Traditions and student activities at MIT
The "Smoot" is a traditional unit of measuring length on the Harvard Bridge, which despite its name, connects MIT to Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, across the Charles River.
Spring Weekend is an annual event that includes performances by local as well as major recording artists as well as picnics, parties, home varsity games, and other celebrations.
[17] This "annual" event is generally not scheduled in advance, but occurs spontaneously in the Spring in response to the MIT administration's announcement of the tuition increase for the following year.
[21] The Chrysalis and the Monarch HPAs were precursors to the Daedalus aircraft, which flew, solely under human-power, from Crete to the island of Santorini off the Greek mainland in 1988.
The music video closely followed the original version, and included cameo appearances by MIT professors Donald Sadoway, recognized by Time Magazine in 2012 as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World", Eric Lander, who was co-chairman of President Barack Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and Noam Chomsky, a pioneer of modern linguistics.
However, in 2007, five volunteers using a boat to clean up trash from the river banks were injured by a small explosion and fire, apparently caused by unreacted sodium residue.
[26][27] The student newspaper The Tech has published an editorial urging readers to take responsibility for any injuries to innocent parties that result from the prank.
The convention is organized by Amal Dorai with help from current and former residents of the MIT living group Putz, one of the halls in the East Campus dorm.
[38] Splash emphasizes having a diverse range of class topics, covering a variety of academic fields as well as non-academic games and practical skills.
In 2007, ESP alumni founded Learning Unlimited (LU), a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting educational opportunities like Splash at universities throughout the United States and beyond.
As one of the few Institute-wide gatherings on a weekly basis over the years, LSC movie screenings have developed and retained a few quirky traditions which sometimes befuddle outsiders.
The competition challenges high school students across the United States to take a refreshing approach to designing a technological solution to a social problem.
In 2010 the Chorallaries of MIT released their most recent album "Stereophony," whose track "Hot Air Balloon" was featured on both Voices Only 2010 and Best of College A Cappella 2011.
Previous recognitions include: In total, the Chorallaries have produced 15 albums: The group is known for its humor and creativity, culminating in "The Nth Annual Concert in Bad Taste".
Bad Taste is a concert devoted solely to off-color, nerdy, controversial, offensive, and often humorous material; a good-faith effort is made to offend everybody equally, but no quarter is given.
Founded in 1988, their stated purpose is: "We exist to glorify God through music, and to tell others about the ways that He has changed our lives: we are each products of the cross of Jesus Christ."
Founded and directed by Professor Evan Ziporyn in September 1993,[52] this MIT-based authentic gamelan orchestra performs on campus, and has toured nationally and internationally, including to Bali, Indonesia, the birthplace of this musical genre.
[53] Concerts are usually started with placement of a traditional Balinese centerpiece made of fresh fruit onto the stage (incense sticks were lit up in earlier years, but this practice was discontinued due to concerns about allergies and poor indoor air quality).
After a concert, the audience is usually invited to come up on stage to get a closer look at the gamelan instruments, and to try hands-on playing of them under the guidance of orchestra members.
The group learns aurally, without the aid of musical notation, and functions in the tradition of a Balinese village sekeha, with decisions made communally and responsibilities shared among the members of the ensemble.
[53] The name of the ensemble means "intense togetherness" in Bahasa Kawi (classical Javanese, a dialect of Sanskrit),[52] and is also a cross-lingual pun on the title of the old television show Battlestar Galactica.
This sets a precedent at the school in that the CD is offered for Free Download, publicizing MIT's up and coming artists that also play the LMC's Concert Series.
[55] In March 2007, the Logs participated in and took first place in WERS' All A Cappella Live competition at the Majestic Theatre in Boston, competing against the Tufts Beelzebubs, Brandeis VoiceMale, and the Harvard Low Keys.
During MIT's Campus Preview Weekend in April, the band leads the prospective freshmen from the keynote address in Rockwell Cage to an activities fair in Johnson Ice Rink.
Resonance was envisioned by Sara Jo Elice who, with her friend (and eventual co-founder) Jessica Hinel, fleshed out the original idea while waiting to audition for an MIT Musical Theatre Guild production.
For the 2006–2007 season, Paul Biss from Indiana University served as interim conductor for MITSO, and in the fall of 2007, Adam Boyles began his tenure as the current music director.
Unlike other a cappella groups on campus, its repertoire includes songs in not only English, but also in Chinese, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, and other East Asian languages.
The Toons host an annual Concert for a Cure in support of multiple sclerosis research, which draws large crowds from around the Boston area to enjoy music, dance, and other performing arts from a diverse array of groups from New England colleges and universities.
The Toons have released five albums: The MIT Wind Ensemble, also known as MITWE or 21M.426, is a group of instrumental performers who are students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
MIT has an active Greek and co-op housing system, including thirty-six fraternities, sororities, and independent living groups (FSILGs).
