More than 10 public school districts in the Greater Boston area, including Somerville Public Schools, either called snow days or had delayed openings during the week of Jan. 3 in order to catch up on COVID-19 testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) distribution.
Espresso Pizza, the Boston Ave. restaurant popular among Tufts students, announced in a Dec. 21 Facebook post that it was permanently closing its doors after over 40 years in business.In an earlier post from Dec. 17, Patty More, the owner of Espresso,wrote that she was retiring.
The Somerville Board of Healthsuspended a virtual public meeting Fridayafter dozens of protestors interrupted deliberations and prevented a vote on an order that would have required individuals 12 and older to show proof of vaccination before entering select indoor spaces in the city starting Monday.
Tufts updated its masking and testing guidelines for the spring semester in an email sent to the Tufts community on Jan. 2. The email announced that cloth masks are no longer permitted on Tufts’ campuses.
Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne was inaugurated on Jan. 3 during a virtual ceremony and subsequently released her agenda for her first 100 days in office on Jan. 12. The reception that typically follows a mayoral inauguration was postponed to the spring, when a civic celebration will be held.
Classes will be conducted virtually through Friday, Jan. 24 for students in the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and The Fletcher School.
In an email to the Tufts community on Sunday, Jan. 2, Provost and interim Senior Vice President Caroline Attardo Genco, University Infection Control Health Director Michael Jordan and Executive Vice President Mike Howard confirmed an in-person start to the spring semester and announced new public health guidelines the university will implement in response to the current steep increase in COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts and the United States. These protocols include an increase in testing frequency, a return to individual PCR testing and a shift to grab-and-go dining only.
In an email to the Tufts community on Thursday, the deans of the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering, as well as Dean Nancy Bauer of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Dean of Student Affairs Camille Lizarríbar and University Infection Control Health Director Michael Jordan announced that all final exams will be conducted virtually effective Friday, Dec. 17 at 9 p.m., and urged students to leave campus for their winter break destinations as soon as possible.
University President Anthony Monaco announced in February that Tufts would prohibit direct investments in 120 coal and tar sands companies. In addition, the university committed to investing between $10 to 25 million in positive impact funds, which seek to make a positive environmental impact in addition to generating a return on investment over the next five years. These efforts to advance sustainability come after demands from student groups, faculty and a Responsible Investment Advisory Group (RIAG) to divest from fossil fuels. This semester, the Tufts Investment Office has continued to pursue these goals, publishing a website and dashboard with updates on their progress and explanations of how the endowment functions.
A study by Tisch College’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) examined how teens below the voting age engage with social media in ways that encourage political engagement and activism. The survey, conducted from September to November of 2020 and published in October of 2021, found that teens who engage in media creation about social and political issues feel politically informed and empowered to engage in political conversations.
Tufts reported 463 cases of COVID-19 across campuses this semester, or approximately 33 per week, according to Patrick Collins, Tufts executive director of media relations. This represents a 12.6% decrease in the number of cases compared to last spring, when the university reported 530 cases.
COVID-19 vaccine boosters will be strongly recommended — but not yet required — for students across Tufts’ campuses, university officials told the Daily last week. Testing frequency and pandemic protocols are also currently expected to remain unchanged going into the Spring semester.
After Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker decided not to run for a third term in the 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial election, the Daily sat down with one of the election’s Democratic hopefuls, Tufts alumnus and former adjunct professor Ben Downing (AG’08) to discuss his platform and goals for transportation and environmental justice in the state.
Throughout her career, Ayse Asatekin, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at Tufts University, has sought to use filters to prevent illness and protect the environment. One mineral that performs this function is fluoride, which results in dental and skeletal fluorosis. Fluorosis is a degradation of bones or teeth that happens when fluoride is consumed in excess quantities at a young age. Now, Asatekin has finally found a solution to filtering fluoride out of water.
The Dean of Student Affairs Office released itsannual report detailing community standards violations of the 2020–2021 academic year last week, including 2,058 alleged violations of the Fall 2020 Campus Guide. Tufts' current report lists 2,056 violations due to an error and will be updated shortly, according to Lindsay Ferguson, Tufts’ assistant director of community standards. The document, which summarizes complaints against undergraduate students, graduate students and student organizations across the School of Arts & Sciences, the School of Engineering and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, disclosed 3,994 allegations of overall misconduct during the 2020–21 academic year.
The Tufts Community Union Senate heard supplementary funding requests, held internal elections and reflected on its work this fall during its last meeting of the semester on Sunday, Dec. 5.
The Tufts University Department of Music sent an email on Nov. 5 notifying students that the Granoff Music Center would be altering its policies regarding personal protective equipment. Now, students warned three times for not using proper PPE in the Granoff practice rooms will have their access to the practice rooms revoked until the end of the semester.
Ericka Miranda and Allison Vander Broek joined the advising team as senior academic advisors for the School of Arts and Sciences on Nov. 1. They replace Tara Zantow, who now serves as the senior academic advisor for the School of Engineering.
Massachusetts colleges have seen a rapid increase in public health programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of applications to the Tufts University School of Medicine's Master of Public Health program increased threefold.
The omicron variant, the newest COVID-19 strain, may be more contagious but cause milder symptoms than other coronavirus variants, a new study suggests. Venky Soundararajan, a bioengineer who co-wrote the study, explained to the Washington Post that as viruses evolve to become more widespread, symptoms generally become less severe. Still, researchers caution that more information is needed about the novel variant.
