More than just people on ballot
Even though Massachusetts will mostly likely vote Democrat in the upcoming presidential election, there are three statewide ballot questions that could change current laws and affect MIT students.
Delayed CityDays sees lower turnout
While previously a community service event involving only freshmen and some upperclassmen leaders during Orientation week, this year’s CityDays was publicized as a service opportunity for the entire undergraduate and graduate community and took place on Oct. 9, the Tuesday of the long Columbus Day weekend.
Entire UT System to join edX
The University of Texas system — nine universities, six health centers, 212,000 students and 19,000 faculty — announced yesterday it would join edX, the MIT-pioneered online learning platform and university consortium. The move sextuples the number of institutions involved with edX, from three to eighteen, and bolsters MIT’s efforts to make online technology a staple of university education.
Boston-area economics Nobel
Two Americans, Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd Shapley, were awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science on Monday for their work on market design and matching theory, which relate to how people and companies find and select one another in everything from marriage to school choice to jobs to organ donations.
Fisher v. UT affirmative action case oral arguments heard
Last Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the oral arguments from both sides of Fisher v. University of Texas, the affirmative action case for which MIT and 13 other universities, including the eight Ivy League schools, filed an amicus curiae brief defending the right of a university to consider the race of an applicant, among other factors, in its admissions process.
Demolition begins at 219 Vassar
The demolition of the building at 219 Vassar St. began yesterday and is set to conclude by Nov. 15. The site will house the new TCC (Technology Children’s Center) Vassar daycare, which is slated to open by next August.
Shorts (left)
The format for the second presidential debate is designed to be a little less stiff — a free-flowing question-and-answer session between the candidates and a studio audience.
Pakistani girl in Britain for care after shooting
ISLAMABAD — When the time came to choose medical treatment for Malala Yousufzai, the 14-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl who defied the Taliban and then was gunned down by them, her family and doctors faced a world of possibilities after a global outpouring of advice and offers of assistance.
Gorgeous fall weather in the week ahead
The next few days in Cambridge will display lovely fall weather, with clear skies and temperatures mainly in the 50°s F. Autumn foliage is in full color, so be sure to look outside. This weekend will bring another low pressure system through the area with its corresponding precipitation and wind, but models so far show a quick passage; most likely for at least part of the weekend it will not rain.
Shorts (right)
BRUSSELS — The European Union toughened sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program Monday, banning trade in industries like finance, metals and natural gas, and making other business transactions far more cumbersome.
Sept. 11 war crimes case resumes at Guantanamo Bay
FORT MEADE, Md. — The Sept. 11 war-crimes case before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, resumed relatively smoothly Monday as five men accused of being co-conspirators in the attacks were calm and cooperative in the first session of a weeklong pretrial hearing. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the other four defendants each spoke directly — some through a translator — with the judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl. The atmosphere on the first day contrasted sharply with a chaotic arraignment hearing in May, when they refused to answer the judge’s questions.
Romney campaign makes pitch for ad barrage
Mitt Romney and the Republican Party have begun a late push to raise tens of millions of dollars in the closing weeks of the election, cash that will finance a last-minute barrage of advertising that Romney’s aides believe is critical to beating President Barack Obama.
Student debt relief changes to aid well-off most, study says
With nearly 1 in 6 student loan borrowers in default, the federal government is making changes to its income-based repayment plan to help borrowers with relatively high debt and low incomes keep up with their payments.
Our civil duty not to vote?
As November 6 approaches, we once again hear the calls of political activists insisting that it is not only our right but our responsibility to vote in the upcoming election. We Americans take this oft-repeated mantra as a given, as a basic necessity of an effective government. But seeing that even informed voters have an amateur understanding of the issues facing the country, are we really in a position to decide which policies should be enacted on a national scale? Does the electorate understand the issues on which it votes?
President Obama and the terrible, no good, very bad debate
Some of the damage done by Obama in the recent presidential debate has likely been mitigated by good numbers for current employment from the Department of Labor, but the polling still tells a dismal verdict for Obama’s performance. A strong debate for a presidential challenger normally turns around polls by about three points; Romney’s win turned around the polls by a whopping 4.6 points, turning a 3.1 deficit versus Obama into a 1.5 point lead in RealClearPolitics’ aggregation of polls. On Intrade, Romney’s odds have climbed 15 points, from 25 percent to 40 percent, while Nate Silver, who runs The New York Times’ prediction model, has Romney improving by 18.2 points, more than doubling to a 32.1 percent chance of victory.
What’s in a debate?
Debates are like a circus. There is promotional advertising, the grand performance, and then afterwards, you exit through the gift shop, designed to give you the impression that what you have just watched was immensely entertaining and gratifying.
CORRECTIONS
An interactive for last Friday's article about MIT's endowment incorrectly showed Stanford's 2012 endowment at $19.7 billion with a 19 percent increase in FY 2012. It is actually $17.0 billion, having increased by 3 percent.
SPORTS SHORT
MIT Men’s Tennis defeated Nichols College, 6-3, on Saturday afternoon making them 2-0 for the season. Though Edwin M. Zhang ’14 and Matthew T. Skalak ’13 had a tough 8-9 loss, sophomore Eugene S. Oh and junior Curtis L. Wu picked up an 8-6 win and seniors Tymor C. Hamamsy and Brian K. Oldfield won their match with a score of 8-1. Heading into singles with a 2-1 lead, the Engineers finished off the match strong. Zhang clinched a win against Nichols with a 6-3, 6-3 score. Though Oh ultimately lost his singles match, Oldfield had an impressive win of 6-3, 6-0. Followed by yet another win by Skalak of 6-4, 6-4 and Jeffrey R. Bu ’15 with a 6-1, 6-0 result, MIT secured the win against Nichols. MIT Men’s Tennis will host its next match against Eastern Nazarene College on Feb. 26.
Field hockey dominates
A solid defensive performance coupled with a second-half goal was all MIT needed in its 1-0 victory over the Springfield College Pride in a NEWMAC field hockey game on Saturday morning. Kimberly A. Barker ’13 provided the lone marker that was set up by Elizabeth A. Dethy ’15. Sophomore goalie Jenna R. Klein stopped the only shot on goal she faced in her second career shutout as the Engineers improved to 12-2 on the year and 5-1 in conference play.
IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME: Sports and sororities
We were losing 1-2, with five minutes until the end of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference field hockey championship game.
One fish, two fish, fake fish, computerish
I like to joke that I study imaginary fish. People often remember that or, even better, ask what it means. Then, I get to tell them that I study theoretical ecology; I use mathematical tools to investigate how organisms interact with each other and with their environment. I am studying in the MIT Joint Program with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, so my organisms of interest tend to be marine, but the only places they swim are in my computer, in equations, and, always, in my heart.
Events Oct. 16 – 22
Events Oct. 16 – 22 Tuesday (3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.) Negotiating Job Offers, sponsored by MIT Global Education & Career Development (GE&CD) — 3-133 Wednesday (4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) Networking 101: How to work the room and work your contacts, sponsored by MIT GE&CD — 56-114 (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) MTA Composer Forum presents Roger Reynolds — 14W-111 (Killian Hall) Thursday (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Urban Films: The Age of Stupid film screening — 3-133 (8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.) A Sweet Trip Through Italy presented by the MIT Italian Association — 32-162 (Forbes Cafe) Friday (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.) Comedy Night featuring Baba Ali, presented by the MIT Muslim Students’ Association — 32-123 (11:59 p.m.) The Rocky Horror Picture Show sponsored by the UA Finboard, featuring Boston’s Full Body Cast — 26-100 Saturday (7:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.) Ballroom Fall Social Dance — La Sala, Stratton Student Center Sunday (8:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.) Folk Dancing with Live Electric Balkan Music — Lobdell Dining Hall, Stratton Student Center Monday (4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.) Communicating Inventiveness Workshop, sponsored by Lemelson-MIT — 10-105 Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
