yeah this is a little bizarre. you realize MOST of your readers aren't aware of the everyday drama at the daily offices which you seem to be referencing? i don't even understand what you are trying to say here...too many veiled references to things 95% of your readers have no idea about.

what a weird parting letter. i had no idea of the gender or skin color of the editor, nor did it make a lick of diference in what i've read. never has. i'm looking for grammar, cohesiveness, and attention to detail. i could care less about anything but your reporting and editing skills. this diatribe, referencing events that alumni readers have little to no knowledge of, is disjointed and difficult to make sense of. not the best lasting impression.

I would say that people who don't show up to work for six weeks deserve to be fired.

...you didnt stay. so pretty much everything you say here is invalidated by that.

Well what do you all expect from a working class stiff? Lets me be clear - Tufts and its students rob the communities they are in of $10M each year. Its now time for them to start paying a fair share and that is not 10 cents on the dollar.
And, whats more... I would not waste my time or money at a rich kid party place like Tufts.

great op-ed! i see too many people choosing sides before they have any information at all, and your historical context re: hybrid seeds, etc is well taken. well done!

that's some mighty fine illogic you've got going there, brianna. the grammar needs some work, though.

"Thats probably why Tufts applications are dropping while other schools are increasing. "
ORLY? now.tufts.edu/articles/record-applications-undergraduate-class-2017

Sounds like the Tufts Administration, Barbara Rubel, and other minions are continuing to trash talk Medford and Somerville. Tufts is the biggest taker in both communities- costing each city well over $5M each per year. In 10 years that $100 million in lost tax revenue- that could fund new schools, infrastructures, and open green space.

BTW I dont need to use the green spaces at Tufts- because I can enjoy the lakes, bike paths, and other green areas we have. Also, when I want to hear Bill Clinton speak I will attend a professional event- not a campaign rally at Tufts.

As for the education Tufts provides. If your investing $50K per year ... you or your family start $200K in the hole... and I dont think you can make it up vs. going to a UMass or more affordable school. Thats probably why Tufts applications are dropping while other schools are increasing.

@"taxtuftsnow": The fact that you live near and dislike Tufts doesn't qualify you to make blanket judgments about the quality of the education it offers. The late nights spent poring over textbooks and putting together research papers haven't made me feel particularly good, as you suggest, but they have helped me land a quality internship and attract the interest of some of the top firms in my field.

Second, Tufts does make payments in lieu of taxes. In 2004, the university negotiated payment plans with Medford and Somerville whereby it would contribute about $1.75 million to each city over the subsequent ten-year period.

Third, a university's obligation is first and foremost to its students. The Boston Ave. warehouse could be tremendously beneficial as classroom or lab space. There are very, very few other nearby spaces that provide Tufts with the same potential for growth that this building does, and no others that Tufts already owns. I feel bad for the artists who currently use the space, but I'm sure they will be able to find other landlords willing to rent them studio space.

Fourth, I take strong issue with your suggestion that Tufts is "one of the biggest takers in the community." Medford and Somerville residents who live close to Tufts get access to acres of free green space, benefit from the many community service programs initiated by Tufts students, are invited to frequent guest lectures by some of the nation's top scholars (including Bill Clinton and Brian Williams), and benefit from the revenue students generate at local businesses.

There needs to be some clairfication. The building is for manufacturing and it original intent was and is such.
"Inhabitants" means residency. We do not live in the building.
When is the time for this argument if not now?
It "could house more classes" will it?
Those classes that are being taught in unconventional areas. That would seem to be poor planning attributed toTufts.
Again "Art students could retain parts of the space for any number of activites" Will they? Remember Tufts is evicting artist!
One of the ironies is, Museum school students recieve a Tufts certificate. But Tufts is taking away a place where they can work.
Student tuition is not subsidizing people. We pay rent. The students tuition however subsidizes the many acres devoted to athletics. Just a thought.

i don't think brianna is actually one of the artists in residence, just a very misinformed individual looking to make emotional personal statements.

the unintentional comedy of 'her' post is a great bonus!

They were given warning of a coming takeover years ago and were given 6 months notice to vacate when they are only required to give 30 days. Tufts didn't buy the building just so they could be landlords. There are plenty of other buildings you can move to. If you really don't want to move, make an offer for the building.

I am not surprised that a kid from Tufts would agree with evicting people from a warehouse the University owns.
My general impression of Tufts students not positive. Most seem to come from comfortable backgrounds. And, the education Tufts provides makes you feel good- but really doesnt prepare you for much. The fact that you believe struggling artist should be displaced fits my view of how I see you all.

In my view Tufts is one of the biggest takers in the community. Its time for the University to start making payments in lieu like other local colleges and universities have for many years.

A MESSAGE TO ALL PARASITIC PROHIBITIONISTS:

Our prisons are full, our economy is in ruins, the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of Americans have been destroyed or severely disrupted. What was once a shining beacon of liberty and prosperity has become a toxic, repressive, smoldering heap of hypocrisy and a gross affront to fundamental human decency. 

Accordingly, it is now the duty of every last one of us to insure that people like yourself, who are responsible for this shameful situation, are not simply left in peace to enjoy the wealth and status that your despicable actions have, until now, afforded you. Both former and present Prohibitionists will not be allowed to remain untainted and untouched from the unconscionable acts that have been viciously committed on fellow citizens-you have provided us with neither safe communities nor safe streets; we will provide you with neither a safe haven to enjoy your ill-gotten gains nor the liberty to repeat such a similar atrocity.

If you're a bottom-dwelling-parasite prohibitionist, who's career has entailed subjecting the rest of us to off-the-scale corruption and lawlessness, then maybe you should consider moving to somewhere that won't extradite you to a future national or international drug-war tribunal for your crimes against humanity.  

And, Sara, here are some additional facts.

• There is no "Palestine". There might have been, but they chose war instead- time and again:
The would-have-been "Palestinians" would have had a state IN PEACE in 1937 with the Peel Plan, but they violently rejected it.
They would have had a state IN PEACE in 1939 with the MacDonald White Paper, but they violently rejected it (and Jews would have even been restricted from BUYING land from Arabs).
They would have had a state IN PEACE in 1948 with UN 181, but they violently rejected it (and actually claimed that the UN had no such mandate!).
They could have had a state IN PEACE in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza from 1948-1967 without any Jews- because the Arabs had ethnically cleansed every last one; but they violently rejected it. In fact, that's exactly when they established Fatah (1959) and the PLO (1964).
They could have had a state IN PEACE after 1967, but instead, the entire Arab world issued the Khartoum Resolutions:
A. No peace with Israel
B. No recognition of Israel
C. No negotiations with Israel
They would have had a state IN PEACE in 2000 with the Oslo Accords, but they violently rejected it- as always.
And as soon as Israel pulled every single Israeli out of Gaza, what did the would-have-been "Palestinians" do? They immediately started shooting thousands of missiles into Israeli population centers, they elected Hamas (whose official platform calls for jihad with no negotiations until Israel is destroyed) to rule them, and they have dug tunnels crossing into the Negev to kill and kidnap Israelis.
And even afterwards, Ehud Olmert made his subsequent generous offer that went far beyond even that of Barak. The would-have-been "Palestinians" rejected it.
They had many chances.
They threw them all away because destroying Israel was higher on their priority list. It still is.
Oh well. That's their choice.

Sara - Here are some facts.

Israel knows full well how indoctrination can poison the well for peace.
Just south of Israel's border, in Gaza, the Hamas government has created an atmosphere of extremism that vilifies Israelis and Jews to the next generation.
Gaza Kindergarten graduations feature "terrorist dress-up," where five-year olds stage plays that glorify jihadists and suicide bombers.
Families in Gaza watch public television sermons featuring Hamas ministers like 'Atallah Abu Al-Subh, who recently claimed that (and I quote) "the Jews are the most despicable and contemptible nation to crawl upon the face of the Earth."
Incitement is no less prevalent under Abbas in the West Bank as it is under Hamas in Gaza. Under the PA, students learn history from textbooks that glorify terrorists - and learn geography from atlases that erase Israel from the map.
Sports facilities, streets, and public buildings are named after terrorists, such as Dalal Mughrabi, a woman who led an attack on a bus that killed 38 Israeli civilians - including 13 children.
Imagine if the Norwegian government named a playground after Anders Breivik - or if the US named a park after Charles Manson. What kind of message would it send to the children who play there?

While this Arafat/Bob Roberts character is clearly a little bit on the fanatical side of things, i am very troubled by the phrasing of Mr. Azzam is his reply comment. He refers to the "well armed European Jew". It may be a language barrier or a typo, but to refer to "the well armed European Jew" borders on a place I think we'd all prefer not to go to in this discussion. Perhaps he meant "well armed European Jews", which is significantly less offensive. Saying "the Jew" to refer to a group instead of "the Jews" or "the Jewish people" has long considered to be derogatory.

Bob Roberts,

Methinks you doth protest way too much (paraphrasing Hamlet)! And get your facts about the Palestinians straight.

I wonder if the Black Animists will ever forget the homeland that the Islamists forced them to leave?

I wonder if the Chaldean Christians of Iraq will ever forget the homeland the Islamists forced them to leave?

I wonder if the 750,000 Jews forced to leave Yemen, Algeria, Iran, Yemen, Morocco and elsewhere (in 1948, 1949 1n3 1950) will ever forget the homeland they were forced to leave?

I wonder if the 500,000 Malians forced to leave Mal in the past year, and by Islamists, will ever forget the homeland they were forced to leave?

Why is it American Muslims never once mention these events but instead focus incessantly on Israel?

at least one of the authors of this oped is NOT muslim. Muslim and Arab are not the same things. there are so many other facts in your comment that could be disputed but lets just start with that fact.

An excellent Aricle, we will never forget. To the best of my knowledge however. The Jews of Europe are not the Jews of the Middle East that were taken to Babylon then freed, the Jews of Europe ar Caspian Jews migrated mainly from Russia and the Caspian sea. They have no foundation to their claims what so ever. I lived with the Middle Eastern Jews when I lived in Palestine! They did not know whether to escape with us running away from the well armed European Jew or stay in Palestine.

Keep up thegood work,
HTA

I love it when Muslims lecture us about diversity or accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing, apartheid or intolerance. What follows is the percentage Muslim demographic in the following countries. Bear in mind when studying these statistics that in every one of these countries 1,400 years ago (or less) Islam did not even exist.

Afghanistan 100% Muslim (Once Buddhist, Hindu)
Algeria 99% Muslim (Once Berber)
Bahrain 100% Muslim (Once Zoroastrain, Christian)
Iraq 95% Muslim (Once Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian)
Iran 98% Muslim (Once Christian, Zoroastrian, etc...)
Morocco 99% Muslim (Once Berber, Christian, etc...)
Mauritania 100% Muslim (Once Animist)
Somalia 100% Muslim (Once Animist, etc...)
Saudi Arabia 100% Muslim (Once Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrian, etc...)

Sudan 97% Muslim (Recent history teaches us what happened to all the non-Muslims in Sudan. It's called genocide.)

• Since the Palestinians were never Israeli citizens, and never wanted to be Israeli citizens, there's really no question of Apartheid here.
The Palestinians' disenfranchisement comes out of their own rejection of UNGAR 181, which advocated the establishment of one Jewish state (Israel) and one Arab state (Palestine, or whatever they might have wanted to call it) on the land of the Palestine Mandate. Had they accepted the resolution and established their own state on the land allocated by the UN, there would be no Palestinian refugees today.
No country in the world can be forced to accept a belligerent population whose manifesto includes the destruction of the would-be host country. Neither democracy nor membership in the UN requires any country to commit suicide, which is what you seem to be advocating.
If you really want an example of an Apartheid state, examine the laws of the Palestinian Authority-- it is a criminal offense to sell Palestinian land to a Jew, and the maximum penalty for someone selling land to a Jew is death. Mahmoud Abbas has already declared on more than one occasion that "No Jew will be allowed to live in the new Palestine".
How's that for Apartheid?

"We entered the info session intending to pose a rhetorical question about Tufts' continued investments in the fossil fuel industry despite its heavily advertised commitment to sustainability and persistent student pressure to divest. We hoped to pose our question to the admissions officer during the question and answer session originally planned for the last few minutes."

personally, i think it would be nice if you could admit that A. you were well aware that the admissions officer would not be able to answer the questions you were posing and that the idea of doing this during the q&a portion was just so you could talk uninterrupted and B. that this was a remarkably stupid way of doing this, taking up time from potential students who traveled from great distances and addressing exactly zero people who can affect the type of change you wish. instead, this op-ed just comes across as "we're sorry YOU were offended". figures.

i guess i dont understand WHY an info session would be the best place to bring this to people's attention...? it was incredibly rude to ask ms. souto questions that she obviously wouldn't know the answer to. why would prospective students care? this is ridiculous, there should be consequences for these type of actions. i am sick of our great school looking stupid to everyone outside.

"It was a fairly ugly space, but it could turn into a great place," Johnson said
"Before, it was an eyesore."

funny, i think what's been done is an eyesore, removing the grassy spaces on which we used to lounge. i now find it cluttered, with obstructed sightlines. i guess i should be relieved they didn't ruin the whole thing with a coffeeshop? this fascination with developing every inch of campus appalls me.

Nothing like a fresh block of text to wake up to in the morning!

So you would try to say something important and end up saying nothing at all. Feminism = excusism. Feminists bite off way more than they can chew when they try to speak for all women. You go to Tufts, take advantage of the opportunity and achieve something for yourself and inspire other women to follow. Bitching at the media, and obstacles facing other women does no good for anyone.

^^this guy +100

Um...who wrote this? And on a related note, why is the Daily website suddenly a total disaster?

Um...who wrote this? And on a related note, why is the Daily website suddenly such a shithole?

• There is no "Palestine". There might have been, but they chose war instead- time and again:
The would-have-been "Palestinians" would have had a state IN PEACE in 1937 with the Peel Plan, but they violently rejected it.
They would have had a state IN PEACE in 1939 with the MacDonald White Paper, but they violently rejected it (and Jews would have even been restricted from BUYING land from Arabs).
They would have had a state IN PEACE in 1948 with UN 181, but they violently rejected it (and actually claimed that the UN had no such mandate!).
They could have had a state IN PEACE in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza from 1948-1967 without any Jews- because the Arabs had ethnically cleansed every last one; but they violently rejected it. In fact, that's exactly when they established Fatah (1959) and the PLO (1964).
They could have had a state IN PEACE after 1967, but instead, the entire Arab world issued the Khartoum Resolutions:
A. No peace with Israel
B. No recognition of Israel
C. No negotiations with Israel
They would have had a state IN PEACE in 2000 with the Oslo Accords, but they violently rejected it- as always.
And as soon as Israel pulled every single Israeli out of Gaza, what did the would-have-been "Palestinians" do? They immediately started shooting thousands of missiles into Israeli population centers, they elected Hamas (whose official platform calls for jihad with no negotiations until Israel is destroyed) to rule them, and they have dug tunnels crossing into the Negev to kill and kidnap Israelis.
And even afterwards, Ehud Olmert made his subsequent generous offer that went far beyond even that of Barak. The would-have-been "Palestinians" rejected it.
They had many chances.
They threw them all away because destroying Israel was higher on their priority list. It still is.
Oh well. That's their choice.

Speaking for myself I do not believe the two-state solution is a solution. Most anywhere one studies Muslims we see deadly conflict with their neighbors and it is instigated by the Muslims. And this includes Muslims killing Muslims where the killing of Muslims by Muslims is as predictable as is the rising sun.

Be it in Kashmir, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, Mali, Somalia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Southern Thailand, NW China, Southern Russia, train depots in London, discos in Bali, Embassies in Kenya, Ethiopia and elsewhere, grade schools in Beslan, the list goes on and on and never ends.

The idea that a two-state solution would work is like telling me I could fly to the moon of my own doing. Muslims have never been interested in peace with Israel and never will be. Their goal is to re-create the Ummah. This goal is stated in their Quran and is amply supported by all the material found in their Hadiths and Sunna.

It - the two-state solution - is one of those idiotic plans put together by people who know nothing other than intellectual pursuits that have as much chance of working in the real world as the Arab Spring had of fostering democracy in the Muslim world.

The students involved in this movement are very smart, dedicated and have injustice on their side. The faculty refusing to take on this issue are mistaken and cowardly.

Sort of funny to read defenses of Israeli apartheid which pretty much sum up a case for returning Israel to its 1967 borders. Israeli apartheid is racism, pure and simple, as the overheated letters here demonstrate. The argument of zionists is that stealing land is OK. Israel has become just another in a long line of Crusader states. Returning hate with hate produces hate. You satisfied with that? Probably if you are satisfied with comments that are rife with misspellings, logical gaffes and even the hysterically funny misnomer Holly of Hollies .... empathy? in short supply. the moral case for Israel as a refuge for Europeans fleeing Europe is no better than the moral case for the US as a refuge for Europeans fleeing Europe. Sure, Africans sold Africans into slavery and sure, Native Americans at times behaved badly. An excuse to enslave, murder and steal land and labor? and you are getting an education at Tufts??

So Israel is guilty of Apartheid in the West Bank and Gaza, areas the withdrew from to appease the Palestinians and are now under complete control of the Palestinian Authority and hs been since 2006. If this is your "case for Israeli Apartheid" then you fail miserably. Of course they have separate laws they are governed by different authorities. Any oppression currently inthose places are by Palestinians for Palestinians. And no mention about how Jews or Chritians are treated in hose areas. On the flip side, Arabs living in Israel have freedoms that are the envy of the rest of the Middle East. Some even serve in Knesset. If there were an Apartheid, how would that be possible?

Your argument breaks down further when you ignorantly claim Israel discriminates based on color. Currently Israel's largest and most funded Aliya program is to bring African Jews back home. African immigration is high in Israel.

The most important reason this article is nothing more than a long winded lie is that there are no established laws of discrimination on the books in Israel. Google it youself. But in comparison all the Islami countries do in fact have actual discriminatory laws that are simple common knowledge. Name one Muslim country that allows non Muslims to even run for office, let alone serve in government.

And lastly to claim that apeople whose existance predates your people by overa thousand years and has a presence in that land for over 3000 years is some how the occupier is just silly. Israel today is 10 percent its former self. Why does no one ever call for Jordan to give back land to the Palestinians? And if Israel is so evil, why is there a Mosque on the site of our most holt Temple. A place called in the Torah "the Holly of Hollies"?????

Gosh, Thomas, it's a good thing you didn't use black Zimbabwe as an example instead, but given the hatred and Jew-hatred all Palestinians are brainwashed with from infanthood until they die what makes you so confident Zimbabwe isn't a more likely outcome, and why would you suggest Jews take the risk of living with a religious group that fans the flames of their genocidal dreams?

It's easy for you to glibly write suggestions. But, then again, you have no skin in the game and everyone's entitled to an opinion. That's why they're worth the cyberspace they're written on.

youtube.com/watch?v=hwdYRrWAB9E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwdYRrWAB9E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwdYRrWAB9E