Tufts Community Union Senate unanimously passed two resolutions. Submitted by Class of 2028 Senator Jesse Kitumba, the resolutions requested an expansion of language options for students during the Senate meeting on February 17.
The Somerville City Council voted to approve the allocation of nearly $3 million in funding collected through the Community Preservation Act on Feb. 13. These funds will go to various projects throughout Somerville related to the preservation of historic buildings, maintenance of public open spaces, affordable housing initiatives and support for local nonprofits and community organizations.
The Somerville City Council passed a resolution in support of a contract for Tufts full-time lecturers in a meeting on Feb. 13. The resolution was sponsored by City Councilor at-Large Willie Burnley Jr., who also participated in the union’s walkout in January. Two full-time lecturers were invited to speak at the meeting, where council members expressed overwhelming support for Tufts FTLs.
Concerns are growing over pedestrian safety among Medford residents and elected officials after two elderly men were fatally struck by vehicles in recent months.
Tufts Community Grants, which provides funding to nonprofit organizations, opened its annual grant application program, which will be available until Friday.
The Tufts Community Union Senate met with the Tufts University Social Collective to brainstorm project ideas and discuss club supplementary funding during their Sunday meeting. When the final request was adjudicated, junior Dhruv Sampat, senator and TCU treasurer, reported the Senate had allocated $300,000 in supplementary funds to date this semester, compared with $150,000 at the same time last semester, making this semester’s treasury spending the highest in its 50-year history.
The Tufts Federalist Society and the Onero Institute recently hosted a panel to discuss the rise of the far right, both domestically and abroad. The panel featured Professor David Art, chair of the Department of Political Science, as well asappellate attorney and policy writer Dennis Saffran.
Chloe Courtney Bohl (LA’24), Julia Shannon-Grillo (LA’24) and Summer Maxwell (LA’24) joined The Tufts Daily at different points in their undergraduate years, with different goals and on different sections of the paper. Their work on the Daily led them toward career paths that aligned with one overarching passion: journalism.
On Feb. 25, 1980, the first issue of The Tufts Daily was released. At the top of its front page, in typewriter ink, is the very first news headline: “Tuition Protest.” The article covered a protest attended by hundreds of students over a $1,226 hike in tuition, mirroring the challenges students continue to face today.
On Friday, the federal judge overseeing the lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health — filed by 13 Americanuniversities including Tufts — extended the block on the agency’s attempt to reduce funding for indirect medical research during the case’s first hearing. The extension allows the judge more time to make a final decision on the case.
In the early hours of Feb. 9, an MBTA Green Line train struck another train at the East Somerville station, hospitalizing five.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association issued a new policy banning people assigned male at birth from competing on women’s athletics teams, regardless of gender identity. Athletes assigned female at birth may still compete on women’s teams, so long as they are not on hormone therapy. Participation in team practices will be largely unaffected.
Copper Mill Development hosted an open meeting at Somerville Community Baptist Church on Feb. 12 to discuss plans to develop their Elm and Grove Street property to include retail and residential apartments. This was the fifth event Copper Mill has hosted seeking community feedback.
Tufts researchers are expressing concern over President Donald Trump’s attempt to halt federal research grants and the National Institutes of Health’s announcement to cap funding for indirect research costs at 15% — though temporarily blocked by a federal judge — in early February.
Sitting Somerville City Councilor-at-Large Willie Burnley Jr. announced on Feb. 2 his candidacy for mayor of Somerville, joining fellow Councilor Jake Wilson and two-term incumbent Mayor Katjana Ballantyne in the mayoral race. Burnley emphasized his background as a community organizer as well as his legislative record on the City Council when discussing his decision to run for mayor.
Earlier this month, Tufts students joined hundreds of local Massachusetts residents in a “50501” protest against the latest actions of the administration of President Donald Trump. Born on social media, the 50501 movement encompasses the simultaneous occurrence of 50 protests in 50 states on a single day.
The Medford City Council Public Health and Community Safety Committee is reviewing an ordinance “securing the rights of individuals seeking gender-affirming care” in the city. The committee discussed the ordinance draft during a Feb. 4 meeting, voting to keep the draft in committee considering the lack of urgency on the state level and until it can undergo legal review. The legal review for the draft will be done by KP Law and will be completed later in the week.
The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy received an anonymous donation of $10 million on Jan. 30 for student financial aid. This is the second largest donation since the $20 million gift in 2001 from the Friedman Family Foundation that led to the school’s name change in honor of Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman.
The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition held a drop-in name change clinic on Feb. 11 in collaboration with the City of Cambridge LGBTQ+ Commission. This clinic was hosted at the Cambridge Public Library.
Earlier this week, Tufts University joined a dozen other universities in a lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services over President Donald Trump’s Feb. 7 executive order to restrict federal grants covering the indirect costs of university medical research. The executive order was temporarily blocked on Monday, the day it went into effect, by Massachusetts federal judge Angel Kelley.
