News Briefs
DDR could be replaced by smoothies
The UA Committee on Space Planning is working on revitalizing the former game room next to LaVerdes Market on the first floor of the Student Center.
A survey sent to undergraduates in early October showed that about half of want a smoothie cafe in that space, according to William F. Steadman ’12, chair of the committee.
The committee is currently looking into who would operate the smoothie store — whether an outside company would be invited to open a shop, or if students could run it.
Another survey will be sent out in the coming week to get a better sense of students’ interests. Renovations will need to be done on the room before it can support any food option because it currently does not have running water.
The game machines were removed from the room about two years ago, when the contractor who owned and maintained them retired.
— Jingyun Fan
A birthday parole for Lori Berenson
Lori Helene Berenson, the former MIT student and political activist imprisoned in Peru, was paroled from prison for the second time on Monday.
Berenson, who withdrew from MIT as a sophomore in 1988, served 15 years out of a 20-year prison sentence for aiding the leftist guerilla group Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, or MRTA (Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru). She will be 41 years old tomorrow.
Berenson was paroled in May, but her parole was revoked by a higher court. The same judge who paroled her the first time, Judge Jessica León, granted her parole again, the Associated Press reported.
Berenson must remain in Peru while her parole is in effect.
In 1995, Berenson was accused of being a leader of the MRTA and was sentenced by an anonymous military court to life imprisonment. Under pressure from the United States, Berenson was retried by a civilian court in 2001 and sentenced to 20 years in prison, with 5 years already served.
Berenson denies involvement with the MRTA.
— John A. Hawkinson