Christina Tournant, freshman of Maseeh Hall, dies in Florida
Christina E. Tournant ’18, who lived in Maseeh Hall, has died at home in Florida while on voluntary medical leave, President L. Rafael Reif wrote in an email to campus last Friday.
New career fair hoped to strengthen MIT-Arab ties
MIT needs to develop its relationship with the Arab World, according to the MIT Arab Students Organization (ASO). This is the focus of their most recent effort, the MIT Middle East and North Africa Career Fair (MENA).
Students reach out to each other after death of freshman
Matthew L. Nehring ’18, a resident of East Campus and a native of Colorado, died Saturday night.
Alumni group starts fund to pressure MIT to divest
Thousands of MIT alumni, students, and faculty are calling on MIT to divest its $12.4 billion endowment from fossil-fuel companies, an endeavor that MIT alumnus Rajesh Kasturirangan PhD ’04 calls “a moral obligation comparable to college divestment from South Africa during the Apartheid regime.”
Alabama Supreme Court rules same-sex marriage illegal despite federal judge’s opposite decision
The Alabama Supreme Court on Tuesday night ordered probate judges around the state to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, ruling indirect opposition to a federal judge that the state’s ban on same-sex
In opening statement, defense says Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's brother killed Sean Collier
The defense attorney for alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev said Wednesday that it was his brother Tamerlan, and not Tsarnaev himself, who killed MIT Police Officer Sean Collier on April 18, 2013.
CORRECTIONS
An article about Mt. Simmons published last Thursday identified Dheera Venkatraman incorrectly with the pronoun “she.” The correct pronoun is “he.” A movie review published last Thursday misspelled the name of one of the writers of Song of the Sea. He is Tomm Moore, not “More.”
Warmer weather on the way
Slush filled the streets yesterday as temperatures around Boston broke 40 °F for the first time since early January. Bostonians have gained a sense of “weather relativity” this week. Some may call the warmer weather a return to normalcy; for others, it’s a heat wave. Most of the brutal weather this winter resulted from a series of persistent troughs over the eastern U.S. Luckily, that pattern has broken down, allowing warmer air to surge northward.
Iran’s growing nuclear capabilities
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress about one of the most pressing national security problems facing the United States. He articulated misgivings also voiced by congressmen in both parties and several of the U.S.’s Arab allies about an emerging nuclear agreement with Iran.
The MIT community in reflection
We probably do not remember exactly what each of us were doing or thinking a few nights ago, during what is usually one of the most relaxing times of the week: between Saturday and Sunday. But it might be worth trying to recall those hours for perspective. Some of us may have reserved that time for conversations, sleeping, partying, or thinking about the approaching summer as we stared through our windows at a snow-covered river. Amid our routines on that very night, Matthew Nehring, the student, beloved friend, and fellow staffer at The Tech, experienced the last hours of his life. The tragedy pains the community at MIT, which has already felt deep losses in the past year. Thinking about our physical proximity to this event, the negligible distances between buildings and rooms on campus, is chilling. In spite of the seeming closeness, the walls separated a single one of us from the rest of the community.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A student’s question at the Memorial Lobby event Tuesday evening haunts me: “What will you do so that we don’t forget?” She was referring to the life of Matt Nehring and to the impact of suicide on classmates.
Why MIT faculty should sign the petition to divest from fossil fuels
This article was originally printed in the January/February 2015 issue of the MIT Faculty Newsletter.
Timbuktu: Life under terrorism
ISIS and the radicalization of Islam should be deplored. We know this. But what are the crimes? Facile answers include the beheadings and mass killings that have the immediate shock value needed to attract media attention. (Our world is one of noise, to echo Polish director Pavel Pawlikowski at the Oscars.) The injustices perpetrated against everyday Muslims living under jihadist militants are both more pervasive and more insidious: abrogations of freedoms not only to life, but to liberty, personal and cultural. Attacks on not only the body, but the soul.
True love and tragedy in Boston Ballet’s Lady of the Camellias
Choreographed by Val Caniparoli, Lady of the Camellias by Boston Ballet is an emotion-filled display of the talent that makes the company so special.
MoMA: Museum of MochA
This year, Mocha Moves performed “MoMA: Museum of MochA.” Every set of the showcase was beautifully reminiscent of the artwork that inspired it and representative of the way that dance can tell stories. Mocha alumni served as MCs, introducing the appropriately named dance sets which alluded to historical paintings — “Girl with the Ratchet Earring,” “Venus de Mocha,” “The Mocha Lisa,” “Persistence of Memory,” and a flurry of other fun pieces.
Men’s tennis picked to repeat championship
After capturing the program’s 16th consecutive conference crown last spring, the MIT men’s tennis team was picked to win the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) crown, as announced by the league last Friday morning. Tech received seven first-place votes in the preseason poll — votes were casted by the conference’s coaches.
MIT places second at Cornell tourney
The MIT Sport Taekwondo team finished off last semester at Brown on Nov. 22. As it was the third match of the year in the Eastern Collegiate Taekwondo Conference, the competitors were eager to use the skills that they improved upon over the course of the semester. Both poomsae and sparring were tough this tournament, but the team showed their worth and finished off the day second place in Division I.
