Robert Terrell, a Tufts faculty member, has been appointed the new executive director of Boston’s Office of Fair Housing and Equity. Terrell, a part-time lecturer in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, officially began his role on Jan. 3.
The Tufts Community Union Elections Commission finalized the results of a special TCU Senate election on Thursday, Feb. 2. Nine senators were elected and a majority of students voted yes on the new TCU constitution referendum.
The City of Somerville plans to launch a new consolidated rental waitlist in late 2023 to simplify the application process for reduced-cost housing opportunities as part of the city’s expanding inclusionary housing program.
A celebration in honor of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was held on Jan. 30 by the Tisch College of Civic Life in collaboration with the Africana Center, the President’s Office, the University Chaplaincy and the Provost’s Office. The event, which was held in Breed Memorial Hall, featured keynote speaker Régine Jean-Charles, as well as student voices and a cappella groups.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu delivered her first State of the City Address on Jan. 25 at MGM Music Hall. It is the first State of the City Address held in person in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn delivered her 2023 State of the City Address at City Hall on Jan. 25, updating Medford residents on the city’s efforts to increase affordable housing, revitalize the downtown area, and enforce Diversity Equity and Inclusion training for government officials. She was joined by City Council President Nicole Morell, School Committee Vice Chair Jenny Graham and Medford’s first-ever poet laureate, Terry Carter, who opened the event with a poem.
A Somerville homeowner attempting to rent rooms in his house to Tufts students has faced unexpected resistance from the city government on the grounds that his request to house unrelated students is unlawful. The homeowner, who requested that the Daily not identify him by name, has been appealing to the Somerville City Council for months.
The Somerville City Council unanimously passed a resolution on Jan. 12 calling for the cancellation of Somerville residents’ medical debt. Headed by City Councilors At-Large Willie Burnley Jr. and Charlotte Kelly, the plan details the reappropriation of American Rescue Plan Act funds to buy medical debt portfolios in bulk for those residents who make up to 400% of the federal poverty rate, or those for whom debt is 5% or more of their annual income.
The Cambridge City Council held a special meeting on Jan. 18 to discuss the protocols of the Cambridge Police Department after police fatally shot Sayed Arif Faisal earlier this month. Faisal was a 20-year-old Cambridge resident and engineering student at UMass Boston.
Tufts announced on Jan. 17 that it received more than 34,000 applicationsfor the undergraduate class of 2027. The application pool is the university’s most diverse in history, according to Dean of Admissions JT Duck.
Executive Director of Public Safety Yolanda Smith wrote in an all-campus email Tuesday that only “credible” threats would trigger public safety alerts going forward, following a string of bomb threats that rocked campus in December and seemingly began anew earlier this week.
The Medford/Tufts branch of the Green Line Extension opened on Dec. 12 at roughly 4:30 a.m. following years of construction and several delays. The extension now connects the Medford/Somerville campus to East Somerville and Boston.
The bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine is no longer required for all university personnel and students, Michael Jordan, university infection control director, announced in a Jan. 5 email to the Tufts community. In addition to dropping the omicron booster mandate, Jordan noted that the influenza vaccine would become optional for all students on the Medford/Somerville and SMFA campuses.
Medford’s Community Fund announced on Jan. 6 that it awarded over $230,000 in grants to 25 local nonprofits.
The city of Somerville hosted its “Midterm Ceremonies” event on Jan. 3 featuring Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, City Council President Ben Ewen-Campen and School Committee Chair Andre Green. The three officials discussed the progress they made in the past year and their goals for 2023.
Evacuations, building sweeps and near-daily security alerts rattled a campus just beginning its finals period after Tufts’ diversity office received a bomb threat on Dec. 14. The threat, sent via email, quickly became the first of at least seven messages directed to Tufts in the week that followed.
Tufts received its seventh bomb threat in nine days at 7:01 a.m. In addition to naming seven buildings on the Medford/Somerville campus, one building on the Boston campus and the Boston Field Division of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the threat also targeted the Greater Boston Health Center branch of Planned Parenthood.
Tufts resident assistants voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to form a union. The 99–3 vote, representing a 72% turnout from RAs, established the United Labor of Tufts Residents Assistants under the Local 153 branch of the Office and Professional Employees International Union, a union of over 100,000 workers nationwide.
The Tufts Labor Coalition is currently running a petition to address the decreasing quality of the dining centers’ baked goods and to earn fairer hours for Tufts baker Melissa Lee over winter recess.
Tufts has announced a plan to begin construction on a new residence hall on Boston Avenue next year, with hopes of completing it by fall 2025. The new seven story building will be open to juniors and seniors only and will house 398 Tufts students in apartment-style units.
