Dinner will be served by Bon Appétit
Bon Appétit Management Company will be the provider for the new House Dining, effective next semester. Bon Appétit is the current provider for residential dining.
France crafts ‘new university’
Valérie Pécresse, the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, visited Harvard University Monday to give a public lecture and question-and-answer session on “The New French University: An Opportunity to Cooperate with American Academics?” Pécresse has held prior government positions as regional councillor and as a member of the French National Assembly. On Tuesday, the Minister discussed with The Tech and other media the “new French university” and what the concept means for French and American academics.
MIT-China agreements established
On Wednesday, Chinese State Councilor Yandong Liu met with President Susan J. Hockfield for the signing of two important documents that will further strengthen MIT’s partnership with China. The first document confirmed the agreement between MIT and China to establish the China Scholarship Council Graduate Fellowship Program, a program that will be offered to MIT graduate students who are also citizens of the People’s Republic of China. The second document was a letter of intent calling for collaboration between MIT and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).
DormCon, Senate will live on
The Dormitory Council voted yesterday against the proposed student government restructuring brought forth by Undergraduate Association President Vrajesh Y. Modi ’11 in late March. DormCon voted 57 percent in favor of 42 UAS 14.2, the Bill to Unify the Undergraduate Student Voice at MIT — 18 points below the amount required to pass and 11 points below the previous April 3 vote on the measure. The setback may end the potential for any dramatic UA changes in the near future.
Shorts (right)
SAN FRANCISCO — Along with big-wave surfing and high-altitude ultramarathons, eating is an extreme sport here. Which explains why, on a recent Saturday night, Tipay Corpuz, 21, a technology specialist for Apple, took a break from blogging about her obsession with fried chicken-and-waffles to join 2,500 fellow food geeks at the Underground Night Market.
Consumer groups call for the breakup of CVS Caremark
CVS Caremark is coming under increasing pressure from consumer groups and shareholders to split up, at the same time that federal and state regulators are looking into accusations of anti-competitive behavior by the merged company.
Shorts (left)
WASHINGTON — It should have been a moment of victory for Speaker John Boehner and fellow members of a House Republican leadership team. Instead, it felt a little like defeat.
Libyan port city brims with migrants desperate to flee siege
MISRATA, Libya — The man pressed close, patting the pockets of a foreigner, repeating a single word: “Food. Food. Food.”
Three colleagues rebuke Gaza report author’s essay
JERUSALEM — Three members of the United Nations panel that investigated Israel’s Gaza war two years ago rejected on Thursday an essay written by the fourth, the former chairman Richard Goldstone, in which he retracted the panel’s key conclusions, especially that Israel had deliberately made civilians targets.
Long weekend of reasonable weather ahead
Severe weather has been striking our nation and looks likely to continue over Patriots’ Day weekend. Significant thunderstorms, tornadoes, large hail, and blizzards are making their way across the Midwest and South. This time of year always seems to have wild weather — on this day in 1921, Silver Lake, Colo., received 76 inches of snow in 24 hours, while New Orleans was drenched in 14.01 inches of rain in 1927!
Head of air traffic controllers Henry P. Krakowski resigns
The official in charge of air traffic controllers for the Federal Aviation Administration resigned Thursday after a series of episodes in which controllers across the country slept as airplanes landed.
House and Senate approve compromise 2011 federal budget
WASHINGTON — Congress voted Thursday to keep the government financed through September, putting an end to a raucous first skirmish in this year’s showdown between Democrats and Republicans over federal spending while presaging bigger ones to come.
GUEST COLUMN MIT is good for doctors — not premeds
As a premed senior who will be headed to medical school this fall, I agree with many of the points in last Friday’s article by Rachel Bandler entitled “MIT — the premed’s choice?” However, I must caution that the article is overly optimistic on a few levels.
The Day of Silence is worth it, even at MIT
Today you may see a few students in Lobby 7 and in your classes with duct tape inscribed with the phrase “No H8” over their mouths in support of an event called the Day of Silence. I suspect their numbers will be few in light of the fact that MIT’s atmosphere of masochistic pursuit of work leaves little drive for campus activism, but I digress. The Day of Silence is a country-wide effort to spread awareness of the bullying and name-calling of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth as well as the effects of the casual use and tacit acceptance of using phrases like, “That’s so gay.”
Sometimes it’s hard to take back what you said
On April 1, Judge Richard Goldstone published an opinion in the Washington Post where he reconsidered his U.N. report on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza in 2008-09. In the column, Goldstone renounces many of the report’s conclusions as factually inaccurate and based on insubstantial evidence. It is fortunate that the South African judge finally decided to publicly recognize a more balanced account of Operation Cast Lead, and as the saying goes, “better late than never.”
MOVIE REVIEW LIMITLESS? NOT REALLY.
Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) is a loser whose life is falling apart. He is failing in his job as a writer, and his girlfriend (Abbie Cornish) dumped him. Soon after, Eddie accidentally meets his ex-wife’s brother, Vernon Gant (Johnny Whitworth), a drug dealer who sees directly through Eddie’s miserable existence. Vernon offers Eddie a new drug, promising that it will change his life for better by temporarily increasing his intelligence. Vernon claims that humans only use 20 percent of their brain and that the drug, called NZT, would enable Eddie to reach his full potential. Eddie hesitates, but due to his desperate situation, he eventually tries NZT and is surprised to find that it, indeed, focuses his attention and increases his intelligence. He immediately cleans up his messy apartment, writes a first draft of his book, and delivers the draft to his editor, who is stunned by the work. But soon, the effect of NZT drops, and Eddie senses a return to his lowlier existence.
THEATER REVIEW Sharp acting, humor cuts to the point
Next House presented its annual Next Act during CPW last weekend. This year’s production was The Scarlet Pimpernel, a musical based on the early 20th-century play and novel of the same name by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. The musical adaptation ran on Broadway from 1997 to 2000 and has since been performed in numerous venues across the country.
SHAENA R. BERLIN ‘13 Sophomore competes in cycling and triathlon
Shaena R. Berlin ’13, a sophomore in Course 12, spends on average 15–20 hours per week training. As a member of the MIT Cycling team and the MIT Triathlon team, she spends most of her time training on her bike. Hailing from Jackson, Wyo., she was an active member of the cross-country and Nordic skiing teams in high school.
Cycling competes at Tufts
It’s notoriously difficult for a host school to win its own race weekend because of all the other responsibilities that the club must manage. From working with local police to close the course roads to coordinating housing for visiting athletes, there’s a lot that goes into a successful weekend of collegiate racing. In an exceptional organizational effort led by Zach A. LaBry G, MIT not only successfully adapted the weekend’s events to the nor’easter that blew through the weekend of Friday, April 1, but also had enough energy left over to dominate in the races themselves.
Gymnastics wins!
The MIT Gymnastics teams competed at the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs (NAIGC) championships last weekend in Richmond, Va. The women’s team took first place overall in the team competition. The men’s team did not have enough entrants to enter the team competition but still performed well.
Women’s lacrosse wins against Wellesley College
Holding a one-goal advantage midway through the second half, MIT’s Stephanie C. Leger ’11 won the first of four straight draw controls, helping spark a 5-1 run that secured an 18-13 victory over Wellesley College in a NEWMAC women’s lacrosse game on Tuesday afternoon. Leger finished with a game-high 11 draw controls, just one shy of tying the Institute record, and also posed two of her three goals during the late spurt.
