New dorm on Vassar to open summer 2020 with dining hall and 450-bed capacity
The residence hall will house students relocated due to future renovations, and will have to balance, among other issues, sustainability goals with students’ need for kitchens.
DSL to search for new dining provider, seeks student input
The search for a new dining provider, guided by responses from the student survey and feedback from Envision, a consulting firm engaged by DSL, will begin in May. A new vendor is projected to be selected by fall 2018.
MIT admits Class of 2021, works to ensure students from travel ban-affected countries can attend
MIT released its regular action decisions for the Class of 2021 last Tuesday, bringing the total number of admitted students to 1,438 out of the 20,247 who applied, for an acceptance rate of 7.1 percent, down from 7.8 percent last year.
Chomsky lecture, airport shuttles, housing
Noam Chomsky will speak about climate change and President Trump today from 5-6:30 p.m. in 26-100 in a Starr Forum lecture entitled “Racing to the Precipice: Global Climate, Political Climate.” Seating is first-come, first-serve. Overflow seating will be available in 54-100, where there will be a live stream of the event.
MIT announces new administrative position to facilitate diversity
MIT has created the new position of Senior Associate Dean for Diversity and Community Involvement. Gustavo Burkett, the current director of student involvement at Boston College, has been chosen for the role.
Behind the Media Lab’s $250,000 Disobedience Award
The latest buzz around campus stems not from a startup or disruptive technology, but rather from principles more readily associated with Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi than MIT students.
Airport shuttle, dorm electricity competition, class of 2021
Shuttles to the airport will be provided by the Parking and Transportation Office on Friday, Mar. 24 and Saturday, Mar. 26. There is a $15 charge for the service, and shuttles will leave from Kresge Parking Lot. To reserve a seat, and to view more details, visit http://web.mit.edu/facilities/transportation/shuttles/airport.html.
On-demand ride-sharing service to replace SafeRide shuttles in September
The Undergraduate Association announced yesterday that beginning in September an on-demand ride-sharing service will replace the nighttime SafeRide shuttles which service MIT students in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville.
Dean of Engineering explains his decision to step down
Ian Waitz, dean of the School of Engineering, announced in a Feb. 14 email to the school community that he will step down as dean Jun. 30. In an interview with The Tech, he discussed the ups and downs of his time at the school, along with his plans for the future.
UA delays spring elections after commission chair resigns
The decision to change the election timeline was reached by UA councillors over email, an unusual step taken after the UA’s March meeting was cancelled.
MIT students to help shape Democratic party platform in Massachusetts
A party delegation from a region encompassing MIT is revived after three years of inactivity.
Add date, Atlas, housing, gear repair
Add date is Friday. This is the last day to add classes, change classes to sophomore exploratory or junior/senior P/D/F, switch from listener to credit, and drop half-term subjects.
Energy career fair, add date, and student group funding
The MIT Energy Career Fair is today from 7 to 9 p.m. in Lobdell on the second floor of the student center.
MIT's chief legal officer offers insights on joint amicus brief
Following the executive order barring entry to the U.S. from several countries, MIT filed an amicus curae brief to provide the court with perspective on how the ban affects institutions of higher learning.
CRISPR patent ruling has little impact in laboratory setting, MIT researchers say
Researchers maintained that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s Feb. 15 decision giving the Broad Institute the go-ahead on editing eukaryotic genomes with CRISPR had little impact on their research.
MIT's Volpe site development to bring together Kendall Square community
Affordable housing, sustainability, business, and scientific research are among the top priorities for MIT’s Volpe Center redevelopment project. The project will include significant renovations to the Kendall Square MBTA station and the construction of 300 additional housing units, some of which will make up a new MIT graduate residence hall, replacing Eastgate.
Trump rescinds directive allowing transgender people to choose bathroom
President Donald Trump on Wednesday rescinded protections for transgender students that had allowed them to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, overruling his own education secretary and placing his administration firmly in the middle of the culture wars that many Republicans have tried to leave behind.
At DataRescue, students collaborate to protect vital government data
DataRescue Boston at MIT, a day-long hackathon focused on preserving federal data at risk of manipulation or removal by the Trump administration, took place Saturday in Walker Memorial.
Fast-forward to spring
Today’s temperatures will be more than 20°F (11 K) warmer than normal for this time of year, as winter meets its premature demise in much of the United States. It has been a week since the high temperature observed at Boston’s Logan Airport was colder than its climatological normal, and today’s warm weather would be more suited for mid-May than for late February. This anomalous warmth is part of a pattern that has generated springlike weather over the East and the South, causing temperature records to be broken at many sites in those regions. Anomalously warm weather is forecast to continue for at least two more weeks east of a line running roughly from Texas to Wisconsin. With the first day of astronomical spring less than a month away, the prospect of a return to winter is becoming increasingly unlikely.