News Briefs
Harvard Student Killed in Accident
A Harvard student was killed Monday in Cambridge after being struck by a Shaw’s delivery truck. Isaac J. Meyers was hit 6:45 a.m. while in a crosswalk at the corner of Prospect Street and Mass Ave. Meyers was dragged 160 feet while trapped between the fourth and fifth axles of the truck, according to a police report cited in the Cambridge Chronicle. He was pronounced dead at 12:20 p.m.
Similar accidents have occurred on both Memorial Dr. and Mass Ave. on the MIT campus. Michele S. Micheletti ’00 was killed on Halloween in 1997 outside New House on Memorial Dr. after she was struck by two oncoming cars. A Boston University freshman, Beatriz Ponce, was killed in October 2006 at the intersection of Amesbury Street and Memorial Dr. while crossing outside of the crosswalk. Joseph A. Croswell ’99 sustained serious injuries after a motorcycle accident on Mass Ave. in 1996, when he was hit by a car making a left turn onto Amherst Street.
Meyers, a native of New York City and a graduate of Yale University, was pursuing a master’s in the classics. He was an active member of Harvard Hillel and fondly recalled by many of his colleagues. “Isaac was a cherished member of our community, and we feel immeasurable pain and sorrow at this time,” Harvard Hillel wrote on its Web site. Ben Shapiro wrote in his column on townhall.com: “Isaac was simply a phenomenal person. He was ridiculously literate -- his love for literature and philosophy was infectious.” Family and friends met for an informal gathering at Harvard’s Boylston Hall on Monday night. The funeral was held Wednesday in New York City.
—S. Campbell Proehl
Faculty Vote On Proposals
At the Wednesday, March 19 faculty meeting, the faculty voted to make the sophomore exploratory option permanent. The option had been a five-year experiment of the Committee on the Undergraduate Program. The CUP reported that students who declared a subject exploratory had a higher sophomore-year grade point average than students who did not declare a subject exploratory.
The faculty also voted to add a Pass/D/Fail option for graduate students. Departments and subject instructors will be able to restrict students’ use of the option. The Committee on Graduate Programs will reevaluate the option after five years.
The faculty also heard a proposal to make the Comparative Media Studies course, which had been a five-year experiment, permanent. The faculty will vote on that proposal at the next regularly scheduled meeting, on Wednesday, April 16.
—Michael McGraw-Herdeg