Mostly clear skies to send off the graduates
A high pressure ridge will replace a mid-level trough to bring us lots of sunshine Friday and into the weekend. Some stray showers may slightly soak the ground on Thursday morning, so watch where you’re stepping as you enter for commencement! After that, lots of sunshine and relatively mild temperatures will carry us into the weekend while we celebrate the rest of the graduates.
MIT holds OneMIT commencement ceremony
The Institute held its OneMIT commencement ceremony today on May 30. Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87 gave the commencement address and MIT President Sally Kornbluth delivered the charge to the graduates. Chair of the MIT Corporation Mark P. Gorenberg ’76 presided over the ceremony. The proceedings were disrupted by protests led by a pro-Palestinian contingency and pro-Israeli supporters.
Rifts amongst faculty laid bare in closed-door meetings amidst interim student suspensions and heightened campus tensions
Publisher’s Note: The two faculty meetings described in this article on May 15 and May 17 were held in executive session as closed-door discussions. The information presented is a synthesis of several interviews held with attendees of the meeting and other individuals familiar with the situation. These accounts were corroborated by additional documentation obtained by The Tech.
MIT Office of Minority Education to be potentially renamed and undergo organizational changes
A meeting between the MIT Office of Minority Education (OME) and OME-affiliated students took place on May 9. Diep Luu, Associate Dean of the Office of the Vice Chancellor, Director of the Undergraduate Advising Center (UAC), and Interim Director of the OME presented future directions for the OME. A Q&A session followed.
Physics Professor Or Hen speaks out on campus protests and student conduct
Editor-in-chief’s note: This piece touches upon the ongoing war in Palestine, including associated acts of rape and killing.
MIT Commencement Ceremonies features OneMIT Ceremony for Class of 2024
Commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2024 will take place on a three-day span from Wednesday, May 29, through Friday, May 31. Similar to proceedings at the 2023 commencement, all graduates are invited to attend a 90-minute OneMIT ceremony on Killian Court at 3 p.m. on Thursday May 30.
Mostly clear skies to send off the graduates
A high pressure ridge will replace a mid-level trough to bring us lots of sunshine Friday and into the weekend.
Institute remember military service members on Memorial Day
In an email sent to the MIT community on May 24, Interim Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate and Graduate Education and Course 16 Professor Daniel Hastings SM ’78 PhD ’80, called for the community to “salute the Amercians who have given their lives in defense of our nation.”
Two MIT alumni charged in $25 million cryptocurrency heist
Anton Peraire-Bueno SB ’24 and James Peraire-Bueno SM ’21 SB ’19 were taken into federal custody on May 14. They were charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, and are accused of stealing about $25 million in cryptocurrency from the commonly used Ethereum blockchain.
Eleven MIT undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni win Fulbright fellowships for 2024-2025
Eleven MIT undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni won Fulbright fellowships for the 2024-2025 cycle. According to a press release from MIT News, MIT has been a “Fulbright Top-Producing Institution for five years in row.”
May 15 open faculty meeting celebrates faculty and holds amendment votes
The May 15 monthly faculty meeting included the presentation of the James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award, the results of votes on the J- grade modifier and a proposed amendment to the Faculty Newsletter (FNL) policies, and the elections for Faculty Chair and other committees.
In Memoriam: David Lanning PhD ’63
David Lanning PhD ’63, Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Science and Engineering, passed away on Apr. 26 at the age of 96.
In Memoriam: Jerome Connor ’53 SM ‘54 ScD ‘59
Jerome Connor ’53 SM ’54 ScD ’59, Professor Emeritus of Civil & Environmental Engineering, passed away on Mar. 31. Connor was an alumnus of the civil engineering department and taught as a tenured professor at the Institute for nearly six decades.
Institute administration attend the GSU’s TransMIT grievance community meeting
On May 15, the Graduate Student Union (GSU) held a “grievance community meeting” for its transgender individuals in response to the Institute’s current policies on legal sex versus gender within its databases. The MIT administration requested the meeting to fully grasp the current policy’s impact on the community.
Theater Arts major to be renamed 21T
Beginning in the fall of 2024, MIT’s “Theater Arts” major will be renamed Course 21T, distinguishing itself from the traditional music major titled 21M. Prior to this change, Course 21T was designated Course 21M-2: the Music major will still be titled Course 21M-1.
Live Updates: Student encampment, May 8–11
This is a developing story. Updates are issued live as new developments in the situation occur. Headlines are subject to change.
A Critical Examination of a Primary Protester Demand
One of the primary demands of the recent protests, as listed in the UA and GSU referenda, is for MIT to cut all research associated with the Israeli military. The explanation given is “MIT’s institutional complicity in furthering violence against the Palestinian people through the Institute’s special ties with the Israeli military [1].”
A response to President Kornbluth’s letter to the alumni community
Dear President Kornbluth,
Diasporism – A Radical Vision for Jewish Self-Determination
Publisher’s note: this article was originally published in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning student magazine “Silt” (Vol. 1) and in the pro-Palestinian student magazine “Written Revolution” (Vol. 3).
Jewish alumni say MIT must engage with all members of its Jewish community
We write this statement as Jewish alumni who have been disappointed by the administration’s handling of the Scientists Against Genocide Encampment (SAGE) and related protests on campus. There have been numerous statements in support of SAGE participants already, yet we felt the need to add the perspective of Jewish alumni who see great harm being done to MIT’s Jewish community. We are proud of our Jewish heritage. A heritage encompassing a beautiful diversity of religious practices, other intersecting identities, and yes: a diversity of views on the State of Israel. We are frustrated and concerned by the way the MIT administration has ignored and erased this diversity, weighing some Jewish perspectives far more heavily than others.
Students Exposed MIT Admin’s Shameful Hypocrisy
After the Israeli military killed 35,000 Palestinians, many MIT students answered the call for justice and peace, setting up peaceful encampments on the grounds of this school, asking for divestment from a foreign military in an effort to ramp up pressure to end an ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Crossroads
I am writing to address the “ongoing campus tensions” and the “challenging times facing the MIT community.” This piece is a love letter to the Scientists Against Genocide Encampment and an admonishment of the MIT administration’s brutalities against its own students. It is a plea for MIT to stick by its stated values and devote its resources to the welfare of humanity. More pressingly, it is a call for MIT’s students and workers to stand in solidarity with their peers — rather than MIT as an institution — when it is clear that MIT is building technologies that slaughter civilians.
Resilience Amidst Adversity: MIT’s Struggle with East Side Culture
Publisher’s note: This piece was originally released on May 24 in an email to the MIT undergraduate community (“[EASTSIDE] Paper on Admin Past + Present Actions”).
The Collapse of an Empire
You gather here today to accept your degrees, but I say you must set them aflame—as a beacon illuminating the long road ahead in the struggle for a free world.
A Graduate Student’s Open Letter to OSCCS: Response to Scientist Against Genocide Encampment (SAGE) Suspension
Publisher’s note: the following piece details a letter submitted by Dan Zeno to The Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards in response to his interim suspension as issued by the Committee on Discipline. The work, published here as an open letter, has been edited by editors of The Tech for clarity and conciseness.
Analysis of pro-Palestinian protests on US college campuses
I am an Israeli-born Jew and MIT graduate from the class of 1985. My family has long roots in Israel and first immigrated to what was then part of the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s. I was four years old when the Six Day War broke out. I still remember the weeks preceding the war. I was too young to understand what war meant, but I could feel the overwhelming fear. It hung in the air, and I have often used the cliché that it was so thick you could cut it with a knife. I don’t remember the war itself; I was in a bomb-shelter, but I am told I would not stop crying because I wanted my doll. Two years later, my immediate family immigrated to the United States. When the Yom Kippur War broke out, I was safe, living in a Boston suburb, but my cousin was badly injured.
Nicholas D. Kristof talks about chasing hope as a journalist
Although Chasing Hope discusses a lot of heavy topics, the memoir is also about Kristof’s search for hope and humanity in the most unexpected places.
A Timeless Classic: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performs for Celebrity Series of Boston
Although each work had distinct choreography and background music, what brought them together was the dancers’ stunning movements and dynamic energies.
Omakase Rock-N-Roll
At the South End’s No Relation, Colin Lynch blends omakase traditions with hip-hop and an outstanding beverage program.
Friendship reaches far and wide: An interview with Margaret Zheng and Wide Tim
Don’t let Wide Tim catch you wide awake! He’d want you to get a good sleep!
a portrait painted in nonexistent colors
“do you know who you are? looking back at you now, you spend too much time thinking about this question; there is no reason, at least in my mind, that you need to prove that the answer to this question is “a good person.” all you really want, in the end, is to be heard and seen, and for someone to tell you that you deserve to be happy.”
Catalyzing medical innovation
Amie Kitjasateanphun: “We provided a fresh perspective and were able to really pinpoint some problems that they hadn't really thought about.”
