The Tartan

The Tartan Newsletter is out! Read about India’s COVID-19 crisis, a recap of the most recent CMU Senate GBM meeting, and a recap of CMU softball’s double header last Tuesday all at the link below. https://thetartan.substack.com/subscribe

The Tartan and CMU Votes conduct a debate for Student Vice President of Finance with candidates Sun A Cho and Clarissa Liang.

Our statement on the disruption in the SBP and SBVP debate zoom room today.

SBP and SBVP Debate 2021

On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 27, a gunman walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue and opened fire. Members of the Carnegie Mellon community were shocked to see the cameras of the world pointed at Pittsburgh, the place they call home. To many, the reality of this tragedy is just beginning to sink in. Provost Laurie Weigert voiced that In times like these, we need to come together. Rabbi Shlomo urged students to reach out to Chabad of CMU, Hillel Jewish University Center o...f Pittsburgh, and AEPi at CMU: Our doors are always open." Today, the Carnegie Mellon University community is invited to gather in Rangos Auditorium at 5 p.m. We will honor those who were lost, reaffirm our values, and begin the process of moving forward together as a community. #PittsburghStrong http://thetartan.org/2018/10/29/news/tree-of-life

According to a National Institutes of Health study from last September, 71% of students surveyed said they experience an increase in anxiety and stress since the pandemic began. Much of this stress comes from online classes, and specifically online testing. Not only is it harder for students to be tested virtually, it is also difficult for educators to implement strategies to do so. Some teachers have used a more relaxed, open book exam format, and the EdBoard of The Tartan believes this is the best way for virtual testing. Read more at the link below. Illustration courtesy of Stacey Cho. https://thetartan.substack.com

The pandemic has put more pressure on students academically, and this also means a rise in cheating. There has been a large uptick in questions posted on homework help sites such as Chegg, and this has led to Texas A&M accusing large amounts of students of cheating with the site. Around the country, teachers like CMU’s 15-112 Assistant Professor Michael Taylor are trying to navigate test administration online, but some softwares have caused privacy and accessibility issues. Read more at the link below. Illustration Courtesy of Adriana Poznanski. https://thetartan.substack.com

The Tartan Newsletter is out! Read about Dr. Alondra Nelson’s talk at CMU, protections against cheating during the pandemic, our EdBoards’ opinion on how changing exam formats can improve learning, and much more at the link below! https://thetartan.substack.com

Last semester, the CMU Senate was involved in funding course materials for students that needed it, implementation of Pass/No Pass vouchers, investigating changes to courses made due to the pandemic, researching student employment at CMU, and more. The spring agenda is largely open, as are the meetings that take place on Thursdays at 5:20 p.m. Find out more about the Student Senate's affairs and how to join at the link below. https://thetartan.substack.com

When Alan M. Scaife Hall opened in the fall of 1962, it boasted several modern features. It had air conditioning. The basement housed Carnegie Tech’s nuclear engineering lab. The top floor held a newly constructed version of the school’s already famed computation center. Scaife Hall came as part of a $29 million, 10-year development program that resulted in other campus fixtures like Hunt Library and Skibo Gymnasium. Since then, with the expansion of the engineering department, construction of a replacement building was announced in 2018 and is currently underway. Read more about the project at the link below. https://thetartan.substack.com

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, 2016 National Book Award winner for Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America and the founding director of Boston University's Center for Antiracist Research, spoke at Carnegie Mellon virtually last week as a part of the university's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Keynote Lecture. In his speech, Kendi expressed hope that racism is increasingly becoming a clear problem to most Americans, but also drew a sombering comparison between supporting and acting on anti-racist ideas and policies. Read more about Kendi's speech at the link below. Photo credit: CMU Twitter https://thetartan.substack.com/subscribe