September/October 2025

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, MIT has been charged with reimagining its campus, classes, and programs, including the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Visiting Professors and Scholars Program (VPSP). Founded in 1990, MLK VPSP honors the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. by increasing the presence of and recognizing the contributions of scholars from underrepresented groups at MIT. MLK Visiting Professors and Scholars enhance their scholarship through intellectual engagement with the MIT community and enrich the cultural, academic, and professional experience of students. But what does a virtual year mean for a visiting scholar? Even with the challenge of remote learning and limited in-person contact, MLK VPSP faculty hosts have articulated innovative ways to engage with the MIT community. Moya Bailey, for instance, will be a content contributor for the Program in Women's and Gender Studies' website and social media accounts.

Richard Stallman, pictured in 2015, resigned from his posts as President of the Free Software Foundation and visiting scientist at MIT's Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence lab. Richard Stallman, pictured in 2015, resigned from his posts as President of the Free Software Foundation and visiting scientist at MIT's Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence lab. Free software pioneer and renowned computer scientist Richard Stallman resigned from his post at MIT following recent comments about one of Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking victims. He also resigned as president of the Free Software Foundation. On Monday, Stallman, a visiting scientist at the university's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, posted a brief message on his blog announcing the decision.

MIT President L. Rafael Reif announced today a significant expansion of the Institute's programs in learning research and online and digital education -- from pre-kindergarten through residential higher education and lifelong learning -- that fulfills a number of recommendations made in 2014 by the Institute-Wide Task Force on the Future of MIT Education. Most notably, Reif announced the creation of the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative (MITili), to be led by Professor John Gabrieli, and a new effort to increase MIT's ability to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning by students from pre-kindergarten through high school (pK-12), to be led by Professor Angela Belcher. The announcement also included a program to support faculty innovations in MIT residential education and new work to enhance MIT's continuing education programs. In keeping with the high priority of these new efforts and of the entire field of digital learning, Professor Sanjay Sarma, now dean of digital learning, will oversee them in the newly created position of vice president for open learning, reporting directly to Reif. Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart, who will share responsibility with Sarma for several aspects of this work, predicts that the programs announced today will have "far-reaching and tremendous implications for education -- for MIT students as well as for students not at MIT."