Viewpoint

The normalization of AI use is making students blind to its larger impacts

By Olivia Zambrano | May 15

Many conversations I’ve had with my peers regarding AI use have resulted in questions about whether foregoing AI would make any real difference if ‘everyone else’ would be using it anyway. While, unfortunately, they are correct about the sheer amount of students that use AI — a staggering 64% — they are misguided in their assumption that one fewer student using AI would not make a positive impact.

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Editorial

Editorial: Reflecting on the end of another academic year

By The Editorial Board | May 14

In the past, the last editorial piece of the year has reflected on the end of the academic year, hopes for change in the Tufts administration, suggestions for improving the college experience and aspirations for the future. As the semester comes to a close, we’d like to reflect on current events concerning the university.

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Viewpoint

Birthright citizenship and the violation of the Constitution

By Monica Reilly | May 14

Since President Donald Trump’s initial campaign for the 2016 presidential election, anti-immigrant rhetoric has been baked into his promises. His “build the wall” promise took the country by storm, coupled with claims that “illegal aliens” were bringing crime and taking jobs. He even called for a “Muslim Ban,” claiming that a complete denial of entry to anyone from countries with a history of terrorism — akin to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 — would make the United States safer.

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Guest

Op-ed: Your civic life continues

By Dayna Cunningham | May 13

Commencement is a natural time for reflection, to look back on your years at Tufts and anticipate what’s next. Your time on our campuses has been marked by profound change and upheaval, locally, nationally and around the world. Those challenges — and the corresponding opportunities — will continue, new ones will emerge and you are ready.  

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Guest

Op-ed: Setting the record straight on Tufts’ financial aid practices

By JT Duck and Meaghan Hardy Smith | April 27

The Tufts Daily’s investigative article on financial aid (“Tufts students face midyear financial aid cuts, miscommunication from administration,” April 23) provides an incomplete and misleading picture of the state of financial aid at Tufts University. While we always want to hear from families when they have concerns about financial aid and while student perspectives are essential to understanding their lived experiences, it is also important that news articles on these topics accurately reflect institutional context and regulatory requirements. In this case, the articleomitsor does not fully explain the following important information, all of which was provided to the Daily prior to publication.

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Opinion

Op-ed: Dining politics: How a change in catering companies could be a sign of university-wide financial decision

By Diego Davila Gil | April 24

Food Fair, the crown jewel of Tufts Orientation week, is the first chance for all of the Tufts dining locations to show incoming students what they’ve got, and every spot pulls out all the stops. Kindlevan Café smoothies, Fresh at Carmichael Dining Center salmon and Hodgdon quesadillas all meet in this event that students keep talking about and never see again, yet there’s an unsung hero responsible for the whole thing: Tufts Catering.

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Opinion

So you need to take a leave of absence — what now?

By Erin Walenta | April 24

At a school like Tufts, where everyone seems to have it all figured out, alternative paths are not always discussed, or at least not openly. It can seem like there is one ‘correct’ way to have a Tufts experience, and that is to complete all eight semesters consecutively, graduate and either enter the workforce or continue in higher education. Or, even better, graduate early! However, for some students, this is not a feasible plan, and that is why Tufts offers a variety of different paths toward degree completion, including the option to take a personal leave of absence.

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Editorial

Editorial: Evaluating diversity at Tufts post-affirmative action

By The Editorial Board | April 24

On June 29, 2023, Anthony Monaco, Tufts’ outgoing president, and incoming president Sunil Kumar co-signed a message sent to the entire Tufts community. In this email, the two addressed breaking news coming out of the Supreme Court: Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard had been decided in favor of the plaintiff, ending affirmative action at private universities across the United States. Both Monaco and Kumar stressed that Tufts had advocated against this decision, and they stayed true to the Tufts spirit, stating,“we must—and we will—respect the law, but nothing the court said today will change our institutional values and our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.” Now, almost three years later, we as the editorial board want to evaluate whether Tufts has stayed true to its ethos.

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Viewpoint

A dark age descending: Kansas legislation robs trans people of their bodily autonomy

By Michaela Loughran | April 24

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, it sent shock waves across the nation. How was it that the federal government was depriving women of their hard-won right to make decisions about their own bodies? What kind of dark age was descending upon us? It is safe to say that times have not gotten better since then, but now there is another kind of bodily autonomy crisis upon us. Earlier this year, the Kansas state legislature passed a blatantly transphobic new law which forbids transgender people from using public restrooms associated with their gender identity on government property. The law says individuals may receive a warning on their first violation, but for a second violation, they are required to pay a $1,000 fine. For a third violation, they receive a Class B misdemeanor, which in Kansas is punishable by up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.

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Column

Another Bites The Dust: Finding love in K-pop is cancel-worthy

By Jachin Lam | April 24

When talking about fan-celebrity culture, K-pop fans, particularly the “ARMY” (BTS’s fanbase), do not have the best reputation online. Many of them would go to great lengths online for their favorite group or idols. However, it is also a norm within that culture for K-pop idols to appear ‘single’ for their fans. So when they get caught being in a relationship, scandal ensues. As a long-time participant in these fanbases, I wanted to use EXO’s Chen’s cancellation to highlight this phenomenon and what it says about parasocial relationships, because obsessive fan behavior is not exclusive to K-pop, especially when we live in a loneliness epidemic where people are desperate to seek out any form of attachment, even with someone on a screen.  

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Guest

Op-ed: Invest in our future, vote Brendan French for TCU president

By Caroline Spahr, Alexander Vang and Iman Boulouah | April 23

When considering who should serve as Tufts Community Union president, the most important question is simple: Who can you depend on? Brendan French is dependable, well-rounded and consistently willing to do the work that keeps the student government running. He not only has plans, but works to ensure that they happen and keeps his promises.

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Guest

Op-ed: Solo travel for the career-oriented

By Soeren Euvrard | April 23

You are a career-oriented college student. You have an idea of what you want to do after senior year, and it seems pretty difficult. Additionally, job prospects are slim. You have a big world map in your room with little pins marking places you want to live, and the longer you stare, the more you realize you’ll never have the time to properly live in all these places. You decide to take a full year to do whatever you want. Senior week comes, you graduate and off you go.

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Guest

Op-ed: An ode to Tufts

By Daniel Bethke | April 23

To be blunt, Tufts was not my first choice. If we assign even a modicum of truth to the Tufts stereotypes, this problem was by no means unique to me. Because of this, I came to question my position and my ‘belonging’ here during my first year. I convinced myself I would have been happier elsewhere. This was not so much a ‘grass is always greener elsewhere’ mentality as it was a ‘grass is always yellow here’ mentality. Yet, in my final semester, I say with conviction and candor that I’m truly glad I ended up here. This university isn’t perfect, but it possesses several idiosyncrasies for which I am deeply grateful. 

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Guest

Op-ed: What 12 first-years taught us about the university’s role

By Jacob Ackiron and Asaf Grofman | April 23

There is a national conversation on the role of the university in American life. Here at Tufts, it revolves around whether universities should have a political agenda, how students should relate to one another and the best way to engage students with the curriculum given the constraints of our times. We are graduating seniors who spent the last semester teaching an Experimental College class on the American presidency to 12 first-years. This experience gave us a view into some of these core and pertinent themes. Here is what we learned.

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Viewpoint

Disney’s never-ending prequels, sequels, remakes

By Jachin Lam | April 21

From the upcoming live-action “Moana” (2026) to “Toy Story 5” (2026) releasing this summer, Disney’s roster is filled with endless sequels, prequels and remakes. Much of the public perception of this creative decision has been negative, with many complaining that the films are full of nostalgia bait or are simply easy cash grabs for the company. Yet, these films have generated billions of dollars for the corporation. So, is this fatigue really the public’s dominant view? And is this phenomenon going away anytime soon?

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Column

Through Indigenous Eyes: Slowly but surely

By Sorsha Khitikian | April 16

This semester, I have tackled relevant, breaking news stories as they have occurred. From the Bad Bunny Superbowl Halftime Show to the horrific acts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the immediate issues of the day have been my major focus. While I believe this coverage is vital, I also recognize that the vast majority of Indigenous issues lie beneath the surface because they have remained issues for years, decades, even centuries. Progress on these issues happens in spurts and often is covered through a non-Indigenous lens. As this is my last column for this semester, I want to bring attention to one of those issues: NAGPRA, or the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act.

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Column

The Death of Education: The death of vocational education

By Evan Wang | April 16

I’m sure for a wide variety of students my age, our high school experience was dominated by a never-ending focus on preparing for college applications. The endless SAT tests, AP credits and college counseling all tell us there is only one real path forward after high school: college or university. But there has always been other choices. One of these choices, which has increasingly disappeared from the public eye, is vocational education.

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