Introduction to Yiddish Culture, a course taught for 42 years by the Alice and Nathan Gantcher University Professor of Judaic Studies Sol Gittleman, was cancelled on Jan. 15 after Gittleman experienced complications with his hip replacement surgery.
Through its admission outreach, Tufts has worked to brand itself as a community diverse in more ways than one. Through its Council on Diversity, the Tufts administration has taken steps to ensure that the universitys reputation of commitment to diversity is a reality.On Dec. 5, 2013, the Council on Diversity released its final report. Formally launched in March 2012, the Council spent over a year researching both the compositional diversity of the university and the campus climate toward inclusion. The report found that a commitment to a campus climate that fosters diversity was a common theme across campuses and produced recommendations for how each one can improve.Though the Councils research relied heavily on numerical data, it also conducted campus surveys and discussion groups in order to determine student opinions regarding diversity at Tufts. The Council organized three working groups that examined the university experience at the the undergraduate, graduate and administrative levels.Dean of Multicultural Affairs and Global Health at the School of Medicine Dr. Joyce Sackey chaired the Graduate and Professional Student Experience Working Group and commented on the process.We combed through reams and reams ... of data, Sackey said. While Tufts is, in general, a welcoming place and actually has diversity as one of its expressed values in its mission statement, we could do a better job of increasing ... compositional diversity.While she emphasized the importance of compositional diversity in admissions practices, Sackey said that it is equally important to ensure that students feel supported by the university once they are here.It isnt enough to just bring people here in numbers, she said. You need to create an environment where they all thrive [where] each student, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, family of origin ... would feel supported, respected and ... like they could succeed here.Sackey noted that the university can learn from the Tufts LGBTQ community, which reported a high approval rate of their support structures in a survey.One group that appears to be feeling supported and ... satisfied [is] the students in the LGBTQ community, she said. Thats a group that we should study more in terms of what kinds of structures we have in place that make [LGBTQ students] feel supported and welcome when they come to Tufts.The Council is committed to increasing access to financial aid. In order to do so, the university established the Financial Aid Initiative in 2012 with the goal of raising $25 million in financial aid endowment a goal that is to be matched by $25 million from unrestricted university funds. The initiative has already raised $22 million, according to a Dec. 5, 2013 TuftsNow article.Another focus of the report is the addition of a Chief Diversity Officer, who will work under the Office of the Provost to oversee the implementation of the Councils other proposals. Special Advisor to the Provost and Interim Dean of Tisch College Nancy Wilson is serving as head of the search committee for this new administrative position.Wilson explained that the Chief Diversity Officer would be a part of the Council on Diversity and would be charged with creating a separate coordinating committee, which would deal with the how-to of implementing the recommendations outlined in the report.The diversity coordinating committee ... will really build a community of practice, Wilson said. Its important to think of how [the Chief Diversity Officer] will actually get their job done.Wilson stated that she hopes the position can be filled before the end of this academic year. In order to do so, the university will hire a search firm to help refine the job description and narrow down the list of potential candidates.Weve been interviewing several of those firms, Wilson said. They will work with us to finalize not only the job description which is what this person will actually be doing but also the position description, which is: Whats the context for this? What are the expectations and why is the university doing this? Then, they will work with us to identify candidates.Adriana Zavala, an associate professor of art and art history, who chaired the Council on Diversity and headed the Undergraduate Student Experience Working Group, underscored the Councils commitment to expanding financial aid. She noted that there is room for improvement. Increasing our financial aid budget and using funds to ensure that all students have equal access to the opportunities a Tufts education offers is an important challenge, Zavala wrote in an email to the Daily. [University President Anthony Monaco] has made significant progress in fundraising, but more work still needs to be done. I am inspired by how seriously President Monaco takes this issue [and by] what he has accomplished already in raising funds to increase the financial aid budget.12
Tufts Hillel welcomed students and faculty for a dinner discussion titled Judaism: Religion or Culture? at the Granoff Family Hillel Center Thursday evening.
The Office for Campus Life (OCL) will sell additional Winter Ball tickets next week, after many students had problems purchasing event tickets when they first went on sale on Jan. 27.
The Institute for Global Leadership won a $200,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation last September to be spent over the course of two years.
The Joey was involved in a three-car pileup at around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning in front of the Mayer Campus Center.
Professor of Political Science Jeff Berry and Associate Professor of Sociology Sarah Sobieraj released a new book called The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility in November 2013. The book, which explores how partisan cable and radio shows grab audience attention with emotional appeals, combines Tufts professors academic interests in politics and media. Berry spoke with the Daily to share some of his thoughts about their project. The Tufts Daily: What is your new book The Outrage Industry about? Jeffrey Berry: The book is about a particular genre of political commentary that Professor Sobieraj and I have labeled outrage. It is political rhetoric designed to make you angry. It plays with your emotions and evokes a variety of sentiments. Not only anger, but engagement. Reflection, but more than anything else, anger. You respond to the visceral rhetoric of the TV host or radio host in a very direct and emotional way. TD:: How did this idea for the book come along? JB: It was a bit of an accident. I hadnt ever studied the media before and I was a guest on The OReilly Factor on Fox News in 2004. They wanted someone to stand in for Senator [John] Kerry because he wouldnt go on the show during the presidential campaign of that year. It was a bizarre experience ... Flash forward about four years and Professor Sobieraj had gotten an invitation to apply for a grant with a grant program that was given by the Bernstein Family for interdisciplinary research ... But one of the requirements of the grant the university didnt make this up, it was the family that gave the money [was] that she had to work with a senior faculty member from another discipline. Professor Sobieraj had worked in the field of advocacy, which is my field interest groups and social movements so she suggested we get together. We decided that we would work on something together as opposed to me just being a mentor ... We talked more seriously about doing something book length ... [So] we decided to plunge ahead and write a book. TD: How did your similar backgrounds in advocacy aid your partnership? JB: It was more that our dissimilar backgrounds complemented each other. We didnt think alike. We saw things from different points of view and we had different strengths. There are parts of the book that she wrote that I couldnt have written, and there are a couple of chapters that I think she probably wouldnt have put in the book if she had written it by herself, that I wrote. So, I actually think that we complemented each other in [each] having expertise that the other didnt. And it made for a book that is expansive and that really cuts across three academic fields: political science, sociology and media studies. TD: What was the process of research like? JB: The process of writing and research took about five years and its a nice tough story in that along the way a number of students were involved in the research. They either got credit or were paid. But there were four in particular that were instrumental in producing content that we used in the book. They did a lot of the grunt work and I think that it was work that required some thought on their part, [they werent] just some mindless cogs on a wheel. One student worked on the Tea Party the 2010 primaries where the Tea Party really broke through. She developed a database that became the basis of Chapter Six in the book. Another student ... watched and listened to TV and radio programs that use [outrage] and took notes about the ways in which the hosts engender loyalty and, in a sense, interact with the audience things they do to make the audience loyal. She was very good at that, and she actually got her name on one of the papers. Then two other students worked with us ... to do a content analysis where we actually recorded what people said and analyzed it along 13 different variables that were different forms of outrage. And those students were terrific at it.TD:What were you hoping to accomplish with this project? JB:We wanted to shed light on this [outrage industry] in a way that makes people appreciate how it fits into the larger political system that it wasnt just Rush Limbaugh saying stupid things on the radio; that there was, in fact, a business. One of the themes of the book is that this [industry] is a business; that people and companies make money off of this, and so there is an incentive to be outrageous and to push the envelope of what you say to attract greater ratings and keep yourself controversial; to get yourself actually in the mainstream press where people are writing about you and what you say. Theres this incentive to be outrageous to attract ratings, which attracts sponsors, which allows you to change more for advertising rates 12
Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, spoke in Cohen Auditorium last night as part of the Merrin Moral Voices Lecture series sponsored by Tufts Hillel.
Dining Services is currently holding a naming competition for the newly-opened Kosher Deli.
Last month, a sophomore at Harvard University falsely reported that shrapnel bombs had been placed around the campus to avoid taking a final exam, later claiming in his defense that he acted because of a large amount of academic pressure. While this is an extreme case of how stress can lead a student to act rashly, it calls into question the resources that are provided to college students across the country to help them cope with the pressures of being an undergraduate.According to Associate Dean of Orientation and Student Transition Laura Doane, if a similar situation were to arise at Tufts, the universitys emergency operations would be put into motion to deal with it appropriately.The sad thing is we do have emergency protocols in place. We hope we dont have to use them, she said.Julie Jampel, director of Training and Continuing Education at Counseling and Mental Health Service (CMHS), explained that one resource that aims to help students handle stress not only during emergencies, but throughout the semester is the support that the counseling center provides.Most students who call us for an appointment are able to schedule it within a couple of days, Jampel told the Daily in an email. At certain points in the semester, when we are especially busy, it may be necessary to wait a week or so for an appointment. However, we are able to accommodate those students who need to be seen urgently.Sophomore Emma Brenner-Bryant, co-president of Tufts Health Advocates (THA), a student advisory board to Tufts Health Service, relayed student concerns that counselors are not available enough.We consistently hear that you cant get in and make an appointment, she said.According to Brenner-Bryant, when THA has brought these student concerns to CMHS, the service reported that they would need more funding to accommodate these concerns. This lack of resources, Brenner-Bryant pointed out, can leave students without the care they require.Tufts students are the kind of kids who will keep it together and not say they need mental health services, Brenner-Bryant said. We pretend we can suck it up ... Students dont know how to handle it in a productive way. Theres a lot of drinking and partying to try [to] relax because were all so uptight and stressed during the school year.According to the CMHS, its primary goal is prevention of mental health problems a goal that can prove difficult without the proper amount of resources, like a sufficient number counselors.I personally dont think that Tufts has enough of a support system in place for those who need it, Brenner-Bryant explained.Dean John Barker was unable to comment on the amount of funding allocated per annum to the CMHS. The Mandatory Health Services Fee for the 2013-14 academic year is $710, according to the Bursar, and although all students pay this fee, only 25 percent of students use their health services resources annually, according to the service.Doane, in contrast to Brenner-Bryants concerns, affirmed her belief that the CMHS is prepared to provide the support it claims to offer.[The CMHS] is prepared for and really does see the gamut homesickness, general stress, adjusting to the college environment academically and socially, which is particularly true for first and second semester students, Doane said. Theyre well-equipped for students who are willing to harm themselves or others. Theyre trained clinicians.THA, however, has found that the setup of the CMHS is not aligned with most students needs for long-term counseling. According to the CMHS website, students with more complex mental health needs will be referred to off-campus clinicians.Another issue is they only have short-term counseling, Brenner-Bryant said. A lot of people are turned off by that. But then [students] dont have the resources to get off campus ... So the next question is: Would students be willing to pay more for the health services fee?Doane pointed out that the service is supposed to be accessible to all students, whether they have mental health problems or not.Not only is our support available and ready, but every student is expected to access that support, she said. It is better to start ... using [this] kind of support now rather than later.Doane noted that another year-round resource that students can access is Time Management and Study Strategies (TM & SS) Consulting, where students can work one-on-one with a consultant about anything from time management to test-taking strategies.TM & SS is the best non-secret on campus, Doane said. The idea behind that is that no matter how rigorous your high school curriculum, college coursework is different. I see students who do well in class, get the material and do well on homework, and then they bomb a test.Brenner-Bryant attributed a lot of student stress to excessive workloads, not to a lack of time management.12
Winter Ball, this years replacement for Winter Bash, will take place on Feb. 8 at Royale Boston from 6 to 10 p.m.
The Office of the President, the University Chaplaincy and the Africana Center celebrated the lives or Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela in a commemorative event at Goddard Chapel last Thursday.
Jumbo the elephant, a figure that most Tufts students wear on sweatshirts, hats and hoodies with pride, is one of the only animal mascots in the nation chosen for his heroism. The elephant is a circus legend of bravery who also gave origin to the modern use of the term jumbo to mean large in size.Tufts ...
A series of assaults in the Union Square and Porter Square areas were recently reported to the Somerville Police Department (SPD).
While many incoming Tufts freshmen have already grown familiar with the campus, few have been mistaken for a tour guide while visiting as a prospective student.
The Tufts Community Research Center (TCRC) recently provided seed grant funding to the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) and the Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center.
The Tufts Committee Union Senates first meeting of the semester was held last night in Eaton 206.
Hamilton Pool, the training facility for hundreds of Tufts swimmers and community members, will remain closed until at least mid-March due to concerns about the pools structural integrity.According to Matt Malone, the manager of Facilities, Fields and Game Management, problems with the pool were first discovered during winter break.[Facilities staff] drained the pool for general maintenance over winter break and found a crack that needed to be repaired that goes completely through the base of the pool, Malone said. For right now, they are starting to do some ground penetrating radar to make sure that the integrity of the pool and the underneath of the pool [are] still in shape.Both the mens and womens swim teams are currently in the middle of their seasons and are currently preparing for the upcoming NESCAC meet, according to Adam Hoyt, the head coach of the mens swimming team. The pools closure has forced the swim teams to relocate their daily training to alternative facilities at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden, Hoyt said.We are going to be waking up early a lot and going to bed late a lot because our practice times are six oclock to 7:30 so were going to be leaving Tufts around 5:30 in the morning, mens team senior tri-captain Austin Wood said. There is another optionwe can go from 9-11 p.m. at MIT.Wood said the change in training times to the early morning and late evening hours will impact students sleep and homework schedules.We are not going to have time to do our homework at night if were getting back at 11 oclock, so we have to do it during the day, he said. Being told we have to rearrange our schedule to sleep is a speed bump for sure.However, both coaches and swimmers remain optimistic that the inconvenient situation will only make their teams stronger.The best thing we can do right now is keep everybodys attitudes up, Wood said. It would be really easy to let this get us down and impact our performance, but I think if we suffer through it together, and take it as a challenge and overcome it, well have even better results.Hoyt said that he and Nancy Bigelow, the womens swimming teams head coach, are optimistic despite the circumstances and have great teams. While its inconvenient timing for everyone, hopefully our teams will rise to the occasion and overcome these challenges, he said. Its just a time management thing and so far everyone has a great attitude toward it.According to Wood, there are typically four different practices each day and swimmers can choose which practices to attendThe alternative facilities will allow the teams to train together, Hoyt said.One of the great parts of our training trip when we go away over winter break is that we actually train together as a team, Hoyt said. These two training opportunities are going to provide us the ability to train together as a team which is hugely helpful.The quality of the alternative facilities is another positive aspect of the situation, according to Hoyt.From a training standpoint, if anything, its a better training situation, Hoyt said. MIT is a much newer facility than the Tufts pool, a much better facility in a lot of ways in regards to their pool so were in a great position to get great training in.The remaining meets will be held at alternative facilities so seniors will be unable to swim in a final senior meet, according to Wood.For the seniors, it is probably most upsetting because we are missing our senior meet at home, Wood said. Im on the Student Athletic Advisory Committee and Im hoping to do something where we can get a fan bus out to Wheaton to celebrate our senior meet.The impact of the pools closure is not limited to just the swim teams, Malone said. Students who hold lifeguarding positions at the pool and faculty who regularly use the pool to swim will also be inconvenienced by the emergency maintenance. According to Malone, the athletic department will work to find other positions for lifeguards receiving work-study money. We are going to find other work around the athletic department for the lifeguards that were work-study students, Malone said. Between the athletic offices, the fitness center and the equipment room, we will be able to allow them to pick up a majority of their shifts.Malone said that the university administration is fully supportive of fixing the pools current problems. He explained that, while there is a desire to put in a new pool, the current issues will not necessitate ones immediate construction. [University President Anthony Monaco] is an avid swimmer and uses the pool daily, Malone said. Hes put his full support behind it and wants to see the problem get fixed as quickly as we can without compromising the integrity of the pool and the structure below the pool. Theres a need and desire to put in a new pool, but the issue here is not something thats going to make them break ground on a new pool immediately.12
Tufts University Department of Public and Environmental Safety (DPES) is currently collaborating with Tufts Technology Services to unveil a new web and software application that will show the Joeys exact location, schedule and expected time of arrival.
Former president of the Republic of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, will serve as the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacys first Senior Statesman starting this January. The position of Senior Statesman is a new idea, intended to provide students with access to internationally known leaders and practitioners in a variety of fields, Admiral James Stavridis, dean of The Fletcher School said.Our concept is to try to bring each year some important international political figure to be affiliated with The Fletcher School, he said.Saakashvili, who served as president for two terms between 2004 and 2013, founded Georgias United National Movement Party and led the Rose Revolution, which forced the resignation of the Republic of Georgias president at the time.Saakashvili will not be in residence at Fletcher full-time, but is expected to visit on three or four occasions during both semesters of his one-year appointment. Saakashvili is excited to interact with students at The Fletcher School in both informal and educational settings, he said. I like to talk to students, Saakashvili said. I have always loved to talk to them, even when I was elected in politics.After graduating from the Institute of International Relations at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Saakashvili came to the United States to study law, receiving a Master of Laws from Columbia University and taking doctoral-level classes at the George Washington University Law School. In 1995, he received a diploma in Comparative Law of Human Rights from The International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.Saakashvili was first elected to the Parliament of Georgia in 1995 and five years later became the countrys Minister of Justice under President Eduard Shevardnadze, his presidential predecessor. In 2004, after a bloodless revolution, Saakashvili became the youngest national president in Europe and third president of the Republic of Georgia. Throughout his presidency, [Saakashvili] was able to improve the economy dramatically, reduce corruption in the state and connect with the West, the United States and with NATO, Stavridis said. He is a practitioner of diplomacy in a very challenging position in a small nation, and has done a very good job leading his nation in its early days since finding independence. Stavridis believes that one of Saakashvilis most important contributions to Georgia was leading the Rose Revolution a 20-day long peaceful protest that ended the previously totalitarian period of Soviet Era leadership. Saakashvili was instrumental in organizing more than 100,000 protesters during the revolution.To turn this many people out in a non-violent revolutionary setting was really quite remarkable, Stavridis said. I think it is fair to say that [Saakashvilis] personal leadership and charismatic personality were very much a part of organizing all of this. According to Academic Dean of the Fletcher School Ian Johnstone, Saakashvilis experiences will be valuable to the students and faculty at Fletcher.[Saakashvili] was a very lively figure in a very crucial part of the world and has a lot of international experience as a result, Johnstone said. We are hoping he comes and shares that experience and the perspective ... on relations with the United States, Europe and Russia, the evolution from authoritarian to democratic leadership and anti-corruption measures all of which he was associated with when he was president. Saakashvili chose to join The Fletcher School as Senior Statesman because Fletcher is a prestigious school with many faculty and students who focus on his region of the world,12
