July 4th fireworks: a star-spangled night
A 30-minute fireworks showcase lit up the sky at the conclusion of July 4th's Boston Pops concert as hundreds of thousands of people watched from rooftops, kayaks, and all along the Charles River.
SH residents discuss concerns about admins’ review process
Senior House residents were informed April 20 of an impending “review process” which included voluntary interviews to investigate what the chancellor called “dangerous behavior.”
Relocated New House students debate opportunity to reside in Senior House next year
Several New House houses were offered the chance to move into Senior House last week – including iHouse, Desmond, and La Casa.
Senior House ranks high for underrepresented minorities, similar to New House in family income, new data show
The Provost’s office recently released data detailing student demographics by residence hall including race, ethnicity, gender (data from the registrar); family income (data from student financial services), and sexual orientation (data from a question in the enrolled students survey which had a 58 percent response rate).
Anantha Chandrakasan, EECS professor, appointed Dean of Engineering School
Anantha Chandrakasan, professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was announced as the new Dean of the School of Engineering in an email sent out to MIT June 23.
Students protest Senior House ‘depopulation,’ new freshman program
Students protested MIT’s decision to “depopulate Senior House” Friday. The protest started with a sign-making session in Lobby 7, followed by a march to the chancellor’s office where various protesters spoke.
Editor’s Note
Last Monday morning, The Tech published our last planned issue for the month. When the decisions surrounding removing current Senior House residents from E2 and initiating the Pilot 2021 in the building were announced later that afternoon, we began to plan a special issue so that we could print about these events in a timely fashion.
Students, alums respond to Senior House depopulation and Pilot 2021
Current students and community members respond
Freshmen in Senior House: Pilot 2021
The Pilot 2021 program will include cooking kits for $2,500 a year, in-house exercise classes, and “career exploration” programming.
Administration decides to resettle Senior House residents, citing “unhealthy behavior” during last year’s turnaround period
Senior House will be mostly depopulated, and will instead house students in Pilot 2021, a new program for freshmen focused on “academics, personal development, and wellbeing.” Current residents will need to go through a “selective” application process in order to live in the dorm next year.
Tim Cook speaks at MIT Commencement
Over 2,800 undergraduate and graduate students received their degrees at MIT commencement June 9.
Pre-registration and CI-H deadline ahead
Graduating seniors must check out of MIT housing by June 10 at noon.
Nelson: LGBT services should be above-ground
LBGT Services and the Office of Multicultural Programs will move from Walker Memorial to the duPont athletic center in W31 this summer. The move is expected to be complete this fall.
Senior Gift participation lags behind precedent
As of May 23, approximately 62 percent of the class of 2017 has donated to this year’s Senior Gift Campaign. This is a significant drop from last year’s 88 percent participation rate and a deviation from the steady increase the campaign has experienced since 2005.
Nearly a year after turnaround announcement, near-term future of Senior House is uncertain
Administrators have still not given word on who will be allowed to live in Senior House this fallwhether freshman will live in Senior House this fall. In particular, it unknown if freshmen, the current residents, or any undergraduates will be allowed to live there.
Courses 6 and 14 form a new joint major
Students can now declare a joint major in computer science and Economics. The 6-14 major was approved in a faculty meeting May 17, and the major requirements appeared on the course 6 department website in June.
Scientists observe gravitational waves — again!
The waves resulted from the merger of two black holes, and their discovery has added to our knowledge of both black holes and general relativity.
Class council budgets to remain private
While the majority of the UA Council members present voted to require all Class Council budgets to be published to undergraduates, the majority of Class Council members present voted against public transparency of the budget.
Health insurance for graduate students with dependents to increase
MIT Medical insurance rates for grad students with spouses and dependents are set to increase by 9.4% next year, 5% higher than the increase for other students.