Opinion

Editorial Cartoon: April 14th, 2015

The 8th Step of Genocide

As an Armenian, I have been asked several times what Kim, Kanye, North and the rest of the Kardashian family are doing in my little country. The answer is one that is 100 years old. April 24 will represent the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Armenian Genocide. On this night in 1915, the ...

University must work to ameliorate financial cluelessness for graduating students

The class of 2015 is 33 days away from graduation and we are about to enter the “real world.”Suddenly, all the responsibilities our parents have been taking care of, like filing our taxes on time and paying for insurance, will be on us. For some of us, this will be the first time we negotiate a ...

Banning smoking on campus not solution

In recent months, tobacco use has become a point of contention at Tufts. Some nonsmokers feel that they are being forced to inhale cigarette smoke on a daily basis and that smoking on campus has gotten out of hand. Many smokers, on the other hand, argue that as long as they aren’t deliberately blowing ...

Editorial Cartoon: Winter is...

Even more local purchasing needed in Tufts Dining

As the hill defrosts and the grass grows under the (finally) forthcoming sun of spring, it’s hard not to sprawl out on the President’s Lawn in appreciation of the undeniable beauty of nature in full bloom (as you can see, we've missed the grass). But with the privilege of being able to enjoy ...

Political cafeterias

Our political landscape exists as a linear spectrum between left and right. Americans see a politician as left-wing or right-wing, or maybe a supposed centrist. Do you support the Affordable Care Act? You must be a Democrat. Do you despise the welfare programs? You’re probably a Republican. This absolutist ...

The pursuit of nuance

As the temperature slowly reaches 50 degrees, the spring holidays are upon us. This past weekend, Christians and Jews celebrated Easter and Passover.As many know, Passover is about retelling a story we have heard a lot, thanks in part to Charlton Heston’s portrayal of Moses in a dated Hollywood epic. ...

A continued defense of snow, safe spaces

Tufts students everywhere look up at the sky as the clouds open. “When will this accursed pestilence end?” they murmur to each other as the snow begins to fall.OK, nobody actually talks like that, with the potential exception of drama majors, but this is absurd. It’s practically mid-April. I’m ...

Trust, Rolling Stone and journalistic responsibility

This year's 10th annual Murrow Forum titled “Who Can You Trust in the 24/7 Multimedia News Cycle?” opened with comedic tones in the form of video references to "Friends" (1994-2004) and Michelle Bachman getting stumped on national television. However, this soon gave way to a much ...

The double standards of working out

The other day, when I was at the gym, I accidentally caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection of the blank TV screen on the treadmill. What I saw was, well, a bit terrifying. My hair was pulled back in a ponytail that was anything but smooth. Right on top of my head were two giant bumps of hair ...

Eschewing predatory college practices, Tufts commits to financial aid

The increasingly popularity and necessity of attending college has gradually transformed the professional world, and as a result, the college degree has become a tremendous marker of inequality. Today, college degrees provide the basic standard for employers to make hiring decisions. This dominating ...

'Feticide' case sets dangerous precedent

It hasn’t been a great week for Indiana. The state’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act effectively gives a green light to anti-LGBTQ* discrimination and has been inspiring outrage for days, resulting in an endless parade of think pieces, sound bites and backlash. At the same time, ...

Acceptance in the rapidly evolving same-sex equality debate

Yesterday, I wrote an op-ed documenting the outrage and controversy surrounding Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The law prevents the government from impeding a person's religious rights unless it has a compelling government interest and is acting in the least intrusive way ...

Editorial Cartoon: Tufts Equestrian heads to HSA Nationals

Time to change the way we deal with housing

Few issues unite the Tufts University student body quite like the housing lottery. One might imagine that, at a school where the majority of the undergraduate population is made up of full-time, non-commuting students, the system for finding housing would be nearly perfected by now, or, at the least, ...

Indiana’s religious freedom law hurts Indiana most

Indiana’s religious freedom continues to create controversy and draw outage across the country. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), signed into law by Indiana governor Mike Pence on March 26, prevents the government from impeding a person's religious rights unless it has a compelling ...

We don’t need a new Iran strategy

Usually, I love reading my friend Zach Shapiro’s wonderful op-eds. However, I can’t help but disagree with the conclusion reached in his most recent article, “A new Iran strategy.” That piece argues that Iran cannot be trusted, that deterrence is a superior strategy and that there are few strategic benefits to a deal. This leads to the piece's conclusion: that the U.S. should end negotiations and take military action against Iran.

Indiana Bill is a wake up call, equality must prevail

One of the most controversial news stories in this past week was Indiana Governor Mike Pence's decision to sign into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which enables individuals or corporations to cite serving LGBTQ* individuals as damaging to their religious freedom and essentially deny ...

A new Iran strategy

As the Obama Administration misses yet another soft deadline in its negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, a number of contrarian voices emerge at the forefront of debate.Back in 2008, then-presidential candidate John McCainquipped, “Have you heard that old Beach Boys song? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb ...