A committee of faculty, staff and students recently revised the application for Tufts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences to make it more equitable and accessible for the 2022 admissions cycle. The committee's work was a project of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences’ Anti-Racist Working Group.
Proposed legislation to reform the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program is currently under review in the Massachusetts state legislature by the Joint Committee on Revenue. Bill H.3080, which was filed in February 2021 by State Representative Erika Uyterhoeven of Somerville, would give municipalities the option to opt into a PILOT payment program requiring property tax-exempt organizations with more than $15 million in property holdings, such as Tufts University, to pay the city or town the equivalent of 25% of what their property tax would be were they not tax exempt.
Accomplished artist and longtime educator Margaret Rose Vendryes will become the next dean of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in June, theuniversity announcedlast month. Vendryes was chosen following a months-long search that began after the school's inaugural dean, Nancy Bauer, announced she wasstepping down last May.
Tufts University modified their COVID-19 policies for the winter of 2021 and now the spring of 2022 athletic season for all sports teams and clubs. Nowadays, athletes no longer need to take rapid COVID-19 tests on competition days, which was required during the spring 2021 athletic season. Additionally, spectators who are vaccinated and masked are allowed to attend indoor varsity games once again.
With the Supreme Court poised to consider the fate of affirmative action later this year, experts say the decision could have wide-reaching effects on the number of Black and Hispanic students admitted to selective schools. But administrators at Tufts said the possible end of affirmative action will not thwart the university’s commitment to building a student body that’s more diverse.
On Feb. 11, the Data Intensive Studies Center launched its 2022 Art Datathon with a “What Does Feminist Data Science Look Like?” lecture from Catherine D’Ignazio, assistant professor of urban science and planning at MIT, director of the Data + Feminism Lab and co-author of the book “Data Feminism” (2020).
The Tufts Community Union Senate heard supplementary funding requests on Sunday afternoon in the Sophia Gordon Hall Multipurpose Room.
University President Anthony Monaco will step down as president of Tufts in summer 2023, concluding a 12-year tenure.
Since the start of the spring semester, hundreds of undergraduate students on the Medford/Somerville campus have tested positive for COVID-19, and many of them have been required to isolate in one of the modular housing units on the Vouté Tennis Courts. Many will be familiar with the procedure by now: After testing positive, students have 90 minutes to corral their linens and toiletries, pack their suitcases and make the trek to their assigned unit.
As COVID-19 infection rates start to decline in Massachusetts, Tufts and other Boston-area universities have seen a relaxation of restrictions to academic and social activities.
A group of 20 tenants, organizers and local supporters holding signs reading “Somervillain” and “LaCourt Lies” marched from the Davis Square T stop to the office of Mouhab Rizkallah, owner of LaCourt Realty and The Braces Place in Somerville, on Feb. 3. The protesters, organized by the LaCourt Tenants Union, demanded Rizkallah withdraw his lawsuit against former LaCourt tenant Alona Brosh, whom he has sued for $28,875 of “unpaid rent,” according to a demand letter to LaCourt Realty. Brosh was not present at the protest and did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
In an email to the Tufts community on Jan. 20, the Office of the President announced some of the recommendations that a committee of Tufts administrators and board members, Hillel International andTCC Group, an external consulting firm that implements social impact solutions, proposed after conducting an assessment of the prevalence of antisemitism on Tufts' campus. To address the concerning findings, University President Anthony Monaco shared a number of proposed solutions ranging from further education and bias awareness programs to the creation of a university-wide council of faculty and staff to advise the senior leadership team.
For at least three years, concerned Somerville residents have urged city hall to repair and restore damaged walkways in Davis Square. The walkways, which are primarily made of brick, are rife with missing bricks, potholes and uneven ground.
Morgan Harper (A'05) is running for the open U.S. Senate seat in Ohio. The primary for this race is scheduled for May 3, and the general election will be held on Nov. 8.
Following the surge of the omicron variant of COVID-19, Tufts is now conducting exclusively virtual campus tours and information sessions with a planned return to in-person programming on Feb. 14. Despite this setback, admissions officials report that recent applicants have been satisfied with the university's virtual offerings.
Tisch College's Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) released its 2022 Youth Electoral Significance Index (YESI) data showing the impact of the youth vote on the 2022 electoral races.
A bill proposed last year in the Massachusetts state legislature would enact a five-year moratorium on the design and construction of prisons and jails in Massachusetts. The bill was reported out favorably from the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight on Jan. 24 and is now being considered by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, bringing it one step closer to Governor Charlie Baker's desk.
Approximately 70 members of the Tufts community came together for five hours of discussion, reflection and community service activities as part of the 2022 MLK Day of Community Action on Feb. 5. The event, part of a series of chaplaincy events over the past month reflecting on the legacy and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was made possible through the University Chaplaincy and supported in part by the Arthur Vining Davis Interfaith Civic Studies Grant.
Boston-area schools are seeing some variations in their COVID-19 policies now that thousands of college students have returned for the spring semester. At Tufts and other colleges and universities in the area, academic and social precautions continue to shift as infection rates fall from their latest peak. Most recently, Tufts decreased surveillance frequency from every other day to two times per week for all students, beginning Feb. 7.
A proposal to amend the Massachusetts constitutionto impose a 4% surtax on earnings above $1 million would raise about $1.3 billion in 2023, the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts’ Tisch College said in a nonpartisan report released on Jan. 13. Massachusetts citizens will vote on the amendment on Nov. 8.
