Letter from the editors

We, the spring 2019 managing board of the Tufts Daily, are writing to introduce ourselves and welcome you back to another semester at Tufts. As you flip through the pages of the first issue of the semester, we hope you keep in mind the importance of independent campus journalism and the compelling stories we have brought to you since our inception in 1980.

The Tufts Daily prides itself on exposing issues that are timely and essential to campus culture. Our coverage last semester was more poignant than it has ever been. Against the backdrop of the prominent #MeToo movement and Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, we published several op-eds written by survivors of sexual assault at Tufts. Their narratives expanded the dialogue on a topic that has long been ignored both on this campus and in this country. Through our editorials, we hope to help build a Tufts community where perpetrators are held accountable for their actions, and overt breaches of basic respect and human dignity are no longer met with inaction. 

Our journalism explores every aspect of how our university functions, serving as a check on university structures and realities we might not normally question. We released a long-awaited investigative report on Tufts janitors’ experiences of mistreatment by their supervisors at C&W Services. A new podcast miniseries, “A Blight on the Hill,” looked into Tufts’ policies on mental health leave. As the result of an investigation that took two years to complete, we produced a video on Tufts’ use of donations to support controversial research projects. Our investigative team also uncovered Tufts' history of donations in a long-form article.

Just as no university is perfect, no newspaper is, either. We have much more work to do in order to ensure that our organization is as democratic and diverse as our community. This semester, we will again be offering stipends to ensure that the Daily is as accessible as possible to the writers and editors who contribute to this paper every day.

We aim first and foremost to accurately reflect the community of which we are a part, and, this semester, we will continue our efforts to make sure our coverage is inclusive and representative of everyone at Tufts. We are committed to growing and improving our work through ongoing conversations with the Tufts community. Please be in touch with your comments, questions and concerns about our reporting. Your engagement matters immensely to us, as our purpose is to reflect the vibrant and varied stories that comprise Tufts.

We hope you will continue to use the Daily as your primary source for campus news, multifaceted op-eds and quality arts and sports coverage. Whether you pick up the paper every day before class or browse our archives online, we appreciate your readership and involvement, and we look forward to seeing where this semester takes us.

Sincerely,

Elie Levine, Editor in Chief

David Levitsky, Managing Editor

Anita Ramaswamy, Managing Editor

Daniel Montoya, Production Director

Luke Allocco, Associate Editor