Wrongful death lawsuit against MIT continues after years of contention
Sloan graduate student Han Nguyen committed suicide by throwing himself off the roof of Building E19 on June 2, 2009. Minutes earlier, Nguyen had gotten off the phone with Sloan professor Birger Wernerfelt. Wernerfelt had “read him the riot act” in regards to a presumptuous email Nguyen had sent to Trey Hedden, his summer research supervisor, according to court filings.
Historic snowfall will not abate
The greater Boston area has experienced record-setting snow over the past three weeks, and snowfall will continue at least through the weekend.
CORRECTIONS
The headline on a Feb. 3 article in The Tech incorrectly stated that a climate action ‘plan’ would be submitted to President L. Rafael Reif by commencement. In fact, a ‘report’ is expected to be released to the community at that time. Community feedback on the report will inform the creation of a ‘plan.’
New housemaster welcomed by dorm
Professor Jay Scheib, newly appointed housemaster of Senior House, said he’s excited to become part of what he calls a “really special place.” Registration Day found him and half the house residents eating Chinese takeout on the floor of his then-unfurnished apartment. As per Scheib’s request, most were sporting “creative cocktail attire.”
Enrollment figures released for most popular classes
A look at this semester’s course enrollment statistics reveals that eight of the 19 undergraduate courses with more than 200 students are in Course 6, MIT’s largest undergraduate major. Only two GIRs (the introductory biology class 7.013 and the electromagnetism class 8.02) had that many students.
MIT closed Tuesday, joining many but not all area colleges
Just over six feet of snow have fallen in Boston these past 18 days, setting new records in terms of both depth and speed, according to Weather.com. MIT was among the many institutions that shut down Monday and Tuesday due to the snowstorm that led Governor Charlie Baker to declare a state of emergency Monday night.
Bitter cold followed by more snow
An Arctic front brought some of the coldest air of the season to New England last night. Lows in the Boston area dipped below zero. Today, a tightening pressure gradient will create gusty winds, dropping wind chill values to as low as –15 °F (–26 °C). Increasing clouds signal a more active weather pattern this weekend.
New authentication service on Touchstone
MIT’s IS&T has added a new two-factor authentication system to Touchstone that will provide more secure access to important MIT services such as Atlas. With “Duo,” knowing a person’s username and password will not be enough to log in with Touchstone.
1 in 4 frosh deemed fit for sophomore standing
This year, 27 percent of the freshmen class has been offered early sophomore standing, comparable to last year’s 28.4 percent. Out of the 282 eligible students, 128 have accepted their offers so far.
Senior House gets a new housemaster
Professor Jay Scheib has been named the new housemaster of Senior House, one of MIT’s oldest dormitories. He will replace Agustín Rayo PhD ’01, associate professor in the Department of Linguistics, and Carmen Saracho, a novelist and restaurant critic, who had both served as housemasters since May 2010.
Editors’s Note
The end of a year is a notoriously arbitrary occasion for reflection, and the end of a volume of The Tech is perhaps an even weirder time for contemplation. But my yearlong term as editor in chief tied me to the news at MIT — stories that were by turns surprising, bizarre, and heartbreaking — so this seems to me an apt opportunity to look back.