Helping in a hurricane's wake
Tufts students have been deeply involved this semester in pressing for assistance and action amidst the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina.
The Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS) sponsored a Volunteer Vacation to Gulfport, Mississippi over winter break. 87 undergraduates, 12 graduate students and seven alumni went to the storm-ravaged area to clean up, rebuild and assist victims of Katrina.
In February, Tisch Library hosted "Jumbolaya," an event to raise money for the Southern University of New Orleans library, which was destroyed by Katrina. The event raised over $1000 in raffle ticket sales and donations.
Over spring break, 40 students traveled to New Orleans and worked with Helping Other People Everywhere (HOPE) to assist in cleaning and gutting homes and distributing much-needed food, clothing and toiletries.
- Bruce Hamilton
From the ground up
Since the beginning of the school year, major campus construction on a new dormitory, Sophia-Gordon Hall, and a new music building has been progressing on-schedule.
The dormitory and music building will be ready for students starting in the fall of 2006.
There is no question that Sophia Gordon's extra rooms have helped to ease the crunch of housing for the 2006-2007 academic year.
"I think everyone who wanted a bed this year got one," Vice President of Operations John Roberto told the Daily in March. "I don't think anyone was forced off-campus, and I don't think anyone will be forced off-campus next year [the 2007-2008 school year]."
While Sophia Gordon was only available this year to rising seniors, its existence opened up housing for other classes.
"Once the seniors selected Sophia and some of the other apartments - Latin Way and Hillsides in addition to some singles in the other halls - we still had plenty of housing for rising juniors," Director of the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL) Yolanda King said in a March e-mail to the Daily.
As for the music building, in addition to the main concert hall, the building includes a new music library, practice rooms, a music studio and smaller performance venues, providing a state-of-the-art home for the Music Department.
But some orchestra members are upset that the new space will be unable to acoustically fit both the Tufts Symphony Orchestra (TSO) and the Tufts Chorale. Planners of the building said that the space constituted a compromise, and that the size will be ideal for the majority of Tufts' midsize music groups.
Additional renovations on the South and East side of the Cabot Tower in the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy will be completed in December 2006.
-Aaron Schumacher
A potpourri of campus crime
Campus police dealt with a potpourri of crimes this semester, though vehicle-related crimes were the only recurring offense.
The Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) has had to deal with the outbreak of frequent car break-ins this semester. At least 13 of these break-ins have occurred this semester, and in one of those cases, the car was stolen.
Although they arrested one man after he was caught stealing a license plate in Hill Hall's parking lot on Mar. 2, according to TUPD Lieutenant Domenic Pugliares, officers have had trouble tracking down the perpetrators of these crimes.
There are "no leads at all, not even any suspects" for many of these crimes, Pugliares said. "We're getting hit hard; we've had a lot of extra people on-duty."
According to TUPD Captain Mark Keith, this rise in car break-ins correspond with a rise in similar burglaries throughout Medford and Somerville.
At around midnight on Jan. 23, two Tufts students were robbed of cash, cigarettes and a backpack at the rear of Curtis Hall.
Curtis Hall itself was also broken into shortly afterwards on the weekend of Feb. 20, when a safe was stolen from the office of the Brown and Brew coffee shop. A second safe was broken into.
On Jan. 29, a physical altercation took place in Bush Hall, during which sexual orientation-related slurs were uttered.
A disciplinary hearing, presided over by the Tufts Community Union Judiciary and Student Affairs administrators, was held Mar. 10. In the end, the incident was deemed an "act of intolerance."
Freshman Kevin Casey was placed on Disciplinary Probation Level II after it was decided that "insufficient evidence" was presented to sustain Casey's allegations that the victim provoked the incident.
-Marc Raifman
They came, they spoke, they conquered
A series of prominent speakers visited Tufts this semester to discuss problems currently facing the Middle East.
On Jan. 26, Professor Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University delivered the keynote address for a Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies conference entitled "Democratizing the Middle East."
Khalidi's speech came on the eve of Hamas' victory in the Palestinian elections. He pointed to this election and the Kuwaiti parliament's success in democratically determining the new monarch of the country as encouraging signs of the growth of democracy.
Khalidi discussed the historical context of Islam's role in the Middle East, attempting to address the role of Western colonialism and counter the perception that the religion is "particularly anti-democratic." He said that warfare and Western interference have created many obstacles to democracy.
On Feb. 24, Iranian human rights attorney and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi delivered the keynote address at this year's EPIIC symposium, "The Politics of Fear."
She addressed the media's role in propagating fear, suggesting a tendency to oversimplify important issues, exaggerate terrorist acts (such as the anthrax mailings) and label all Muslim criminals "Islamic terrorists."
Like Khalidi, she said that the United States must carefully consider its actions in the Middle East. She also emphasized that Islam is a diverse religion open to many interpretations, as well as her belief that democracy in the Middle East is entirely feasible.
Most recently, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to the United States, spoke at Tufts on Apr. 27 about concrete efforts to address the role of the United States in the Middle East.
He expressed confidence in the new United States-Saudi Strategic Dialogue, in which the U.S Secretary of State and the Saudi Foreign Minister will meet every six months to discuss issues of mutual importance to both countries.
He also said he hoped more Americans will begin studying in Middle Eastern countries, a situation that he said would create a more broad-based understanding between the two cultures.
- Anthony McGovern
Apathy? Not here
Tufts students on both sides of the political aisle have made their voices heard this semester.
On Apr. 18, the Tufts Republicans sponsored an event at which State Senate candidate and Tufts alumna (LA '99) Samiyah Diaz spoke.
She focused on education, saying that public schools need greater accountability and that students should have access to high-quality education without having to travel unnecessarily far. She also spoke about increased economic opportunities and safety. The Republicans also sponsored an event on Apr. 10 with the Pan-African Alliance to discuss why only 10 percent of African Americans voted for George W. Bush in 2004.
They urged the black community to take another look at many important issues, emphasizing that many Republican programs, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, will yield results beneficial to the black community in due time.
The Republicans said that they have made several important changes to their programs and that the New Deal programs of the Democrats are losing their importance.
"The position that I'd like to advance is that you've had 50 years of New Deal programs and where have they gotten you?" Jordan Greene, the Vice President of the Tufts Republicans, asked at the event.
The Tufts Democrats hosted the Massachusetts College Democrats Convention earlier this month, bringing together between 100 and 150 students from approximately 20 colleges in the state.
Over a dozen people spoke at the event, including Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Deval Patrick, Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee Susan Turnbull and U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D-MA).
At the convention, junior Kayt Norris was elected Vice President of the College Democrats of Massachusetts.
She told the Daily after her election that her goals include increasing communication, increasing professional and funding opportunities and encouraging members to "really think about the issues we really care about, and take on issues of our own as College Democrats."
The Democrats also co-sponsored a two-day energy symposium with the Tufts Energy Security Initiative on Apr. 21 and 22. Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis gave the opening address, speaking about the future of energy.
-Rob Silverblatt
Resolutions, referendums and Robinson
Junior Mitch Robinson beat out veteran senator Andrew Caplan for a seat on the junior class Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate in early February. After working with the Senate for several months, he then beat out fellow juniors Denise Lynn-Shue and Harish Perkari in the race for the 2006-2007 TCU presidency.
Minor changes to the TCU constitution also passed in a referendum on the election ballot that was submitted by sophomore Alex Clark, senior Ed Kalafarski and senior Jordana Starr.
According to Kalafarski, one amendment proposed to change the name of ELBO to "Elections Commission" and "overhaul" the organization "to provide fair compensation and accountability for officers."
Another amendment will add the TCUJ Advocacy Program, a program to assist students facing disciplinary issues, to the constitution.
An additional amendment will allow seniors the first option for open Senate seats, allowing for an experienced senate if few seniors and juniors were to run.
At the last meeting of its 2005-2006 term, the Senate passed a resolution laying out a plan recommending that it spend a percentage of its $150,000 budget surplus to enhance "campus programming or [aid] in campus development."
The Senate also recommended that book requests be directly collected from professors next semester and compiled in an online database.
The database would then be forwarded to the campus bookstore. It would also be made available to students before the start of the semester, helping them to find reasonable textbook prices.
Thanks to a new initiative from the Senate and TuftsReviews.com, students were also able to consider data from official course evaluations when choosing their classes for this semester. Evaluation information from Fall 2005 courses is now available at TuftsReviews.com.
The Senate also passed a resolution to consolidate and simplify information about the rights and responsibilities of Tufts students, in hopes of reducing confusion over commonly-committed infractions.
- Danny Lutz
