Volume 4, No. 21: June 26, 1997

Newswire
Letters
Community
Notices

Student Bulletin Boards Removed in Construction Mistake

Information Provided by Richard Barbalace

Article by Jeremy Sher

Five student organizations' Infinite Corridor bulletin boards were demolished this week, in connection with the ongoing construction for the new Student Services Center (SSC) in Building 11. The boards, one of which belonged to the Graduate Student Council, were located on a site that is slated to become part of the SSC in the fall. According to sources, the other groups affected were VooDoo Magazine, the Pagan Students Group, the Indian Students Association (Sangam), and the Chinese Association of Science and Technology.

The Association of Student Activities (ASA) is now trying to determine the whereabouts of the erstwhile contents of the boards affected by the mistake. No decision has yet been made as to whether substitute bulletin boards will be provided for the affected groups.

The President of the ASA is Russell Light '98; he can be reached by e-mail at rslight@mit.edu. The administrative officer overseeing the Student Services Center project is Hillary DeBaun; she can be reached by e-mail at hdebaun@mit.edu.

Keep Thursday Night Dinners

Dear Editor:

[An Open Letter to the R/O Committee]

I've heard that there are going to be some more changes to the event
formerly known as Thursday Night Dinners. I am concerned that this
event, apparently now Thursday Night Out on the Town, is becoming more
and more a thinly veiled FSILG rush event.

First there was the modified registration process, where groups had to
pre-register and FSILG members could only go as part of their FSILG's
group. Now there is this new idea to have a grill thing ahead of time
and apparently take the frosh to coffeehouses or clubs or movies or
what have you. The only motivation I can see for this change is to
give FSILGs yet another chance to one-up each other, and to make it
easier for them to rush frosh by making sure people's mouths are not
full of food while they have this innocent "non-rush" event. I also
have suspicions that non-FSILG groups will be further excluded; when
an officer of a student group I am in inquired about the newly renamed
TNOT and how to register for it, he was told that *FSILGs* would be
given reservation information when the committee is done with the
planning, with no word on other groups.

Taking frosh out to dinner is much better than having a grill thing in
pretty much every other way. Freshman will be having generic grilled
cookout-type food for all of R/O, and they will end up getting sick of
it anyway. And they deserve a chance to sample the astonishing variety
of excellent food available in Boston, and to have a choice as to what
they'd like to eat, rather than being tossed in the same bland
box.

Perhaps this is just change for the sake of change. Perhaps it really
does have the paranoia-inspired explanation I outlined above. But in
any case, it is stupid. If the R/O committee things a picnic-like
thing would be pointful, then have it some other day, or earlier in
the day, but for goodness' sake, leave Thursday Night Dinners
alone. The solution to complaints that it's a rush event in disguise is
*not* to make it even more of a rush event.

Sincerely,

Maciej Stachowiak G

The Benefits of the New Thursday R/O

Dear Editor:

The Residence/Orientation Committee has had several inquiries regarding
the tentative schedule for Thursday, August 21.  Thursday is the first
day that all of the freshmen will participate in events together as a
class; it is considered the beginning of Institute R/O.  The schedule for
this year is as follows, with reasons and goals.

2-3pm  President's Convocation.  This is the traditional event where
President Vest and a distinguished speaker will address the Class of 2001
and welcome them to the MIT Community.

3-4pm  Dean Kip Hodges will give an exciting and interactive presentation
involving random freshmen from the audience to help facilitate a program
on academics at MIT.  One of the goals is to present necessary academic
information in a concise, practical way that the freshmen will
appreciate.  Highlights will include the new websites, history of some
famous MIT facts, the diversity of the the Class of 2001, etc.

4-6pm  Move Off Your Assumptions

6-7pm  Freshman BBQ.  R/O Counselors will stay with their groups, select
some food and then choose an area to sit within Kresge and the field.

Highlights will include: photographs of every MOYA group to use as slides
throughout the week and at graduation four years later, MIT symphony
groups, and administrators from across the campus will be invited to join
and connect with any group.  The goal for this event is to give freshmen
the opportunity to discuss basic "life" issues; e.g.:  are you in a city
for the first time?  are you nervous about having a roommate that you
don't know? are you familiar with certain resources on-campus?  Stress/
health topics.  Counselors will be trained by appropriate staff.

This event was created to help solve some general concerns that have been
voiced by upperclassmen and administrators regarding their first
impressions and experiences here at MIT.  Some of these concerns are the
following:

  * Many students (close to 200) do not participate in Thursday Night
    Dinners, perhaps for one of the following reasons:  first time away
    from home and nervous about being in a city, arriving on campus late,
    a choice not to participate.  With an incoming class of 1080, the
    possibility of everyone participating in everything is far-fetched.
    Also, for those students that have not eaten all day, the barbeque
     will provide some food.

  * the only time that a student is "just" an MIT student with no other
    affiliations is on Thursday from 1-7 and Friday from 3-5.  There was
    never a time dedicated to discussing "what's it like to be a college
    student."  There is also no other event to promote class spirit other
    than Killian Kick-off.

  * It will give a nervous freshman a chance to connect with other
    classmates.

The purpose of this event is not to detract from Thursday Night Dinners,
but to help make it more enjoyable.  The goal is to give freshmen a
chance to interact as a class together.

7-10pm "Thursday Night Out" (the official name has not been decided) -
groups of upperclassmen will be able to sign-up (same fashion as last year)
to take freshmen out.  This event has not changed, but has just opened up
the opportunities for places to visit. The BBQ is not a 5 course meal, so
taking freshmen to dinner is still an option and encouraged.

If anyone has any questions or comments or wants to find out more about the
overall Residence/Orientation schedule they can call the R/O Office number
at 617-253-6772 and speak with an R/O Intern or myself.  Our office is
located at 7-103 and we welcome visitors.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Cogliano
Coordinator of Student Programs
R/O Advisor

Take Action on the Tuition Waiver Tax Proposal

Source: John Hollywood, from the Ashdown residents' mailing list

Here's the rundown of events so far in congress regarding the taxation of graduate RA/TA tuition waivers. The provision to eliminate Section 117d (which makes tuition waivers for us tax-free) was not included in the Senate finance committee's bill proposal (thanks in part to all of your phone calls and letters!). However, the proposal did pass in the House Ways and Means committee. So, WE ARE NOT OFF THE HOOK YET. The House tax bill proposal is being debated on the floor this week, and representatives can offer amendments to the bill before it is sent to the joint Senate and House reconciliation committee and a final vote to turn it into law. If the House proposal makes it to the reconciliation committee, then the Senators and Representatives will negotatiate among themselves to determine whether the provision will stay or not.

IF GRADUATE STUDENTS DO NOT RAISE THEIR VOICES ABOUT THIS PROVISION, THEN NO ONE WILL CARE IF IT GETS PASSED, AND SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES WILL HAVE NO INCENTIVE TO NEGOTIATE TO REMOVE IT.

So, our best bet now is to try to eliminate the proposal while it is being debated on the House floor before it goes to the reconciliation committee. We must try to convince our Representatives that this provision is completely unacceptable and extremely detrimental to graduate students.

Senator Kennedy's office suggested to me that our best course of action would be to make our voices heard to ranking members of the House who have the clout to offer amendments to the House bill on the floor. Also, we should let the members of the Joint Committee on Taxation (hopefully, the proposal will not make it this far) know our position on this. Once again, it is too late to send a letter, so please make some phone calls. Signing a petition is helpful, but taking the time to make a few calls says a lot more to your representative about how you feel about this issue. Each call will only take a few minutes, and they are toll-free. Sen. Kennedy's office said, "Petitioning, honestly, is just not that effective. It can be too easily glanced over then pushed to the wayside."

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW:

  1. Call 1-800-962-3524 or 1-800-972-3524, the Capitol switchboard, BEFORE the House ends the floor debate (THE END OF THIS WEEK!).
  2. Ask to be connected to Representative William Clay (1st district, MO) -- he is a ranking member of the House.
  3. Tell his secretary that you are opposed to the provision in the House tax bill proposal that eliminates section 117d of the Internal Revenue Code; suggest to them to offer an ammendment to the bill that would extend section 117d
    • if you want to: GIVE THEM A PIECE OF YOUR MIND (tell them how harmful the provision will be to your finances, and how difficult it will be to get by with a 500% tax increase, etc. etc.)
  4. Repeat this phone call to:
    • Rep. Bill Archer (R-TX) -- he wrote the House proposal with this provision in it, so really sock it to him! And, he is the Chairman of the reconciliation committee.
    • Senator William Roth (R-DE) -- he is vice-chairman of the reconciliation committee
    • your home Representative -- go to http://congress.org/ to find out who that is; all you need is your zip code. Ask them to support an amendment to extend 117d
    • If you want to call more people:

      it would be most effective if, in addition to calling Clay, Archer and Roth, you called the some of the following people, especially if you come from their home states:

      Ranking members of the House:

      • George Miller -- 7th, CA
      • Dale Kildee -- 9th, MI
      • Matthew Martinez - 31st, CA
      • Major Owens - 11th, NY
      • Donald Payne - 10th, NJ
      • Ruben Hinojosa - 15th, TX
      • John Tierney - 6th, MA

      Joint Reconciliation Committee:

      • Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-NY)
      • Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)
      • Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-CA)
      • Rep. Philip Crane (R-IL)
      • Rep. William Thomas (R-CA)

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Last week Senator Kennedy's and Representative Kennedy's offices were getting flooded with phone calls about this Section 117d issue.

LET'S FLOOD THESE OTHER SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES' PHONE LINES ALSO! COLLECTIVELY OUR VOICES CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

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Comics

(The following are links to comics pages maintained by SIPB. They're available only to members of the MIT community due to copyright restrictions. Sorry.)

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