Editor’s note: The 2021–22, 2022–23 and 2023–24 recaps in this article are reprinted from the 2024 Commencement Issue of the Daily, with light edits.
2021–22
The Class of 2025’s first year at Tufts saw the return of majority in-person classes, extracurricular activities and study abroad programs, though new variants of COVID-19 left many pandemic guidelines in place, like masking indoors and routine testing.
To facilitate a return to in-person activities, the university required that all students arrive at Tufts fully vaccinated, assisting international students with vaccinations if they were not yet available in their home countries.
However, not all students were able to live on campus. Approximately 100 first-year students were assigned housing at the Hyatt Place in Medford.
The first week of academic classes was marked by an act of hate. A student reported the removal of a mezuzah — a traditional Jewish symbol — from their doorpost in early September. Later that month, another mezuzah was stolen, and Black Lives Matter posters were found purposefully torn down on campus.
The beginning of the academic year also saw a number of changes in leadership, with the arrival of Dayna Cunningham as the new dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Kyongbum Lee as the interim dean of the School of Engineering and Yolanda Smith as the executive director of public safety.
Tufts students rallied around local campaigns leading up to the 2021 mayoral elections in Medford, Somerville and Boston on Nov. 2. Somerville saw the election of Katjana Ballantyne, its first new mayor in 18 years, while Boston elected Michelle Wu, who is the first woman and first person of color to hold the position in the city’s history.
The university announced its intent to establish an Indigenous student identity center under the Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion in November, hiring Vernon Miller as its director in February. In April, the community voted in favor of a referendum proposed by the Tufts Community Union Senate to add an Indigenous community senator seat to its organization.
After years of construction, the Joyce Cummings Center finally opened its doors to students in late November. The six-story building, for which planning began in 2015, houses the computer science, economics and mathematics departments, and is regularly used to host large-scale student gatherings.
The fall semester was cut slightly short when a December outbreak of the omicron variant of COVID-19 led the university to move all finals online after Dec. 17. The first three days of the spring semester were held remotely due to high caseloads in January.
In February, Tony Monaco announced his intent to step down as university president during the summer of 2023, marking the end of a 12-year tenure. Tufts later announced that Sunil Kumar, formerly of Johns Hopkins, would move into Gifford House and take the reins of the presidency from Monaco.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, students rallied to support Ukraine by protesting, compiling resources on the war and putting on a concert to raise money for medical aid to the country.
Tufts saw yet another increase in the number of applications and offered admission to a record-low 9.7% of applicants to the Class of 2026. To compensate for a lack of housing for these incoming first-year students, the university announced its intent to build temporary, dorm-like structures in place of The Mods on the tennis courts on Professors Row.
The Working Group on TUPD Arming announced its recommendation on March 29 that the Tufts University Police Department alter its arming status to a “hybrid model,” comprising a combination of armed officers and unarmed security professionals. This announcement came a year after five workstreams released report recommendations on how the university can become an anti-racist institution.
The Tufts University School of Medicine announced plans to open a new Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice on April 8. The center works to address and combat structural racism experienced in the health care field.
The Class of 2025 got to experience their first Spring Fling — Tufts’ first since 2019 — featuring performances from Tufts student Ella Jane, BIA and Aminé. Senior Week also featured in-person events for the first time in three years.
The Class of 2022 celebrated Commencement on May 22, while the Class of 2020 had an in-person ceremony on May 27. Award-winning scholar Erika Lee (LA‘91) delivered the commencement address for the Class of 2022, while Neil Blumenthal (LA‘02), co-founder and co-CEO of the eyeglasses company Warby Parker, delivered the commencement address for the Class of 2020.
2022–23
Students returned to campus in the fall 2022 semester without COVID-19 as a major concern for most community members. Mask mandates were nixed, and testing requirements abandoned as, for the first time since the Class of 2025 matriculated, students were able to gather without the looming possibility of a school-mandated, multiday isolation.
To that end, the university eliminated the units of modular quarantine housing that, for two years, sat atop the varsity tennis team’s former home, replacing them with an archipelago of first-year housing stock. The modular-style dorms, which accommodate 150 first-years, were branded as “The Court at Professors Row.” As the university plows forward in its plan to grow enrollment, the Courts remain a standard among other, more traditional first-year living arrangements — but likely only until 2027, when the university is projected to finish construction of a multi-story residence hall on Boston Avenue.
Campus expansion was a major theme during the Class of 2025’s time at Tufts.
Following years of construction and myriad delays, the MBTA’s Green Line Extension opened its doors on the final day of classes in December. Dozens of students packed the station before dawn to get a seat on the first train as it rolled toward East Somerville and into downtown Boston. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, D-Mass. — along with former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker — headlined the station’s long-awaited ribbon-cutting ceremony later that morning, in a celebration largely symbolic of the university’s geographic expansion over the last decade.
Tufts also broke ground on — and later opened — a new baseball field named after Sol Gittleman, former provost and professor emeritus. Renovations began at Eaton Hall, the historic quad-facing academic building that reopened in the spring 2025 semester.
The Class of 2025’s second year was also marked by a string of racist and antisemitic incidents in a pattern that has grown familiar to the community. A club sports team was suspended and faced an investigation by the university after some of its members were allegedly involved in an antisemitic incident at a competition off campus. And in April, racial slurs sent via a chat box on Zoom interrupted a Solomont Speaker Series event with the rapper Dee-1. Monaco condemned both incidents and reiterated the university’s commitment to anti-racism and the fight against antisemitism.
Attacks against Tufts’ work to fight racism continued during finals week in the fall, when seven bomb threats were sent to a flurry of university departments from an unknown emailer over the course of nine days. The threats, listing “anti white racism” as one motivator, prompted evacuations from residence halls, the Mayer Campus Center, Dowling Hall and a spate of academic buildings, pushing finals online.
Tufts’ upper leadership faced criticism after a pair of Daily investigations uncovered a series of high-level departures and a culture in two administrative departments that former staffers described as toxic. The diversity office opened the academic year with a third of its positions empty after two of its chief officers quietly departed in August. Their departures followed a restructuring in the provost’s office — which oversees the university’s diversity work — and an alleged consolidation of administrative power.
The admissions office, too, was reported to be under investigation by an outside law firm following current and former staffer allegations of racist and antisemitic behavior on the part of the dean, JT Duck. The investigation came as the attack on affirmative action reached the Supreme Court and as the university pledged its support for Harvard University and the University of North Carolina in their ongoing legal battle against the group Students for Fair Admissions. Dean James M. Glaser of the School of Arts and Sciences and Kyongbum Lee of the School of Engineering, respectively, later shared that a thorough internal investigation into the Tufts admissions office found no evidence of discrimination by Duck.
Tufts resident assistants announced their intention to unionize in November. After the administration declined to voluntarily recognize the United Labor of Tufts Resident Assistants, RAs voted 99–3 with 72% turnout to form a union. ULTRA engaged in negotiations with the university over the course of the spring semester but would not ink a contract until the following year.
It was another record-breaking year for undergraduate admissions, when Tufts delivered offers to 9.5% of applicants to the Class of 2027, the lowest acceptance rate on record. The pool was historically diverse and represented nearly a 50% spike in applications from 2020, when the Class of 2024 was admitted.
Also in the 2022–23 school year, Kyongbum Lee transitioned from interim dean to dean of the School of Engineering, Scheri Fultineer took the helm of SMFA and Howard Woolf announced his retirement as Experimental College dean following 40 years in the office.
Spring Fling was headlined by the 2010s pop sensation Flo Rida, who arrived more than an hour late after many students had already left the annual music festival. Flo Rida was preceded on stage by the DJ trio Cheat Codes, TikTok music star Charlie Curtis-Beard and the Tufts student band Fease.
The performances came a day after the Class of 2024’s Arielle Galinsky, the TCU Senate vice president, declared victory in the race for TCU Senate president. She succeeded Jaden Pena (LA‘23).
The final weeks of the Class of 2025’s sophomore year were marked by an end to the national COVID-19 emergency — and to the university’s vaccination requirement. The move represented the elimination of the last of Tufts’ major COVID-19 mitigation policies, which defined much of the graduating class’s tenure at Tufts.
At the 2023 Commencement ceremony — Monaco’s last as university president — United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed delivered the keynote address. Mohammed is known for her work fighting climate change.
Monaco passed the presidential baton to Kumar on July 1, 2023. Kumar is Tufts’ 14th president and the first person of color to fill the position. Before coming to Tufts, he served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University, following stints at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
2023–24
The Class of 2025’s junior year began with a flurry of union organizing on campus. Amid contract negotiations with Tufts, the newly unionized undergraduate resident assistants went on strike on first-year move-in day to demand that Tufts pay them a stipend. Weeks later, Tufts agreed to compensate the RAs with 80 meal swipes and a $1,425 stipend each semester.
On Sept. 25, the union voted by an overwhelming majority to sign its inaugural contract with the university. The contract represents the culmination of seven months of negotiations and will be valid for three years.
Tufts Dining workers, represented by the labor union UNITE HERE Local 26, also won a major collective bargaining victory at the start of the school year. In September, they signed a new contract with Tufts guaranteeing them a $9.92 increase to hourly wages to be rolled out over the next 4 ½ years.
Unionized SMFA part-time lecturers reopened contract negotiations with Tufts in the fall, calling for pay parity with part-time lecturers in the School of Arts and Sciences. SMFA Dean Sheri Fultineer announced in October that those negotiations had concluded, without disclosing the terms.
Graduate student workers in the School of Arts and Sciences also raised their voices to demand higher pay and better benefits. Represented by Service Employees International Union Local 509, the graduate students entered negotiations over — and subsequently signed — their next five-year contract. They staged a walkout at Kumar’s Oct. 6 inauguration ceremony to draw attention to their cause.
The Tufts community reacted with shock and grief to Hamas’ deadly attack on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7. As Israel began a brutal campaign of bombing and ground invasions of Gaza, students staged a series of protests, walkouts, sit-ins and die-ins to call attention to the mass killings of Palestinians.
At one protest outside Ballou Hall on Nov. 17, students alleged that TUPD officers physically and verbally harassed them and made them feel unsafe. The protest ended with 18 students facing disciplinary violations and one losing their study abroad privileges for blocking the doors to Ballou in violation of university policy.
Eleven student groups founded the Coalition for Palestinian Liberation at Tufts to call for an immediate ceasefire, now totaling over 40 member organizations. The coalition also demanded that Kumar condemn the genocide in Gaza and that Tufts divest from Israel and end all partnerships with Israeli institutions.
In a series of messages to the university community, Kumar denounced the Hamas-led terrorist attacks, mourned the loss of Palestinian lives in Gaza and condemned all forms of antisemitism and Islamophobia. He affirmed students’ right to protest but cautioned that “disruption cannot take the place of dialogue.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jodi Kantor, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Congressman Maxwell Frost were among the civic life leaders invited to campus for Tisch College’s fall Solomont Speaker Series.
Tisch College also welcomed hip-hop artist and activist David Augustine, known as Dee-1, as its inaugural Solomont Artist/Scholar-in-Residence. In the spring, Augustine taught a course about the intersection of hip hop and social change.
Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James M. Glaser announced in December that he would depart Tufts in the summer of 2024 after 33 years. Glaser joined the Department of Political Science in 1991 and had served as dean since 2014.
Pro-Palestinian activism continued into the spring semester as the Israel-Hamas war passed the 100-day mark and the death toll mounted. Calls for a ceasefire extended into Tufts’ host communities, with the Somerville and Medford city councils both passing ceasefire resolutions in February.
In March, the TCU Senate passed three resolutions proposed by CPLT calling on Kumar to recognize the genocide in Gaza, for the university to divest from Israeli companies and for it to stop selling Sabra products. A fourth resolution pressing the university to end approval for study abroad programs at universities in Israel did not pass. About 300 students came to the meeting to speak in favor of and against the resolutions. Afterward, students reported antisemitic, Islamophobic and anti-Arab remarks and actions made by their peers during the meeting.
Less than 12 hours after the vote, Kumar condemned the resolutions and said that Tufts will maintain all of its business and academic relationships with Israeli institutions.
Later in the month, a group of Tufts students participated in the first-ever Jumbo Spring Break — a five-day program with a civic engagement and community service focus. The students volunteered for Habitat for Humanity in Malden and met with Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, among other activities.
Tufts accepted 10% of applicants to the Class of 2028, a slight increase from the year prior. It was the fourth year of Tufts’ six-year test-optional pilot program, and 60% of accepted students submitted test scores. The price for the 2024–25 school year rose again, surpassing $92,000.
On April 8 — one of the first truly sunny and warm days of the spring semester — hundreds of students gathered on President’s Lawn to admire the partial solar eclipse through protective glasses and makeshift pinhole cameras. Many others traveled north to experience totality.
Jordin Sparks headlined Spring Fling on April 20 with openers Tkay Maidza, Iyaz and student band Sunnydaze.
The 2024–25 TCU presidential election was a tight three-way contest between juniors Krystal Mutebi, Joel Omolade and Mikayla Paquette. Omolade was temporarily disqualified from the race by the Elections Commission for alleged campaign misconduct, but the TCU Judiciary quickly reversed the decision and allowed him to resume his campaign. Omolade ultimately won the presidency with 54% of the vote. Fellow Class of 2025 Senator Nessren Ourdyl would serve as vice president.
Tufts students set up a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the Academic Quad in April, as part of a nationwide surge in pro-Palestinian student activism. Universities around the country drew scrutiny for forcefully cracking down on their protesters and, in many cases, calling in the police to make arrests. Meanwhile, at Tufts, under a no-trespass warning and threats of suspension, the protesters deconstructed their encampment and left voluntarily on May 3. They did not offer a public explanation for why the encampment came down but said they had not negotiated an agreement with the university.
Professors of the practice at SMFA, capping off a year of union activity, began negotiations for a new collective contract with the university on April 24. SMFA’s professors of the practice are still in contract negotiations with the university.
Senior Saffiyah Coker won the Wendell Phillips Award and addressed the senior class at the Baccalaureate Ceremony on May 18.
Fiona Hill delivered the commencement address on May 19. Hill is the chancellor of Durham University and a former adviser to three U.S. presidents, specializing in Russian and European affairs.
2024–25
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to abolish race-based affirmative action in college admissions, Tufts reported a 6% decline in racial diversity among incoming first-year students.
For the second year in a row, move-in day was interrupted by labor demonstrations. This time, protests were organized by the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, which accused Tufts of hiring contractors who exploit construction workers.
The union held smaller-scale protests nearly every day over the course of the semester, with groups of workers holding signs reading “STOP WAGE THEFT” and “SHAME ON TUFTS” outside the JCC. Full-time lecturers and SMFA professors of the practice held their own demonstrations as union negotiations with the university continued.
The university updated its protest guidelines in response to the previous semester’s demonstrations over the war in Gaza. Tufts banned overnight protests and chalking on vertical surfaces and restricted the locations where students can demonstrate or put up postings.
Nine Tufts men’s lacrosse players were hospitalized after participating in a workout led by a Navy SEAL and Tufts alumnus. Twelve players on the team were diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a potentially life-threatening condition. All players were later discharged after several days. A university-ordered independent investigation of the incident concluded that the leader of the workout lacked the appropriate credentials, recommending “increased communication and vetting of team workout plans” in the future.
Tufts revealed details about its planned Boston Avenue dormitory, which will house more than 670 juniors and seniors upon completion. The residence hall will consist of apartment-style units with retail space on the ground level. Construction began in April, and the building’s opening is slated for fall 2027.
Students for Justice in Palestine was suspended by the university in early October. The group posted a graphic depicting individuals holding assault rifles and calling for students to “Join the Student Intifada” and “escalate” at a protest scheduled for Oct. 7; the university also cited
“ongoing non-compliance” with previous disciplinary actions as a reason for the suspension.
The Science and Engineering Complex was renamed the Tsungming Tu Complex after the university received a gift of over $10 million from Professor Loring Tu from the Department of Mathematics.
Bárbara M. Brizuela was appointed 18th dean of the School of Arts and Sciences in November after serving as interim dean since July 2024. She previously served as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences beginning in 2022; Ayanna Thomas was later appointed to the role Brizuela left vacant.
Campus was shaken by reports of gunshots in the early hours of Nov. 1. Shots were fired near Pizza Days, an off-campus mainstay for late-night pies.
After years without an on-campus pub, Tufts Dining began operating a “pop-up pub” on Thursday nights in Hotung Café. Students enjoyed a cash bar, snacks and occasional special events like trivia throughout the year.
Following its suspension a month earlier, Tufts SJP announced on Nov. 15 its “formal break and disaffiliation from Tufts University.” The group would have faced suspension through January 2027.
Tufts welcomed several renowned guests, including MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes, who headlined the annual Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism. U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and author Nic Sheff all spoke as part of Tisch College’s Solomont Speaker Series.
Students returned to classes in Eaton Hall in January following a major two-year renovation. The building, which houses departments such as anthropology, classical studies and sociology, features a new glass facade and a modern interior.
Full-time lecturers in the School of Arts and Sciences staged a two-day walkout in January, marching across campus to demand higher salaries. The Somerville City Council passed a resolution in support of lecturers in their contract negotiations.
On March 25, Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts graduate student, was detained by federal authorities. In March 2024, Öztürk co-authored an op-ed in the Daily calling on Kumar to endorse TCU Senate resolutions for the university to recognize genocide in Gaza and divest from Israeli corporations. After co-writing the op-ed, Öztürk’s photo and personal information were posted on Canary Mission, a website that compiles and publishes a database of people it considers anti-Israel or antisemitic. Öztürk was on her way to break her Ramadan fast when she was approached by several plainclothes officers who handcuffed her and led her into an SUV. Öztürk was transported to a detention facility in Louisiana.
Öztürk’s detention quickly made national news and sparked protests across Greater Boston. Just two days after she was arrested, more than 2,000 individuals protested in Somerville’s Powder House Park.
On March 27, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that over 300 student visas had been revoked by the State Department. Öztürk, a Fulbright Scholar and valid F-1 visa holder, was not notified that her visa was revoked before being detained.
On April 18, a federal judge ordered Öztürk’s return to Vermont, where she was initially taken before being flown to Louisiana, but the transfer was paused by an appeals court. Meanwhile, during her time in custody, Öztürk said she experienced dirty and crowded living conditions and suffered multiple asthma attacks, as she was denied adequate access to her medication.
Ballantyne is running for a third term in the November election, and several candidates have also tossed their hats in the ring for her seat. Contenders include city councilors Jake Wilson and Willie Burnley, Jr., as well as local entrepreneur Jason Mackey.
More than 33,400 individuals applied to the undergraduate Class of 2029 ‚ about 1,000 fewer than last year.
The cost of attendance will be $96,078 for the 2025–26 school year, a nearly $4,000 increase from this year’s cost. The university attributed the decision to the rising cost of healthcare, renovations and updated cybersecurity, among other reasons. Tufts will continue to meet 100% of students’ demonstrated financial need.
Tinashe headlined Spring Fling on April 26, with openers Quinn XCII and Hot Chelle Rae. Tinashe is known for the viral hit “Nasty,” and previously headlined in 2017.
After 45 days in ICE custody in Louisiana, a U.S. district judge ordered Öztürk’s release on May 9. Öztürk was released on bail later that day, and returned to Massachusetts. Öztürk and members of her legal team spoke at a Boston press conference on May 10, alongside Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.
“I have faith in the American system of justice. This has been [a] very difficult time for me, for my community at Tufts, at Turkey. But I am so grateful for all the support, kindness and care,” Öztürk said.
Ayomide Oloyede is this year’s Wendell Phillips Speaker. He will deliver the address at the Baccalaureate Ceremony on Saturday evening.
Freeman A. Hrabowski III will deliver the commencement address on Sunday morning. The mathematician and education leader formerly served as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, for 30 years.
Chloe Courtney Bohl, Robert Kaplan and Ethan Steinberg contributed to this article.
