Diversity on campus
The controversial Christmas carol published in The Primary Source just before the end of the fall semester prompted the Tufts community to take a closer look at diversity on campus.
During the Feb. 7 Town Hall Meeting on Campus Climate and Stereotyping, psychology professors Sam Sommers and Keith Maddox spoke about the psychological basis of stereotyping and its unconscious effects. Additionally, students presented skits and members of the community used an open mic session to express their thoughts on diversity.
Also in response to the carol, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate has begun forming a diversity ad hoc committee. Although it has not yet been finalized, TCU President Mitch Robinson told the Daily in March that it will be comprised of about 10 to 15 students, faculty members and administrators, who will "deal with issues of race" on campus.
Aside from its attempts to create the committee, the Senate also proposed but did not pass a resolution in January that called for the creation of a "body of students, faculty, and administrators [who will] discuss issues of journalistic integrity among Tufts media groups."
A lack of clarity about the scope and powers of the committee led senators to reject the resolution and call for it to be reworked. It was never re-presented, but some of the goals of the resolution will be worked into the ad hoc committee.
Even without the resolution, though, a discussion of on-campus journalism did occur in March, when members of the campus media met with professional journalists to discuss the rights and responsibilities of the student press.
As responses to the carol were dwindling, The Primary Source published another controversial piece this month. Entitled "Islam - Arabic Translation: Submission," it contained some quotations from the Quran together with some citations from other sources and implied that Islam is a religion characterized by intolerance and violence.
Its publication sparked University President Lawrence Bacow to write a Viewpoint in the Daily.
"Aside from the irony of The Primary Source lecturing others on tolerance, the article offends not because the quotations are inaccurate, but rather, because they are taken completely out of historical context," he said.
-by Christy McCuaig
Speaking on the Hill
Several prominent speakers made an appearance on the Hill this semester to offer advice, speak about politics or share other experiences.
On Feb. 27, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof spoke about his experiences reporting in Darfur. He addressed the need to raise a moral voice and explained about how he has written work on horrific situations in order to shock the public into caring about the genocide.
"I found myself looking for and using the most horrifying stories I [could] find," he said. "It's the best way to shake people out of their torpor, and [it] will make them respond."
Madeleine Albright, who served as the secretary of state under former President Bill Clinton, spoke as the 2007 Isaam M. Fares lecturer on March 7. Focusing on the Iraq war, she discussed contemporary issues in the Middle East and criticized President George W. Bush's foreign policy.
"America's focus today should be on how to build peace, not on how to justify another war," Albright said.
Alum Peter Gallagher (A '77), who starred in the hit show "The OC," spoke to a full Cohen auditorium on April 5.
"Ninety percent of life is showing up," he said. "If you continue to show up, you might just find yourself somewhere you want to be."
Renowned journalist Dan Rather also came to Tufts as part of an April 9 forum on the press' role in covering war and conflict. In a conversation with campus journalists before his speech, Rather talked about the media's duty to the public.
"News is something the public needs to know [but] that someone, usually in a powerful position, doesn't want them to know," Rather said.
Actor Danny Glover offered words about the media and social justice on April 12.
He talked about how films and television can help people empower themselves. "Why not use cultural production as a way of talking about issues?" Glover asked. "How do we empower people to be architects of their own rescue?"
-by Alex Blum
Springtime in the city
Misunderstood advertisements for a popular Cartoon Network show spawned a Boston-wide debacle on Jan. 31 as emergency response teams mobilized to confront a perceived bomb threat.
The source of the confusion was a number of blinking advertisements for the program "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" which safety officials believed to be explosive devices.
Following the incident, Somerville received part of a monetary settlement brokered between Cartoon Network parent company Turner Broadcasting System and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. The scare also led to a proposal by Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone to limit further acts of unsupervised "guerilla advertising."
"The purpose of this proposal is to regulate this kind of commercial marketing action so that its practitioners are on a more level playing field with all the hundreds and even thousands of businesses that advertise in Somerville every day using traditional, legal and licensed and permitted methods," Somerville's Director of Communications Tom Champion told the Daily earlier this semester.
A transportation bill issued by Governor Deval Patrick's office in March allocated long-awaited funding for a project to bring the Green Line to Tufts' campus by 2014.
The state originally pledged to bring the T to Somerville as part of the Big Dig package, but a series of legislative impasses had stopped the project from coming to fruition.
Patrick's newly christened administration has already run afoul of Somerville and Cambridge residents and officials. Plans for construction of a large residential project have drawn the ire of lawmakers who cite public safety concerns and claim they are being cut out of the process.
The NorthPoint plan would create a 45-acre residential development straddling the two cities, and lawmakers have cautioned that the governor's bill grants disproportionate power to developers in determining NorthPoint's future.
"The key representatives and legislators feel that NorthPoint [developers] should take responsibility for those public safety concerns and address those," Jamie Chisholm, an aid to Cambridge Vice Mayor Tim Toomey, told the Daily in March. "The governor's bill essentially allows them to get out of any commitments in terms of public benefits."
- by Jeremy White
Resolutions, resolutions!
This semester saw the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate's work in planning the Hotung construction come to fruition when it re-opened this month, complete with a new menu and the capacity to serve beer and wine to students who are of age.
But Hotung did not re-open without controversy. The unofficial opening date was pushed back to accommodate construction delays and on its first day of operations, students were caught off-guard by a soft opening during which no out-of-state IDs were accepted to buy alcohol. Although this policy was changed the very next day, a two-drink limit per person per night will be in effect for at least the rest of the semester.
Also this semester, the Senate passed a resolution to "respectfully urge the Tufts University Department of Romance Languages to establish two consecutive basic level courses for the Portuguese language." Portuguese courses will be available starting in Fall 2008.
In addition, the Senate helped launch Jumbo's Trunk and pushed for the installation of gym equipment in South Hall.
Jumbo's Trunk, which is an online suggestion box, enjoyed early popularity and received 25 submissions in its first few weeks online, and the equipment - two elliptical machines, two stationary bikes and two treadmills - will be installed by the fall.
As the semester draws to a close, current TCU President Mitch Robinson will soon pass the torch to sophomore Neil DiBiase, who won this month's presidential election after receiving 60 percent of the vote.
Junior Amanda Richardson, who ran against him, will keep her current position as chair of the Senate's Education Committee.
-by Christy McCuaig
