The following services may be of particular interest to the MIT community during the period of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Boston, Monday July 26 through Thursday July 29, 2004.

Childcare

The Center for Work, Family & Personal Life offers assistance with child care arrangements, including temporary care for infants, toddlers, preschool, and school-age children. Families who are currently enrolled at MIT's Technology Children's Centers may contact the Executive Director to discuss special accommodations for the week.

Copy Technology Centers

The Copy Technology Centers will be open in all three locations with regular summer hours.

Food Services

MIT campus food services will continue with the regular summer schedule. La Verde's Market in the Student Center will be open Monday through Saturday, 7 AM-Midnight; Sunday, 8 AM-10 PM.

Housing

A limited number of rooms on campus have been reserved for essential/critical personnel. If you are essential personnel and it is critical that you be here on campus during this time, email the Director of Housing regarding this special reserved housing.

Housing has a limited number of spaces on campus for employees requesting housing during this period due to transportation difficulties. These spaces are on a first-come, first-served basis. More information and the application process are available on the housing website.

IS&T and telecommuting

Most IS&T services will be available as normal. Also, as usual, IS&T will have designated staff available to deal with outages and other emergencies. Some services, in particular "in-person" services, may be affected by IS&T staff's ability to get to campus. IS&T will be posting details on the IS&T web site.

If you plan to work from home during the DNC, IS&T strongly encourages you to set up and test your Internet connection and access to MIT network resources before you begin working at home. If you plan to go on vacation during the DNC, you may still want to connect while traveling.

MIT Medical

From July 26-29, MIT Medical will not be scheduling patients for appointments after 2 p.m.. The lab, x-ray, and most clinical areas, including Mental Health, will continue operating with reduced staffing until 5 p.m. to handle phone calls, acute care, and emergencies. The pharmacy will be open 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Similarly, the Dental Service will open at 8 a.m.

At this point, we are expecting MIT Medical/Lexington, on the Lincoln Laboratory campus, to maintain regular hours. The MIT shuttle to Lincoln Laboratory may be affected, however, which would impact pharmacy and lab deliveries. As always, Urgent Care, the After Hours Service, and the inpatient unit will be open 24 hours. If you have questions about our schedule during the convention week, contact your clinician's office directly or visit the MIT Medical website.

Parking

All MIT parking facilities will be unaffected by the DNC. Public transportation is encouraged during the DNC week, but service on some lines will be affected. For members of the MIT community who do not have a parking permit, and feel that they must commute by car, the Parking and Transportation Office will make special arrangements. Contact the Parking Office at (617) 258-6510.

Sports and fitness

MIT's Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center is offering members of the MIT community an option to purchase a packet of 5 daily passes for a total of $10 ($2/day) during the DNC. This is $15 off the weekly pass fee, and $40 off the normal daily pass fee ($10/day).

This special DNC option includes use of all facilities included in regular memberships, towels, and locker rooms.

To purchase the DNC special pass packet, please come to the Main Customer Service Desk in either the Zesiger Center or Alumni Pool and Wang Fitness Center during normal business hours, M-F 6a-9p, Sa-Su 9a-4p. DNC Special passes will be good only for the week of the DNC. If you have questions, please call the Zesiger Main Customer Service Desk at 617-452-3690.

Vendor Deliveries

MIT receiving rooms will be open and operating as usual, but we expect vendor deliveries to be affected by traffic and road closures during the DNC. Please order critical products in advance to ensure delivery before July 23. The Procurement Office will be happy to assist you with any concerns you may have regarding products or vendors that are critical to your operations.

Procurement is working with Office Depot, VWR and BOC to develop a schedule for their on-campus hours during the DNC period. Once the schedules have been established, they will be sent to the aac-aoquery list and posted on the Procurement web site.