<p>Post #40 makes an important point that too many members of the general public, including a regrettably large number of journalists, don't understand: voluntary responses to a survey are WORTHLESS for generalizing to an overall description of a situation. If you haven't learned statistics before, find yourself a good AP statistics text (say, the McCabe and Moore text or the Peck and Devore text) and LEARN something about what kinds of data are useful for reaching valid conclusions.</p>
<p>As a Cambridge resident, I have to laugh at the ratings on Studentsreview.com.</p>
<p>Surrounding city:
MIT: A
Harvard: B</p>
<p>In addition to the responses being voluntary, some of them seem to be falsified. I believe anyone actually attending Harvard would know that there is no communications major.</p>
<p>Does anyone have a read on how the undergraduates at Harvard are coping with the Summers' imbroglio?</p>
<p>Most are probably "coping" with it the same way you're coping with it: talking about it with friends, reading some articles, maybe getting into a debate or two.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.studentsforlarry.org%5B/url%5D">http://www.studentsforlarry.org</a></p>
<p>Thanks for reminding me, TerrIntl. My therapist said I was making such good progress, and now--oh, Larry, don't leave us!</p>
<p>There are a handful of people protesting on either side and it's a popular dinner conversation topic. But I would say that the majority of students are not deeply invested in the issue. It's really the faculty who are worked up, not us.</p>
<p>Marite, I don't know why you find the neighborhood ratings (MIT - "A", Harvard - "B") at StudentsReview.com laughable?
There is a significant difference in where the 2 schools lie. The crime rate at Harvard Square significantly exceeds that of Kendall Square. On one side MIT has the Charles River and on the other a completely new neighborhood consisting of new and rehabbed office and residential buildings (built during the venture capital years of the late 90s). Unlike harvard Square, Kendall Square is completely modern and now fashionable. Harvard Square still has its seedy underside. Harvard, on a broader scale, continues to sit alongside the older, undeveloped areas of Cambridge/Allston,Brighton.</p>
<p>That is utterly absurd, unless you are talking with tongue in cheek.</p>
<p>Please tell me where you disagree. It may not be what you want to hear, but it is dead on.</p>
<p>Terrintl:</p>
<p>I have lived in Cambridge for nearly 40 years, sometimes close to MIT, sometimes close to Harvard. MIT is located in the poorer part of town. In fact, one reason that MIT has been able to build is that there were/are vacant factories as well as near-slums in which immigrants with limited English and even less political clout reside. This is unlike Harvard which abuts the largest concentration of million dollars homes (Cambridge has the highest number of houses over $1million per capita, and they are not located near MIT). Kendall Square in the evening is deserted. All the new office buildings in Kendall Square do not make for a lively or safe neighborhood. No one in his or her right mind would walk alone in that area in the evening, though many do in the Harvard Square area, perhaps lulled by a false sense of security, which leads to the reported muggings (do people in cars get mugged?) Central Square--which is also close to MIT-- is in the process of gentrification but still attracts druggies from outside Cambridge.</p>
<p>Marite, You need to get out more often. Your statement would have been accurate 20 years ago. MIT, stretched out as a strip, has basically two sides. One side (about 50% of its border) is the Charles River (very attractive). The other side has been completely re-made in the past 10 years, because, as you indicated, property values were low, and corporations, including MIT, came in and bought up all the property. Kendall Square is virtually brand new. Its hotels (eg. JW Marriott) and restaurants (eg. Legal Seafoods) are far superior to the seedy stuff you have in Harvard Square. Kendall Square is a fashion district. Adjacent to it is Cambridge's only high end mall (the Cambridge Galleria Mall). MIT's newly constructed properties have won national architecture awards. From MIT you can easily walk over the bridge to Beacon Hill and Boston's Back Bay. You also may want to do a google crime search on the two areas today. You may be surprised at what you find. Harvard Square crime is way beyond what you find at Kendall today. Because Kendall Square is largely corporate few people prowl its streets at night. But at Harvard Square, after 10 pm, you better be careful. Finally, Kendall Square, as you know, lacks the "street characters" that inhabit H Square in the evenings.</p>
<p>You are either totally out of your mind, or you are practicing the Gobbels theory of saying something monstrously false often enough in the hopes that people will believe it. Kendall Square is a disaster, pedestrian unfriendly, with grim, fortress-like buildings. </p>
<p>Harvard Square and environs are built on a human scale (quite unlike the Stalinist Kendall Square and virtually everything at MIT. This is one of the world's greatest public spaces.</p>
<p>The Galleria "upscale" ?????</p>
<p>Now THAT silly claim convinces me that you are merely trying to be ahhhh ... "provocative."</p>
<p>Terrintl:</p>
<p>Please do not condescend. You do not know me, what I do, or where I go. I am not some little housebound old lady. I know MIT and I know Harvard. I go to both places regularly (i.e. at least once a week). </p>
<p>I also go to the Galleria on a regular basis, but I would not walk anywhere near it after dark on my own. The Cambriddeside Galleria, has been a constant scene of drug dealing after hours; several murders have occured there since it opened. Read the Cambridge Chronicle.</p>
<p>Marite, The condescending started with your lecture about being a 40 year resident. My knowledge about Cambridge is also pretty significant but I am not going to stick it in your face.<br>
The Galleria Mall, has Cambridge's highest end tenants, both retail and restaurant. Muggings and assaults seldom take place within University and corporate confines. Harvard, adjacent to Harvard Square and other areas of concern has problems as is documented below. For all the attacks lodged against New Haven, the Harvard locale has been demonstrated to be far more dangerous.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.stalcommpol.org/data.html?*%5B/url%5D">http://www.stalcommpol.org/data.html?*</a></p>
<p>Please note the 4 to 1 difference in crime between Harvard and MIT. This confirms my original Post. Thank you. I also have some pretty startling information regarding crime at Havard Square.</p>
<p>Saying that I am a 40 year resident of Cambridge is condescending? Sheesh.</p>
<p>Please see post #7 in this thread:</p>
<p>It is amazing how the debate here came to an abrupt end with the citation of a web site (see post #54) containing the FACTS. Without facts the childishness begins (welcome to Cosar's world of childish debate). I concede you are superior to me in this realm, so pardon me if I don't continue with you.</p>
<p>I think the crime rate has little to do with why Kendall could ever be argued to be better than Harvard Square. I never feel threatened in HSquare, and I think yes--like many people here-- you are crazy to prefer Kendall over Harvard. There are so many cool little eateries in Harvard Square, who cares if Kendall has "Legal SEafoods".</p>