At their Aug. 27 meeting, the Somerville City Council passed a resolution regarding a former Tufts international graduate student, alleging that she had suffered from a conflict while employed by the university that threatened her academic standing and suggested the possible termination of her program.
The resolution aims to repair the damage that was done and allow the student to continue her educational and professional journey without setbacks from the conflict.
“A fair resolution should seek not only to address past harm, but also to give the affected student the best possible chance to continue her education and career with dignity, free from unnecessary and continuing consequences arising from the dispute,” the resolution reads.
The resolution calls on Tufts to remove or correct any grades changed in retaliation of the student exercising her rights and advocating for herself, provide appropriate financial compensation and work toward a fair resolution with the student that addresses both the academic and financial repercussions.
“It’s easy to say those resolutions don’t matter because they don’t come with any legal weight at all, but when people disagree about them, you find out pretty quickly how much they do matter,” Ben Wheeler, Somerville city councilor at-large, said in an interview with the Daily.
Wheeler, who both sponsored and voted for the resolution, believed it was important to bring light to the issue and reinstill certain communal values within the Tufts administration.
“My co-sponsorship of this, and my vote in support of it, are ... to make sure that administrators at Tufts know this case is being watched by many people who care about it being handled fairly,” Wheeler said. “My hope is that this is just an additional reminder to [Tufts administrators] to be acting with empathy and patience and fairness.”
He also noted that the precision of the language used helps avoid assumptions, which was another motivator for his support.
“It mattered a lot to me that the writing of this resolution was very precise about expressing concern, echoing allegations that have been raised and asking for fairness, but not assuming that we know exactly who was in the right or wrong in any particular incident or any particular aspect of this case,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler spoke about the role the City Council plays in showing public support for issues like unions and collective bargaining efforts, as well as supporting international students at Tufts, especially in light of the detainment of Tufts international graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk in early 2025.
“Quite a lot of the practical power of the council is sort of a soft power to give voice to things, and, especially in recent years, there’s been a desire for the council to be a force for giving voice to processes being more just,” Wheeler said. “There are often resolutions in support of local union collective bargaining efforts or strikes.”
“Especially after Rümeysa Öztürk’s abduction and ordeal getting justice, I think there’s a readiness on the part of the council to speak up about what international students experience — students whose academic status matters both in an academic sense and in their personal safety.”
In response to the passing of the resolution at the city council meeting, Tufts University President Sunil Kumar wrote a letter to Somerville City Council President Lance Davis regarding Tufts’ relationship with the graduate students’ union.
“Please know that we engage directly with the SEIU Local 509 on matters that are raised through the applicable grievance processes, and you will not be surprised to know that we do not always agree with the union’s allegations in certain matters,” Kumar wrote. “This said, the grievance processes available to our employees were negotiated with the union and offer a robust, fair, and transparent process which facilitates resolution of matters for the parties involved.”
The university has not commented publicly on the outcome of the resolution process with the student.
“Out of respect for student and employee privacy, and in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), we do not disclose personally identifiable information regarding a student’s grades or stipend,” Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations, wrote in a statement to the Daily. “We have communicated and will continue to communicate directly with the student and their union representatives on this matter through the appropriate channels, as laid out in our collective bargaining agreement.”
“There’s a deep sense of Tufts being part of the family of Somerville,” Wheeler said. “Sometimes you champion your family members, and sometimes you push them to do something differently or do something better.”
