10A -- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 11, 1999
HIGHER EDUCATION
Students support Greek
system single-sex houses
Crowd surfing
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Scientist
may have
shared
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By Brad Russo
The Dartmouth
HANOVER, N.H. -- Eighty-three
percent of students responding to a poll
by The Dartmouth on Feb. 11 said they
support the continuation of single-sex
fraternities and sororities at Dartmouth.
But others are voicing support for the
controversial initiative announced by
Dartmouth's Board of Trustees and
Dartmouth President James Wright
which includes creating a new system
structure Wright said will not be "built
on single-sex houses."
A few dozen students have even coa-
lesced to form Students for a Free
Dartmouth - a group which commu-
nicates mostly via e-mail and was
founded by alum Bill Kartalopoulos
and Dartmouth first-year student Phil
Rutherford. The concept was a counter-
reaction to the overwhelming protests
against the trustees' announcement by
members of the Greek community.
"Following the decision, the campus
environment seemed unwelcoming to
anyone with a different view, soI decid-
ed to create an alternative presence on
campus to say it's okay to have a differ-
ent view," Kartalopoulos said. "Our
goal is not to create an organization
with a specific agenda and to get stu-
dents to support that agenda"
Rutherford said life at Dartmouth
could be drastically better in coming
years, depending on what students decide
to do with the money the trustees have
pledged to devote to building a new
social system. The trustees have said they
will spend "tens of millions of dollars"
on the initiative if need be.
"If we use that money wisely, it will
improve our only weekend option now,
which is getting drunk. Hopefully other
options will exist," Rutherford said.
But the members of SFFD are not the
only students at Dartmouth who sup-
port an overhaul of the college's social
system. A significant minority of stu-
dents are looking at the Trustees'
announcement as an unparalleled
opportunity for improvement, rather
than a threat to the Greek system.
"This (decision) is a great thing.
People would be crazy to pass up an
opportunity to change" Dartmouth,
senior Shauna Brown said. Brown, presi-
dent of the Afro-American Society, is one
of nine students on the task force that
serves as a receptacle to collect and orga-
nize information and opinions.
Like Rutherford, Brown emphasized
student responsibility for reshaping
social and residential life.
"I'm someone who has accepted that
responsibility," Brown said.
Significant alterations to the social
structure, primarily those involving
Greek life, are seen by some students as
a welcome change.
"The Greek system is a relic of a
bygone age that was created to nurture
individuals to be leaders of an exclusive
society and to unify an elite class, but the
world has moved on and (this decision) is
long overdue," Kartalopoulos said.
"The college upholds ideals of cre-
ativity, free and open intellectual
exchange of ideas and tolerance, and
the social system in place runs counter
to those ideals," Kartalopoulos said.
A student gets thrown in the air after he Is admitted to Tokyo University
yesterday. Hundreds of students celebrated after the scores of the nation's
difficult standardized tests were released.
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UC professor fired for
allegedly leaking nuclear
technology to China
By Bernice Ng
Daily Califormian
BERKELEY, Calif. - A University
of California laboratory employee was
fired earlier this week for allegedly
leaking top-secret nuclear intelligence
to China during the 1980s.
UC officials dismissed Wen Ho Lee,
a Chinese-American computer scien-
tist at the university's Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico,
after allegations surfaced that he stole
nuclear technology from the federal
lab.
The information Lee allegedly
leaked to China has helped the country
drastically bolster its nuclear power i*
the last decade, government officials
said.
Los Alamos lab Director John
Browne terminated Lee via letter after
a recommendation from U.S. Energy
Secretary Bill Richardson. Browne
had conferred with UC President
Richard Atkinson before the dismissal,
said UC spokesperson Rick
Malaspina.
Los Alamos is one of three laborato-
ries owned by the U.S. Department oo
Energy and operated by the UC sys-
tem.
In 1995, federal investigators sus-
pected that China might be in the ille-
gal possession of top secret U.S.
nuclear technology after finding a
1988 Chinese document that revealed
the country had obtained confidential
designs of a specific U.S. missile war-
head.
A 1996 investigation into this find
ing led authorities to believe that Lee
might be affiliated with the espionage
that helped the country significantly
improve its weapons technology. In the
last decade, China has emerged from a
country lagging in nuclear power to
one ranking in top nuclear capability
- a direct result of the nuclear knowl-
edge it stole, officials said.
Among the country's nuclear
accomplishments is the creation of
miniature warhead similar to one cre-
ated at the Los Alamos lab. Each of
these missile warheads can be aimed at
multiple targets.
During the FBI investigation, five
individuals were questioned until
authorities narrowed down the sus-
pects to Lee. Investigators kept Lee
working at the laboratory, but reduced
him from a "classified workplace" to a
"non-classified job," after he wa@
made a suspect in order to further the
FBI's investigation.
Lee was fired earlier this week after
three days of interrogation, where he
failed a number of lie detector tests.
The FBI investigation revealed his fail-
ure to "properly safeguard classified
material," his "attempting to deceive
laboratory about security related
issues" and his "contact with people
from a sensitive country."
He has, however, not been detainer
nor charged with any crime.
The Los Alamos National
Laboratory has long been heralded as
one of the most prestigious labs under
the operation of the U.S. Department
of Energy.
It was at this location where the
Manhattan Project took place in the
1940s to successfully develop the first
atomic bomb.
Because employees are exposed to
top-secret intelligence at the laborato-
ry, constant efforts to ensure the pro-
tection of such highly confidential
information have been implemented,
Browne said.
In a statement, Browne defended the
lab's efforts for security Monday and
reiterated its mission to safeguard top-
secret information.
"People at Los Alamos have always
understood the need to protect class
fied information," he said. "It's ap
essential part of our culture."
The leaking of "sensitive" nuclear
intelligence, however, has raised concern
- especially among members of the
Republican party - that the security at
the nation's top laboratories could be lax.
Browne acknowledged that in such a
"changing world," ensuring complete
protection could at times prove to be a
difficult task.
"We place the utmost importance
on protecting information and mate-
rials relating to national security and
recognize this is an increasingly com-
plex challenge in today's changing
world;" he said. "I am also committed
to working with the Department of
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