In response to strong student opposition to proposed changes to the Orientation 2011 schedule, administration and student government officials announced last week that no significant scheduling changes would be seen this year. Freshman Pre-Orientation Programs (FPOPs) and International Orientation events will be changing, but in ways that minimize their impact on orientation programming like REX.

For the better part of the winter, a couch and two mattresses have marked the location of 405 Memorial Drive, the fenced-in property sandwiched in-between Kappa Sigma and Delta Kappa Epsilon. Upperclassmen will remember this now-shuttered house as the former house of Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) — the fraternity expelled from MIT in September 2009 — but new plans are being developed for a possible fall opening. Before anything happens, the house will require extensive renovations that are not expected to be completed until after this summer.

MIT’s budget has taken a hit as a result of the heavy snow this winter: The Department of Facilities has already spent 2.5 times more money clearing snow this year than was spent on the task all last winter. The bulk of the increase comes from the cost of removing snow from campus parking areas to an off-campus site, according to Facilities Ground Services Manager Norman H. Magnuson Jr.

MIT Medical recently unveiled new daytime-only operation hours for its Urgent Care Service and redesigned its inpatient facilities to become the new Community Care Center. New hours came into effect on Dec. 22, 2010.