Archives
Nealley to plead guilty to embezzlement Friday
May 5Former Office of Student Activities (OSA) Director Jodie Nealley was driven by a gambling addiction as she embezzledmore than $300,000 from Tufts, her attorney told the Daily today. Nealley will plead guilty on Friday to larceny charges, closing a chapter in a scandal that has reverberated throughout the campus since 2007. "This is part of a healing process for her," Attorney Howard Lewis said of the plea. "She wants to begin the process of … making amends to her family and to all parties harmed by her gambling addiction." Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler declined to comment on Nealley's decision, noting that the university will release a statement during Friday's proceedings, which will take place at 2 p.m. at the Middlesex County Superior Court in Woburn. Previously, Lewis, of the Framingham firm Lewis & Leeper, LLC, had not publicly offered an explanation for Nealley's activities, other than to say that his client was pursuing an affirmative defense that would hold that her actions were excusable by reason of an unnamed factor. But in announcing the change of plea, Lewis said that Nealley's compulsive casino visits drove her into debt over the years, and that she turned to Tufts accounts for money to feed her habit. "Cash was necessary to gamble. She didn't want goods. She didn't want property. She's a gambling addict," Lewis said. "Unfortunately, Ms. Nealley has nothing to show for what she did except debt. She didn't do it for any other reason except for the disease." According to Lewis, Middlesex County District Attorney Gerry Leone's office is seeking three years of incarceration for Nealley. Leone spokesperson Jessica Venezia would not comment on her office's position on sentencing. Lewis is hoping the court will grant Nealley probation rather than time behind bars. Sentencing could occur as early as Friday, but Lewis expects a final decision to be held off until another court date, possibly next week. While he feels that a three-year prison term would be too much, Lewis conceded that his argument may not garner very much sympathy. "Unfortunately, in light of the world and in light of the situations like the [Bernard] Madoff scandal and in light of the economy, this is a very difficult time to be talking about excessive fines and penalties for theft," he said. Nealley was fired from Tufts in 2007 after an audit turned up evidence that she had misappropriated funds. Further investigation also unearthed transactions implicating her former OSA coworker Ray Rodriguez, who served as the office's budget and fiscal coordinator and allegedly embezzled over $600,000 from the university. Both Nealley and Rodriguez were indicted on larceny charges in July and pled not guilty at an August arraignment. Rodriguez's lawyer, Steven Goldwyn of the law firm Altman and Altman, LLP, could not be reached for comment yesterday. Meanwhile, Venezia would not comment on whether or not Rodriguez also plans to change his plea on Friday. But Lewis had harsh words for Rodriguez, who he insinuated was motivated solely by greed. "There doesn't appear to be any reason or rationale for what he did," Lewis said. Rodriguez is charged with spending the $604,873 he allegedly took from Tufts on trips, concert tickets and luxury goods from stores such as Gucci, Hermes, Coach and Prada. "He must have bought an awful lot of clothes," Lewis said. Meanwhile, Nealley had been accusedof funneling $372,576 to locations ranging from IKEA to Omaha Steaks and Foxwoods Resort Casino.
Senate elects Scarano VP, Bartel treasurer in in-house elections
April 29Update: Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator Edward Chao will chair the TCU Senate's Student Outreach Committee, not the Special Projects Committee, as previously reported. Read more>>
Crowds 'Stand Up' for Ludacris
April 26Ludacris pumps up the crowd at Spring Fling on Saturday. The popular rap artist headlined the annual event, after performances by rapper Asher Roth and the rock band The Decemberists. Two Tufts student bands, The Ride and Brennivín, also performed.
Students, faculty meet to address sexual assault policy on campus
April 26Reitman added that the university system moves quickly, allowing for a quick removal of a convicted student. "When a claim is made, it is adjudicated within two weeks," he said.
Calling for a need-blind Senior Week
April 26For seniors, the end is very much in sight. Classes are winding down, finals are looming, and Senior Week is right around the corner. Ah, yes, Senior Week. A time when the Class of 2009 can just relax and spend time with their friends while enjoying a Duck Tour, a Red Sox game, Senior Gala and a myriad of other activities — if they can afford it. Events during Senior Week are far from cheap. Interested in learning about Boston on a Duck Tour? That'll be $30. Watching Big Papi at Fenway? Forty big ones. And Gala? Well, that'll set you back a whole $50. And that doesn't even cover the cost of renting a tuxedo (another $100 if you use a service that Tufts cut a deal with). And then there's senior barbecue. One would think that this event would be free. One would be wrong. The school is charging $15 a head for some grub, drinks and conversation. While alcohol will be provided, it is unclear as to whether or not it's included in the cost of the ticket. If it isn't, then those ribs had better be amazing. If it is, then it seems unfair to charge the same amount to students who are underage (or, similarly, to those who don't drink). Yes, Senior Week events cost an arm and a leg. And what's worse, it's not so much that Tufts is hosting events for the seniors … They're simply organizing them. I say "organizing" because the majority of the events during Senior Week are being offered to the students at a cost (plus transportation fees). For example, the Senior Class Council is subsidizing the trip to Foxwoods by a meager $2.35 a person. This means that there's no real financial benefit to seniors to go on the official trip, as opposed to organizing a trip themselves. Furthermore, organizing these activities themselves gives seniors the added convenience of not having to run on Tufts' schedule. Want to do some gambling at Foxwoods, but know that there's no way your initial stake will last you anywhere near five hours (the amount of time the Senior Week trip will be there for)? If you and your friends drive yourself there, you can leave whenever you'd like. And it'll certainly cost less than the $10 a person Tufts is charging to get there (true, you won't get those lovely Keno coupons, but who plays Keno anyway?). However, the bigger issue at hand is that Tufts is doing little, if anything, to help absorb the cost to its students of attending these events. This is especially interesting given all of the programming that was done this year to raise awareness about class issues. Furthermore, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate recently passed an initiative that would eliminate the cost of tickets for events put on by certain TCU funded groups. While I support that initiative wholeheartedly, it seems somewhat peculiar that Tufts would try to support students financially by preventing them from having to pay $4 to see the end-of-semester Tufts Dance Collective show, yet they don't feel the need to help seniors have a good time on their way out the door. These actions seem somewhat contradictory. Clearly Tufts is trying to make events open for all students, no matter what their financial situations happen to be. Yet a blind eye is being turned toward the most expensive of these events — ones that the entire senior class is strongly encouraged to attend as a final act of bonding. The question that Tufts needs to ask itself is this: Do we want to make Senior Week events fiscally accessible to all outgoing students, or do we want to make sure we maintain a pretty bottom line? The class divide at Tufts is something that already is garnering attention from the Senate. With the economy in the shape that it's in, it's likely that this divide is only going to grow wider in the coming years. I'm not asking that Tufts foot the bill entirely for these events, but is it so much to ask that they at least subsidize them by 50 percent? Going back to that Duck Tour, the total cost for the event is $3,240 (108 tickets at $30 apiece). If Tufts were to cover half of that, we're talking about a hit of a little over $1,600. Surely the school could swallow that in order to provide some final lasting memories for seniors who have paid much more during their time on the Hill. I realize that the cost of Senior Week events at Tufts is comparable to Senior Week events at other Boston area schools, but that doesn't mean that Tufts can't buck the trend and throw us a financial bone. I also realize that it's far too late for anything to change for this year. However, if Tufts truly wishes to address the issues of class disparity facing the student body, it needs to act soon, perhaps by using some of the recovered funds to set up a Senior Week endowment. I thought that after I dropped $200,000 on my education over the past four years, Tufts would at least be willing to entertain my peers and me by helping pay for tickets to a Sox game, a tour of Boston and some barbecue. Apparently I was wrong.
Forum focuses on sexual assault policy
April 26Over 50 students, male and female, gathered at a forum held by Prevention, Awareness and Community at Tufts (PACT) last Thursday to address sexual violence and policy in the Tufts community. Entitled "I Was Raped on Campus, Were You?" the forum brought students together with members of the administration for a broad discussion on Tufts' policy on sexual assault, which some students have called inadequate and ineffective. At the forum, students expressed concerns about both the policy itself and about overall on-campus awareness regarding sexual violence and victims' options. The policy, found under the "Equal Opportunity" portion of the university's index of policies and procedures, reads: "The university supports the right of the victim/survivor of a sexual assault to decide how best to utilize various university, community, private, and public remedies to address crimes of sexual assault" and then lists the phone numbers for the Office of the Dean of Students Affairs, Office of Equal Opportunity and the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) in Medford, Boston and Grafton. The forum was planned by the students of PACT and Elaine Theodore, coordinator of Tufts' Violence Prevention Program and was attended by Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman, Judicial Affairs Officer Veronica Carter, TUPD Captain Mark Keith and sexual assault clinician Susan Mahoney. Theodore served as the moderator. Carter explained how, in practice, the policy generally works. Alleged victims can pursue their case either on or off campus. Should they choose to do so on campus, they are advised to contact the Office of the Dean of Students Affairs where, Carter explained, she would help them seek counseling and medical attention and take them through their disciplinary options. This includes placing a stay away order, which does not prohibit alleged perpetrators from being on campus, but does prevent them from having any contact with the victim. "We do the stay away order to give [the victim] time to think, and when they're ready to file a complaint they can," said Carter, adding that many students choose to take time before filing an official complaint. When a student files a complaint, the alleged perpetrator has 48 hours to respond. From this point, the victim and perpetrator can decide either to do a mediation session, in which they meet with a mediator to come to a private agreement, or to undergo the disciplinary action process. Reitman added that the university system moves quickly, allowing for a quick removal of a convicted student. "When a claim is made, it is adjudicated within two weeks," he said. Keith explained that students who choose to take their case to go to the police are assisted by officers who have completed modules of training for dealing with such cases. Evidence is collected and the students proceed through the court system. An oft-cited study, conducted in 1987 by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), found that 28 percent of women had experienced rape or attempted rape in college. Such instances, however, are rarely reported at Tufts; disciplinary action has not been taken against a perpetrator in years. Although it is widely believed to be the most common kind of rape, acquaintance rape is rarely reported at Tufts. "We seldom get cases reported like that," Keith explained. "Since September of this year, we've only had one case reported directly to us." The Office of the Dean of Student Affairs has had three cases of sexual assault reported this year. Students at the forum suggested that a general lack of understanding regarding the policy might contribute to what many perceive to be a consistent underreporting of sexual assault crimes. Before the forum, senior Wagatwe Wanjuki explained that PACT believes that the policy lacks clear expression of sexual assault and the judicial process associated with it. "If you were looking at this, what would you do? It seems like you're on your own, and you don't know what happens when you call the dean," Wanjuki said. At the event, Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER) displayed policies from a number of New England liberal arts colleges, including Bowdoin College and Colby College, which both had sexual assault policies several pages long. While Tufts' policy is explained in various pieces of university literature, one student called for a clearer, more organized method of sharing it with students. "It seems like what I'm hearing is that there are a lot of pamphlets, but if something happened, I don't think a victim would want a pamphlet," the student said. "It seems like a passive approach by Tufts to help students." Alexandra Flanagan, a junior, explained that this is one of the first problems the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs needs to address. "We need clear guidelines of what the survivor can do at each step, how to proceed if you're assaulted and how to get help," she said. Others believed that the policy itself might be the cause of the low reporting rate as compared to the NIMH's findings. "If these statistics are correct, hearing that you've only heard of three cases this year is more than troubling. It tells me that there has to be some force against women being able to speak here," graduate student Tina Johnson said. Wanjuki explained that many students view the overall policy as ineffective. "I know someone who didn't report her assault because, knowing other peoples' experience, she didn't think she would get anywhere with it." Flanagan echoed Wanjuki. "People don't have trust in the system," she said. Reitman explained that most students tend to settle their cases in mediation. "When we first started doing disciplinary hearings and dealings with accusations of sexual assaults, in those first years there were seven, eight and eleven each year," he said. "About 50 percent of people who had those situations left the school because they chose to withdraw rather than face the possibility of an adverse finding in a hearing." Today, Reitman says, mediation and student-initiated withdrawals have become the norm. Reitman added that, while he makes mediation available to those students who want to use it, he is unsure about its appropriateness as a course of action. "When I first started, we did not allow cases with physical violence to go through mediation, and a big part of me thinks we still shouldn't," he said. "This changed when victims said to us that they would feel empowered by having a refereed conversation [with the perpetrator]." While some students expressed dissatisfaction with the mediation process, others voiced the opinion that the student judicial process is the wrong place to deal with sexual assault. "Sexual assault is dealt with the same way as if you were caught stealing or cheating," Wanjuki said. One student called for an awareness campaign to help students understand what sexual assault actually is. "I was raped and I was terrified to speak out against it," one student who wished to remain anonymous said outside of the forum. "I see the student who did this every day, and he may have no idea that he was wrong. What's the program for students to learn that what they did was wrong?" SAFER presented a list of proposals to the administration to redress the grievances expressed at the forum. They suggested including a definition of sexual assault in the official university policy, including all resources for survivors in the policy, proper training for all faculty members dealing with sexual assault, and a governing body to be associated with the process. Reitman said that he was grateful for what he learned at the forum and looks forward to addressing their concerns. "I know that we can always improve the current situation," he said in a follow-up e-mail to the Daily. "The policy and its associated system are of limited use if survivors don't feel they are effective. Several students pointed out best practices at other schools that they say work better than those currently in place here. We are open to change." Carter said that she too would be looking to make appropriate changes to the policy. "Our office is always open to reviewing our systems to ensure that the student judicial process is accessible and supportive to their needs," she said in an e-mail to the Daily. Theodore said that within nine days, she will release a statement that will address the university's plans for improving its sexual assault policy, starting with making basic information more accessible. "Addressing the system will take longer," she said. "We want to lower the bar to accessing this system and address its systematic problems."
Logan Crane | If You Seek Amy
April 26The sex industry has become a pervasive business that successfully manufactures sexual fixations and desires. From the creation of child pornography to rape reenactments, the industry is responsible for provoking inappropriate sexual fantasies that jeopardize the integrity of social boundaries. While the industry, specifically pornography, has been targeted for its questionable content, there are aspects of the sex industry that promote sexual behaviors that can positively complement your routine.
Call for Japanese video game depicting rape to be banned in United States
April 26A recent call by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to ban a Japanese computer game in which players stalk and rape women on subways is drawing attention to cultural differences between the United States and Japan as exhibited in computer and video games.
Giovanni Russonello | Look Both Ways
April 26King Khan & the Shrines are definitely a throwback, albeit a triumphantly forward-looking one. Where exactly they're throwing us back to, though, is tough to say. Is it to 1974 New York City, where the Ramones' black leather jackets blend into the damp, dark walls of CBGB as they tear through an early version of "Blitzkrieg Bop?" Is it to Abbey Road Studios in 1967, where The Zombies are bringing psychadelia to a boil with their single, "Time of the Season?" Maybe it's to 1964, when The Rolling Stones and The Animals are recording their first Chuck Berry covers, prompting bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson II to muse, "Those English kids want to play the blues so bad, and they play the blues so bad." Or is it to Harlem in 1962, when James Brown's Famous Flames are tearing up the stage at the Apollo with hyperactive horns and unrelenting theatrics?
Library roof officially unveiled as 'Alex's Place'
April 26The Tisch Library rooftop was officially unveiled yesterday as Alex's Place in a dedication ceremony to celebrate the roof's completion and the life of the Tufts student whom the project honors.
