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.
In yesterday's article "Freshmen finally get their senators," freshman Joel Greenberg was correctly identified as one of the seven senators elected. He was, however omitted in the list of freshman senators who won reelection in Wednesday's vote. Greenberg was elected to a second term, along with Aaron Bartel, Danielle Cotter and Kate de Klerk, all freshmen.
The campus center this month came one step closer to being renovated when the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate allocated $20,560 for architectural plans to revamp the center.
Author Dan Pallotta, author of the book "Unforgiven," spoke in Pearson Hall on Tuesday about his thoughts on and experiences with the charity world. In "Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential," published by Tufts University Press in December, Pallotta argues that a for-profit model to charity work can be a successful approach; he founded the for-profit company Pallotta TeamWorks, which designs charity events.
In 2003, the Independent Film Festival of Boston's (IFFBoston) inaugural year, 40 films were screened over four days to 10,000 attendees. Last year, 94 films were shown over seven days to over 23,000 attendees.
The Somerville Board of Aldermen recently considered a resolution expressing support for the Somerville Police Department, tabling the measure amid criticism that it both came at an inappropriate time and limited its coverage to just "citizens."
