Opinion

A Reason to Go LoCo: Logan Cotton for President

Being the President of the Tufts Community Union (TCU) is perhaps the hardest job on campus. The occupier of this office must be in tune with his or her core beliefs while also having a pulse on the sentiments and happenings of campus life. The president must be a proven leader, someone who has experience reaching across the multiple divides of passion, culture, gender, race, class, academic discipline and political affiliation. In short, the preferred candidate cannot simply be the president of the TCU Senate but must instead be the president and voice of the student body. This candidate must have a track record of standing up for students even when it's unpopular and standing against popular opinion when it's the right thing to do. We need a leader who knows when to work with the administration and when to take a stand on principle. We must elect someone who is strong enough to defend treasured institutions such as the Naked Quad Run and Greek Life while also standing behind the LGBT community and communities of color with an equally fierce urgency. We need a voice able to thread the needle between alcohol safety and the reality of on?campus drinking. We need an advocate who will speak to the experiences of women, queer folk and students of color unable to access the safe?ride system without police hostility. Logan Cotton is that person.

Alyson Yee | Odd Jobs

Here's the dream: quit your day job, take up confectionary, open a cozy gourmet chocolate shop. Preferably in a provincial town where decadent desserts change lives. While it sounds (a lot) like a movie plot, it's actually becoming an increasingly common reality. Monica Elliot taught herself to make chocolates from library books and now runs Monica's Chocolates, an online service that allows her to deliver confections across the country. Marisa Baxter of Truffles in Paradise left a law practice dealing with international torture cases to launch her homemade chocolate shop. William Gustwiller abandoned his sculpting career to turn his chocolate hobby into big time business. It's never too late (or too early, seniors) for a career change.

Wyatt Cadley for TCU President

Though the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate takes a lot of criticism from the student body, it would be a mistake to undervalue its importance on campus. TCU Senators are responsible for allocating $1.5 million to more than 200 student groups each year, and they meet regularly with administrators to discuss campus issues. Students should think very carefully about whom they want representing their needs to University President Anthony Monaco, and regardless of how you value our opinion, we urge you to look closely at Wyatt Cadley's and Logan Cotton's agendas and judge each of their visions of Tufts for yourself.

On Yom Ha'atzmaut: A progressive Zionist's dilemma

In light of the debacle of Tufts Friends of Israel (FOI) advertising the acclaimed Israeli?Arab writer SayedKashua's lecture on Tuesday as part of FOI'sweeklong celebration of Israeli independence, I have begun reflecting on what it means to observe Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) as a progressive Zionist. This attempt at "brownwashing" the conflict, placing a prominent Palestinian Israeli at the forefront of pro?Israel events without his knowledge or consent, is disgraceful. Deceiving a guest speaker about the circumstances of his lecture would be disturbing in any context, and it is particularly disturbing when the intent is to portray Israel as a tolerant, multicultural nation when in fact the speaker himself writes about an Israel that is anything but.

A call for constructive conversation

For the past several semesters, two student groups with very different viewpoints on the same situation have consistently clashed on campus. Tufts Friends of Israel (FOI) and Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) have proven themselves to be some of the loudest student organizations on the Hill. But in their desire to be heard, both are utilizing tactics that drive students away from discourse and are accomplishing little beyond inciting anger in members of the rival group. It's time for this to stop.

Beyond the campaign promises

Tuesday night marked the beginning of election season on the Hill, and already our Facebook and Twitter accounts are being bombarded by campaign slogans, biographies and candidate platforms. While we support the election process and appreciate the effort the presidential hopefuls put in, we also recognize the importance of keeping voters as informed as possible. Every year, candidates come in with full dockets that are either overly ambitious, outside of their control or simply unachievable.

Jack Webster and Hannah Furgang | A Piece of Advice

The missing piece: A call for dialogue

Pass the governor's budget

Speaker of the Massachusetts House Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) unveiled the House Ways and Means Committee's proposed budget for the next fiscal year yesterday afternoon. The House agreed with Gov. Deval Patrick's January plan to spend $32.3 billion over the next fiscal year which begins July 1 but it rejected several of Governor Patrick's more progressive and profitable proposals.

Niki Krieg | The Queen of Cibo

Coming from a girl who, beside languages, cooking and football, bears an intense passion for deep sleep, what I'm about to tell you is really serious - at least in my book: Ever since I came back from Europe, I haven't been able to sleep.

A fairer sales tax

The Main Street Fairness Coalition was unveiled yesterday at Cambridge's Harvard Book Store. The Coalition was formed under the umbrella of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts and was created in response to Amazon.com's plans to open offices in the Commonwealth.

Stamping Out Hazing

The Senate should be reformed, not fundamentally changed

Mr. Cain comes to Medford

Herman Cain is coming to Tufts!

Correction | Headline goes here

The April 3 Features article "Synaptic scholars engage in interdisciplinary dialogue" incorrectly stated that the Neubauer Scholars program was phased into the Synaptic Scholars program in 2006. In fact, the Neubauer Scholars program still exists as an independent program.

Another reason to reform the Senate

The list of reasons why Americans feel their politics are broken is long and growing. Here's one of many: The U.S. Senate, which due to the way the U.S. population has grown and settled, has developed a "small state bias" so grave that it is on the verge of becoming an undemocratic institution. The issue is serious enough that it has become necessary to question whether major reform of Congress, and particularly the Senate, is needed.

Hey, you with the ovaries

Hey, woman, yeah you with the ovaries, we're talking to you:

BDS: Undermining peace

In the past few months, the Tufts campus has seen its fair share of debate about the Israel/Palestine issue. On Friday, Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) brought University of California Berkeley professor and anti-Zionist advocate Judith Butler to speak. Excluding the content of her speech, her self-identification as an anti-Zionist calls into question her legitimacy as an impartial advocate and her fairness as a speaker. Zionism is simply support for the Jewish right to self-determination in the Jewish people's historic homeland free from anti-Semitic persecution.  Butler's stance as contrary to a national group's self-determination merits a closer look at what she actually stands for.

Tufts Student Fund begins spring campaign

As many Tufts students are painfully aware, tuition is a heavy and growing burden to bear in exchange for a college education. Over half of our student body receives some sort of financial aid, and President Anthony Monaco has mentioned numerous times how important the issue is to him, personally and professionally. When working on the budget for 2012-2013, he cited financial aid as a critical area of investment and speaks often of his gratitude towards Princeton for their help. "Without that help, I probably never would have become a scientist," he stated, "and I certainly would not be standing before you today." 

Inexcusable ignorance

It can be difficult to facilitate an environment of civil discourse in an online arena. Anonymity, impulsive posting and low barriers to entry mean that even conversations about complex issues can quickly devolve into heated flame wars full of personal attacks with little bearing on the subject at hand. Likewise, online anonymity can make it easier for individuals to engage in cyberbullying without fear of repercussions.