Opinion

Viewpoint

Reading for pleasure shouldn’t mean reading to get off

By Sorsha Khitikian | September 22

BookTok is difficult to describe. It is, in its earliest form, a forum that originated on TikTok for people to talk about books across social media. Now, though, BookTok has developed into the be-all and end-all of readership opinion. If a book is popular on BookTok, then it is virtually guaranteed to sell well; if BookTok doesn’t popularize it, then it’ll fade into the noise.

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Editorial

Editorial: Who are we?

By The Editorial Board | September 18

Since 2022, the Daily has published 35 collectively written opinion pieces on issues relevant to Tufts students under what is called the Editorial Board. But what does this board entail, and why does its position matter? We, the Daily’s seventh Editorial Board, believe it is time to finally define who we are, what we do and why our work within the Daily matters.

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Viewpoint

The revolution will not be televised: How media suppresses protest coverage

By Monica Reilly | September 18

As counterintuitive as it may sound, protest, revolt and revolution are embedded in American culture. Our very country was founded on the American Revolution, with radical acts like the Boston Tea Party celebrated by our founding fathers. Suffragists endured hunger strikes and prison sentences just so women could secure the right to vote. Civil rights leaders organized bus boycotts so effectively that the very legislation surrounding them changed. Disability activists staged sit-ins in politicians’ offices for weeks on end to advocate for laws protecting disabled people. These acts of resistance are now remembered as honorable acts of courage, necessary for the development of our country. That same support, however, has not been extended to modern movements.

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Viewpoint

Colonialism’s unlikely successor: Religious mission trips in Central and South America

By Olivia Zambrano | September 18

As a native Texan, I’ve spent my fair share of time at Christian overnight camps, where many of my former bunkmates gradually shifted their summer plans from Bible study and kayaking to religious mission trips. These missionaries, predominantly white and Christian, waste no time posting on Instagram to commemorate the end of their missions. They often capitalize upon South American communities and exploit their interactions with children to garner empathy and praise from their peers without the consent of the families they work with.

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Guest

Op-ed: In honor of Charlie Kirk

By Tufts Republicans | September 16

We were all left shaken by the assassination of Charlie Kirk on Wednesday afternoon. To many of us, Charlie was more than a national figure on the news. He was a role model, a source of inspiration and a living example of what it means to stand for one’s beliefs with respect and conviction.

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Viewpoint

Wake up, America

By Evan Wang | September 16

Just this past week, conservative organizer and internet personality Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University while holding a political event. No matter your political leanings or personal beliefs, we should all agree that the assassination of a political figure of this magnitude is and should always be utterly unacceptable in these United States of America.

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Guest

Op-ed: Tufts' Deafening Silence

By Fletcher Alumni for Palestine | September 12

How many wounded, starving and murdered Palestinians do we need to bear witness to before those in power actually take action? As Tufts University community members, as activists and scholars and as human beings, we are horror-struck by the ongoing genocide being perpetrated against Palestinians by ...

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Opinion

Op-ed: Reentry success for incarcerated individuals isn’t what you think

By B. Arneson, Noble Williams, Bridget Conley and Bobby Iacoviello | September 8

What “successful reentry” looks like for individuals transitioning from correctional facilities to life post-release is often treated as self-evident: It means not going back to jail or prison, a measure commonly termed, “recidivism.” But people who have been incarcerated and are rebuilding their lives know that successful reentry requires community-building.

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Guest

Letter from the Editor in Chief: A Jumbo welcome to the Hill

By Dylan Fee | September 2

Welcome back, Jumbos! And to the newly-matriculated Class of 2029: Welcome to Tufts! My name is Dylan Fee, and I am excited to introduce myself as the new editor in chief of The Tufts Daily. I would like to take a moment to acquaint you with the Daily and our incredible team.

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Viewpoint

Can my ignorance be blissful?

By Sadie Roraback-Meagher | September 2

Once I submitted my last final and the freedom of summer washed over me, I made a radical decision: I would not spend a single second of break doomscrolling. Pulling out my deteriorating phone, I gleefully deleted all my social media apps, committing myself to saving my attention span and being morally superior to my peers. But it only took one 40-minute layover on my flight home for me to supplement my need to scroll with another vice: obsessively checking the news. 

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Viewpoint

Exercise your freedom to say the wrong thing

By Liam Chalfonte | September 2

There’s a special kind of anxiety I feel sitting in a room full of students, suspended in the silence between a professor’s question and the first raised hand. As I’ve spent the past week preparing to teach a class as part of Tufts’ Explorations program — a part of our Experimental College in which upper-level students instruct incoming first-years about a topic of their choice and help them adjust to college — I’ve been thinking, and worrying, about that dreaded silence. Why, in so many classrooms full of skilled learners, is this such a familiar phenomenon?

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Viewpoint

Pop Princess 101: Sabrina Carpenter’s new album isn’t the feminist serve you think it is

By Olivia Zambrano | September 2

The media that individuals consume dictates their views on society. The average individual sees more than 5,000 advertisements per day, each of which has the power to shape their beliefs, attitudes and expectations. Hence, it’s imperative that popular media uplifts marginalized groups, rather than confining them to stereotypes that can normalize sexism, racism or homophobia. Gender stereotypes have persisted in popular media, from sexist portrayals of women in 20th century advertisements to their depictions in movies and music today. Although the representation of empowered women has increased, gender-restrictive stereotypes and the objectification of women are still prominent in popular media today.

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Guest

Op-ed: ‘Even God cannot hear us here’: What I witnessed inside an ICE women’s prison

By Rumeysa Ozturk | July 17

On a Tuesday in March, I had spent most of my day working on my dissertation proposal and started to feel exhausted and hungry. It was the holy month of Ramadan, and I was fasting. Once finished, I quickly got ready to attend an iftar dinner, throwing on my hoodie, sweatpants and a jersey headscarf — definitely not a day for being fancy. I was looking forward to taking a short walk and catching up with friends at the Interfaith Center, when I was suddenly surrounded and grabbed by a swarm of masked individuals, who handcuffed me and shoved me into an unmarked car.

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Guest

Letter from the Editor in Chief: Congratulations, Class of 2025

By Arghya Thallapragada | May 16

Dear Class of 2025 and the Tufts community, congratulations on an impressive finish to your undergraduate journey here at Tufts. All of your hard work has culminated in this moment of celebration and accomplishment. Your contributions over the years, in the classroom, on the field and in the studio, have enriched the Tufts community and our collegiate experience. Thank you.

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Column

The Conversation: Tufts has been tough. Will you be?

By Evan Wang and Sadie Roraback-Meagher | May 16

Sadie Roraback-Meagher: Heya Evan! Evan Wang: Hey, Sadie. How’s your semester winding down? Sadie: “Winding” doesn’t seem very fitting. A better question would be: How is it crashing down in flames? Evan: Wow, I sure am going to miss your pessimism this summer. What will I do ...

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Editorial

Editorial: Appreciating the little things — Tufts’ many roses

By The Editorial Board | May 16

Tufts students spend upward of 200 days each year at school. While it often feels like so much is going wrong in our world, both near and far, we want to make your time here more enjoyable by drawing attention to some of our favorite parts about life on the Hill.

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Viewpoint

Looking back on three years of writing about the war in Ukraine

By Mariia Kudina | May 15

When I came to Tufts in the fall of 2022, I was still in shock from the start of the full-scale invasion of my home country, Ukraine. I was exhausted by uncertainty watching the horrific news unfold, not yet knowing how to cope with the daily tragedies caused by the bombings and fighting on the frontline. Speaking up about the war on social media was helping me to feel less powerless. When I heard about the Daily, I realized that writing for the newspaper would be another great way to raise awareness about the war — a tool to turn my frustration into helpful actions. At first I was not sure that I would find support for a column about Ukraine. However, from the very first meeting in the Opinion section I felt encouraged to express my reflections about the war, and this support helped me tremendously to gain the courage to share my personal, often traumatic experiences through my writing.

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Viewpoint

Scientists need to stop playing God

By Olivia Zambrano | May 15

More than 47,000 species are currently threatened with extinction. Just last year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List reported five newly extinct species and five others moved to the critically endangered list. Scientists from Dallas-based biotech company Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences are working to revive extinct animals in order to “jumpstart nature’s accestral heartbeat.” However, its choices in animals are questionable: Tasmanian tigers, mammoths, dire wolves and dodo birds. Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences’ mission, although a marvel of modern technology, is a shoddy attempt to restore balance to mother nature without addressing humanity’s failure to protect animals that went extinct in the last decade.

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Viewpoint

Where will the light on Walnut Hill shine next?

By Kunal Botla | May 15

Over the past few months, I, like so many others, have been thinking a lot about what it means to be getting a liberal arts education. At a time when the world is changing with the advent of new technologies, changing markets and constant commentary from family friends that artificial intelligence will leave us unemployed: “Why liberal arts?” is a question that has become even more important.

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Guest

Letter from the Editors: The Tufts Daily Diversity & Inclusion Report, 2024–25

By Ethics and Inclusion Committee | May 14

The 2024–25 Diversity & Inclusion Report continues the Daily’s effort to gather insights into the composition of our staff and their experiences in our organization. The report was created by a group of Daily staff members under the purview of the paper’s Ethics & Inclusion Committee, formerly known as the Intentionality & Inclusivity Committee. The Daily is committed to upholding accuracy and inclusivity in our coverage and fostering an equitable environment for all staff. We seek to continually move the organization forward by improving our internal and external facing practices. To this end, the Ethics & Inclusion Committee has compiled this third annual report to offer transparency into our newsroom, identify ways in which we can work to better inform our coverage and assess how to make the Daily more inclusive and representative of the communities we serve and cover.

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