On Sept. 2, 2014, the river Jhelum, which winds its way through the Kashmir valley, began to swell.For the past 65 years, since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, Kashmir has been a region of international territorial dispute. The Indian and Pakistani governments both believe that the ...
On Wednesday, Nov. 5, I woke up at 5:00 a.m. in the basement of a Washington D.C. church and made my way to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) offices with a group of about 50 protesters. There we blockaded the three entrances to the building with our bodies. We held that blockade ...
In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson declared that Nov. 11 was the first celebration of Armistice Day. The inspiration for Armistice Day came from the Allied forces’ agreement with Germany to end military engagement in World War I. The celebration associated with Armistice Day was multi-faceted. People ...
By no means does SJP aim to "silence" anyone’s speech. It has not asked, nor never will ask, for the metaphorical ripping out of Shamir-Borer’s tongue and of those who propagate similarly violent ideals. Free speech is an essential right at Tufts and in the U.S., a right not often afforded by Israel to Palestinians and others who criticize its policies. Tufts must therefore take all possible steps toward leveling the discourse that surrounds Israeli aggression, not exacerbate its grossly asymmetrical nature. Nor can we deny or understate the weight of any university and its institutions in connoting discourse. Wrapped in the protective blanket of the Fletcher School, Shamir-Borer suddenly seems much less “IDF” and much more “impartial," an adjective that distorts his background and his positions long before he arrives on campus. SJP bases its call for cancellation neither on Shamir-Borer’s religion nor his nationality. Rather, the group has targeted his lecture because of his position as the IDF's legal advisor during Operation Protective Edge. Shamir-Borer explicitly represents the institution of the IDF, and giving him a platform at Tufts legitimizes and normalizes its war crimes.
You are working out at the gym. You hear a loud noise. The person on the treadmill next to you has collapsed and is lying on the floor. You are the first to the man’s side and you realize he is unconscious, not responding to your calls. Would you know what to do next? When this happened in the spring ...
As kindergarteners, students are taught a few essential rules in an effort to maintain order in the classroom. Among these are: “raise your hand," “use indoor voices” and, perhaps most importantly, “treat others the way you want to be treated.” As children grow and mature, the rules by ...
Election results have been tabulated and although there are still some congressional races that have not yet been officially called, it is clear that the political tide has changed as Republicans have made huge gains in both the House and Senate. The gender composition of the U.S. Congress has also ...
Murder, in any democracy’s foreign policy, is hardly ever sold as murder. Instead, it is neatly repackaged, advertised as necessary defense to loyal constituents. On Nov. 10, the Fletcher School and Tufts Hillel will host one of the primary architects of this summer’s massacres in Gaza. Even before ...
As I tried to write this op-ed, I doubted what validity I had in making a judgment on the administrative policy.More than a year ago, when I was raped on this campus by a fellow student, I chose not to take any legal action. This was informally recommended to me by the administration and those who counseled ...
Tufts’ sports teams -- softball, men’s lacrosse and women’s basketball to name a few from 2014 -- have all made impressive strides on the national Div. III level. Alongside these bigger varsity sports is a community of club sports and smaller activities that have blossomed and represent the unique ...
Boston mourns the passing of its beloved former mayor, Thomas Menino. Menino, who served the city for 21 years, died on Thursday morning at the age of 71, less than a year after he stepped down after his fifth term and announced his cancer diagnosis. The funeral Mass was held yesterday in Hyde Park, ...
People have approached me and asked me why I’m taking a gap year from Tufts. If you even bother to read this, then you have probably considered taking time off from school for yourself. More and more often, students are taking semesters off from college to purposefully enhance their lives and their ...
This semester, the first of my sophomore year at Tufts, has helped put my time at Tufts in perspective. In particular, I have come to appreciate everything that makes freshman year special. Last year, I explored many different types of classes, even taking an ExCollege course my first semester. I also ...
When Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley graduated from law school in 1979, her father gave her a plaque that read: “Sometimes, the best man for the job is a woman.”As a member of the first female class to attend Williams College, the first female district attorney of Middlesex County and ...
"The Citizen's Revolution moves forward!"These words, which I have heard countless times enounced passionately on TV, whispered like a prayer or said mockingly in between jokes, now evoke nothing but frustration. When the Citizen's Revolution began in my home country of Ecuador seven ...
Of all of the privileges and responsibilities that come with being recognized as an adult citizen of the United States, perhaps the one that rightfully garners the most attention is that of suffrage. And while it is inarguably important to recognize that all eligible voters have a real responsibility ...
I had the experience of sitting in on Students for Justice in Palestine’s (SJP) 2014 national conference at Tufts University. During the open to the public panel, I listened to lectures for about an hour. They were interesting to me and informative, and I agreed with many of the things said there. ...
A recent message regarding the culture surrounding Halloween was sent to Tufts Greek chapters from the presidents of the Inter-Greek Council (IGC) and Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC). The email lays out how Greek life can play a role in creating a safer Halloween climate for all Tufts students by ...
As we mull over the latest reports of Ebola in New York, does anyone recall how many people in the U.S. died last season from flu? In all, 108 children and probably 20 times that many adults. It was not a bad season. In 2009, we lost 348 children, and roughly 50,000 adults, out of the third of a million ...
The political media has devoted a significant amount of time and writing to the battle over the Senate this fall. The Center for Responsive Politics has projected that the 2014 midterm elections will be the most expensive to date. For all of the attention devoted to the midterm election, however, voters ...
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