Excerpt: MIT’s Data Retention Policies
This column marks the return of Ask SIPB, last published in 2011. In this issue, we cover parts of MIT’s policies on data retention. (This republication in The Tech is heavily excerpted and excludes some important caveats, as well as a section on privacy when using MITnet. The full column is available online: http://www.mit.edu/~asksipb/2016columns/2016-03-01-data-retention/.)
Students face consequences for dorm security violations
Some students have faced consequences for violating MIT’s controversial dorm security policy that puts AlliedBarton security workers at front desks and requires all students to tap an ID before entering.
Israeli military commander, and now prefrosh
At first, Sara’s story sounds like the stories of many of the other admitted students visiting MIT this weekend. She was born in California, was very active in extracurriculars growing up, and felt like she had won the lottery when she was accepted to MIT.
CPW not exempt from dorm security policies
This year’s Campus Preview Weekend is the third to take place since dorm security was fully implemented.
CSAIL holds joke conference
The CSAIL Student Committee (CSC) held a joke conference on April Fool’s Day featuring what they called “simply the best papers.” The conference was open to the entire CSAIL community and had “named sessions, awkward nametags, a ‘banquet,’ conference coffee and cheese platters,” according to an email sent to CSAIL.
A tale of hazing and hacking at MIT
For those unfamiliar with MIT, reading Geeks & Greeks will likely be an eye-opening experience, as the graphic novel quickly dispels many MIT stereotypes. In the first few chapters, we see that Greek life exists at MIT, and that students aren’t a bunch of overly serious nerds — they like to joke around, prank each other, and put large objects on top of buildings. I’m a campus tour guide, and you wouldn’t believe (and would maybe be a little insulted) by the number of tourists and prospective students who ask if MIT even has clubs, Greek life, and sports. The artwork is consistently pleasing throughout the novel, and certainly does a great job at bringing many unbelievable events to life. In this way, the novel is certainly a compelling read, filled with jokes that will please anyone with nerdier sensibilities and stories that are sure to inspire young readers to apply to the Institute.
Horace and Pete: the best show nobody knows exists
Part One: What is Horace and Pete?
Alumni have summitted the highest points of every North American country
Scaling new heights or overcoming the insurmountable have become cliches associated with the achievements of MIT students. But for Matthew and Eric Gilbertson (both PhD ’14) those phrases apply almost literally. In just over five years the twin brothers have scaled the highest peaks of every single country (23 to be exact) in North America. In an interview with The Tech, they reflected on their incredible journey — from the hours of careful planning, to treading surreptitiously on the edge of perilous cliffs, to the sheer exhilaration of reaching the summit and the realization that they are the only breathing human beings in a quarter-mile radius with nothing but tranquility and snow for company.
Douglas A. Kogut ‘18 wins 200-fly national title at NCAA meet
Douglas A. Kogut ’18 won the 200-fly individual title at the recently-concluded NCAA Division III national meet, thereby becoming the first student athlete from MIT to win a title in that category and fourth to win an individual event at the national meet. His time of 1:47:28 was both a personal and a school record and he clinched it when the spotlight shone brightest. He was also part of the 400-free relay team that won silver.
A voice for those who cannot speak
My mom crossed the border illegally 22 years ago. She was waiting to give birth in a hospital in Mexico when her sister picked her up and smuggled her across the border. My mom made it 30 minutes north of there, in the midst of birth pains, to a small town by the flat Southern Californian lands. I was born there. I, a U.S. high school valedictorian and member of the MIT Class of 2014, was born there in California. But our home was in Mexico.
Grace Taylor
Editor’s Note: Portraits of Resilience is a photography and interview series by Prof. Daniel Jackson. Each installment consists of a portrait and a story, told in the subject’s own words, of how they found resilience and meaning in their life.
