Call them the Rainbow Steps
December 1Trigger warning: This article discusses sexual assault and rape.
Trigger warning: This article discusses sexual assault and rape.
As everyone on the Hill is painfully aware, Thanksgiving Day falls rather late this year at the very end of November. As such, the Thanksgiving recess, overlapping with Hanukkah, cuts short the penultimate full week of classes, leading many students to anticipate typing final papers and studying for tests over their turkey.
The most distinctive feature of Dowling Hall is, without a doubt, the large, bronze elephant head that greets all who enter the building. Starting next year, the Jumbo head wont be the only thing attracting attention at Dowling: the university will be installing a new solar panel system with the support of SunBug Solar LLC, based in Somerville.
Over the past few weeks, the Tufts community has frequently discussed the affordability of transportation to and from Boston. The general consensus is that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) offers a limited travel schedule and steep prices, discouraging students from making the most of the city. Despite recent discourse regarding the potential implementation of a weekend night shuttle to Boston, there is still a need for the university to address the constraints of day-to-day travel using the MBTA system.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president and founder of J Street, the pro-Israel, pro-peace national organization, spoke last week to a group of students about America's role in the recent peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. J Street aims to change the political dynamic surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, specifically by mobilizing broad support for a two-state solution.
Its not hard to find someone at Tufts who has never been to a football game. Given that this year marks the third consecutive winless season for the team, this shouldnt necessarily come as a surprise. The student body as a whole especially freshmen, sophomores and juniors who have never had a win to celebrate are incredibly unsupportive of the football team, which only sees full bleachers during hyped-up games like Homecoming and the Parents Weekend game.
The TCU Senate's proposal to create a shuttle bus to downtown Boston is a shortsighted answer to a long-term problem. Yes, students are currently constrained by the fact that the MBTA shuts down at 12:30 a.m. Yes, a shuttle would provide a "reliable and safe mode of transportation" to campus. But the proposal of a private shuttle provides limited overall accessibility and mobility to Tufts students in response to what is a structural problem with mass transit in the Boston area.
The Tufts Community Union Senate last night approved a resolution for the addition of a late-night dining option to Tufts Dining Services facilities. Given the current lack of late-night dining options on campus, the resolution is an important one that the university should seriously consider. Students often find themselves without on-campus eateries that accept the meal plan after the dining halls have closed. Students with activities that go past 7:30 p.m. on Friday or study sessions that last well into the night have limited choices when it comes to finding a bite to eat.
This semester I came back to Tufts a day removed from a trip to Nepal (#Thats_What_YOLO_Means). As the semester creeps to an end, and what you did over the summer has ceased being an appropriate conversation starter, I've realized my window for self-congratulation is closing - thus my motivation to write.
While Tufts Health Services recent campaign educates on drug and alcohol use, the presence of smoking on the Hill is also worth considering.
Despite being less than 10 miles from the center of Boston, students at Tufts often feel that they cannot make full use of the city due to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authoritys (MBTA) schedule. The subway system, commonly referred to as the T, is the most convenient mode of transportation for students, but it shuts down as early as 12:30 a.m. on weekends. This leads some students to opt for late-night taxis and others to avoid leaving campus in the first place.
During my sophomore year of high school, a boy called me a slut. He also called me a bitch, a whore and other names. Name-calling led to threats of violence, and eventually I stood up and said something. I sometimes look back and question why I didn't think it was wrong that he called me awful names even before he threatened me. The conclusion I have come to is that I didn't realize that it was that weird for him to call me those things. We all use the words slut, bitch and whore, right? Friends call their friends that, and I've called people that. I excused his remarks as being "okay," because everyone else laughed and excused his behavior too. I don't want to excuse those words anymore.
While students from George Washington University, Stanford University and other institutions of higher learning bemoaned their normal Monday schedules, Tufts students enjoyed time off yesterday to recover from midterms, catch up on their coursework and, most importantly, honor the soldiers who have served our nation on Veterans Day.
When I arrived at Tufts, I was immediately struck by the vibrant community - students who were impassioned, energetic and caring, and faculty and administrators who were deeply engaged with those students.
In light of last semesters housing lottery and the lack of on-campus housing for then-rising juniors and seniors, students are now scrambling to find off-campus housing for next year. The mad-dash last semester to find housing off campus was so stressful that students started as early as September of this year to avoid being locked out. Next years upperclassmen are afraid that they will not be granted on-campus housing if they do not get a head start in the search, and many current sophomores and juniors are skipping the housing lottery altogether and opting for off-campus living. Even local landlords have noted that students are searching for houses and signing leases much earlier this year than in previous years. Many students have already secured their homes for next year and some have even signed two-year leases to eliminate the housing search entirely.
In light of last semester's housing lottery and the lack of on-campus housing for then-rising juniors and seniors, students are now scrambling to find off-campus housing for next year. The mad-dash last semester to find housing off campus was so stressful that students started as early as September of this year to avoid being locked out. Next year's upperclassmen are afraid that they will not be granted on-campus housing if they do not get a head start in the search, and many current sophomores and juniors are skipping the housing lottery altogether and opting for off-campus living. Even local landlords have noted that students are searching for houses and signing leases much earlier this year than in previous years. Many students have already secured their homes for next year and some have even signed two-year leases to eliminate the housing search entirely.
Here's a claim I'd like to make: the minimum wage should be raised.