News

University

BREAKING: Tufts announces free tuition policy for families earning up to $150,000 annually

By Anika Parr | September 9

Tufts University announced on Tuesday that U.S. undergraduate students from families earning less than $150,000 a year with typical assets will attend tuition-free, beginning in the fall of 2026. The new policy, referred to as the Tufts Tuition Pact, intends to make the university’s commitment to affordability more transparent and accessible.

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University

University announces updates to the Tufts International Travel Policy

By Amelia Sammons | September 8

On June 17, all Tufts faculty, staff and students received an email announcing new changes to the Tufts International Travel Policy, which went into effect July 1. While staff and students have long been required to register all Tufts-related travel in the registry, the new policy now makes registration mandatory for faculty members as well.

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University

Tufts adopts statement of institutional pluralism

By Josué Pérez | September 4

University President Sunil Kumar announced Wednesday afternoon that the university will adopt a position of institutional pluralism after nearly a year of considering a position of institutional neutrality. Tufts’ Institutional Neutrality Working Group made its final recommendation to the Board of Trustees, which affirmed the statement in August.

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Local

Progress stalls on Medford rezoning as city council and the mayor work to negotiate way forward

By Julian Glickman | September 4

The large-scale rezoning of Medford has been indefinitely paused as the city’s contract with Innes Associates, the zoning consultant partnering with the city, expires.

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University

Tufts pilots new faculty Mortgage Assistance Program

By Carly Hope | September 4

This summer, Tufts piloted a Mortgage Assistance Program in an effort to aid faculty in taking out a second mortgage on their home at a low interest rate. The program follows the recommendation of the Faculty Housing Task Force, formed in the spring of 2024 to improve access to pre-existing faculty housing benefits.

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University

TCU Senate wraps up summer planning as senators prepare for upcoming semester

By Shayna Levy | September 2

Over the summer, members of the Tufts Community Union Senate spent time planning for the upcoming semester in various capacities. Members of the Senate’s executive board, composed of the TCU president, vice president, treasurer, parliamentarian, historian and diversity officer, have also brainstormed ways to adjust and improve the Senate for the upcoming semester.

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University

Tufts adopts anti-hazing policy in wake of federal law

By Zach Halverstam | September 2

Tufts has updated its hazing policy for the 2025–26 school year, standardizing reporting procedures across all campuses, establishing mandatory training for all students and mandating the university to publish official statistics in the Annual Safety Report, created by the Department of Public Safety.

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University

Fletcher study examines socioeconomic, environmental ramifications of rapid digitalization

By Eli Brigham | September 2

Digital Planet, a research initiative of The Fletcher School’s Institute for Business in the Global Context, completed a study in July that details the effects of rapid digitalization caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aimed to examine the impact of digitalization on economic evolution and the environment through a metric coined the “Burn to Earn” Index.

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University

Rümeysa Öztürk’s visa status to be decided in Massachusetts court

By Josué Pérez | August 19

On Monday, U.S. District Judge William K. Sessions III transferred a motion to restore Tufts graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System record from Vermont to the District of Massachusetts. 

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Local

Boston City Council unanimously passes resolution supporting SMFA professors of the practice

By Josué Pérez | August 14

The Boston City Council passed a resolution supporting the professors of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts on August 6. Negotations for the SMFA PoPs’ first contract began in April 2024. The resolution represents the most recent attempt to address prolonged negotiations and build support for the PoPs.

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University

Tufts ranks No. 16 on LinkedIn list of top US universities

By Anika Parr and Zach Halverstam | August 12

LinkedIn has released its first-ever Top Colleges list, with Tufts ranked No. 16 out of 50 schools recognized for strong career outcomes. The new ranking uses LinkedIn’s data to evaluate schools based on students’ job and internship placements, alumni achievements and network strength.

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Local

Candidate field for Medford elections largely set

By Julian Glickman | August 7

The list of candidates running for mayor, City Council and School Committee in Medford has been largely finalized following the July 29 deadline to submit nomination papers. Our Revolution Medford, the progressive organization that supports a majority of incumbent members on the City Council and School Committee, announced its list of endorsements on Tuesday.

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University

ICE official confirms use of Canary Mission in Rümeysa Öztürk’s arrest

By Josué Pérez | July 12

In an American Association of University Professors lawsuit against Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the administration’s deportation policy, Peter Hatch, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency official, testified that ICE used Canary Mission for leads in its investigation of noncitizen pro-Palestine student activists.

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Local

Candidates certified for 2025 Somerville municipal election as withdrawal period ends

By Anika Parr | July 8

The list of certified candidates for Somerville’s municipal election was finalized on Monday following the deadline for candidate withdrawals. According to Nicholas Salerno, chair of the Somerville Elections Commission, the drawing for positions on the September ballot will take place on Tuesday at 10 a.m. Preliminary elections are scheduled for Sep. 16.

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University

SMFA union files unfair labor practice complaint against Tufts following administrative restructure

By Josué Pérez | June 20

Professors of the practice at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts were notified throughout March and April of several changes to the school’s administrative structure. According to an open letter from the union, these changes include revising the structure of deans at the school and consolidating SMFA’s four studio departments into two. The two new department chairs would not be eligible for union membership. 

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University

BREAKING: Tufts full-time lecturers ratify third contract with university

By Josué Pérez | June 18

Tufts full-time union lecturers in the School of Arts and Sciences ratified their third contract with the university on Wednesday. The FTLs, represented by Service Employees International Union Local 509, began negotiations for workload and salary adjustments in April 2024.

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Local

Public safety hearing exposes growing backlash to SoundThinking surveillance in Somerville, Cambridge

By Anika Parr | June 18

The Cambridge Public Safety Committee held a hearing on the police department’s use of SoundThinking, formerly ShotSpotter, on June 2. The gunshot detection system, used in both Cambridge and Somerville, has recently drawn criticism from residents — particularly because both cities are sanctuary cities.

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University

Q&A: Sunil Kumar on federal threats to higher education, the future of Tufts

By Samantha Eng and Arghya Thallapragada | May 16

On April 18, the Daily sat down with University President Sunil Kumar to reflect on his second year as Tufts’ president and discuss the shifting state of higher education.

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News

Daniel Vos reports on his time in News

By Shannon Murphy | May 16

Even before stepping foot on Tufts’ campus, Daniel Vos knew he wanted to be a part of the Daily. “I joined the Daily my [first-year] fall,” Vos said. “I was always interested in journalism in high school, but we didn’t really have a strong newspaper or journalism club, so that was an experience that I was really focused on getting in college.”

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University

TCU Senate budget for campus organizations increases slightly to $3 million for 2025–26 school year

By Evan Vezmar | May 15

The Tufts Community Union Senate confirmed the 2025–26 school year budget for student organizations to be roughly $3 million at its budget meeting on April 20. The budget set is slightly higher than the budget of $2.9 million for the 2024–25 school year. The budget increase comes from an internal reallocation of resources and the continued surplus funding from the COVID-19 pandemic that paused most on-campus activities, according to rising senior Dhruv Sampat, the 2024–25 TCU treasurer and incoming TCU president.

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