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According to the upstream article posted in a sibling comment [1], the decision was made by the department head for EAPS, themselves a scientist AFAICT [2].

That doesn't necessarily change anything (and I'm not weighing in here), but given your assertion it seemed worth pointing out.

[1]: https://orgchart.mit.edu/node/6/letters_to_community/importa...

[2]: https://eapsweb.mit.edu/people/hilst

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Most department heads are administrators doing subpar research and collecting money on both sides.

That's an odd generalization to apply when we're talking about an individual whose significant academic record is easy to find [0,1]. Many department heads are more senior, taking on organizational responsibilities that would be more of a burden to younger faculty. Perhaps that is what you're referring to. But in the scheme of things EAPS is - and always has been - high on the rigor scale and low on the bureaucracy scale.

[0] - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RxOuRnMAAAAJ&hl=en [1] - https://hilst.mit.edu/publications/

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