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Thursday, March 28, 2024

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The group weighing how to balance the needs of residents and MIT grad students is looking for citizens’ viewpoint at a “community input session” to be held Oct 1.

Whatever comes out of the meeting is likely to have the most impact in Kendall Square, where the Massachusetts Institute of Technology won zoning to remake 26 acres of its campus in April, promising a report back from its Graduate Student Housing Working Group in July – a deadline missed by a wide margin.

“The group is in the process of gathering further input and has set a goal of completing its work and issuing its report in the coming months,” said Sarah Gallop, co-director of the MIT Office of Government and Community Relations, in her Saturday letter to residents.

The Working Group has met several times to discuss graduate student housing needs and the market in which they compete with other residents for apartments, Gallop said. The group has been divided into five subgroups, which each worked over the summer on their respective topics – grad student attitudes, issues and choices; enrollment trends; housing issues and markets, especially in Cambridge, Boston and Somerville; the competition MIT faces in recruitment; and how the school is using its current grad student housing inventory.

The group plans to identify strengths and weaknesses in MIT’s approach in terms of graduate student recruiting and satisfaction and recommend what to do “to maintain competitiveness,” the letter says. “Any recommendations which require new resources should be weighed against the need for other resources to support the graduate student population.”

The meeting is from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Oct. 1 in Room E25-401, on the fourth floor of Building E25 on Carleton Street behind the Kendall T Stop. After entering from Carleton Street, the elevator is located immediately on the right, and can be taken to the fourth floor.  Room 401 is right next to the elevator.

All interested Cambridge community members are welcome to attend and provide input, Gallop said, and those who can’t be there can instead send their thoughts to [email protected].

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