Settlement requires edX to supply features for those with disabilities
EdX has entered into a settlement with the Department of Justice over allegations that the online course provider was not fully accessible to people with disabilities, in violation of federal law.
Memorial unveiled in honor of Collier
The dedication of a permanent memorial to Officer Sean A. Collier was held on April 29 in a ceremony that emphasized the strength of both Collier and the MIT community.
All quiet on the Eastern front
A more-or-less benign weather pattern will lead to cloudy skies and mild temperatures into the weekend. For the next few days, a so-called ‘backdoor front’ will influence New England weather. In contrast to typical cold fronts, which channel in cooler air from the northwest, backdoor cold fronts approach from the northeast. During the spring months in New England, this often means cooler temperatures and clouds as air blows over ocean waters.
Funding cuts hurt US innovation, report says
Decreased federal investment in academic basic research will hinder innovation in industries and at universities, according to a report, entitled “The Future Postponed,” written by a committee of 30 MIT faculty members and administrators.
SpringFest concert sees increase in attendance
Despite the rejection of its budget plan by the Undergraduate Association, the UA Events Committee held its annual SpringFEST, organizing events throughout last week leading up to Saturday’s concert.
The twisted incentives behind the Atlanta Public Schools cheating case
This month, verdicts were handed down in one of the largest standardized test cheating scandals in a public school system to date. Eleven out of twelve defendants ranging from test administrators to teachers and principals in the Atlanta Public Schools system were convicted for racketeering, making false statements, and other crimes. An investigation led by former Georgia Attorney General Michael Bowers discovered that more than 250,000 wrong answers were changed in thousands of students’ standardized tests since 2001. Yet as staggering as the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal seems to be, perhaps the real crime here lies in high-stakes standardized testing, which is blindly mandated across the board without attention to the unique contexts surrounding individual school districts.
Blake Lively stars in The Age of Adaline
Blake Lively is known to our generation for her glamorous role in the TV show Gossip Girl. Though the show has since ended its six-season run, Lively’s style and smile have found their way back to the screen in the movie The Age of Adaline.
Leonardo da Vinci and the Idea of Beauty
From now until June 14, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts is featuring an exhibit on Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings. In a more refined way, the exhibit is analogous to the behind-the-scenes reel of a movie — you won’t find his most famous paintings like the Mona Lisa or The Last Supper. Instead, the exhibit features an intimate series of sketches and drawings, ranging from portraits of women to the anatomy of a bird. Many of the featured works are loans from Italian collections, including the Uffizi Museum in Florence, and the Biblioteca Reale in Turin.
Dior and I: A look into one of the world’s most renowned fashion houses
Christian Dior was a renowned French fashion designer who founded one of the world’s top fashion houses (named after himself). Dior and I follows the newly appointed creative director Raf Simons as he works under the pressures of the fashion industry and keeping up with Dior’s legacy. Everyone is familiar with image of models strutting down runways, wearing the latest designer fashions; this film offers a rare and up-close look at the work preceding the exhibition. We witness the stages of production: sketching, prototypes, modeling, right up to the big reveal on the catwalk.
MIT students compete in the Boston Marathon
Running 26.2 miles at a stretch can be challenging. Doing it over a course that literally contains a Heartbreak Hill in cold and rainy weather might seem impossible. But graduate students Roy Wedge, Georgia Lagoudas, and Daniel Rothenberg did just that last week. Following their successful completion of the Boston Marathon, The Tech caught up with them as they shared how they went from desperately seeking a running trail during Boston’s coldest winter to crossing the finish line at Copley Square on Marathon Monday.
Senior wins weekly award
Parker A. Tew ’15 has been selected as the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Baseball Player of the Week, the league announced on Monday. It is the second time this season that Tew has won the award, and it is the fourth time overall an Engineer has been selected this season.
On your side
“SAAM Says” is a collection of narratives by sexual assault survivors and victim advocates being published during MIT Sexual Assault Awareness Month. This is the last of four pieces in the series.
Technical Problems 5
Technical Problems is a weekly column consisting of puzzles and math problems intended to be accessible to undergraduates of all majors. Solutions are posted two weeks later online. If you are interested in having one or more of your solutions published in the column, please send them to general@tech.mit.edu.
