10A -- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 11, 1999 HIGHER EDUCATION Students support Greek system single-sex houses Crowd surfing I -a Scientist may have shared 0 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. U U /AY N E TATE LNIVERSIT ,srĀ«^ k e ?;: 'ce. .. h fi..: secret info 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 LA SINC, EASTPO1NTE, CUBA STERLING HEIGHTS,,M CLINTON TwP., UN RIVALED CONNECTIVITY Choose from thousands of classes this spring/summer. CONNECT T o32,000 S"TUD EN T CONNEC T 1o . [ 1 V A L.1,T ) ::. F S C I E N C E A N D IM ED ICINE' ANID 4 10,000 FA CULF Y, A NDg200,000 A\LUMNI. u- E :EAA\ I.~~NMAT, FA I) [TII OKkKKSS L -)I.. A N IL-) E L) Ul { I