Sophomore Standing Statistics
source: Julie B. Norman, Director of Undergrad. Advising and Academic Programming
News Briefs
The arguments surrounding the candidacy of Prashant K. Dilwali ’08 were resolved by an Undergraduate Association JudBoard ruling on Sunday, March 18. Dilwali, whose candidacy was previously contested over a late ballot application, was appealing a decision by the UA Election Commission Rules Board. The Rules Board asserted that Dilwali had violated campaign rules by forming a Facebook group before public campaigning began. The board then appended “violated election rules” to Dilwali’s name on ballots. Dilwali argued that he was running as a write-in candidate when he formed the Facebook group and was under the impression that he could not run as an official candidate.
Scheib’s Video ‘Twisted’ With Savvy Sense of Humor
Even as a student, Jay R. Scheib, associate professor of music and theater arts, wasn’t afraid to take chances.
18 Mathematicians, Advanced Computers Depict the Universe Results of Computation Revealed at MIT
It is one of the most symmetrical mathematical structures in the universe.
Students Choose Soph. Standing
This year, 111 of the 187 students eligible for attaining sophomore standing chose to do so, a two percent increase from last year. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science was the most declared course by students in this group.
UA Voting Site Records Inaccurate
The Undergraduate Association voting Web site (<i>http://vote.mit.edu</i>) has experienced problems over the last few days as some users have been unable to vote without contacting the Election Commission. Michelle Jeong ’08, chair of the UA Election Commission, attributed the problem to lists provided by MIT that describe class affiliation and housing. She said that inaccuracies in those lists have commonly led to voting troubles.
Back Taxes Unchecked By Gov’t As Doctors Accumulate Wealth
Thousands of doctors and other health professionals who participate in Medicare are delinquent in paying federal income and payroll taxes, owing more than $1.3 billion, but they continue to receive Medicare payments because the government does little to check their background, federal investigators said Monday.
Spring Snow?
This weekend’s snowfall was eight inches, but it could have been a lot more. With the air temperature close enough to freezing, most of the snowflakes were in the form of wet snow. With all the ice, sleet, and rain at the tail end of the storm, the snow to liquid ratio was only 4:1. On average, a winter storm’s ratio is 10:1 and when the temperature is around 20°F, the ratio can get up to 20:1. Thus, if we had gotten the “fluff” factor, Boston could have received 40 inches of snow! Nonetheless, the observed eight inches more than doubled the season’s low snow totals and cost us our chance at setting the lowest recorded snowfall total (9") ever in Boston.
Shorts (left)
President Bush marked the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq on Monday with a stark warning against the temptation “to pack up and go home.”
McCain and Brownback Discover Immigration is Big Issue For Iowans
Immigration, an issue that has divided Republicans in Washington for the last several years, is reverberating across the party’s presidential campaign field, causing particular complications for Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Senate Moves to Prohibit Unconfirmed Appointment of Federal Prosecutors
The Senate moved Monday to revoke new authority it granted the Bush administration last year to name federal prosecutors, with Democrats accusing the administration of abusing the appointment power at the center of an escalating clash over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
Failings of Global Effort Seen In South Africa TB Outbreak
The spread of a particularly virulent form of tuberculosis in South Africa illustrates a breakdown in the global program that is supposed to keep the disease, one of the world’s deadliest, under control.
State Farm Insurance Casts Off Judge in New Hurricane Plans
After more than eight weeks of stalemate over a federal court agreement to reopen thousands of insurance claims from Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi, State Farm said Monday that it would work instead through state regulators. The new plan would speed the flow of money to storm victims but they would lose the court’s oversight.
Shorts (right)
Russia on Monday signaled its opposition to the United Nations proposal to settle the status of Kosovo, Serbia’s breakaway province, and said a new negotiator should be named and fresh talks started.
Manmohan, Funakoshi For UA P/VP
Attention Class of 2009! Have you voted for UA President and Vice President yet? Fernando Funakoshi is running for UA Vice President along with Manisha Manmohan for President. The best aspect of their campaign is that he is a member of the class of 2009!
Letters to the Editor
Over the past month, two events concerning Israel’s role in the Middle East have occurred at MIT. While the forum sponsored by MIT’s School of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences and the Social Justice Cooperative [sic] featuring Rabbi Weiss and Imam al-Asi has received most of the attention, an enlightening talk was held last Thursday. Without much fanfare or support by the MIT administration, women’s rights activist Yael Dayan spoke about sexual equality in Israel and the Middle East.
Oldja/Kelch Will Protect MIT Traditions
During my first year in the UA Senate, there were many people who had opinions, or sent me feedback, but Steve, a freshman on my hall, was the most interested in the actual work. He was talented when it came to understanding and analyzing, and suggesting courses of action for Institute and UA politics, so I often used him as a sounding board, and suggested that he should run for Senate himself.
Four Years Later
Four years after entering the Second World War, the United States and her allies had responded to an existential threat by defeating the enemy on two fronts on opposite sides of the world. Four years after preemptively declaring war on Iraq, we are still mired in a conflict that has taken 3,211 American lives and those of at least 60,000 innocent Iraqi civilians. While the initial military defeat of the Iraqi army was relatively well-executed, there was a total lack of planning for the reconstruction of a functioning society. Senior Defense Department management expressed utter disdain for State Department plans to rebuild Iraq, and many of the problems faced today can be directly traced to the inept decision-making in the first days of the conflict. With this kind of track record, we must not allow President Bush to expand the war to Iran.
Holmes-Wyne: A Proven Record
Prior to this year, many juniors did not know what kinds of events their class council was hosting. As Class of 2008 President this year, Martin Holmes has organized numerous sold-out events. From traveling council meetings to joint class events, Martin has surpassed all expectations to serve his class.
Corrections
Due to an egregious editing error, the March 16 piece written about Ronald H. Stowell’s death mistakenly reported that he was charged with sexual assault and battery. He was actually charged with assault and battery.
Kelch and Oldja Are Best Choice
Lauren Oldja and Steve Kelch have already proven themselves to be responsible through their duties to the UA and other student groups, and I have great respect for both of them. They both act with the same high level of integrity on a personal level that they display through their work in student organizations.
Second Half Run Dooms Lacrosse In 19-10 Loss to Visiting Endicott
Eight consecutive goals to start the second half helped power Endicott College to a 19-10 victory over MIT in non-conference women’s lacrosse action last Thursday night.
MIT Swimming Grabs Eleventh In NCAAs With 4 All-Americans
MIT’s men’s swimming and diving contingent received All-America performances from Craig M. Edwards ’07 and Rastislav Racz ’10 on the final day of competition at the NCAA Championships on Saturday, as the Engineers powered to an 11th-place national finish.
Scott’s Travels
I left off last time having just spent the night in the streets of Moscow, and upon awaking, found a dead body a few benches down from mine. It looked as though the man had drunk himself to death in the night. Nothing really came of this though; I couldn’t do anything to help the situation and the park was coming alive with people collecting the recyclables strewn about everywhere — he’d be found again soon enough.
