Dollar Pledge for MIT

This will mostly only be interesting to my MIT friends, but I thought I would post the letter I sent to the Alumni Association and assorted others when I made my dollar pledge (which all you MIT people better do if you haven't already!).

Dear MIT,

I am disappointed to learn of this year's decision to limit the Residence Exploration period to a single day of freshmen orientation. My residence hall formed the core of my MIT experience, and after I graduated and joined Teach For America, it was my residence hall that for two years in a row banded together to help me raise the money to bring my students from the Bronx to MIT for a day to experience college life. It was students at my residence hall that offered up their time to take my students on tours of the campus and of their laboratories, to do experiments with them, and to cook them a delicious barbecue dinner with liquid nitrogen ice cream for dessert. These two visits were absolutely life-changing for my students, and are what I am proudest of as an MIT alum. They would not have happened without support from my residence hall, including from students I never even lived with while I was an undergraduate. That support would not have existed without the strong emphasis on residential community and culture that was in place when I was an undergraduate, and it saddens me to learn that this vital component of MIT is being deprioritized for future generations of students.

I still care about MIT and its mission, but I cannot support the way that decisions are being made, or the way that student life policy is being set. I have donated $1 to the MIT Marching Band fund, and the rest of my donation, $60, is being given to StudentsFirst instead.

Sincerely,

Caroline Rubin '08

Updated: I got this form letter response from Julie Norman, Director of the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programming:

Dear Ms. Rubin,

Thank you for your feedback. Though we are looking at orientation, as a
whole, no decision have been made on the final schedule. While we are
reviewing our options, there is no plan to shorten the REX period in the
coming year.

We appreciate your support of MIT and hope that, with the correct
information in hand, you will continue your commitment to the Institute.

My best,

Julie

Basically, what she said is not actually true, so I replied with:

Hi Julie,

Thank you for your response. My understanding is that while REX will not technically be shortened, it will overlap significantly with FPOP's and ASE's, and that students who are not participating in an FPOP will not be able to arrive on campus early (when REX officially begins). These changes do in effect shorten REX, even if on paper it appears to be the same length.

I cannot continue to support the Institute until I know that fully participating in the entirety of REX is possible for all incoming freshman, and that it remains that way not just "in the coming year," but in all the coming years.

Caroline

So if you did the pledge and got the auto-reply, I definitely encourage you to reply back and call her on trying to fudge the truth!