When tragedy strikes, there are no expectations on how we are supposed to proceed. Even in light of dark events, we sometimes find beautiful examples of unity, as has been displayed by the Tufts Students of Turkey.
When people say study abroad, they envision art museums, brunch in quaint cafes and tall men with French accents. But studying in a foreign country has highs and lows like any other experience, and it isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
The Special Collection at Tisch Library boasts an impressive array of rare books from ancient to modern, including medieval transcripts and the personal library of Tufts’ founding president, Hosea Ballou II. The collection of old books and manuscripts cover a wide variety of subjects, from cuneiform tablets to choral books used by medieval monks. While not widely known, the collection offers much insight into how books, as a medium of knowledge, have evolved throughout centuries.
I’m excited for this edition because I’ll be reviewing an essential part of Tufts: The Sink. This on-campus, student-run coffee shop is located in Tufts’ Mayer Campus Center. Its name is appropriate for the basin shape of the seating area around it, which looks like, well, a sink. Two tables sit across from the cafe, then there’s a lower basin area two steps down which leads to four tables. The tables seat one or two people on comfortable benches and two or three people in chairs around the table (depending how many people squish in; I’ve seen up to six!).
La Colombe Coffee, Guayakí Yerba Mate, Notion? These are just some of the brands that Tufts students have been ambassadors for. Students will act as ambassadors for various brands to help promote them, encourage business, network with employers and expand their interests. Each position may function differently and involve various responsibilities, but each ambassador network aims to build meaningful connections with students.
Tufts University has no doubt brightened its “light on the hill” since its establishment in 1852 through its development across the Medford and Somerville area. Starting from the present-day Ballou Hall, the university has spread its roots throughout the area with newer buildings, like the Collaborative Learning & Innovation Complex at 574 Boston Avenue.
Have you ever sat through the credits after a movie and watched thousands of names roll across the screen? I used to think there couldn’t be that many people in the country, let alone on a set. There are millions of titles I don’t even know the meaning of — key grip, best boy, script supervisor — all coming together to make one 90-minute feature.
Among the 6,000 plus undergraduate student body at Tufts, there are sibling Jumbos who have found their own niches within the university’s many offerings. Going from sharing the same home to living on the same campus, they have navigated life through their sibling bonds. Here’s a look into a few of their relationships.
As interpersonal relationships play a good role in the survival and well-being of social animals like humans, ways to establish, maintain or repair connections between subjects have been perpetual hotspots for public opinion to either discuss or reflect upon. Moreover, it has been an aspect that is inevitably analyzed in academia whenever the issue relates to social psychology, anthropology and sociology discourses. Of course, I am not a relationship scientist, but simply writing from my lived experiences.
On Jan. 2, during a football game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field after taking a hit to the chest. The game immediately stopped and medical personnel rushed onto the field, desperately tending to Hamlin. Hamlin laid motionless for 19 minutes before being taken by ambulance to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Both teams, the fans and the NFL watched in horror. Players were visibly upset, huddling together in prayer. The national broadcast cut away and remained off air. The game that night was ultimately canceled, and the entire sports world banded together in solidarity, anxiously awaiting word about Hamlin.
If you’re a Tufts student, chances are you’ve been to Tamper. It’s a short minute walk from campus, depending on where you are, and you can get there from lower campus without climbing any hills (a big plus). I feel a personal connection to this spot because it was the first coffee shop I stopped by when I first toured Tufts. And it feels very “Tufts” with a lot of students working there and comprising much of its customer base.
“Just give it a few weeks, and you’ll settle into a routine.” That’s what I heard my entire first week in London. “It’ll get so much easier once you get your schedule down. Just wait until things get a little less crazy.”
The work of Tufts’ groundbreaking Black theater company Envision will grace the stage of Curtis Hall on Feb. 9–11. The troupe, the first of its kind in years, will showcase the play “How We Got On” by Idris Goodwin. The brainchild of sophomore Chance Walker, Envision stands as a revolutionary space for Tufts’ current generation of Black actors and artists.
This year, BlackOut — Tufts’ signature all-male step team — will be traveling to face off against a host of other universities from across the country in two of the most elite stepping competitions. The first is Upstaged, organized by the National Collegiate Performing Arts in the Lincoln Center of New York City, where BlackOut will be defending the All-American title they won the last time Upstaged occurred in 2020. This highly ranked team will then continue on to compete in the World of Dance finals this August in Anaheim, Calif.
Although I decided to study film in Prague for a semester, I’ve always been nervous abroad — a byproduct of my woefully American fashion sense and drawl. Despite possessing an English mother, I’ve found my accent does me no favors in Europe; my brother and I joke that as soon as we dare to speak within London, the surrounding passersby’s estimation of our IQ drops by 30 points. At times, it’s difficult to not feel judged.
The Tufts community is home to a wide range of different cultural and ethnic clubs on campus, including the Tufts Persian Student Association. For junior and PSA co-president Sabrina Rangwani, the club has been an important part of her adjustment to Tufts. Growing up with a large Iranian community in Houston while attending an international school, life at Tufts was Rangwani’s first time being surrounded by large groups of Americans.
If you’re a Tufts student, you may not know about Simon’s Coffee Shop (located at 1736 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge). It’s a bit of a hike from campus (about a 40 minute walk or a 20 minute T ride), but it’s worth venturing to because the cozy vibes are off the charts.
The founding of Tufts has been a tale told far and wide. When a friend of Charles Tufts, one of the founders of Tufts, asked him what he intended to do with land including Walnut Hill, the iconic centerpiece of campus, Charles proclaimed that “I will put a light on it.”
Tufts’ Access Betters the Lives of Everyone, or ABLE, is a student-run club “focused on connecting students with disabilities in a mutually supportive community,” according to its website. Since the club first began in 2020, its mission and goals have continued to evolve.
Sobriety on college campuses is a rarely acknowledged notion. Partying and drinking are perceived or practiced as a norm, but for some Tufts students, alcohol does not play a role in their lifestyle.
