MIT's Media Lab In Trouble

"Even worse, the financial shortfall is dredging up long-festering issues. When times were flush, no one rocked the boat. Now the hard-science groups are bucking for independence, claiming that the Lab's art-meets-technology focus is passé. Students complain that egocentric professors are undermining the Lab's interdisciplinary spirit. And the Lab's reputation as a scientific lightweight - "all icing and no cake," as Negroponte sums up the rap - never seems to die. Designing props for the wacky Flying Karamazov Brothers juggling troupe isn't exactly what the Nobel committee is looking for."