MIT Discusses Online Courses
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
MIT’s The Weather Oldest and Largest Today: Flurries, clearing, 38°F (4°C) Tonight: Clear, 23°F (–5°C) Newspaper Tomorrow: Sunny, 35°F (2°C) Details, Page 2 Volume 121, Number 6 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Friday, February 23, 2001 UA Elections Draw MIT Discusses Online Courses Few Contested Races Faculty Raise Concerns About OpenCourseWare at Meeting By Eun Lee ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR Council Seats Create Little Interest A number of issues related to MIT’s role in the future of web- By Diana S. Cheng and Dana require signatures. based education were discussed at Levine the faculty meeting on Wednesday. STAFF REPORTERS Cause of low participation unclear The proposed OpenCourse- The Undergraduate Association “I really don’t understand why Ware@MIT initiative, led by Pro- elections have failed to create a high people haven’t been talking about fessor Steven R. Lerman ’72, Chair number of contests, with many UA [the elections],” Scott said. To pub- of the Faculty, and Professor Harold Council and class licize the elections, the UA Election Abelson PhD ’73, garnered the most council seats Commission attended an Interfrater- discussion. remaining open or nity Council presidents’ council Other issues raised during the uncontested. meeting and a Dormitory Council meeting included a report on the Elections The UA presi- meeting to ask their leaders to implementation of the new humani- dential contest has drawn three can- encourage their constituents to run ties communication-intensive (CI) didates — Rhett Creighton ’02, for UA council. “I guess [the house requirement for the Class of 2005 Jaime E. Devereaux ’02, and Sanjay and dormitory presidents] haven’t and a motion to implement changes K. Rao ’02. been relaying the information to to the Rules and Regulations of the MATT T. YOURST–THE TECH According to UA Election Com- their houses,” Scott said. Faculty, specifically regarding test- Professor Steven R. Hall ’80 discusses the communication require- missioner Zhelinrentice L. Scott In addition, the UA has run Lec- ing procedures in graduate subjects. ment at Wednesday’s faculty meeting while President Charles M. ’00, “class council is pretty much ture Series Committee slides, sent e- Vest looks on. running uncontested.” mail, and ran spots on MIT cable. Faculty discuss OpenCourseWare This is the first year that all UA “There have been tons of posters Faculty members voiced their be available online. Examples of example for other leading educa- Council representatives are being everywhere,” Scott said. opinions on the OpenCourseWare course materials that would be post- tional institutions worldwide. elected by popular vote. Previous- Of the shortage of petitions, Scott initiative, designed to put all of the ed on the web include syllabi, stu- “Nobody sees this as providing ly, some houses held elections, added, “You would think that people graduate and undergraduate course dent work, and other content con- an MIT education elsewhere, but while other representatives were would look more at the UA, [and] content at MIT into a web-based trolled by faculty. only as a model for what a top-flight appointed by the presidents of the want to be involved. … People on format. Although faculty involve- The estimated cost for a 10-year institution constructs for its educa- houses. this campus are weird, in the sense ment would be voluntary, the major- project to launch and maintain tion programs,” Lerman said. At the Tuesday deadline, nine that they read e-mail selectively, they ity of the material on the OCW web OpenCourseWare for approximately President Charles M. Vest students had submitted petitions for look at bulletin boards selectively.” site would be open and available to 2,000 courses is about $100 million. uncharacteristically expressed a per- the 27 available UA Council posi- The election process is five weeks the world at no cost. The project would put MIT at sonal opinion on the issue during tions. The UA is extending the long, the same length of time as pre- Abelson described a two-year the forefront of integrating educa- the discussion of the initiative. deadline for council petitions until experiment, at the end of which tional technology with an on-cam- Saturday. These petitions do not UA Elections, Page 16 material for 700 MIT courses would pus education, as well as setting an OpenCourseWare, Page 18 Thomas H. Lee Professor Emeritus Thomas H. Lee, a member of the MIT com- munity for 22 years, died on Feb. 4 at the age of 77. Lee is best known for being a founder and president of the Center for Quality Management, and for his contributions to electrical engineering. “I recall Tom Lee as having great energy, and a great ability to lis- ten to others and learn from them,” said Professor Joel Moses, a for- mer dean of the School of Engineering. “Tom was a truly wonderful colleague,” said Professor Gerald L. Wilson in a recent edition of Tech Talk. “He made hundreds of friends in the Boston area and later worldwide due to his interest in learning about better management techniques and his great desire to share them with others. I don’t think Tom ever stopped having fun.” “Tom was very interested in helping organizations improve them- selves,” Moses said. “Thus he, Ray Stata, Alex D’Arbeloff and other local CEOs founded the Center for Quality Management to do just that. CQM now has branches in a number of countries. Tom had a great love of the U.S. and worked for many years on improving the relations between China, his birthplace, and the U.S.” Lee served as president of CQM from 1990-1998 and served on its board of directors. He became president emeritus of CQM in KAILAS NARENDRAN—THE TECH 1998. Since then, he had been studying worldwide anticorruption tac- Local tattoo artist Dan Paine of Tribal Ways, located at the corner of Newbury Street and Massachu- tics with Transparency International. Lee was also instrumental in setts Avenue in Boston, looks over his work before applying the finishing touches. organizing CQM’s new chapter in Shanghai. Born on May 11, 1923 in China, Lee earned the BS in mechanical engineering in 1946 from Chiao Tung University and served in the Alcohol May Be Easier to Obtain on Web Republic of China Army. He then joined General Electric Co. in By Rubi Rajbanshi the times. nessed a significant decrease in Shanghai. While in the United States as a GE employee undergoing Recently, however, the tide influx over the past several years. training, China underwent a communist takeover. Lee and his wife When it comes to local laws and seems to be turning. The recent lift- Although he was not aware of decided to remain in the United States. regulations, Massachusetts has ing of the tattoo ban and rumors of online deliveries, alcohol policies Lee worked for GE in the United States for 30 years, earning an always been famous, or infamous, online liquor stores delivering to are the toughest he has seen in his MS in electrical engineering from Union College in 1950 and a PhD for its minors in dormitories seem to point 22-year career in the liquor busi- from Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute in 1954. “While at GE, Tom prudish- to a chink in armor of some of the ness. “The combination of a total became a noted expert on power systems,” Moses said. Feature ness. laws considered prudish by many. Is partnership between universities, Lee joined the MIT faculty in 1980, and became the Philip Sporn With tough alcohol policies and Massachusetts finally relaxing its bars, restaurants, the government, Professor of Energy Processing in 1982. He had a distinguished sting operations, a mandate that stiff upper lip? and the Boston police has made it career, directing the Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic liquor stores be closed on Sundays, According to Steven Ruben, harder for underage kids to obtain Systems and becoming the associate director of the Energy Laborato- a ban on double-edged knives wine manager of Huntington Wine alcohol in shops at least,” said ry. In 1984, Lee became the director of the International Institute of (although owning a sword is per- & Spirits, this is not the case. In Ruben. Applied Systems Analysis in Vienna. fectly legitimate), and even a fact, he claimed, his famous “Wall Recently, Boston has dedicated Lee is survived by his wife, Kin Ping, his three sons, William, decades-old ban on tattoos, the Bay of Shame,” a wall dedicated to con- Thomas Jr., and Richard, and eight grandchildren. State seemed to have fallen behind fiscated fake identifications, has wit- Tattoos, Page 15 Comics MIT and Harvard meet A CD-ROM World & Nation . 2 with the Cambridge City Council will describe Opinion . 4 to discuss in lieu of tax payments. living groups On the Screen . 8 for incoming On the Town . .9 freshmen. Events Calendar . .12 Page 10 Page 13 Page 16 Page 2 THE TECH February 23, 2001 WORLD & NATION Immense Space Collision Likely Led Navy Delays Inquiry of Sub To Massive Extinction on Earth THE WASHINGTON POST Scientists presented strong evidence Thursday that the worst cata- Collision with Japanese Boat clysm ever to befall the planet was triggered by a comet that collided with Earth in a spectacular explosion 250 million years ago. By Tony Perry high-profile military cases. civilians aboard at the time. Researchers found molecules of “stardust,” containing trapped gases LOS ANGELES TIMES The court of inquiry will hear Two of those visitors were seat- that could have come only from outer space, in ancient sediments laid The Navy on Thursday delayed from Navy personnel and civilian ed at the sub’s control positions at down at various locations around the planet at the time of the catastrophe.