Alcohol abuse, illegal drugs, and misinformation
Earlier this week, members of the MIT community found in their inboxes an email from Chancellor Barnhart. Immediately beneath the ominous subject line of “Alcohol abuse, illegal drugs and our community” were the expected exhortations against binge drinking and drug use. This time, however, these words came backed by evidence. To quote the email, “The results of the 2015 Healthy Minds Study and 2014 Community Attitudes on Sexual Assault survey show the direct — and negative — links between substance abuse and student health and safety.” Included helpfully were also hyperlinks to these two studies, as well as one to the MIT “Statement on Drug-free Campus and Workplace Policies,” which contains, among other things, a list of “selected drugs and their effects.” In short, a bevy of material to support a seemingly obvious claim.
High pressure to dominate end-of-week weather
After the recent passing of a low pressure system, high pressure over the eastern U.S. will dominate the weather through the end of the weekend, leading to clear skies and similar temperatures each day. Lows each night will dip down to around freezing under the clear skies. Daily highs will be in the low-to-mid 50s (°F). The relatively dry air will be a change of pace from the weather of this past week. Early next week, the chance for another low pressure system returns.
A gathering storm in the cloud
The United States and the nations of the European Union don’t see eye to eye on many topics: the more interesting version of football, the appropriate minimum age of alcohol consumption, and the use of international military force being among them. Yet for several years, one such conflict — on data protection — has grown from a divide into a gulf, and just about two months ago, the bridge connecting the two collapsed.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart has charged organizations we lead, namely the Committee on Academic Performance (CAP) and the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education (DUE), with reviewing the undergraduate withdrawal and readmission policies at MIT. We are writing to update the community on our progress and to solicit input to our review.
Weighing in on the proposed changes to the STEM OPT Extension
MIT is home to a large number of international students on F-1 student visas. In the 2014-2015 academic year, 42 percent of the graduate student body was composed of international students. Most of these students apply for the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program after graduation in order to work in the U.S. in their field of study. Every international student who completes a post-secondary degree in the U.S. on an F-1 visa is eligible for 12 months of OPT. Since 2008, those who complete a degree in a STEM field have also qualified for a one-time 17-month extension of OPT. This extension, however, was recently challenged in court by the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, and this August, the District Court for the District of Columbia vacated the STEM OPT Extension on the grounds of procedural deficiency. The court order is set to take effect in February 2016.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Last week, Isaac Silberberg published an op-ed in The Tech accusing the MIT Arab Students Organization (ASO) and Palestine@MIT of bringing a “9/11 supporter,” Mads Gilbert, to campus. As I read Isaac’s article, I felt his pain in losing a friend during the terrible attacks that befell our country fourteen years ago. I also felt apprehension and concern, because I knew what would happen after the op-ed was read by others: suspicion would fall once more upon MIT’s Arab community at large. I am not part of the ASO or Palestine@MIT, but I have many wonderful friends who are. Did Silberberg think these kind-hearted and intelligent people (in other words, typical MIT students) would bring a terrorism sympathizer to campus?
Why is a supporter of the 9/11 attacks being hosted at MIT?
The very first person killed on 9/11 was an MIT student, Daniel Lewin, someone I knew well. Before I moved to a dorm or even considered applying to MIT, I was a resident of Westgate Low-Rise, that collection of squat apartment buildings past Next House clustered around a playground. My mother was a graduate student in Course 11 in the late 1990s; Daniel and his young family lived in the apartment above mine. He became a second dad to me after my father was felled by a brain tumor, but my relationship with him was not unique. He was widely loved here on campus.
Trust in economists
Since economic policies shape the lives of each and every one of us, it seems right to discuss them in the public space. But in this space, an important component is often left out — a base in economic realities. Non-experts need not and should not approach economics as an empty canvas when thinking about public policy. Instead, the general public should treat economics like other professional fields, such as medicine, and apply their values to options laid out by economists as feasible.
Clear for Halloween Night
The departing low-pressure system which brought rain to the area this morning is now heading off into eastern Canada. Tomorrow, skies should clear as northwesterly winds blow cooler, drier air into the region and high pressure builds in. For Halloween, the high pressure system will creep up the eastern seaboard and keep skies clear for Boston. Halloween night looks to be a bit chilly, with temperatures in the low 40s°F through the late evening. As we enter November, we leave the statistically snow-free month of October behind. Students new to Boston have already begun to question the reality of our beloved winter weather, but we’re climatologically approaching snowier times. Boston typically sees its first measurable snowfall around November 4, but the first snow day varies significantly from year to year. Snowfall greater than 0.5 inches (1.3 cm) typically arrives around December 5.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
When I read the Climate Change Action Plan sent out by President Rafael Reif, I was squarely unimpressed, but I wasn’t surprised. In terms of climate change, MIT seems to have a history of grand, empty gestures. This email didn’t stray from tradition.
MIT’s Climate Plan doesn’t add up. So we’re sitting-in.
We write from the office doorstep of MIT’s President, where on October 22, we began a sit-in in response to the President’s announcement of MIT’s Plan for Action on Climate Change (hereafter ‘Plan’). As President Reif acknowledged, the Plan originally “emerged in response to” Fossil Free MIT’s ongoing call, since April 2013, for MIT to divest its now $13.5 billion endowment from fossil fuel companies. Here, we share our take on MIT’s Plan and explain why it has left us no choice but to respectfully plant ourselves, around-the-clock, along MIT’s corridor of power to call for a bolder approach.
When terror hits close to home
For the past few weeks, I’ve been glued to my phone. I check it first thing when I wake up in the morning, while I’m eating, while I’m walking down the Infinite, in class, while I’m working on problem sets, and before I go to sleep. But I’m not checking fantasy football stats. I’m checking for reports of another terror attack and word that my little brother is safe.
Islam and the West
Last month, the MIT Center for International Studies hosted a talk by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Raised a Muslim, she witnessed abuse of women in Muslim communities. She renounced her religion and became an activist for women’s rights. Her criticisms of Islam led to death threats, and her courage was recognized by several awards. Her latest book, Heretic, calls for a fundamental reformation of Islam.
CORRECTIONS
Due to an editing error, the headline to the weather forecast last Thursday read, “Developing Hurricane Joaquin is unlikely to affect Massachusetts,” though forecasts at the time indicated that the hurricane might have impacted Massachusetts this week. (Since then, the hurricane has in fact veered away from the U.S. east coast.)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Before coming to MIT as a postdoc in 2013, news of student suicides hadn’t affected me as they do now. I went to large schools: UMass-Amherst for undergrad and The University of Texas at Austin for my PhD. I only recall hearing news of a suicide about once a year, but the rate here feels painfully higher. Following last week’s report of an MIT graduate student’s death, I felt compelled to get involved and began to search for organized efforts within the MIT community. I have to say, what I found (or, rather, what I did not find) shocked me. Despite several articles in which MIT acknowledged the problem of suicides and appeared to commit to addressing the issue, even citing resources, nowhere could I find a salient lifeline for students in crisis at MIT.
The always-entertaining Donald Trump
The jury is still out on the question, and they’re likely to be out for a while longer. Despite the fact that Trump has been the Republican frontrunner for months now, some people still can’t wrap their minds around the idea that the real-estate mogul and TV personality has his eye on the Oval Office. The issue as it stands today boils down to this: Is Donald Trump a real presidential candidate with a vision, or is this ultimately a PR stunt?
An FSILG Village would hurt MIT’s Greek system
Over the past year, there has been discussion about transitioning MIT fraternities and sororities stationed in Boston into a “Greek Village” located on West Campus grounds in Cambridge. This concept of an FSILG Village has moved quickly amongst FSILG officials and MIT administrators but has not gained support within the actual Greek community. According to a survey reported on by The Tech, “Of 80 total alumni and student representatives, only five alumni ‘expressed high interest in the project,’ and only five students thought it was at all likely that their living group would be willing to move into an FSILG village.”
Five years after the American Red Cross efforts to rebuild Haiti
Following the January 2010 earthquake that killed over 200,000 Haitians and left more than a million homeless, donations flooded in from governments, financial institutions, and individuals around the world. U.S. households donated a total of more than $1.4 billion, and the American Red Cross raised the most of any charity for the cause: nearly half a billion dollars in the span of a single year.
A farewell to the Class of 2015
Today, new scientists and engineers, economists and financiers, academics and professionals leave MIT and begin their careers, among them many of my closest friends and colleagues. What strikes me most about this time of year is the atmosphere: not the fatalism that follows exam week or the relief at having reached a vacation, but rather a quiet (or not so quiet) sense of anticipation and hope for life beyond the Institute from those convening in Killian.