Yup. Statistics does continue to be under-appreciated, nowhere more than among dudebros who read up about ML for no reason except that's where the money seems to be.

MIT alum here. I expect this new department to be a gross embarassment compared to the rest of campus initially. Then they'll enforce standards to bring it into line, which will suppress enrollment, and then the department will be merged into the CS department. Won't be the first time.