Spring 2012: A semester in review

The Race and Ethnicity Working Group is proposing an Asian American studies minor, which would also be housed in the C2D program.

The administration also launched the Office of Intercultural and Social Identities Programs in March as a space for students to bring attention to issues of racial, ethnic and identity diversity on campus.

In the fall, the Geology department will change its name to the Earth and Ocean Sciences department in an effort to modernize and clarify its mission to the student body.

Lupe Fiasco, The White Panda and Guster perform at Spring Fling

With a new budget of $150,000, Concert Board hosted Spring Fling this year featuring artists Lupe Fiasco, The White Panda and Guster. Although LMFAO was chosen as the Spring Fling headliner through a survey sent to students last December, Concert Board was later informed by LMFAO’s agent that, although Tufts outbid other promoters and universities for the group, the duo “got injured doing the wiggle” and had to cancel their spring tour. Rather than choosing one of the survey’s less popular options, Concert Board chose to book an artist with LMFAO’s “high energy.”

Transportation off the Hill

The  Massachusetts  Bay  Transportation Authority (MBTA) in January proposed several fare increases and service cuts in an attempt to close an estimated $161-million fiscal year 2013 budget deficit. The most recent MBTA plan was a 23-percent fare hike for riders, the first fare increase since 2007. 

The MBTA’s $80-million Red Line construction project, which stopped weekend Red Line service outbound of Harvard Square beginning in November, was completed on March 4. The Red Line, including the station in Davis Square, re-opened to travelers on March 10.

The Tufts weekend shuttle to Harvard Square, which was implemented in the fall semester to compensate for the stoppage in Red Line service, ran for the entire spring semester because of its popularity among students.

Tufts goes green

Arts and Sciences faculty meetings and Arts, Sciences and Engineering faculty meetings became more environmentally friendly this school year by encouraging recycling, composting and reducing paper copies of agendas.

The Department of Geology and the Facilities Services Department installed a geothermal well outside Lane Hall, which is being used to heat and cool a classroom. This unit serves both as a green initiative and as a way for students to observe and learn about geothermal heating and cooling.

Software technology company Greenbean Recycle installed a recycling machine in the Mayer Campus Center to encourage more students to recycle. Recyclers receive five cents for each bottle or can recycled.

The new Campus Sustainability Council has been meeting about ways to continue promoting sustainability at Tufts.

The Environmental Studies Program proposed a change to its curriculum that would allow students to explore an interdisciplinary core of courses in addition to more course requirements for their specific concentrations. The current curriculum has eight core courses and three electives in any one track, while the new proposal would have five core courses and five specialized courses. 

Conferences and symposiums on the Hill

The 27th Annual Norris and Margery Bendetson Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) International Symposium brought together students, intellectuals, activists and political figures to discuss “Conflict in the 21st Century.”

The third annual Barack Obama and American Democracy conference brought together a collection of academics, activists and authors, including poet Sonia Sanchez, to reflect on healthcare, active citizenship and civic engagement through the lens of Obama’s presidency.

The two-day-long China-U.S. Symposium focused on leadership transitions in the United States and in China and  on the two countries’ political and social relations, highlighting the fact that both nations are having presidential elections this year.

Tufts Emerging Black Leaders held its eighth annual symposium, which addressed the issues of meritocracy, or lack thereof, in American society.

The Tufts Energy Conference featured panelists from industrial, governmental and non-profit organizations, as well as professors who discussed global and local energy issues and potential solutions to those problems.

—Compiled by the Tufts Daily News Department