As Ludacris has been a controversial choice to headline Spring Fling this Saturday, some students might be surprised to find that the rapper may well have more in common with Tufts' ideals of "active citizenship" than it would seem at first glance.
Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator and presidential candidate Brandon Rattiner has focused his campaign on building community within the student body, calling himself a voice for students "here and now."
"It's time for a new face for Tufts," Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator and presidential candidate Samia Zahran told the Daily in an in-depth interview.
The appeal of the game show is easy to see: The ability to make big bucks with relatively little work, the prospect of seeing one's own face on television, and the potential bragging rights of becoming a winner all make becoming a contestant widely attractive. And it's certainly not unusual to hear avid viewers make grand statements about how well they would perform on the show while watching any trivia-related program.
It seems like the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate only ever catches people's attention when money's at stake. Hands up who can remember a TCU Senate resolution! Thought so. I voted for the all-controversial Trips Cabin expansion, but I did so based on a slightly different perspective than that of the other senators. I have never bought the idea that the recovered funds belong to "us," the current student body. The vast majority of it was embezzled from alumni, who had the reasonable expectation that the money would be spent during their tenure at Tufts. I spent the fall semester torn between the nagging belief that the money didn't belong to us and the surety that senators would never return what was now their "precious." My compromise logic involved the good the money could do beyond simple entertainment, which is why I advocated for financial aid. A refund program would have been voluntary. I am certain that many alumni would have chosen to refrain from requesting a refund in the interests of students in need. But they deserved to choose. My greatest regret is not making this position clearer — both to myself and to other senators — prior to the Dec. 7 vote. Although it went unreported, my final recovered funds proposal last December included a clause to look into refunding up to $300,000 to the alumni whose student activities fees were embezzled. The Senate deemed this unworthy of consideration — even separately from my rather extreme financial aid proposal. The response of one executive board member when I broached refunds was, "Why don't we just send a stick of gum to all the alumni?" Hand-in-hand with its paternalistic desire to make a decision on its own — hence why referendum proposals were shot down — the Senate was unwilling to consider means of providing redress to wronged alumni. The Trips Cabin was — and I believe, would have continued to be — the only proposal which offered tangible, permanent benefits for alumni, particularly those who were embezzled. The expanded Loj will be available to all, whether they choose to make use of it or not. Although it may appear to only cater to a certain element of the community, the Tufts Mountain Club (TMC) — which I have no affiliation with — seems a very inclusive organization to me. It isn't their fault if others fail to take advantage of their facility. I expect them to be extremely forthcoming in reaching out to students, groups and alumni who have not previously used the Loj; maybe they'll even offer a deal to those alumni who attended during the years that Jodi Neally (allegedly) embezzled the money, since this expansion is entirely thanks to their fees. This solution isn't perfect. The sort of "outdoors" culture espoused by the TMC does not speak to every Jumbo, or perhaps even a majority. I won't beat around the bush with political correctness; we've spent $230,000 on stuff white people like (whereby white stands more for a certain subculture — I'm talking to you, North Face fleece wearers — than necessarily skin color). But considering Tufts' fractured community, the TMC's propsal seemed like one of the least bad options as inclusive student organizations go. It's down to all of us, alumni and students, to make use of Tufts' own holiday resort of sorts. The Trips Cabin is permanent, both as a student venue and as a lifetime benefit for Jumbos. On-campus events, an expanded coffee stand — to me, none of these options appeared to offer feasible benefits to embezzled alumni. Only a limited amount of proposals were viable within the framework of the Senate's desires. A considerable majority of senators have made it very clear to me that they are most comfortable with the Senate as a glorified party planning committee and any major expenditure had to reflect this prioritization of luxury and entertainment. Although I would have preferred something more goody-two-shoes, I didn't expect any such proposal to pass a vote. The TMC proposal could, and did, offer at least some long-term benefits for alumni as well as the remaining students whose money might have been stolen. Whether the Senate's desires reflect the priorities of the broader community remains to be seen, especially in light of the fact that, once again, there weren't enough candidates for next year's Senate to warrant an election for juniors and seniors. Who knows how representative senators are? Hell, I was a senator, and I'm about as representative of your average undergraduate as a rabbit wearing Uggs and a baseball cap. The indignation with which some senators have responded to post-decision criticism certainly paints us in an arrogant light. Yet the student body reaction to the decision so far indicates to me that the broader Tufts community sees no problem with committing over a quarter-million dollars to more coffee in a glitzier campus center and more beds for a mountain retreat at a time when the university has fired staff, cut sponsorship, ended need-blind admissions and raised tuition for middle-class families that are financially overcommitted. The question seems not whether we should pay for luxuries, but what luxuries we should pay for. That's the Tufts Bubble. With refunds looking less likely than ever, my hope as an outgoing senator is that the loan repayments from the tarting up of The Rez will be allocated to some sort of "goalkeeper fund," which provides money to enable students to engage in life-altering activities, such as national tournaments, research and service trips, when all other funding sources have been exhausted. With Tufts funding opportunities slashed and even students from affluent families lacking cash for anything but the bare minimum, this fund will be sorely needed in the next few years and would actually change lives rather than just provide bands and beer. Since this is in the hands of the TCU Senate though, I'm not holding my breath. How we got ourselves into a position where the Trips Cabin seemed like the only viable option is something I'll leave for another debate. But I doubt we'll have that particular discussion, since we would dredge up much of what's flawed in both the TCU Senate and us, the Tufts community at large. I don't believe Tufts has either the desire or the stomach for that.
As the race for the Tufts Community Union (TCU) presidency heats up, the three candidates in the running have attempted to distinguish themselves from each other through unique approaches to winning students' votes.
Holocaust survivor Linda Marshak spoke last night at Tufts Hillel about her experience fleeing a ghetto as a young girl in Poland. Tufts Hillel's social-justice arm, Moral Voices, sponsored Marshak's visit, which came on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
While the Tufts Community Union (TCU) presidential nominees battle over the impending election, campus is crowded with mobilized groups chalking the grounds, distributing cookies and planning events. Naturally, the three hopefuls draw the bulk of the spotlight, but from all corners of the Hill, newcomers and political junkies alike are emerging to join the candidates' teams in the forefront of campus politics.
If you spend most of your time at Tufts and rarely venture off campus for anything more than a latte at Starbucks or a movie in Davis Square, you might become convinced that there no longer is a world outside the gates of our Medford/Somerville campus. Even if you regularly visit, shop and dine all around the Boston area, it's easy to forget what real life away from Tufts is like. It happens to me on occasion. I get stuck in a routine: wake up, go to class, club meetings, anti-bias rallies, party on the weekend, then repeat ad nauseum. It can be difficult to keep in touch with what happens in the "real world" when we're so insulated inside the Tufts Bubble.
Dozens of students gathered on the Residential Quad on Sunday to throw colored powder and water at their friends as part of celebrations marking the Hindu festival of Holi, a joyous holiday that commemorates the coming of spring.
The Alpha Omicron Pi (AOII) sorority hosted its annual "Mr. Fraternity" event on Thursday night, raising over $1,300 to help combat juvenile arthritis.
Car enthusiasts came from around the area to show off their cars and check out others' during the third annual Tufts Auto Show at the Cousens Gym parking lot on Sunday.
Since his appointment as chair of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) in February, trustee Alan Solomont (A '70) has served at the forefront of a surge in national volunteerism and active citizenship that he said only comes "once in a generation."
Tufts' commemoration of Earth Day, sponsored by Tufts Environmental Consciousness Outreach (ECO), took place on Saturday on the Academic Quad and offered free healthy food and information on green living to students. Earth Day 2009 is tomorrow.
In an age dominated by iPhones and laptops, some Tufts students still find time to make nifty and ingenious objects using their own creativity and handiwork. Some students silkscreen shirts, blow glass and make their own jewelry and clothing — including even balloon hats. "I really like to wear a lot of my own things, and I think it's a unique talent that a lot of people have lost in this day and age," sophomore Sara Carnahan said. Many crafters look to these artistic pursuits as a solace from the academic bustle as they take up thread, wire and paint after a long week of laboring over textbooks. "I doodle in most classes, and it can be like the coolest artwork that I do because it's not planned and it's like I'm not thinking about it at all. Some of the weirder things are created in my doodles, so then I usually kind of incorporate that [into my crafts]," senior Angela Robins said. Some students either donate their work to raise money for charity or sell their goods to increase awareness for social causes. "I went to Uganda this summer, and ... I met all these people who are really poor and really talented, so I didn't want to just leave and be like, ‘OK, good luck with that poverty,'" sophomore Stephanie Tsuji said. "So I bought a bunch of their beads, and I'm trying to sell them here." Freshman Aliza Howitt enjoys spending her free time working with pottery. "One of my old pottery teachers — he's young so I'm Facebook friends with him — but he put his portfolio on Facebook ... so sometimes I go and look through his photos of his pottery, and it's so pretty, and that inspires me. And then I feel like making pots," Howitt said. The craftiest place on campus may well be the Crafts Center in the basement of Lewis Hall, which harbors materials and ideas for the artistically minded. Crafts House residents staff the center and enthusiastically provide advice for visitors. Students use the center to make everything from school projects to one-of-a kind Halloween costumes. The center also hosts workshops throughout the year. For some students, the crafting community at Tufts offers a creative respite from the grind of coursework and a reminder that the most valuable doohickeys are often the ones people make themselves. "If you don't have something or if you need something, you don't have to buy it," junior Helen Corless said. "You can make it yourself. And that's kind of a foreign concept to a lot of people and definitely something that I realize I kind of go into automatically. It's just like, ‘Oh, OK, you know, we need a dish-towel rack; let's go buy one.' But my housemate just went and made one in the center the other day."
Class Council elections held yesterday were met with a significantly low student voter turnout. Due to a sudden date change and lack of advertisement for the elections, many students were caught unawares that the elections were occurring.
The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate's decision from last week's meeting to drastically reduce buffer funding in exchange for cutting ticket costs to student-group events has sparked a debate on the plan's sustainability, with opponents calling it unwise.
Presidential candidates were officially nominated last night in the first meeting of the newly-elected Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate.
You might have noticed it was harder than usual to find a Daily on Wednesday. Unfortunately, a large portion of our circulation was stolen from popular locations. We are looking into the matter and apologize for any inconvenience.
A new initiative in Massachusetts will call for mandatory warnings on plastic bottles containing the compound Bisphenol A, or BPA. Testing has suggested that BPA causes developmental problems, and a compulsory warning would allow pregnant women and young children to steer clear of any risks.
