By Marissa VogtNEWS EDITOR

The Student Advisory Board toPresident Susan Hockfield is releasingits final report today, as well as anabridged executive summary to bedistributed around campus.

Among the recommendations ofthe report are an analysis of corerequirements and “balancing qualityand quantity of the student work-load.” The report also mentions theconcern of “‘profitization’ of the com-mons, the pricing of basic services,and the squeezing out of vibrant tradi-tional providers.”

“We feel that this report is prettyrepresentative of the state of MITright now on these topics, at leastfrom the student perspective,” saidBarun Singh G , who co-chaired the

committee.The report is divided into three

sections: Academics, Research, andProfessional Development; Ex-tracurriculars and Community Life;and Global Connections, the LongTerm, and Strategic Planning. Foreach issue, the report summarizes thegeneral student viewpoint, includingminority opinions.

No course of action recommendedWhile the report addresses current

issues such as orientation and theGeneral Institute Requirements, Singhsaid that the statements in the reportare purposefully general. He said thatthe report does not make suggestionsfor implementation like the report ofthe Student Advisory Committee tothe Task Force on the Undergraduate

Educational Commons does.“Our job is to say, ‘this is the situ-

ation, and we need to look at theseissues,’” rather than to encourage acertain course of action for the future,said Singh. Instead, the hope is thatadministrators will read the report anddecide to reexamine certain policies,he said.

Singh said that 5,000 copies of theexecutive summary will be distributedon campus today, and bound copies ofthe final report will be delivered toHockfield and other administrators.

“We figured most students aren’tgoing to read a 40-page document,but a lot of them will read a three-page summary,” he said.

The final report is available athttp://web.mit.edu/committees/sab/finalReport.shtml.

By Kelley RivoireNEWS EDITOR

The MIT chapter of the PhiKappa Sigma fraternity, also knownas Skullhouse, has been placed onprobation for one year and will berequired to perform 2,000 hours ofcommunity service by the Interfra-ternity Council. PKS was foundresponsible for numerous, mostlyalcohol-related, violations of IFCpolicy that occurred at a March 4fraternity retreat held in NewHampshire, said IFC PresidentChristopher P. Child ’06.

The International PKS Head-quarters has also imposed sanctionson the MIT chapter, including oneyear of probation and a $50 fine permember, said PKS InternationalHeadquarters Executive DirectorHamilton Smith.

MIT was notified about the inci-dents through a complaint that the

fraternity had left the site of theretreat messy, including leavingbeer cans, Child said.

PKS President Kevin R. Cheva-lier ’06 could not be reached forcomment.

PKS on IFC probation for one yearAmong the violations that the

IFC found PKS responsible for werethe use of bulk quantities of alcohol,serving alcohol to minors, and serv-ing alcohol to intoxicated individu-als, said IFC Judicial CommitteeChair Robert D. Batten ’06.

The IFC sanctions are “prettysevere,” Child said.

The one-year period for the pro-bation, during which the fraternitycannot hold events or keep alcoholin the house, is the longest durationof probation that the IFC JudComm

By Beckett W. SternerNEWS EDITOR

MIT’s Technology Review haswithdrawn 10 stories from its onlinepublication after an investigationcould only verify that three of the sto-ries are wholly accurate.

The articles were written by free-lance journalist Michelle Delio, whohas also written over 700 articles forWired’s online publication. Wired hasopened an investigation to verify theaccuracy of her articles.

According to a source familiarwith the details of the situation, “a sig-nificant portion” of Delio’s work forWired contains unverifiable informa-

tion, including sources that couldn’t belocated by investigators.

Wired Managing Editor MartyCortinas said that Wired has receivedthe initial report from the investiga-tion, but that more work is neededbefore the results can be made public.

“We care very deeply” that Wiredset everything right, Cortinas said.

Questions initially arose last monthover Delio’s reporting for two articlesabout Hewlett-Packard’s former CEOCarly Fiorina that quoted an anony-mous source with the initials G.S. HPcontested the existence of such a per-

Volume 125, Number 23 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, April 29, 2005

MIT’sOldest and Largest

Newspaper

The WeatherToday: Mostly sunny early, thenincreasing clouds, 64°F (18°C)Tonight: Light rain, 45°F (7°C)

Tomorrow: Rainy, windy, 61°F (16°C)Details, Page 2

NEWSColumbia Considered Punishing Graduate Students Who Went on Strike

Page 13

National Academy of Science Releases Stem Cell Research GuidelinesPage 14

Comics

Page 6

World & Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Sources of Reporter’sTechnology ReviewArticles Investigated

STEPHANIE LEE—THE TECH

Mrs. Lane, played by Youngsun Cho ’05, runs to scold her daughter Rosemary, played by HuiYingWen ’08, for sneaking out of her room, as their world comes crashing down around them in Dra-mashop’s production of The Demolition Downtown by Tennesee Williams. The play opened lastThursday and runs until Saturday, April 30. See review, page 9.

OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH

A group installs the interactive “White Noise/White Light” display for the inauguration of Presi-dent Susan Hockfield, set to take place next Friday, May 6. The display, created by professor J.Meejin Yoon, will open in Kresge Oval this coming Monday, May 2.

PKS Punished by IFCFor Alcohol Violations

By Hanhan WangSTAFF REPORTER

Christopher Sawyer-Lauçanno, alecturer in the MIT program in writ-ing and humanistic studies in theConcourse program, has beenaccused of plagiarism in his bookE.E. Cummings: A Biography, pub-lished in 2004.

In a May 2005 Harper’s maga-zine book review, Wyatt Mason, acontributing editor of the magazine,points out several similarities toexcerpts from Dreams in the Mirror,Richard S. Kennedy’s 1980 biogra-phy of E.E. Cummings.

Mason writes, “Sawyer-Lauçan-no does not sufficiently acknowl-edge his indebtedness to Kennedy’sbiography … if one examinesSawyer-Lauçanno’s book alongsideKennedy’s — comparing them lineby line, section by section — one

finds that Sawyer-Lauçanno’s islargely the result of Kennedy’sresearch, Kennedy’s writing, andKennedy’s interpretations.”

MIT lecturer denies he plagiarizedSawyer-Lauçanno defended his

book, writing in a statement that his600-page book contains 1,406 notes,with 28 of them citing Kennedy’sbook. In the statement, he wrote, “Ihave not plagiarized Mr. Kennedy’sbook.”

“Mr. Mason’s selected passagesindicate, at most, that I failed to citeproperly Kennedy’s contributions ina few of my 1,406 notes.” He alsonotes “Mr. Mason’s ability to useellipses creatively to produce theeffect he wants to achieve.”

“I found his article a vile attack

Lecturer in Concourse IsAccused of Plagiarizing

PKS, Page 16

Hockfield Advisory Board Releases Report

Plagiarism, Page 13

Delio, Page 13

By Richard W. Stevenson and Elisabeth BumillerTHE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON

President Bush called on Thurs-day night for cutting Social Securitybenefits for future retirees to put thesystem on sound financial footing,and he proposed doing so in a waythat would demand the most sacri-fice from upper-income peoplewhile insulating low-income work-ers.

Saying the retirement program isheaded for “bankruptcy,” a term hisopponents on the issue say is anexaggeration, Bush edged tentative-ly — but for the first time explicitly— into the most politically explo-sive aspect of the debate over howto assure Social Security’s long-

term health: the benefit cuts or taxincreases needed to balance the sys-tem’s books as the baby boom gen-eration ages and life expectancyincreases.

“Social Security’s provided asafety net that has provided dignityand peace of mind for millions ofAmericans in their retirement,”Bush said in a statement at thebeginning of a news conference atthe White House. “Yet there’s shole in the safety net because Con-gresses have made promises it can-not keep for a younger generation.”

He also forcefully defended hisnominee for U.N. ambassador, JohnR. Bolton, and rejected assertionsthat Democrats opposed to his judi-cial nominees are anti-religion. Healso pledged to do everything possi-

ble to make gasoline, and againdeclined to put a timetable on with-drawal of troops from Iraq.

Bush held the news conferenceon the 99th day of his second termand in the closing days of his 60-day national tour to convince work-ers and retirees that Social Securityhas to be addressed now and thatinvestment accounts should be partof the solution.

It represented an effort by Bushto regain control of the national dia-logue at a time when the WhiteHouse is struggling to push hisSocial Security plan ahead on Capi-tol Hill, his approval ratings arefalling, the economy is showingsigns of slowing, and Democratshave become more combative on anumber of fronts.

WORLD & NATIONPage 2 THE TECH April 29, 2005

Bank Admits Irregularities In Oil-for-Food Payments

By Eric LiptonTHE NEW YORK TIMES WASHINGTON

The bank that the United Nations hired to handle finances for theIraqi oil-for-food program made hundreds of payments to companies ina way that violated the bank’s internal rules, a top executive testifiedThursday before the House Committee on International Relations.

“Some mistakes were made,” said the witness, Everett Schenk, chiefexecutive of the North American branch of BNP Paribas, a global-investment bank based in Paris. “They should not have occurred.”

In 403 of the 54,000 payments that BNP Paribas handled during thesix-year program, he said, instead of the funds going directly to thecompanies that had been designated by the United Nations to delivergoods to Iraq, the money was improperly paid to third parties or theirbanks.

But Schenk said the supplies that these payments financed were infact delivered as intended, according to documentation the bank haslocated. And none of these payments, he said, appeared to have beencorruptly diverted, such as kickbacks to Saddam Hussein’s government.

Iran Hints Talks on Ending ItsNuclear Program Are Near CollapseBy Nazila FathiTHE NEW YORK TIMES TEHRAN, IRAN

A day before major negotiations were to resume in London overIran’s nuclear program, the foreign minister increased the pressure fora quick deal, warning that his country would resume uranium enrich-ment if there was no progress Friday in the discussions.

“If talks with European Union are not successful tomorrow, negoti-ations will collapse and we will have no choice but to restart the urani-um enrichment program,” Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said, aftera meeting with his Dutch counterpart in The Hague.

He said Iran was not willing to accept what he called “delay tactics”by the Europeans, and he reiterated Iran’s position that his country hada right to nuclear technology.

Iran has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which allowsnations to produce nuclear fuel for energy production but not forweapons, which require a much higher level of enrichment. Iran hassaid its nuclear intentions are peaceful, but has admitted it hid majorelements of its nuclear program. As a result, the United States andEurope want it to renounce all uranium enrichment, in order to guaran-tee that it is not secretly preparing to make weapons-grade fuel.

Putin Visits Israel And Tries ToAllay Its Security Worries

By Greg MyreTHE NEW YORK TIMES JERUSALEM

On the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Israel, President VladimirV. Putin of Russia on Thursday tried to allay fears that Israel’s securitywas threatened by Russia’s nuclear assistance to Iran and missile salesto Syria.

Israel gave Putin a red-carpet welcome, including separate meetingswith President Moshe Katsav and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and asomber visit to Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem. But Israelileaders also made it clear that they viewed Russian help for Israel’senemies as a serious danger.

Putin’s trip is a concrete sign of improved ties between Russia andIsrael as they work to overcome a complicated and troubled relation-ship dating back decades. Yet their differences kept surfacing.

After the meeting with Katsav, Putin was asked about Russia’splans to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Syria.

“The missiles we are providing to Syria are short-range anti-aircraftmissiles that cannot reach Israeli territory,” Putin said.

North Korea Able to CreateNuclear Weapons, U.S. SaysBy David S. Cloud and David E. SangerTHE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON

The head of the Defense Intelli-gence Agency said Thursday thatAmerican intelligence agenciesbelieved North Korea had masteredthe technology for arming its mis-siles with nuclear warheads, anassessment that, if correct, means theNorth could build weapons to threat-en Japan and perhaps the westernUnited States.

While Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby,the Defense Intelligence Agencychief, said in Senate testimony thatNorth Korea had been judged to havethe “capability” to put a nuclearweapon atop its missiles, he stoppedwell short of saying it had done so,or even that it had assembled war-heads small enough for the purpose.Nor did he give evidence to back uphis view during the public session ofthe Senate Armed Services Commit-tee.

Still, his assessment of NorthKorea’s progress exceeded whatofficials have publicly declaredbefore.

When asked by Sen. Hillary Rod-ham Clinton, D-N.Y., during a hear-ing on Thursday whether “North

Korea has the ability to arm a missilewith a nuclear device,” Jacobyresponded, “The assessment is thatthey have the capability to do that,yes ma’am.”

At a White House news confer-ence on Thursday, President Bushsaid that given the uncertainties, hewas worried about the progressNorth Korea had made on its nuclearprogram under its leader, Kim JongIl. “There is concern about hiscapacity to deliver,” he said. “Wedon’t know if he can or not, but Ithink it’s best when dealing with atyrant like Kim Jong Il to assumethat he can.”

In 2003, the United States warnedSouth Korea and Japan that satelliteimagery had identified an advancednuclear testing site in a remote cor-ner of North Korea where equipmenthad been set up to test conventionalexplosives that could compress a plu-tonium core and set off a compactnuclear explosion.

Since then, American investiga-tors have been pressing Pakistan fordetails about the kind of technologyNorth Korea might have been given,perhaps in conjunction with visits toPakistani nuclear sites. North Koreasupplied Pakistan with many missilesit uses for its own nuclear arsenal.

Building a nuclear warhead thatcan be delivered by a missilerequires the technical sophisticationto make it small and light. NorthKorea has never conducted a test thatwould prove it could manufacture awarhead, though in recent days anxi-ety has risen in Washington andamong North Korea’s Asian neigh-bors that the country could conduct atest in an effort to force the world todeal with it as a nuclear state.

To field a working nuclear mis-sile, North Korea would also have toconduct new tests of its missilesthemselves and of their payloads,including such complex componentsas heat shields for re-entry of thewarhead. North Korea’s last signifi-cant missile test, in 1998, overshotJapan and would not have been ableto reach U.S. territory.North Korea isconsidered one of the most opaqueintelligence targets for Americananalysts, and the absence of reliablehuman spies had made it more diffi-cult to understand the progress of itsprogram.

Jacoby said that North Korea’sability to deliver a nuclear warheadto the continental United Statesremains “a theoretical capability”because its Taepo Dong 2 missile hasnot been flight tested.

Bush Calls for Cutting BenefitsTo Save Social Security Future

Instant ReplayBy Jon MoskaitisSTAFF METEOROLOGIST

If you remember the weather from last weekend, you already have agood idea of what is going to occur this weekend. Although the atmosphericflow never exactly repeats itself, the events over the next few days willclosely mimic what happened a week beforehand. Fair weather will persisttoday in advance of a rather strong storm system approaching from thesouthwest. The warm front associated with this storm will pass through theregion tonight, bringing with it a chance of rain. However, the primarybatch of rain will not arrive until the afternoon and evening hours of Satur-day. Like last Saturday, look out for some heavy downpours, driven side-ways by a gusty southerly wind. Passage of the storm’s cold front Saturdaynight will then make way for the return of pleasant springtime conditions forSunday and Monday.

Weekend Outlook:

Today: Mostly sunny early, then increasing clouds. High: 64°F (18°C)Tonight: Light rain likely. Low: 45°F (7°C)Tomorrow: Rainy and windy, especially in the afternoon.

High: 61°F (16°C)Tomorrow night: Rain early, then clearing. Low: 51°F (11°C)Sunday: Partly cloudy, breezy. High: 65°F (18°C)Monday: Mostly sunny. High: 61°F (16°C)

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WEATHERSituation for Noon Eastern Daylight Time, Friday, April 29, 2005

April 29, 2005 WORLD & NATION THE TECH Page 3

U.S. Reports on Piracy in ChinaBy Chris BuckleyTHE NEW YORK TIMES BEIJING, CHINA

The U.S. trade representative will not immediately press for WorldTrade Organization action against China over widespread unlawfulcopying of patented and copyrighted products when it announces theresults of an investigation today, a U.S. executive informed of the deci-sion said Thursday.

The office of the trade representative, which monitors the UnitedStates’ trade agreements, will instead place China on a “priority watch”list of countries that it says fail to adequately respect intellectual proper-ty rights and may be subject to future action, said the executive, whowas involved in the investigation. He spoke on condition of anonymity,citing the sensitive nature of the announcement.

News that the Bush administration will not take its dispute withChina to the WTO seems likely to disappoint business organizationsand members of Congress who have advocated action to stamp out thecounterfeiting of films, music and software.

But the trade representative’s review, which began last year, failed togenerate enough evidence demonstrating the specific losses caused toU.S. industry by particular cases of unauthorized copying, the executivesaid.

Officials at the trade representative’s office in Washington confirmedthat they would announce the results of the investigation into China’spiracy of intellectual property on Friday, but they declined to discussdetails.

U.S. business groups like the National Association of Manufacturersand the Recording Industry Association of America have called for theBush administration to complain formally about China’s piracy of intel-lectual property before the WTO, which adjudicates trade disputesbetween countries.

Massachusetts Governor PresentsNew Death Penalty Proposal

By Pam BelluckTHE NEW YORK TIMES BOSTON

Gov. Mitt Romney introduced a bill Thursday that would bringback capital punishment to Massachusetts, and would do so by creat-ing a death penalty that he said would be virtually “foolproof.”

The bill includes several provisions that have never been tried inany other state. It would require that there be “conclusive scientificevidence,” such as DNA or fingerprints, to link a defendant to acrime. And it would allow a death penalty to be imposed only if asentencing jury finds there is “no doubt” about a defendant’s guilt, astandard that is stricter than “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“To the extent that is humanly possible,” Romney said at a newsconference, “this would not ever result in a questionable execution.”

The bill, which would reinstate the death penalty in a state thatabolished it in 1984, would restrict capital punishment to murdersthat involve terrorism, prolonged torture, multiple killings, or thekilling of police officers, judges, witnesses or others involved in thecriminal justice system. Defendants who had previously been con-victed of first-degree murder or were serving life sentences withoutparole would also be eligible.

Another unprecedented provision would give the defendant theoption of having two juries — one for the trial and one for the sen-tencing. That would allow a defendant to plead not guilty before thetrial jury, but, once convicted, to admit guilt and show remorse beforethe sentencing jury in hopes of getting more lenient treatment.

Scientists Call for ExpandedVolcano Monitoring

By Les BlumenthalTACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE WASHINGTON

Armed with a new report, federal scientists will ask Congresstoday to expand the mostly inadequate monitoring of the nation’smost dangerous volcanoes, including Mount Rainier, Mount Bakerand Glacier Peak in Washington state.

The report, prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey, listed 18 “veryhigh threat” volcanoes in the nation, many of them in the CascadeMountains stretching from northern California to the Canadian border.

Rainier, Baker, and Glacier Peak were among the nine Cascadevolcanoes that were “significantly under monitored,” the report said,warning of the consequences unless improvements were made. “Cas-cade volcanoes do not erupt frequently, but they threaten major popu-lations and development,” the report concluded.

The only adequately monitored volcano in the Northwest isMount St. Helens, but there were problems even there when themountain erupted last fall.

Berlusconi May Demur On Iraq Inquiry

THE NEW YORK TIMES

ROME

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday that he mightissue separate “conclusions” about the fatal shooting of an Italianintelligence agent in Iraq by American troops if American and Italianofficials could not agree on who was responsible.

“If the conclusions differ, we will go with different conclusions,”he told reporters here, Reuters reported. He said Italy “will not signanything that does not convince us.”

Tensions between Italy and the United States, close friends andallies in Iraq, have been rising over a joint inquiry into the shootingdeath in March by American soldiers of the intelligence agent, NicolaCalipari, in Baghdad. There has been a furor among politicians andthe news media here over reports that the inquiry would clear theAmerican soldiers, and Berlusconi twice visited the American ambas-sador here, Mel Sembler, on Tuesday to discuss the report.

The dispute comes at a politically difficult time for Berlusconi,who was forced to resign and to try to form a new government lastweek after his coalition fell apart.

Some of the immediate pressure lifted Thursday, after a final con-fidence vote in Parliament approved the new governing coalition thatBerlusconi assembled.

Iraqi Assembly Accepts ShiiteLed Cabinet Despite TensionsBy Robert F. WorthTHE NEW YORK TIMES

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

Almost three months afternationwide elections, Iraq’s Nation-al Assembly voted overwhelminglyto approve a Shiite-led Cabinet onThursday, creating the first fully andfreely elected government in Iraqihistory.

The assembly chamber burst intowild applause after a show of handsrevealed that 180 of the 185 legisla-tors in attendance had voted in sup-port of the proposed government. Atraditional Islamic chant of praise— “God’s blessings be on Muham-mad and on his family” — went upsoon afterward.

But the divisions that delayedthe government’s formation for solong became apparent almost imme-diately after the vote, for whichalmost a third of the NationalAssembly was absent.

The leader of the Shiite politicalalliance that dominates the assemblyand the cabinet, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, delivered a fiery speech that

hinted at purges to come in the gov-ernment’s security forces.

A Sunni assembly member laterstood up to accuse the Shiites ofdividing the country, and even saidone member had threatened to gath-er evidence that would send him tothe gallows. The Sunni Arabs, whodominated Iraq’s government underSaddam Hussein, largely boycottedthe January elections.

“This is not a national govern-ment, it is a government of the win-ners,” said the Sunni member,Meshaan al-Juburi. “I am here tosay that the Sunni Arab membershave been marginalized, and theSunni Arab political forces shouldbe aware of that.”

Lingering tensions were visibleeven in the list of Cabinet members,which still remains incomplete.Ahmad Chalabi ’65, one of thecountry’s most controversial figures,was named a deputy prime minister.Four important ministries —defense, oil, electricity, and human— were given to place holdersbecause the assembly’s political fac-

tions have not yet agreed on candi-dates.

Under pressure from the WhiteHouse as well as Iraqis, the Shiiteand Kurdish leaders agreed to sub-mit an incomplete list rather thandelay the new government anylonger. Two deputy prime minis-ter’s posts have also not been filled.

Ibrahim Jaafari, the new primeminister and a Shiite, said heexpected to fill those positions inless than a week.

Despite the gaps, the assembly’svote placed Jaafari at the head of aCabinet that will include 17 Shiites,eight Kurds, six Sunni Arabs, andone Christian, with at least sixwomen among them. Iraq’s presi-dent, Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and histwo deputies approved the Cabinetlist late Wednesday night, allowingit to proceed to the assembly vote.

When it assumes power earlynext week, the new government willface an extraordinary array of chal-lenges, from guiding the effort towrite a new constitution to rebuild-ing Iraq’s shattered cities and fight-

By Eduardo PorterTHE NEW YORK TIMES

The economy braked sharply inthe first three months of the year,the government reported Thursday,expanding at its slowest pace intwo years as rising energy pricesspurred a burst of increased infla-tion and dragged down spendingby businesses and consumers.

The Commerce Departmentestimated that the nation’s grossdomestic product grew at a 3.1percent annual rate in the firstquarter, substantially slower thanthe 3.8 percent growth of the finalthree months of 2004 and the slow-est pace since the first quarter of2003.

Investors in financial marketswere taken aback by the unexpect-ed sluggishness, sending stockstumbling and pushing bond yieldsdown as the new data cementedexpectations that the FederalReserve will increase interest ratesby another quarter of a percentagepoint at its meeting on Tuesdayeven as growth is decelerating.

On Wall Street, the Standard &Poor’s 500 index fell 1.14 percentto close at 1,143.22, while theDow Jones industrial averagedropped more than 128 points to10,070.37.

“I wouldn’t panic at this point,but I think we do have to get usedto the idea that growth is going toremain substantially slower than inthe earlier part of the recovery”that has been under way since latein 2001, said Nigel Gault, chiefU.S. economist at Global Insight,an economic research firm in Lex-ington, Mass. “Unfortunately, wewill have to get used to seeing soft-er growth numbers as interest ratesgo up because of higher inflation.”

Activity slowed across most ofthe economy from consumerspending to government consump-tion but the sharpest retreat was incorporate investment, whichexpanded at barely a third of thepace of its growth in the last threemonths of 2004.

Final demand — real purchasesby companies, governments andindividuals — expanded merely 1.9percent. The rest of the expansionwas due to an $80 billion surge inthe accumulation of inventories,from cars parked in dealer lots toclothing piling up on retailershelves, as businesses were wrong-footed by slower-than-expecteddemand for their wares.

The new data provided strongevidence that the rise in the cost ofoil has begun to feed into prices of

other goods throughout the econo-my. The price index for personalconsumption expenditures minusfood and energy, a favorite infla-tion gauge of the Fed chairman,Alan Greenspan, jumped to anannual pace of 2.2 percent, thesteepest climb since the fourthquarter of 2001.

“The inflation risk clearly tiltedto the upside now,” said DavidGreenlaw, chief U.S. fixed incomeeconomist at Morgan Stanley.“This report provided ammunitionfor the camp that says there is arisk of stagflation,” the combina-tion of stagnant growth and highinflation.

A slowing economy is notentirely unexpected. Most econo-mists consider that the UnitedStates has the potential to grow atabout 3.5 percent, on average, overthe long term, substantially lessthan the 4.4 percent expansionrecorded last year.

Consumer spending, the mainbuttress for economic growth overthe last three years, has beenexpected to slow somewhat as ris-ing interest rates take some steamout of the housing market and con-sumer lending. Businesses, howev-er, were expected to invest heavilyand pick up some of the slack.

International Criminal Court FacesFirst Test With Sudan InvestigationBy Marlise SimonsTHE NEW YORK TIMES

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS

Almost three years after theInternational Criminal Courtopened over U.S. opposition, theU.N. Security Council asked it toinvestigate atrocities in Sudan and,in the process, placed the courtsquarely in the international spot-light. By any measure, the requestwas an important vote of confi-dence in the new tribunal.

But at the court’s glass-and-steelheadquarters in The Hague, thereaction has been less than euphor-ic. Still wrestling with the mechan-ics of how to carry out its mandateto deal with large-scale humanrights abuses, the new institutionfaces high expectations but lackspractical experience. Unlike tempo-rary tribunals, like those dealingwith Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sier-ra Leone, this is the world’s firstpermanent and independent crimi-nal court for judging war crimes. Sofar, the chief prosecutor, Luis

Moreno-Ocampo, has taken up twocases, involving large-scale killingsin Uganda and Congo, but neithercase is expected to come to courtany time soon.

On the conflict in Darfur inWestern Sudan, however, where asmany as 300,000 people have beenkilled and more than 2 million oth-ers displaced, the court is underpressure to act swiftly, not only inthe hope of ending the bloodshed,but also, some diplomats have said,because it will allow the SecurityCouncil to postpone direct inter-vention and nonetheless appear tobe taking action.

Darfur will put the court to itsfirst major test, as it carves a legalpath from accusation, throughinvestigation and indictment, all theway to trial, verdict and punish-ment.

Christian Palme, a spokesmanfor the prosecution, said he did notknow when the Darfur investigationwould formally begin. “But you cancount on the work being expedi-

tious,” he said.In mid-April, court analysts

began poring over nine boxes ofmaterial collected by a U.N. com-mission of inquiry that spent threemonths scrutinizing Sudan’s ethnickilling campaign and its humanitar-ian crisis.

Antonio Cassese, an Italian lawprofessor, led that commission, andhe knew just what to look for, hav-ing served for almost eight years asa judge of the war crimes tribunalfor the former Yugoslavia.

He said the boxes contained thetype of material used to documentpast war crimes, including pho-tographs and videos of weapons,ammunition and war damage, aswell as hundreds of statementsfrom military officers, rebels, pris-oners and witnesses to atrocities.

“The prosecutor will use this ashe deems fit, but our material canprovide clues, where to investi-gate, how to identify perpetra-tors,” Cassese said in an inter-view.

Commerce Department ConcludesEconomy is Slow in First Quarter

Letters To The EditorIt Has to Be EarnedNick Baldasaro’s opinion [“Privileges,

Not Rights,” April 26] is self-contradictory.Going back even before America’s GreatDepression, there was a time in which whathe believes to be “rights” were just “privi-leges.”

A hundred years ago, women were notallowed to vote; two hundred years ago,many people were enslaved by others; and athousand years ago, most people were notallowed to choose their jobs, move to wherethey wanted to live, or say what they wantedto say. However, in those days, there were“extremely radical” people who “dared tosay” that everyone is equal, and everyonehas to be free. The reason we can enjoy our“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”is that those radicals fought for such privi-leges.

Now it is the time to answer Mr. Bal-dasaro’s question, “How can a right changein time and place?” Unfortunately, a right

does change in time and place, because it isnot just given, but it has been earned and hasto be earned.

Joungkeun Lim G

When It’s Time To Let Go

Last week, I passed a poster hanging oppo-site the Muslim prayer room of W11 advertis-ing “Palestinian Awareness Week,” which isbeing held this week. “The Intifada Goes On”was typed in large block letters right below adramatic picture of a Palestinian in mid-actionas he hurls a rock, presumably at an Israelisoldier, in the classic “David vs. Goliath”pose for which this Intifada is now so famous.The poster, among others with a similar mes-sage, was in a locked glass casing that belongsto the Muslim Student Association. The mostoffensive posters have since been removed,though one still remains.

Following the death of Yasser Arafat, a

new chapter has opened in the Israeli-Palestin-ian conflict, one which may very well be thebest chance for relative peace in the MiddleEast in our lifetimes. Israel is currently in theprocess of making painful concessions byevicting 8000 of its own citizens from theGaza Strip and Northern Samaria. At the sametime, the Palestinian government is trying tocontain the influence of radical Islamic groupssuch as Hamas and Islamic Jihad in its ownterritories.

Is this really the time to be declaring that“The Intifada Goes On”? It is both sad anddisturbing to think that students on this cam-pus would actively promote war propagandaand that normally peaceful groups like theMuslim Students Association would publiclyassociate themselves with such vile hatred. Ihope that all level-headed individuals will dis-associate themselves from this campaign tokeep alive a dying conflict, a conflict whichwill hopefully be buried for the last time inthe very near future.

Chaim Kutnicki ’07

OPINIONPage 4 THE TECH April 29, 2005

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April 29, 2005 OPINION THE TECH Page 5

Juan M. Pedraza

Nick Baldasaro presents an interestingpsychological, not political, argument in hisopinion piece “If You’re Over 40, and You’reNot Conservative …,” which ran on April 22.His argument boils down to the following:older people are more knowledgeable, olderpeople tend to vote more conservatively,hence conservative ideas are probably better.

Let us first debunk the political fallacybefore going into why it still seems to me tobe an interesting argument. I ask the readerfor indulgence in my using words like “theyoung” in place of “thesmall average prefer-ence of people underage 35” in the rest ofthis text.

In Cuba, older vot-ers tend to favor com-munism more thanyounger voters. Howdoes this fit in? I don’thave the numbers, butwhen women weregranted voting rights,it was probably a lessfavorable positionamong older voters than younger ones. Is thisjust a fluke in an otherwise sound argument?My point is that it is not a particular politicalsystem that is endorsed by older voters; it iswhatever the current established system is.

There are a few other problems in Nick’sarguments, and again I’ll take a sidestep topoint them out before getting to the mainpoint: He asserts that 45–50 is the age atwhich people are “at the apex of their energyand accomplishments,” whereas research indi-cates that, for example, “two-thirds [of all sci-entists] will have made their most significantcontributions before their mid-30s.” (See

Journal of Research in Personality 37, (2003),257 or Evolution and Human Behavior 21(2000) 317). He asserts that the young repre-sent the least well-read portion of the elec-torate, thus correlating knowledge with con-servativism, and supports this by the fact that52 percent of voters aged thirty to fifty-ninevoted for Bush, whereas 45 percent of voters18–29 voted for him. But from the same poll,we see that 52 percent of people with only ahigh-school degree voted for Bush, whereasonly 44 percent of the people with post-gradu-ate degrees voted for him, so well-read hardlytranslates into support for Bush.

However, the fact remains that voters pref-erences do seem tochange with age. Is itjust due to advancingdefinitions of “center”?If someone wantedsame-sex civil unionsten years ago, she wasa liberal; if in ten yearssomeone wants onlycivil unions, she willprobably be deemed aconservative. But still,society doesn’tadvance fast enoughfor it to be the only

explanation. This has probably been studied indetail by psychologists and political scientists,but as a layman it seems an interesting ques-tion. Nick’s answer is that the young have“smaller roots in society” and hence can turnto idealism. I think he is on the right track.But the beauty of his line of thought is that theconclusion is not that the old know betterwhat’s best for all, but that the old care moreabout what’s best for them.

But I’m grossly oversimplifying on twocounts. First, perhaps some of the young arenot being idealistic at all, but just going forwhat’s best for them; if you are 25, you are far

more likely to want the option of an abortionthan if you are 55, and you are more likely todirectly benefit from government scholarshipsthan from corporate tax breaks. Second, manyvoters probably don’t know in either case theexact cost or benefit to them or society of anygiven policy. Of course, some benefits aremore evident than others; two percent of myincome is more visible than a correspondingadvance in medical technology.

The reason I called it a psychologicalproblem is that the reason might be somethingakin to fear of the dark. Think about scientificprogress; as Max Plank put it, “An importantscientific innovation rarely makes its wayrapidly winning over and converting its oppo-nents; it rarely happens that Saul becomesPaul. What does happen is that its opponentsgradually die out and that the growing genera-tion is familiarized with the idea from thebeginning.”

New scientific theories, like evolution orquantum mechanics, have been supported bythe young and rejected by the old, not becauseof their greater experience, but because theyhave invested a lot of effort in the previoustheories and are emotionally attached to them.Is this effect enough to cloud their judgment?Or are they just knowingly protecting theirinvestment at the cost of progress? These arequestions to which I would love to hear someanswers.

But let’s go back to the political conse-quences. Nick mentions existing age require-ments for political office to support a point,implicitly assuming that the rules are rightbecause they are there. I have heard peoplefrom many different countries say that theirsystem/religion/culture has been there for awhile, so that proves that it works. This does-n’t mean they have reason to believe that noother option is better, just that what they knowas normal is good enough not to riskupheaval. But the young have less to lose, so

they are less risk-averse. How much risk is reasonable? Think about

the Civil War: equality and freedom were ide-alistic causes, and the landowners of the Southwere probably right that for them, it was notbeneficial to free their slaves. The members ofthe Union had less to lose, just like our hypo-thetical young, and most people probably did-n’t realize the full extent of the risk involvedin pushing for liberation until the war wasupon them.

This is an arbitrary example, loaded withemotional manipulation, but the point is thatnot only is it too hard to predict the benefit tosociety of a given policy (for the averagevoter of whatever age), but even if we knewhow to calculate it, the average effect mightbe negative for an entire generation but bene-ficial in the long run. I wouldn’t expect age tomake people significantly better at estimatingthe results of long-term policies, but I wouldagree with Nick that the young would bemore willing to go for a policy that would becostly to them but better for future genera-tions.

One last example: we are stuck with ourcurrent inefficiently arranged keyboards,because changing them would be too costly.But if they were to be changed to a rationaldesign, I would expect far greater oppositionfrom those that have typed for twenty yearsthan from those who have typed for two.

To summarize, in this simplistic analysis,policies supported by the young are not “prob-ably flawed,” they are probably conducive tobenefits for the young or for society at large,whereas policies supported by the old areprobably beneficial to the old or designed toprevent change or reduce immediate cost. AndNick should trust me on this, since I’m aboutfifty percent older, and therefore wiser, thanhe is.

Juan M. Pedraza is a graduate student inthe Department of Physics.

Psychology and Politics

John-Paul Ferguson

Like many MIT students, I got an e-mailfrom President Hockfield on April 15 askingme to complete a survey about MIT’s healthcare and health services. I just finished the sur-vey (http://web.mit.edu/surveys/medical/), andI am alarmed.

I suspect, given the types of questionsasked in the survey, that the university’s TaskForce on Medical Care for the MIT Communi-ty has been weighing the costs and benefits ofclosing down several services now offered oncampus and instead referring students to off-campus facilities. For example, many of thequestions begin with phrases like, “Many uni-versities do not offer [service] on campus andinstead have students use designated off-cam-pus, third-party facilities …” These particularquestions go on to ask how moving these ser-vices would affect respondents’ use of them.These questions are bracketed with other ques-tions about how often we use the service and

how we would rate it.This kind of survey is deeply suspicious.

There is a good tradition in social-science sur-veys of not explaining the uses of a survey tothe respondents before they fill the survey in.This, however, may not be a social-sciencesurvey. If it is not, then its administrators havean ethical responsibility to explain to therespondents to what use their responses will beput.

If the task force wants to figure out howoften a service is used or how it is rated inorder to learn more about the structure of cam-pus medical services before thinking up poli-cies, then it should ask such questions. Stu-dents can then rest assured that the task force’sstated goal, “to review and articulate appropri-ate goals in providing health care and healthinsurance to MIT students, employees, andretirees,” is what they should have in mindwhen they fill out the survey. If, however, thetask force wants to figure out whether therewill be strong opposition to closing downsome on-campus services, then its survey

should ask whether the respondent supportsclosing those services. If it instead asks thequestions that it does, then it should prefacethe questions by pointing out that thoseresponses will be used (contrary to appear-ances) to gauge opposi-tion to closings. Toframe the survey asthey have smacks ofmisdirection.

There is a relatedproblem with thedesign of the survey. Itasks about frequencyof use and ratings. Yet,frequency of use is asilly statistic to gatherfor services like infir-maries and triage wards. Most students willnever use these things, and those that do willuse them infrequently; but they can beextremely important when they are used. Shut-ting down an emergency room solely on thegrounds that it gets few visitors misses the

point. I am leery of someone using myresponse that I have never used, say, the MITinfirmary as evidence that I would not mindthe infirmary’s being closed.

Given the contents of the task force’s sur-vey, I think we as stu-dents can reasonablybe suspicious of itsmotives. I think weshould demand that thetask force say a)whether it is consider-ing moving variousmedical services offcampus and b) whetherit plans to use respons-es from this survey toconstrue support or

opposition to that idea. Even if it has no suchintentions, the task force should confirm that itis neither trying to mislead respondents norplanning to take their responses out of context.

John-Paul Ferguson is a graduate studentin the Department of Management.

Lack of Transparency Alarming

If someone wanted same-sexcivil unions ten years ago, shewas a liberal; if in ten years

someone wants only civil unions,she will probably be deemed a

conservative.

The Elements of a Good Newspaper

join@the-tech.mit.edu

I am leery of someone using myresponse that I have never used,

say, the MIT infirmary asevidence that I would not mind

the infirmary’s being closed.

Page6

April 29, 2005

by Brian Loux

Trio by Emezie Okorafor

ACROSS1 Touches down6 Small vipers

10 Flows back14 Greek market15 Simpson boy16 Sign on for

another hitch17 Start of Bill Stern

quote20 Strapped footwear21 Mixing utensil22 Letters for ABC's

daily program

23 Castle protector24 Tuesday god25 Part 2 of quote30 Superman foe

Luthor31 Squiggly swimmer32 Inundated36 Fashionable as

pie?39 General pardon41 Rolling Stones

bassist Bill42 The Greatest43 With it

44 Part 3 of quote49 Indian title52 Stridex target53 Tell it like it isn't54 Flipped out56 Speech

impediment?60 End of quote62 Form droplets63 Up a __

(cornered)64 On high65 Band together66 "Auld Lang __"

67 Mocking birds?

DOWN1 Thailand neighbor2 Water in

Andalusia3 Norse goddesses

of fate4 Deepen, as a

channel5 Antipasto staple6 Kindergarten

recitation7 Gained a lap

8 Big house9 Visit

10 Formerly, once11 Humdinger12 Big and strong13 Stalk of

asparagus18 Jubilant19 Mr. Detroit23 Acad. type25 Defect

26 Depend (on)27 Pop quiz28 Told you so29 Ram's lady33 Arthur of tennis34 Begin moving35 Promotional

excess37 Damage a bit38 Kind of play39 PC key

40 Put in the wrongplace

42 Tavern brew45 Wagon train

employees46 Off guard47 Tepee cousin48 Through this

means49 Biblical queendom50 "Bolero"

composer51 Perfect55 Williams or Gibb56 Tickled-pink

feeling57 Informed about58 Kilauea flow59 Potato features61 Novelist Deighton

Splatform by James BiggsKRT CrosswordSolution, page 17

April 29, 2005 The Tech Page 7

Bon

us C

ross

wor

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age

13

ACROSS1 Entreaty5 Hindu teacher

10 Crooned14 Korea/China

border river15 "__ of Athens"16 Zeno of __17 Take a big

chance20 Nice summer?21 Deputy22 Countertenors23 Upper limb24 Three in Trieste25 Take a big

chance33 H.S. dances34 Meara and

Bancroft35 Bagel topper36 Dumbo's wings37 Gather gradually38 Pierre's father39 Perform

40 Rude ones41 1st letters42 Take a big

chance45 Aged46 Church sister47 Shorthand, in

short50 Book div.53 Election winners56 Take a big

chance59 Part of ABM60 Wynonna's mom61 Malayan outrigger62 Part of a

hammerhead63 Thus far64 Hiking housing

DOWN1 Combustible pile2 Cafe au __3 Word in a threat4 Arctic seabird

5 Mark of infamy6 Marriage partner7 Prayer closer8 Ring around a

fortress9 Travelers' stop

10 Merchant11 Stepped down12 "Finding __"

(2003 animatedhit)

13 Chatters18 Capers19 Pub game23 Donations for the

poor24 Subsequently25 Destruction26 Principal artery27 Eagle's claw28 Like some gases29 Grind, as one's

teeth30 Derived from oil31 __-cochere

(shelteredentrance)

32 Alimony recipients33 Little legumes37 Well-behaved38 Nabokov novel40 Under41 North Slope

dweller43 South China Sea

gulf44 Sense47 Trade48 Musical sound49 Art Deco artist50 Sch. groups51 Sailor's call52 Eternal City53 About54 Las Vegas light55 Color-man's

comment57 Actress Claire58 To the point

Dilbert® by Scott Adams

Be like Hobo Jake and come join The Tech!He didn’t get any money for it,

and neither will you.

E-mail join@the-tech.mit.edu

Page 8 THE TECH April 29, 2005

$Come meet the MIT $50K 2005 Finalists!

Creating tomorrow’s leading firmshttp://50K.mit.edu

$50K Final Awards Ceremony“Unleashing Potential Through Collaboration”

Monday, May 9th, 20057:00 pm

Kresge AuditoriumMassachusetts Institute of Technology

OPENING SPEAKER:

Susan Hockfield16th President of MIT

David EdwardsGordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Biomedical Engineering at Harvard University� Scientific Co-founder of AIR/Alkermes,

Pulmatrix, & MEND

Introduction by Tom Leighton, co-founder of Akamai, 1998 Finalist

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

By Akshay PatilSENIOR EDITOR

“Uncancelled” is the “resurrection” of televisionThe beloved return of my, your, and seem-

ingly every college student’s favorite televi-sion show, “Family Guy,” is happening thisSunday, May 1 at 9 p.m. on FOX. The firstepisode has already been leaked onto theinternet, the ether probably being where“Family Guy” episodes feel most at home.It’s going to be good — not amazing, butsolid. Certainly better than what we’ve seenof creator Seth McFarlane’s new series“American Dad.” As usual, the small gagsare the best part, and there are cameos by theevil monkey, sketchy-old-popsicle guy, andmy favorite weather forecaster, OllieWilliams. I’m looking forward to watching iton Sunday, then eventually with Seth McFar-lane’s pointless and profane audio commen-tary on the DVD.

So bad, it’s goodProbably the best and worst television

you’ve heard nothing about, ABC’s new show“Eyes” (Wednesdays at 10 p.m.), has got mehooked. Now let me just say that I don’t like“Desperate Housewives” and hate “The OC,”but now I totally understand why peoplewatch those shows. If I were in a differentdemographic, maybe I’d love those shows, but

I’m a geek who wishes he were sexy andsuave, and so I watch “Eyes.” The acting ismarginal, the dialogue cliched, and the plotscheesy, but somehow I find guilty pleasure init — much in the same way “Housewives”and “OC” fans do with their own addictions.The show is about a “risk management” firmthat investigates and rectifies for the client(whoever that ends up being by the end ofeach show) anything — blackmail, extortion,hate crime, government corruption, embezzle-ment. It’s an hour of fast talk, deal making,power flexing, and unexpected plot twistingthat looks way more entertaining than com-puter programming. As long as you can for-give yourself for watching television that’s sobad, it’s good, I’d give it a watch.

My unasked two centsGoogle (and a few other services) will

soon be launching an online system that willallow netizens quick and easy access to adatabase of video programs. Creators main-tain copyrights, can limit access, and cancharge for viewing. Could this lead to theiTunes of TV? And if so, will we pay for tele-vision, or are we willing to put up withenough advertisements if it means televisionwhen and where we want it, without theTiVo? I think I could handle a few commer-cials if it means HDTV when and where Iwant it.

By Ken NesmithSTAFF WRITER

The Demolition DowntownMIT DramashopBy Tennessee WilliamsDirected by Jay ScheibApril 21–23 and 28–30

E xplaining what I do is actually aninsurmountable task, in some ways,”said Jay Scheib, director of the MITDramashop play “The Demolition

Downtown,” at a recent MIT arts colloquium.After seeing the play performed last weekend,I’m inclined to agree. Though crowded withthe shadows of meaning and profundity, thereis ultimately little to nothing to this work; it isalmost completely unadulterated with any ofthe coherence or meaning that is a precursor tointelligible discourse.

I’d tell you about the play that TennesseeWilliams wrote, but the script was only a smalldetail in the production, so we can save thatfor later. On stage, behind a plexiglass screenseparating the stage from the audience, actorsleapt around, exploring an explosive physicaldialogue that usually supplanted, rather thancomplemented, the content of the play. Often,the physical dialogue seemed arbitrary, as ifsomeone had just thought of these movementsand then added the spoken dialogue later.Indeed, if a dominant theme emerged, this wasit — the arbitrary collection of percepts, therandom arrangement of elements of humanphysical, emotional, and spoken discourse,thrown together in a collage, leaving the view-er to invent, rather than discover, some mean-ing behind them, as thinking people are apt totry. Viewers will work so hard, though, at elu-cidating meaning from randomness that suchsheer force of effort, combined with whatevernuggets of signal emerge from the noise, maytrick them into thinking they’ve found some-thing — something deep, something artisticand avant-garde. Scheib owns up to theprocess: often, he says, he’ll think of some-thing to do onstage, some movement or set ofactions, and simply add them to the play, let-ting meaning and relation to the text fall intoplace after the fact. Richard Feynmannobserved, “What I cannot create I do notunderstand,” to which Scheib might reply thatunderstanding is the only haphazard (andunnecessary?) accessory to random creation.

Sometimes, Scheib’s approach works; thecollage of emotional and physical elementscoheres into something intelligible and mean-ingful. Other productions of his, like “ThePower of Darkness,” featured compelling,nontraditional means of crafting characters,recreating abstractions and prodding at their

limits in a complex butcoherent, even insightfuland rewarding, multimediadialogue. “Downtown” justdoesn’t cut it — the processdoesn’t work this time.Early in the play, Mr. Lane(Ben Margo, Harvard ’05)stares into one of the severalonstage cameras, which pro-vide images for two televi-sion screens placed beforethe audience — a techniquemeant to blend the worldsof film, reality television,and theater. The camerazooms in on his droolingmouth, watching his collect-ed spit steadily fall to thefloor in front of him, in whatmay be a metaphor for thework we’re about to see.Then, we have an openingscene of a wife returninghome, and an interplay ofreactions and emotionsbetween husband and wife;this scene is repeatedaround five times (I stoppedcounting) for us, with slightdifferences, each beginningwith the dutiful drool.

The repetition of scenes,movements, and emotions occurs frequently asevents unfold. What events? Written for aracially torn 1970s America, the script imag-ines a national coup, with some ensuing chaos.We watch a husband and wife who worryabout the complete uncertainty of uncivilizedexistence, not knowing if stores and businesseswill operate again, if basic supplies for livingwill be available, if the next explosion willdestroy the house, if a knock at the door comesfrom militants or friends. It is a chaos utterlyforeign, even unthinkable, in the context of ourstable liberal democracy, at least in the goodneighborhoods — and now that alien chaosvisits itself upon an American ‘good’ neigh-borhood, where children attend elite schoolsand bottles of alcohol are of the classy variety.Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness: none ofthese are guaranteed any longer, not even forwhite people.

I’d like to tell you about the great, con-vincing characters the actors built, but therereally weren’t any, because the actors weren’tgiven the chance. Characters were broken notinto understandable human beings with emo-tions, but into programmable automatons pos-sessing arbitrary, dictated (but to theactors’/actresses’ credit, usually convincing)

emotions, selected and substituted with nocause or continuity. Upon concluding, theplay begins again from the beginning, but thistime, the characters speak an impressive vari-ety of world languages. If the viewer didn’tknow this was coming, it might take him orher a short while to recognize the repetitionof events, but if recognized from the outset,it’s a bit less interesting, since there’s less fogof confusion to fight off and keep the mindbusy. Some viewers might find this interest-ing, since this affront to text as a privilegedcarrier of meaning challenges our assump-tions about the nature of communication, theunderappreciated importance of nontextual,emotional, and physical means of communi-cation, and so forth. I think it’s a trite pointthat can be made and set aside in about tenseconds — not an hour. In the end, I simplywasn’t entertained or engaged by the play,but simply bored. Trivialities drew big, unde-served laughs: a soldier shakes his head likethose guys on Saturday Night Live when thesong “What Is Love” comes on, and thelaughs pour out. That just isn’t funny.Ephemeral bits of physicality and emotion,weakly linked to reasons for those emotions,are given voice and expression, but with no

prompting and no follow-through. That justisn’t interesting.

It’s a shame that all of the interestingdilemmas in this text weren’t given room tobreathe, except by accident. An apparently tal-ented cast of actors could have given us anabsorbing enactment of uncertainty, of theshattering and complication of posh domesticlife in the face of resurgent militance and bar-barism. Mrs. Kane (Virginia Corless ’05)could have explored the interplay betweensociety’s breakdown and the destruction of thesexual and emotional mores of civil relations.Miss Nebraska (Ashlie Brown ’07) could havemore starkly contrasted naïve upper-classbeneficence with a global reality of conflict.Instead, lots of things get knocked over, andlots of emotions…happen. How unnerving!I’m barely familiar with Williams’ work, butsome critics apparently regard his later playsas a satire of avant-garde theatre’s minimal-ism and nihilism. This production, an awk-ward stitching together of half-baked dramaideas and experiments, might be a candidatefor just such a critique. I don’t mean to be aNegative Nancy, and maybe I just missed theboat. You might find a way to enjoy this play.I couldn’t.

ARTSApril 29, 2005 THE TECH Page 9

THEATER REVIEW

An Action-Packed, But Ultimately Lacking, ‘Demolition’Is Intelligibility Preferable to Chaos? No, Says This Work

STEPHANIE LEE—THE TECH

Mr. Lane, played by Ryan Low ’04, holds the hand of Mrs. Lane, played by Youngsun Cho ’05,between explosions after revolutionaries take over the government in The Dramashop’s productionof The Demolition Downtown, a play by Tennessee Williams.

TV REVIEW

TV Viewing GuyThe Scoop on ‘Eyes,’ ‘Housewives,’ Google Up, down, charm,

strange, top, bottom.

Work it any way you want inQuark.

join@tt.mit.eduW20-483, 617-253-1541

By Brian LouxSTAFF REPORTER

There I was, no more than five feet awayfrom Fabolous’ dressing room door after hisperformance, waiting for the go-ahead to con-duct my interview with Fabolous. Thisseemed to be a second shot at life, as therehad not been enough time to interview himbefore the performance as we had originallyplanned. Now, I finally seemed to be set tointerview Brooklyn’s prince of rap.

And then disaster struck. Everyone couldsee the verbal argument between G-Unit andthe event staffers. No more than two minuteslater, we were asked to clear the backstagearea along with just about everyone else.There was pretty much no choice. Mychances were once again slipping through myhands like sand.

But even in despair, there was hope. Thebackstage wait and subsequent rush to thedoor had introduced me to a very attractive,talented woman named Nemiss, who put onan outstanding opening act for Fab. As weboth commented on the situation at hand, werealized we could help each other out.

Nemiss, a graduate of the University ofChicago, is currently out promoting her first12-inch, set to hit vinyl stores mid-June.While based in Brooklyn, she’s spent a lot oftime in venues up and down the easternseaboard, including the impressive House ofBlues. Currently, she travels between herhome in Chicago, her base out in New York,and our home of Boston for her perfor-mances. While her entire crew was quicklypreparing for their trip back to New York, shewas gracious enough to talk about her start,her hopes for success, and the perception of

hip-hop in America. The Tech: So, how did you actually get

started?Nemiss: Well, I’m Chicago-born and

Brooklyn-based, and I’ve been rockin’ forquite a while now. I’ve been working atHouse of Blues in Chicago, and Metro. Istarted working for this producer Dero, prettymuch he was hosting shows at the Metro,House of Blues, the Double Doors, all of themain venues in Chicago. So … he was reallyfeelin’ me, and he started putting me on, andI started performing for people and that’show it kicked off.

My brother was also a hip-hop fanatic. Hehad to be at all the fresh-fests. He was a RunDMC, LL [Cool J] fan, so I was introduced tosome of the early rap, like MC Lyte and RunDMC. I used to do raps then, and he used tocall ’em bubble gum raps. Now he’s holdin’me up, saying “Nobody can mess wit you!”

TT: Are you part of the House of Bluestour that Fabolous is doing?

Nemiss: No, I’ve just performed at theHouse of Blues venues, which are in Chicagoand Boston, and a lot of other major areas.I’ve opened for Black Sheep there. I’ve alsoopened for Common and the Roots at theMetro.

TT: What’s your favorite venue to workat, or which city has the best feel to it?

Nemiss: I really loved Miami when Iwent there. But really, I love home. I loveChicago. That’s probably where I performthe most, and the kind of energy that you getin Chicago, especially when I was rockin’there a couple years ago, they are just hun-gry for some real talent. Brooklyn, you gotso many talents in New York it’s really hard

to [get in]. But you get in where you fit in, and it’s a

cool place because it’s competitive so itmakes you more competitive, but in terms ofjust representin’ it for the ladies and per-forming in Chicago, people are definitelyfeelin’ that. Seems like people up here inBoston.

TT: Yeah, we try. When you’re producingmuch of your stuff, do you freestyle most ofit in the studio or not?

Nemiss: Some of it is freestyle, but a lotof it is just 16 bars and hooks, like you reallygotta know how to make a song when you’rean artist. Like a lot of rappers and freestylersonly get for so far. Actually, my guy Rhine-fest — he co-wrote Jesus Walks [by KanyeWest] — he’s from Chicago and a reallygood friend of mine, he is like a battle rapperand a freestyler. But it’s like a curse of thefreestyler; a lot of those guys who winfreestyle battles don’t end up being a profes-sional artist. So you gotta learn how to reallywrite songs.

TT: So the two rap stories to receive widecoverage this year have been the 50’s beefwith The Game and the fight at the VIBEMusic Awards. Usually, I see those sameentertainment segments make note of rockstars or Pop 40 icons getting married or dat-ing somebody. Do you feel that rap gets por-trayed in a racist manner by most mediasources?

Nemiss: I totally agree with you. There isa ton of racism in the press, and in one of mysongs, I call out the New York Post. A lot oftimes, they portray things in a lopsided way— that’s the best way to put it. Things getskewed. For example, when Ol’ Dirty Bastard

died. OK, we know his name is Ol’ DirtyBastard, but the caption for him was like,“Dead Dirty Bastard.” I mean, have somerespect. That’s just a small example, butthere’s a lot of sensationalism in the way rapmusic is covered, and if there’s like a little bitof beef, it’s going to be exploited simplybecause that’s what some people do want toread. But it’s a two way street, you can alsoput some positive energy into hip-hop outthere. There are a lot of positive things hap-pening in hip-hop, so let’s focus on that, too.Let’s give it a nice balance.

TT: So who should be the most responsi-ble for changing the image? Is it the artiststhemselves? Is it the labels marketing andchoosing their talent differently? Is it thenews coverage shifting its focus?

Nemiss: Well, the labels don’t want to doit. The labels feel like the controversy isworking. I’m talking about the major labelsnow. Some of the smaller independent labels,those are the labels that really care about theintegrity of the artist. That’s where I’m tryingto go with it. I don’t necessarily have to be ona huge major label, because so many peopleare doing it independent and it’s really aboutself-sufficiency, especially being a femalerapper. I mean, these major labels, honestly,they’re not really checking for female rap-pers. They want a certain kind of rapper thatthey can put in a box. So, I’m kinda workingmy up to being an independent artist. I’m def-initely down to be on a label, but I don’t haveto be on a major label. I mean, some of thegreat independent labels like EB records —like different record labels — where youknow, it doesn’t have to be all about themainstream.

By Yao-Chung King

The Hungry Beaver examines area restau-rants in search of hidden gems to expose tothe student community every other week.Among its aims is to uncover obscure restau-rants that provide good food and service,appeal to a broad section of students, and areaccessible to students both geographicallyand financially. Look to the Hungry Beaver toexpand your repertoire of good, local diningoptions, and live by the Hungry BeaverCredo: “Eat well with good company. Livewell with good company.”

Petit Robert Bistro468 Commonwealth AvenueBoston, MA 02215617-375-0699Open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

O pening just four weeks ago on Com-monwealth, Petit Robert Bistro hasalready begun to attract some atten-tion. I first picked up the story in

Stuff@Night, when its Deep Dish columncaught my eye. Petit Robert Bistro is locatedin Kenmore Square and opened its doors onApril 1 amid a vitalizing flurry of restaurantopenings in Kenmore near the Hotel Com-monwealth. Taking the former Il Bico spacenext to Ankara’s, Petit Robert Bistro adds adash of class and flavor to Kenmore’s limitedselection of possessively-named diningoptions, which consisted of Uno’s, Bertuc-ci’s, McDonald’s, and Ankara’s just weeksago.

If it weren’t obvious already, Petit RobertBistro serves French food. What isn’t soobvious is that, despite the dress of whomev-er you might see in their front windows, thestaff will welcome you inside when you’rewearing decent college attire. (I first visitedin jeans and a polo and nearly about-facedafter seeing older men in suits at its win-dows.) Kenmore Square is home to severalMIT fraternities and sororities as well as alarge part of BU’s student body, a fact thatexecutive chef and co-owner Jacky Roberthas acknowledged. He hopes to bring in theyounger population by avoiding the prohibi-tively high prices found at similarly nicerestaurants. Though I can’t be a judge of“authentic French cuisine” (I just like to eatgood food), both he and co-owner Loic LeGarrec are French, and most of the wait staffat least speak the language. Good enough for

me (for now.) I first visited during lunchhours and have since visited several moretimes for their lunch and dinner menus.

Their upper level is their main dining area,with red brick and a mellow yellow to theirwalls. Towards the back is an open servingarea, with a large space in the wall that givespatrons a peek into the goings-on of thekitchen. (You should be able to spot theeponymous Jacky Robert, in dark thick-rimmed glasses, preparing and arranging yourmeal before passing it to a server to bebrought to your table.) French music isplayed audibly in the background, and a can-dle lights each of the tables, covered in whitetable cloth and white paper. The space issmall and room is used liberally, seatingabout fifty without the danger of rubbingelbows with your neighbor. The staff arewarm and welcoming, and the servers work ata leisurely pace when bringing water, bread,and butter to the tables.

The bread and butter are an excellentcombination. The bread has an exceptionalflavor, and the butter has a richness I haven’ttasted before. Each visit has warranted aremark about one or the other from my com-panions, and their baguettes are sold off themenu.

Start off your meal with an appetizer. Irecommend the Tuna Tartar (7.50), with fivesmall mounds of raw, shredded tuna, capers,and spices, each atop its own waffle potatocrisp, neatly arranged around greens, halvedgrape tomatoes, and dots of balsamic vinegar.Each bite of tuna is salted enough to give fla-vor and hints of additions of wasabi.

If you like pâte, try their Assiette Char-cutiere (8.50). (I just pointed at the menu list-ing instead of trying to pronounce it.) You’llbe served slices of sausage and a salty pro-sciutto-like smoked ham, next to a boat ofmustard and three slices of pâte: chickenliver, pork, and country (duck, chicken, pork,and herbs.) Having never consumed such adish, I asked our server Michelle for her help.You split a baguette piece down the middle,spread on a little mustard (their mustard isspicier than what I’m used to), and add somepâte or sausage, like our hoagie of lunchtimetradition. The star of this plate is the chickenliver pâte (I’ve never been a fan of liver, buttry this.) It’s pink in color and easily spread-able. You’ll know it by its richness when youtaste it.

As for entrees, I recommend the DuckConfit (15.25). Crisped in fat, the meat inside

was moist, tender, and full of flavor. The dishis served with a soft, juicy sausage (meat-likeand not over-salted like its American counter-part), cabbage, and green beans. For the meatlovers, I’d recommend the Saddle of Lamb(19.50), the Beef Bourguignon (14.95), or theSkirt Steak (19.75). All provide great flavorat a moderate price.

Depending on your mood, you can try theNew England Bouillabaisse with Lobster(19.75), basically a bowl of oysters, scallops,lobster, and other bits of seafood. There waslittle flavor added to this, which can be eithera good or bad thing depending on your stanceon proper seafood seasoning. The Asparagus(4.75) also suffered from the same purity.The Hollandaise added only creaminess, butlittle flavor, to the asparagus. Normally a bigseafood and asparagus fan, I prefer more fla-vor than I had been given here, and for thosesimilarly disposed, look to the meat dishesinstead.

The Rabbit Moutarde with JuliennedLeeks (18.75) sits at the opposite end of thespectrum. The rabbit is encrusted with thebistro’s spicy mustard, which was a littlemuch for both me and my companion thatday. Mustard lovers revel, but all others standclear.

After the entrée, don’t settle for orderingyour dessert from your table. Ask instead togo downstairs to visit Kristen. Kristen Law-son, formerly of Sandrine’s in HarvardSquare, mans the pastry bar, a unique twist tothe dessert scene. Like at a sushi bar, patronscan sit at the pastry bar and watch Kristencreate and arrange their order on the spot.

The most expensive dessert item is theGateau Petit Robert Chocolate Eiffel Tower(7), but it is well deserving of the top spot.Place an order, and Ms. Lawson will placebefore you a rich chocolate cake topped withwhite chocolate shavings, sitting next to asmall four-inch chocolate Eiffel Tower.

Just as good is their Trio of Sorbet (4.50).Kristen carefully stacks three scoops of sor-bet (rhubarb, apricot, and mixed berry) alter-nating with four pieces of meringue, slowlytips the tower over, and adds a signaturechocolate butterfly on top. Give everythingon the dessert menu a try, though take notethat the Silken Tofu (4.50) is a vegan option.I prefer my desserts a little fuller and sweet-er, however, and everything else has fit thebill.

Looking for a nice lunch place in Bostonas well? Try Annie’s Gruyère Croque-Mon-

sieur (4.50). Named after the chef’s mother,the Gruyère Croque-Monsieur is a tasty hamand cheese on buttered and toasted bread,served with waffle chips and bitter salad.Their Sardines a l’Huile Tartines (6.25)spread on a grilled baguette is also worth atry.

Don’t expect to fill up on their entrees,since their portions responsibly leave roomfor their dessert. Do, however, expect to waitsome time for your food. Their kitchen takesa while to prepare your meal for you, soyou’ll spend an hour and a half to two hoursover good food.

Over these first weeks of its opening, I’veseen Petit Robert Bistro adding to and chang-ing its menu, and they’ll continue to do so inthe coming weeks to make the menu better(though hopefully not bigger.) You’ll oftenfind co-owner Loic Le Garrec wanderingfrom table to table, answering questions andreceiving feedback, so tell him what youthink. And if it’s a slow day, you may havethe privilege of a visit to your table by exec-utive chef Jacky Robert himself.

Final Word: Petit Robert Bistro servesgreat food at more than reasonable prices.With dinner entrees priced between 14–20and lunch options from 5–10, Petit Robert isthe kind of place you’d go to treat yourself,guilt-free, while still leaving enough in yourwallet to come back again and again. A greatoption for the students based in the Kenmorearea, and a short walk from 77, Petit Roberthas the potential to blossom into a consistenthit-up for prospective college duos. If you’relooking for a sweet, late snack or yourrestaurant’s dessert menu wasn’t attractive,just drop by for the dessert. It’s closer thanFinale’s and a bit cheaper as well.

There’s a lot of potential for this restau-rant for students because of its prices, quality,accesibility, and versatility. Over the pastweek, you could have found me there sharingan intimate candlelit dinner or casual week-end lunch, talking to Kristen at the pastry barabout her sweets, or just dropping by to pickup a baguette. Hit it up to give it a try. PetitRobert has the makings of a success.

Directions: For those who know whereAnkara’s is, it’s right next door. For others,walk from 77 down Mass Ave. across theHarvard Bridge. Turn right onto Common-wealth and walk under the overpass. Contin-ue a little farther, and Petit Robert Bistro willbe on your left.

Page 10 THE TECH ARTS April 29, 2005

THE HUNGRY BEAVER

Petit Robert BistroNew French Bistro has Great Potential in Kenmore

INTERVIEW

In the Absence of Fabolous, an Interview With Nemiss

Concerts! Movies! Restaurants! Oh my! join@the-tech.mit.edu

April 29, 2005 THE TECH Page 11

Remembering Vietnam:Commemorating the 30th anniversary of

the end of the war in Vietnam

Saturday, April 30, 200511am-1pm in Kresge Auditorium

Ngo Vinh Long

2pm-4pm in Twenty Chimneys, Student Center

Noam Chomsky

Perspectives

Moderated by

Linda Pinkow

MIT WMBR

Film screening

The Cu Chi Tunnelswith director Mickey Grant

Sponsors

theThistle

ARCADE at MITThe MIT FundMIT History Faculty

http://web.mit.edu/thistle/www/vietnam

This space donated by The Tech

Page 12 THE TECH April 29, 2005

on me personally, and on my schol-arship,” Sawyer-Lauçanno wrote inhis statement. “Any comparison ofmy book to that of Kennedy wouldshow that I supply a great deal moredetail on a number of importantevents in Cummings’ life and pre-sent substantive and substantiallynew information. Part of the reasonfor that (as well as the excitementabout my book) is that I had accessto sources that were largely unavail-able to Kennedy.”

Program Administrator for Con-course Cheryl A. Butters and Con-course Director Robert MichaelRose, as well as other members ofthe Concourse program, declined todiscuss the accusation.

Committee will review chargesAccording to a statement from

Denise Brehm of the MIT NewsOffice, MIT’s policy for academicmisconduct is to appoint a commit-tee to review the factual basis of theaccusations. Actions are taken onlyat the conclusion of the investiga-

tion. Since this case was brought tolight from published articles, extracare will be taken to maintain confi-dentiality for those involved, shesaid.

Sawyer-Lauçanno’s book hasbeen lauded in literary reviews byPublisher’s Weekly and The Christ-ian Science Monitor, according tothe Harper’s magazine article.

Sawyer-Lauçanno currentlyteaches Memory and Literature(SP.317) and has taught Writing andExperience (21W.731). He hastaught at MIT since 1982.

By Karen W. ArensonTHE NEW YORK TIMES

Columbia University officialsconsidered imposing stiff penaltiesagainst any graduate teaching assis-tants who skipped their teachingassignments during a strike.

The penalties, outlined in an inter-nal memo that recently became pub-lic, included requiring the assistantsto teach an extra semester or year ormaking them ineligible for summerstipends or for special awards.

Columbia officials yesterday con-firmed the authenticity of the memo,which was reported in The Nationthis week and posted on its Web site.But they said they had ultimatelydecided not to impose any penaltieson graduate students who staged afive-day strike last week.

“This was a list of proposals to beconsidered if we were going to takeaction,” said Alan Brinkley, Colum-bia’s provost. “Obviously, doingnothing was always an option, too.”

Some graduate students, facultymembers, and union organizers saidthey were outraged that Columbiawas willing to consider penalties likethose outlined in the memo, whichwas signed by the provost and sent to17 officials, including several deans,in February.

Timothy Patrick McCarthy, agraduate student in history, said thatboth the tone and the content of thememo had surprised him.

“Any time workers go on strike,they understand that there will beconsequences, like their pay beingdocked,” he said. “But to say thataccess to summer funding or moneyfor thesis writing will be threatened istotally beyond the pale. That’s hard-ball.”

Other students said the memo hadintensified their feelings of vulnera-bility when they were already con-

cerned that Columbia administratorshad not defended academic freedomforcefully enough.

“It is a very, very striking thingfor Columbia students to realize thatthey could be treated in this manner— that we have no protection fromretribution,” said Dehlia Hannah, athird-year graduate student in philos-ophy, who was on strike last week. “Ithink people are very sensitive to this,especially when academic freedomhas been such a contentious issuerecently.”

That debate over academic free-dom has grown after charges by pro-Israeli students that some pro-Pales-tinian professors had intimidatedthem in discussions in and out ofclass. A Columbia committee foundthat at least one of the complaintswas credible, and the university hascreated new procedures for studentsto register grievances against profes-sors.

Maida Rosenstein, president ofLocal 2110 of the United Auto Work-ers, which represents the support staffat Columbia and has been working toorganize graduate student assistants,said a National Labor RelationsBoard decision last summer thatgraduate assistants at private univer-sities were not eligible for unioniza-tion left them unprotected from thekinds of actions suggested in thememo.

“It is really upsetting that the uni-versity even contemplated suchactions,” Ms. Rosenstein said.

She said that students and profes-sors were very angry and were “stilldetermining what our response willbe.”

The provost and others said thememo had grown out of meetings bya working group that Dr. Brinkleyheaded last winter to consider howColumbia might respond if there

were a strike. At the time, they said,Columbia officials thought that astrike might be imminent and last allsemester. The question on the table,they said, was whether there might beways to soften its impact.

“We didn’t know what wouldhappen, and we were trying to figureout how make sure we could deliveran education to the undergraduates,”said Henry C. Pinkham, a member ofthe Brinkley committee and dean ofthe Graduate School of Arts and Sci-ences, where interest in unionizationis greatest.

“That was the key issue,” headded. “What eventually developedwas very different, a one-week walk-out, and we decided to do nothing assoon as we found out what nature ofstrike it was.”

Other sections of the three-pagememo addressed how Columbiamight cover its courses if its graduateassistants walked out, how to tell theassistants of the consequences theyfaced if they struck and how to tellparents “about the steps being takento avoid the disruption of their chil-dren’s education.”

Eric Foner, a history professorwho is a friend of the provost, said heconsidered the proposals in the memooutrageous but did not believe theyrepresented Dr. Brinkley’s personalviews.

Professor Foner said that whenDr. Brinkley was chairman of the his-tory department, before becomingprovost, he strongly opposed anykind of punishment for striking stu-dents.

Dr. Brinkley said that the ideas hehad put into the memo had grown outof conversations among members ofhis working group and others and thatthey had been assembled in a memohe sent out to make further conversa-tion easier.

April 29, 2005 THE TECH Page 13

son, and when Technology Reviewdiscovered it could not locate G.S., itopened a broader investigation.

Infoworld, a computer news publi-cation, has removed quotes, whichcould not be confirmed as accurate,from four stories written by Delio.

Delio did not reply to multiplerequests for comment. Previously,Delio has told the Associated Pressthat “I certainly didn’t make upsources.”

“Leaving aside the huge issues ofethics,” she told the AP, “you’realways going to get caught. Possibly Iwas lax in record keeping, but it does-n’t mean people don’t exist.”

News publications, both online andprint, have faced a number of high-profile cases of falsified stories in thepast few years, including Jayson Blairat The New York Times and StephenGlass at the New Republic.

“In general, I think there are someproblems at the moment” with onlinenews publications, said Jason Pontin,Editor in Chief of Technology Review.“Editors and publishers need todevote more resources to online jour-nalism.”

“All online and print publicationshave different standards,” he said.“Online publications are checked tonews services standards, which meansthat we trust to the accuracy and hon-esty of our reporters.”

“An excessive reliance on free-lancers in online journalism is prob-lematical,” he said.

Tech Review stories retractedOnce questions had been raised

by Hewlett-Packard about the anony-mous source cited in Delio’s articlesabout the company’s former CEO,Technology Review hired SusanRasky to fact-check Delio’s other sto-ries. Rasky is a professor of journal-ism at the University of CaliforniaBerkeley.

In her report, published on Tech-nology Review’s Web site, Rasky,working with five of her graduate stu-dents, was able to verify three storiesentirely, but found problems with theother seven Delio had written.

“Two of the stories had fabricat-ed, but named, quotations,” Pontinsaid. In another five stories, two ofwhich used anonymous sources, “wecould not find the sources MichelleDelio said she spoke to. In the case ofthe two anonymous quotations, I amquite confident that the source neverexisted.”

According to the report, a sourcequoted in Delio’s article “The FutureShock,” published March 7, 2005,said that Delio had never contactedhim for the article.

“The Future Shock” and threeother stories also use sources whoseidentities and quotes were verified,according to the report.

Online and print standards differAll of Delio’s stories were pub-

lished only in the online version ofTechnology Review, which is subjectto different editing standards from theprint version.

The printed Technology Reviewfollows magazine standards, whichrequire a fact-checker to phone back

every source, including anonymoussources, and check quotes and infor-mation to ensure accuracy. Thischecking process has the secondarybenefit of making it very difficult forsources to be faked.

Due to time constraints, news ser-vice standards for checking onlinearticles do not typically undergo suchrigorous checking and rely primarilyupon reporters to ensure accuracy.Fact checking an article for a maga-zine can take two weeks, Pontin said.

The major obstacle to applyingstricter fact-checking for online pub-lications is not just the number ofarticles published but also the “opera-tional tempo” of how fast the articlesmust make it online, he said.

We “try to have stories that areresponsive to the day’s events,” hesaid. However, he said “the need torespond to every media event, toscoop everyone, I think is not entirelyconducive” to high fact-checkingstandards.

The online Technology Review“cannot move the site over entirely tomagazine fact checking,” Pontin said,but has banned the use of anonymoussources. In extreme circumstances,“when we do do it, we will addition-ally commit” to confirming informa-tion with the anonymous source.

Technology Review changes focusThe Review expanded its publica-

tion schedule last winter from 10 to 12issues a year and 56 pages per issue to72. The publication also re-geared tocover science news with a more seri-ous tone.

“The magazine and the site areboth more interesting and analytical,more spirited and comprehensive,”Pontin said.

He said the retractions of Delio’sarticles were unfortunate in light of therecent redesign.

“However, what I am proud of isthat while this could have happened toany publication,” he said, “we movedfairly aggressively to identify theproblem and to openly explain to thereaders how it happened.”

“The message I would like to leavethe MIT community is that we tookthis very seriously,” he said. “In thefuture, all I can additionally do is banthe use of anonymous sources” with-out verification, “but that would nothave caught the five other stories writ-ten by Delio.”

Solution toKRT Crossword

from page 6

Wired Finds Articles’Sources UnverifiableDelio, from Page 1

Penalties Considered for Strikers

Lecturer Denies Plagiarism ChargesPlagiarism, from Page 1

Page 14 THE TECH April 29, 2005

How far will you go?

©2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation in the United Statesand/or other countries. Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer andsupports workplace diversity.

Congratulations to Stephanie Dudzicfor being selected as a Microsoftscholar!

Stephanie will receive a scholarship,compliments of Microsoft Corporation,for the 2005-2006 academic year.

You could be selected as a scholarnext year. Visit our website to learnmore about our programs.

microsoft.com/college

By Alex BarnumSAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

The nation’s most respectedscientific organization proposedethical guidelines for humanembryonic stem cell researchTuesday, offering a system ofinstitutional self-policing as a wayto move the politically contentiousresearch forward.

The guidelines — developedover the last nine months by a 10-member panel assembled by theNational Academies — would bevoluntary but would apply to allstem cell research, both privatelyand publicly funded, and areaimed, in part, at filling a void infederal and state law.

Stem cell research has showngreat medical promise but hasstirred intense controversy becauseit requires the destruction ofembryos. Currently, scientistsoperate under a patchwork of regu-lations, none of which wasdesigned specifically for the field.

Central to the National Acade-mies plan would be new oversightcommittees at every research orga-nization, whether a medical schoolor a biotech company, that wouldreview stem cell research propos-als. The panel also recommendedcreating a national committee toaddress new ethical issues as theycome up.

The guidelines also call for aban on introducing human stemcells into the embryos of animals.

Attempts to pass federal legis-lation governing stem cell researchhave stalled for several years.Even the rules the Bush adminis-tration imposed in 2001, whichrestrict the cell lines available forresearch, said nothing about whatcan and cannot be done with stemcells.

In its 131-page report, releasedTuesday, the National Academiespanel said uniform national guide-lines are needed to reassure thepublic that the research is beingconducted ethically, whatever thefunding source, and to assure sci-entists of reliable standards forconducting and sharing their work.

“A standard set of requirementsfor deriving, storing, distributingand using embryonic stem celllines — one to which the entireU.S. scientific community adheres— is the best way for this researchto move forward,” said RichardHynes, a cancer researcher at MITand a co-chair of the panel. Thepanel included scientists, doctors,bioethicists, patient advocates andlawyers.

The National Academies is anindependent organization charteredby Congress to advise the govern-ment on scientific matters. Thegroup took on development of theguidelines at the request of the sci-entific community, without gov-ernment involvement.

The guidelines are critical tothe progress of California’s stemcell research enterprise, the Cali-fornia Institute for RegenerativeMedicine, which must adopt ethi-cal rules before it can disburse anyof the $3 billion in grants autho-rized last year by Proposition 71 tofund stem cell research.

Robert Klein, institute boardchairman, said the National Acade-mies panel had accelerated itswork to meet the institute’s dead-lines for making grants. He said heexpects the institute board to voteon adopting the guidelines at acoming meeting.

“This effort is a tremendousstep forward for California inadvancing stem cell research,”Klein said. “Some of the best andbrightest scientists in the countryhave put forward a new benchmarkfor medical and ethical standards.”

The guidelines also drew praisefrom the scientific and medicalcommunity, and from politicalleaders who have been pushing forsimilar standards.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.,welcomed the report, saying shehoped it would lend support to abill she and others reintroduced inthe Senate last week that containsmany of the same provisions.

But political opponents of stemcell research slammed it.

“These so-called guidelines fordestructive human embryonic stemcell research try to put a good faceon an unethical line of research,”said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.“We should not be destroyingyoung human lives for the benefitof others.”

Stem cells, which form in thefirst few days of a developingembryo, are capable of becomingany type of cell in the body.Researchers hope that one day thecells can be used to regeneratemany types of cells and tissuesdamaged by disease and injury.

Typically, the embryos used inthe research are left over from fer-tility treatments and donated bycouples who no longer need them.The cells are cultured in the labafter they’ve been removed fromthe embryo.

The new guidelines deal largelywith ensuring ethical creation ofnew stem cell l ines, and theyestablish standards for obtainingdonor consent, ban payment fordonated embryos and standardizemethods for handling and sharingstem cell lines between researchlabs.

In all cases, the guidelines rec-ommend, donors should give theirconsent before any material —eggs or sperm — can be used tocreate an embryo that would gen-erate stem cells. The effect of thatrule would be to eliminate somestem cell l ines already in usebecause they were obtained fromembryos created with sperm fromanonymous donors who were notinformed about their use.

The National Academies paneldid not deal with the issue ofcloning, except to reiterate theconclusion of a 2002 report thatcloning for reproductive purposesis unethical and should not bedone.

The panel’s guidelines would,however, cover a cloning tech-nique used to create embryos fortherapeutic purposes. Researcherssay that ultimately the technique,called nuclear transfer, may beneeded to cultivate a patient’s ownstem cells so as to avoid rejectionby the body’s immune system.

The guidelines also deal withhow far scientists can go in usingstem cells in animals, which maybe needed to test the potential ofstem cells for treating disease.

The panel recommended thatwhile it may be permissible to usehuman embryonic stem cells inmice, researchers would be prohib-ited from introducing human stemcells in the brains of monkeys andother primates because of concernsabout how it might affect theirmental function or brain structure.

Implants of human cells intoanimals should be viewed cau-tiously, and no animal receivinghuman stem cells should beallowed to breed, the panel said.

At Stanford, stem cellresearcher Dr. Irving Weissmanrecently asked an ethics panel toreview a proposal to create micewith brains containing humanneural stem cells. The panel rec-ommended moving forward care-fully and ensuring that the micedon’t take on an altered brainstructure.

Although Weissman says heisn’t planning to pursue theresearch, he noted that both Stan-ford and the National Academiescame to the same conclusion.

“I welcome both recommenda-tions as they are thoughtful andwell considered. I would fullycomply with them,” he said in astatement.

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April 29, 2005 THE TECH Page 15

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can impose, Child said. Members ofthe chapter must perform 1,000hours of community service beforethe fraternity can hold a rush, aswell an additional 1,000 hours, hesaid. Fraternity members must alsomake a presentation to the IFC Pres-idents’ Council about how to hold a

safe retreat.At an initial April 15 hearing,

JudComm had set the number ofcommunity service hours to 4,000;an appeal by PKS on Monday, for-malized on Wednesday, cut thatamount by half.

PKS appealed the initial decisionwith respect to facts, procedure, andseverity of punishment, Batten said.

Only the appeal of the third wassuccessful, with the original punish-ment being found “particularlysevere with regard to number ofcommunity service hours required,”Batten said. The current punishmentis final, he said.

Headquarters imposes sanctionsPKS International Headquarters

has also placed the MIT chapter onprobation for one year, whichbecame effective the week ofMarch 21. The fraternity must showsatisfactory progress toward meet-ing the stipulations of the probationand at the end of the year must peti-tion for the probation to end, Smithsaid.

Headquarters is fining the frater-nity $50 per member of the organi-zation, Smith said. In addition, thefraternity will be required to providealcohol training for all members,send four members to a leadershipconference in January, supply twomembers to coordinate a regionalretreat, and co-sponsor an alcoholawareness program on campus, hesaid.

The “allegations relative to theretreat were of grave concern to theboard,” particularly with regard to“upholding the law relative to alco-hol consumption,” Smith said.Headquarters’ “primary concernwas for the safety and well-being ofthe members.”

Headquarters was notified aboutthe incident on March 14 by theFraternities, Sororities, and Inde-pendent Living Groups Office,Smith said. David N. Rogers, assis-tant director and dean of FSILGs,said that informing the nationaloffice and alumni board of a frater-nity about violations is standardprocedure “in cases where the viola-tion is serious or egregious,” thoughthe office waits several days to

allow all the fraternities to comeforward on their own.

PKS alumni disappointed William Denhard ’42, president

of the PKS board of alumni, whichowns the PKS house and serves aslandlord, said he learned about theincident from MIT.

Bruce D. Wedlock ’56, housemanager of the alumni board and anMIT lecturer, said that news of theincident “came down as a totalshock and disappointment” and thatthe alumni had been at the houseshortly after the retreat, and“nobody said one word to us aboutthis.”

Denhard said that since learningabout the incident, the alumni havemet with members of the house,warning them that such behavior“could lead to extinction” of the fra-ternity. The alumni have reinforcedthe national policy of not havingalcohol in the house, which isstricter than MIT’s rules for frater-nities, he said.

The alumni have placed “empha-sis on the amount of trouble thatcould have occurred,” remindingmembers about the alcohol-relateddeath of MIT Phi Gamma Deltafreshman pledge Scott S. Krueger in1997.

“We’re going to follow up andkeep pressure on the house,” and thealumni expect the house to“straighten up and fly right,” Den-hard said.

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PKS Under One-Year Probation for Alcohol ViolationsPKS, from Page 1

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Ask a MedLink

Dear MedLink: The cleaning lady threw out my

birth control pills when I was halfway through

taking them. I heard it’s okay just to start

another pack and skip my period. Is that true?

—Cleaned Out

Dear Cleaned: That is a great question!

Everyone knows you are supposed to take the

pill every day, at the same time, without missing

pills. But pill packs can be thrown out acciden-

tally or left behind when traveling. And what

about those times when your period is going to

coincide with a vacation or sports competition? Is

it okay to use another pill pack back to back?

I took these questions to MIT Medical OB/Gyn

physician Dawn Anderson, M.D, and MIT Medical

health educator Laura Stuart. Both emphasized

the importance of talking with your clinician

about the instructions for your specific prescrip-

tion, but they were able to provide some general

answers to these questions.

First, they told me, if you lose your pack of pills,

it is always okay to start another pack—either in

the same place, or, if you don’t remember where

you left off, from the beginning of the pack. As

long as you haven’t missed any days of taking

pills, your risk of pregnancy is not increased by

continuing on from the same spot in a new pack.

In addition, Anderson said, it’s often safe to skip

placebo week and just go on to the next pack of

pills. “With most types of birth control pills,” she

noted, “you can actually take active pills daily for

up to 12 weeks and schedule a withdrawal bleed

at your convenience.” (After 12 weeks, she cau-

tioned, one would risk the overgrowth of uterine

lining cells—a condition known as endometrial

hyperplasia—which can cause unusually heavy

menstrual flow and bleeding between normal

menstrual periods.)

Many physicians have begun advocating modified

pill regimens of this sort, Anderson noted,

because recent research indicates that experienc-

ing fewer periods a year can actually cut your

risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer. Why?

Because fewer ovulations mean fewer cell divi-

sions, and that means fewer opportunities for

cancerous cells to be activated. “In fact,” Stuart

added, “the new brand of birth control pills,

Seasonale, is not a new hormonal formulation at

all, but a simple repackaging of a commonly

used pill that covers three months’ time, instead

of one.”

Remember, it’s never safe to make changes in

your oral contraceptive routine without first talk-

ing with your physician, but I hope this answer

gives you some idea about your options and a

few potential topics for discussion with your

clinician. And on your next visit home, I’d also

recommend tucking away your current pack of

pills in a spot the cleaning woman is unlikely to

stumble upon! —Ingrid ’06

My birth control pills got trashed!

Do you have a question?

Submit questions by:

email: askamedlink@mit.eduanonymous online form:http://web.mit.edu/medlinks/wwwcampus mail: Ask A MedLink, E23-493

We can't respond individually, but we'll answer as manyquestions as we can in this space. And you can alwaystalk with a MedLink in person; seeweb.mit.edu/medlinks/www/ to find the MedLink(s) inyour living group.

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The Boston Red Sox played the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night in Fenway Park. The Sox lost 11-8.(top) Sox pitcher Matt Clement pitches against the Orioles on Tuesday. Clement, 2-1, gave uptwelve hits and seven earned runs over 4 2/3 innings.(bottom) Luis Matos of the Orioles makes it to home plate on a dive, moments ahead of the Soxthrow to home plate.Photography by Liang Hong

Red Sox Lose to the Orioles 11-8

Page 18 THE TECH April 29, 2005

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JINA KIM—THE TECH

Stephanie J. Wu ’07 (left), co-founder of the new Network of Sloan Undergraduate Women(NSUW), talks to Susie Lee ’05 (right) about taking Course 15 classes and working infinance. NSUW hosted its first major event as a student organization, “Inside Sloan: AWoman’s Perspective,” on Tuesday, April 26.

OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH

Jessica A. Flores ’08 discusses her final project for Experimental Study Group seminarSP.240, Composing a Life. The opening reception for the Weisner Gallery SP.240 exhibit willbe held from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. this afternoon on the second floor of the Student Center.

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April 29, 2005 THE TECH Page 19

MIT Celebrates Earth Day With Festival in Kresge Oval

The Earth Day Festival was held yesterday in Kresge Oval.(above right) Jose H. Soltren ’07 trues a bicycle wheel. Soltren and other bike mechanics helped fixbikes that owners brought to Kresge Oval during the Festival.(above left) Steven M. Lanou, from the Environmental Programs Office, reads excerpts from the resultsof the 2005 RecycleMania competition. MIT placed 10th out of 34 with 40.29 pounds per student in thetraditional competition. The Institute did not compete in the recycling rate competition, which com-pared recycling weight to trash weight.(below left) Professor J. Meejin Yoon oversees Eric Howeler (left) and Lisa Smith (center) as they helpinstall the “White Noise/White Light” interactive display that she created for the 2004 Olympics. Thedisplay will operate from the evening of Monday, May 2, to Friday, May 6.(below right) Ross Donald explains the practical uses of solar heaters to a passersby. Photography by Omari Stephens

OMARI STEPHENS—THE TECH

Alan R. Millner ’69 shows a small transformer to (left to right) Jeremy S. Hurwitz ’08, Yue Yang ’08, Yingdan Gu ’08, and other stu-dents of 8.022 in the Experimental Study Group on Wednesday, April 27. Millner explained the transformer design process during asupplementary design seminar for the class.

SPORTSPage 20 THE TECH April 29, 2005

By Alicia ZhouTEAM MEMBER

Every Patriots fan knows thatafter winning for the third time, it’sa dynasty. This past Saturday, April23, marked the beginning of a newMIT dynasty in the Ivy NortheastCollegiate Taekwondo League(INCTL). MIT Sport Taekwondosent a group of almost 40 competi-tors to the final tournament of theseason, hosted by Columbia Univer-sity. Nine months of intense train-ing, four previous nail-bitingly closeINCTL tournaments, and a half-decade rivalry against Cornell Uni-versity all came down to twelvehours of fierce competition to deter-mine the best. At the end of the day,the MIT athletes emerged victorious,clinching a first place win at thetournament and securing the title ofINCTL League Champions for thethird year in a row.

The day took off right away withforms competition in the morning, inwhich MIT traditionally does verywell; this tournament was no excep-tion. MIT took home a total of ninemedals. In the black belt division,Richard Sinn ’06 won a gold medalon the men’s side, while Erica Y.Chan ’07 used her side kicks toclinch a bronze on the women’sside. In the women’s white/yellowbelt division, Sara P. Kama ’08 tookthird place, while in the women'sgreen belt division, JoHanna N.Przybylowski ’05 worked her way toa silver. Rene R. Chen ’07 andZiyan Chu ’07 eliminated all hopesof Cornell medaling in the women’sblue belt division; they placed firstand third respectively.

Feeding off the momentum of theteam, the MIT red belts finished upthe forms competition with a bang.Sandra M. Yu ’06 and Jerry W.Chao ’05 each secured a bronze,while John C. Ho G captured themen's red belt gold. “I felt confidentthat we would win. Everyone waspumped from the start, and we weremore than ready to compete,” saidChao.

Even with these strong perfor-mances, Cornell was still in a closesecond as the sparring competitionbegan. The MIT competitors knewthat between Cornell, who broughttwice as many competitors, and theother strong schools, such as Har-vard and West Point, it was going tobe tough. However, MIT remainedundaunted. “We’ve got more spirit,”said Ryan B. Huang ’06. “Cornell isa formidable team, but numbers can'teven begin to compete with our team

spirit.”C-team sparring started strong,

with women’s C1 (Laura A. Daher’07, Przybylowski, Kama) and men'sC1 (Darren M. Chun ’07, Tri M.Ngo ’06, Vladimir V. Barzov G) andC3 advancing easily past the firstround. Przybylowski used hernationals-level sparring experienceto dominate in both her matches.The two-man C3 team of Iliya T.Tsekov ’08 and Javier F. Burgos ’08defeated the John Jay College teamwith a combined score of 16–1.Despite these strong efforts, MITwas unable to capture a medal in theC division.

In the black belt sparring divi-sion, the women’s A2 (RadhikaJagannathan ’05, Grace Y. Kim G,Rosemary E. Pike ’07) lost a toughmatch against the eventual champi-ons from West Point, while the A1team (Chan, Yu, Wendy M.G.Pierce ’05) captured a fourth placefinish after defeating Cornell A2 andlosing to Cornell A1. The men’s A1team (Bobby B. Ren ’05, Conor F.Madigan G, Andrew D. Selbst G)also captured a fourth place finishafter losing their heavyweight toinjury in the first round.

The rest of the tournament wasup to the B division teams, whoproved they could pull through in apinch. Men’s B1 (Huang, Ho, Bar-zov) and B3 (Chao, Stephen J. Kao’05, Jordan B. Brayanov G) foughtthrough the largest bracket of thetournament to win gold and bronze,respectively. MIT B1’s run ended inthe finals over their rival, CornellB1. Huang shut out the lightweight8–1, while Ho clinched a 1–0 over-time nailbiter to give MIT the leadin the tournament standings.

At the end of the day, MIT hadnot only won enough points to earngold at the tournament but alsoenough to pull ahead into first placein the season team totals, therebysecuring them the title of LeagueChampions for the third year in arow. In addition, MIT team memberRen was awarded the league maleMVP for his outstanding season asone of the leading lightweights inthe league.

Reflecting back on the seasonand thinking about next year, teamco-captain Sinn commented, “We'redefinitely going to lose a lot of keyplayers this year, but that happensevery year. What is important is thatthe younger players will get thechance to step it up and fill in thevoids. That’s what makes our clubso resilient.”

YUN WU—THE TECH

Jaclyn E. Cichon ’05 fires a ball at a Skidmore opponent in a match held last Saturday. Cichonwon both her doubles and singles matches, helping MIT to secure a 9–0 victory over Skidmore.

TKD League ChampsAgain, for Third Year

Saturday, April 30

Men’s Lightweight Crew vs. Rutgers University Charles River, 8 a.m.Varsity Sailing Geiger Trophy Charles River, 9 a.m.Women’s Openweight Crew vs. Boston University and Radcliffe Charles River, 9 a.m.NEWMAC Men’s Tennis Championship Tournament du Pont Tennis Courts, 11 a.m.Varsity Men’s Lacrosse vs. Western New England College Steinbrenner Stadium, 1 p.m.

UPCOMING HOME EVENTS