MIT
Reports to the President 1994-95
After review of current procedures and issues, a group of staff, faculty, and
students have drafted a document, to be implemented in the Fall, which
describes, clarifies, and provides guidance on student conflict resolution and
discipline procedures.
This year, approximately 60 staff, students, and faculty have been certified
through mediation@mit. The number of formal mediations is small but the option
of formal mediation for students will continue to be available.
RCA staff dealt with a significant number of disciplinary cases, including
damage to property, theft, arson, assault and battery with a deadly weapon.
They have also dealt with harassment cases including inappropriate attention,
unwanted touching and comments, and harassment via Athena. The sanctions
imposed were verbal warnings, restitution for damages, community service,
agreement to stop the behavior, and probation. A report to the Faculty was
presented in February.
For the first time, undergraduates this year were able to indicate their house
preferences and receive their assignments using Athena. Over 90% of the 763
students who participated received one of their top three choices of residence
halls.
Crowding of first-year students was not as great a problem this year as in
previous years. There were 132 crowds at the beginning of the year, compared
with 195 the previous year.
After meetings where UESA, RCA, Housing, the Ashdown Government and several
undergraduate students collaborated on the best solution, it was mutually
decided to set aside 45 spaces in the basement and on the first floor for
members of the Sigma Kappa Sorority.
Housemasters, Graduate Resident Tutors, and RCA staff have been engaged in a
significant effort this year to examine the residence program with the goal of
improving the services to and quality of life for our students.
Recommendations have been developed in the areas of roles and responsibilities,
information flow, and hiring, orientation, training, and evaluation.
Turnover in the Faculty Resident system was especially high this year, with
five Houses having openings. At Senior House, Professor Paula Hammond leaves
after serving two years and Professor Henry and Mrs. Cynthia Jenkins of
Literature will be the new housemasters. At Burton-Conner, Professor William
and Mrs. Lynn Porter have served four years and Professor Halston and Dr. Kathy
Taylor (formerly Faculty Residents at Random Hall) of the Athletic Department
will succeed them. Professor Stephen and Mrs. Judy Lippard are leaving after
serving four years in MacGregor House and Professor Munther and Mrs. Jinane
Dahleh of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science will
be the new housemasters. Professor Halston and Dr. Kathy Taylor are moving
from Random Hall to Burton-Conner and Mrs. Nina Davis-Millis of the Office of
the Libraries, and Mr. Christopher Millis will be their replacement. Professor
Derek Rowell has resigned after serving sixteen years as the housemaster at New
House and the new housemasters will be named soon.
The Interfraternity Council experienced a significant increase in pledging last
fall when 412 new students accepted residence in MIT Independent Living
Groups.
Alpha Chi Omega Sorority became the Institute's thirty-fifth Independent Living
Group last Fall with the Institute's purchase and renovation of a four story
building located at 478 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston.
In April Sigma Nu Fraternity was re-chartered at MIT. Sigma Nu first chartered
at MIT in 1925 but withdrew its charter when the chapter became co-ed in
1974.
In February, Sigma Iota Phi was accepted as colony by Alpha Epsilon Phi
national sorority. Upon its anticipated chartering in Fall 1996, it will
become the Institute's fifth sorority.
The House Fellows Program, now in its eighth year, promotes greater interaction
and sense of community between students in Institute Houses and MIT faculty
members. This past year, over 30 Fellows were associated with five
undergraduate and one graduate house and seven Independent Living Groups.
- Development of Event Planning booklet, workshops, and registration form.
- Completion of the new Alcohol Policy.
- Safewalk, the Donut Stand, and the Course Evaluation Guide were converted to
electronic payroll.
- The UA helped keep undergraduates informed about CAP proposals for
intermediate grades.
- New MIT Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) classes began in June to
student applause.
- The Association of Student Activities (ASA) printed the new Student
Activities Directories including all currently ASA recognized student
organizations, graduate and undergraduate groups.
- Re-organization of the Finance Board office included clarifying the
process for accessing student money, enhancing the 4D system allowing check
generation & report writing and completion of response to two audits.
Academic Project and Policy Committee (APPC) is responsible for the
teaching awards, gathering nominations from the graduate student body. This
past year, four professors and one Teaching Assistant (TA) were chosen to
receive awards. Jointly with the Spring Orientation, the APPC sponsored the
"Rights and Responsibilities in the Advisor-Student Relationship."
Activities Committee - 24 events were held by the activities committee
this past year ranging from social nights out, Boston Symphony Orchestra,
Ballet, to trips such as hiking, skiing, skating, canoeing, white water
rafting, apple picking and the Montreal Jazz Festival.
Orientation Committee - The fall orientation expanded the number of
events from the previous year of 10 to 18. These events ranged from getting
familiar with the campus, information booths, walking tours, MIT fair and
individual orientations coordinated with departments, picnic for 1100 incoming
students as well as seminars such as, "Can We Talk," GL001- Introduction to
Grad Life, and New Faculty and TA Workshop.
Housing and Community Affairs Committee (HCA)
- HCA negotiated with Jostens and the Coop to lower the price of
graduate rings by 25%. The quantity purchased would determine if the discount
would continue for subsequent years.
- HCA negotiated an 11% discount with the MBTA for graduate students.
- HCA has a representative serving on the Institute's Parking committee.
- HCA has resurrected the grocery shuttle on Saturdays, driving to a larger off
campus Star Market.
- HCA has been in communication with the Bike Users Group and the MIT Planning
Office regarding bike parking/lane issues and advocating changes for the Mass
Ave/Memorial Drive intersection.
HARG continued and increased its level of activity, bringing its student video
into a number of workshops connected with academic departments and with living
groups. This volunteer student group was honored for its efforts this past
year with a Stewart Award.
The Asian Student Caucus continued its work to identify issues relevant to the
Asian-American community, to build unity among this community, and to build
coalitions with other student groups of color. The Asian Student Caucus
received a Stewart Award for its work.
CityDays, our partnership with the Cambridge Public Schools, began in
September when 450 Cambridge children came to MIT to participate in the
CityDays Festival. Activities ranging from lab tours to sports and
crafts were run by 550 MIT student volunteers, while another 150 MIT students
went into Cambridge and served at local agencies and public schools.
Another component of CityDays, LINKS extends throughout the school year
with the goal of improving the quality of science education in the Cambridge
Public Schools. Each volunteer spends from one to three hours/week at one of
ten Cambridge elementary schools. This year, the program had a record high of
212 volunteers with 15 ILG's and 8 Residence Halls participating by the spring
semester.
Thirty PSC Fellowships of $1,200 each were awarded over IAP this year.
Nineteen of the fellows were responsible for working with a science teacher in
one of the elementary schools, while the other eleven worked with the
Coordinator of Educational Technology in various schools.
In May, the third annual MIT/Cambridge Science Expo was organized by
150 MIT student volunteers. It attracted 110 fifth through eighth graders from
twelve Cambridge schools who came to exhibit their science projects,
participate in hands-on experiments, and tour Institute labs.
Also in May, 40 MIT undergraduates gathered for a day of service on behalf of
the Cambridge Community Center co-sponsored by the PSC, Sigma Chi, the Race
Relations Committee, and the Timberland Company. The MIT students performed
clean-up and fix-up projects and worked with groups of children from the
Center's after school programs.
This summer, seven fellowships of $4,800 have been awarded to students who will
work a minimum of 480 hours. Four fellows will work with the Cambridge public
schools and three fellows will work at Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House,
Cambridge Community Services, and Just A Start, Inc.
KEYs is a student run program which holds one-day and three-day
science and technology workshops with MIT students and 11-13 yr. old girls.
KEYs is dedicated to empowering adolescent girls by promoting self-confidence,
increasing their self-esteem, and unveiling opportunities for potential career
paths.
Pan Hellenic, in conjunction with the PSC's Giving Tree program,
solicited donations of over 1,200 gifts from students, faculty, and
administrators from MIT this holiday season and gave them to 15 local agencies
and shelters.
The PSC and the CityDays program received a $100,000 grant from the
Germeshausen Foundation to be used over the next three years for IAP and summer
fellowships; the Lord Foundation granted $30,000 for the same purpose. The PSC
shares in a grant awarded to the Cambridge Public School Science Department by
the National Science Foundation, and $9,400 will be allotted to the PSC to
support the LINKS program for the next three years. Approximately $10,000 has
also been donated to the Priscilla King Gray Endowment over the past year.
Talbot House was enjoyed by 361 non-MIT students, 464 MIT students, and 51
children; a total of 876 visitors. Changes made this year included offering
catering as optional rather than required.
The Safety Office visited Talbot House and is pursuing installation of a
sprinkler system with the cost covered by the Institute. Fire safety was
updated with the assistance of the local fire marshal.
This year marked the addition of the Public Service Center, with Emily Sandberg
as Program Director and Tracy Purinton as Senior Office Assistant, to the
Residence and Campus Activities section. Other staff additions included
Phillip Bernard as Staff Associate for Residence Programs, Maria Raposo as
Administrative Assistant to the GSC, and Pamela Myers and Marianne Cook as
Senior Office Assistants.
Margaret A. Jablonski
Neal H. Dorow
Susan D. Allen
Andrew M. Eisenmann
Phillip M. Bernard
Mary Ni
Eleanor P. Crawford
Emily B. Sandberg
MIT
Reports to the President 1994-95