Lerman will be provost at George Washington in July
Vice Chancellor and Dean for Graduate Education Steven R. Lerman ’72 will leave at the end of this academic year for George Washington University, where he will be Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Only one ticket for top UA spots
Only one pair of candidates has officially registered to run for Undergraduate Association President and Vice President this spring. In response, the UA has extended its late petition deadline for the presidential/vice presidential race to Thursday, March 4.
Electronic billboards called another distraction
Safety advocates who worry about the dangers of distracted driving have a new concern beyond cell phones and gadget-laden dashboards: digital roadside billboards.
Three members of Tau Epsilon Phi named in suit
Three members of MIT’s chapter of Tau Epsilon Phi (tEp) have been named defendants in a lawsuit by volunteers for the Charles River Clean Up Boat regarding a sodium explosion in September 2007.
Back-end changes coming to Stellar
The software architecture behind Stellar, MIT’s course management system, is likely to change within the next year, while user interface will mostly stay the same. Pilot changes to the system may be implemented over the summer, said Eric Klopfer, Chair of the Faculty Advisory Committee on Learning Management Systems, which is tasked with developing the next version of Stellar, called Stellar Next Generation.
For districts policing failing schools, Obama backs reward
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Monday that he favored federal rewards for local school districts that fire underperforming teachers and close failing schools, saying educators needed to be held accountable when they failed to fix chronically troubled classrooms and curb the student dropout rate.
Shorts (right)
ISTANBUL — The detention of top military officers in Turkey last week was nothing less than a quiet piece of history. The military, long considered untouchable in Turkey, was pushed from its political pedestal with startling finality.
Despite readiness for quake, Chile struggles as rescue efforts continue
ANGOL, Chile — Chile’s government, after initially waving off outside aid, changed course Monday as the devastation from the powerful earthquake sunk in and the nation’s pressing needs became clear.
In California, a divided Republican Party smells blood
BURBANK, Calif. — If Republicans are to have a serious chance of capturing control of the U.S. Senate in November, they must win in traditionally Democratic states like California, where Sen. Barbara Boxer, a three-term Democrat, is showing signs of vulnerability.
Shorts (left)
The Iranian authorities on Monday closed two major opposition publications, among the last to remain in circulation as the government has suppressed its opponents’ communications in recent months.
‘Hero of Ukraine’ Bandera splits nation, both inside and out
STARYI UHRYNIV, Ukraine — Half a century after his death at the hands of the KGB, Stepan Bandera, a World War II partisan, has not lost his ability to rally Ukrainians against Russia — and against each other.
Grey haven
With weather more reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest, we’ve been mired in clouds with intermittent rain and snow for the better part of a week. The wind and rain storm Thursday evening sent gusts roaring over 60 mph (97 kph) from Boston to Concord, NH knocking down trees, tearing off roofs, and even sending a shed full of snow tubes flying across I-495. While we got the brunt of the wind and rain, New York City experienced its fourth largest snow storm on record with 20.9 inches (53 cm) in Central Park. The higher elevations of the Green and White Mountains in northern New England received more than 3 feet (91 cm) of snow, a boon to ski resorts which have been desperate for natural snow.
Data shows Toyota Camrys not recalled also had problems
Toyota has recalled 6 million cars in the United States over concerns about sudden acceleration. But an analysis of government documents shows that many Toyota Camrys built before 2007, which were not subject to recalls, have been linked to a comparable number of speed-control problems as recalled Camrys.
Corrections
A graph on page 8 of last Friday’s Tech, “Finboard Student Group Allocations,” was labelled in a misleading fashion. The right axis, labelled “Percentage Requests Granted (Gray),” should have been labelled as “Percent of Requested Funds Granted.” It is the amount allocated by Finboard divided by the amount requested by student groups.
Democracy at risk in the UA
The deadline to declare candidacy for Undergraduate Association President passed last Friday with only one President/Vice President ticket having filed to run. This raises serious questions about the UA’s ability to attract talented leaders and to govern with authority.
Scoreboard
Men’s Basketball Saturday, 2/27 vs. Clark UniversityL 71-59 Men’s Tennis Saturday, 2/27 at Bates CollegeW 3-2 Men’s Track & Field Saturday, 2/27 NEICAAA Championship21st of 34 Women’s Track & Field Saturday, 2/27 NEICAAA Championship7th of 34 Men’s Volleyball Saturday, 2/27 vs. Elms CollegeW 3-0 vs. Emmanuel CollegeW 3-2
An Olympics to remember
For the past two weeks, the world’s best athletes gathered in Vancouver, Canada to compete in the XXI Winter Olympics (and, apparently, to distract me from my psets). After seventeen days of procrastinating in front of the TV (and enduring countless bad Geico commercials), there’s my list of the ten most memorable things from north of the border.
Upcoming Home Events
Tuesday, March 2 Men’s Volleyball vs. Newbury College 7 p.m., Rockwell Cage
Men’s basketball upset by Clark in NEWMAC opener
MIT fell to Clark, 71-59 in the NEWMAC semifinal on Saturday.
BROUHAHA RHYTHM Rain, rain, go away
What Boston rain lacks in intensity, it seems determined to make up for in persistence. Even if downpours are few and far between around here, three straight days of halfhearted rain will turn a grassy field into a swamp and a sidewalk into an archipelago of vaguely connected islands. Avoiding pneumonia being the reasonably high priority that it is, after submitting psets on time and a full eight minutes of sleep every night, it only seems intelligent to dress appropriately for the occasional minor flood.
VARIOUS STATES OF UNDRESS Zeroes and ones
As MIT students, there is no doubt we spend a lot of time in front of a computer. We check our e-mail compulsively and procrastinate by IMing and Facebook-stalking former flames instead of writing that paper or finishing that pset. Naturally, the fact that we live with fingers glued to the keyboard affects our relationships.
