MIT’s The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Snow developing, 30°F (–1°C) Tonight: Snowy, 27°F (–3°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Snow ends, 20°F (–7°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 124, Number 13 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Tuesday, March 16, 2004 Williams, Vasquez Elected as UA Pres, VP Your MIT Eighteen class council officers elected for ’05, ’06,’07; 12 positions went uncontested. Diploma: By Kathy Lin NEWS EDITOR Harel M. Williams ’05 and Coming to Phillip A. Vasquez ’05 will be the next president and vice president of the Undergraduate Association. The Williams/Vasquez ticket Singapore beat their only official competitors, David B. Smith ’05 and Noelle J. By Tatyana Lugovskaya Kanaga ’06 by 589 votes, or 37.8 percent of the votes for the posi- MIT will soon begin granting tions. Master of Engineering degrees to Williams and Vasquez said they students from the National attribute their win to “a strong effort University of Singapore and to make personal contact, the clarity Nanyang Technological University of our vision and platform, and the as part of the second phase of the strength of our supporters,” Singapore-MIT Alliance. Williams said. Starting next year, the students at Twelve of the 19 positions in the two Singapore universities will Class Council and the UA that were be able to attend MIT classes online open for election had only one reg- via teleconferencing equipment, istered candidate. No uncontested partly in the new Stata Center candidates were beaten by write-in classrooms, and will also spend one candidates. semester on campus. In the contested class elections, The Singapore-MIT Alliance has Rohit Gupta won for Class of 2005 existed since 1998, and is currently president, John R. Velasco ’05 won in its first phase. Graduates from the for Class of 2005 vice president, program currently receive a Alexis R. Desieno ’05 won for Singapore-MIT Alliance certificate Class of 2005 secretary, Karen E. from MIT and either a masters or BRIAN HEMOND—THE TECH Hunter ’06 and Jill L. Konowich ’06 Philip A. Vasquez ’05 (left) and Harel M. Williams ’05 were elected last week as vice president and PhD from their Singapore won for Class of 2006 social chairs, president, respectively, of the Undergraduate Association. university, but no degree from MIT. Melvin C. Makhni ’07 won for Class of 2007 vice president, and will begin their terms when they are Opponents, leaders offer advice establishing themselves as strong Program to expand if successful Sharmeen Browarek ’07 and Joy installed at the last UA Senate meet- Williams and Vasquez “should student-oriented groups, and the UA Alliance Co-Director Anthony T. Liang ’07 won for Class of 2007 ing of the term on May 3, said Rose definitely address the growing needs to facilitate their direct repre- Patera said that the program was social chairs. A. Grabowski ’05, vice chair of the strength of dorm governments and The newly elected candidates UA Senate. the IFC,” Smith said. “Both are Elections, Page 15 Online Degree, Page 14 Disputes Cause Q Bubble Stata Center Move Begins This Week By Kathy Dobson To End Service at Arrow St. STAFF REPORTER The Department of Linguistics Dispute called “a matter of control.” New vendor sought. and Philosophy and the Computer By Joia Ramchandani contract. “Every two weeks he Science and Artificial Intelligence STAFF REPORTER wanted more and more money. It Laboratory (CSAIL) will move into Because of an inability to reach got to a point where we just could- the Stata Center by the end of the an agreement on their new contract, n’t take it anymore,” she said. week now that the Ray and Maria the Q Bubble Tea vendor and Arrow Chen also expressed dissatisfac- Stata Center has passed all of the Street Crepes have decided to termi- tion with the manner in which Q necessary inspections. nate their partnership, leaving many Bubble employees were treated by “We have all the sign-offs neces- students unhappy and without a Arrow Street management. Her sary,” said Claude LeBlanc, general bubble tea vendor. employees were allotted a salary superintendent for Skanska USA However, Arrow Street Crepes that was 40 percent less than that of Building Inc., the project manage- Manager Noel Ancarani said that Arrow Street employees, she said. ment company in charge of the MIT that the restaurant has plans to intro- Arrow Street management Stata Center Project. duce a new line of bubble tea after allegedly still owes Chen over The temporary certificate of occu- spring break. $6,000 for her services, but is con- pancy (TCO) required to start moving The restaurant is interested in tinuing to “delay making the pay- into the building, is “forthcoming,” “upgrading to a better quality prod- ment,” Chen said. She went on to LeBlanc said, but MIT did not have uct that is more authentic,” Ancarani say that she would seek legal the papers in hand as of yesterday. said. Q Bubble’s product is a “Tai- recourse if Arrow Street did not pay The new Student Street, includ- wanese product converted to the fast her the money she claims it owes ing a new dining facility and several pace of the U.S. market,” and not her. new classes, will also open this truly authentic bubble tea, he said. In response to Chen’s allega- week on the first floor of Stata. Nancy Chen, the former co- tions, Ancarani said that Arrow Other renovations including the owner of the Q Bubble franchise in Street did not have such a debt. alumni pool and the child care cen- the Student Center, said that she The termination of the Arrow ter will open in June. was unhappy with the Arrow Street Street and Q Bubble business con- Construction will continue management because of its demands tract was “a matter of control” over around the building until late May for more money and greater control management, employees, and prof- or early June, said LeBlanc. over Q Bubble. its, Ancarani said. The official dedication of The The Q Bubble owners wanted to Stata Center will take place on May Q Bubble, Arrow Street clash have “more control than they should 7 and will be open to the public. Chen said “greed, not quality” have,” he said. Arrow Street “decid- was the reason behind the termina- ed it would be best to go separate Student street to open this week tion of the partnership between Q ways,” he said. The Student Street, a long corri- Bubble and Arrow Street. Arrow Street management was dor running through the first floor of FRANK DABEK—THE TECH She said that Arrow Street owner unhappy with the powder-based Q the building, is scheduled to open One of the first of many loads of orange crates arrives at the Stata James Murray would continuously Center. The oft-delayed move of the Computer Science and Artificial change the terms of their business Bubble Tea, Page 17 Stata, Page 13 Intelligence laboratory to its new home begins in earnest this week. “Much Ado Comics NEWS World & Nation . 2 About Noth- Acceptance letters have been Opinion . 4 ing” comes sent to those who will soon be Features . 6 to life near MIT’s Class of 2008. Arts . .7 the end. Sports . .20 Page 7 Page 10 Page 16 Page 2 THE TECH March 16, 2004 WORLD & NATION Powell To Press Pakistan Nations with Troops in Iraq For More Nuclear Disclosures THE NEW YORK TIMES NEW DELHI Make No Move to Join Spain Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, opening a visit to South Asia, said Monday that he would press President Pervez Musharraf of Pak- By Richard Bernstein ter, Jack Straw, rejected the idea States in Iraq. istan to do more to track down Taliban remnants on the Afghanistan THE NEW YORK TIMES that Spain might get a kind of “The omens for Mr. Blair do not border and to tell the United States more about his military’s involve- BERLIN immunity from future terrorist look good this morning,” The ment in past nuclear proliferation activities. The announcement by Spain’s attack by disengaging from Iraq. Evening Standard editorialized in Powell has had many discussions in recent months with Mushar- prime minister-elect that he would “The idea that somehow there is London. “Not only does he face the raf on the activities of A.Q. Khan, father of Pakistan’s nuclear pro- withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq some exemption certificate for this possibility of a major attack on gram, who has admitted to supplying uranium enrichment equipment by midyear was clearly bad news war against terrorism is utter non- British soil, and not only has the to Iran and other nations. Powell said there was still more to learn for the other countries that have sense,” Straw said. war in Iraq patently made no differ- about the extent to which the Pakistan military had helped Khan in contributed forces there, but on “Al-Qaida are absolutely vicious ence to al-Qaida’s capabilities. But these activities. Monday none of them gave indica- fanatics who not only obviously it was he who took this country to Powell did not address details, but administration officials have tions that the Spanish move would hate those who were responsible for war in controversial circumstances, said they learned that the military may have been more extensively affect their own troop commitments. the military action in Iraq, but hate when many Britons opposed it — involved than previously thought in the transfer of nuclear arms “Revising our positions on Iraq anybody who upholds democratic and Spanish voters have shown materials to North Korea, Iran and Libya.