No School Friday! The Weather Today: Partly Cloudy, 59°F (15°C) Tonight: Mostly cloudy, relatively MIT’s warm and chance of precipita- tion, 49°F (9°C) Oldest and Largest Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy and Newspaper chance of rainfall in the morning, 58°F (14°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 126, Number 52 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Tuesday, November 7, 2006 Faculty Share Blame After Hiring Blunder By Angeline Wang Memory, was accused in July of bully- NEWS EDITOR ing neuroscientist Alla Y. Karpova into A prominent MIT professor declining the Biology Department’s will not be disciplined for what was offer of an assistant professorship deemed as “inappropriate actions” working at the McGovern Institute for during the Institute’s failed recruit- Brain Research. ment of a young female scientist ear- While the report admonishes lier this year. The blame was shared Tonegawa for some of his actions among many faculty and administra- during the recruitment process and tion, as well as on the competitive re- acknowledges that many believe he is lationship between the different neu- overly competitive, it also states that roscience units at MIT, according to a Tonegawa was, to some extent, pro- report released last week by a faculty voked by not being included in parts investigative committee. of the search procedure that he should In response to the report, an ad- have been. The report also states that visory council was created that will the search committee did not carry out oversee recruitment and hirings in all the steps normally expected. neuroscience for the next few years. The investigative committee stated The report focused on the structure of in the report that “a number of mis- AARON L. SAMPSON—THE TECH Hao Ding ’10 and Holly R. Johnson ’07 perform with the MIT Chorallaries during the MIT Habitat for the neuroscience program at MIT, as takes were made in the handling of the Humanity Awareness event in Boston Common on Saturday, Nov. 4. The event offered a chance to well as this specific hiring case. (The controversy by faculty members, vari- make sandwiches for the homeless and learn about Habitat for Humanity. In addition to the Choral- report is available at http://web.mit. ous faculty members in leadership po- laries, it featured a performance by the MIT Logarhythms and speakers Rebecca K. Oman ‘08 and edu/provost/reports.html.) sitions, the Dean of Science, and the Jim Greene, director of Boston Mayor Menino’s Emergency Housing Office. Nobel laureate and biology profes- Administration.” sor Susumu Tonegawa, the head of the Picower Institute for Learning and Tonegawa, Page 13 MacGregor Dining Trial Contestants Vie For ‘Ugliest’ Title Now on Tuesdays By Daniela Cako I don’t flame and don’t troll,” said Users on the forum suggested Lam and Benjamin P. Gleitzman Lam, whose posts included “What run for the UMOC crown. MacGregor House’s dining trial will continue on its new night, STAFF REPORTERS is formyl aldehyde?” and an inqui- Lam’s charity is Quincy Asian Tuesday evening from 6–9 p.m., until the end of November. Addition- The Ugliest huMan On Campus ry into the difference between .net, ally, the $7 buffet menu will be adjusted to serve more popular dishes, competition, the modern day mani- .com, and .php Web address suffixes. UMOC, Page 15 featuring a “Make Your Own Taco” night next week. Already halfway festation of the Ugliest Man on Cam- completed, the 10-week trial will survey the demand for reopening the pus, drew to a close Friday following dining hall in the dormitory. a week of philanthropic competition. In October, there was an average number of 115 customers each As of Thursday, Brandon S. Moore Monday night, said MacGregor House President Adam V. Donovan ’09 was the top contestant with Amit- ’07. The decision to move it to Tuesday night aimed to gauge whether tai E. Axelrod ’02, in second place. participation would be different on another weeknight. Participation Sponsored by Alpha Phi Omega, was “better than we expected,” Donovan said. At the end of the trial, the contest encourages community MacGregor House residents and Campus Dining will compare the members to vote monetarily for the numbers with McCormick Hall’s dining trial in 2004, and then decide ugliest contestant, with all proceeds on the feasibility of a new dining hall in MacGregor. contributed to the winner’s charity. Based on a feasibility study conducted by Shamut Construction in “It’s always a tough sell to go up the spring, a new dining hall would require a multi-million dollar and to someone and say ‘Hey! You are six month renovation during which MacGregor Convenience would be ugly!’,“ said UMOC Project Chair- closed. The renovation would include installation of an operable kitch- man Brian J. Pepper ’08, “but this is en, new ovens, new carpeting, and a general redesign of the facility. a charity event aimed at raising mon- —Hanhan Wang ey and it’s not mean-spirited.” This year’s contestants are three current MIT students, two MIT alumni, and a Wellesley student. In Short “On average, six to seven students ¶ Remember to vote today! The discussion. run every year, and usually more voting location for many people men than women,” Pepper said. Two who live on-campus is at Kresge ¶ The Graduate Student Council of this year’s contestants are women. Auditorium. Find your voting loca- Academics, Research, and Careers Contestant Olga Botvinnik ’09 tion at http://www.wheredoivotema. Committee will meet Thursday, believes that her calloused feet and com/bal/myelectioninfo.php. Nov. 9 from 5:30–7 p.m. in 50-220. foul morning “death-breath” qualify The travel grant, the Pass/D/Fail op- her as the ugliest huMan. “My nose ¶ The groundbreaking for NW35, tion, mentorship, and a library up- is also too big,” Botvinnik said. the new graduate dormitory, will be date will be discussed. The meeting Botvinnik’s charity is the Mr. held Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 3:30 p.m is open to the general public. Holland’s Opus Foundation, which and is open to the general public. helps provide music education to The ceremonious first shovelfuls of ¶ Full access to The Chronicle of children. dirt will be turned at the Two Pacific Higher Education is now offered “A big part of my success in Street parking lot, on the corner of online via MIT Libraries. On-cam- coming to MIT is the discipline, the Pacific St. and Albany St. There will pus users will be granted access au- learning how to learn, and the prac- be a celebration afterward in the tomatically by the publication’s Web tice” it takes to be a musician, Bot- multi-purpose room of Sidney-Pa- site at http://chronicle.com/. Off- vinnik added. cific graduate dormitory. campus users can gain access with Contestant Christina Lam, a MIT certificates via http://libraries. sophomore at Wellesley, decided to ¶ The Race-Sexuality Task Force mit.edu/vera. run for the UMOC title following a ERIC D. SCHMIEDL will meet Thursday, Nov. 9 from 3–4 string of posts on the “mitmit” Live- Brian J. Pepper ’08 examines the standing of the candidates on Fri- p.m. in W20-028 and is open to the Send news information and tips to Journal, a community Web log. day, Nov. 3, the last day of voting for Alpha Phi Omega’s Ugliest hu- MIT community. Bring ideas for [email protected]. “Contrary to popular opinion, Man On Campus competition. The voting occurred in Lobby 10. Comics ARTS NEWS World & Nation . 2 MythBusters Smell of fear, scratch-and-sniff Opinion . 4 a blast at Fall style, at the List Visual Arts Arts . 5 Festival closer Center Police Log . 18 Sports . 20 Page 10 Page 5 Page 12 Page 2 THE TECH November 7, 2006 WORLD & NATION British Court Hears Of Preliminary Results Predict Qaida Plans For ‘Black Day’ By Alan Cowell THE NEW YORK TIMES LONDON Ortega is Headed For Victory A prosecutor told a court here Monday that Dhiren Barot, the most senior operative of al-Qaida known to have been captured here, had By Jill Replogle candidate, Eduardo Montealegre, party set off fireworks around the plotted “a memorable black day for the enemies of Islam” by kill- and James C. Mckinley Jr. a Harvard-educated financier and city on Monday, and drove around ing “hundreds if not thousands of innocent people” in Britain and the THE NEW YORK TIMES conservative that Washington has honking horns, shouting victory slo- United States. MANAGUA, NICARAGUA openly supported. gans, and waving red and black San- Barot was arrested in Britain with seven others in August 2004, Sixteen years after he left power, Now 60 and balding, Ortega has dinista flags. Ortega had yet to make after a major security alert in the United States. Daniel Ortega, a former Marxist maintained he is no longer a Marx- a statement. He pleaded guilty in October to a charge of conspiracy to murder. president and the Sandinista leader ist, but more of a pragmatist. He Cuba immediately congratulated The potential targets included the New York Stock Exchange, the who is still regarded as a sworn foe has promised to keep good relations Ortega. “This is good for the people headquarters of the International Monetary Fund in Washington and, in by many in Washington, appeared with the United States and chose a of Nicaragua and for the integration London, a subway train as it traveled under the Thames. Other alleged headed on Monday to a victory in former foe as his running mate. He of Latin America,” Cuban Foreign targets included Citigroup in Manhattan and the Prudential building in the Nicaraguan presidential elec- has also vowed to help the poor and Minister Felipe Perez Roque told Newark, N.J., prosecutors have said.