Binghamton halts pledging amid hazing concerns
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Binghamton University, one of the Northeast’s top public colleges, has halted all fraternity and sorority pledging this spring after what it called an “alarmingly high number of serious hazing complaints.”
Craighead/Walsh win by a hair
In what was the closest election in recent memory, Jonté D. Craighead ’13 and Michael P. Walsh ’13 were elected Undergraduate Association (UA) president and vice president last Friday.
Phyo Kyaw ’10
Phyo N. Kyaw ’10, 23, died on Dec. 27 in a traffic accident while riding his bicycle at the intersection of Vassar Street and Massachusetts Avenue. At the time of his death, he was working as a research scientist at Cambridge-based Soane Labs. Kyaw received an SB in chemical-biological engineering, Course 10B, in 2010.
Friends remember Phyo
I often joked with Phyo that he looked like the Buddha on earth, always kind-looking, always smiling. His happiness is contagious, and his words are always comforting! Phyo is someone I’d cry in front of because he emphasizes and his words empower my spirit, and so he does for others as well! But through his always bright smiles, I see also his strong and relentless spirit — no difficulties can ever rob his happiness and optimism — because Phyo is also determined! Freshman year, Phyo struggled with his every breath as we ran by the Charles River because his severe congenital health conditions had prevented him from doing any physical exercises since birth. Before graduation, Phyo had transformed himself to be an avid workout member of Z-Center and MIT crew team. It is his unyielding spirit that bears the fruits of his physical transformation, his unfailing smiles, and his passion for life. And because Phyo’s spirit never gives up, his smiles and his passion forever linger in our minds, brightening our spirit in the dark nights. Phyo never left us, he is always here.
Hope for Alcator C-Mod
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations met Wednesday to discuss the energy and water appropriations bill — the same one that proposed to cut funding to MIT’s Alcator C-Mod for fiscal year 2013.
Postdoc found dead in jail cell
Yaron Segal, arrested on March 28 for allegedly arranging a sexual encounter with minors, died on Friday, April 13. An Israeli national, Segal was a postdoc in MIT’s Photovoltaic Research Lab (PVLab) and had received his PhD in physics from Yale last year.
Shorts (left)
BOSTON — Mitt Romney’s nondescript base camp on the outskirts of the North End of Boston has until now seemed too large for his presidential campaign — roughly 15,000 square feet of space on the first floor has sat largely empty and unused, even during Romney’s first presidential bid in 2008.
Shorts (right)
President Barack Obama begins an all-out push Friday to get Congress to extend the low interest rate on federal student loans, White House officials said, an effort that is likely to become a heated battle along party lines. If Congress fails to act, the interest rate on the loans, which are taken out by nearly 8 million students each year, will double on July 1, to 6.8 percent.
Dozens killed in wave of attacks across Iraq
BAGHDAD — A string of deadly explosions and other attacks shook Iraq on Thursday, with bombings in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk resulting in the most fatalities.
Big investor to oppose re-election of a Goldman Sachs director
In the latest rebuke of eye-popping pay packages on Wall Street, a major institutional investor is taking the rare step to oppose the re-election of a Goldman Sachs board member who approves compensation for many of the bank’s top executives.
With elections days away, Sarkozy’s outlook grows dim
PARIS — The candidate — energetic, bold, indefatigable — is sure he will win, aides say, as he pulls energy from his big crowds.
UN chief says Syria is failing to adhere to peace plan
BEIRUT — The secretary-general of the United Nations gave a dark appraisal of the Syria conflict Thursday, accusing its government of failing to carry out nearly every element of the peace plan that took effect a week ago, obstructing work by an advance team of cease-fire monitors and doing nothing to alleviate an intensifying humanitarian crisis on the ground.
Unusual warmth easing toward cool, rainy weather
Dry, warm weather will continue for New England through today. Temperatures, however, will not be as abnormally high as they were earlier this week. While many probably thought last Monday’s weather was pleasant, runners in the Boston Marathon were probably less satisfied. According to USA Today, roughly 2,500 of the over 20,000 participants sought medical attention for heat-related illness. Although humidity levels were moderate that day, high temperatures reaching the upper 80°F (30-32°C) were the main concern for the athletes.
British police arrest three in phone hacking inquiry
British police arrested three people Thursday as part of an inquiry into accusations of bribery stemming from the news gathering and corruption scandal that has engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, police said, bringing to 46 the number of arrests during more than a year of investigations.
Putin’s high IQ
One thing is sure about Putin: he is smart, very smart. You have to be, to maintain order over nine time zones, and stay at the top of the inner fightings of competing factions among the siloviki, desperate to protect the millions they have at stake from Russia’s economic boom. Putin has proved himself uniquely able to adroitly balance the various strategic interests of the competing parties. He has so far been a master at managing divisions within the government — and Russians know this.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
There has not been an election in recent history where individual votes have figured so greatly in the choice of the next UA president and vice president. We wanted to thank everyone for casting your ballot in this election, and in effect shaping the future of your student government.
Day of Silence
“Faggot!” I braced myself for the barrage of gum, paper, and pencils that they would throw at me. I quickened my pace to get to class before they could torment me further. I looked around for help but no one stood up for me — no students, no teachers, no staff. Almost immediately after I had come out as gay a few weeks earlier, the bullying had started.
CORRECTIONS
The first paragraph of an article published last Friday on orientation changes ambiguously described the nature of the change to the housing adjustment lottery. While the official “adjustment lottery” will not exist in its current form, there still will be an option for students to move to different dormitories after orientation. The difference is that this year, by default, students will remain in their assigned dorm but may opt-in for a change — as the article originally stated in paragraph four.
Nuclear Iran needs to step down
Last week, an international delegation met in Istanbul with the hope of securing a serious commitment from Iran to negotiate an end to its nuclear enrichment program. The talks, which resumed after more than a year without any negotiations, illustrated the broad global consensus against a nuclear Iran. It is critical that we too, as American citizens, fully comprehend the threat of a nuclear Iran to our national security and work in a bipartisan manner to prevent that end.
Athletes and allies
We are athletes. We are teammates. We are allies. April 20, also known as the Day of Silence, is the national day to take a stand against homophobic bullying, and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) would like to take a moment to say why it’s important to have allies in athletics.
The importance of CityDays
CityDays has been part of orientation for 20 years. Having CityDays as an official activity of orientation conveys to incoming freshmen an ethic of service at MIT. Every year, 40–45 community organizations are served by 600–900 MIT student CityDays participants. The number of upperclassmen volunteer group leaders has doubled in the past two years to almost 200. This large-scale event is one of the highest-profile opportunities for MIT to publicize its commitment to volunteerism in the local community.
“Just don’t be so silly”
Victor Stenger has written a wickedly powerful book, so sharp and heretical that had it been published four centuries ago, the author would have been extra-crispy by the time the nearest bishop was done reading the preface. God and the Folly of Faith, with its straightforward argumentation and encyclopedic scope, is a veritable handbook on the fundamental incompatibility of modern science and religion. In the context of the new atheism movement, Stenger’s book serves as the prosecutor’s closing argument in their collective case against religion. The book’s ambitious agenda, with the simultaneous grinding of many axes (from near death experiences and quantum consciousness to intelligent design and cosmic fine-tuning), takes a toll on the reader. The dissection of the multiple arguments and counterarguments that are currently used to support and refute faith makes this no light reading for a lazy spring afternoon. Albeit peppered with zingers, the work as a whole comes across as what it is: a thick and serious discourse on one of the most important intellectual conflicts in history, very much alive to this day.
sMITe takes third place in conference, clinches spot in Regionals
In the Boston Metro Conference championships last weekend, sMITe, MIT Women’s Ultimate team, placed third and clinched a spot at New England DI Regionals. By playing hard through some long points and overcoming injuries, the team won crucial games, beating Harvard, Boston College (BC) and Boston University (BU).
Baseball beats Clark, improves conference chances
After tossing a complete game shutout against Springfield College in his last outing, there was very little that Torre M. Swanson ’12 could have done against the Clark University Cougars on Saturday to improve upon his prior performance. Yet he did just that, allowing only a bunt single in seven innings to help the Engineers capture the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader en route to a sweep of the three-game weekend series.
ROBIN S. SHIN ’12: Shin named NE Conference Fencer of the Year
Meet Robin S. Shin ’12. When she isn’t busy tooling away in her architecture studio, she fences for the MIT Women’s varsity team. She was recently named the Northeast Conference Fencer of the Year, and placed 20th at the NCAA competition, where she was the only representative from Division III.
