The Failure of the Task Force on Student Engagement
A little more than a year ago, I sat down with Martin F. Holmes ’08 — my successor as Undergraduate Association President — and then-Graduate Student Council President Leeland B. Ekstrom PhD ’09 to pen a letter expressing our serious concerns regarding the lack of meaningful student involvement in Institute decision making and outlining our proposals for change. The issue of student input, which had begun to resurface as a concern during my term in office, came to a head last year after the Institute’s handling of the arrest of Star A. Simpson ‘10, the surprising announcement of Green Hall’s conversion to undergraduate housing, poor communication regarding the future of W1 and student dining, as well as a number of hacking incidents. After a series of negotiated edits and changes, this letter — which was eventually co-signed by Mr. Holmes, Mr. Ekstrom, Chancellor Phillip L. Clay PhD ’75, and Executive Vice President Kirk D. Kolenbrander — was published in the Faculty Newsletter and called for the establishment of a Task Force on Student Engagement.
How You Will Remake the World
Dear fellow graduating students: Congratulations! Alumni from this institute have unique leverage in shaping how people think. This capital has been earned, over almost a century and a half, by the hard work, integrity, and accomplishments of the women and men who have passed through these corridors. So how will you spend this precious currency?
Re-Embracing the Institute’s Mission
The current MIT administration has made a long series of inappropriate decisions on issues of student life and beyond which dismally fail to uphold the core values of MIT. One might ask, however, how can one define those core values? Mightn’t administrators just be doing their best but have a different viewpoint?
Goldilocks and the Three Lessons from the Derivatives Market
Imagine for a moment that you are a commercial bank called the Papa Bear Bank Company. You accept deposits from large businesses and use the money to make loans to other businesses and consumers. The interest on the money you loan out is a little bit higher than the interest you pay to your depositors, and as a result you make a tidy bit of revenue. You use this revenue to pay your workers, dole out dividends to your shareholders, and host the occasional junket in Yellowstone.
Fifty Years of ‘The Two Cultures’
May 7 marked the 50th anniversary of C.P. Snow’s influential talk, “The Two Cultures.” In his lecture and subsequent book, the English writer and physicist described the widening gulf between the humanities and science.
Corrections
A “Stay Tuned…” feature which ran on the front page of the May 8 issue of <i>The Tech</i> incorrectly claimed that the Alpha Tau Omega chapter at MIT had lost its charter from the national fraternity. The article based the claim on minutes from a Cambridge License Commission meeting in January, which state that the chapter “lost their Parent Charter.” According to Wynn Smiley, chief executive officer of the national ATO organization, the chapter is in good standing with the national fraternity. See article, page 1.
Letters to the Editor
As organizers of the Palestine Awareness Week (PAW), we would like to clarify some of the issues and address the inaccuracies and omissions in Stephen Fried’s May 8 opinion piece (“The nth Annual Chomsky Rant in Bad Taste; Are We Moving Forward?”). The piece, which provides a good example of “ranting in bad taste,” suggests that PAW and similar educational activities are counterproductive obstacles to dialogue.
A Word on Palestinian Activism at MIT
In my four years at MIT, I have observed that every effort to present a viewpoint that is somewhat critical of Israel or that is promoting a more fair-handed approach to achieving peace in the Middle East is met with negativity and attempts to stifle expression.
Corrections
The Friday, May 1 article “Student Tested For Swine Flu; Results Aren’t In Yet” incorrectly reported that an MIT student living off-campus had been diagnosed with influenza A and was being tested for swine flu. The error arose because of a confusion between two cases.
Letters to the Editor
Keith Yost (“Cleverer and Cleverer,” May 5) commits a gross error and perpetuates a fallacy about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, both of which should be corrected.
The nth Annual Chomsky Rant in Bad Taste; Are We Moving Forward?
Contrary to all expectations, the main speaker at this year’s annual Palestine Awareness Week (PAW) is… Noam Chomsky. The purpose of this opinion, however, is not to criticize Chomsky’s rhetorical methods (Ophir and Faketerman, Vol. 128, Issue 65) or to contextualize the misleading remarks he makes (Maurer, Vol. 128, Issue 64). Rather, my grievance is with the organizers who continue to give Chomsky a forum to repeat the same message — time and time and time yet again.
Tears and Tragedy in the World’s Youngest Republic
Situated at the heart of South Asia, amidst major tall mountains of the World, Nepal is a beautiful land. In the 70s, Nepal was counted as one of the world’s top tourist destinations. As a toddler I still remember saying in my classroom — “Guests are gods.” We used to satisfy the needs of our guests before looking on to ours. Our values taught us to love every human being’s and help the helpless. Our glorious history taught us to fight against injustice, yet remain peaceful. Such uniquely rich culture; rife with empathy, respect, dignity and sacrifice; has always propelled me to remain proud for my nation.
Cleverer and Cleverer
It was all the way back in the middle of November when I first wrote about the brewing issue of appointments to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. To catch you up: the NRC is led by a five-man commission, with one of them serving at the President’s discretion as the chairman of the body. The commission controls the high level nuclear regulatory policy in the United States, and as such plays an important role in the development of nuclear power.
Letters to the Editor
The recent decision by the athletic department to eliminate eight sports from the Varsity program at MIT was supposedly made using an objective process:
Letters to the Editor
I gradutated M.I.T. in 2000, just in time to see a thriving campus life undercut time after time by overzealous security measures enacted by spineless administrators in the face of mobs of Cambridge citizens and failed parents looking to the university system as a surrogate. I’ve seen the fraternity system whittled down and student freedoms trampled, their voices silenced on issue after issue, as former school bureaucrats move on to positions of power (or is that infamy) in certain (here unnamed) governments.
Arlen Specter Switches Parties
It’s not a happy time to be a Republican. After first losing control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in 2006, and then the White House this past election cycle, the Republican Party has lost a big name Republican senator from a blue state. Specter needed to switch to survive a primary challenge from right wing Republican Pat Toomey. Whatever the politics of the decision, it’s given the Democrats what they want: the opportunity for a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Assuming Al Franken, Democratic Senator from Minnesota, who is facing a court challenge over the results of the 2008 Minnesota senate election from incumbent Norm Coleman, becomes seated, the Democratic caucus will reach the magic number 60 in the Senate required for shutting down the filibuster.
Democrats Need to Go Back to the Blackboard on Education Policy
Basketball-player-cum-Secretary-of-Education Arne Duncan recently outlined the president’s proposal to reform our nation’s schools, and for those who follow education policy, the plan was a frustrating let-down. Duncan’s plan consisted of two major points: increasing the resources put towards early childhood education and extending the school year. Both are failed strategies that will significantly raise educational costs without significantly improving results.
UA Update
Before the Senate proceedings last Monday, Vice Chancellor and Dean for Graduate Education Steven R. Lerman ’72 met with students for a town-hall style meeting. Based on his experiences with the Institute, Lerman presented his perspective on how life at MIT has changed over the last decades, differences between undergraduate and graduate student culture, and the development of Athena. Additionally, he touched upon the bias that exists in the personnel aspect of the budget cuts due to administrators making the decisions, and he also mentioned the need for renovation both in dormitories and academic buildings.