Everyone Can Learn from Bombed Hack
Last Friday’s hack by Burton-Connor House and the subsequent investigation by MIT police, the Cambridge Fire Department and Cambridge Bomb Squad once again brought to the fore lingering questions regarding the relationship between MIT police and the hacking culture on campus. This most recent event especially highlighted the need for MIT students, administrators, and police to develop a common understanding of the obligations each group holds in our unique community.
Trouble Finding a Home at MIT
As my first year at MIT draws to a close, I’ve noticed how a great number of procedures and requirements at the Institute are far more complicated than they need be. During CPW, a prefrosh had asked me about the housing lottery. Since this conversation was taking place within the realms of a frat party, I advised him to just read all the pamphlets that would be sent in the mail over the summer. The wide-eyed prefrosh was persistent: “Can you just explain it?” Sighing, I pulled him over and explained that if I were to cover the housing lottery in its entirety, it would’ve ruined the party mood. He dutifully took my words and went off to attack another student about triple majoring.
We’re Problem-Solvers. Let Us Help.
MIT prides itself on educating the best and brightest scientists and engineers — in short, the world’s best problem solvers. Why is it then that the MIT administration’s default modus operandi is to lock students out of the chance to help solve the problems the Institute faces today?
Roll Back the DAPER Cuts!
Last week, the Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation (DAPER) announced that eight of 41 varsity sports would no longer be offered following the end of this academic year. Citing the need to reduce its budget by 15 percent over the next three years, the varsity cuts are intended to help DAPER to shave off nearly $1.5 million in costs. The cuts; which eliminated varsity alpine skiing, golf, men and women’s gymnastics, men and women’s ice hockey, pistol, and wrestling; were met with significant student opposition in the weeks leading up to the announcement.
Letters to the Editor
When I first saw the pictures of the “BOMB” it reminded me of something that I might see in a Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon. Then I read the story in <i>The Tech</i> and discovered that campus police were notified at 3 a.m. that the bomb was fake. I can think of only two possibilities for the actions of the campus police. The first is that they do not “know their beat.” The second is that there must be some friction between the students and the campus police that would cause them to disregard what is an obvious “hack” and try to embarrass the students. I believe that the campus police chief should investigate and take steps to improve what may be a strained relationship between the student body and the campus police department.
Letters to the Editor
I think Mr Blascovich’s editorial Stop Whining and Start Cheering overlooks a few fundamentals.
The Schizophrenic-in-Chief
In hindsight it’s hard to believe, but there once was a time when I thought I knew where President Obama stood on free trade. Just a year ago he was on the campaign trail in Ohio, claiming that “one million jobs have been lost because of NAFTA” and pledging as president to “renegotiate” the treaty to the satisfaction of labor interests in the U.S. In front of crowds of unemployed workers in Ohio and Texas, his beliefs were as simple as they were hyperbolic: free trade agreements “ship jobs overseas and force parents to compete with their teenagers to work for minimum wage at Wal-Mart.”
Moving from “DAPER” To “DAR”
Many other letters have spoken passionately and clearly about the need for MIT’s varsity athletic programs and so I will try and constrain my comments to addressing solutions to DAPER’s budget gap.
UA Update
The Undergraduate Association Dining Proposal Committee has been meeting weekly and engaging in conversations with members of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Dining and representatives from peer institutions, such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. The Dining Proposal Committee’s report will be released today and will be made available at <i>http://ua.mit.edu/dpc/</i>.
Corrections
An article on March 17 about increases to graduate student stipends incorrectly stated that all graduate student stipends increased by 3.4 percent. Actually, the recommended stipends for science and engineering departments increased by that amount. Those stipends are allowed to deviate from the recommendation announced by Dean for Graduate Education Steven R. Lerman ’72 and Associate Provost Claude R. Canizares. Any department stipends 15 percent above or 10 percent below the recommended amount must be approved by the school dean and the associate provost.
Vandalism of Pro-Life Bulletin Board Silences Debate
I was surprised to learn that there has been a small vandalism wave targeted towards specific advocacy groups along the Infinite Corridor. In the past two months, a display about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict was removed, a Martin Luther King display was vandalized twice, the United Christian Organization (UCO) bulletin board was torn down and pro-life ads were completely taken down along with the entire pro-life Bulletin Board.
Letters to the Editor
The motto of the Institute is “Mens et Manus,” which literally translated means “Mind and Hand.” One can only speculate as to the exact intentions of the founders, but this expression can be taken as emphasizing the importance of both thinking and doing, or equally as emphasizing the importance of one’s mind and one’s body.
Making Your College Decision: The Print Edition
A campus newspaper is a great way to find out what a college is like. When I was doing my campus tours, I always made sure to pick up a copy of the campus daily (or twice-weekly). Hidden among the pages are the collective values, fears, and triumphs of the student body. Plus, a newspaper’s objectivity simultaneously reveals the best and worst in a college. During your stay here at MIT, and wherever else you may be visiting, be sure to pick up a publication and read it not only for content, but for subtext. If you’re reading this, you’ve already completed step one. Let’s take a stroll through some recent issues of <i>The Tech</i> and the newspapers of some other colleges you may be considering to see what we can find out.
Clean Energy Forum Ignores the Facts
Ladies and gentlemen, prefrosh and parents, I’d like to introduce you to what happens when the world’s premier research university and a representative of the world’s largest subsidizer of bad ideas join together to discuss hot air. I’m talking, of course, about Monday’s clean energy and global warming forum, hosted by the MIT Energy Initiative and featuring Rep. Ed Markey. Special thanks, of course, go to the 33-year veteran congressman for his brief and monotone addition to the summit.
Obama’s Nuclear Weapons Plan
Early this April, President Obama unveiled his vision for strengthening the world’s nuclear non-proliferation regime: renewed arms reduction talks with Russia and the creation of an international fuel bank in Kazakhstan to provide fuel services to non-weapons states. Both are excellent ideas which are long overdue, but neither will resolve the major proliferation threats facing us today.
Stop Whining and Start Cheering
When DAPER announced that budget cuts would require the elimination of one or more varsity programs, the department showed great respect for students by informing them early in the process. This respect was not reciprocated by students and other members of the MIT community who have spent the last few weeks insulting administrators, insisting that this decision must have been made hastily, and demanding that the department reconsider. While DAPER is listening with open ears, students claim they are being unheard much like a bratty sixteen-year-old demanding a Ferrari when given an Acura. As a student body, we need to appreciate the incredible opportunities that we will still have without complaining about what we can no longer afford.
Institute Wisdom Watch
<b>The Prefrosh descend on Campus:</b> Yay! More students to indoctrinate. Erm, we mean “welcome.” — thumbs up
UA Update
Spring Weekend will be from April 23 to 25. Ben Folds will be performing live in concert with Sara Bareilles and Hotel Lights, starting at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 25th in the Johnson Athletic Center. To purchase tickets for this event, which are only $15 for MIT students, as well as tickets for any other Spring Weekend events, please visit: <i>http://sao.mit.edu/tickets</i>. Make sure to buy your tickets today, before it’s too late!