Campus news outlets produce authoritative knowledge. They publish regularly, have an editing process and employ dozens of student journalists. Most readers believe they can learn and confirm facts by reading campus news.
Hey folks. We're almost there! I am super excited for Thanksgiving, a holiday I have often considered my favorite. Most likely, I will write a post on my blog next week about the Native Americans and the United States of Genocide and all that fun stuff. Right now, though, I would like to touch upon the topic of urban legends. The more accurate subject name is mass misconceptions, but I think urban legends sounds cooler, don't you?
Dear Editor, In an op-ed printed on Nov.19, Emily Rector defends the missile defense system that the Bush administration had advocated for Poland and the Czech Republic, but that the Obama administration is scaling back. Unfortunately, her defense and the film produced for the right-wing Heritage Foundation that she advertised are riddled with falsehoods.
There are plenty of soccer fans on campus, but very few follow the New England Revolution. The Revolution has been respectably successful. The team won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2007 and currently sits in third place in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference. But the team shares Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. with the New England Patriots. Few Bostonians want to venture over 20 miles out of the city to watch a soccer game, especially considering the tepid interest in Major League Soccer in this country. And this is a fact that Robert Kraft (A '53), the Revolution's owner, recognizes. It is one of the main reasons behind his proposal to construct a soccer-specific stadium in Somerville's Inner Belt district. Not only is the urban location more practical for Boston residents, but Kraft sees great potential for a fan base in the surrounding area, which is full of immigrants from countries such as Brazil and Italy that are known to be more fanatical about the sport than the United States.
There were certainly a number of great events at Tufts over the past couple of weeks. There were three that didn't garner much, if any, attention in the Daily, but that nonetheless exemplified the best of what Tufts has to offer.
A month from yesterday marked the 50th birthday of El Salvador's relatively good-for-the-people president, Mauricio Funes. With 43 people murdered that same day, it also marked the "bloodiest day of the last decade," according to El Salvador's Policia National Civil (PNC). While it appears that the timing of Funes' birthday and the spike in murders is pretty much pure coincidence, it seems that the number hit a chord with the president. El Salvador has been notorious for its gang problems — which are often accused of being the root of gang issues in Mexico and Los Angeles — a fact that can be clearly seen in its annual homicide rates. Last year, gangs murdered 3,200 Salvadorans. No doubt this is a high number no matter the circumstance. But when we consider that the total population of El Salvador is around 5.8 million people (comparable to that of Houston, Texas), the number becomes all the more potent. Last month, the number of gang-related homicides this year reached 3,400 — 1,000 more than the number of deaths this time in 2008. It's hard not to sigh.
General George S. Patton summed up the American psyche quite well when he wrote, "After each of our wars, there has always been a great hue and cry to the effect that there will be no more wars, that disarmament is the sure road to health, happiness, and peace; and that by removing the fire department, we will remove fires." This is exactly President Obama's plan with regards to foreign policy: Remove the fire department in the hopes that it will remove the fires. Unfortunately, fires don't stop occurring just because there is no one to combat them.
Of all the states in the country, Massachusetts is arguably the most willing to pay substantial taxes in return for reliable services. In this respect, public servants are in an enviable position; and as a result, they owe it to the rest of this state's residents to provide creative solutions — or at least not backward ones.
In 2002, Tufts realized that, as an institution focused on international studies, it needed to expand its international alumni networks. At that time, there were only three overseas Tufts Alumni Chapters in existence. Now, six years later, that number has ballooned to 22, and the Tufts international network is still growing.
Democratic participation is a fine thing to advertise on an admissions tour. Many of us probably chose to come here because of the emphatic focus we were told that Tufts places on active citizenship. I even recall University President Lawrence Bacow himself insisting on 100-percent voter turnout for last year's presidential election in his welcome address to my class.
The Tufts Daily ran a news article on Thursday, Nov. 12 ("Senate denies funds for public editor"), explaining that the Allocations Board (ALBO) denied funding for the salary of the public editor. In the Daily article, Tufts Community Union (TCU) Treasurer Aaron Bartel explained that, "The general idea is that while the ALBO and the Senate appreciate the job the public editor does, we saw it as inappropriate to pay for a student at Tufts to make submissions to any publication." I disagree with the ALBO decision, and I want to explain why the ALBO should reassess the importance of the public editor position and approve funding for the Public Editor.
On Sunday, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate passed a resolution suggesting reform to Tufts' current alcohol policy. The changes would mean that instead of being placed on probation one (pro-one) after their first offense, students would be required to take an alcohol education course. This is an attempt by the Senate to combat certain alcohol-related problems on campus through positive, proactive means, as opposed to relying on the threat of punishment as an empty deterrent.
Tufts University has been an active friend of Rwanda. In 2005, Tufts President Lawrence Bacow launched the Talloires Network, which has been dedicated to enhancing social responsibility in Rwanda, among other places, for the past four years. Last month, Tufts held Race4Rwanda, an event in which Rwandans living in Boston and their friends were able to participate. Tufts has been exemplary in terms of pushing for socio-economic development through initiatives and not just donations only.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is threatening to cut its social services programs if Washington, D.C. passes a law allowing same-sex marriage. With this announcement, the archdiocese makes it clear that it would rather revoke charitable services to city groups it has long believed in than allow the government to offer equal treatment to homosexual employees and couples seeking to adopt.
The public editor is supposed to enlighten campus controversies, but this semester perhaps my most meaningful contribution has instead been to start one.
This past weekend Tufts had the honor of hosting not one but two NCAA Tournaments: the New England Regional Volleyball Tournament and the NCAA Field Hockey Tournament. To top it off, the women's volleyball team won the regional tournament, defeating Williams, a team that had taken down Tufts in the NESCAC finals. The women's field hockey team, ranked fourth in the nation, reached the final four in their own tournament.
Dear Editor, I want to express my disappointment that the Daily's Nov. 12 article "Senate denies funds for public editor" and related editorial showed little sympathy toward the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate for choosing the fiscally and morally sound position relative to paying student stipends with the Student Activities Fee.
T he last few days have been a mixed bag for the people of El Salvador. When air temperatures and pressures from Hurricane Ida swung into the Gulf of Mexico, El Salvador seemed to have gotten off more or less unharmed — perhaps a benefit of being the only Central American country without an Atlantic shoreline. But three days later, before residents could breathe a sigh of relief, a nameless tropical storm from the Pacific drenched the country, causing massive flooding and landslides and over 120 casualties.
The media's job is to serve as a vigilant watchdog for its community by covering stories overlooked by the public. But reporters face everyday challenges to adhere to a professional journalistic code of ethics while also competing against rival news outlets to be the first to break a story. So what happens if a journalist or a media group defies the accepted ethical standards that promote accuracy, objectivity and fairness?
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.
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