MIT Faculty Newsletter, Vol. XXXIII No. 2, November/December 2020
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Massachusetts Vol. XXXIII No. 2 Institute of November/December 2020 Technology MITFaculty https://fnl.mit.edu Newsletter in this issue we offer two of our Teach Talk features concerning online teaching, below and “Teaching Under Covid: Losses Outweigh Gains” (page 12); “The Problem with Philanthropy” (page 14); two pieces on STEM (pages 18 and 19); and “MIT Volpe Construction Plan Will Damage Faculty Housing Initiative” (page 21). On Campus Fall 2020 MIT’s Plan for the Teach Talk Editorial Spring Semester Moving Abruptly I. Science Returns to Informing Federal Online: What it was Policies like for Faculty and II. The Suri and Fisher for Students Reports on Outside Gifts Cynthia Barnhart Shigeru Miyagawa and Meghan Perdue ON NOVEMBER 2, 2020, I wrote to LIKE SO MANY INSTITUTIONS Science Returns to Informing the MIT community to share our current around the world, MIT made the abrupt Federal Policies plan for the spring semester. I reiterated transition to online teaching in the midst THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION the principles that guided our decision- of the pandemic, thrusting all 1,251 of its systematically used budget cuts and regu- making, described the lessons learned so spring 2020 courses online in late March. latory changes to undermine scientific far this fall, and expressed appreciation to To try to understand what this experience contribution to public policy. These the MIT community for the perseverance was like for the faculty and the students, actions weakened key US agencies, and care we have shown for one another we sifted through faculty and student including the Environmental Protection throughout the pandemic. Below, please surveys conducted at the end of the Agency, Food and Drug Administration, find a summary of what we decided and spring semester by the Office of Centers for Disease Control and why. Institutional Research and interviewed Prevention, National Institutes of Health, over 30 faculty members. We will touch and Occupational Safety and Health How we got here and what we on three areas – faculty’s experience with Administration. We anticipate the incom- learned online teaching, teaching remotely from ing administration will undo the damage As President Reif outlined in July, our home, and student reactions to learning done to these agencies and restore the role plan for the fall was careful and meas- online. of science in shaping policy. However, a ured. So we could test our approach and return to the status quo ante will not adjust it as we learned, we extended invi- Teaching online address the institutional arrangements tations to return to campus only to grad- Faculty reaction to transitioning online that limit science’s role in shaping policy. uate students, rising seniors, and students ran the gamut from seeing it as an oppor- During the Obama/Biden administra- facing certain hardships, plus some tunity to treating it as a burden, although tions, corporate lobbyists from the fossil continued on page 6 continued on page 8 continued on page 3 contents The MIT Faculty Vol. XXXIII No. 2 November/December 2020 Newsletter Editorial Board 01 MIT’s Plan for the Spring Semester Robert Berwick (Vice-Chair) Cynthia Barnhart Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Nazli Choucri Teach Talk 01 Moving Abruptly Online: What it was like for Political Science Faculty and for Students Shigeru Miyagawa and Meghan Perdue Christopher Cummins Chemistry Editorial 01 *Sally Haslanger I. Science Returns to Informing Federal Policies Linguistics and Philosophy II. The Suri and Fisher Reports on Outside Gifts *Jonathan A. King (Chair) 05 The MIT Corporation: Reviewing Governance Biology Suzanne L. Glassburn Helen Elaine Lee Comparative Media Studies/Writing 07 Nationwide Unemployment Ceasar McDowell (Secretary) Insurance Fraud Scheme Urban Studies and Planning Fred Moavenzadeh Teach Talk 12 Teaching Under Covid: Losses Outweigh Gains Civil & Environmental Engineering/Engineering Systems David Geltner, Alan Jasanoff, Caroline Jones *Ruth Perry Literature Section 14 The Problem with Philanthropy Sally Haslanger *Nasser Rabbat Architecture In Memoriam 16 Angelika Amon Balakrishnan Rajagopal Tyler E. Jacks Urban Studies and Planning Robert Redwine 18 LGBTQ+ Scientists and STEM Physics Timothy F. Jamison Warren Seering Mechanical Engineering 19 Does MIT Support DEI Education in STEM? Jared D. Berezin David Lewis Managing Editor 21 MIT Volpe Construction Plan *Editorial Subcommittee for this issue Will Damage Faculty Housing Initiative 22 The Final Commencement Richard Stanley Photo Credit: Page1: Gretchen Ertl; Page 16: Constance Brukin, courtesy of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Archives Address MIT Faculty Newsletter Bldg. 10-335 Cambridge, MA 02139 Website http://web.mit.edu/fnl Telephone 617-253-7303 Fax 617-253-0458 E-mail [email protected] Subscriptions $15/year on campus $25/year off campus 2 MIT Faculty Newsletter November/December 2020 Science Returns to Informing The Suri and Fisher Reports on engaged in, funded, or otherwise supported Federal Policies Outside Gifts any gross violations of political, civil, or continued from page 1 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE human rights; or serious violations of the fuel industry, the Chemical Manufacturers Ad Hoc Faculty Committee on Guidelines laws of war?”. Human rights include polit- Association, Pharmaceutical Manufac- for Outside Engagements (“Suri ical, civil, economic, social, and cultural turers Association, US Chamber of Committee”) and the Ad Hoc Faculty rights and also violations by non-state Commerce, and the Defense Industry Committee to Review MIT Gift Processes actors such as the Houthis in Yemen, as exerted far too much power over national (“Fisher Committee”) came as a response the UN has concluded, or violations by policy. The choice of John Kerry to lead the to the widespread concern among faculty, States such as Saudi Arabia. Climate efforts is a promising sign that students, staff, and alumni about the han- science will have a substantive role in dling of the bin Salman, Epstein, Continuing in Bad Company shaping climate policy. Schwarzman, and other donations. In spite of the accomplishments of the But Biden’s failure to be concerned that (Student committees were also consulted, Suri Committee, there remain questions the Pentagon budget consumes more than and their reports appear as appendices.) about past and future gifts from Stephen half of US discretionary spending is The reports from the two committees Schwarzman, whose name, now closely deeply troubling, though perhaps not sur- make clear that the members of the com- associated with MIT, is in the news, but prising, given the Defense Industry’s mittees received substantive input from not for making the world a better place or ability to spend billions of taxpayer dollars the MIT community. The two reports are for the “betterment of mankind.” This to advance their interests. The United thorough and thoughtful in attempting to time it is for deploying the exploitative States currently spends more on articulate values and principles for accept- power that is his hallmark and making the national defense than China, India, ing gifts, and in the latter setting up proce- world a worse place for millions of its Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, dures to establish whether or not inhabitants in the process. Last year it was United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, and prospective gifts satisfy the standards set. revealed that his company, the Blackstone Brazil – combined. Perhaps a new over- We appreciate the Suri Committee’s rec- Group, was one of the driving forces sight position to contain the spiraling ommendation that these matters require a behind the deforestation of the Amazon Pentagon budget is warranted. Standing Committee, and with the Fisher rainforest, further endangering the Quoting Dwight D. Eisenhower, “This Committee, the need to establish a Grants climate of the planet and ignoring the conjunction of an immense military Acceptance Committee for ongoing rights of the indigenous peoples who live establishment and a large arms industry is review of proposed gifts. Similarly, the there1. Schwarzman is one of the richest new in the American experience. The total “Red Light” and “Yellow Light” formula- men in the world and the damage caused influence – economic, political, even spir- tions are clear and appropriate. by his activities spreads far beyond the itual – is felt in every city, every Yet some of us were hoping that the rainforest.2 Statehouse, every office of the Federal committees would address the errors His Blackstone Group has been con- government. We recognize the imperative made, raise the issues of accountability, demned by the United Nations3 for exac- need for this development. Yet we must and address again the actual cases that erbating the worldwide housing shortage not fail to comprehend its grave implica- launched the whole endeavor to structure by “the financialization of housing” – the tions. Our toil, resources and livelihood outside engagements at MIT. It would large-scale scooping up of foreclosed are all involved; so is the very structure of have given the reports much more credi- homes at bargain-basement prices follow- our society.” bility and authority had past errors been ing the financial crisis of 2008, feeding We hope the new administration will discussed and responsibilities assigned, those properties back into the rental heed the urgent demands of those who and corrective actions suggested. Instead, sector at steeply increased rents, onerous elected them, and tap