What'd You Miss Over Break?
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The Boston 2024 Olympic Organizing Committee collected email addresses over the weekend. The committee hopes to spread awareness and promote Boston as a potential host city for the 2024 Olympics.
By Connie Yan
Welcome back! What happened around Harvard Square while you all fled to different cities, states, or countries? Well, for one, Massachusetts turned into a Siberian tundra for about a week and it was so cold that local schools closed, very realistically fearing that their students would literally turn into ice sculptures before the buses warmed up. And there’s finally snow on the ground for all the Californians to marvel at until they realize how annoying semi-frozen water is to walk around in all day. But in terms of newsworthy happenings...
If Boston gets the 2024 Olympic bid, some events will take place at Harvard: You probably heard that Boston got the U.S. Olympic bid and now has to duel other countries in a Hunger Games-type scenario for the right to host the Olympics (I think that’s how it works?). But did you know that Harvard would host events ranging from aquatics and tennis for the Olympics to football and wheelchair fencing in the Paralympics?
Harvard’s federal funding drops following sequestration: Oh crap! Federal funding fell 5 percent this year...who knows the effects this is going to have on research in important fields like STEM, medicine, and...oh nevermind, non-federal funding increased 12 percent so it’s probably fine.
Chris Pratt named Hasty Pudding’s Man of the Year: Andy Dwyer from Parks and Recreation joins his boss Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), who was named Hasty Pudding’s Woman of the Year for 2014 (and also Ridgley Hall Room 52 Woman of the Year). There will be a celebrity roast on Feb. 6. Unlike federal funding, people actually care about humor and celebrities, so this is huge news.
On a serious note, Michael J. Davidson, an assistant professor of surgery at the Medical School, passed away from a gunshot wound suffered on January 20th after a shooting at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Flyby would like to express its condolences to his families and loved ones.
While the break may be over and even though there’s snow on the ground (and we’re apparently in for way more), happy spring...semester, everyone!