Obama, Democrats snub Prof. Gruber over remarks on health care law
MIT economics professor Jonathan H. Gruber ’87, often referred to as a key Obamacare “architect,” has come under fire recently for videos from 2012 and 2013 in which he calls American voters “stupid” and attributes the passage of the Affordable Care Act in part to “basic exploitation of the lack of economic understanding of the American voter,” according to press reports from this past weekend.
CORRECTIONS
An article about the Newbury Street Shutdown march in the Friday, Nov. 14 issue of The Tech incorrectly left the date of the event unspecified. It occurred Oct. 25.
Guichard-Ashbrook remembered
Work and marriage brought Danielle Guichard-Ashbrook to India, Japan, and Hong Kong, where she studied, taught, and assisted refugees. That was ample preparation to direct MIT’s International Students Office, but her emotional resume was just as pronounced. To sense the struggle of adapting to a distant new home, she needed only to look inside her heart.
Parents Weekend policy reignites dorm security talk
Dormitory security procedures during Parents Weekend have rekindled undergraduate resentment toward new security policies implemented at the beginning of the semester.
Chilly weather after a soggy start to the week
The sun stayed hidden all day yesterday as Cambridge was soaked by nearly continuous rain associated with a low pressure system tracking up the coast. As of 5:00 p.m. yesterday, Boston Logan Airport had already received 0.82 inches of rain, with even more rain occurring throughout the overnight hours as the low pressure moved out of Southern New England.
Elena Ruehr’s “Cassandra in the Temples”
Elena Ruehr, who has been a lecturer at MIT in the Department of Music and Theater Arts since 1992, is premiering three new works this fall. Two of those, “Eve” and “It’s About Time,” had their openings in Boston and San Francisco this month, while the third one, an opera titled “Cassandra in the Temples,” will have its opening night in Kresge Auditorium at MIT this Friday.
MIT eclipses tourney at Brown
Over Veterans’ Day weekend, the MIT Ballroom Dance Team (MITBDT) again sent its dancers to the top of the finals at Brown University’s 20th Annual Ballroom Competition.
Djokovic wins ATP Finals
The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London came to anti-climactic end as World No. 2 and six-time champion Roger Federer had to pull out of the final, as he wasn’t match-fit, giving Djokovic his third consecutive ATP Finals title.
MIT ends terrific season
This fall, at the yearly Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Regional Championships, the MIT Mountain Bike team won the Division II Team Omnium trophy. The Team Omnium award is earned by winning the most points overall and demonstrates the combined strength of all members on the team. While the MIT Cycling Team has a long history of winning team omniums in each of the other three cycling disciplines (road, cyclocross, and track), this fall the team made history by winning in its traditionally weakest discipline — mountain biking
Football team earns historic 9–0 record
In front of an enthusiastic home crowd on Senior Night, the MIT football team completed its historic regular season with a 24-13 victory over the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on Saturday, Nov. 16 in a New England Football Conference (NEFC) contest. The win gave the Engineers the first, nine-game, undefeated regular season in school history. MIT scored all 24 points in the first half, including a pair of touchdown passes from senior Peter J. Williams ’15 to Nathan H. Varady ’16.
Institute Double Take
I saw a post on reddit.com/r/mit asking when “MITHenge” would be this year. I clicked the link in the post and discovered that the alignment of the setting sun with the Infinite Corridor has been measured and modeled for decades. Turns out, the predicted dates for this winter’s perfect alignment — when the setting sun would be visible from the very end of the Infinite, in Building 8 — were November 10-12. So, of course, I set a reminder in my calendar and grabbed a camera when the first predicted time arrived.
Events Nov. 18 – Nov. 24
Events Nov. 18 – Nov. 24 Tuesday (5:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.) Modern War Gardens: Paradise Lost, with photographer Lalage Snow, sponsored by the MIT Global France Seminar — 2-105 (7 p.m. – 8 p.m.) Innovations in Wind Energy Lecture Series: Cape Wind, presented by Cape Wind Communications Director Mark Rodgers, with pizza served — 3-333 Wednesday (3:00 p.m – 4:30 p.m.) Life after the Postdoc: Research positions beyond the tenure track, sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Research — 46-3002 (4 p.m. — 6 p.m.) 2014 Engineering Boutique Night for all levels of engineering students, sponsored by GECD, registration required — Sheraton Commander, 16 Garden Street Thursday (8 a.m. – 1 p.m.) Choose to Reuse (dropoff starting 8 a.m., pickup starting 11 a.m). — 32 first floor (5 p.m. – 6 p.m.) MISTI-Russia Info Session — E40-496 Friday (8 p.m. – 10 p.m.) MIT Sounding: Roomful of Teeth, tickets free with MIT ID on Eventbrite — W16 (Kresge auditorium) (8:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.) MIT American Indian Science and Engineering Society shows Windtalkers, refreshments provided — 4-237 Saturday (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.) LSC shows 10 Things I Hate About You, tickets $4 in Lobby 16 — 26-100 (7 p.m. – 9 p.m.) MIT Brazilian Student Association and UA show Central Station, with traditional Brazilian food — 3-270 Sunday (4 p.m. – 6 p.m.) Fidelio Trio — 14W-111 (Killian Hall) Monday (7 p.m. – 9 p.m.) Regenarratives, with speaker Gabriel Kahan — E15-070 (Bartos Theatre) Send your campus events to events@tech.mit.edu.
