UA Needs Transparency
You cannot make an informed decision without accurate, accessible information. If we, as students, wish to guide and inform decisions of our student and Institute representatives, we need information. While the MIT administration needs to increase its operational transparency to be held accountable for its policies, decisions, and spending, the adoption of transparent practices must start with us.
Corrections
Because of an error in the MIT Police press log, James Hames was incorrectly listed as the person arrested on Oct. 25, 2007. Paul Gerrands of 50 Quincy St., Cambridge, Mass. was arrested for larceny of a bicycle.
Letters to the Editor
In his response to my letter (“Watson’s Remarks Unacceptable,” Nov. 9, 2007), Justin M. Cannon ’08 suggests that I defended James Watson’s comments on race; I did not, although, in using them to frame my argument, I may have conveyed that impression.
Corrections
A page 11 photo caption in the Nov. 9, 2007 issue of <i>The Tech</i> misidentified the type of owl pictured. It is a Barred Owl (<i>Strix varia</i>), not a Fulvous Owl (<i>Strix fulvescens</i>).
Letters to the Editor
Mr. Aditya Kohli ’09 criticizes the Undergraduate Association (“A Safe, Simple Solution for SafeRide,” Nov. 13, 2007) for making “no visible progress” on SafeRide issues. He ignores critical successes that we have achieved in partnership with Larry Brutti of the Parking and Transportation Office. Last spring, when funding for the Boston Daytime SafeRide was withdrawn, the UA lead a student effort that included the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Association, and individual fraternities, sororities, and independent living groups. Through our initiative, we secured $40,000 to provide for the continual operation of this service. Without UA leadership, the very service that Mr. Kohli criticizes would not exist, and over 700 FSILG residents would have no convenient method of transportation to campus.
Letters to the Editor
A recently released <i>Boston Globe </i>article regarding MIT filing a lawsuit against the architect of the Stata Center is very troubling, at least from my perspective as a member of the student body. Anyone who has lived in a climate similar to New England’s could have predicted the problems with snow, ice, and rain that have plagued the building.
A Safe, Simple Solution for SafeRide
“We have four new [SafeRide] buses coming off the assembly line,” Lawrence R. Brutti, operations manager for the Parking and Transportation Office, said in the Aug. 28, 2007 issue of <i>The Tech</i>. Almost two months later, I have to ask: where are they? This question is by no means trivial: the inefficiency of SafeRide affects the bulk of the student body.
Letters to the Editor
In his recent letter (“On Intellectual Imprisonment,” Nov. 2, 2007), Ali S. Wyne ’08 argued that James Watson’s resignation from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory signaled the triumph of “political correctness” over fruitful discourse in America. However, Watson’s comments fall far from just socially-unacceptable intellectual curiosity. They are blatantly racist.
Corrections
In the Oct. 30, 2007 In Short section on page 1, the charges listed for Star A. Simpson ’10 were inaccurate. Simpson was charged with possession of a hoax device, not with disorderly conduct.
Corrections
The Nov. 2, 2007 news brief, “Tang Held Without Bail After Next House Stabbing,” incorrectly referred to Wellesley junior Anna L. Tang’s dangerousness hearing as Wolfe B. Styke’s ’10 hearing.
Letters to the Editor
In response to Ali S. Wyne’s Nov. 2, 2007 letter to the editor, “On Intellectual Imprisonment”:
Corrections
The Oct. 30, 2007 news article, “City Councillors Seek New 2-Year Terms in Cambridge Elections,” reported the wrong date for this year’s Cambridge City Council elections. The elections will be held Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Letters to the Editor
Thank you very much for providing coverage on the upcoming Cambridge City Council election (“City Councillors Seek New 2-Year Terms in Cambridge Elections,” Oct. 30, 2007). It is quite important to engage the MIT community in expressing its preferences for those who will lead the City of Cambridge for the next two years. It is unfortunate that <i>The Tech</i> seems to have decided that the race for School Committee is not worth covering in the same manner. In fact, the quality of life for graduates students and faculty members with school age children is affected deeply by the quality of the Cambridge Public Schools, and voters should take just a much care in voting for School Committee as in voting for City Council. It is my hope that all MIT affiliates who are Cambridge voters will vote their preferences on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Letters to the Editor
Mr. Stephen D. Fried’s article (“Why the U.S. and Israel Are Strong Allies,” Oct. 23, 2007) was a strong defense of the U.S.-Israel alliance, and written in a mature and elegant prose style. However, I think the problem faced by Israel and its American supporters is in our universities. Strong anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian views are expressed at many universities today, including MIT. The American and European left has decided that corrupt, tyrannical regimes run by Islamic fundamentalists are PC, while American and Israeli democracies are treated with contempt.
Walt and Mearsheimer Misinterpreted
I believe Stephen D. Fried’s account of the addresses made by Stephen M. Walt and John J. Mearsheimer (“Why the U.S. and Israel Are Strong Allies,” Oct. 23, 2007) misrepresents all the points they actually made in the CIS STARR Forum on Oct. 3. In fact, his report was so substantially different from my recollection of their speeches that I had to doublecheck the names of the speakers to make sure that the article was actually referring to the same event as I had attended. When I further reviewed the video of the event (available online at http://web.mit.edu/cis/starr.html) to see if there were comments that I had missed, I was surprised to find out how explicitly the speakers had discussed and denied some of the viewpoints Fried ascribes to them.
Letters to the Editor
<i>The Tech</i>’s Oct. 16 (“Postol Speaks Against U.S. Characterization of Missile Defense Site”) article correctly described the Department of Defense report as finding that “there was no record of research fraud.” The article also correctly stated that I complained to MIT’s administration that “Lincoln Laboratory … [was] …conducting fraudulent research and exaggerating the capabilities of a missile sensor.” I believe that in spite of the accuracy of these statements, there are other facts that are also important for the MIT community to know.
Corrections
The Oct. 23, 2007 news article, “MIT’s First Student Life Dean to Retire at End of School Year,” inaccurately stated that residential dining at Next House and Baker House restarted during Dean for Student Life Larry G. Benedict’s time at MIT. Neither dining hall closed during that time, and thus could not have restarted.
Why the U.S. and Israel Are Strong Allies
The value that the U.S.-Israel relationship has to both partners of the alliance is incalculable not only because of its strategic importance, but also because it projects values that matter deeply to the American people.
Corrections
The Oct. 16, 2007 news article “Two Nobel Prize Winners MIT-Affiliated” incorrectly stated the affiliation of the Institute for Advanced Study, where economics Nobel winner Eric S. Maskin is a professor. The Institute for Advanced Study is not affiliated with Princeton University, though both are located in Princeton, N.J.
Letters to the Editor
Likening world opinion to a friend, Ali S. Wyne ’08 (“Anti-Americanism in the New Century,” Oct. 16, 2007) concludes that “Under the Bush administration, we have turned our back on our most dependable friend.”