Community Input Requested for Walker Memorial Assessment Team (WMAT)

Dear Graduate Students,

As many of you have been made aware recently, the Walker Memorial Building (50) on campus is under consideration for repurposing to the Department of Music and Theater Arts. This could potentially impact the numerous graduate student groups who are currently residents in Walker and the graduate student community more broadly. It is critical that MIT make the most informed decision on this issue and so graduate student input will be critical and is highly valued.

Through discussions with the Graduate Student Council (GSC), MIT's administration has formed the Walker Memorial Assessment Team (WMAT) to evaluate the potential impact of this project on the student community. The charge is the condensed end product of numerous discussions that began in the Fall 2010 semester, from which a formal process was created to engage students in the Walker Memorial assessment. Read the charge for the group.

Through the work of this team, we will be able to formally include graduate students' and community user's input in the assessment process for this potential large capital project. We believe the comprehensive composition of this team will ensure that all users will be heard and considered fairly: the inclusion of administrators, faculty and students will bring a breadth of experience and perspective.

This team will represent the many users of Walker Memorial and will be actively seeking the input of the graduate community. We will continue to directly reach out to current users of Walker in this process. We encourage all members of the graduate student community to contact the assessment team at walker-input@mit.edu and to work with the team, so that MIT can make the most informed decision as we move forward.

With best regards,

Christine Ortiz, Dean for Graduate Education & Ulric J. Ferner, President, Graduate Student Council