The Tufts Gordon Institutes Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (ELP) will offer a new Tufts Ideas Competition this spring semester, allowing participants the opportunity to have their preliminary business ideas judged in a competitive environment.
The City of Somerville was earlier this month voted the seventh most walkable city in the nation up from its previous position in 10th place as a result of successful ongoing initiatives by the city to encourage walking and biking.
Caitlin Barrett, assistant professor in the Department of Classics at Cornell University, spoke yesterday evening on the topic of Egyptianizing iconography, as seen in the Pompeian house of the upper-class Roman Publius Cornelius Tages, a freed slave.
When the strategic plan initiative was announced last October, University President Anthony Monaco declared it a process of identifying the priorities and values of Tufts that will create a road map for the universitys next 10 years.This is an opportunity for us, as a community, to envision a trajectory for Tufts where it needs to be, and should be, in a decades time, Monaco announced to the community.On Nov. 2 of this year, the Board of Trustees officially approved the T10 Strategic Plan. The full plan is a 45-page document focusing on four themes: Foundational Initiatives, Transformational Experiences, Engaging and Celebrating Commonalities and Differences and Creating Innovative Approaches to Local and Global Challenges.After months of planning and a series of student focus groups to incorporate perspectives from across the university, the plan was completed. According to Provost David Harris, students will begin to see specific change at Tufts very soon related to interdisciplinary learning, diversity, gap years and financial aid.What it isnt is a detailed roadmap for the next 10 years, Harris, who led the initiative, said. What it is, is a framework for the university ... Its a 10 year plan, but that doesnt mean that nothing happens for 10 years. Some of these things youre going to start seeing very soon. Interdisciplinary learning One key component of the Strategic Plan is Bridge Professorships. This involves the hire of two new faculty members who will be tenured in more than one department in order to help bridge the gap in interdisciplinary ventures, according to Associate Provost Kevin Dunn.The purpose of this [program] is to enable those new fields and knowledge to be productively pursued here at Tufts, Dunn said. What we felt here from the beginning is that they are being pursued and the faculty are trying to do this. So instead of simply being in their way, the administration is trying to say, Here, let us help you.Current faculty members will be able to make proposals for new bridge professorships.[The program] allows [faculty] to say, The field Im working in is really important, let me have a colleague, Dunn said. Its also forcing them to work with people in other schools, other departments, other units.Provost Harris highlighted the immediate changes that these positions will bring to current students.These are folks who will come to campus as new senior faculty members and they will affect immediately the curriculum, he said. Diversity, gap years and financial aid Another change that Harris said will immediately affect students is the plans initiatives regarding issues on diversity. The third theme, Engaging and Celebrating Commonalities and Differences, focuses on diversity, and has created a short-term goal of hiring a university-wide chief diversity officer who will ensure that the goals of the new Presidents Council on Diversity are implemented completely.Ive already committed that by the end of this calendar year, we will have launched the search for the diversity officer, Harris said. Thats something concrete.The plan also launches an initiative that will encourage students to take gap years, called the 1 + 4 Undergraduate Program. The program provides students with opportunities to participate in national or international service during their gap year before attending Tufts. The plan intends to make each program financially accessible through fundraising.The idea is that theres a whole notion of the gap year, theres a notion of service and then theres another issue around access, Harris said. We believe there is value in service and there is value in a gap year.According to the plan, the university may partner with approved service programs through Tisch College to support students during their gap year and provide transformational experiences as they explore new communities.We dont think that [gap years] are something that should be reserved for wealthy kids. Culturally, there are some kids [for whom] its not really part of their thinking, Harris said. We want to make it possible for a broad number of students to consider.The Strategic Plan also focuses on enhancing and expanding undergraduate financial aid. The university is no longer incorporating need-blind financial aid practices but is striving to continue to widen opportunities for students with need.In the short term, the president asked for a two year goal of $25 million, and were already over $20 million raised, Harris said. That is more resources for us to bring in students who need financial aid and that will have an impact on the class entering this year. There are people who will come to Tufts that would not have been able to.According to Harris, the university hopes to achieve need-blind admissions policies eventually, but must be sure that the university is up to the high standards of quality that current students need.12
The Tufts Community Union Senate held its next-to-last weekly meeting of the semester in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room last night, which included discussion on projects relating to diversity, food availability on campus and the off-campus housing search.
Beginning last Sunday, Tufts first Black Student Union (BSU) hosted a week-long series of events in hopes of gaining official Tufts Community Union recognition next semester.
Tufts Mock Trial hosted the 6th annual Mumbo Jumbo Invitational Tournament over the weekend of Nov. 9 and 10 in Anderson Hall. Tufts claimed third place behind Suffolk University and Boston University.
In a mail ballot vote that ran from Sept. 11 through Sept. 25, part-time faculty members at Tufts voted to join Service Employees International Union (SEIU). This move makes them the only group of unionized faculty at Tufts. The union will now be the intermediary in most negotiations between the Tufts administration and the universitys part-time lecturers.
Yahoo! News on Nov. 12 announced its decision to hire Matthew Bai (LA 90) as a national political columnist.
A group of about 18 students this week fasted in solidarity with commissioner of the Philippines Climate Change Commission Naderev Yeb Sa?o.According to sophomore Ben Weilerstein, students from at least 68 educational institutions across the country participated in the fast in order to raise awareness about Typhoon Haiyan, which claimed thousands of lives and left thousands more destitute when it hit the Philippines in early November. The disaster, the participants in the fast said, was a direct result of climate change. Sa?o yesterday concluded the 12th day of his fast in an effort to stand with the Filipino people as they continue to suffer through the storms aftermath. He called for concrete action against climate change in Warsaw, Poland, where representatives of world governments came together on Nov. 11 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 19).Weilerstein said that he has been fasting for five days beginning on Monday and continuing today and has consumed nothing but a single cup of juice daily. Junior Dan Jubelirer chose to fast for two 24-hour periods at the beginning and end of the week.Im trying to use the power that I have right now in making this choice to tell people that we wont always necessarily be able to [make the choice to fast] if we dont get serious about stopping climate change, Weilerstein said.On Monday and Thursday, fasting students sat in demonstration with empty plates at Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall to bring their fast to the attention of the student body, Weilerstein said.I was sort of frustrated because I want people to realize its not something that you can walk just away from, Weilerstein said. Yes, you can talk to me and then you can go on with your life, but I want you to think about this afterwards, realize what is your role in causing climate change, what is your role in preventing climate change, what is it that you owe to the world as [an] American.Sophomore Sarah Killian explained that participants are fasting to different degrees, with some people giving up one meal and others going days without consuming solid foods. She planned to fast for two or three 24-hour periods during the week.For me, there is something in feeling uncomfortable for one day that reminds you we have so many comforts here not just with food, but the comforts of living that we dont realize is not shared by everyone else, especially in places that are disproportionally affected by climate change, Killian said. Those discomforts could be made very real for us in the near future.The process began when students from Tufts and Brandeis University held a meeting to discuss bringing the fasting movement to their campuses, according to Weilerstein. Once I heard [that students at other schools were] doing it, I felt like ... we [needed] to do this at Tufts, he said. An email thread about the fast began within the fossil fuel divestment network, Jubelirer said. Participants also made conference calls to various schools asking students to get on board with the effort.Killian emphasized the importance of the fast to garnering attention for the cause. I think a big part of movement is bringing people into climate consciousness, and actions like this are good because theyre instrumental but also because they make a statement, Killian said.For Weilerstein, the fast serves as a reminder of the privileges that have been taken away from climate victims.I have the ability to just decide that Im going to stop eating, and I can decide when Im going to start eating again, he said. One of the scariest things is that in the Philippines, there are people who havent eaten as long as I have or longer, and not of their choice because climate change has caused a situation where they dont get to decide that.Weilerstein said that the possibility of a similar food shortage in the United States exists because of climate change.[It] can seem distant, but that could be a future reality here, too, he said. There could be a time when we dont get to decide when we want to eat and not eat.According to Jubelirer, Tufts students collaborated with college students across the country on an open letter calling for climate justice at COP 19. The letter, posted on a WordPress site called Stop the Madness Solidarity Fast, is addressed to the Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern and State Department negotiator Trigg Talley. The letter, which insists that Typhoon Haiyan was not a natural disaster but a direct result of global climate change, was emailed to Stern and Talley and will soon be printed and faxed to them as well, Jubelirer said. These students at a hundred schools have been fasting all week saying you, [Stern and Talley], need to do your jobs and do something meaningful here and not just blow it off, Jubelirer said.12
Despite long waits between musical acts, event organizers consider last Fridays fourth annual Cage Rage concert, featuring indie band Grouplove, a success.
While sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were created to connect users and enhance social interactions, many research studies show the opposite is occurring people who use social media heavily throughout their day can experience detachment, boredom and even loneliness. Even looking at pictures of food on Instagram can decrease satisfaction gained from actually eating the same food, according to research published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology this September. Should Tufts students be worried about their social media use?According to Julie Ross, director of Tufts Counseling and Mental Health Service, the effects of social media on students mental health can change how we connect with one another in person, making relationships more superficial.Having a constant focus on what is happening somewhere else effectively removes people from staying connected in the face-to-face interactions they could be having, or are having at the moment, as those interactions get constantly interrupted by electronic signals from the phone or computer, Ross told the Daily in an email. Social media can provide the appearance of connection without an authentic connection.A study conducted by Timothy Wilson, the Sherrell J. Aston professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, showed that college students rely on social media and technology to an unhealthy degree, according to a 2013 article in the New Yorker by Maria Konnikova.College students start going crazy after just a few minutes in a room without their phones or a computer, Konnikova wrote.This phenomenon occurs all over campus, with students sitting around tables in the Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center aimlessly scrolling through Twitter and perusing Facebook during lectures instead of taking notes.One would think we could spend the time mentally entertaining ourselves ... but we cant. Weve forgotten how, Wilson said.According to sophomore Eyob Sharew, some Tufts students focus on social media more than others.Everyone has a smartphone, so people use it heavily, definitely more in some circles than others, Sharew said. Some circles will do the thing where everybody is on their phones at dinner, and theyre not talking to each other. Were just of that generation.Student groups at Tufts, however, see Facebook and other social media outlets as an important way of promoting student groups and events. Junior Dan Jubelirer is an active Facebook user but does not spend the majority of his time perusing other peoples pages. He said that he sees Facebook as a resource, as opposed to a replacement, for social life.I use Facebook mostly for organizing, for work with Tufts Divest [for Our Future] and Students for a Just and Stable Future and to connect with people all around the country who all are on Facebook, he said. Its just a tool. You can use it well, you can use it poorly, you can use it productively or you can waste time on it.Sharew found that the time he spends online can usually be better spent studying or spending time with friends. He explained that he deactivated his Facebook account about one year ago.I cut out Facebook because I realized the time that I was spending on Facebook was making inroads into the time that I shouldve spent studying and connecting with other people, he said. Time spent with real people or time spent doing things I was supposed to be doing was much more valuable time spent than the time spent on Facebook.A 2010 article in The New Yorker examined various studies linking Facebook use and mood and found that the way in which people use the site and not the duration of use was the deciding factor in determining whether there was an increase or decrease in level of happiness. According to the article, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University observed positive mood changes when participants directly engaged with others through messages, wall posts or likes, but there was an increase in loneliness and disconnect when people passively browsed content.According to Konnikova, another study at Humboldt-University in Berlin, Germany has suggested that envy, too, increases with Facebook use.The more time people spent browsing the site, as opposed to actively creating content and engaging with it, the more envious they felt, Konnikova wrote. The effect, suggested Hanna Krasnova and her colleagues, was a result of the well-known social psychology phenomena of social comparison.Ross said that self-image issues for teens and college students are often brought about or heightened through viewing others Facebook pages. She cited the work of Sherry Turkle, Abby Rockefeller Mauz? Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT, who wrote the book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.As Dr. Turkle points out in some of her work, people manipulate their images on social media to project whatever they wish to, so that the image that is being connected to by others may not represent the authentic person behind the image, Ross said. If others like this false image, it does not necessarily feel like a real connection and leaves people worried that if they were known more fully, they would not be liked or accepted.12
Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) yesterday responded to the second accident involving a student cyclist and a motor vehicle this month.
The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service this month awarded its annual Tisch Research Prize to Meredith Minkler, professor of health and social behavior at the University of California, Berkeley, for her leadership in community-involved research.
The Tufts Community Union Senate last Monday passed a resolution calling for a shuttle that would run from the Tufts campus to Boston on Friday and Saturday nights.
Halfway through November, many male students have put their razors to rest to participate in the first No Shave November contest held by Tufts Relay for Life (Tufts RFL). The contest is a play on the larger movement during the month of November, sometimes called Movember, that aims to raise awareness for mens health.Sophomore Benjamin Silver, the special events coordinator for Tufts RFL who organized the contest, explained the inspiration behind holding a No Shave November competition at Tufts.It is the male prostate cancer month, Silver said. [No Shave November] is a movement that started off in the late 90s. We are trying to take advantage of that momentum and utilize it for RFL.Since its first event in April 2004, Tufts RFL has raised more than three quarters of $1 million in total for the American Cancer Society to fund cancer prevention, cancer treatment and cancer research, according to senior and co-Chair of Tufts RFL Jon Duval.Andrea Hurwitz, the community executive and director of development for ACS and an advisor for Tufts RFL, told the Daily that Tufts fundraising efforts have been substantial.Tufts does an exceptional job with the fundraising and is an outstanding fundraiser every year, she said. Actually, in the last year, 2012, Tufts was one of the top five fundraisers for colleges in New England. Duval also noted the success of fundraising initiatives around campus.In October, we sold cupcakes and shot glasses at the Campus Center, he said. It was a huge success. We sold over 100 cupcakes ... But more importantly, we raised awareness on campus about breast cancer. RFL events have become well known on campus, according to Duval and senior and co-Chair of Tufts RFL Caroline Kaufman, but they are always looking to increase the number of participants. People will form teams with their friends from sports teams, music groups or from dorms. So we usually get 75 different teams, Duval said. We are trying to reach out to the entire community, including the faculty and the graduate students.According to Duval, RFLs No Shave November event has enabled the group to reach out to more students than in previous years. Silver said that although the event builds the communitys awareness about RFL and cancer, the more important focus is engaging students.We dont really have a specific number in mind for how much money we want to raise, Silver said. I think the more important number to look at is how many people are registering for this event and forming teams. Because we know that once we rope them in and get them involved with the ACS and RFL, they will want to stick with it, and help fundraise and get more people involved, and become advocates for it.There is no deadline for signing up for the contest, Silver added.We want to open this to as many people as possible. So people can jump in whenever they want, he said.There are two ways to get involved with No Shave November, according to Silver, and anyone can get involved, regardless of team association.The first is the individual team. It is for people who are not in an organization and just want to participate, he said. The idea is to post pictures of yourself before and after. And you can either grow a mustache or a beard. We just want everyone to get involved. Whatever it means to them, they should get involved that way.Silver said that they are also looking for sponsors such as fraternities, sports teams, art groups and cultural centers to gain even more participation across campus. Tufts RFL also encourages involvement from faculty and staff.To help sponsor, we want at least 10 members of the organization to get involved, Silver said. We are also in talks with the football and baseball team[s]. Their coaches are very excited about that. Devyn Curley, philanthropy chair of Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp), an active sponsor of the contest, said that there are about 16 or 18 brothers getting involved in this campaign.We took a nice pre-November picture, and we are excited to see how we will look after Thanksgiving break, Devyn, a junior, said. [Brothers] are very excited to support the cause. We have actually done a really good job. Our team has already raised $580.Silver expressed enthusiasm about the contests three different categories the best overall facial hair, the best mustache and the best beard.For the prizes, we have JumboCash, gift cards from local businesses and some bundles from the ACS, [such as] cups, mugs and the sorts of gifts they are willing to give to the participants, Silver said. And right now we are working with barber shops in Davis Square to offer free shaves at the end of the contest.At the end of the month, University President Monaco will act as the judge of the contest.The November No Shave is an interesting and fun way to support the Relay for Life activities in support of the fight against cancer and specifically in this case, [for] awareness of mens cancer, Monaco told the Daily in an email.Monaco said that he has already pictured what a winning beard will look like.I will be looking for style, grooming and who reminds me most of the Boston Red Sox, he said.Sophomore and contest participant Jem Wilner explained that although he is unsure of which mustache or beard to sport for the contest, he wishes he could do more to help with RFLs cause.Obviously, RFL is an incredibly important foundation ... for an incredibly important cause, he said. Even what Im doing is such a small thing for them; Im happy that I could get involved as much as possible ... I encourage everyone to grow out a beard.12
The Boston area has certainly gotten a glimpse of Palestinian life and culture over the last month, with celebrations of Palestinian art through The Boston Palestine Film Festival (BPFF) and the photography exhibit From These Streets at the Tufts University Art Gallery.Beginning on Oct. 18, the 10-day film festival featured over 30 films portraying Palestinian life, family and culture. It was hosted by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Cambridge Public Library and Harvard Law School.The films addressed issues surrounding the political occupation of the Palestinian territories and its effects on refugee camps, as well as offered a look at Palestinian culture. According to Assistant Professor of Anthropology Amahl Bishara, providing this alternative viewpoint is particularly important.We most often see Palestinians represented through the news and through political negotiations or acts of violence, Bishara said. But the Boston Palestine Film Festival lets us think about Palestinian society and culture in a more multidimensional way.Tufts students who made it to the festival were exposed to films that showed Palestine through a more personal perspective. Munir Atalla, a member of Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine, attended the event and enjoyed the opportunity to screen the films.Im so happy that the Museum of Fine Arts puts its weight behind such a sometimes controversial event, Atalla, a junior, said. Its been going for eight years, and they keep upping the quality. Its also that Palestinian filmmaking has developed a lot recently, and we are starting to see more films that are competitive on a global level.The film festival, a program of the Middle East Charitable and Cultural Society Inc., is one of the larger events that the organization hosts throughout the year, along with discussions, film screenings and workshops throughout the Boston area. The mission of the festival is to showcase the Palestinian narrative and culture through cinema and art.Founded in 2007, the festival has since presented over 300 films, as well as hosted numerous Palestinian artists and filmmakers through concerts and exhibits. This years festival was co-sponsored by various community groups, including the Center for Arab American Philanthropy, Jewish Voice for Peace Boston and Grassroots International.One film featured this year was When I Saw You (2012) from director Annemarie Jacir, who was recently named one of Filmmaker Magazines 25 New Faces of Independent Cinema. When I Saw You is set in Jordan during the 1960s and documents a boys journey after running away from his refugee camp.The BPFF also showcased Just A Child (2012), directed by Mohammad Al-Azza, who grew up in the West Bank in a refugee camp. The documentary short centers on a Palestinian teenagers life after he is released from an Israeli detention center in the West Bank. Though his release garners a positive response from the community, through his perspective, audience members gain an understanding of the more complex consequences of his return to the community.Bishara, along with students in her Media, the State and the Senses seminar, recently collaborated with Al-Azza to bring the photography exhibit From These Streets: A Palestinian Refugee Perspective on Community to the Slater Concourse Gallery, located in the Aidekman Art Center. The exhibit, which will run until Dec. 8, displays Al-Azzas photos depicting the Palestinian community.The young Palestinian photographer, born and raised in Aida Refugee Camp, Bethlehem, in the Palestinian West Bank, developed his photojournalism skills from a local youth organization called the Lajee Center. He later became the director of the Media Unit in the Lajee Center and continues to teach these skills to Palestinian youth in the area, according to Bishara.[The Lajee Center] is a community-based organization, and they do a lot of activities for children and youth, Bishara said. One of the most thriving, successful programs they have is a media unit that teaches youths about documentary production and photography. And for me as a media scholar, its a gift. Its just a really interesting story for me to think about and tell.Bishara expressed excitement about bringing the Lajee Center and Tufts together with the exhibit. Various university groups co-sponsored the exhibit, including the Department of Anthropology; the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences; the Institute for Global Leadership; the International Relations, Middle Eastern Studies and Peace and Justice Studies programs; the Experimental College and the Slater Family Fund. I mean, obviously their institutions are on various different scales and have very different resources and different missions as well, she said. But there is some overlap there, and I really appreciated this opportunity to bring that together to the exhibit.The exhibits opening on Nov. 6 in Aidekman attracted a large showing of students, who could interact with Al-Azza and ask questions about his work and his experience growing up in a refugee camp.12
Tufts Labor Coalition , United for Immigrant Justice (UIJ) and Tufts Democrats organized a rally at Davis Square on Nov. 9 in support of the Raise Up Massachusetts (Raise Up MA) campaign.Raise Up MA aims to raise the minimum wage from $8 to $10.50 per hour and guarantee employees an hour of earned sick ...
This semesters Cause Dinner, hosted by Tufts University Dining Services, is scheduled to be held in Dewick-MacPhie and Carmichael Dining Halls on Tuesday night.
Founder of Higher Ground Farm John Stoddard (N '09) spoke yesterday in the Lincoln Filene Center Rabb Room about the environmental benefits of rooftop farming in the Environmental Studies Program's weekly Lunch and Learn series.
