Assault in Building 2
A man was arrested early Tuesday morning on campus and charged with rape and trespassing.
Bias found to be a persistent hurdle for women pursuing careers in science
A report on the underrepresentation of women in science and math by the American Association of University Women, released Monday March 22, found that although women have made gains, stereotypes and cultural biases still impede their success.
After health bill, a push to curb costs
Though the effects of the health reform bill have yet to be felt, the passage of the bill shined a hard light on health care inequities and runaway medical costs. Professors, and staff at MIT Medical are already preparing for the bill’s consequences by conducting new research and looking for new ways to fix health care inefficiencies.
Large Event Fund Allocation, April to May 2010
The Large Event Fund (LEF) sponsors large, social events (larger than 150 people) on campus that are open to everyone in the MIT Community. Over four funding cycles over the academic year, the LEF gives out approximately $100,000. Source: MIT Association of Student Activities
INTERVIEW Leland Cheung’s plan for Cambridge
Leland Cheung, an MBA/MPA student at MIT Sloan School of Business and Harvard Kennedy School of Government, was elected to the nine-member Cambridge City Council in November last year and is currently serving a two year term. In addition to being the first student to be elected to a seat on the council, Cheung is also the council’s first Asian-American member.
Corrections
A brief last Tuesday incorrectly stated that U.S. Census forms must returned via mail by April 1 (National Census Day) for all students, or students will be subject to a $100 fine. Instead, students residing in dorms and FSILGs should return forms to Residential Advisers or House Managers by Monday April 5. Students residing in dorms or FSILGs should obtain census forms from their RAs or house managers, whose information can be found at: <i>http://web.mit.edu/census/contacts.html</i>.
ARCADE Allocations, April to May 2010
The Assisting Recurring Cultural and Diversity Events (ARCADE) fund is managed by a committee of representatives from the Assocation of Student Activities, Undergraduate Association, Graduate Student Council, and the Campus Committee on Race Relations. ARCADE supports recurring diversity events on the MIT Campus. Source: Association of Student Activities
Top european clerics defend Pope Benedict abuse decision
ESSEN, Germany — The case that has raised questions about the future pope’s handling of a pedophile priest in Germany came to light three decades after it occurred, and then almost by chance. It happened when Wilfried Fesselmann, an early victim, said he stumbled on Internet photographs of the priest who sexually abused him, still working with children.
Court ruling on wiretap a challenge for President Obama
WASHINGTON — As a presidential candidate, then-Sen. Barack Obama declared that it was “unconstitutional and illegal” for the Bush administration to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans. Many of his supporters said likewise.
After Iraq vote, Tehran seeks to weigh in on establishing government
BAGHDAD — Iran may seem an unlikely place to turn for guidance when it comes to putting together a democratic government, but that is exactly what most of Iraq’s political class did immediately after last month’s parliamentary elections.
Strains easing, Chinese leader plans visit to United States
WASHINGTON — Tensions between China and the United States have ebbed significantly in recent days, with the countries now working together to confront Iran over its nuclear ambitions and with the Obama administration backing off a politically charged clash over China’s currency.
Health care for all, in practice, with Obama down the street
PORTLAND, Maine — First through the door of the Portland Community Health Center on Thursday morning was a stick figure of a man, oblivious to the homemade signs and the White House advance team across the street. He had a bald eagle drawn on his sweatshirt, a street-hard weariness in his eyes and a throbbing pain in his right hand.
A beautiful weekend
After a week filled with cloudy skies and drenching rain that brought record flooding to much of New England, the Boston area will be treated to a picture-perfect spring weekend. The cutoff low pressure system that brought persistent rainfall earlier this week has moved off the coast, leaving in its wake a high pressure system that will bring sunny skies and warm temperatures to the region.
Shorts (left)
MOSCOW — President Dmitri Medvedev, trying to demonstrate the government’s resolve after a spate of terrorist bombings, made a surprise visit on Thursday to one of the most tumultuous areas of Russia and called for “harsher” tactics to combat the insurgency.
Shorts (right)
BANGKOK — In southern China, the worst drought in at least 50 years has dried up farmers’ fields and left tens of millions of people short of water.
Calm down? I think not
Health care protesters are an unruly lot. They’ve broken windows. They’ve sent threatening letters to congressmen. They’ve called representatives bad names and spat at them. By the standards of American politics, this is small potatoes, and like everything else, it too shall pass.
When students get a say
Two years ago, as I was becoming more involved in MIT’s undergraduate student government, I read an article in the faculty newsletter by Martin Holmes et al. entitled The Task Force on Student Engagement: A Path Forward (<i>http://web.mit.edu/fnl/volume/204/martin.html</i>). The opening paragraph succinctly put the latest student engagement struggles into context: “In recent months, MIT’s undergraduates and graduate students have expressed concern about their role in certain decisions, including the way NW-35 was presented to the community, the conversion of Green Hall to undergraduate housing, and communication regarding W1 and student dining.” As I mentioned in a previous piece (One Undergraduate Voice, <i>http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N3/bennie.html</i>), members of the MIT Community have responded to this call for student engagement through a variety of efforts. Some of them have been very successful in informing students or collaborating with them, while others have fallen short.
Update from the Graduate Student Council
The Graduate Student Council set out to chart a financially prudent path to better graduate student life and to maintain core activities and services provided to students this year. And with much pleasure, I report that our administration has achieved what we promised — not just to maintain the level of graduate student life at MIT, but to bring it to new horizons.
Return assignments <br />before finals week
The Undergraduate Association’s Student Committee on Educational Policy should dedicate themselves to adding a new component to the End of Term academic regulations: requiring all assignments and midterms to be graded before finals. While numerous regulations currently dictate when subjects with final exams may have their last assignment due, and the Friday before the start of the reading period is declared the last test date, there are no requirements for when assignments and midterm exams must be returned by.
The city of tomorrow
I hadn’t expected much coming out of college. I knew that recessions were not kind to the young and inexperienced, so I was surprised when I received an offer from the Boston Consulting Group to work as a business consultant in Dubai.
Apply for UA positions
President Susan Hockfield and Vice President for Institute Affairs Kirk D. Kolenbrander attended Senate this past Monday. The two discussed the state of MIT’s finances, particularly in the context of W1, and answered questions from students. The majority of questions surrounded MIT’s commitment to innovation in the future and how we can budget appropriately to be both more innovative and more sustainable. A full transcript of the discussion will be available online after minutes have been approved at the next Senate meeting at <i>http://ua.mit.edu/senate/minutes</i>. Senate also passed a bill to fund the creation of Athena Paper Notebooks and to support a MassCPR event.
MUSEUM REVIEW Through the window-glass
It seems as if Tim Burton’s most recent project has sparked a resurgence of Alice in Wonderland. Certainly Alice is all the rage in London, with the movie’s recent Leicester Square premier and Selfridges’ Alice-themed tearoom (although second to Harrods in posh-ness and size, Selfridges can still boast unrivalled bumblebee-yellow bags and equally eye-catching, face-against-glass window displays, displays that for a time matched the said tearoom).
MOVIE REVIEW Madness, genius, feast for the eyes!
I have long been a fan of anything Tim Burton-related. He is the epitome of weirdness. He’s kooky, bizarre, batty, brimming with a creativity that only a madman or a true genius could possess (I think that he is a bit of both). So no, I was not surprised at all that Tim Burton chose to remake <i>Alice in Wonderland</i>. Honestly, I could not imagine it any other way. A world set in between nightmare and whimsical dreamland? Check. A slew of odd characters with ungainly physical traits or fantastical talking beasts? Check. A fabulous array of costume designs that rival the runway of Betty Johnson and John Galliano? Check.
DOUBLE SOY LATTE, PLEASE! Good drinks, wi-fi, ambiance: Choose two
Last week, the hard drive in my clunky Dell whirred its final breath. So today, I present you with the first café review written on my shiny new netbook. Its lightweight portability inspired me to kill a flock of birds with one stone, something I couldn’t have done before without getting scoliosis. In one trip, I returned a sweater from Copley Place (buyer’s remorse), bought tortillas at Trader Joe’s (huevos rancheros for brunch tomorrow), and investigated a café I’d never been to on Newbury Street.
Scoreboard
Baseball Tuesday, March 30 vs. Brandeis UniversityPostponed Thursday, April 1 vs. Worcester Polytechnic InstituteL 10-3 Men’s Lacrosse Wednesday, March 31 at UMass DartmouthL 10-4 Men’s Tennis Tuesday, March 30 vs. Salem State CollegeW 9-0 Men’s Volleyball Wednesday, March 31 at Regis CollegeW 3-0
March Madness: editors’ bracket busted!
So…I was wrong. As you can see on page 15 in issue 13, my bracket was garbage, and I am here to admit it. Yes, sports fans, garbage.
Wrestling wins first national title in MIT history
Ten months after the varsity program was cut, the wrestling team won the 2010 National Collegiate Wrestling Association Division II National Championship on Saturday, March 13th in Hampton, VA. The Engineers scored 64.5 points as a team for a 7th overall finish with only five point-scoring wrestlers out of a possible eleven. Four MIT wrestlers earned All-American honors: co-captain Grant M. Kadokura ’11 became MIT’s first national champion at 125 lbs, while co-captain Joseph B. Silverman ’10 took second place at 197 lbs, Ryan J. Madson ‘13 placed fourth at 165 lbs, and Lucas C. Schiefelbein ‘13 placed seventh at 174 lbs. Graduate student Elena L. Glassman G represented MIT in the women’s division and took second place at 130 lbs.
ATHLETES’ CORNER Track athletes win, set records at Washington and Lee Spring Carnival Women’s lightweight four beats Princeton by seven seconds Men’s heavy eight races past Boston College in first scrimmage of 2010
The men’s and women’s Track teams traveled down to Virginia to compete in the Washington and Lee Spring Carnival. Carnival turned out to be an aptly chosen word, as the atmosphere was rounded out with nonstop jams featuring The Great Miley Cyrus, among other legends.
Upcoming Home Events
Friday, April 2 Baseball vs. Brandeis University 3 p.m., Briggs Field Softball vs. Wellesley College 3 p.m., Briggs Field Softball vs. Wellesley College 5 p.m., Briggs Field Saturday, April 3 Men’s lightweight crew vs. Penn & Dartmouth 9 a.m., Charles River Baseball vs. Babson College 12 p.m., Briggs Field Baseball vs. Babson College 2:30 p.m., Briggs Field Men’s tennis vs. Springfield College 1 p.m., duPont Courts Men’s volleyball vs. Wentworth 1 p.m., Rockwell Cage Women’s lacrosse vs. New England College 1 p.m., Jack Barry Field Monday, April 4 Baseball vs. Suffolk University 3:30 p.m., Briggs Field
