Let the Ugliness Begin
The race for the APO Ugliest Man on Campus kicked off yesterday with the first three contestants: Roberto J. Melendez ’12, Chinua E. Shaw ’13, and Jeremy B. Dalcin ’13. Interestingly, all candidates are residents of Next House. However, there are rumors from APO’s Kelly A. Drinkwater ’11 that the Bexely-Minus-Fascists Sink will enter the competition soon. Students can vote for the ugly candidates by placing pennies or bills into their corresponding jars. One point is equal to one cent.
GSC Takes Graduate Student Welfare Bill To Washington D.C.
MIT’s Graduate Student Council (GSC) recently added national policy to its otherwise campus-based advocacy agenda, pushing for tax exemption of graduate student stipends, open access to federally funded published research, and higher caps on H1-B visas for advanced-degree holders to members of Congress earlier this fall.
Police Log
<i>The following incidents were reported to the Campus Police between October 14 and October 29. The dates below reflect the dates incidents occurred. This information is compiled from the Campus Police’s crime log. The report does not include alarms, general service calls, or incidents not reported to the dispatcher.</i>
2007–2008 Top Salaries at MIT, With a Bit of History
Name Title FY08Compensation FY07 to FY08 FY06 to FY07 % (delta) % (delta) Seth Alexander President of MITIMCo $795,960 * 165% $313,141 795% $422,125 Susan Hockfield President $695,435 109% $60,141 109% $51,744 Donald Lessard Professor — Sloan School $597,154 §** 102% $13 ,395 109% $50,122 Steve Marsh MITIMCo, Real Estate $571,152 §* 128% $125,658 133% $110,404 Philip Rotner MITIMCo, Private Equity $553,703 §* 126% $115,744 124% $85,147 Daniel Steele MITIMCo, Private Equity $550,933 §* 128% $121,508 124% $83,700 Rafael Reif Provost $507,449 111% $49,071 112% $48,984 Theresa Stone Executive Vice President $502,496 207% $260,261 — — Martin Kelly MITIMco, Private Equity $496,316 §* 131% $117,416 — — R. Gregory Morgan General Counsel $464,103 † 233% $264,636 — — Jeffrey Newton VP, Resource Dev. $357,130 356% $256,829 — — Joel Moses Past Provost $351,028 105% $16,874 101% $2,834 Philip Clay Chancellor $312,078 ‡ 109% $25,968 114% $34,458 John Deutch Past Provost $302,420 106% $16,300 101% $1,792 Paul Gray Past President $301,724 270% $189,924 104% $4,480 Dana Mead Corp. Chairman $247,904 105% $12,269 104% $8,955 Kathryn Willmore Past Corp. Secretary $222,800 100% -$280 100% -$570 Kirk Kolenbrander Corp. Secretary $208,000 114% $26,000 $182,000 Howard Johnson Past President $39,530 100% $0 100% $0
A U.S. Visa, Shouts of Corruption, and Barrels of Oil
Several times every year, Teodoro Nguema Obiang arrives at the doorstep of the United States from his home in Equatorial Guinea, on his way to his $35 million estate in Malibu, Calif., his fleet of luxury cars, his speedboats and private jet. And he is always let into the country.
Shorts (left)
During the best of the times, Miguel Salcedo’s son, an illegal immigrant in San Diego, would be sending home hundreds of dollars a month to support his struggling family in Mexico. But at times like these, with the American economy out of whack and his son out of work, Salcedo finds himself doing what he never imagined he would have to do: wiring pesos north.
GM Shows Signs of Recovery Despite Quarterly Loss
General Motors, whose very survival was in doubt earlier this year, is showing signs of life after its brief tour through bankruptcy this summer.
When the Budget Director Talks, People Will Listen
Most people have never heard of Douglas W. Elmendorf. But all of official Washington is waiting to hear what he has to say.
U.N. Inspectors Fear Iran Is Hiding Nuclear Plants
On Monday, International inspectors who gained access to Iran’s newly revealed underground nuclear enrichment plant voiced strong suspicions in a report, saying that the country was concealing other atomic facilities.
Shorts (right)
The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls “food insecurity” 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday.
Sun, Sun, Sun
High pressure builds into the area today, providing light winds and a sunny sky and letting meteorologists let down their guard for a few days. Light winds and a lack of clouds is a win-win combination for winter cold at night, since these are the circumstances that allow the ground to radiate heat efficiently to space once the sun goes down.
Obama Takes Part in a Town Hall, Chinese Style
The event was called a town hall, but President Barack Obama’s meeting with a group of about 500 students in this Chinese city on Monday had little in common with the sometimes raucous exchanges that have become a fixture of American politics.
MIT’s Obligation to the Hyatt’s Workers
Recently, I was jogging near my dorm when I passed a group of people holding bunches of red helium balloons that read, “Boycott Hyatt.” Curious, I approached a protester and asked him why he wanted to boycott the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, a hotel next to Tang Hall patronized by MIT visitors, parents, and scientific meetings.
Letters to the Editor
I was excited to read a letter written to <i>The Tech</i> on November 3rd by Rachel Sealfon, “Where are the College Democrats.” It is a question I and many other members of the College Democrats of Massachusetts have asked. MIT is world-renowned for being on the forefront of political action and social thought in our nation, so why is it that there is no organized group of College Democrats on campus? I worked last year as the Student Coordinator for the Obama campaign in Massachusetts, and saw firsthand the amazing work that “MIT for Obama” accomplished. Leaders of that group, like Catherine Havasi ’03 and Shankar Mukherji G, were able to register hundreds of MIT students from “Obama swing states” to vote in that state, where their vote could make a difference. Imagine the work an organized and established group could do on behalf of the re-election campaigns of Governor Patrick, President Obama, and many other progressives. So here is my challenge: the Executive Board of the College Democrats of Massachusetts will sit down with anyone interested in starting a MIT College Democrats chapter, anytime, anyplace. Feel free to contact me, (508) 241-6200 or <i>johnsonp@macollegedems.org</i>.
Sports Shorts
The MIT men’s cross country team took sixth place at the NCAA Division III New England Championship, hosted by the University of Southern Maine on Saturday. NEWMAC Runner of the Year, Hemagiri Arumugam ’10, was the top overall finisher for the Cardinal and Grey, who matched the program’s best finish at the meet since 2003, with 163 total points.
Women’s Cross Country Team Wins NE Regional Championship
The MIT women's cross country team came into Saturday's NCAA Division III New England Regional Championship ranked number four in the nation and tops in the region. Thanks to an impressive performance led by individual champion Jacqueline M. Wentz ’10 and third-place finisher, Maria J. Monks ’10, the Engineers justified those rankings and took home the Team Championship for the first time in program history. MIT and defending National Champion Middlebury finished with the same number of team points, 63, with their top five runners, but Brooke C. Johnson ’13 came through the chute just 2.1 seconds faster than Middlebury's number six, giving Tech the tiebreaker and the New England Championship.
Brouhaha Rhythm
In last week’s edition of “Frivolous Dissertations on Breakfast,” in which I discussed my thoughts on the ideal cereal shape, it occurred to me that one edition simply wasn’t big enough to contain the sheer mass of frivolity on the subject that I wanted to share. More than that, it seemed terribly prejudiced of me to assume that cereal was the only breakfast food worth talking about. After all, non-college students eat breakfast, too (I think) and if I expect to be taken seriously in debates on the subject of breakfast, I should have an informed opinion on more than just the issues that matter to me.
