Preferred Dining Program Is Loss For Baker Students, Report Says
A majority of Baker House residents are satisfied with the quality of Baker Dining but do not consider the Preferred Dining membership program to be a value to them, according to a report released last week by the Baker House Dining Committee. The committee found that the average Baker resident loses $125 per term through Preferred Dining, a mandatory program for most residents of dormitories with dining halls that gives students a 50 percent discount on dining hall food after paying for membership.
Lack of Water Closes Kresge Auditorium on Friday
A fault in Kresge Auditorium's water system occurred Friday, May 4, disrupting performances by the Festival Jazz Ensemble and the Musical Theatre Guild. The Campus Activities Complex shut down Kresge because of a failure in the fire sprinkler system related to a lack of running water. Water was restored at around 9:40 p.m.
Inca Leapt Canyons With Fiber Bridges
Conquistadors from Spain came, they saw, and they were astonished. They had never seen anything in Europe like the bridges of Peru. Chroniclers wrote that the Spanish soldiers stood in awe and fear before the spans of braided fiber cables suspended across deep gorges in the Andes, narrow walkways sagging and swaying and looking so frail.
RIAA Pre-Litigation Letters Sent to MIT
Twenty-three MIT students have been sent pre-litigation settlement letters after allegedly illegally downloading copyrighted audio recordings, according to a press release from the Recording Industry Association of America.
Students May Have Paid Cash to Change Grades, College Says
Prosecutors in California are investigating accusations that dozens of students paid hundreds of dollars to have grades changed at a Bay Area community college, college officials say.
No. of Pre-Litigation Letters Per School
These 13 universities were targeted in the fourth wave of pre-litigation letters from the RIAA. The letters, sent to these universities last week, are a new tactic in the RIAA's anti-piracy campaign and offer students a chance to settle at a reduced fee while avoiding civil action.
Shorts (right)
Danvers neighborhood last November, state officials Monday outlined the first federally approved plan to inspect small chemical and hazardous waste plants that they said could pose "a significant danger to populations in the event of a problem or accident."
Mass. Governor Patrick Moves To Reshape Executive Branch
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, in his latest effort to reshape his administration, has informed all commissioners and agency leaders appointed by his Republican predecessors that they must reapply for their jobs and will be notified by June 1 if they can remain in their positions.
The Heat Is On
After the generally dreary weather of March and April, anyone looking forward to summer will surely enjoy an early taste this week, as temperatures flirt with 80°F (27°C) in the coming days.
Report on Child Deaths Finds Some Hope in Poorest Nations
The rate at which young children perish has worsened most disastrously over the past 15 years in Iraq, hard hit by both sanctions and war, and in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Swaziland, devastated by AIDS, according to a report released Monday by Save the Children. But researchers also found against-the-odds progress is some of the world's poorest nations.
As Top Aide Resigns, Future For Wolfowitz Still Uncertain
World Bank president Paul D. Wolfowitz's efforts to keep his job floundered Monday as one of his top two aides resigned and several senior bank officials expressed concern in interviews that countries might withhold donations if his fate as head of the world's leading development institution isn't settled soon.
A Fan of the American Way Takes The Reins in France After Election
Two days before the first round of the presidential election last month, Nicolas Sarkozy donned a red checked shirt, jeans and cowboy boots, mounted a small white horse named Universe and rode around the Camargue country in France's deep south. A gaggle of reporters and cameramen followed him in a cart pulled by a tractor. The black bulls on the nearby pasture stayed away.
Israeli Prime Minister Olmert Survives 3 No-Confidence Votes in Parliament
Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, survived three no-confidence votes against his government on Monday, part of the political fallout from a harsh report on the country's leadership during last summer's war in Lebanon.
Shorts (left)
Students at Amir Kabir University fended off club-wielding university security guards on Monday and went ahead with elections for a pro-democracy association.
Corrections
The May 1 article "Baseball Places 2nd After Two Wins Yield Berth in Title Game" stated that the baseball team made it to the title game of their conference tournament, when in fact they were eliminated in the semifinal round. That same article was written by James Kramer and Travis Johnson, though credit was mistakenly given to Mindy Brauer and Travis Johnson.
Letters to the Editor
In his recent article, Shankar Mukherji argued that the United States should shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay. I don't believe that will solve anything, because the fundamental problem with what's going on down there is not the base itself. International and U.S. laws are obsolete, having been written in a different era for a different kind of war, and only revising the law to deal with the realities of modern conflict can fix the situation.
With Help of Mistakes, Baseball Comes From Behind to Beat Rams
Richard D. Kosoglow '08 capped his third year donning the Cardinal and Gray with the best start of his career as he allowed only one earned run in a completing-game victory for MIT this Sunday. The Tech bats also orchestrated several key hits against Suffolk staff ace Reid Jackson and the Engineers hung on to defeat the Rams, 8-5.
Women's Track Wins NEWMAC, Finishes 2nd at NCAA Regional
With May just around the corner, and projects and finals looming, the MIT women's track and field team peaked at the right time and won its first conference championship. The Engineers defeated Wheaton College, who won the nine previous New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) championships, by a convincing 215.5-178.5 score on April 28.
