Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,
    In an otherwise informative article, "Tufts and the Economy: Recession hits grad school admissions differently across university," Feb. 4, you failed to mention that one of Tufts' professional master's programs, the 36-year-old Master of Arts in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) has attracted a 29-percent increase in applications this year. Clearly, putting all of Tufts master's degrees in one pot is misleading.
    Professional master's programs such as ours, which are terminal degrees that successfully balance academic theory with professional practice, are doing well in this economic climate, and UEP is doing exceptionally well. Our goal is the education of a new generation of leaders, "practical visionaries" who will contribute to the development of more just and sustainable communities. A key step toward this is making our institutions more responsive to child, adult and ultimately community well-being by helping them understand, empathize with and respond to the social, economic and environmental needs of individuals and communities. This creed increasingly fits the zeitgeist in that it mirrors the more hopeful, visionary agenda that U.S. voters called for. In addition, US News and World Report named "urban regional planner" as one of its "Best Careers 2009."
    These factors, together with first-rate faculty and students, should be a cause for celebration!

Sincerely,
Julian Agyeman, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning


Dear Editor,
    I have the feeling that Benjamin Silver in his Feb. 5 piece "We had a deal!" may be overreacting to the cover of The Primary Source portraying President Barack Obama as a messiah. I hope he realizes that The Primary Source is far from the first publication to make the Obama-as-messiah reference. In fact, in the Jan. 31 issue of The Economist, there is an article titled "Waiting for the Messiah," in regard to the relationship between the United States and Europe. Furthermore, Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam and a prominent Obama supporter, said about the president, "When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking." There is even a Web site, obamamessiah.blogspot.com, which is dedicated to chronicling Obama's similarities to a messiah.
    I believe that these examples, in addition to the sycophancy displayed by many supporters of our president, make it completely fair for The Primary Source to portray Obama satirically in the manner in which it did. I am also sure that Benjamin Silver was outraged by any portrayal of George W. Bush as a monkey or as Hitler. But that's another story. I guess we can just add Silver to the long list of people on the Tufts campus who want to silence The Primary Source and any criticism of our new president.

Sincerely,
Stephen Castro
Class of 2009