Academics' Work Choices Raise Ethicists' Eyebrows
A high-powered academic team's work for a billionaire executive facing charges of improper accounting has raised questions about the appropriate relationship between academic consultants and the businesses they advise.
Preferred Dining Cost Will Increase Again
The fee for the Preferred Dining program is set to increase $25 in the fall, drawing student criticism of dining at MIT. The announcement coincided with the introduction of buffet-style dinners at Pritchett Dining last Monday. The cost of Preferred Dining has already jumped $75 since fall 2005, setting the current price at $300.
News Briefs
MIT's mail system experienced its third outage in the past month on Sunday, April 1. The post office server po12.mit.edu was down for several hours between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. Unlike the outages of po14 and po10 in early March, some incoming e-mail to the affected 250 users was bounced, or returned to its sender, with a cryptic error message. Information Services and Technology did not inform affected users of the outage, other than with a general notice on their outage announcement system, <i>http://3down.mit.edu</i>. IS&T was not able to estimate how many messages were affected and declined to provide information as to the cause of the outage or how likely it was to recur.
Lincoln Lab Not Guilty of Fraud, DoD Says
A Department of Defense investigation into long-standing allegations of fraud in a Lincoln Laboratory-led review of national missile defense tests has concluded that neither the review team nor Lincoln Laboratory management is guilty of research misconduct. The DoD investigative report, released Friday, pointed out problems with how the review’s results were presented — namely that critical information was omitted in the study — but said that these actions “did not rise to the level of research misconduct.”
OCW Gives Students Overseas Education Without MIT Degree
Lucifer Chu, a 31-year-old from Taipei, Taiwan, is as good an example as any of the shrinking distances between East and West.
MIT Sweeps Putnam, Team Takes Third Place
MIT’s team took third place in the 2006, 67th annual William Lowell Putnam Math Competition, behind teams from Princeton University and Harvard University. The University of Toronto and University of Chicago rounded out the top five.
Tech Reporter Takes Flight Over Massachusetts Town
While many students battled long lines at airport security checkpoints en route to spring break vacation destinations, I was strapped in and cleared for takeoff in the cockpit of a single-engine Warrior III airplane at Hanscom Field in Bedford, Mass. A complete novice in the area of aeronautics, I maneuvered the aircraft into position on the tarmac, my palms more than a little sweaty.
Two Student Life Deans to Leave MIT in June Newly Announced Position Will Combine Duties of Deans For FSILGs and Residential Life Programs
Two student life deans will leave MIT on June 30, 2007 as their positions are merged. The decision to combine the positions of Dean David N. Rogers, assistant dean and director of Fraternities, Sororities, and Independent Living Groups, and Dean Andrew J. Ryder, assistant dean for Residential Life Programs, comes in the wake of an earlier reorganization of the Division of Student Life.
Police Log
<i>The following incidents were reported to the MIT Police between March 8, 2007 and March 26, 2007. This summary does not include incidents such as false alarms, general service calls, larcenies, or medical shuttles.</i>
Moscow University Investigates Claims
Moscow State University, one of Russia's most prestigious schools, has opened an investigation into accusations by students that teaching standards and living conditions in one of its academic departments have been severely eroded, students and university officials said in recent days.
Twelve Percent Admitted To Class Of 2011
The size of the freshman class will increase next year, which is admittedly good news for the 12,443 applicants to the Class of 2011. Nearly 60 more students were admitted this year, but because the number of applicants also increased, the acceptance rate fell to a record-low 12.3 percent for the Class of 2011.
NY Attorney General To Sue Student Loan Company in Civil Suit
Andrew M. Cuomo, New York's attorney general, announced Thursday that he planned to bring a civil lawsuit against a student lending company for deceptive business practices, accusing it of paying colleges and universities to steer student borrowers toward its loans.
Holmes/Wyne Elected UAP/VP in Landslide
With voter turnout up 11 percent, Martin F. Holmes '08 and Ali S. Wyne '08 won the Undergraduate Association elections for president and vice president in a landslide victory.
MIT Pistol Team Claims National Championship
Here's something to brag about over spring break: MIT students have better aim with a pistol than their counterparts at the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine Academies.