Begins in Oct. ’07 By Swetha Kambhampati Web site. Most of these students A newly revised and perhaps take the GRE. longer version of the Graduate The Educational Testing Service, Record Examination test, which which announced the Oct. 2007 is needed for admission into most exam launch date in Feb. 2006, is graduate schools, will be adminis- still experimenting with test ques- tered starting in Oct. 2007. Other tions and will not release the exact major planned revisions to the GRE content changes until Feb. 2007. are a rescaling of the exam scoring Parallel to these changes are scales, a change in the method of revisions of the Medical College test administration, and an altera- Admission Test and Law School tion in exam content. Admission Test. A Career Office survey with a The new GRE exam will no lon- response rate of 77 percent shows ger be a two-and-a-half hour long WILLIAM YEE—THE TECH that 48 percent of students from Kathryn A. Pesce ’10 protects the ball while under pressure from a Babson College defender. After two the undergraduate class of 2006 GRE, Page 17 overtimes, the Engineers ended the regular season with a 1-1 tie against Babson at home, bringing went on to graduate or professional their record to 10-6-1. The MIT women’s soccer team will host Babson College again tomorrow eve- school. About 2,000 students enter ning at 1:00 p.m. for MIT’s quarterfinal-round match in the NEWMAC Championship Tournament. MIT’s graduate programs each year, In Short according to the Admissions Office ¶ The January 2007 IAP Guide is currently online at http://web. mit.edu/iap/. Sign up now for those Daylight-saving NEWS World & Nation . 2 hard-to-get-into classes. Opinion . 4 time ends on New graduate dormitory ¶ The Fiercely Fall Festival, which Sunday. At 2 a.m., groundbreaking to be held in Arts . 5 features Margaret Cho and the November. Comics. 7 Mythbusters among other events, set your clock begins today. See http://web.mit. back to 1 a.m. Page 12 Police Log . 9 edu/fall/ for more details. Sports . 20 Send news information and tips to [email protected]. Page 2 THE TECH October 27, 2006 WORLD & NATION Iraq Leader Faults IRS to Delay Collecting Back U.S. Timetable Plans By Sabrina Tavernise THE NEW YORK TIMES BAGHDAD, IRAQ Taxes From Katrina Victims Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki put himself at odds on Wednesday with the American government that backs him, distancing By David Cay Johnston December holidays. sending notices, because of any elec- himself from the American notion of a timetable for stabilizing Iraq and THE NEW YORK TIMES But four former IRS commis- tion, national or local. “Oh my God, criticizing an American-backed raid on a Shiite militia enclave. The commissioner of Internal sioners, who served under presidents that is unthinkable,” Kurtz said. Speaking in Baghdad just hours before President Bush held a news Revenue ordered his agency to delay of both parties, said that doing so On the other hand, Mark E. Mat- conference in Washington, al-Maliki tailored his remarks to a domestic collecting back taxes from Hurricane because of an election was improper thews, the IRS deputy director of audience, reassuring the millions of Shiites who form his power base Katrina victims until after the Nov. 7 and indefensible. services and enforcement, who par- that he would not bend to pressure by the American government over elections and the holiday season, say- Everson issued the order to delay ticipated in the conference call with how to conduct internal Iraqi affairs. ing he did so in part to avoid negative enforcement during an Oct. 10 tele- Everson, said that “the reference to His comments stood in stark contrast to the message given on Tues- publicity.