When students at MIT banded together in 1978 to form a football team, another group of students came together to start the Institute’s marching band, writes Ben Cohen for The Wall Street Journal. “You have to have a marching band if you have a football team,” said marching band co-founder Tom Gaul.
Rheana Murray of ABC News spotlights the undefeated MIT football team. "It's nice to see our players get this kind of attention for what they're doing on the field because they are all-stars, if you will, off the field," says Head Coach Chad Martinovich. "I am really proud of them and happy for them."
Boston Globe reporter Kevin Dupont writes about the winning attitude behind the MIT football team’s first-ever undefeated season. “I am out here to have fun. It is what drives me . . . to finish my work, and go to the exams, do all the work,” said Anthony Souffrant, a senior defensive back for the Engineers.
“Really it’s a tribute to the kids on the roster, the seniors in particular. When they came in as freshmen, they were 2-7 and they’ve helped really improve the program each year, along with the three recruiting classes since then,” says Head Coach Chad Martinovich of the MIT football team’s perfect season.
Steve Ginsburg of Reuters writes about the success of the MIT football team. “With 81 Nobel laureates having ties to MIT, the perception of the student body is one of bookish scholars. With 33 varsity sports, however, there aren't just a bunch of academics walking around the Cambridge campus just outside Boston,” writes Ginsburg.
The Washington Post’s Editorial Board writes about the importance of MIT’s survey examining sexual misconduct. “By undertaking such a detailed fact-finding mission — and publishing the results — MIT has signaled that it is serious about finding solutions, and it offered a model that other institutions would do well to emulate.”
An anonymous donor gave $2.5 million to illuminate the Harvard Bridge stretching across the Charles River from Boston to the MIT campus, writes Nestor Ramos for The Boston Globe. The distance between light poles will be measured in Smoots, a unit of measurement created by MIT student Oliver Smoot in 1958.
Boston Globe reporter Jennifer Smith writes about HackMIT, a "code-writing marathon" held at the Institute over the weekend. HackMIT is, “exciting, because it’s one of the biggest hackathons and has a great atmosphere,” says participant Leila Chan Currie.
“People need to help each other out, right?” Those are the words of an MIT student whose act of kindness prompted one nearby witness to share the story in a letter to the Boston Globe.
The Boston Globe editorial board weighs in on the MIT Bitcoin Project, a student-led experiment that involves giving each undergraduate $100 of the digital currency: “Surely bitcoin deserves the skepticism with which it’s been greeted, but if it can work anywhere, it’s at MIT."
Roberto Scalese of Boston.com reports on the rollercoaster built and designed by MIT students to celebrate the start of the academic year.
Steve Annear of Boston Magazine writes about the rollercoaster constructed as part of the festivities that welcomed MIT students back to campus. “I’m so grateful to be here at MIT and surrounded by such amazing people who can pull off such awesome projects,” says MIT student Rachel Davis. “I’m happy that I can call this place my home.”