The Somerville City Council unanimously passed an ordinance protecting the rights of individuals seeking gender-affirming care on June 9. The ordinance prohibits City of Somerville law enforcement from helping to enforce laws enacted by other states that prevent individuals from accessing gender-affirming care.
Kyongbum Lee, dean ad interim of the School of Engineering, has been chosen to become the school’s next dean following a national search to fill the position, as announced in an email to the Arts, Sciences and Engineering community on June 28. Lee’s term begins July 1.
University President Anthony Monaco sat down with the Daily to discuss Tufts’ ongoing expansion, pandemic response, mental health and diversity, among other topics. Monaco also offered updates on the university’s finances and outlined his goals for the remaining year of his presidency.
Jaden Pena was elected as the next president of the Tufts Community Union on April 27. He will serve as TCU president for the 2022–23 academic year.
Residents of 18 units on month-to-month leases in The Bradlee Apartments, an apartment building in Medford Square, were given notice in late March that they had 30 days to permanently vacate their homes so that the building’s new property managers could renovate the units. The time frame was extended to 60 days after advocacy by city staff — placing the final move-out deadline in late May — but affected tenants said that was still too little time to find new housing and that local and state agencies were largely unhelpful.
The Medford branch of the MBTA’s Green Line Extension — which includes a stop on College Avenue, adjacent to the Tufts campus — is on track to open this summer after a slew of delays.
National newspaper chain Gannett plans to cease print publication of 19 weekly papers in eastern Massachusetts and merge another nine papers into four, beginning this month. Tufts’ host communities will have their papers — the Medford Transcript and the Somerville Journal — merged into one. The combined paper will still be distributed in print weekly.
Editor’s note: The 2018–19, 2019–20 and 2020–21 recaps in this article are reprinted from the2020–21 Commencement Issue of the Daily.
The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life has worked this year to integrate civic engagement into higher education, private and public institutions and active community involvement. Under the leadership of Dayna Cunningham, who just concluded her first academic year as dean, Tisch College has been focusing its research and initiatives on building a multiracial democracy through civic education. The college houses several research institutes, hosts events and leads an array of community initiatives, all of which progressed in their work amid the turbulence of the past year.
Editor’s note: Mouhab Rizkallah, owner of LaCourt Realty LLC, sued Alexander Janoff, the Daily’s editor in chief, and Emily Thompson, a deputy news editor, in March 2022 over the Daily’s coverage of the LaCourt Tenants Union. The case was later dismissed with prejudice. Janoff and Thompson were not involved in the reporting or writing of this article.
As the Class of 2025 finishes its first year on campus, three members of the University Chaplaincy staff are also able to look back at their first year at Tufts. Buddhist Chaplain Ji Hyang Padma and Humanist Chaplain Anthony Cruz Pantojas joined the chaplaincy in summer 2021, while Muslim Chaplain Najiba Akbar started in fall 2021. The three chaplains reflected on their first year in interviews with the Daily.
The Tufts University Police Department has made reforms related to arming and mental health under the new leadership of Yolanda Smith, the first Black woman to directly oversee TUPD. The reforms, which have been met with mixed reception, stem from suggestions made by the WorkingGroup on Campus Safety and Policing which was assembled as part of the Tufts as an Anti-Racist Institution initiative.
Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey (H’19) and White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy (AG’81) visited Tufts to discuss measures in combating climate change on April 29.
The Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion announced a new identity center for Indigenous students at Tufts last fall, following recommendations from a workstream report the university published in early 2021. More recently, the university hired Vernon Miller to direct the center.
Professor of Philosophy Erin Kelly won a Pulitzer Prize in the biography category for “Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South” (2022),which Kelly co-authored with Winfred Rembert, the biography’s subject. Rembert, who died in 2021, received the prize posthumously.
Students and community members protested a Raytheon BBN career event hosted by the School of Engineering in Halligan Hall on May 2. The protest was the second demonstration against a defense contractor on Tufts’ campus in less than a week.
Tufts will continue to require indoor masking through May 31, according to a May 3 email from University Infection Control Health Director Michael Jordan. The university will also transition from required COVID-19 surveillance testing to voluntary testing on May 6.
The Somerville School Committee voted on April 25 to approve Real Life Learning Center’s application to establish a K–8 private school. The vote came after a months-long standoff between Somerville’s subcommittee on Education Programs and Instruction and Vida Real Church, the founders of RLLC, who say they were unfairly targeted based on their religious beliefs.
With 58% of the vote, Jaden Pena won the Tufts Community Union Senate presidential election on April 26–27. Both referendums on the ballot passed this year: one in favor of giving TCU the power to establish additional community senator seats, the other in favor of permitting the addition of two Indigenous community senator seats.
The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life recognized the service and leadership of 19 undergraduate and graduate students with Presidential Awards for Civic Life at an April 22 ceremony in Breed Memorial Hall. Amber Asumda, Claudia Guetta, Emma Downs, Jay-Miguel Fonticella, Leanne Loo and Maycon Santos, all seniors, are this year’s undergraduate winners. Ricardo Moreno, Delia Burns, Lark Escobar,Avis Carrero, Logan Schwartz, Iris Montes, Joshua McLinden, Qimei Liu,Cora Evans, Charles Christopher Hines III, Anshelle Reen Tucker, Tara Ahmadi and Alex Coston are this year’s graduate winners.
