First week of full campus COVID-19 testing plagued by long lines
Wait times averaged 45–60 minutes Aug. 17 and Aug 18. Average wait times decreased to under 15 minutes Aug. 26. Overall, they have averaged 15–20 minutes, Stuopis wrote in an email to The Tech.
The MIT Police Department, explained
The MIT Police Department (MITPD) has moved to the center of campus conversations following nationwide protests about police brutality against Black communities.
Reif sends email about fall decisions, including tuition information
In addition, MIT is “adjusting” the aid budget “to meet families’ increased financial needs. Revised financial aid awards will be made available “likely by mid-August,” according to an FAQ on MIT’s COVID-19 site.
MIT Campus Police Association announces vote of no confidence in MIT Police Chief John DiFava
The MCPA’s announcement, emailed to The Tech, cited “outdated policies and procedures, poor morale throughout the department, favoritism in personnel decision-making, and a culture that does not support the officers,” as well as the MIT Police Department’s lack of independent review for over two decades.
MIT commits to developing and implementing Institute-wide plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion
The plan will be developed with input from “across the community,” including Black Students’ Union (BSU) and Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA) representatives.
MIT EMS heightens PPE protocols for COVID-19
MIT EMTs now respond to all calls wearing face shields, N95 masks, and gloves. In addition, if there is any suspicion based on CDC guidelines that a patient may have COVID-19, the EMTs will wear gowns.
‘Today is a strange day’ — me, Tuesday
If there is anything good about such a distressing period, it is the humanity that it brings out of all of us.
Over 17 tested for COVID-19, none positive yet
If a positive test were received, Stuopis wrote that MIT Medical would “would inform the MIT community quickly, and work with the department of public health to notify any individuals who had contact with the COVID-19 positive patient.”
Blake, Sharon, Waitz share COVID-19 updates at faculty meeting
Emergency management, the DSL, and the Institute’s space planning working group are also “developing plans to support community members that reside in surrounding areas, including some students who returned to homes locally, that may need a place to self-quarantine in the future,” Sharon wrote.
Reif joins Harvard and Stanford presidents in calling for ‘drastic action’ on coronavirus
The presidents expressed remorse at the disruptive nature of actions at their own universities, which included “suddenly sending virtually all of our undergraduates home,” cancelling nearly all events and in-person meetings, and “asking everyone who could work remotely to do so right away.”
Five MIT students named Putnam Fellows
Sah, Zhang, and Zhu were all participants in 18.A34 (Mathematical Problem Solving), a Putnam seminar for first year, run by Yufei Zhao ’10, professor of mathematics and a former Putnam participant.
6.0001/2, 6.009, and 8.02 switch away from Piazza
6.0001/2 switched to Ed Discussion, an alternate third-party platform. 6.009 switched to “the forum,” a site instructor Adam Hartz ’11 built using the platform Discourse, an open-source software. 8.02 switched to a MITx discussion forum hosted on the MITx Residential platform.
Two juniors named Brooke Owens Fellows
The fellowship provides “executive mentorship” from senior leaders in the aerospace community and a paid internship.
MIT card readers to be replaced
MIT community members can exchange their card for an upgraded one free of charge at the Atlas Service Center.
Brothers Marketplace opens in Kendall Square
The store offers higher-priced organic and locally-sourced options. The cooked foods section of the store includes a bakery and cafe, a salad bar, a deli, a hot pretzel display, and a sushi display.
SHASS introduces Computing and Society concentration
“The goal of the concentration is to help students gain a greater understanding of how changes in computational power have refashioned fundamental questions about community, identity, democracy, and knowledge itself,” Karen Gardner, academic administrator of Science, Technology, and Society (STS), wrote.
College of Computing Task Force working group final reports available
The Curricula and Degrees working group examined various options for new curriculum development, including providing “Programming, Computation, and Data” instructors for computationally intensive non-CS subjects and a summer program for first-year students with little computational background.
MIT received thousands in donations from Epstein Interests
Ito wrote, “I take full responsibility for my error in judgment. I am deeply sorry to the survivors, to the Media Lab, and to the MIT community for bringing such a person into our network.”
Professor Patrick Winston dies at 76
Suri Bandler ’17: Winston had "a deep sense of humor, a shocking love of chocolates, and a core that is MIT through-and-through."
Reif emphasizes the value of immigrants in light of U.S. government actions against Chinese researchers and scientists
Vice President of Research Maria Zuber emphasized that improving security relies on identifying processes and organizational structures that need to be enhanced, rather than targeting any particular ethnic group.
Provost announces broadened search for ICEO, new associate provost position
The associate provost will work with other administrators to “ensure equitable practices during the faculty hiring, promotion, tenure, and review processes.”
Committee to plan for new varsity weight room in the fall, gymnastics facility will stay as is in meantime
The committee will be formed by early August, charged by early September, and conclude their work by the end of the fall semester.
Opening plenary of Solve discusses “Tech for Equality”
The Solve Innovation Fund will raise over $30 million from tax-deductible gifts to make debt and equity investments in for-profit Solver teams. All returns will be reinvested into future Solver teams.
Flexible Nuclear Science and Engineering (22-ENG) degree approved
According to the proposal, the new major was formed to cater to students “interested in careers outside of traditional nuclear industry jobs, including nuclear medicine, clean energy technologies, fusion, quantum engineering, and modeling/simulation.”
Bachelor of Science in Computation and Cognition (6-9) degree approved
The degree provides two tracks, one for those who are interested in human and machine intelligence, and another for those who are interested in neural systems.
Organizational Structure and Faculty Appointments working groups hold joint forum
Two of the major questions the working group is tackling, EECS Department Head Ozdaglar explained, are what role EE will play in the new college, and how non-College of Computing faculty will connect to the college.
MIT instates new review process for ‘elevated-risk’ international proposals
Zuber framed MIT’s decision to instate this new process as “proactive” in responding to federal concerns about problems like intellectual property theft and national security. “No one in the government said that they were threatening to cut our funding,” she said.
Stratton Student Center Subway closed
The closure occurred “abruptly due to issues between Subway’s parent company and the franchisee that ran the W20 location,” according to a statement from Mark Hayes, director of MIT Dining, emailed to The Tech.
Dorm leaders present first-year rooming assignment designs in workshop
EC proposed running an algorithm to assign first years to rooms (based on their rankings) 10 times to generate 10 sets of dorm-wide placements. Each hall’s upper-level students would then rank the results.
Protesters gather against College of Computing celebration
At intermittent points, organizers led protestors in chants, such as “Kissinger you can’t hide, you committed genocide.”
EECS department releases new computer science minor requirements
The new minor requires a total of 72 units, with up to 12 units of introductory level subjects, up to 63 units of basic level subjects, and at least 12 units of advanced level subjects.
Swastika drawn on Black History Month poster
The paper with the swastika also had messages that read, “Still, once the Buddhists saw it was being used for hate, they stopped using it. This is disrespectful,” and “This is wrong, the German one is turned."
Reif decides that MIT will not sever ties with Saudi Arabia
Seventy-six percent of non-faculty comments either strongly opposed or leaned against the recommendation to continue ties with Saudi Arabia.
Evolution of the first-year academic experience
This year, freshmen can designate up to three Science, Mathematics, and Engineering (SME) General Institute Requirements to be graded on a Pass/No Record basis after their first term. In light of this experiment, it is timely to reflect on the history of the first year academic experience at MIT.
Students mock, express concern about administration edits to REX event booklet
One of Random Hall's REX Chairs said she disagreed with many of the edits, including the removal of a water pong event and the flagging of a potato-themed event run by an Irish student as an example of stereotyping.
MIT Intelligence Quest initiative renamed MIT Quest for Intelligence
CMS/W Professor Kenneth Manning wrote in the MIT Faculty Newsletter about "IQ and its eugenic uses, especially its espousal of racial inferiority."
Dreamers face uncertain futures despite temporary protection
Dreamers Ian Bouche ’21, Jose Gomez ’17, Johan Villanueva ’20, and Avital Vainberg ’21 discuss their experiences as DACA students.
Court battle against MIT for excessive Supplemental 401(k) Plan fees continues
Two years ago, suits were filed against MIT and other universities about excessive retirement plan fees.
MIT releases findings on relation to slavery, founder William Barton Rogers was a slaveholder
Green found that 11 of the 18 racialized images within the first 30 years of The Tech and the first 15 years of Technique depicted black people as waiters, even though research has shown that black people during that time period in Boston had a variety of occupations.
MIT Concourse team restores Kendall T Station’s musical installation
Concourse team restores and maintains the Kendall Band, continuing the work of the Kendall Band Preservation Society and preserving the magic of Paul Matisse's installation for Kendall Station visitors.
MIT announces consensual relationships policy
The new policy broadly bans any consensual sexual or romantic relationship between MIT faculty, staff, graduate student, or undergraduate student when one party holds authority over the other.
MIT chef talks food, family, and feeding students
Brian Dagnall, Director of Culinary Operations for MIT Dining: "I love food, so everyday I wake up, I roll out of bed, and I’m doing what I love."
Tuition waiver taxes unlikely to make it into final Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, admins say
Goldston said that generally there was “reason for optimism about the graduate student tax” because it is only present in the House, not Senate, version of the bill.
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act may increase grad student taxes by $10,000 or more
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, set to go before the House of Representatives for a floor vote, has caused widespread concern on campus, specifically regarding Section 1204, which may add previously excluded qualified tuition reductions to graduate students’ taxable income. According to President L. Rafael Reif and the Graduate Student Council, this could increase the taxes of each of MIT’s nearly 7,000 graduate students’ by $10,000 or more.
When systems biology fails to predict the biology of people
Ayyadurai’s understanding of biological health does not translate to an understanding of healthcare policy, which is geared towards ensuring widespread accessibility to medical services, and necessitates the tackling of essentially social topics such as insurance risk discrimination and whether health care itself is a universal right.
Reflecting on Noam Chomsky’s 66 years at MIT
Despite receiving offers from numerous major universities over the years, Chomsky never thought about leaving what he called “a very special place.”