Last Tuesday, Dean for Student Life Chris Colombo announced that Bexley Hall would be closed for up to three years for renovations, displacing all residents at the end of this semester. On Friday, the Bexley community collectively voiced their concerns and wishes in a letter addressed to Chancellor Eric Grimson PhD ’80 and Dean Colombo, signed by over 70 students and GRTs. Grimson and Colombo responded to the letter yesterday afternoon. In the meantime, Bexley residents were given the option of entering a housing lottery, which closed yesterday at 5 p.m., if they wanted to remain in on-campus housing next year.

On Wednesday, Salman A. Khan ’98, founder of Khan Academy, was brought to MIT by StartLabs to speak about starting Khan Academy and what he’s doing now. He fielded questions from MIT President Rafael Reif, who interviewed him on the stage of Kresge Auditorium.

In early spring, the Association of Student Activities (ASA) emailed to all ASA-recognized student groups requiring that the information in their ASA database entry to be up-to-date and compliant with the ASA’s rules and regulations. One of the requirements was that group constitutions include the ASA Governance Clause ­— any group missing the clause from its constitution received a notification of such, requiring that the clause be added in order for the ASA to approve the constitution. (The Tech, as it is currently an ASA-recognized group without the governance clause, also received this request.) The clause as a requirement for ASA-recognized groups has existed for several years, according to ASA president Rachel H. Keeler ’14, but has not been uniformly enforced.

Next time you have something to say about the dining halls, consider talking to the members of MIT’s House Dining Committee (HDC).

Planning on staying on-campus this summer? Three dorms — East Campus (East Parallel), MacGregor, and Senior House — will house undergraduates this summer. Two of them, MacGregor and Senior House, also housed undergraduate students last summer.

Last semester, the freshman class’ passing rate for the math and science General Institute Requirements (GIRs) was 96.3 percent. According to Julie B. Norman, the Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, this pass rate is similar to previous years’ numbers. Of the 203 students who received fifth-week flags, 15 dropped the subject they were flagged in, and 39 did not end up passing.

What does the co-creator of Lost and director of the next Star Wars film have to do with an international chess grandmaster? A successful fashion designer? The author of a New York Times bestseller? All are members of the MIT Media Lab’s first group of Director’s Fellows, announced last month in a Media Lab blog post.

This year, 25.9 percent of freshmen were offered early sophomore standing, down slightly from last year’s 26.9 percent. Of the 296 eligible, 134 freshmen have accepted so far. Offers were sent out in late November by the Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Julie B. Norman. Although freshmen have until Add Date, March 8, to accept, Norman does not expect the number to rise significantly.

For freshmen, the MIT experience begins as soon as they are admitted. A record-low 8.9 percent of applicants were admitted to the Class of 2016, and 70 percent of those admitted accepted their offer of admission. Because of the record high yield rate, no one was admitted from the waitlist for the first time in seven years.

Need an ear? Next fall, students will be able to try Peer Ears, a peer support service within students’ residences which will act as a safeguard against an environment of overwhelming stress. The support staff will be comprised of students, called “peer ears,” who work with the existing support services in the dorms (such as GRTs, Housemasters) in order to promote mental well-being. Co-founders Emad Taliep ’14 and Divya Srinivasan ’13 have moved the launch of their pilot program from this coming spring to fall of 2013 in order to keep recruiting volunteers. Before launching, they want to ensure that there are enough residences of sufficient diversity in order to make reliable observations about what is the optimal support system for MIT.