Why We Still Need the MIT Media Lab
Despite the recent scandal, and the deserved resignation of its director, the lab does important work. But it can be better.
If you are in the tech or science world, you’ve probably heard by now about the recent scandal involving convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his donations to the MIT Media Lab. Some at MIT (including some faculty and students) pushed for Joi Ito, the director of the lab since 2011, to resign as soon as they learned that the lab took money from Epstein under Ito’s watch.
The recent revelations from the New Yorker ignited a larger firestorm of protests and changed all that. Ito resigned a day after the article was published, in the wake of the allegations that he and others concealed Epstein’s donations. MIT has initiated an independent investigation to determine what exactly happened.
Let me be clear: I think Ito resigning was a good thing. He should have done it sooner. (Kudos to those who called him out and shame on people like Lawrence Lessig and others in the academic community for standing up for Ito when they should’ve been asking him to resign).
In the wake of this scandal, there is no shortage of opinions being offered by the Technorati, and the story has made its way into the non-tech press…
