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.
Screw Bipartisanship
When it comes to health care policy, two viable economic theories are battling it out across the left-right spectrum.
A Year to Remember
Soaring Fuel Prices. Subprime Mortgage Crisis. Chengdu Earthquake. Georgia. The Olympics. Phelps. Musharraf. Recession. Iraq. Bailout. Large Hadron Collider. An Obama Victory! Madoff. Plummeting Fuel Prices. Gaza. Leap Second.
This Is MIT?
I chose MIT because of the stories: the great cannon heist, the police car, the student-run live-action role playing club, the simple trust that was placed in the intelligence and competence of the students — in letting them choose their own living groups that kept up their own cultures, often decades old, in letting them have a voice in any decisions affecting them. I guess I was imagining a sort of Utopia — 5000 of the funkiest, most brilliant minds from the entire country and around the world molding a homeland of their own in which to learn and live.
America is Different
Last Tuesday night, for the first time in my life, I felt proud to be an American. For the first time, I felt genuine faith in my country and a genuine desire to serve it. And for the first time in my life, my voice was heard and my voice made a difference.
Out of the Wilderness and Back into the Big Tent
For the GOP, it really wasn’t that bad of an election, considering the circumstances. Amid corruption, scandal, and mismanagement of affairs both at home and abroad, Republicans still managed to pull in 45.7% of the popular vote. That they did so is a testament to the enduring conservatism of America’s electoral landscape.
Spending for Tomorrow
Barack Obama said in his inaugural address that “our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began; our minds are no less inventive.” America, according to the President, has lost none of its manufacturing prowess from the current recession. Obama followed this with a list of just some of the projects his administration hopes to fund in order to “stimulate” the economy back to productivity.
The View from the Mall
Last Wednesday, I was one of the huddled masses who braved the cold for hours on the National Mall to catch a glimpse of the inauguration. While I saw less visually than I might have from 10-250, I stood amid the beating heart of America and watched it change firsthand.