This weekend's water main break in Weston couldn't have come at a worse time for many Tufts students. Not only did Saturday's Spring Fling leave worn−out Jumbos feeling thirsty after the concert, but the warm weather of the last few days has made it particularly difficult for students on and off campus to cope with the lack of clean water.
An important social−environmental movement that we don't hear about as much as the mainstream environmental movement is that of environmental justice (EJ). The EJ movement combines environmentalism and social justice into a single theory that calls for equality in the sharing of benefits and burdens of the environment. That is, no group should disproportionately bear the brunt of environmental harm while other groups reap all the benefits. Traditional environmentalism focuses much less on complex internal social issues, rather on ameliorating environmental problems as a whole.
Tori Amos once sang, "Blood in the cherry zone when they pit [hu]man against feminist."
With the many criticisms and claims that Tufts Elections Commission (ECOM) has had against this spring's Tufts Community Union (TCU) presidential candidates' campaigns, ECOM has left a somewhat ugly trail of its own. While the Daily has supported some of the outcomes of controversial decisions made by ECOM this campaign season, we are unwilling to condone the processes by which these judgments came about.
Tufts' recent efforts to reform the drinking culture that appears to define undergraduate social life have been numerous. The university has instituted an online alcohol education course for incoming undergraduates to take before matriculation, replaced the warning that students previously received for a first drinking offense with automatic level−one disciplinary probation and most recently mandated that Spring Fling be a dry event, among other developments. However, one of the more effective and important of these efforts may be one of the least well−known — University President Lawrence Bacow's meetings with students who have required assistance from Tufts Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) for alcohol−related problems.
This year's campaign season for Tufts Community Union (TCU) president has seen a great deal of controversy surrounding the candidates' questionable campaign techniques and practices. Numerous students have criticized junior presidential candidate Sam Wallis' campaign for using spray chalk to advertise, as it resembles spray paint, and some believed that his campaign team had vandalized the campus. Meanwhile, members of junior candidate Lauren Levine's campaign have undergone criticism for using the TCU Treasury's signatory e-lists to promote her campaign, which would constitute a violation of Tufts Elections Commission's (ECOM) policies. Most recently, Wallis has also been engaged in an appeals process to contest ECOM's ruling that his decision to fly back from Israel — where he is studying abroad this semester — for the remainder of his campaign was a violation of spending limits.
You will be asked to vote next Monday on a couple of different proposals for changing the community representative system on the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate — the system that provides guaranteed representation to certain communities on campus. Currently, four minority communities, through certain student groups, have such representation.
Vice President Joe Biden's speech at George Washington University on Tuesday announcing the repeal of former President George W. Bush's policies regarding Title IX was significant step forward by the federal government. Title IX, the federal gender−equity law enacted in 1972, monumentally impacted women's opportunities to play sports in schools, colleges and universities. In the years following the institution of Title IX, Americans watched schools make enormous leaps toward establishing gender equality in sports. The number of women in high school sports increased from 294,000 in 1972 to 2.8 million in 2001. Participation by women in intercollegiate sports has made similarly impressive strides: reports show a 456 percent increase from before Title IX to after its inception.
Tori Amos once sang, "You can keep the house … and the bank accounts, 'cause boy, I bring home the bacon."
With the recent passing of the health care bill, one might ask, what is next for the Democratic Party? In January 2009, President Barack Obama entered office with a large vision that went well beyond health care reform, including improving our nation's lagging economy, regulating Wall Street and big business, protecting the environment from the effects of global warming, empowering minorities and overall creating an America that will continue its strong leadership well into the future. There is no doubt that this is a huge task, so where is the Democratic Party focusing its efforts for the upcoming November elections and the future?
I've been in Washington, D.C. this semester and I could probably give some insight and perspective into what's going on down here. But really, I am so ridiculously tired of talking about Washington politics. So, I'm going to write about the legalization of weed. Where to begin? Oh man, I feel like so much is going on in the world of cannabis legalization that it's hard to catch you up. Rather, I would like to stress to you my confidence in a prediction that I made in the beginning of this school year. I had said that I thought cannabis will be legalized before 2010 is over. It seems clearer now than it ever did. Still skeptical? Well, read on.
The Tufts health care insurance plan has recently undergone several significant changes that will take effect for the upcoming academic year. These amendments will make the plan more effective at providing both undergraduate and graduate students with the coverage that they deserve.
Last week, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate proposed several important changes to the guest registration policy. These revisions, if approved by the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife), will make the policy more practical and realistic. Even with the proposed changes, however, guest registration is likely to remain low. ResLife should therefore consider alternative means of achieving the goals for which the policy was created.
In the April 5 edition of the Tufts Daily, Ariella Charny wrote a response to a column written by Teddy Minch regarding U.S.-Israeli relations. While this article is not meant to be in support of Mr. Minch's article, it is in part a critique of some points made by Ms. Charny in her article and, in part, a brief analysis of some of Israel's foreign and domestic policies.
Tori Amos once sang, "How a lion becomes a mouse by the woods."
Syracuse University's (SU) recent decision to have Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Jamie Dimon (LA '78) as the keynote speaker at its Commencement ceremony has raised a significant amount of controversy within the university's community. Students, alumni and members of the SU community at large have formed a group - Take Back 2010 Syracuse University Commencement - to protest the choice. The group has collected over 900 signatures on an online petition protesting Dimon as this year's speaker.
Massachusetts has been given an invaluable opportunity to address its current serious lack of government transparency. Many Massachusetts state representatives, including Sen. Patricia Jehlen (D-Somerville) and State Reps. Carl Sciortino (D-Medford/Somerville) and Denise Provost (D-Somerville) are sponsoring a state budget transparency bill with the goal of making information about the financial matters of state agencies available to the public. The legislation, which would establish one Web site with comprehensive, detailed records of all of Massachusetts' revenue and expenditures, is a vital step in enhancing public accessibility of knowledge about the state's management of its fiscal resources.
Imagine a woman who weighs only 75 percent of the normal body weight for a woman her size. She is anorexic, and when she was hospitalized, she weighed only two?thirds of the normal body weight. However, because of her insurance company's narrow definition of anorexia, at 75 percent body weight she no longer qualifies for in?patient care and may have to be discharged long before her doctor's treatment plan would dictate. Because of health care guidelines for diagnosing mental disorders, this dangerous situation has occurred for millions of Americans with eating disorders.
Imagine a woman who weighs only 75 percent of the normal body weight for a woman her size. She is anorexic, and when she was hospitalized, she weighed only two-thirds of the normal body weight. However, because of her insurance company's narrow definition of anorexia, at 75 percent body weight she no longer qualifies for in-patient care and may have to be discharged long before her doctor's treatment plan would dictate. Because of health care guidelines for diagnosing mental disorders, this dangerous situation has occurred for millions of Americans with eating disorders.
Op-ed submissions are an integral part of our connection with you, our readers. As such, we would like to clarify our guidelines for submitting op-eds and what you can expect from the process.
Read More
