Letters

Questioning Construction Plans for Kendall Square

To The Faculty Newsletter:

Re: “A Critical Look at the Plan for MIT’s East Campus” (MIT Faculty Newsletter, Vol. XXVIII No. 3)

Dear Bob,

I read with interest your article in the current Faculty Newsletter, and wanted to applaud you for writing it. While I didn’t look at the plans in as much detail as you did, they seemed pretty mediocre, and largely driven by short-term commercial interests. The lack of attention to graduate student housing, and the silence about it, seemed resounding. And as I read your article, the absence of direct connections to the Red Line station, absence of useable open spaces, ill-considered truck access and other things that have been neglected seem very surprising. Why the rush to fill out all these spaces? The returns don’t seem to square with the opportunity costs. And most of the designs are also not up to the standard I expect of MIT — although I make an exception for Marion Weiss’ building since she is a faculty member I nurtured at Penn.

In any case, I’m glad you are keeping your oar in the water on these matters.

I’m busily retired and living in New York these days, but think of the Institute often. As emeritus, I get the Faculty Newsletter and all the presidential emails (and campus alerts, and solicitations for funds) which keep me in touch. Perhaps our paths will cross one day.

Best,
Gary Hack

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