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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Saturday, May 17, 2025

Opinion | Guest


The Setonian
Guest

Op-ed: Not in my name

On the first night of Passover, when Jews around the world reflect and celebrate the Jewish people’s passage from oppression to freedom, my mind was preoccupied with the fate of Rümeysa Öztürk. Öztürk is a Turkish Fullbright Scholar now pursuing a degree in Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development at Tufts University, where I lecture. As I sat down for the Passover Seder, she sat in deplorable conditions in an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana, awaiting a hearing brought by her defense team to get her released or at least returned to the Northeast.


The Setonian
Guest

Op-ed: TCU Treasury should reevaluate its budgetary process

As incoming president of the Tufts Debate Society, I recently had the displeasure of going through the budgetary approval process for the 2025–26 academic year. To say that this process was predatory and untransparent is an understatement. I strongly encourage there to be a reevaluation of the way this process operates.  


The Setonian
Guest

Op-ed: It’s time to give kids a chance

What if there was a world where every kid with cancer was given the chance to fight for a brighter and more fulfilling life? What if we had the power to make that world a reality? Last year, Congress held this power in its hands. They had the opportunity to pass the Give Kids a Chance Act, which would allow companies to study pediatric cancer and develop life-saving drugs to ultimately give children the same chance as adults at living cancer-free lives. However, on Dec. 18, 2024, the House of Representatives was threatened on social media by Elon Musk. Representatives were warned that they could be pushed out of office if they voted in favor of the end-of-year package that included the Give Kids a Chance Act and three other important acts relating to pediatric cancer. The next day, the bill was crushed by the House before it could even come to a vote, reverting the efforts of patient advocates to square one.



The Setonian
Guest

Op-ed: Why we need human factors to save democracy

Last fall, while filling out the tiny ovals on my mail-in ballot for the state of Florida, I found myself questioning everything. As I scanned Question 4, I read, “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion” followed by the description, “No law shall prohibit, penalize, ...


The Setonian
Guest

Op-ed: A bipartisan statement on the arrest of Rümeysa Öztürk

On March25, Rümeysa Öztürk, a member of the Tufts University community,wasdetained by theDepartment of Homeland Security near her apartment in Somerville.The next morning, she was transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana. As of the issuance of thisstatement, a federal judge has transferredÖztürk’s detention case to Vermont.


The Setonian
Guest

Op-ed: Tufts takes a stand for free speech — others must follow

The evening of March 25, federal immigration officials detained Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk — a move widely suggested to have been a response to an op-ed she co-wrote for the student paper, The Tufts Daily. Last week, Tufts University made clear it “has no information to support the allegations that she was engaged in activities at Tufts that warrant her arrest and detention.” Tufts further clarified that Öztürk’s op-ed drew no complaints and was protected under the school’s free expression commitments. In fact, Tufts points out that “a search of The Tufts Daily will reveal op-eds on multiple sides of the issue with opinions that were shared just as strongly as the op-ed Ms. Öztürk co-authored.”


The Setonian
Guest

Op-ed: Under attack from above and within

Museums, libraries and arts institutions that hold our living and breathing story as a nation are under attack. On March 27, President Donald Trump engaged in this attack by signing an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” These attacked organizations make up our cultural heritage like a patchwork quilt stitched together from diverse fabrics, each representing contributions from different communities. This executive order, however, aims to rip out specific patches under the guise of restoration, leaving behind an incomplete tapestry.


The Setonian
Guest

Op-ed: Rümeysa, a friend with a kind heart and uplifting spirit

A couple of years ago, on Valentine’s Day, I gifted Rumeysa this little book that lists 50 reasons why she’s my best friend. Now when I think about it, I find that I have more than 50 things that I like about Rümeysa. So, here is the story of our friendship during times of hardship and ease…


The Setonian
Guest

Op-eds: Alums respond to the detainment of Rümeysa Öztürk

We stand in solidarity with the current student body at Tufts, and other alumni, in condemning the lack of due process in the detainment of Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk. The rise of authoritarian attitudes in recent months has manifested in troubling ways, including attacks on the integrity of government institutions, outrageous threats to the sovereignty of other nations and the inhumane deportation and detainment of immigrants living in the United States to foreign prisons without judicial oversight.



The Setonian
Guest

Op-ed: No one should be arrested or deported for writing an op-ed

It is now several days following the arrest, and the statements received from the university to date concern its lack of “pre-knowledge” of ICE’s actions, its support for Muslim students and campus resources for international students. What we have not heard — and what we hope to hear — is an unequivocal public statement by Tufts leadership affirming its absolute commitment to protecting academic freedom, a free press and the First Amendment.


The Setonian
Guest

Op-ed: Appeal for Tufts union members to join Tuesday student-walkout

Dear Tufts unions, as we know, President Donald Trump’s administration’s horrific attacks on immigrants and its repression of the antiwar movement have only escalated in the wake of the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University. After being abducted near her home by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Tuesday, Tufts graduate student and member of Service Employees International Union Local 509 Rümeysa Öztürk has been locked in a Louisiana ICE detention facility and is threatened with deportation.


The Setonian
Guest

Op-ed: ICE cannot defeat student activism

On Tuesday, masked federal agents in an unmarked vehicle abducted Tufts doctorate student Rümeysa Öztürk off the street in Somerville. She was transported to a detention center in Louisiana, despite a court order ruling that she be kept in Massachusetts. This incident not only presents a grave physical danger to Tufts students but also a chilling effect on free speech as a whole. The Tufts administration must take action to mitigate the impacts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s activities targeting Boston to ensure the security of both U.S. citizens and international students.




The Setonian
Guest

Letter to the Editor

On Feb. 7, the Dailypublished an op-ed titled “Perverting protest into profit,” written by Ryan Rizvi. Rizvi argues that Tufts’“punitive” disciplinary structure limits critical thinking and allows Tufts to control the student body. His argument for challenging authority is sound. However,the argument that it is okay to disobey laws set by shared moral standards not only has no validity but increasingly sows division and conflict. The op-edsympathizes with kindergarten students who “are put in the timeout corner, only to return when they are embarrassed enough to have learned their lesson.” What would your average kindergarten class be like if there were no rules and no timeouts?