Three suspicious packages found on campus this week
Feel like MIT’s been popping up on your phone a lot these days? The past week has seen three more reports of suspicious packages around campus — at Kendall Square and buildings 54 and E52 — causing police to issue messages to students through MIT Alert and evacuating buildings. All three alerts were cleared within an hour.
Amherst College faculty vote against joining edX
On April 16, 2013, Amherst College faculty voted 70-36 against a motion to join the edX consortium. The college would have been the second liberal arts college to join edX, after Wellesley College.
Tsarnaev’s college friends face charges
NEW BEDFORD — Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov were college roommates who clicked with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, another soccer-loving immigrant from the former Soviet Union who, unlike them, blended seamlessly into the United States. Tsarnaev spoke perfect English and knew where to shop and how to have a good time.
‘Old’ ASA requirement leaves some unsettled
In early spring, the Association of Student Activities (ASA) emailed to all ASA-recognized student groups requiring that the information in their ASA database entry to be up-to-date and compliant with the ASA’s rules and regulations. One of the requirements was that group constitutions include the ASA Governance Clause — any group missing the clause from its constitution received a notification of such, requiring that the clause be added in order for the ASA to approve the constitution. (The Tech, as it is currently an ASA-recognized group without the governance clause, also received this request.) The clause as a requirement for ASA-recognized groups has existed for several years, according to ASA president Rachel H. Keeler ’14, but has not been uniformly enforced.
Bombing suspect reveals original plot
WASHINGTON — The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings told FBI interrogators that he and his brother had considered suicide attacks and striking on the Fourth of July as they plotted their deadly assault, according to two law enforcement officials.
US is considering arming Syrian rebels, Hagel confirms
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel confirmed Thursday that the Obama administration was rethinking its opposition to arming the rebels in Syria’s civil war, although he said that no decisions had been made.
Shorts (left)
Overcoming years of resistance, Rhode Island on Thursday became the 10th state in the country and the last in New England to approve same-sex marriage.
Shorts (right)
SEOUL, South Korea — The United States said Thursday that North Korea should immediately release a U.S. citizen who was sentenced this week to 15 years of hard labor, setting up a potential new source of confrontation between the two countries that could aggravate tensions that are still high over North Korea’s nuclear war threats.
Concern as politics, vetting leave vacancies in top offices
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry is practically home alone, toiling without permanent assistant secretaries of state for the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Africa. At the Pentagon, a temporary personnel chief is managing furloughs for 800,000 civilian employees. There has not been a director of the Internal Revenue Service since last November, and it was only on Thursday that President Barack Obama nominated a new commerce secretary after the job was open for nearly a year.
US to appeal order lifting age limit on morning-after pill
The Obama administration moved Wednesday to keep girls under 15 from having over-the-counter access to morning-after pills, as the Justice Department filed a notice to appeal a judge’s order that would make the drug available without a prescription for girls and women of all ages. The appeal reaffirms an election-year decision by the Obama administration to block the drug’s maker from selling it without a prescription or consideration of age, and puts the White House back into the politically charged issue of access to emergency contraception.
Unusual snowstorm strikes Midwest
A rare May snowstorm swept through the center of the United States on Wednesday and Thursday, with six to twelve inches of snow falling in a band reaching from Kansas through Minnesota. The unseasonable precipitation was the product of an unusually deep upper-level trough combined with a very strong cold front stationed across the continent. The storm broke several records for snowfall and low temperatures in the month of May across the affected states.
Netanyahu backs vote on any agreement with Palestinians
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Thursday that any peace agreement with the Palestinians should be put to a referendum, a move that some Israelis view as a potential obstacle to a deal even as Secretary of State John Kerry works intently to renew long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
DormCon is critical to dorm culture
Disclaimer: Although I am a former member of DormCon, I do not speak for the organization and I have not consulted it before writing this piece.
CORRECTIONS
An article in Tuesday’s issue on Maseeh seceding from DormCon mistakenly indicated that Maseeh pays $2310 in DormCon taxes per year — the figure is actually per semester, summing to $4620 per year assuming the 462-resident capacity.
Coming of age by the Mississippi River
Mud is a reminder of how movies have the potential to be more than just entertainment. With a setting that is foreign to most, director Jeff Nichols tells the typical loss of innocence story through a new lens. By making Ellis (Tye Sheridan) the observer who eventually enters the world he observes, the audience is able to make the transition with him and live his adventure.
The bee and the chimp in you and me
Have you ever felt like other people must be crazy — or at least be hypocrites — to hold certain views that you consider profoundly immoral? Some people defend the Iraq War to this day, while others opposed it from day one. Some people want to ban abortion, while others want to ban guns. “What is wrong with these people? What are they thinking?” you may ask in despair.
Berklee’s adaptation of the famous musical Hair
Growing up as a child in a very musical and theatrical family, I developed a keen sense of distinguishing high quality shows from mediocre ones, in both visual and acoustic performing arts. Even the most nuanced distasteful details in a show can make me frown, which is why I always found it difficult to like live musicals. Whereas regular plays and musical concerts require a certain subset of performance skills, musicals require the full package: good production, acting, dancing, singing and very often a well-coordinated orchestra. With that said, I am so happy to wholeheartedly admit that I was astonished by Berklee College’s adaptation of Hair, which premiered last week at the Berklee Performance Center.
4X game with a one-man development team
I have something of a love-hate relationship with the 4X (eXplore/eXpand/eXploit/eXterminate) genre. The typical 4X game is an uneasy marriage of amazing strategic depth, the grandeur of empire, and tedious micromanagement. As a consequence I find myself in a cycle where I develop a desire to play a 4X game, binge for some period of time, and then quit the genre for months after getting burned out navigating menus.
Kaba is NEWMAC rookie of the year
At the conclusion of the 2013 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Track and Field Championships at Springfield College on Saturday, Michael S. Kaba ’16 was named the NEWMAC Rookie of the Year for his performances at the meet. This is the second year in a row that an MIT athlete has received the award.
MIT baseball falls to Brandeis in ninth inning
Brandeis University received a one-out, walkoff RBI single in the bottom of the ninth from Liam O’Connor that lifted the Judges to a 3-2 win over MIT in non-conference baseball action. Brandeis’ starter, Mike Swedloff, held MIT in check all day and threw a complete game, three hitter to pick up the victory. Parker A. Tew ’15 had a pair of hits and scored both runs for the Engineers.
Men’s tennis earns awards
Just days after winning their fifteenth consecutive New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) title, four members of the MIT men’s tennis team were selected for All-Conference honors, as announced by the conference on Tuesday afternoon. This is the second year in a row that four players have been selected.
