While it's painful that this is happening now and not a year ago, I'm heartened that Hal is heading the internal investigation. I can't imagine anyone better.

He was a major supporter of Star Simpson when most of the MIT administration hung her out to dry. He has as good a chance as anyone at understanding Aaron's goals in liberating JSTOR's archive: he's a founding director of the FSF, Creative Commons, and Public Knowledge. He led the creation of MIT's OpenCourseWare and the class Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier.

He's also just a deeply good guy.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Knowledge
  http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/

One can view Swartz as completely responsible for his own suicide, while still observing that the overzealous prosecution was a factor that shouldn't have happened regardless of Swartz committing suicide.

In other words, the suicide serves to highlight what was already an absurd injustice, and that injustice alone is sufficient to act on. Doing so doesn't make Ortiz or Heymann responsible for the death; only for their own manifestly unjust prosecution.

I'm impressed with this response. Two quick notes:

1) President Reif is brand new in the role -- the majority of events would have happened under Susan Hockfield, the previous president. It makes sense that he would want a report of what happened previously since he wasn't here yet.

2) Professor Abelson is a very well respected member of the MIT community, and the fact that he is heading up the investigation leaves me comforted. He's helped me before in the past and is so incredibly smart and kind hearted I can't think of a better guy for the job.