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The Setonian
News

TMC's Trips Cabin to open over the weekend

October 22

    Having received the fire marshal's official OK, the new Trips Cabin is set to open this weekend, and the Tufts Mountain Club (TMC) plans to celebrate in style.     The New Hampshire state fire marshal signed the Trips Cabin over to Tufts last Friday, according to Senior Construction Project Manager Robert Biswanger, who oversaw the building's construction. "We officially accepted it as of last Friday. We went through the place and everything passed, no problems," he said. "The place is 100 percent ready."     Katahdin Cedar Log Homes completed the final step in construction, building the bunk beds in the cabin, two weeks ago. Mattresses arrived last week.     In line with the opening of the Trips Cabin, TMC will also commemorate the 70th anniversary of the club and the Loj.     "It's a big year all around," said TMC Vice President Lily Glidden, a sophomore. "There will be fireworks, a big ribbon-cutting ceremony and a slideshow of recent TMC events … We want to celebrate as much as possible."     The completion of the new addition alongside the Loj in North Woodstock, N.H. comes after last year's extended effort to gain funding from the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, inciting a heady debate among students. TMC raised over $11,800 for construction, but funding for the cabin came predominately from the Senate, which decided to grant $230,000 to TMC in April.     TMC President Katie Bond, a senior, sees the Trips Cabin opening as the completion of TMC's long-term goal to make the Loj more available to the Tufts student body.     "We're very excited; we think it's going to expand accessibility to the Loj a lot," she said. "We struggled with that. We couldn't bring new people up to the Loj to get them excited about it because we didn't have the space."     Still, transportation issues may hamper the accessibility of the Trips Cabin in the near future.     The TMC van that helps transport people to and from the Loj recently broke down. According to Glidden, the loss of the van did not affect the upcoming weekend but remains a difficulty for the club.     "Not having the van is kind of a blow for us, but we're working around it, and we haven't let it affect the event at all," Glidden said. "But as far as the club goes, it's a loss, and we need to find a replacement as soon as possible."     Glidden, along with junior Rob Gleich and two alumni — Erica Fine (LA '09) and Ed Warren (LA '08) — organized this weekend's celebrations, which will consist of activities to link TMC's past and present.     The festivities are geared toward both alumni and current TMC members. Glidden expects about 50 alumni to attend the event, including one who was a founding member of TMC 70 years ago     "All events at the ceremony are aimed at facilitating connections between alums and current TMCers," Glidden said. "That's the big focus of the event."     Alumni will have an opportunity to share stories of fond recollections of their time at the Loj.     "We also tried to organize it so that alumni will be traveling up in cars together so there's bonding time," Glidden said.     Bond is looking forward to a large turnout of past and present TMC members.     "We're excited to kick this off and have a really good fall weekend in New Hampshire," Bond said.     Despite the loss of the van, Bond hopes the new addition will encourage more students to come to the Loj and get involved with TMC, whether directly through the club or through student retreats at the Loj.     "This means a lot for our club in terms of getting people to go up and see everything TMC has to offer," Bond said.     Overall, Bond believes that the new Trips Cabin will benefit not only TMC but also the student body at large. "It's a good thing for the whole Tufts community," she said.

The Setonian
News

For Tufts, not easy being green

October 22

    When former University President Jean Mayer convened 22 university presidents and chancellors in Talloires, France in 1990, his goal was to enumerate the key actions universities had to take to ensure an environmentally sustainable future.     The result of the meeting was the Talloires Declaration, which spelled out a 10-point plan for the participating universities and established Tufts as an early leader of the sustainability movement. The first of its kind, the document has since been signed by more than 350 universities from over 40 countries, and Tufts continues its commitment to sustainability to this day. But Tufts is no longer the leader of the pack.     When the Sustainable Endowments Institute released its College Sustainability Report Cards this fall, 26 schools received grades of A-. These included Ivy League universities like Harvard and Brown, NESCAC rivals Middlebury, Amherst and Williams, state universities in Vermont and Colorado, among others, and small schools such as Macalester College in Minnesota. Tufts, however, was not among them. The Institute awarded Tufts a grade of B for its efforts, recognizing its commitment to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and food recycling. The Institute, however, was critical of several other aspects of the university's policies, especially its endowment transparency and its efforts to construct green buildings on campus. Tufts received a D and a C- in these categories, respectively.     "Tufts was the original leader in sustainability, but now we are being [passed] by schools like Harvard, because their endowment is more transparent," said senior Daniel Enking, Tufts Energy Forum co-chair.     Tufts, which makes its full list of financial holdings available only to trustees and senior administrators, earned a D in the endowment transparency category. Harvard, which makes detailed proxy voting records on social responsibility issues available to the public, received a C.     "I understand the university's desire to maximize their investment, but endowments should be about more than that," Enking said. "Increasingly, even corporations are migrating to more social responsibility, and Tufts should be doing the same by showing openly that we are not investing in companies like Exxon Mobil, who fund research to try and cast doubt on whether climate change is real."     Senior Heather Buckner, who is a member of Tufts Environmental Consciousness Outreach (ECO), echoed some of Enking's frustration with administrative practices. "I am not really surprised that Tufts did not receive an A grade," she said. "In terms of sustainable practices, Tufts is often a lot of talk, but could definitely be doing more. A lot of the problems with getting changes made has come from the administrative holdups; in ECO projects specifically, we have encountered roadblocks due to bureaucratic problems or unwillingness of branches of the university to participate."     Enking, however, was surprised that Tufts was not awarded a higher grade for its green building practices. "I don't know of many other schools that have buildings which meet the LEED Gold standard," he said. Enking also noted that Tufts received an award from energy provider National Grid for "Excellence in Energy Efficiency."     Only two buildings on campus meet the LEED Gold standard criteria, which measure green building and development practices. Though most university buildings have been retrofitted with energy saving features like low-flow toilets and showerheads and motion-sensitive lights, they were not designed with energy efficiency as a first priority. The Institute was also critical of Tufts' lack of a formal green building policy, which contributed to the C grade Tufts received.     Tufts, however, might not be drastically different from its peer institutions in terms of sustainability practices. While the average grade issued for most categories fell in the B range, the average grade issued for endowment transparency was a C-. Among area schools, only Amherst received an A in that category. Though several of Tufts' peer institutions received As or Bs in the Green Building category, the average grade awarded was a fairly low C+. Buckner acknowledged that the issues that Tufts faces are a "common problem."     Tufts did, however, exceed national averages in several categories, including Climate Change, Food and Recycling and Shareholder Engagement. Despite the complaints voiced by Buckner and Enking, the administration also received high marks for formalizing Tufts' sustainability plan and setting the standard for university procurement. Tufts plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75 to 85 percent by 2050, and the practice of composting all dining hall food drew acclaim as well.     Both Enking and Buckner voiced concerns that the student body as a whole was unaware of the issues at hand. "I definitely think each of us could be doing much more to improve sustainability, if not at the university level, at least in our individual choices," Buckner said. "I think one problem is that students don't often know how to get involved, or what they should be doing to make a difference."     "I get the feeling that the student body in general is not that concerned, or even aware, of everything Tufts is doing or trying to do to be more sustainable. There needs to be better outreach on the part of the Office of Sustainability to show students how urgent of an international issue this is, and how they can make difference," Enking said.     Both Enking and Buckner had ideas for improving student awareness and participation for sustainability efforts.     "Luckily, for students looking for ways to get involved with environmental action, there should be plenty of opportunity within the coming weeks," Buckner said. She cited ECO's annual "Do It in the Dark" contest, which encourages students to reduce their electricity consumption in dorms. Enking expressed hope that the upcoming Tufts Energy Conference would heighten the issue's profile. The conference, scheduled for next March, will include presentations from a variety of energy-related academics and professionals, and include panel discussions on the future of energy.

The Setonian
News

Manhole explosions disrupt Medford

October 21

As students wandered around a campus without electricity on Friday, and visiting parents changed their weekend plans to deal with altered activities, flames were shooting out of manholes less than a mile from campus. Businesses closed, traffic was disrupted and thousands in Medford were left without power.

The Setonian
News

Group denies Spring Fling rumors

October 21

A subcommittee of the Alcohol Task Force met yesterday to discuss potential improvements to student safety at Spring Fling, amid rumors that originated from a senior's e-mail to hundreds of undergraduates in which he erroneously suggested the administration might cancel the annual event.

The Setonian
News

Dental school completes five-story expansion

October 21

Nearly a decade of planning and construction have finally resulted in the completion of an ambitious, $68 million five-floor vertical expansion to the School of Dental Medicine, one of the most significant improvements to the school since its founding over 140 years ago.

The Setonian
News

Romy Otulski | Word Up

October 20

As someone who is fine with letters but less than ecstatic about numbers, I was always on board with the replacement of numbers with letters in math class. I took to algebra pretty quickly and was thrilled about ninth-grade logic with its p's and q's, three dots and long, wordy proofs.

The Setonian
News

Coming Out Day marked by increased involvement

October 20

Last Wednesday's National Coming Out Day (NCOD) celebration, marked by particularly strong community involvement, capped what the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Center sees as an increasingly receptive environment at the university.

The Setonian
News

Senate should keep its brands to itself

October 20

TD Garden. Gillette Stadium. Citi Field. The Izod Center.     They are all victims of a phenomenon that draws groans from sports fans the country over: corporate branding. Now the Tufts Community Union Senate sees a pragmatic opportunity to do some branding of its own.     Members of the Senate's Student Outreach Committee say they are not content with the amount of attention students pay to the body's work, complaining that Senate decisions often go unnoticed and elections go uncontested due to lack of student interest in the positions.     So they are proposing to attach the Senate's name to events like Fall Ball and the Nighttime Quad Reception, also known as Naked Quad Run. This raises a very simple question: Is it really acceptable to re-appropriate our campus traditions for the purpose of advertising our student government?     What's more, the Senate proposes to create an emblem that it can add to student organizations' materials, in order to drive home the fact that the body gives those organizations financial support. So is it worthwhile for the Senate to enforce such a homogenization of clubs' identities in the name of its own self-promotion?     The Outreach Committee says that students are largely unaware of how the Senate spends its $1 million student activities budget, which is funded by undergraduates' tuition money. But it seems intuitive that students would assume that their student activities fees go toward funding student activities  — just as they assume their payments for room and board go toward maintaining Tufts' dormitories and the money they spend on meal plans goes to Tufts Dining Services. If they care to find out exactly how money much each club receives, they can easily find that information on the Senate's Web site.     Some argue that aggressive branding efforts will help to educate freshmen about the Senate's impact on campus. First of all, freshmen are less apathetic toward our student government than older students are, as evidenced by the disproportionately high number of first-years who run for Senate seats. And while the Daily agrees on the importance of informing freshmen about the Senate's role on campus during orientation, we do not feel that sticking a Senate label on events or other organizations will give first-years meaningful insight into why they should join Senate.     Senators say they would like to avoid situations like the one that arose last year, when students who had not originally made their thoughts known came out heavily against the body's decision to allocate $230,000 for construction of the Tufts Mountain Club's Trips Cabin. But labeling Tufts Mountain Club ads with a Senate logo would not have prevented the Trips Cabin debacle.     The major reason for students' surprise at the outcome of the funding decision lies in the fact that they were not accustomed to seeing the Senate handle such issues — and, more importantly, the Senate was not accustomed to handling them, or to advertising appropriately for them. Furthermore, similar situations are highly unlikely to arise in the foreseeable future. The Senate had hundreds of thousands of extra dollars to give away only because it had recently been reimbursed for losses in an extraordinary embezzlement scandal.     Before the recovered money was allocated, few were demanding that the Senate highlight its own involvement in all the things it funds. And without similar opportunities to mishandle hundreds of thousands of dollars in the future, the Senate does not need to foist its "brand" on the titles of storied campus traditions or the materials of unique student organizations. Senate Fall Ball? Senate Spring Fling? To us, that sounds a whole lot like Microsoft Fenway Park.

The Setonian
News

BU biosafety lab ignites critiques

October 19

Boston University's (BU) recently-constructed Biosafety Level-4 (BSL-4) laboratory has raised concerns among local residents and academics who question the new building's ability to facilitate the safe study of dangerous pathogens that have no known cure.

The Setonian
News

Some students suffer from gambling addictions

October 19

The activity that put Las Vegas and Atlantic City on the map is quickly spreading to universities across America. While gambling is discounted as a form of entertainment by profit-seeking casinos, many university officials are discovering that, for some students, placing bets is no longer just a game — it is a debilitating addiction.

The Setonian
News

Students help nonprofits navigate rough waters

October 19

Today's rough economic times have hit nonprofits hard, and contributions from Tufts student volunteers have recently proven particularly helpful to a variety of organizations in the university's neighboring communities.

The Setonian
News

Emergency alert system improved but still misses some students

October 18

As workers labored to restore power to Tufts' Medford/Somerville campus and parts of Medford on Friday and Saturday, university administrators relied on an improved emergency alert system to keep students, faculty and staff abreast of the situation.    

The Setonian
News

RAs, TEMS workers staff dorms

October 18

When the power went out on Friday, the electricity-powered fob system went down after burning through about a half-hour's worth of backup battery.    

The Setonian
News

Weak passwords lead to security breach, UIT says

October 18

This month's hacking attack on over 100 computers at Tufts' Medford/Somerville campus came about after hackers compromised a number of passwords which allowed them onto the network, according to Dawn Irish, director of communications and organizational effectiveness for University Information Technology (UIT).    

The Setonian
News

Developing Davis without forgetting its past

October 18

Restaurants and stores that have opened recently in Davis Square have caused Tufts students to take note of the area's growth. But few people understand the evolution and the history of the Davis area as well as Lee Auspitz.    

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