Posted on February 28, 2014, 5:50 pm, F spotting M (Other). 39 comments.
I saw you... almost a year ago at the meeting announcing the closing of Bexley. I haven't actually seen you since, but almost wish I had. I still think about Bexley every day, and feel the absence of it in my life. I just want you to know that it hurts that you care so little about your students that you would let this happen to us, and I'm glad I'm leaving soon.
Posted at March 5, 2014, 10:36 pm by F
I agree so so much.
It wasn't just a place to live. It was my life. My life was completely centered around that old shitty and beautiful building.
And now I am constantly being stretched. Stretched between classes, dorms, apartments, and it's incredibly exhausting. To the point that sometimes I leave somewhere and I don't know where to go, and I have panic attacks until I can pick an arbitrary next destination.
I always thought Bexley had a huge gravitational pull. It was always where I would go, where I would be, where I would stay whenever I could. I always felt welcome there and now I feel lost everywhere.
F u mit admin.
Posted at March 5, 2014, 10:42 pm by M
Dilapidated building was dilapidated.
Administration chose safety over sentimentality.
They made the right choice.
Posted at March 5, 2014, 11:19 pm by M
@2 true, but the fact that fact that nobody seemed to know it was dilapidated -- until it had deteriorated so much that it now needs to be demolished -- isn't exactly reassuring.
Posted at March 5, 2014, 11:53 pm by M
MIT has somewhere between 2-3 billion (!) dollars worth of deferred maintenance.
Posted at March 9, 2014, 4:17 pm by F
@2
closing the building doesn't mean they couldn't have made a real attempt to keep the community together
Posted at March 9, 2014, 6:28 pm by M
@5
And how would they have done that?
Specifically, what more could they have done?
Posted at March 9, 2014, 7:21 pm by M
Oh, they could have displaced an entire wing of Next House or MacGregor house entry to accommodate Bexley? Or even better, tell ~70 freshmen "whoops, our bad, we can't accommodate you all. Hope you got in somewhere else"? Or drop a few million per semester to buy out a local apartment building for a few years? Or maybe they could have converted a floor of stata into a makeshift hobo camp, because fuck research, right? Clearly the hurt feelings of a few students are more important than the research goals of MIT?
They gave Bexley space to hang out in Pritchett...
Posted at March 9, 2014, 7:31 pm by F
I think the only thing that would've come close to satisfying Bexley is buying a house somewhere in Boston/Cambridge and effectively creating a new ILG.
If you're having panic attacks over moving dorms, you should see someone at Mental Health. While I understand the stress of moving and starting over, I think that response is disproportional and indicates an underlying mental/medical issue.
Posted at March 11, 2014, 2:53 am by F
@7, You realize we are basically not allowed to do anything in there, right?
I feel nauseated every time I walk by Bexley. I look at my former window, and while I technically have a nicer living situation now, I ache for our crappy furniture and unicorn murals.
Those who did not live in Bexley I don't think can ever understand what it truly was. It was a family. And honestly, that family has been destroyed. By taking away our shared space, it has made it really challenging to stay together as a community. It makes me feel so guilty that I never see anyone anymore. Sometimes I wear my I jerk off shirts to sleep and I almost feel like I don't even have the right to.
Bexley defined the first two years of my time at MIT. I am now struggling to define what MIT means to me in its absence.
Posted at March 11, 2014, 7:36 am by M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIATS8b0MWA
you feel it too, don't you?
:(
Posted at March 11, 2014, 9:06 pm by M
I agree with 7 and 8... What exactly should MIT do that will be most beneficial for student life over the long-term, not just what the former residents want right now?
Like it definitely sucks, but it doesn't seem like there were a bunch of great alternatives.
Posted at March 11, 2014, 9:36 pm by F
@8 I don't think you have the right to police people on how they react to a relatively traumatic circumstance so long as they aren't hurting anyone. I feel like I see this way too often at MIT, a place that is already stressful in itself.
Posted at March 11, 2014, 10:24 pm by F
@9 A family is not broken by living a 15 minute walk away from each other.
@12 So people shouldn't seek mental health when they are clearly in need of it, just because they aren't hurting anyone? That's fucked up.
Posted at March 11, 2014, 11:54 pm by F
@13 I'm pretty sure that isn't what 12 meant. I took it to mean it's not 8's place to decide which responses are disproportionate, since this type of experience is at the very least a painful one. Whether or not people should seek mental health is independent of that.
Posted at March 12, 2014, 9:19 am by F
@14 - If I spill my milk, and I dive into depression for three days, is that not disproportionate?
If you can't tell which feelings are out of the ordinary, you can't tell who needs help. Political correctness in this case is going too fucking far and discouraging people from realizing they need help, under the pretense that their feelings are "normal"
Posted at March 12, 2014, 11:11 pm by F
I wasn't saying for them to not seek mental health. That's very unhealthy and it's important to get help when your suffering.
What I am saying is that it's totally not cool to deny people their suffering for an experience that's painful and anxiety-inducing. That just causes more self-blame and forms a toxic positive feedback loop of feeling sad, and then getting down on yourself for your suffering. It isn't your place to be the arbiter of what's an appropriate response and what is isn't. The poster was acknowledging her feelings and you know what? I think that's taking a step forward in itself. This isn't political correctness. This is just showing a little empathy for your fellow classmates.
-12
Posted at March 12, 2014, 11:26 pm by F
@16 People should not deny their suffering and experiences, but they should realize what is normal/appropriate and get help if they're spinning out.
The poster sounded like they were blaming their panic attacks on MIT /for closing an unsafe building/. Telling them that their fucking panic attacks might be a medical issue rather than MIT being evil is the right thing to do.
Posted at March 13, 2014, 7:44 pm by F
@13, Many of us have now moved off campus due to a lack of suitable housing on campus (try going from a place with no rules into somewhere like masseeh and see how it works out for you). It's not 15 minutes, it's more like 45. We have now spread out from back bay to central to brookline to kenmore square. But please, continue to talk about the situation like you have any idea what is going on.
Posted at March 13, 2014, 8:46 pm by F
@17
I may struggle with my mental health sometimes, but at least I'm not a dick. And I'm not mad at MIT for closing down an old building. I think you are too insensitive to understand me.
-1
Posted at March 14, 2014, 10:03 am by F
@18 "A family is not broken by living a 45 minute walk away from each other"
You assume too much. I know exactly what this is like, and I just made some effort to see the people I care about instead of whining about MIT or blaming them for my mental health concerns.
Posted at March 14, 2014, 3:23 pm by F
@20)
Honestly, you just seem like a bitch.
Posted at March 14, 2014, 3:56 pm by M
I feel that MIT's administration doesn't really care about MIT culture or student life in general. I can easily name off a bunch of issues: mandatory dining, "enhanced" dorm "security," lack of interest in supporting the students behind Tidbit prior to getting petitioned, etc. But I think we all know about these things, and complaining about them would only be redundant.
Posted at March 14, 2014, 4:22 pm by F
@22 add to that list sexism against females, apparently
Posted at March 14, 2014, 7:19 pm by F
@21 I am a bitch to people who want to convince others to avoid mental health
Posted at March 15, 2014, 1:43 am by M
@22. Sure. And for good reasons.
To the outside world, what effect does mandatory dining, "enhanced" dorm security, making sure that boston FSILGs can have parties have on the one real metric that MIT cares the most about: research output?
MIT is a top-tier research institution; our faculty are not here to teach, they are here to be the best goddamn leaders in whatever field they work it. Most of them teach because it's an obligation (not to say that they aren't good or try to put effort into it--many do a great job). The administration's job is to protect the ability of faculty to do research by directing the production of new buildings/centers and lobbying in DC to increase funding. The happiness of undergrads has a very small influence at best on these goals.
The corporation sees many things as liabilities--mandatory dining, enhanced security, etc all decrease the chances of MIT getting sued, and so the administration is pressured by the corporation to do things like this.
tl;dr: MIT doesn't care about the happiness of undergrads, but you should have known about this when you accepted your offer...
Posted at March 15, 2014, 9:43 am by F
MIT does care about students being safe on MIT property. How people are arguing that Bexley shouldn't have been closed is ridiculous.
Posted at March 15, 2014, 12:44 pm by M
@25: By that logic, MIT should just completely get rid of its undergraduate program.
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Posted at March 15, 2014, 2:06 pm by F
@27 - Then MIT will lose a lot of funding that depends on having an undergrad population.
Posted at March 15, 2014, 4:06 pm by M
@27: and prestige. MIT needs undergrads to be awesome and do great things in UROP and start great companies and become awesome coders, researchers, traders, etc. But MIT doesn't have to care about making their experience here super comfortable (with respect to dining, housing, teaching quality, etc)
Posted at March 15, 2014, 6:42 pm by M
ITT: naive undergrads who think top-tier universities' primary function is to teach as a school, and that they care about student life as a high priority concern.
HAHAHAHA Where do you think most of MIT's funding comes from? Your tuition? 70% of the MIT student population is on financial aid! The money comes from outside companies, the government, people who have a vested interest in MIT's research. From any rational standpoint, the biggest stakeholders in MIT are not the students by a long shot. MIT doesn't give a shit about the little details that may make up a large part of students' lives, such as dining and housing. They just need to convince parents and prospective students to come here, and all the nuances of student life that you'll only discover and care about at MIT are inconsequential to MIT.
Seriously, do people not realize this?? This should be common sense.
Posted at March 15, 2014, 8:54 pm by M
@29: But if undergrads can't live comfortably, then they'll just go off to other prestigious schools. Suppose you received offers from MIT and some other equally prestigious institution. After doing a little bit of research, you discover that MIT pays little regard to what its undergrads wants while the other school treats its undergrads with respect. All other things being equal, you would probably go with the other school.
Saying that MIT needs undergrads but doesn't need to make them happy doesn't make sense. If MIT undergrads aren't happy, then why would they come/stay here in the first place? This is especially true for those who want to go into industry (as opposed to academia), where after a while it doesn't really matter that much where you did your undergrad work.
- 22/25
Posted at March 15, 2014, 10:01 pm by M
(Note: The above should read 22/27, not 22/25. Stupid typos...)
- 22/27/31
Posted at March 15, 2014, 11:19 pm by F
@31 - The other top schools are playing the same game. And frankly, compared to the other top schools, MIT doesn't suck.
Posted at March 16, 2014, 2:24 pm by M
@31 You, as an excited high schooler who got into MIT, would *really* pay attention to the nuances of student life and do research into the happenings at MIT that not even the majority of MIT students care about? And you think they can relate to the Bexley community, one that they know nothing about, one that even MIT students as a whole don't care deeply about? Let's be real here and try to think of the situation from other peoples' perspectives (MIT's, MIT's stakeholders, potential undergrads), not just yours.
Posted at March 16, 2014, 3:11 pm by M
@31 How many other schools can you think of have dorm-hosted wet parties? How many other schools have bars in their dorms? How many other schools let you paint all over your walls in your dorms? MIT students have it FAR better than anywhere else, you're just too spoiled and privileged to see that.
Posted at March 16, 2014, 3:33 pm by M
> MUH PRIVILEGE
Posted at March 20, 2014, 10:59 pm by F
Places like bexley made me want to come to MIT because I felt that I would be more comfortable there than in a more "traditional" collegiate setting
Posted at March 20, 2014, 11:58 pm by M
@33: Are you saying that other top schools do suck?
@35: And it's exactly this kind of thing that attracts many students here in the first place. It's the "Work Hard, Play Hard" attitude that everyone touts so proudly. By allowing these sorts of things, MIT is telling its students, "You can be who you are, and you can express your true selves." It's this quirkiness that gives MIT its charm, and it's one of the reasons MIT was my number one choice back in the day.
You may argue that "Work Hard, Play Hard" is not official and that I should really be looking at "Mans et Manus." But then look at the "Manus" part. That represents getting your hands dirty by applying the knowledge you gain to do cool things. These applications don't have to be limited to a lab setting. They can easily be applied to many other things, like installing a homemade dance floor in a lounge or building a wooden roller coaster.
Look near the cafeteria in the Stata Center. You'll see a tribute to a variety of hacks that have appeared. By showing them off, MIT is expressing some level of approval for these hacks. However, at the same time, these hacks could not have been executed without some "questionable" actions (especially those that involve putting random things on the Great Dome or messing with Harvard-Yale football games), but these make up some of the most celebrated hacks of all time. At other universities, this sort of stuff wouldn't be tolerated. But these things are what make MIT the place that it is. Without them, MIT would be indistinguishable from other top-tier universities.
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Posted at March 21, 2014, 7:55 pm by F
@38 - In terms of personal freedom compared to MIT? Yes.
Your claim that "MIT is expressing some level of approval for these hacks" shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how the administration works. The administration is not one unified body with a single line of thought. Some offices (ie Admissions) love hacks, other offices (ie anything that deals with legal) finds them a pain in the ass.
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