HDAG got lost in groupthink
In fall 2008, Chris Colombo became dean of student life of MIT. He was an experienced administrator, having worked at Johns Hopkins University and Columbia University, but he did not understand MIT. He did not understand how the cultures of MIT dorms support students through a challenging undergraduate experience. He did not understand the independence of MIT students. Most importantly, he did not understand the profound financial plunge many MIT undergraduates take when they enroll. But he did have an idea when tasked with fixing MIT dining.
Now or never
The Republicans are going to take back the House of Representatives. With a little luck, and some defections by moderate Democrats (both “R-Nelson” and “R-Lieberman” have a certain <i>je ne sais quoi</i> about them), they could assume control of the Senate as well.
Global warming not worth the fight
Global warming is real. It is predominantly anthropogenic. Left unchecked, it will likely warm the earth by 3-7 C by the end of the century. What should the United States do about it?
Letters to the Editor
Editor’s note: This is an open letter addressed to President Hockfield.
Evanescent evidence — where’s the beef?
In a self-righteous screed published in <i>The Tech</i> on October 1st, the Executive Board of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) purported to clear up the “facts” concerning the expulsion of Phi Beta Epsilon (PBE) due to alleged hazing. The Executive Board of the IFC apparently wants the MIT community to believe that Review Boards of the IFC Judicial Committee know hazing when they see it, based on the definition in Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 269, Section 17. That would be a more compelling argument if the MIT IFC Policy for Risk Management properly quoted the definition of hazing, shown below with annotations for correcting the Policy’s version to the actual statement of the law from the web site of The 186th General Court of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (i.e., the Massachusetts state legislature):
It gets better
In an ideal world, the “It Gets Better” campaign would not need to exist. In an ideal world, we would not see teen suicide reports happening weekly. In an ideal world, every child would grow up happy and healthy.
Red state rising
In the 1990’s, Christine O’Donnell dismissed evolution as “just a theory,” and compared masturbation to adultery. More recently, she claimed scientists “are cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains,” and said China was plotting to take over the United States. She has lied about her education, misused campaign contributions, and has a history of tax problems. She is an incompetent reprobate with a world view that is as simplistic as it is atavistic. She is the 2010 Republican candidate for Delaware’s open senate seat.
The world’s imperceptible slide towards standardization
I’ve now spent two months seeing gas priced per gallon and I still can’t tell whether it’s good value compared to back home. You tell me that it is 70 degrees outside and I agree that what you say seems plausible — I’ve realized that you are talking the Fahrenheit language. I suppose I’m lucky here in the States, coming from an English speaking country, that communication is somewhat easier for me than for those who have learned the language at a later stage of life. And often, when I see others or when I find myself lost in translation, I ask, will mankind ever standardize communication?
Letters to the Editor
I am writing to clarify several assertions in the opinion piece by Ryan Normandin, published on October 5, 2010.
Another gay scandal in the clergy?
When I first heard about the Eddie Long scandal, my immediate reaction was something along the lines of: “Sheesh, another one?” Although the case has not yet been settled, it certainly looks like what we have on our hands is the same tired story. What does it say about our cultural and religious climate that this narrative, in which the closeted minister of excellent repute outs himself in scandal, has reached the status of cliché?
Being a freshman
I’ve wanted to write for <i>The Tech</i> for some time. I’ve wanted to find something to say or something to share. Something about being here, something about the experience of keeping our heads above water. This swim, which for whatever reason we willfully throw ourselves into, sometimes even letting the salty droplets get down into our lungs, because that pain can often be less than the pain of continuing to tread water.
‘You guys made the cyber world look like the north German plain’
The pundits have called it a superweapon, a guided missile, and the herald of a new age in warfare. It’s a computer worm called Stuxnet... and they’re right.
The market for questions
In 1997 the Kyoto Protocol became the first major international treaty, (although not quite completely international) to feature a cap and trade scheme. Yet the idea to extend cap and trade schemes to individuals has not been taken up widely. Ed Miliband, Britain’s new leader of the opposition, proposed a radical idea to introduce individual credits to pollute when he was head of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, but his idea has largely been ignored. Now, more than ever, MIT needs to set an example of radical policy by introducing a permit to ask questions.
The danger when renovations run late
Over the summer, MacGregor was extensively renovated, which is a good thing. It means that we can now turn our heat up or down, the shower feels like a firehose, and there’s no more asbestos killing us as we sleep. MIT also installed a completely new fire alarm system. And although the voice that tells us to evacuate the building is terribly annoying, I can forgive that small deficiency since it might save my life. But there is another problem that is a bit more troubling.
Letters to the Editor
As a Financial Systems Manager at Harvard University, whose son is an active member of Phi Beta Epsilon, one of my highest priorities is data security. Hacking into a system and stealing files is regarded as a serious offense. MIT has chosen to interpret certain benign pledge rituals at PBE as hazing while completely ignoring the fact that the basis of the charge stems from a hacked computer file.
Caught in a death spiral
When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the moniker that D.C’s word doctors chose for the health care reform bill) was debated in Congress, many of its proponents described the main components of the bill — an individual insurance mandate, guaranteed issue provisions that prevent exclusion based on pre-existing conditions, and subsidies for poorer citizens — as a three-legged stool. Remove just one of the legs, they explained to colleagues looking to reduce the scope of reform, and the whole thing would fall down.
The Cambridge hazing trials
Between Febuary 1692 and May 1693 in Salem Village, Massachusetts, twenty nine men and women were tried and convicted of witchcraft. Salem Village had a “zero tolerance” policy for witchcraft, which was at the time a capital felony. Nineteen of the convicted witches went to the gallows. A twentieth man was crushed to death during attempts to draw out a confession. Luckily, the right lessons were learned, and the state of Massachusetts was never again the host of such a gross miscarriage of justice. That is until, September 2010. I welcome you, ladies and gentlemen, to the first case of the Cambridge Hazing Trials. And sadly, it might not be the last.