Opinion

Worse than Piracy

Letter from the Editor

Hannah Furgang | The Tim Tam Slam

Clown(fish)ing around: Unraveling the mystery of the masked class-crasher

A week before Thanksgiving, Tufts was visited by a strange, mysterious occurrence: Reports claiming sightings of a clownfish creature on campus abounded. Facebook statuses discussed the clownfish's crashing of different classes — throwing popcorn into a lecture hall in one instance, stirring a pot of goldfish in another, reciting "French" poetry in yet another. Questions were raised about the clownfish: Who is he? A Tufts student? (Maybe.) Someone with too much free time on his hands? (Not exactly.) A really weird person? (Oh, most definitely.) More importantly, why was he literally running around campus (specifically into classes and out of them) engaging in random shenanigans? Recently, we caught up with him, a Mr. Eric Sinski of the Class of 2012, and in an exclusive interview, he laid to rest our most pressing questions.

Navigating the complexities of discrimination and religious freedom

Two points of pride for Tufts have always been our liberality and the diversity of our student body. As students of Tufts, we are thankful for the communities around us that challenge us to grow. Tufts has always been a place where we have felt the freedom to express ourselves, the freedom to agree and disagree with others and the freedom to live out our religion on campus without being discriminated against for our beliefs.

Letter from the editor

At the start of my freshman year, I attended the Daily general interest meeting. While looking at the — somewhat intimidating — upperclassmen leaders of the paper at the front of the room, I wondered: Why on earth would anyone in their right mind want to run a daily college newspaper? I had a busy enough time at my high school newspaper, which only put out an issue every two weeks.

WinterFest underwhelms

This weekend's WinterFest looked nothing like the winter wonderland that the Programming Board promised us at the end of last semester. Back when the event was first announced, students were promised attractions such as a tubing course, a snow sculpture competition, a smores station and a heated tent featuring a DJ.

Chris Poldoian | Extra Butter

Guys, I'm freaking out. My first exam is this week, and I'm going to fail. All those hours of Facebooking, YouTubing and stress−cooking have finally come back to haunt me. I am overloaded and underprepared for my assignments!

Precautions needed to prevent disruptions in Trunk availability

Beginning at around noon on Monday, students across campus attempted to log onto their courses' Trunk sites, only to find the entire system inaccessible. They were met with a link that notified students of technical problems and service wasn't restored until 1:30 a.m. the next day.

Amanda Johnson | Senior Moments

I have a confession to make: I don't hate finals. In fact, perhaps due to some strange cerebral masochism, I find the dash toward the end of each semester oddly enjoyable.

Production of Tufts statue should include students

Last Sunday, the TCU Senate approved 11 out of 12 proposals for surplus grants, with a total of $167,900 distributed to various student groups and causes. The surplus grants came out of unspent Student Activity Fee funds, with the remnants being rolled over into next year's surplus.

Letter to the Editor

Prashanth Parameswaran | The Asianist

L ast Tuesday, I squeezed into an overflowing Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Auditorium to hear a lecture by the famous linguist and social critic, Institute Professor of Linguistics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Noam Chomsky, entitled "Democracy in America and Abroad."

Truth in comedy

"Rumors of Extramarital Affair End Campaign of Presidential Candidate Who Didn't Know China Has Nuclear Weapons," the Onion recently "reported." While the Onion is a satirical news organization, this comedic headline perfectly puts Herman Cain's presidential campaign into perspective. The former CEO of Godfather's Pizza ran his race to the White House as a Washington outsider, a fact that became explicitly clear after a multitude of televised political blunders.

A lukewarm WinterFest

When former University President Lawrence Bacow announced last March that the Naked Quad Run (NQR) would not continue, a committee of Programming Board members and Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senators set to work selecting an event to celebrate the end of fall semester classes. The event decided upon, WinterFest, was to feature a tubing course, a snow sculpture competition, a smores station and a heated tent featuring a DJ.

A good allocation

The upcoming Spring Fling stands to be a more star-studded affair than in years past. The Tufts Community Union ( TCU) Senate Allocations Board allocated $65,000 in buffer funds to Programming Board for the Spring Fling budget last Sunday. The amount is up from the $25,000 the Programming Board requested and is an addition to the annual $85,000 reserved for Spring Fling. Therefore, the budget for Spring Fling this year has jumped to $150,000, up from the usual $110,000.

Transgender rights bill should have gone further

Earlier this month, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law the Transgender Equal Rights Bill, which outlaws discrimination against transgender individuals in education, housing, employment and credit. The law also updates the language of the state's hate crime laws to protect transgender individuals.

Prashanth Parameswaran | The Asianist

During the Cuban Missile Crisis in the heat of the Cold War, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was reportedly convinced that an air strike and invasion to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba would be "one hell of a gamble." Though the circumstances are notably different, that about sums up the level of risk U.S. President Barack Obama and others are now taking on Burma.

Hannah Furgang | The Tim Tam Slam

Welcome back, railroad track! I hope you all had a restful, guestful, turkey−breastful Thanksgiving. Whether you went home, stayed on campus or told your parents you were staying on campus only to tear it up at Billy's suburban Massachusetts crib, at least you got a break from the world of academia. Except for Saturday morning when you still had to complete MasteringBiology. What's that all about?

UC Davis police acted improperly

Responses to the Occupy movement have varied from community to community, with some protesters facing harsher crackdowns than others. One college campus that witnessed one such crackdown is the University of California (UC), Davis.