Alumnus on silence around Senior House
Now that a year has gone by, it is time for the administration to report on how the students who were thrown out of their “home” have adjusted to their changed life at the Institute.
Alumnus on Sheryl Sandberg’s 2018 commencement speech
The MIT community should think critically about Facebook’s hypocrisies and misdeeds, even as we heed Sandberg’s imperative to “do all the good we can, knowing that what we build will be used by people — and people are capable of great beauty and great cruelty.”
Issues with MIT’s sexual harassment initiative
Without transparent and open applications for joining the working groups, and without the full release of working group recommendations, each of us is less able to evaluate and define the best actions we should take to improve the MIT community.
Out of the cave
When writing, you gradually come to see the contours of your idea. What began as a vague homogeneous blob of a thought comes into focus as a set of distinct facts which you travel between to form your narrative or argument.
Unrest in East Turkestan
The world is moving towards drastic revolution on multiple fronts, and numerous shifting paradigms of the world hinge on China’s encroachment on global territories. The Uyghur people may be suffering far away from us, but what happens in China very blatantly does not stay in China.
Lack of ambition for next year’s Climate Symposia
Been there, done that. No need to discourse at large on these hackneyed topics.
Everyday lies incentivized by funding sources
Research money impacts what any university works on, and MIT is no exception. Sometimes MIT spends a lot of money focusing on low-impact problems because of who holds the purse strings.
An open letter to the MIT Corporation concerning MIT’s ongoing relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
"We object to MIT’s ongoing relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in our name."
Vice President for Research responds to column on postdocs and sexual harassment
"Working together on these initiatives will strengthen the Institute’s approach to preventing sexual harassment in any MIT learning or working environment."
Educational meritocracy is a farce
Segregation is alive and well, and before we discuss removing positive racial considerations from the college admissions process, we should focus on how we can level the educational playing field so we don’t have to have that discussion in the first place.
The new minimum meal plan is misguided
The changes reflect a misdiagnosis of the issues that affect food affordability and accessibility on campus. Rather than assessing students’ eating habits directly, DSL administrators are using meal swipes as a proxy for meal consumption on campus.
The realities of climate change
We are at a point where complete avoidance isn’t plausible. The strides we make to combat climate change now shift from total prevention to increasing resilience to its effects, and mitigating further practices that contribute to overall warming.
Do postdocs at MIT face sexual harassment?
To ensure MIT's efforts are effective at preventing gender-based violence on postdocs, we need to both regularly assess the experiences of postdocs through surveys and publicly disclose the prevalence of reported incidents and the outcomes of investigations, both of which MIT already does for students.
What makes MIT unique?
My response in the textbox at the end of the Enrolled Student Survey:
Undergrad and grad students: take the AAU survey on sexual misconduct
It has been five years since MIT first conducted a campus-wide survey on attitudes towards sexual assault and misconduct, so some students may not know or remember how MIT responded to its past findings. The 2014 Campus Attitudes on Sexual Assault Survey (CASA) results offered a great starting point for making data-driven decisions about policies, education, and outreach efforts on campus, including increased transparency and support for students.
The 2020 Democratic Primary: How to choose a President
Nineteen democrats are running for president in 2020, and more could still enter the race. This presents a wonderful tradeoff. We need options if we’re going to elect the best person. However, too many options causes choice paralysis. As a consequence, most of us will neglect to choose who we vote for until there are fewer options.
Dean of Student Life responds to columns on student housing
We agree that the foundation for good relations is hearing each other out, understanding others’ perspectives, and trusting that we all want what is best for our community. We know that reaching consensus isn’t easy, and that top-down, one-size-fits-all solutions don’t work well. The DSL keeps these realities in mind when we work with students on projects like designing the New Vassar Street residence hall or improving the room-assignment and move-in processes. Every project is different, but our approach is to listen to students’ ideas and concerns, and we ask that they listen to ours.
Data, inclusion, and the DSL
Data is much better at finding problems than solutions; data offers a single path of making changes to measured variables in attempt to relocate data points to within the acceptable or normal range, as defined by DSL.
A history of broken promises in the New Vassar dorm design
A look into how the DSL failed to uphold its promises on the New Vassar dorm.
Ethical change requires more than a billion dollars
What the MIT administration, faculty, and students can do to address the ethical concerns of the College of Computing.