Student plans cover new surgery benefit
The MIT Medical Transgender Health FAQ website now lists a “Surgery” benefit of up to $50,000 per year as part of coverage available to transgender patients under the MIT Student Extended Insurance Plan. The added coverage is for gender affirmation surgery (GAS), also known as gender reassignment surgery, in which some transgender individuals undergo procedures to modify their physical sex characteristics to match those traditionally associated with their transitioning identity.
Prof. Alan Guth’s theory supported
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — One night late in 1979, an itinerant young physicist named Alan Guth, with a new son and a year’s appointment at Stanford, stayed up late with his notebook and equations, venturing far beyond the world of known physics.
NEWS BRIEFS
On Friday, March 14, a campus-wide power outage impacted all MIT buildings powered by the MIT cogeneration plant. MIT Facilities reported that a manhole explosion outside of Green Hall on the corner of Amherst Alley and Danforth Street was the cause of the campus-wide power outage.
IN SHORT
CORRECTION TO THIS ARTICLE: Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly said that online registration for the undergraduate spring break house dining plan ended today. It also misstated the dates during which dining offerings will be reduced. In fact, there is no special registration for a spring break meal plan. Beginning Saturday, March 22, Bon Appétit will only serve dinner, and only at Maseeh Hall. Regular offerings will resume on Sunday, March 30.
Three UA tickets face off in debate on student issues
This year’s Undergraduate Association (UA) President/Vice President debate, co-hosted by The Tech and the UA Wednesday evening, featured three tickets. Each pair of candidates discussed the merits of their platform and addressed campus-wide issues, from student government transparency to dealing with student concerns over Title IX.
NEWS BRIEFS
Massachusetts attorney general candidate Warren Tolman has proposed a five-point plan to decrease the incidence of sexual assault on college campuses in Massachusetts. “We need a comprehensive approach to change the culture of these campuses, because letting one more result occur is unacceptable,” Tolman said, according to a press release available on his campaign website http://warrentolman.com.
Former MIT student dies, memorial service scheduled
Luiza Gesser Cabral, a former MIT student, died at 8 a.m. on March 3 in a hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, according to an email sent to the class of 2014 from Miho Kitagawa ’14 and Marco Anonio L. Pedroso ’14.
CORRECTIONS
In an article on MIT’s snow day policy in Issue 11 of The Tech, the original version misspells MIT’s contractor, D’Allessandro, as Delesantro.
Boston plans for increased security at Marathon
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Over the long, cold winter, Boston has been preparing a ceremony to honor those killed and injured in last year’s marathon and to stage a race that will be one of the biggest — and, they said Monday, the safest.
CORRECTIONS
The headline of the original version of a web update about the death of Hadi Kasab misspelled Kasab’s first name.
Who is calling snow days at the Institute?
Many Boston universities and colleges have closed at least once this year due to winter weather, but MIT has remained open. Whether MIT closes is up to three or four top administrators. The Tech spoke to Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart PhD ’88 and John DiFava, the director of facilities operations and security, to find out how the decision is made.
Cause of death of Sidney Pacific resident remains undetermined
The cause of the death of Hadi Kasab, the 23-year-old graduate student who was found dead in his room last Thursday evening, had not yet been released at press time Monday.
Capital Cities and Flosstradamus to co-headline SpringFest concert
The Undergraduate Association Events Committee announced Monday night that artists Capital Cities and Flosstradamus will be co-headlining the concert during this year’s SpringFest on Saturday, April 26 in the Johnson Athletic Center.
Graduate student Hadi Kasab dead
Kasab was a graduate student in Computation for Design and Optimization and was a resident of the Sidney Pacific graduate residence.
SAT changes set to take effect in 2016
The College Board announced significant changes Wednesday to the SAT test, which is commonly used in college admissions. The news prompted a flurry of discussion across the country as students and educators alike debated the merits of the major redesign.
Humans of MIT features members of MIT community
Inspired by Brandon Stanton’s popular photoblog Humans of New York (HONY), Humans of MIT is a blog-style portrait of life at MIT.
CORRECTIONS
An article by Siva Nagarajan in the March 4 issue of The Tech incorrectly listed him as a Sports Writer.
Christie returns to the national spotlight
OXON HILL, Md. — In a return to the national political stage, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey sought Thursday to both ingratiate himself with conservative activists and press them to broaden the appeal of the Republican Party, warning that “we’ve got to start to talk about what we are for and not what we are against.”