Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

web.mit.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 605 posts

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#151

Post by chickenpotpie »

smacktoward wrote: post #125
CodesInChaos wrote: post #59

I never understood why US universities have so many more rights over their tenants than other landlords. Why do they have the right to terminate what's effectively a rental agreement with only a week's notice?

In contract law, there's a concept called force majeure ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_majeure ), which comes into play when the normal circumstances under which the contract was signed are changed by a sudden, unpredictable event -- the proverbial "act of God." Most contracts have a force majeure clause, that either releases the parties from their contractual obligations in such an event, or substantially rel…

IANAL either, but force majeure refers to being unable to fulfill a contract. The dorms are still standing and legally habitable so that doesn't really seem to apply here.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#152

Post by simonw »

dang wrote: post #79
loufe wrote: post #23

Can the headline be improved? I opened it as the title gives no impression of being temporary or linked to COVID-19.

I've added "for the rest of the semester", which is explicit about being temporary and I suppose implies enough about covid-19. (Submitted title was "MIT moves all classes online, requires undergraduates to leave campus".)

As a non-US national I never really know what a "semester" is with respect to US universities. Not sure what a better title would be though. The key information here in my opinion is that students are being told not o come back in a few weeks following spring break.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#153

Post by chickenpotpie »

Keverw wrote: post #149
chickenpotpie wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get it either. It was especially irritating at my university because the dorms were several thousand dollars a semester more expensive than larger, better apartments nearby, but they were the worst landlords I ever had. They would kick me out all the time, while still charging me rent. During finals week you had to be gone within 24 hours of taking your last final or be fined. If schools in the US aren't goin…

Be fined? Is that in a contract? Seems odd with private companies being able to fine people.

Public university

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#154

Post by evanb »

dumbfoundded wrote: post #73
CodesInChaos wrote: post #59

I never understood why US universities have so many more rights over their tenants than other landlords. Why do they have the right to terminate what's effectively a rental agreement with only a week's notice?

I have a hard time believing this is legal. Like 50% of MIT guys live in fraternities. At least my fraternity was owned by the alumni board so I don't know how they can force people out. Especially for the Boston-side fraternities, I can't imagine them enforcing this.

Even the Boston-side fraternities are subject to licensing as dormitories. It’s unlikely FSILG Alumni corporations would kick someone out but it could put the license at risk. If MIT says they’re closing Boston can consider that to be a suspension of the form license.

—a former mit fraternity president

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#156

Post by Keverw »

smacktoward wrote: post #125
CodesInChaos wrote: post #59

I never understood why US universities have so many more rights over their tenants than other landlords. Why do they have the right to terminate what's effectively a rental agreement with only a week's notice?

In contract law, there's a concept called force majeure ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_majeure ), which comes into play when the normal circumstances under which the contract was signed are changed by a sudden, unpredictable event -- the proverbial "act of God." Most contracts have a force majeure clause, that either releases the parties from their contractual obligations in such an event, or substantially rel…

Interesting, also I thought some states don't consider dorms to be residential. So maybe that adds more flexibility for schools. Like I don't think you can use your dorm address on a state ID or driver license?

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#157

Post by saagarjha »

chickenpotpie wrote: post #139
saagarjha wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely they had better things to do than to try to figure out when people had their finals and check door-to-door every day to make sure people left when they should?

That's exactly what the RAs did

How would they know if you're done with finals?

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#158

Post by majos »

smacktoward wrote: post #125
CodesInChaos wrote: post #59

I never understood why US universities have so many more rights over their tenants than other landlords. Why do they have the right to terminate what's effectively a rental agreement with only a week's notice?

In contract law, there's a concept called force majeure ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_majeure ), which comes into play when the normal circumstances under which the contract was signed are changed by a sudden, unpredictable event -- the proverbial "act of God." Most contracts have a force majeure clause, that either releases the parties from their contractual obligations in such an event, or substantially rel…

The Economist even wrote about force majeure a couple of weeks ago [1]. Gist was that Chinese firms may use it to void contracts, and Chinese courts may uphold these choices to the frustration of Western companies.

This probably also applies to firms in general now, but the article is specifically about its use in China.

[1] https://www.economist.com/business/2020/02/22/chinese-firms-...

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#159

Post by Keverw »

LurkersWillLurk wrote: post #145
CodesInChaos wrote: post #59

I never understood why US universities have so many more rights over their tenants than other landlords. Why do they have the right to terminate what's effectively a rental agreement with only a week's notice?

Many states in the US have laws that specifically exempt colleges and universities from the majority of tenancy protections that regular landlords must abide by.

I heard something like that before, like I guess there's states (maybe most of them?) where you can't use your dorm room on your driver license for some reason. Which seems annoying if you moved across the country and don't intend to return home. or your renewals conflict with other dates when far away.

Re: MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

#160

Post by ghaff »

nostrademons wrote: post #95
JPKab wrote: post #2

One of my coworkers daughters is affected by this. The big question this begs: If there is no refund being offered for the content shifting online from in-person, why have in-person at all? Is room and board going to be refunded? If courses being taught online is an acceptable substitute, why have caps on admission at all? Edit: Understood that infinite sized classes aren't workable for human intensive grading, inter…

> If there is no refund being offered for the content shifting online from in-person, why have in-person at all? There isn't really a good reason other than some people being more disciplined when there's a human instructor that they see face to face every couple days. Plenty of people self-teach from MOOCs, MIT OCW, or just buying the textbooks and working through the exercises and get just as good an education. Whe…

Outside (mostly) of CS, there is a lot of engineering/science coursework that requires access to labs and other physical plant that can't be replicated online. Even in the humanities, I'm not sure the degree to which you can replicate in-person seminars with videoconferences.
Post reply on HN