|CambridgeT1 - K Continuous IMassachusetts Cambndge a. | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sice ~News,.Service- Tuesday, May .9, 1989 -EL Volumae 1P09, Numlrber 214 e slseas s Irra - - - --- =·-- ,, of Mafor c anges in store or interphase By David P. Hamilton and writing together. The more Motivated by concern about intimate setting is designed to en- low grade point averages and courage individual participation graduation rates among minority and skills in oral presentation,- students, Dean for Student Af- according to Professor Arthur P. fairs Shirley M. McBay has an- Mattuck, the faculty coordinator nounced major changes in Pro- for the academic side of ject Interphase, an eight-week -Interphase. summer program for disadvan- More significantly, Interphase l taged students. participants will be expected to The experimental changes will remain in their study groups- place between 50 and 60 Inter- throughout the first term of their phase students - as many as ten freshman year while taking a pre- of whom may be disadvantaged scribed set of courses: Calculus I non-minority students -into (18.01), Physics I (8.01), a non- I six-person seminar groups which writing humanities subject, and will study mathematics, physics, an undergraduate seminar. The study groups will meet four times a week under the supervision of i, , v Or.41 an advanced undergraduate tutor. Upon completion of the first term program, Interphase stu- dents will receive 54 units of aca- demic credit, including credit for Ken Church/The Tech one 12-unit writing course that This 2.70 machine wants to make sure the can is "Not In My BackYard". See photo essay, pages IO & 111. reflects writing done during both lb= IDI811B~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I~~~~~~l~~~~~~~l~~~~~~b,, ill 34~~~~~~~~~~esrns C ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ag~~~~~~~~~Ipa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~sss~~~~~~~~~~~~c~~~~~~r~~~~~~~~~~slasl --~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I·I~~~~~~~~~~~~-~~~~~~~~~ow- -U~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the summer program and the fall I term. Students will not be re- quired to participate in the fall GSC polls grads on lOlsing term phase of the program, but those who drop out will not re- By Irene C. Kiuo The purpose of the survey was many of the questions in the Feb- ceive- the 12 units of writing Seventy percent of graduate to hear from the graduate stu- ruary survey had never been credit. students polled in a recent survey dent body as a whole on this is- asked. "We hope and expect there will would want on-campus housing sue, Kiss said. In the past, small Eighty-three percent of the re- be no dropouts," stated an ex- if it were offered, according to but vocal groups have tried to spondents thought that new grad- planatory letter sent to minorities Robert D. Kiss G. a member of present their views, he explained. .uate students should receive pri- ' ' - . *; in next year's freshman class. the Graduate Student Council The committee distributed the ority to live on-campus. Kiss said -Ognen J. NastovlThe Tech Housing and Community Affairs survey along with registration that vrery few ofthem now de~ so Dean Shirley M. MAcBay (Please turn to page 2) Committee. mqterial in February; 1550 stu- because of the tenure policy, dents - -roughly 30 percent of which 41lows students to'stay on- Adgll . '. .~ the graduate population cmpous as long as they want once responded. they are assigned there. As a re- z enter renovations continue "Approximately 25 percent of sult of the low turnover rate, graduate students live on-cam- first-year students, "who would By Reuven M. Lerner Sandra Nett, manager of retail mately fifty new workstations. pus, but between the GSC and benefit the most, are for the most Renovations of the MIT and administration for the CAC, Jeffrey I. Schiller '79, Project the Housing Office, we felt that part denied access to on-campus Student Center will continue on said that under the current Phase Athen~a's manager of operationas, more than that percentage of stu- housing, " Kiss wrote in The the fifth floor through the fall, I1 plan, the fifth floor will con- said that "ten or twenty" new dents wanted such housing," Kiss GraduateStudentt News. according to Campus Activities tain an Athena cluster, the Medi- workstations will be installed as said. "We just had to look at the As an example Kiss noted that Complex Director Philip J. cal Center's Health Information, soon as new tables arrive. number of applications and the only twenty-six percent of new Walsh. He added that the upcom- office, the CAC offices, the Meal According to Walsh, the other size of the wait-lists." graduate students who wanted to ing expansion of the Student Plan office, the 'Office of the workstations should be in place He could not recall when grad- live at Tang Hall in fall term Center Athena cluster is the -"pr- Dean for Student Affairs' Resi- by September. uate students tere last surveyed 1988 were granted spaces there. mary reason" for the changes. dence ad Campus Activities of- Now that most of the renova- on housing, though he said that (Please turn to page 2) Walsh explained that there are fice, the Student Information tions are complete, the CAC will "two phases to the project." Processing Board office, and a sponsor programs to bring the Phase I, the physical renovation study room. Although "hopeful" MIT community closer together, PFC results said to dleal of the fifth floor, will be com- that the renovations wil[ be com- Nett said. One example is this plete by the end of May, he said. plete by September, Nett felt that Friday's "Spring Fling" program, blowv to fusion cJlamli During Phase Ils he continued, "early fall' would be a "more ac- in which student activities, out- the offices and activities on the curate" guess. side vendors, anad Student Celter By David P. Hamilton a neutron-generating source in a fifth floor will move into their Walsh said that the Athena tenants will "say goodbye to stu- MIT researchers at the Plasma water tank in order to observe permanent homes. Walsh noted cluster will ex'pand into part of dents.' Walsh expressed hopes Fusionm Center have dealt a heavy the spectrum of gamma rays that Phase II is stilll'in the the area previously occupied by that the CAC will become an blow to claims of "cold fusion' emitted from collisions between planing stages.' the C-AC because of approxi- (Please tumr to page 2) promulgated by.University of water molecules and neutrons. Utah researchers Stanley Pons Unfortunately for the Pons/ and Martin Fleischnmann, accord- Fleischmann theory, Petrasso's re- ing to PFC Research Scientist search revealed that the gamma Richard D. Petrasso. (Please turn to page 6) Fleischmann and Pons claimed 'in late March to have produced nuclear fusion with a laboratory bench apparatus consisting of palladium rods imniersed in a bath of deuterium, or heavy wa- z ter. The scientists said their de- I vice emitted neutrons and gamma rays, which are certain signatures 7 of nuclear, as opposed to chemical, reactions. Recent work at the PFCe how- ever, raises serious questions about the data Fleischmnarmn and Pons have used to support their claims. According to the theory of-- fered by Fleischman and Pons, the fusion reaction should pro- duce -a neutron and a helium-3 atom for each fusion of two deu- lerium atoms. The neutron in turn collides with a hydrogen ion from a water molecule to create another deuteinum atom and a L, i ! ,+,,,,I·in .' ' _$-.s? oti.,,s,,,$":t·t*,,;;_, ,.+, , Ken Chutrch[The Tech high-energy gamma ray, Reent rbnd~bttohsovto -fiesllO~fteiLth i ffitent Center have left walds non-existent and according to the theory. - dlosr--e~·;-t~lw-;anuiruuInt-ulpusees.,~~~>~ Petrasso's research team placed _- PAGE 2 The Tech TUESDAY, MAY'9,- 1989 / i M&lT- considers Changes in Project Interphase fContinuedJfrom page 1) Students such as' former Black Minorities concerned Student Union'co-ch'airman Sean about changes Cadogan '90 have also com- plained that the policy decision The new program. has come was made too quickly and with: under sustained criticism from out:taking student input into ac- former Interphase participants count. "A change this major who dislike the rigid course re- shouldn't come out of the blue quirements during fall term and like this," he said. worry that the emphasis on study The revisions to Interphase groups during the regular term -grew out of discussions McBay will "fragment" the minority held with three faculty members community and encourage the - Mattuck, Professor Kenneth formation of cliques. R. Manning, and Professor John Similar. complaints were aired G. King '50 -early this year in during the 20th anniversary cele- order to explore ways of improv- bration of Project Interphase two ing minority academic perfor- weeks ago, when McBay was in- mance. In a matter of months, terrupted several times while try- this working group hammered ing to explain the details of the out a series of changes which will program. One participant voiced go into effect next year. the fears of many when he said, Although both McBay and- "Interphase is okay as a summer Dean for Undergraduate Educa- program, but there's a problem if tion Margaret L. A. MacVicar you begin extending it into the '65 explained that the changes regular year." are "well within the bounds" al- McBay dismissed such con- lowed in experimental programs cerns as "silly," pointing out that such as Concourse or the Experi- there have always been differ- mental Study Group, students ences between -minorities who are irritated by the seemingly uni- participated in Interphase and lateral nature of the decision. those who did not. Office of Mi- Members of the Black Student nority Education Director Patri- Union have already scheduled a cia Kaurouma echoed McBay's meeting with McBay tomorrow assessment, saying that "naive" to air their discontent.