CMS Director Leaves For USC Citing Workload, Lack of Faculty
Professor Henry Jenkins, co-director of the Comparative Media Studies program, announced on Monday he will be leaving for a position at the University of Southern California. Jenkins has been with MIT for nearly 20 years and co-founded CMS. He and his wife Cynthia have also served as housemasters of Senior House for the past 14 years.
Caught Breaking Into Admission Record Rm., Student Faces Charges
Early on Sunday, Nov. 2, MIT Police arrested Shaunalynn M. Duffy ’09 for allegedly breaking into the Freshman Admission Records Office (3-001), according to a police report.
Kjell A. Tovander ’09
When Kjell A. Tovander ’09 was younger, his mother said, he began reading voraciously. So, naturally, when he decided he wanted to learn how to program, he ordered a book about it. He read it in one night.
California State Univ. System Faces Budget Cut, Limits Enrollment
Hard hit by budget cuts, the California State University system is planning to cut its enrollment by 10,000 students for the 2009-10 academic year, unless state lawmakers provide more money.
In A Pinch, Northeastern Postpones New Housing
Northeastern University has shelved plans for a 600-student dormitory amid a severe crunch in credit markets, in the latest sign of the economic downturn’s impact on college campuses.
Cambridge, Mass. Is a Science Lover’s Kind of Town
When you run an ice cream parlor down the street from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, you expect your customers to chat about stem cell research or trade theories about neutrinos between licks of burnt caramel. But Gus Rancatore, whose Toscanini’s shop in Cambridge, Mass., is renowned as much for its deep-thinking clientele as for its sundaes, discovered long ago that catering to the technology-minded crowd could have unforeseen advantages.
Hezbollah Looks at Children And Sees New Adherents
On a Bekaa Valley playing field gilded by late-afternoon sun, hundreds of young men wearing Boy Scout-style uniforms and kerchiefs stand rigidly at attention as a military band plays, its marchers bearing aloft the distinctive yellow banner of Hezbollah, the militant Shiite movement.
Federal Judge Frees Five Guantanamo Detainees
After the first hearing on the government’s evidence for holding inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a federal judge issued the Bush administration a sharp setback on Thursday, ruling that five Algerian men were held unlawfully for nearly seven years and ordering their release.
Investor Fears Spark Another Rout for Markets
As a new bout of fear gripped the financial markets on Thursday, stocks fell sharply again, culminating a monthslong plunge that has wiped out the gains of the last decade.
Shorts (right)
For months, the nation’s largest banks have struggled to regain investors’ trust. In the center of the vortex is Citigroup, whose precipitous stock-market selloff accelerated Thursday, sending shock waves through the financial world.
Key Data Held Back in Inquiry, According to C.I.A. Investigation
An internal investigation by the Central Intelligence Agency has found that the agency withheld crucial information from federal investigators who spent years trying to determine whether CIA officers committed crimes related to the accidental downing of a missionary plane in Peru in 2001.
Shorts (left)
Age and seniority gave way in Congress on Thursday, a transformational shift for an institution where tremendous power has traditionally been built on sheer longevity, accumulated and savored with the passage of years.
Chilly Weekend to Remain Snow-Free
Although the winter solstice is not until December 21st, the Boston area has been experiencing some rather wintry temperatures as of late. Though temperatures can get much lower in New England winters, the recent spell of near-freezing temperatures has been somewhat alarming in contrast to the mild, 60-degree weather we enjoyed earlier this month. While average highs for this time of year range around 50°F, the recent cold temperatures appear poised to stay in place over the weekend.
Detroit’s Plea for Financial Aid Fails in Congress
Democratic congressional leaders on Thursday said that the executives of America’s foundering automakers had failed miserably in persuading Congress or the public that $25 billion in aid from the government would be well spent, and they gave industry leaders 12 days to come back with plans showing otherwise.
Technology and MIT Government
MIT is quite similar to the United States; the economy is suffering, the police are trying to protect our children without destroying culture, financial aid is trying to spread the wealth around, the administration lacks transparency, and community members want a say in decisions affecting their everyday life …
Paying for Detroit’s Mistakes
Thirty-five years ago, the first oil shock allowed Japanese car manufacturers to effectively enter the US market. Since then, Detroit has had difficulty coming up with a long term solution to compete against Japanese automakers. Their current pleas for federal aid would grossly waste taxpayer dollars in a time of economic turmoil. While their cash-strapped situations and predictions of total failure certainly were accelerated by the current economic crisis, a look at their history puts the matter into perspective. Detroit has a failed business model — the cost of which it hopes to pin on the American people.
Letters to the Editor
In the article “DiFava, Pierce Discuss Hacking at EC” (<i>The Tech</i>, Volume 128, Issue 53), DiFava’s attitude seemed incompatible with creating a hacking policy that encourages safety, fairness, and cooperation at MIT. DiFava stated that he believes safety should be at the center of any future policy on hacking. However, in attempting to distinguish between “real” and “wannabe” hackers, he is in fact doing the opposite: the notion that the smart ones don’t get caught creates a heightened, not reduced, sense of challenge and risk.
CONCERT REVIEW Love, Politics, and … Motherhood
The Little Folk-singer isn’t so little anymore: with more than sixteen studio albums in her catalogue, ownership of her independent label Righteous Babe Records, and now a mother to a two-year-old daughter, Ani Difranco has built a career that’s unparalleled by that of any other female solo artist. Her poignant lyrics are both bitingly honest and elegant, a result of her prior study of poetry at The New School. Erin McKeown supported DiFranco last Sunday at Symphony Hall, playing a short set of simple yet clever songs with just one guitar and her voice. She opened with a fast-paced tune in which she questioned “what kind of lover am I?”
CONCERT REVIEW The Past and Future of Music:
Part of the joy of listening to contemporary music is to have the composer as reference and concordance for the works. For those trying to discover a suitable niche for Ezra Sims work on Friday evening’s Boston Musica Viva Concert, Mr. Sims delivered such a discussion on his piece <i>Four Landscapes</i> (2008). Speaking at Boston University’s Tsai Center for the Performing Arts, where the concert was held, he described <i>Landscapes</i> as a microtonal piece utilizing twelve-tone principles. As crucial as this exegesis was, what was particularly informative were Mr. Sim’s thoughts on how these pieces fit within his entire opus. Comparing himself to Chopin, he observed that this work was his “so-called Preludes.”
MIT Ballroom Dance Successful at Brown, Harvard Competitions
Since the first week of September, the MIT Ballroom Dance Team’s newest recruits have been working hard to master the steps, technique, and artistry of eight competitive ballroom dances: the American foxtrot, waltz, tango, swing, rumba, and cha cha and the international waltz and rumba. Thirty-six of MITBDT’s rookie dancers made their debut at the 16th Annual Harvard Beginners’ Competition on October 25th. Each of the newcomer events — international rumba, international waltz, American foxtrot, and swing — had at least 73 registered couples, but despite the competition, thirteen of MIT’s rookies made at least one final in these events, placing in the top six. Especially successful were Eddie Kay G and Chun Li ’08, who placed first in newcomer swing, waltz, and foxtrot and second in newcomer rumba.
GAME OF THE WEEK Women’s Cross Country Clinches Berth in NCAA Championships
Both the MIT men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the New England Regional Championship on Saturday, November 15. The women’s squad reached new heights, finishing in third place out of over 50 teams looking to qualify for the national meet. The result, the highest finish in program history at the regional meet, clinches a spot for the Engineers in the NCAA Championship next weekend in Hanover, Ind. MIT, currently ranked No. 16 in the nation, easily eclipsed its previous high of seventh place, which was achieved at last year’s New England regional. The men finished eighth, failing to qualify for the national championship, despite entering the meet as the fifth ranked team in New England and No. 23 nationally.
MIT Debate Takes First At Oxford, Cambridge IVs
The MIT Debate Team continued this season’s success over the past two weekends with strong performances at both Cambridge and Oxford Universities in England. This is the first year that the MIT Debate Team has competed at these two prestigious international tournaments.
