CO-MMENCEMENT TODAY C----- I --L -Ys I-___ __·_I ·-- II I s II L -·-I -- - ----- L LI I I·I s MIT's A Record of Oldest and Largest *-- Continuous News Service Newspaper for 109 Years Vol. CX No. 28 CAMBRIDGE, MASS., MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1990 Free FACULTY CONDEMNS ROTC I -POLICY ON HOMOSEXUALS Committee Formed to Examine 1712 TO GRADUATE Role of ROTC on MIT Campus AT COMMENCEMENT (By Niraj S. Desai) A total of 1712 seniors and MAY RECOMMEND SEVERING TIES graduate students will receive some 1900 degrees today, at -(By Dave Watt) MIT's 124th Commencement.-- Colombian President Virgilio Barco '43 will deliver the com- The MIT faculty voted overwhelmingly at their mencement address to the lwli I *%*Am *- c I I "RIM May 16 meeting to condemn the Reserve Offi- graduates and their-relatives BTe graduating class of Theodore M. Edison '23 - son of Thom- cers' Training -Corps policy of discriminating and guests at the exercises in as A. Edison - was the first to wear caps and gowns. (Wide World Photo courtesy Francis E. Wylie, MIT in Perspective) against homosexuals. Killian Court. Barco, who will step down in August after four years as The faculty will form a com- It is possible that the com- president, has gained interna- mittee which may set a dead- mittee will decide against set- COD RULES ON tional attention for his de- line for ending MIT's relationa- ting a deadline for ending clared war against drug traf- ship with the ROTC program. ROTC at MIT. During the de- ifickers in Colombia, and his SENIORJS IN 1T00 The committee's proposals will bate on the motion, Deutch Istaunch refusal be voted on at the October fac- said that he was opposed to to negotiate with- drug kingpins. ulty meeting. setting deadlines, given his i Committee Chair Says to Expect In October 1989, the MIT r The faculty vote follows a view that opposition to ending Corporation adopted a resolu- "Familiar Faces" at Graduation letter sent in April by Provost discrimination is so wide- tion saluting. Barco, "for his, John Me. Deutch '61 to-Secre- spread. He originally support- courageous leadership of Co- tary of Defense Dick Cheney ed a resolution that called only 68 CIASES YET TO BE RESOLVED lombia during a time which strongly protested the for- an annual review of of formi- ROTC policy. The letter, which' ROTC's policy, but when the dable challenge." Drug traf- (Continued on page 24) (By Irene C. Kuo) Deutch said has provoked (Continued on page 21) I widespread and sometimes . t hostile comment, called for an The Committee on Discipline concluded the end to discrimination based on NO DEC~ISION ON cases of seniors accused of turning in duplicate sexual orientation in the mili- I tary, argung that continued code on problem sets in Introduction to Comput- discrimination would give crit- NET( 1. W PRESIDENToil' T~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ers and Engineering Problem Solving (1.00) last ics of the military a weapon for Wednesday, according to course professor Nigel driving a wedge between the Search Committees May Choose H. Wilson SM' 70. defense establishment and uni- Nominee by End of this Month versit~ies. F Committee chair Sheila A. Dleutch commented at the FEWER THIAN TEN ON SHORT LIST Widnall '60 refused to discuss meeting that he was surprised EECSWEIGHSCHANGE the outcomes of the 10 cases, by the level of opposition he (By Re'uven M. Lerner) except to note that there has encountered to his call to The MIT Corporation will not announce a would be a lot of "familiar end discrimination by ROTC. TO 5YEAR PROGRAM faces" at Commencement and He said that he has talked with successor to President Paul E. Gray '54 today, that the affairs of 68 other stu- former secretaries of defense according to spokesman Walter A. Milne. Undergraduates Would dents in 1.00 remain to be ex- and congressmen about the is- Receive SM Under Plan amined in September. sue, and warned that, "sIf the Milne said that the faculty the trustees would have to hold As the COD will eventually secretary of defense were to and Corporation presidential a special meeting to vote on (By Reuven M. Lerner) present to the faculty what it change the policy, there is a search committees, which have the new president, Milne said. has learned about unauthorized real chance Hthat the Congress effectively functioned as a sin- He added that there would access to programs, committee A committee would vote the prohibition [on gle group, have narrowed their simply have to be "due notice" of faculty mem- members have welcomed the gays in the military] into law." search down to fewer than 10 to Corporation members in ad- bers in the Department of chance to examine the 78 Electrical Engineering and candidates. He added that vance of the meeting. cases, Widnall said. She did Computer Science is there is a possibility that the One source in the adminis- consider- not foresee policy changes re- ing a plan that would effective- committees will finish the tration said that the commit- sulting from the COD's review. PEPINANDFRANCIS ly replace the four-year bache- search process by the end of tees might have already found The discovery in late April of lor's program with a five-year the month. a possible candidate from out- duplicate code in 1.00, a class If the committees were to side of the Institute, who master's degree. ARECLEARED BYCOD The EECS Committee on with an enrollment of 240, 'recommend someone before would be unavailable until the First Professional Degree (Continued on page 22) Pair were Accused of the Corporation's next quar- January. terly meeting in September, (Continued on page 21) (CFPD) has been meeting since Assaulting Officers - - - early this year to determine during March 2 Protest which changes, if any, are nec- INSIDE essary in the undergraduate (By Linda D'Angelo Formerprofessor's tenure Course VI curriculum. Their dispute to go to trial. Page 2. and Dave Watt) initial proposal, which EECS. The Committee on Discipline Professor and committee mem- Campus Police issue annual has found Ronald W. Francis G ber Leonard A. Gould '48 de- report on MIT crime. Page 2. and Steven D. Penn G "inno- scribed as "more administra- Student accused of stealing cent on all counts" of assault tive than academic,'' would let magazine submission. Page 2. and assault and battery on a "the vast majority" of EECS NSF directorsays universities police officer after 11 houlrs of undergraduates receive a mas- face major problems. Page 2. hearings last Tuesday and ter's degree after a fifth year Wednesday, Penn said after a of study. Technicque '90 offers absorbing glimpse of MIT life. Page 15. telephone conversation with Speakers discUss the Chinese pro-democracy movement on the Gould said that the changes Assistant Dean for Student Af- anniversary of the Tiallariaen Square massacre. (Tech photo by are unlikely to take effect for Geeky charm of They Might Be (Continued on page 20) Michael Franklin '88). (Continued on page 21) Giants hard to resist. Page 17. _ PAGE 2 The Tech MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1990 L~~r, L ~ ~I I ~L Noble lawsuit will go before a jury Tenure documents to become public I ,,- ;r By Annabelle Boyd Noble, in a letter to the chair- Noble spent two years in the After more than four years of man of the MIT Corporation, courts earning the right to see the court deliberation, former Asso- David S. Saxon '41, explained documentation from his tenure ciate Professor David F. Noble's that he undertook the tenure suit review committee. He spent an- tenure suit against MIT is going because "the strict confidentiality other two years trying to make to trial before a jury. This marks of MIT's tenure proceedings and that documentation public. the end of the confidentiality re- the lack of any meaningful insti- The American Association of striction imposed on the court tutional appeals procedure, [com- University Professors guidelines proceedings in 1986 at MIT's pelled him] to file suit in order to define the right of a professor request. make the record public and under tenure review to look at In a telephone interview last thereby restore his rightful the documentation of his case as week, Maggie Hassan, MIT's reputation." "essential." Noble's case is being lawyer from the Boston-based Noble, now a full professor at partially financed by the Nation- firm of Palmer and Dodge, Drexel University, filed a lawsuit al Coalition of University Profes- claimed that the confidential na- in September 1986 asking for sors, and is being used as an ture of the tenure review process $1.5 million and/or reinstatement example of the drawbacks of led to MIT's decision to fight for as a faculty member in the Pro- confidentiality in the University a confidential status on the court gram in Science, Technology, and of Pennsylvania tenure suit that proceedings. "MIT has consis- Society. Noble charged that the went before the Supreme Court tently filed briefs calling for con- Institute violated his First two months ago. The latter suit is fidentiality and closed hearings," Amendment rights by denying still in litigation. she said. him tenure in the STS program In its official policy guidelines, "MIT has wanted privacy from on political, not academic, MIT claims that confidentiality the beginning [of Noble's suit]," grounds. Some of Noble's schol- in tenure reviews is an important she added. She declined to com- arly work and public statements guarantee of quality and, ulti- ment on MIT's response to the had criticized MIT as an institu- mately, is in the best interest of rCI I ~ rrPS~IIY~t~~·- `$%i-ruusm-A public trial.