Opinion

Editorial

Editorial: Evaluating diversity at Tufts post-affirmative action

By The Editorial Board | April 24

On June 29, 2023, Anthony Monaco, Tufts’ outgoing president, and incoming president Sunil Kumar co-signed a message sent to the entire Tufts community. In this email, the two addressed breaking news coming out of the Supreme Court: Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard had been decided in favor of the plaintiff, ending affirmative action at private universities across the United States. Both Monaco and Kumar stressed that Tufts had advocated against this decision, and they stayed true to the Tufts spirit, stating,“we must—and we will—respect the law, but nothing the court said today will change our institutional values and our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.” Now, almost three years later, we as the editorial board want to evaluate whether Tufts has stayed true to its ethos.

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Viewpoint

A dark age descending: Kansas legislation robs trans people of their bodily autonomy

By Michaela Loughran | April 24

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, it sent shock waves across the nation. How was it that the federal government was depriving women of their hard-won right to make decisions about their own bodies? What kind of dark age was descending upon us? It is safe to say that times have not gotten better since then, but now there is another kind of bodily autonomy crisis upon us. Earlier this year, the Kansas state legislature passed a blatantly transphobic new law which forbids transgender people from using public restrooms associated with their gender identity on government property. The law says individuals may receive a warning on their first violation, but for a second violation, they are required to pay a $1,000 fine. For a third violation, they receive a Class B misdemeanor, which in Kansas is punishable by up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.

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Column

Another Bites The Dust: Finding love in K-pop is cancel-worthy

By Jachin Lam | April 24

When talking about fan-celebrity culture, K-pop fans, particularly the “ARMY” (BTS’s fanbase), do not have the best reputation online. Many of them would go to great lengths online for their favorite group or idols. However, it is also a norm within that culture for K-pop idols to appear ‘single’ for their fans. So when they get caught being in a relationship, scandal ensues. As a long-time participant in these fanbases, I wanted to use EXO’s Chen’s cancellation to highlight this phenomenon and what it says about parasocial relationships, because obsessive fan behavior is not exclusive to K-pop, especially when we live in a loneliness epidemic where people are desperate to seek out any form of attachment, even with someone on a screen.  

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Guest

Op-ed: Invest in our future, vote Brendan French for TCU president

By Caroline Spahr, Alexander Vang and Iman Boulouah | April 23

When considering who should serve as Tufts Community Union president, the most important question is simple: Who can you depend on? Brendan French is dependable, well-rounded and consistently willing to do the work that keeps the student government running. He not only has plans, but works to ensure that they happen and keeps his promises.

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Guest

Op-ed: Solo travel for the career-oriented

By Soeren Euvrard | April 23

You are a career-oriented college student. You have an idea of what you want to do after senior year, and it seems pretty difficult. Additionally, job prospects are slim. You have a big world map in your room with little pins marking places you want to live, and the longer you stare, the more you realize you’ll never have the time to properly live in all these places. You decide to take a full year to do whatever you want. Senior week comes, you graduate and off you go.

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Guest

Op-ed: An ode to Tufts

By Daniel Bethke | April 23

To be blunt, Tufts was not my first choice. If we assign even a modicum of truth to the Tufts stereotypes, this problem was by no means unique to me. Because of this, I came to question my position and my ‘belonging’ here during my first year. I convinced myself I would have been happier elsewhere. This was not so much a ‘grass is always greener elsewhere’ mentality as it was a ‘grass is always yellow here’ mentality. Yet, in my final semester, I say with conviction and candor that I’m truly glad I ended up here. This university isn’t perfect, but it possesses several idiosyncrasies for which I am deeply grateful. 

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Guest

Op-ed: What 12 first-years taught us about the university’s role

By Jacob Ackiron and Asaf Grofman | April 23

There is a national conversation on the role of the university in American life. Here at Tufts, it revolves around whether universities should have a political agenda, how students should relate to one another and the best way to engage students with the curriculum given the constraints of our times. We are graduating seniors who spent the last semester teaching an Experimental College class on the American presidency to 12 first-years. This experience gave us a view into some of these core and pertinent themes. Here is what we learned.

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Viewpoint

Disney’s never-ending prequels, sequels, remakes

By Jachin Lam | April 21

From the upcoming live-action “Moana” (2026) to “Toy Story 5” (2026) releasing this summer, Disney’s roster is filled with endless sequels, prequels and remakes. Much of the public perception of this creative decision has been negative, with many complaining that the films are full of nostalgia bait or are simply easy cash grabs for the company. Yet, these films have generated billions of dollars for the corporation. So, is this fatigue really the public’s dominant view? And is this phenomenon going away anytime soon?

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Column

Through Indigenous Eyes: Slowly but surely

By Sorsha Khitikian | April 16

This semester, I have tackled relevant, breaking news stories as they have occurred. From the Bad Bunny Superbowl Halftime Show to the horrific acts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the immediate issues of the day have been my major focus. While I believe this coverage is vital, I also recognize that the vast majority of Indigenous issues lie beneath the surface because they have remained issues for years, decades, even centuries. Progress on these issues happens in spurts and often is covered through a non-Indigenous lens. As this is my last column for this semester, I want to bring attention to one of those issues: NAGPRA, or the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act.

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Column

The Death of Education: The death of vocational education

By Evan Wang | April 16

I’m sure for a wide variety of students my age, our high school experience was dominated by a never-ending focus on preparing for college applications. The endless SAT tests, AP credits and college counseling all tell us there is only one real path forward after high school: college or university. But there has always been other choices. One of these choices, which has increasingly disappeared from the public eye, is vocational education.

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Viewpoint

The humanities, the education crisis in the Information Age

By Henry Max | April 9

The frantic pace of modern life has revolutionized not only the communication landscape, but the academic landscape as well. In the epoch of smartphones and personal computers, it is all too obvious how pervasive technology is in each and every one of our lives. When generative AI and large language models, such as ChatGPT, intermingle with the existing technologies in our everyday lives, the problem is only exacerbated.

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Column

Another Bites The Dust: The Timothée Chalamet backlash really isn’t that deep

By Jachin Lam | April 3

With the Oscars closing out the awards season earlier this month, one of the most heated controversies leading up to the ceremony was Timothée Chalamet’s infamous comment about ballet and opera. I stumbled across his statement in the many clips and videos cut from his Variety & CNN Town Hall conversation with Matthew McConaughey. There were thousands of comments and online discussions about his remarks, with the majority criticizing Chalamet. However, upon taking a closer look at the video, as well as Chalamet’s Oscar campaign for his film “Marty Supreme,” I feel as if the internet’s reactions toward him are coming from a place other than simple criticism.

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Column

Through Indigenous Eyes: Why Columbus still reigns

By Sorsha Khitikian | April 2

On March 22, 2026, President Donald Trump wrote a letter to Basil Russo, national president of the Italian Sons and Daughters of America. In this letter, Trump announced that a statue of Christopher Columbus, gifted by the organization, would be displayed at the White House. He referred to Columbus as “the original American hero” as well as “one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the Earth.”

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Viewpoint

Jubilee is stupid

By Jachin Lam | March 28

Looking through Jubilee’s YouTube channel, you might stumble across their bio — “Provoke Human Connection” — but right below, you’ll see videos like “Mass Shooting Survivors vs NRA Members” or “Men Rank Themselves by Penile Size.” Jubilee certainly provokes its viewers, but I’m not sure whether they really foster human connection with their videos.

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Viewpoint

What the future holds for the Democratic Party

By Monica Reilly | March 27

This past September, The New York Times political pundit Ezra Klein stated in an interview that, in the face of such serious political alarm, Democrats should run more anti-abortion candidates. According to his logic, the Democratic Party needs to win in more contentious states like Kansas or Missouri if it is ever to overpower the current wave of MAGA conservatism. To do that, it must be willing to compromise on its position on abortion, with the ends justifying the means.

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Guest

Letter from the Editor in Chief: A special coverage page on Rümeysa Öztürk, two years later

By Josué Pérez | March 26

Dear readers,It has been one year since Dr. Rümeysa Öztürk’s arrest by masked agents from the Department of Homeland Security near her home in Somerville. We are publishing a “special coverage” page to mark this date.

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Editorial

Editorial: Spring has (almost) sprung

By The Editorial Board | March 26

As the snow finally melts from Prez Lawn and the sun peeks out above the Hill, we at the Editorial Board think it’s time for all of us at Tufts to start spending some more time outside in our nearby neighborhoods. From Davis Square to downtown Boston, the area is full of unique neighborhoods with exciting upcoming spring events and activities that we recommend taking advantage of — not to mention the spring activities Tufts itself has to offer.

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Viewpoint

Addressing the costs of excessive alcohol consumption

By Keshav Srikant | March 26

For the majority of Americans, the consumption of alcoholic beverages plays some role in their lives, whether it takes the shape of a drink out with friends, a glass of wine at a restaurant, or a beer after work. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around two-thirds of American adults consumed alcohol in 2018. While alcohol consumption has been decreasing over time, a study from Gallup found that 54% of Americans reported drinking alcohol in 2025. A significant proportion of these Americans engage only in light drinking; the CDC found that just 5.1% engaged in heavy drinking in 2018. However, though that proportion is small, the economic costs of excessive alcohol consumption are significant and often underestimated.

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Viewpoint

The corporatization of nostalgia in American mass media

By Henry Max | March 26

A major trend in Hollywood filmmaking that emerged in the 2000s and continues today is the legacy sequel. In 2015, the true renaissance of the legacy sequel era began, with “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015), “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (2015), “Jurassic World” (2015) and “Creed” (2015) all released in the same year. Quality disparities aside, the huge successes of these films proved that the legacy sequel was poised to become the future of filmmaking. Now, over 10 years later in the post-“Avengers: Endgame” (2019) era, the legacy sequel has become so naturalized that it seems inevitable.

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Viewpoint

A masterclass in American hubris

By Sorsha Khitikian | March 24

Baseball is America’s sport. At least, it used to be. It’s no secret that Major League Baseball is fueled by international talent and fans. Some of the best players were born internationally: Albert Pujols, Sammy Sosa, David Ortiz and Ichiro Suzuki. International fans are also heavily invested in the sport. For example, after Japan-born superstar Shohei Ohtani signed his historic $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023, the team exceeded four million fans in attendance for the first time in its history. LA Tourism estimated that in 2024, 80%–90% of Japanese tourists to the city went to Dodger Stadium at least once.

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