Letters to the Editor
Over the last few weeks there has been an accelerated amount of debate over student issues, especially dining. There has been debate over how MIT should step into the future, while remembering our roots, and being realistic about our present. There are administrators, trying to enhance MIT as a fun and competitive university, and students, trying to keep MIT … well, like MIT.
Obama Knocked it Out of the Park
President Obama delivered a brilliant speech Tuesday evening in what was billed as a quasi-State of the Union address. In fact, a whopping eighty-five percent of people interviewed in a CNN poll said that the speech made them feel more optimistic about where the U.S. is headed in the next few years.
Letters to the Editor
In his Feb 20 opinion in <i>The Tech</i>, Akash Chandawarkar feels that the MIT administration’s policies have been beneficial enough to students to deserve their trust, and many others, myself included, disagree. But even if for the sake of charity we assume that until two weeks ago the MIT administration was the good shepherd, a cursory examination reveals that its recent actions give few reasons to trust its intentions.
Corrections
Because of an editing error, an article in Friday’s issue about changes to the General Institute Requirements incorrectly stated that faculty voted on changing the GIRs “last week.” They actually voted two weeks before the article’s publication — on Feb. 4.
Letters to the Editor
I would just like to thank the MIT administration for providing the MIT student body with so many great community-building opportunities like the protest in Lobby 7 on Tuesday.
Stop Complaining
The consultants’ draft to the Blue Ribbon Committee was leaked and, as per MIT tradition, a flurry of e-mails filled our inboxes from concerned, upset, and protesting students.
Susan Hockfield, Budget Cuts, and the Blue Ribbon Dining Problem
How are three of the hottest topics on campus tied together? As most of us found out recently, the consultant firm working with the Blue Ribbon Dining Committee (BRDC) published a report recommending a mandatory “nutritional” cost to all students. In fact, the only reason we all found out was because the report got leaked.
Secret Meetings Breed Distrust on Dining
The leak of a draft consultants’ report to the Blue Ribbon Committee on Dining clearly sparked some strong feelings on campus over the past week. One of the ways in which this concern manifested itself was in the form of a well-attended and fairly conspicuous protest rally in Lobby 7 last Tuesday.
Meal Plan Not What Students Ordered
We call on students and administrators alike to reject the plans for MIT’s dining system described in the recently leaked draft consultants’ report to the Blue Ribbon Committee on Dining. The report emphasizes “nutrition,” “social engagement,” and “community building” as core principles at the expense of personal responsibility, independence, and free will.
Preferred Dining
MIT offers great flexibility with its dining plan. Many other schools around the country force students to buy into a dining plan that could feed a family of four for six months. Whatever money the student does not spend on food is lost. At MIT, we instead boast a “pay as you go system” that gives students more dining options.
Clean Energy
Only 12 months ago oil was racing past $100 a barrel, and it seemed like our nation’s ability to address our energy future would become the defining issue for our times. It might be tempting to dismiss talk of our energy challenge as just another fad born out of those crazy subprime mortgage days. After all, gasoline prices have come down, and how can we worry too much about the environment when millions of Americans have just lost their jobs? Nonetheless, there are three key reasons why energy remains an urgent issue and critical to our future.
Corrections
The article entitled “Chomsky Condemns U.S. and Israel for Civilian Deaths in Gaza Strip” in the Jan. 14 issue of <i>The Tech</i> misquoted Professor Noam A. Chomsky as saying, regarding Israeli actions in Gaza, “At most they should be greeted with a yawn.” He actually said, “So there is no particular reason why this new crime should be greeted with anything more than a yawn.”
Lowered Expectations
By any measure, the $787 billion stimulus bill will fall well short of solving the problems facing the economy. Over the next two years, the expected shortfall between potential and actual gross domestic product is projected to reach $2 trillion — this legislation doesn’t even come to half of that.
Letters to the Editor
We are writing to express our deep concern about an email that members of our Community received in response to their recent letter appearing in <i>The Tech</i> on January 28, 2009. This email was written to the letter’s authors who were critical of positions taken by Professor Noam Chomsky his public lecture on January 13, 2009 about the recent violence in Gaza.
Who Won the Civil War?
As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the inauguration of America’s first black president, and Black History Month, it’s worth pondering the question, “Who won the Civil War?”
Trials and Tribulations in the First Twenty Days
Storm clouds have begun to gather since the bright, sunny day we welcomed Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Faced with a seemingly intractable economic crisis and a Senate mired in the same kind of partisan squabbling that we all know and hate, there were few who truly expected the administration to fix the country in the first few weeks. I did not expect Barack Obama to resolve the crisis single-handedly. But, like many Americans, I expected more from the people the President picked to run his administration.
Unreasonable Expectations
I have to say, I was seriously irked last week by the public reaction to the “shocking” announcement that swimming sensation Michael Phelps had taken a hit from a bong. How scandalous! In the summer of 2008, during the Beijing Olympics, Phelps was, to put it crudely, “the shiz.” How quickly the tables can turn.
Idealist or Realist?
Obama’s muddled thinking on foreign policy will walk him into the same pitfalls as his predecessor
The Crisis Within and the Voice Abroad
Even here at MIT, with so many students and faculty interested in finding solutions to the great problems of our world, very few have knowledge of the humanitarian catastrophe currently unfolding on the island of Sri Lanka.
Keeping Students’ (and Stomachs’) Interests in Mind
Two weeks ago, when a mass e-mail announced the commencement of campus shuttle service to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, students cheered. For the health-conscious, the gourmand, or the simple eater alike, improved accessibility to these popular grocery markets is certainly a win.