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MIT moves all classes online for the rest of the semester

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

#281

Post by droithomme »

roel_v wrote: post #176
chickenpotpie wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if it's fair to compare MIT to Italy. Italy has a very aging population and MIT is very young and Boston has some of the best healthcare in the country.

"and Boston has some of the best healthcare in the country." I hear people say that all the time of all sorts of places, but what does that mean? Does Boston have (beyond some baseline) more respiratory aid machines than other places? More virus or respiratory system specialists? Better or more nurses? If they do, why? It doesn't matter if they have a bunch of world class brain surgeons. I'd imagine the area would ha…

Massachusetts was one of the first states to attempt universal health care coverage. They also have some genuinely fantastic research hospitals. The best in the nation? Not sure and maybe not. But "some of the best", yeah, that's quite reasonable. And good enough? I'd say ... no.

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

#282

Post by CydeWeys »

slg wrote: post #260
CydeWeys wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of fast food places/corner stores/restaurants/groceries in Cambridge within walking distance of MIT dorms. So the "no way to eat" part is a bit dramatic.

There is "no way to eat [while remaining quarantined]". Dorms do not have private kitchens. They don't even have private sinks. I'm not familiar with MIT specifically, but the most you can usually hope for in the average American dorm room is a mini-fridge and a microwave. It would be incredibly difficult to expect a large number of people to live in those conditions for multiple weeks if quarantined.

You're still allowed to go to the grocery store in China. It's one of the very few places you can still go. Same in Italy. Obviously starvation is a much surer death than coronavirus, hence governments are not literally starving people to death by disallowing them from even obtaining food.

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

#283

Post by CydeWeys »

kelnos wrote: post #265
perennate wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha, the prices are at [1], the cheapest is around $13 per meal. Eating out can be much cheaper, and there are healthy options. [1] https://studentlife.mit.edu/dining/residential-dining/meal-p...

Meal plans are typically pre-paid at the beginning of the semester. So that money is already gone, and I would expect that eating out for every meal -- even at below $13/meal -- would be out of reach for a lot of students.

I'm expecting to see MIT refund some portion of the semester's food cost now that the dining halls will be shut down.

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

#285

Post by thaumasiotes »

voidlogic wrote: post #273
kelnos wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are certainly restaurants nearby, but not sure I'd call them cheap. I imagine a lot of MIT students don't have the money to eat out every day. And since most dorms don't have any kind of kitchens or cooking implements, buying food from the grocery and cooking isn't really an option. Pre-made meals or other things from grocery stores that don't require cooking could work, but, again, I'd expect some/many student…

At my college all the dorms had a kitchen for residents to use in the basement... is this not normal?

It's not uncommon, but it's also calibrated to the negligible number of residents who want to use the kitchen. If everyone in the dorms suddenly had to eat out of that kitchen, there'd be a several-day waiting list to use it.

Which means it's not a viable fallback.

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

#286

Post by CydeWeys »

jimmaswell wrote: post #284
CydeWeys wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not above the laws that apply to them .

This is pure crony capitalism.

On the contrary, universities as a whole are much older than modern capitalism.

But anyway, I'm not interested in having a normative discussion as to whether there should be separate laws governing institutions of learning. The fact of the matter is that there are, and have been for a very long time, and that doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon. I'm not the one that made it that way and I don't care enough to argue it with you.

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

#287

Post by ajross »

ngold wrote: post #279
ajross wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The unclarity is unsettling. The situation is unsettling. Realistically MIT made the right broad decision here, I think we can all agree on that. Classrooms (most of them) are an inherently remotable environment. Lecture halls and giant shared dormitories and shared meal facilities are just not a safe environment in a pandemic. They made the right call. Demanding that they do it with perfect bureaucratic finesse is…

Looks like they are ripping off the bandaid, anything else would take more time. Evidently, MIT seems to think they don't have any left.

In Boston, I don't know. But Seattle for sure is crossing the threshold where Milan was 10-15 days ago, and there's no reason to expect things will evolve differently. These, literally, are the last days of calm before things start to blow up in the US too.

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

#288

Post by dumbfoundded »

evanb wrote: post #154
dumbfoundded wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Understandable. Thank you for explaining the mechanics.

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

#289

Post by CydeWeys »

perennate wrote: post #262
CydeWeys wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That Target is less than a mile from all of campus, and a quarter mile from the closest dorms. That's easy walking distance. What am I missing?

That Target barely has any groceries, it's a small general department store. But yeah there is Trader Joe's, H-Mart, and Whole Foods. Market Basket is a bit further but more like a real grocery.

Yeah, the point is there's a wealth of options for food within a an easy hour round trip of walking (not just specifically the one Target). And a lot more if you have access to a bike. People are not going to starve to death when the alternative is walking 15 minutes to a grocery store. Let's be real. Downtown Cambridge is NOT some food desert like what exists in other parts of the US, where you could walk for hours and not reach the nearest grocery store (this is particularly prevalent in rural areas).

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

#290

Post by roel_v »

droithomme wrote: post #281
roel_v wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and Boston has some of the best healthcare in the country." I hear people say that all the time of all sorts of places, but what does that mean? Does Boston have (beyond some baseline) more respiratory aid machines than other places? More virus or respiratory system specialists? Better or more nurses? If they do, why? It doesn't matter if they have a bunch of world class brain surgeons. I'd imagine the area would ha…

Massachusetts was one of the first states to attempt universal health care coverage. They also have some genuinely fantastic research hospitals. The best in the nation? Not sure and maybe not. But "some of the best", yeah, that's quite reasonable. And good enough? I'd say ... no.

"Massachusetts was one of the first states to attempt universal health care coverage. They also have some genuinely fantastic research hospitals."

shrug. The position you need to defend, the matter under discussion, in this case is: how does that relate to them being better equipped to deal with this specific virus/outbreak/pandemic/situation?

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