Moratorium on student groups to last until spring
The Association of Student Activities announced that it will not be recognizing new student groups this fall on its website, citing an increase in student groups, time needed for the ASA to update policies and transition to a new database, and that the organization itself is understaffed.
New dorm to be built on West Campus
A new dorm will be constructed on West Campus with the goal of opening in 2019. Its current location and building plans are undecided.
Course 1 to offer three new minors
The new minors will include Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering Science, and a brand-new area called Civil and Environmental Systems.
MIT to offer Korean language classes in the fall
Two new Korean culture classes being offered are Intro to East Asian Culture: Zen to K-Pop, and Digital Media in Japan and Korea.
MIT admits 1,485 to class of 2020
MIT offered admission to 1,485 out of 19,020 applicants for the class of 2020 for an admissions rate of 7.8 percent. The rate decreased from last year’s 8.0 percent, and has been steadily declining since 2003 with the exception of last year when it went up by 0.3 percentage points.
Peer2Peer joins other campus mental health initiatives
Peer2Peer, an anonymous web-based peer support platform, launched late last month. The site allows users to chat with fellow students; the Institute launched the site as part of an ongoing effort to lower the barrier for seeking help with mental health issues. Peer2Peer was spearheaded by Berj Chilingirian ’16 and two professionals at MIT Mental Health, Evan Waldheter and Rheinila Fernandes.
Lean on Me to offer anonymous venue for student support
Andy Trattner ’17 and a team of students launched a mental health platform, Lean On Me, Tuesday. Students will be able to use the platform by texting a hotline to receive support from peers. The team includes Trattner as CEO, COO Linda Jing ’17, CTO Amin Manna ’17, and Board Member and MIT alumnus Nikhil Buduma ’15.
Course 15 splits into three new majors
MIT’s Sloan School of Management is turning Course 15 into three separate majors, motivated in part by “confusion regarding the meaning of ‘management science,’” James B. Orlin SE ’88 said in a faculty meeting.
After two years, Maseeh votes to rejoin Dormitory Council
After seceding in 2013, Maseeh Hall and its Executive Council (MHEC) decided to formally rejoin MIT’s Dormitory Council (DormCon) this past December. This marks the first time in over forty years that DormCon represents every dorm at MIT.
Admissions officer: MIT doesn’t check Facebook profiles
With all of the admonishments parents, counselors, and advice websites issue to high school students to keep their online presence professional, nobody could fault applicants for assuming that MIT admissions officers will scour their Facebook profiles. Nevertheless, the assumption would be false.
No. 3 in arts, humanities? Dean hopes ranking spurs interest
MIT was recently ranked third globally for arts and humanities and first for the social sciences by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
Ig Nobels recognize silly science
There is no such thing as bad science — or at least that’s the general theme of the Ig Nobels. Every year, Nobel laureates convene at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre to award ten lucky groups Ig Nobel awards, consisting of “ten trillion Zimbabwean dollars” and a potted plant. And all they had to do was come up with some of the strangest scientific results.