Opinion

MBTA service should continue at night

Walker Bristol | Notes from the underclass

Trayvon Martin a 17-year-old black student, visiting his father in a gated Florida community was murdered on Feb. 26, 2011. The racial injustice of this incident was not merely in the act, nor just in George Zimmermans profiling a black, hooded teenager. It was not just the gated communitys perception of Martin, nor the smear campaign initiated in his wake. It was the fact that these prejudices and reactions were not unique, and black teenagers are killed upon being suspected as criminals revoltingly frequently. It was that those with power either implicitly support or do little to combat this entrenched anti-blackness and Tufts University, in its elite, wealthy standing, upholds this violence just as well.

Walt Laws-MacDonald | Show Me The Money!

With 'Four A's,' energy conference hype an exercise in buzzwords

Craig Frucht | Axes to Grind

For the last two years, Americans have lived in what feels like a constant state of looming economic destruction. And everyone has started to feel very meh about the whole thing.

Tenure: it takes a village

Today's article regarding tenured professorship brings attention to an often?overlooked issue: the difficulty of receiving tenure and, thus, job security in higher education. Tenure is an important milestone in the careers of many professors, and a critical steppingstone in gaining access to future research opportunities and advancing in higher education. Without it, professors are severely restricted in both their ability to conduct independent research and realize their earning capacity either at Tufts or elsewhere, which ultimately affects the quality of the education we as students receive.

MIT gunman hoax presents opportunity for re-examining safety procedure

Jonathan Green | Drug Justice

Letter to the Editor

Occupy's spirit, if not its approach, still has a place on the Hill

The spirit of the Occupy movement may not be as visible, but it hasn't lost its teeth. The passion, energy, and spirit of grassroots protest and collective action is alive and evolving at Tufts, at least as evidenced by the numerous active movements that appear to be inspired by a more refined and focused strain of the Occupy agenda.

Letter to the editor

Winter Bash reconsidered

I have heard several accounts of this year's recent Winter Bash in which students say they loved the event. But unfortunately, I have heard many others in which students have expressed dismay and embarrassment at the behavior of their fellow Tufts students. I was there. I saw both.

Winter Bash behavior merits serious reflection

The description in Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman'sop?ed of widespread student misconduct at Winter Bash-attendees urinating in the lobby of the Westin Copley Place Boston Hotel, vomiting on the floor, acting rudely toward hotel and university staff and, according to Reitman, requiring hospital treatment for intoxication - is appalling and unbecoming of the Tufts community.

Craig Frucht | Axes to Grind

Walker Bristol | Notes From the underclass | Fostering consent

T he piercing Boston cold didn't stop them: a cluster of vigilantes were rallying cheerfully alongside the buses shuttling people to Winter Bash, dancing and singing and belting, "Consent is sexy - date rape is not!"

Impeachment may be in order, but only as a lesson

 The impeachment papers filed by two Tufts Community Union (TCU) senators calling for the impeachment of TCU Treasurer Matthew Roy express in no uncertain terms both the extent to which Roy has allegedly violated the TCU Constitution and Treasury Procedures Manual and the punitive measures desired. The allegations against him are clear breaches of the constitution; attempting to influence an internal election and making defamatory statements against the Allocations Board (ALBO) members in what the proposal calls "an unprecedented address" should not be taken lightly. But nor should they be blown out of proportion to the detriment of the students and student groups that the Treasury and its members work with.

In response to Rev. Kepler

In response to interim University Chaplain Reverend Patricia Budd Kepler's quotes in the Feb. 6 Daily article "Tufts Christian Fellowship wavers in pursuit of exemption from non-discrimination policy", we, as members of the Coalition Against Religious Exclusion (CARE), would like to clarify why we oppose the Dec. 5 Committee on Student Life (CSL) ruling regarding student religious groups (SRGs).

Reclaiming my body: Sexual Violence at Tufts

Recent Debates Reaffirm Importance of Judiciary and CSL

TCF debacle needs new transparency, decisive action by CSL

The debate surrounding the right of Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF) to claim exemption from the university's discrimination policy playing out over the past months has brought the campus to an impasse. Since the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate derecognized the group and the process moved through the Committee on Student Life (CSL), the onus will now, presumably, land on the Chaplaincy and the TCU Judiciary determine a proper and final solution. In creating this situation, the CSL has shirked its responsibility to be a helpful player in this increasingly stagnant issue. What the student body deserves now is a measure of transparency from both the CSL and TCF in their deliberations, as well as the kind of mature decision-making that recognizes the extent to which this affects the lives of Tufts students. One of the biggest roadblocks through the past few months has been an abject lack of clarity on the part of both TCF and CSL. TCF's constitution is written such that that it cannot enumerate or clarify what the group looks for in its leadership, because following the "tenets of faith" and striving to follow ideals of a religion are innately vague and based on personal belief. Yet this opens up the possibility of deciding upon candidates for leadership with opaque measurements that make it virtually impossible to prevent discrimination in the group. The vagueness of the rules is inherent to the functionality of the group, but also allows the problem to persist. Still, TCF should absolutely clarify what it looks for in its candidates in its constitution, as is required for all other recognized clubs, or face continued derecognition and defunding. The question of whether TCF's leadership requirements merit religious exemption from any nondiscrimination policy is a separate discussion to be had, apparently, with the Chaplaincy. But apart from becoming a more transparent, both TCF and CSL must respect the need for open dialogue. The CSL is also at fault because of its failure to engage the student body or relevant parties on what has become a contentious and complicated debate. The CSL's determination that the debate over recognition for TCF should go to the Chaplaincy and TCU Judiciary offered no direction and, indeed, put a student issue in the hands of an inherently biased, unelected group - the Chaplaincy - as opposed to the office that is meant to handle campus-wide student life, the CSL. The debate had already gone on too long for the CSL to have not offered more guidance. In what it likely fears as taking a stance of objectivity, the CSL rather has shirked its responsibilities and left the issue in limbo. Certainly, Tufts needs the representation of all kinds of voices - religious, secular, gay, straight, of all backgrounds and beliefs - to truly live up to the liberal arts education it attests to offer. TCF's ability to exist and practice, as a conservative Christian group on a secular liberal campus, is as important to our mission as other centers or groups of all stripes are. Still, the tension revolving around questions of rights, morality and sexuality is not impossible to resolve. At the end of the day, what Tufts needs is equality of voices and people, together. It remains to be seen whether any religious group will take the opportunity offered to them by the CSL's policy, and the leadership of the Chaplaincy also appears to be on the verge of a change. If and when the Chaplaincy does take the responsibility handed to them by the CSL - the responsibility of essentially deciding a religious group's doctrine for it - they will need to do so with a steady and objective mindset, remaining critical of the CSL's actions. We expect nothing less of the Judiciary should TCF or any religious group apply for TCU recognition having been granted this exception. Given the difficult situation in which the CSL has placed each party, they should take a critical look at TCF's constitution as it stands and evaluate whether such a document has a place in a Senate-recognized organization. If TCF refuses to amend it to be more specific or less exclusionary in its wording, they should not be granted exemption or recognition, clear and simple. At the end of the day, however, standing still only widens a growing gulf between a needed part of our community and the misinformed student body.