Editorial

MIT and the Nation After 9/11

The events of 9/11 and their aftermath have influenced every aspect of American society. Government policies in response to these events have particular impact on institutions such as MIT, with its national and international roles in science, technology, and society. These have an impact on our teaching practices, our graduate programs, our professional lives, and our behavior as citizens. We need both to examine closely the consequences of post 9/11 polices on our students, faculty, and staff, and also to make our contribution to the broader national dialogue.

In the coming year, the Faculty Newsletter Editorial Board hopes to launch a broad discussion of these issues, focusing on specific examples of emerging dangerous trends or possibilities embedded in the relations between the academy and the government. We invite you to contribute articles, letters, and commentaries on these questions.

Some initial areas of concern are:

• Graduate programs. Is the harvest of graduate students in various departments different from the recent past in terms of nationality, ability to pay, country of origin? Have stringent post-9/11 immigration regulations affected the body of graduate students in MIT's programs? Might they?
• Professional interchange and communication. Have the Patriot Act and related legislation and regulations negatively affected scholarly conferences and meetings, as much anecdotal testimony from MIT professors suggests?
• Privacy and Security. Have government demands for access to MIT records violated legally protected rights to privacy? What regulations are in place within MIT for answering this sort of question?
• "Deemed exports." Can our foreign students using our teaching or research for evil ends endanger us legally?
• Academic institutions have traditionally worked on the basis of trust. Students have accepted that faculty advisors have offered advice and discussed issues always with the benefit and improvement of the student in mind. Is that trust threatened through the creation of a legalistic environment due to new security concerns? If so, doesn't that threaten the very foundation of the university?
• Are we witnessing the remilitarization of basic research, for example in the shift of funds from biomedical research to bioterrorism?
• What are the effects on our students and staff of the replacement of national policies of diplomacy, negotiation, and development assistance, with policies of military aggression, confrontation, and abrogation of international agreements?

In the coming issues we hope faculty will speak to these questions with depth and candor.

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Retirement – The Other Side of the Coin

Recent issues of the Faculty Newsletter have included articles on faculty retirement. These articles have raised some very important and serious issues, such as: financial arrangements, medical benefits, and accommodations that the Institute offers for post-retirement, in terms of office space, parking, and secretarial support. Although these are rather important issues, the discussion is always one-sided, namely: What the Institute is doing or has to do to make life rather comfortable for faculty after retirement. The other side, which has so far been ignored, is what the retirees can do for MIT.

Many retirees have several remaining years with a great deal of potential professional contribution. There is also a substantial amount of knowledge, know-how, and experience that most would be willing to share with MIT for a good cause. It is unfortunate that the Institute has not systematically developed a strategy on how to exploit this tremendous reservoir of knowledge in an effective way. We believe the Faculty Newsletter is the proper medium to explore these various opportunities available to MIT.

One potential area could be in MIT's international involvement. There is substantial need in the Third World for such knowledge, know-how, and experience such as MIT faculty have to offer. The extensive development of information technology and the medium of the World Wide Web have reduced the need for physical travel, affording an even greater opportunity for MIT to provide access to this vast reservoir of knowledge for Third World university faculty or students. The mechanics would need to be worked out, but there are many international agencies, global enterprises, and philanthropic organizations that could provide financial support for such undertakings.

We encourage submissions of other ideas for the utilization of the wisdom and experience contained within our retiring faculty.

Editorial Sub-Committee
Erik Demaine
Jonathan King
Fred Moavenzadeh
David Thorburn

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