Opinion

TCU Senate shouldn't fund discrimination

On Sunday night, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate rejected a resolution that would have encouraged the TCU Judiciary and other on?campus organizations to interpret the university's non?discrimination policy in a way that gives groups leeway when selecting their leaders. Critics of the resolution on the Senate argued that the resolution was a reactionary measure prompted by the controversial complaint filed against the Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF) in November alleging that the group discriminated against LGBT?affiliated candidates for TCF leadership.

Jacob Passy & Alex Kaufman | Sassy Cinema

Quirky, depressing, dramatic, horrid. Nowadays, many filmgoers write off movies with one-word descriptions like the above, immediately conjuring an image of the movie and having an immediate guttural reaction. "Oh, it's depressing? I'd rather not spend $10 on a ticket to be depressed for the rest of the night!" We, at Sassy Cinema, would like to take a stab at figuring out why people are so apt to minimize a movie to one word.

The shrinking humanities

What can you do with a Ph.D. in English? Or philosophy? Or history? It's a question that every undergraduate considering humanities graduate school has to ask him- or herself before filling out applications and taking the GREs. For the majority who would like to land a job in academia, the prospects are uncertain at best. Fewer than half of doctoral graduates with humanities degrees typically receive a job offer that ends up leading to a tenure-track position. And the outlook has only worsened in recent years, with about one open tenure-track position for every four candidates in 2011.

Alyson Yee | Odd Jobs

You've probably heard of ghostwriting — getting paid to write books and articles officially credited to another. Ghostwriting is almost as old as time. Early examples include the Bible (certain books have multiple anonymous contributors) and the 11th−century Japanese novel "The Tale of Genji," which was probably completed by the author's daughter. And of course, Shakespeare, if you believe the various conspiracy theories.

Act of Valor': Take another look

While it may not be Oscar material, "Act of Valor" deserves a chance at redemption in The Tufts Daily. "Act of Valor" needs to be seen for what it is: a recruiting film for the Navy SEALs with active duty Navy SEALs as actors. Of course the quality of acting in this movie will not be first rate, but what it lacks in acting it makes up for in accuracy in depicting how the SEALs operate, which in my opinion is the most important aspect of any movie about the military, an institution that most Americans know little about. That being said, "Act of Valor" is a quality movie not because of what it is, but because of what it is not.

Defense of the indefensible

Andrew Teal, Chaplain of Pembroke College at Oxford University, gave a sermon this week entitled "An Overdue Apology," spurred by the administration's decision to ignore a nearly−unanimous Junior Common Room decision to fly a rainbow flag in support of LGBTQ history month. Dr. Teal, who supports the motion, wanted to apologize for the complicity of the Anglican Church in the oppression of minorities and women. Though his church would not fight against birth control, it has a history of collusion and marginalization. Near Pembroke lies a plaque memorializing the 16th century "Oxford Martyrs," who were burned alive for the crime of being Catholic. Dr. Teal agreed that any defense of the Church must begin with a sincere, heartfelt apology.

Alex Arthur | King Arthur's Court

Every diehard sports fan has a bucket list. While it differs for various individuals, there are a few staples that should be universal among them. One of these has to be a trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium to witness a Duke vs. UNC basketball game, arguably the most intense rivalry in college basketball.

Jack Webster and Hannah Furgang | A Piece of Advice

Letters to the Editor

Why 3.11 still matters

Nearly a year ago on March 11, 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck northeastern Japan, unleashing a massive tsunami and leading to widespread devastation across the region. It was the fourth-largest earthquake since 1900 and has left a staggering 15,000 dead with thousands more still missing. Japan continues to reel from the most expensive natural disaster in history and is struggling to cope with an alarming nuclear crisis. 

The Jewish and demographic state

'Hacktivists' had it coming

Limbaugh abandons reason, takes GOP

Rush Limbaugh is the ultra-conservative pillar of American talk radio. Even for a talking head, Limbaugh is often offensively verbose. After Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke testified at a congressional hearing in favor of the Obama administration's mandate for employee insurance to cover birth control costs, Limbaugh called her a "slut" and a "prostitute."

Walt Laws-MacDonald | Show Me The Money!

Federal investigators discovered a $165 million transaction between MF Global accounts last week. The transaction was made — and then unsuccessfully reversed. One hundred sixty-five million dollars is not even Mitt Romney-level spare change. But in the ever-deepening saga of MF Global, it accounts for barely 10 percent of the $1.6 billion missing from the firm's accounts.

Twitter, escape from the Facebook junkyard

My generation is the generation of social media, a generation that has a plethora of digital tools through which to connect, interact and share anything with an unlimited number of people anywhere around the world at any moment in time. Sounds amazing, right? It is, but with great social power comes great social responsibility. Let me explain myself: The fact that you have 300 friends on Facebook doesn't mean that every single one of them wants to know what you are doing, thinking or thinking of doing every single moment of your day. Your responsibility as a user of social media is to not spam the system by posting for the sake of posting. In today's digital society, where if you don't have a Facebook you are literally a nobody, online overconfidence threatens to compromise the integrity and purpose of social media. If you have ever found your homepage annoyingly overcrowded with stories or posts from the same set of friends then you know exactly what I mean.

A windfall for the commonwealth

Gambling industry moguls for the last five years have had their sights set on building a new casino in Massachusetts. After spending roughly $11.4 million dollars on lobbying, their efforts paid off in November, when Governor Deval Patrick approved a bill to allow three casinos to be built in the state. The bill specifies that the casinos must be geographically distributed, with potential locations including the Greater Boston area and Southeastern and Western Massachusetts.

Letter to the Editor

The T polices the poor

For many people, the last time they've had a curfew imposed on them was in elementary school, and their mothers were advising them not to play outside after dark. Even at Tufts, as opposed to other schools, there is no security guard at the front desk of our dorms; students are free to come and go as they please. But for the low−income residents of Boston, who rely on the T as their primary means of transportation, there is little choice in when and where they can travel.

Harvard gets it right

This weekend, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University will be hosting the One State Conference, a two-day forum on the viability of the one-state solution, which proposes an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by means of the foundation of a shared Jewish and Palestinian state.

60, 40 and 20: International anniversaries

On March 3-4, the international community at Tufts will have plenty to celebrate. That weekend, international students and alumni will gather on campus to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the International Center, the 40th anniversary of the International House and the 20th anniversary of the Oliver Chapman Leadership Award. Each has done a great deal to support the international community and Americans' connection to it at Tufts; the legacy of each is certainly worth celebrating.