UA holds hearing ahead of overhaul
The Undergraduate Association (UA) held an open session yesterday evening to collect feedback and student input on a proposed student government restructuring. The Ad-Hoc Committee on the Implementation of Potential Restructuring (CIPR), which was created at the UA Senate meeting on April 4, met over the past week to hash out details on representation in a new UA Council and the transition process from the current UA structure. The Dormitory Council and the Senate are expected to vote on a measure to enact a new constitution — as recommended by CIPR — this Thursday.
MIT150 celebrated at Next Century Convocation
The 150th anniversary convocation of the signing of MIT’s charter took place Sunday at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. It proceeded much like an MIT commencement ceremony, right down to the framing of the huge stage with imitation Killian Court columns.
CORRECTIONS
Last Friday’s spread on MIT dormitories omitted photographer attributions. Greg Steinbrecher, Jessica L. Wass, Jessica Liu, Jeremy E. Deguzman, Yuanyu Chen, Vivek Dasari, Nicholas Chornay, and Jaswanth Madhavan contributed photography.
Miliband speaks on East Asia
Former British Foreign Secretary David W. Miliband SM ’90 kicked off a week-long visit to MIT with a roundtable discussion yesterday hosted by the Department of Political Science. Entitled “Contemporary East Asia,” the discussion featured Course XVII Professors Taylor M. Fravel, Richard J. Samuels PhD ’80, and Edward S. Steinfeld. Miliband will continue to meet with Institute faculty and students for the remainder of the week as part of his brief tenure as a Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow in Residence.
Unconfirmed gunshots heard near Central
Shortly after 9:30 p.m. on April 2, Cambridge police officers reportedly heard gunshots in the vicinity of Pearl and Green Streets in Central Square. A search of the area revealed no evidence of gunshots.
Shorts (left)
TOKYO — Japan has decided to raise its assessment of the accident at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant from 5 to the worst rating of 7 on an international scale, putting the disaster on par with the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown, the Japanese nuclear regulatory agency said on Tuesday.
Budget cuts raise doubt on course of recovery
WASHINGTON — The budget deal struck last week amounts to a bet by the Obama administration that the loss of $38 billion in federal spending will not be the straw that breaks the back of a fragile economic recovery.
Shorts (right)
Pro-democracy protests in Syria spread for the first time to a university campus and were violently suppressed on Monday, a day after the government of President Bashar Assad acknowledged that it was using force against protesters.
Blast kills at least 11 at subway station in Belarus capital
MOSCOW — An explosion believed to have been caused by a bomb ripped through a subway station next to the office of Belarus’ authoritarian president on Monday evening, killing at least 11 people, wounding more than 100, and worsening an already tense political situation there.
Level 3 pays $3 billion for Internet service provider Global Crossing
More than a decade after the dot-com bust, two fallen Internet stars hope to regain some of their glory with a $3 billion deal that could prompt similar transactions.
April showers
The weather gods cooperated with MIT this past weekend, providing sunny skies and warmth for CPW and the convocation celebrating MIT’s 150th anniversary. Temperatures over the weekend were 5–10°F above normal, while yesterday’s high of 72°F was only 6°F shy of the record high (78°F) and 18°F above the climatological value of 54°F. The weather the next few days will be a bit less pleasant, however. A cold front stalled to our south will cause cloudy skies and the chance of scattered rain showers for tomorrow. The real action will be late tonight and tomorrow, as a coastal low impacts our region.
Former leader’s arrest in Ivory Coast ends four-month deadly standoff
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — The strongman of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, was captured and taken into custody by his rival Monday, ending a four-month standoff that left hundreds dead in this once-prosperous West African nation, put international diplomacy to a severe test, and ultimately dragged the country back into civil war.
Vote on GOP plan for Medicare could shape 2012 races
WASHINGTON — Just four months into their new majority, House Republicans face a potentially defining Medicare vote this week that is sure to become a centerpiece of Democratic efforts to recapture the House in 2012 and spill into the presidential and Senate campaigns as well.
GUEST COLUMN Crises are not opportunities
The nuclear crisis in Japan is severe. A reactor core has partially melted, chemical explosions have breached the containment, and radiation has been released into the atmosphere and ocean. Of course, this is a direct consequence of a catastrophic natural disaster of historic, unprecedented proportions. The earthquake and tsunami have utterly devastated Japan, and the magnitude of the total ruin will unfortunately dwarf that of the nuclear component.
Women’s hoops is boring?
For some people, watching women’s basketball is about as exciting as watching stalactites grow and as unpredictable as Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation. For the past few years, it has been easy to see why. After all, Stanford and Connecticut have made it to the Final Four for each of the past four seasons, and Connecticut has won six titles since 2000. This year, nobody expected anything but a matchup of those teams — both number one seeds — in what would have been a rematch of last year’s title game. However, Notre Dame’s upset of Connecticut and Texas A&M’s upset of Stanford in the national semifinals set up a final with no number one seeds for just the second time in women’s tournament history, and resulted in Texas A&M’s first NCAA championship — for either the men or the women — in the school’s history.
Tennis sweeps Bates for sixth straight win
The MIT Women’s Tennis team swept Bates on Saturday to bring their overall season record to 11-4.
QUARKINESS Free food fixations
When I first came to MIT about four years ago, I got the bright idea that I would live on free food as much as possible. I attended info sessions and club meetings, and I kept my eyes peeled for free food emails and free food lying around.
MIT Sexual Assault Awareness Week
Editor’s Note: Readers are advised that this article contains discussion of the circumstances of sexual assault.
CPW 2011 Eric Grimson: From Course VI head to chancellor
The Tech’s Campus Life department invited MIT Chancellor W. Eric L. Grimson PhD ’80 to speak with prefrosh during CPW. Grimson became chancellor on March 1, previously serving as head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Grimson told The Tech about his new job, the reasons why he chose his undergraduate institution, and why prefrosh should come to MIT.
Events: Apr. 12 - Apr. 18
Events apr. 12 – APR. 18 Tuesday (5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.) Coordination, Switching Costs and the Division of Labor in General Medicine: An Economic Explanation for the Emergence of Hospitalists in the United States — E62-650 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) A Conversation with Sherry Turkle — 66-110 Wednesday (2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.) From biology to robots: the iCub project — 32-G449 (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Emerson Scholar Student Recital — Vineet Gopal ’14, flute — Killian Hall Thursday (11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Spring Career Fair 2011 — W20, Sala de Puerto Rico (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) David W. Miliband SM ’90, British Labour Party politician and member of Parliament, speaks about “The State of Europe” — 4-370 Friday (12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.) Emerson Fellow Student Recital — Paulina A. Sliwa G, mezzo-soprano — Killian Hall (3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.) Lisa P. Jackons, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, speaks at the 11th Annual Henry W. Kendall Memorial Lecture and Reception — W20-202 (4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) iCampus Student Prize Final Round Competition — E52, East Dining Room (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.) Emerson Fellow Student Recital — Bina Y. Choi ’11 — Killian Hall (7:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m.) LSC shows True Grit — 26-100 Saturday (7:00 p.m.,10:00 p.m.) LSC shows Black Swan — 26-100 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.) Grains of Rice banquet sponsored by the MIT Asian American Association — Walker Memorial (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) Mark Harvey & the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra — Kresge Auditorium Sunday (7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) AXO 23rd Lip Sync: Evolution — Kresge Theatre (7:00 p.m.) LSC shows True Grit — 26-100 (10:00 p.m.) LSC shows Black Swan — 26-100 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
Institute Double Take
MIT is like an onion — it’s got layers. This image captures three spatial and two temporal layers of the Institute. In the foreground is part of the Stata Center, completed in 2004; in the middleground, Buidling 56 (1965); and the background, the Green Building (1964). Stata and its funky architecture were part of a recent wave of campus expansion, while Building 56 and Green went up at a time when Stata’s design would be inconceivable. But today, all three stand as important centers of research, and for the busy undergraduate, useful landmarks.
