Simmons and Maseeh remain top first dorm choices for first years, desirable FYRE destinations
This year, about 60 percent more students chose New House as their first choice as compared to 2016 and 2015, and New House sported the lowest FYRE-out to FYRE-in ratio this year.
Unfounded bomb threat near Hayden
Reports of a bomb threat in Building 14 Aug. 25 were unfounded.
Cameras, card readers, alarms installed on rooftops
New security measures such as cameras, card readers, and alarms have been installed on the rooftops of main campus buildings.
Investigation ongoing for gunshots fired near PBE fraternity
As of a Wednesday post from the Massachusetts State Police, the investigation, including into potential suspects and motive, remains active.
PE and subject registration, first day of classes, insurance waiver
PE registration starts Friday at 8 a.m. for undergraduate students and Sept. 4 for graduate students. It will close Sept. 5. First come, first served!
A brief respite from the heat
On Tuesday night, Boston recorded its 2nd warmest low temperature on record — 81 °F (27 °C), but relief is coming.
MIT launches new homepage
Only about five percent of users are located in Cambridge, but these users account for about 23 percent of all site visits in the past year.
Graduate housing report doubles 2014 housing shortage estimate
As of now, MIT has committed to 950 new beds for graduate students across campus, with 250 to be available in 2020, according to a letter sent to all graduate students in October 2017 after the working group's interim report was published.
Orientation, pre-registration, insurance waiver
Orientation for first-year undergrads and orientation activities for new grad students begin Sunday.
Class of 2022 may designate three additional science and math GIRs as P/NR
The hypothesis is that “increased flexibility to enable major exploration will lead to increased confidence in the initial choice of a major and increased satisfaction with the ultimate major," according to the proposal.
A warm and sunny welcome to campus!
It looks as if the MIT weather machine is back up and running, with some beautiful weather for this weekend and the start of orientation.
Students mock, express concern about administration edits to REX event booklet
One of Random Hall's REX Chairs said she disagreed with many of the edits, including the removal of a water pong event and the flagging of a potato-themed event run by an Irish student as an example of stereotyping.
Scattered thunderstorms are not over.
The hot, scattered rainstorms that characterized this past week are set to continue. The past week brought heavy rain and thunder most days, creating a danger of flash floods. In the next few days, watch for more flash flood warnings due to heavy thunderstorms, at least until Sunday. After a summer of relatively light rain, this week reminds us that we live in New England. However, New England isn’t the only region to have heavy rains this past week. The same rain that hit Boston traveled up the eastern coast of the U.S., ruining beach trips everywhere. In Colorado, heavy rain and hail caused flooding and much hail damage in the mountain west. It's been a wet week.
Supreme Court upholds third iteration of travel ban
There were 40 total undergraduate and graduate students at MIT from Iran in the 2017–18 academic year, seven from Syria, and five from Venezuela, according to the International Students Office’s annual statistics.
MIT professors spearhead petition in support of Microsoft employees protesting contract with ICE
Microsoft's contract provides ICE with cloud-based services, which would enable the agency to “process data on edge devices or utilize deep learning capabilities to accelerate facial recognition and identification.”
OCW videos blocked, then restored, on YouTube
OCW believes the blockage was actually worldwide, contrary to seemingly location-specific error messages viewers received.
MIT Intelligence Quest initiative renamed MIT Quest for Intelligence
CMS/W Professor Kenneth Manning wrote in the MIT Faculty Newsletter about "IQ and its eugenic uses, especially its espousal of racial inferiority."
Sheryl Sandberg speaks at MIT Commencement
Acknowledging the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Sandberg said, “It's painful when you miss something, when you make the mistake of believing so much in the good you are seeing that you don't see the bad.”
Sheryl Sandberg on the importance of social solutions and the responsibility of technologists
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is MIT’s 2018 commencement speaker. In a short phone interview, she highlighted the message she wants to convey in her speech and discussed how MIT students contribute to the hope she has for the world.
Pre-registration, MIT Medical new portal
Pre-registration for summer and fall 2018 are now open. The deadline to initiate pre-registration and to make fall CI-H/HW selections is June 18.