Late Friday night, the U.S. House leadership fought to cut financial aid for some nine million college students, including almost 700 of our peers at Tufts. As a small group of legislators and aides met on the fourth floor of the Capitol to negotiate a final budget proposal for this year, the fate of financial aid hung in the balance.
In the past two weeks, the Tufts community has received two reports from Tufts University Police Department regarding vague, and in one case unsubstantiated, reports of wrongdoing. The first, on April 1, occurred when a student reported that a male peer may have poisoned a female student's contact lens solution with peanut oil in an attempt to trigger an allergic reaction; neither the male nor the intended victim were known to the police. TUPD later concluded that there was no credible threat. The second, on April 10, reported that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) police had detained a suspect at the Davis Square T station for allegedly stealing an iPhone or iPod from an unidentified victim.
Ferdinand de Saussure developed the field of semiology, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as "the branch of science concerned with the study of [...] signs and symbols." The field looks at how signs work and how we use them. A sign is the sum of the signifier, which is the form of the sign, and the signified, which is the concept of the meaning or the actual thing itself (i.e. "cat" versus the actual animal). To clarify, here's an example: The word "open," in the context of it being hung on a shop door, is a signifier signifying that the store is operating business at this time. It is deceivingly simple and has theoretical potency.
I have now spent three days digesting the news of Manny Ramirez's retirement, and my feelings on the subject remain conflicted.
A long with many others, I often wonder how the United States of America voted former President George W. Bush into office on two separate occasions. The man's blatant incompetence was displayed on a daily basis, his often incomprehensible jargon giving us an endless supply of memorable "Bushisms."
Spring Fling later this month will mark a mix between new and old. Like last year, the event will be dry. Unlike last year, and many years prior, the April 30 program will this year have only two headlining acts — The Roots and RJD2 — rather than its usual three.
Conservatives and liberals alike on this campus expect a baseline of journalistic integrity and fairness from our publications. In part, it is the job of the public editor to keep an eye on published material and to determine whether community norms and expectations have been violated, either due to shoddy reporting or discriminatory content. From time to time things fall through the cracks — frequent reports of botched quotes in the Daily, for instance — but for the most part Tufts media upholds its obligation to the readership with honest, good reporting. Yet when this obligation is not met, the public editor must respond to complaints from readers and investigate claims of inaccuracy, which is the reason for this column. In last week's issue, the Primary Source grossly violated Tufts community norms in its commentary "The ‘Social Justice' Requirement" by blatantly misrepresenting the truth with inaccurate conclusions, which it portrayed as fact. In doing so it damaged its credibility — even if you disagree with them, Source articles typically have substantial content and critical analysis. Worst of all, the Source undercut reasoned discussion in favor of hearsay and unfounded claims on an already-contentious subject.
I don't know much about the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate; I'll admit that up front. I do know, however, the amount of money they allocate to various club budgets. It's right there on their website, senate.tufts.edu. It says, for example, that the Tufts Republicans received roughly $3,500 for 2011. Freshman class council gets $2,600. TuftsLife runs on $1,700. You get the idea; we're talking about a few thousand dollars for a typical student activity organization. Later this month, though, Senate will consider spending a whopping $20,000 on a new "service" for the university. That might sound a bit pricey for new hydration stations or extended hours at Tisch. It sounds even pricier when we realize what they're actually considering spending it on: text messages. So I wonder, is that really worth it?
Last October a group called Falling Whistles came to Tufts as part of their national speaking tour to talk to us about the deadliest conflict since World War II. As some of you may know, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is in the midst of genocide. Over a thousand people are being killed every day, and 1,200 women are being raped every month. The entire country is simply consumed by violence.
The already-selective President's Marathon Challenge (PMC) will next year have to turn away even more interested participants, as the event's primary sponsor has announced that it will be reducing the number of participants from 200 to 100 for the 2012 Boston Marathon. John Hancock Financial Services will cut in half the number of Tufts community members sponsored by the company in order to focus its charity efforts on other organizations. While it is regrettable that John Hancock chose to cut the team, it is understandable that the company would want to focus funding and efforts on other charity organizations in order to diversify the types of programs that it supports. Tufts, however, should do everything that it can to keep the team's numbers at their current level in spite of these cutbacks.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the deified father of modern India, was quick to remind his followers that he was seduced by the same desires as they were. "I am of the earth, earthy. ... I am prone to as many weaknesses as you are," Gandhi is thought to have once quipped.
In its latest edition, The Primary Source criticized a proposal that would require Tufts students to take a course on social justice. The Source claimed it opposed the incursion of politics into the university, regardless of whether the politics were liberal or conservative. This first raises the issue of whether or not this proposal truly is liberal and then, even if it is, if that fact necessarily makes it a bad decision.
The Obama administration announced on Monday that financial sanctions it imposed last month against Moussa Koussa, Libya's former foreign minister, have been dropped. The move follows Koussa's recent defection to the United Kingdom. Despite being free at the moment, Koussa has not been granted immunity regarding any possible criminal charges. So long as it follows certain conditions, the removal is a positive move by the administration.
My grandparents are Holocaust survivors. Throughout my mother's childhood, the subject was never mentioned around the house, but as time passed, my grandparents slowly let the topic into the forefront of conversation. Now my grandfather is president emeritus at the Anne Frank Center USA and lectures to kids and adults all over the country about tolerance and his past experiences. During my childhood he shared his knowledge about the Holocaust with anyone who would listen. Except me. I always was sheltered from hearing of these atrocities, even though they were so close to my own life. I had no idea about the stories within my family: I knew little of what was said at the lectures my grandparents gave to communities of every kind, of the love letters they wrote between concentration camps that were later translated and published in the book "Steal a Pencil for Me" (2000) or of the documentary of the same name, released in 2007, about their miraculous love story.
Last week I talked about hate crimes legislation (HCL) and its buttressing effect on the criminal justice system. To continue, this column will highlight issues with the prison industrial complex (PIC) because the conversations on penalty enhancement due to HCL and the hyperincarceration of marginalized people, among others, all intersect.
This Saturday, Jumboleaks posted on its website a "leaked document" of the university's investment holdings. The data is thus far unsubstantiated and administrators have not confirmed any of its contents. The list has now been circulated online, its controversy revolving around the university's investments in companies such as Monsanto, the world's leading producer of genetically engineered seeds and a corporate enemy of sustainability advocates.
The administration of President Barack Obama has abandoned plans to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and four co−conspirators in a civilian court. Attorney General Eric Holder announced yesterday that Mohammad will be tried for war crimes by a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay.
A new organization called Jumboleaks, composed of current and former Tufts students, on Saturday released confidential information online regarding the university's investment holdings. The leaked document contains the names of companies that the group alleges the university invested in during 2010. The administration later denied that the information was current to the Daily, calling into question the slipshod manner in which the information was disseminated.
Wandering through downtown Casablanca, Morocco, I suddenly found myself on a boulevard filled with people, a festival of up−thrust fists and ideals. I had noticed orange−and−white barriers and immaculately groomed policemen surrounding the area and assumed that some sort of protest must be going on (this is North Africa in 2011, after all). But I was not prepared for the scale of it all. The weathered Art Deco facades of French Imperialism that line Boulevard Mohammed V stood over a great crowd of people: Moroccan Arabs, sub−Saharan Africans, Berbers in traditional garb with bright colors and golden baubles and European and American tourists bumbling confusedly past. The crowd seemed a perfect microcosm of this country, perched between Europe, Africa and the Middle East — a great crossing point of people and cultures.
Kids these days, man, they don't know what they are missing. When I was growing up I got to watch "Predator" (1987) with The Governator, "Demolition Man" (1993) with Sylvester Stallone and "Universal Soldier" (1992) with good old Jean−Claude Van Damme. These action movies shaped my childhood and made it totally awesome.
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