Provost forms Ad Hoc Committee on Arts, Culture, and DEI, charged by Reif
The committee will fulfill its charge by submitting recommendations to Schmidt by December 2021. Schmidt is “optimistic” that the committee’s work will “imagine new possibilities for artistic and cultural contributions to racial equity at MIT.”
MIT suspends SAT/ACT requirement for 2021–22 admissions cycle
First-year applicants applying in fall of 2021 and transfer applicants applying in either fall of 2021 or spring of 2022 will not be required to submit their scores for either test.
MIT hosts COVID-19 vaccine webinar with Harvard and Ragon Institute
Stuopis said that “from a public health perspective,” MIT “strongly encourages every member of our community to get vaccinated when they’re available,” and emphasized that “the best vaccine is the first vaccine you can get.”
Task Force 2021 and Beyond enters next phase, begins refining and planning to implement first phase proposals
The second phase of the task force will be carried out via 16 Refinement and Implementation Committees (RICs), which will each develop specific proposals and define implementation plans for the proposals.
MIT shares summer policies and testing, campus access, and travel protocols
Requirements for mask wearing, social distancing, and routine testing will remain, with “the potential for reduced frequency toward the end of summer,” the email reads.
Wow, it’s actually nice out!
Try to close your computer and put away your psets for a few hours this weekend to enjoy the (likely fleeting) beautiful spring weather.
MIT shares draft of five-year strategic DEI plan, focuses on underrepresented community members
Schmidt emphasized that the plan is a set of explicit actions for the Institute. The DEI team hopes that the plan can be considered as “an encouraging step that can help make your local efforts more lasting and effective.”
MIT to host joint webinar on vaccines with Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital
Reif wrote that topics covered in the webinar will include why “viruses pose such a threat to humanity,” how “vaccines are designed,” what new viral variants “mean in terms of ending the pandemic,” and what “we can do now to prevent future pandemics.”
AAPI support from MIT community
Several AAPI student groups at MIT joined forces to offer an AAPI Community Discussion on March 22 open to all MIT students.
Housing forms, PE, CP*
Rising sophomore, juniors, and seniors should share their fall housing plans by completing the Fall 2021 Undergraduate Housing Intent & Preference Form on the MyHousing portal by April 9.
Housing and Residential Services shares Fall 2021 housing processes
The housing preference forms for both rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors are open until April 9.
Sloan classes held online in light of ‘concerning’ increase in positive COVID-19 tests
Campus access for Sloan students was limited to COVID-19 testing, MIT Medical, and, for students living on campus, residence halls and dining facilities.
Second half term classes, Fall 2021 housing preferences
The first day of half term classes offered in the second half of the semester is April 5.
Plankton season is just around the corner! Yum!
As the howling winds and wet-hair-freezing temperatures of winter wind down, the first signs of spring are already swimming in the ocean. Your friendly neighborhood plankton are beginning to grow in ranks.
Half-term finals, vaccine forms, MIT awards
MIT community members living in Massachusetts should pre-register for COVID-19 vaccines and update their vaccine status at covidvaccine.mit.edu.
The sky weeps from midterm week
Although the weather here in Boston will bless us today with one more day of sunshine and ridiculously high temperatures, don’t expect it to last. Temperatures will start heading down towards the weekend and into next week, with showers Friday morning and Sunday afternoon. So, instead of waiting for your day off to go out... is taking that midterm outdoors really such a bad idea?
Graduate Student Council Advocacy Subcommittee presents recommendations for 2021–2022 stipend rates to Deans’ Council
The committee deemed these recommendations feasible and well-justified when combined with substantial optimism over “increased federal research funding and the outlook for returning to a new normal over the coming months.”
Faculty discuss climate action, credit limit, and underrepresented minority recruitment at March meeting
The CUP’s provisional recommendations for academic year 2022 are to make the fall credit 54 regular units plus six discovery units, to make the spring credit 60 regular units plus six discovery units, and to permanently end the practice of offering ESS
The official start to spring
In Boston, spring means some warm days interspersed with rain, gloomy clouds, and fits of cold, but we can be excited about it nonetheless.