Elite universities reconsider their ROTC bans
WASHINGTON — Administrators at Harvard, Brown, and other elite universities are softening their resistance to the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps more than four decades after the military scholarship programs were driven from campus in the face of fierce antiwar sentiment.
Silence over drunk prefrosh continues
The Department of Residential Life is investigating a Campus Preview Weekend incident during which a prospective freshman was found intoxicated and unconscious outside McCormick, according to Bexley housemaster Robert M. Randolph. “[It]appears she may have gotten the alcohol … in Bexley,” Randolph wrote in an e-mail to the <i>bexley-residents</i> mailing list.
Michael S. Feld
MIT Professor of Physics Michael S. Feld, who made fundamental contributions in the field of laser science and later applied physics to solving biomedical problems, died on April 10, after an eight-year struggle with multiple myeloma. Feld, who directed the MIT George R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory since 1976, was 69.
Ashdown residents fight loading dock proposal, favor trees
MIT Real Estate plans to replace trees west of Ashdown with a loading dock and dumpster, despite disapproval from the Ashdown House Executive Committee (AHEC). According to an email to Ashdown residents from AHEC chair Matt D. Haberland G, MIT hopes the changes will “attract new industrial tenants.”
Police Log
<i>The following incidents were reported to the Campus Police between March 10 and April 19. The dates below reflect the dates the incidents occurred. This information is compiled from the Campus Police’s crime log. The report does not include alarms, general service calls, or incidents not reported to the dispatcher.</i>
MIT asks top court to review patent case
MIT filed an <i>amicus curiae</i>, or friend-of-the court, brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, urging it to review <i>S</i>tanford v. Roche, a case about patent ownership whose outcome could influence claims to billions of dollars generated by federally funded, university-held patents.
Corrections
An article Tuesday about Sexual Assault Awareness Week misstated the name of one of the organizers. The group is the “Program for Violence Prevention and Response at MIT Medical,” not the “Program for Medical Violence Prevention Response.” The story also did not list all the partners involved with the week. Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programming; Community Development and Substance Abuse Center; the FSILG Office; and MIT End Violence (a program of The Technology and Culture Forum) were part of the planning committee, though these groups are not indicated on the Sexual Assault Awareness Week website as sponsors.
Robots labor to stanch flow of oil in Gulf of Mexico
NEW ORLEANS — Oil continued to pour into the Gulf of Mexico on Monday as the authorities waited to see if the quickest possible method of stopping the leaks would bring an end to what was threatening to become an environmental disaster.
Union strike hits Shaw’s
For the past two months, over 300 Shaw’s workers have been on strike at Shaw’s warehouse 30 miles away in Methuen. This weekend, the protest came to the MIT Shaw’s on Sidney Street. Picketers in Cambridge handed out flyers in front of the store and asked patrons to boycott Shaw’s until the strike is resolved.
Confronting the ‘elephant in the room’
Sexual Assault Awareness Week started yesterday in Stata, when around two dozen students gathered to share private stories about sexual violence. The event, called Take Back the Night, began a week of activities intended to bring talk of sexual assault into the open, as the first step toward ending it.
MIT News Office may win Webby
The MIT News Office is winning a close race for its first Webby People’s Voice Award. As of Monday April 26, the News Office leads the pack in the category for best school/university website, topping Wheaton College (30 percent), The University of Puget Sound (15 percent), Bucknell University (14 percent), and Point Park University (8 percent).
Corrections
A picture caption describing the MIT Sport Taekwondo team’s demonstration on page 25 of the April 9 issue misidentified the kicker as a prospective freshman. The kicker was Christopher M. Williams, a current graduate student.
MIT runs in marathon
Running in line with the 114 year-old Patriots’ Day tradition, pools of runners filled the intersection of Grove St. and West Main in Hopkinton this past Monday, tightening their laces and assuming their positions, to commence this year’s annual 26.2 mile Boston Marathon.
Reed is new chairman
John S. Reed ‘61, SM ‘65 was recently nominated to chair of the MIT Corporation by the Executive Committee. Pending his election to the Corporation on June 4, Reed will succeed Dana G. Mead PhD ’67, who is stepping down as Corporation chair at the end of June.
In interview, Gates describes philanthropic journey
After he spoke at Kresge Auditorium, Bill Gates sat down with <i>The Tech</i> to talk more about his college tour, his philanthropy, and the philosophy behind it.