Opinion

Guest

Op-ed: The romanticization of suicide and martyrdom: Israel and Palestine

By Theo Marvin | March 29

Content warning: This article discusses suicide.On Feb. 25, a U.S. Air Force service member named Aaron Bushnell tragically self-immolated in front of the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C.. When I heard the news, I was upset because I, like most reasonable people, see suicide as a sad act committed by those who are likely mentally ill and in need of help.

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Viewpoint

It’s time to be honest about my time at Tufts

By Justin Hong | March 28

Content warning: This article contains mentions of suicide. I struggled with whether to write this piece. I write this not as a sign of disrespect towards anyone, but to express my disappointment that this year’s Wendell Phillips Address, the speech at the Baccalaureate Ceremony given by the winner of the Wendell Phillips Award, won’t highlight a story that reflects my experiences at Tufts.

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Viewpoint

State politics has a dark money problem — Gavin Newsom is just the beginning

By Dylan Tanouye | March 28

Fast food labor unions scored a major victory in California when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act in September 2022. This bill created a statewide council to determine the minimum wage for employees of large chain restaurants, which the bill itself has already raised to $20 an hour. However, the bill notably exempted restaurants with bakeries from this wage increase. While the reasoning behind this exemption was initially unclear, a report from Bloomberg revealed thatNewsompushedits inclusion to benefit the popular chain Panera Bread.

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Column

Ukraine at War: Remembering Ukrainian students killed by Russian aggression

By Mariia Kudina | March 28

The “Unissued Diplomas” exhibition is a collection of short stories about Ukrainian students who were killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine. To honor their memory, a series of digital postcards was created, detailing their majors, interests and the tragic stories of their deaths.

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Guest

Op-ed: The remarkable failure of the TCU Senate

By Jacob Ackiron | March 27

Regardless of one’s support for or opposition to the recent BDS resolutions voted on by the TCU Senate, one thing that many students on campus can agree on is the Senate’s ultimate culpability in sowing divisiveness on campus.

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Guest

Op-ed: Try again, President Kumar: Renewing calls for Tufts to adopt March 4 TCU Senate resolutions

By Rumeysa Ozturk, Fatima Rahman, Genesis Perez and Nicholas Ambeliotis | March 26

On March 4, the Tufts Community Union Senate passed 3 out of 4 resolutions demanding that the University acknowledge the Palestinian genocide, apologize for University President Sunil Kumar’s statements, disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties ...

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Editorial

Editorial: Running up that Hill — Tufts should expand fitness opportunities

By The Editorial Board | March 14

It doesn’t take an Econ major to notice the disparity between supply and demand for physical activity at Tufts. Two issues are especially prominent: The Tufts gym is too crowded and it is too difficult to register for a physical education course. Given the registration difficulties that seem to persist semester after semester, along with students previously noting issues regarding the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center, the quandary of searching for fulfilling exercise ought to be addressed by the university.

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Column

Ukraine at War: Oscar-winning film shines a light on the darkest parts of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine

By Mariia Kudina | March 14

On March 7, the International Relations Program at Tufts hosted an intimate screening of the Oscar-winning documentary “20 Days in Mariupol.” The film reveals a unique first-person perspective of the siege of a Ukrainian port city of almost 500,000 residents by the Russian army in the spring of 2022. Director Mstyslav Chernov, photographer Evgeniy Maloletka and producer Vasilisa Stepanenko were the last remaining journalists who stayed in the area during the initial stages of the full-scale invasion and were thus able to capture the war crimes committed by the Russians in Ukraine.

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Viewpoint

The compromised ethics of the TCU Senate, Part 2: What it means

By Kevin Golub | March 13

As the “main governing body for Tufts undergraduate students,” the Senate has an obligation to uphold proper procedure, ensure equal treatment of all speakers and guarantee the factual accuracy of the proposed resolutions to facilitate representative and respectful dialogue. March 3 proved that the Senate is nothing more than an ethically bankrupt cohort of students.

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Viewpoint

The compromised ethics of the TCU Senate, Part 1

By Kevin Golub | March 12

On March 3, I watched in horror as students packed into the Joyce Cummings Center ballrooms to support the vehemently antisemitic resolutions proposed by the Coalition for Palestinian Liberation at Tufts before the Tufts Community Union Senate.

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Viewpoint

Alabama’s IVF saga illuminates GOP hypocrisy

By Reya Kumar | March 12

Last Monday, France became the first country in the world to enshrine the right to abortion in their constitution. Here in the United States, we are regressing on women’s rights following the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision which found that the U.S. Constitution “does not confer a right to abortion.” In the aftermath of this decision, 14 U.S. states with Republican-controlled legislatures have passed laws banning abortion in all or most circumstances, while an additional seven have placed gestational limits.

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Viewpoint

The Policy Perspective: Don’t fall for degrowth

By Keshav Srikant | March 11

The idea behind the degrowth movement is simple: Economic growth and increased consumption is fueling the climate change crisis and to truly tackle climate change we need to decrease our levels of production and consumption. Though degrowth can be intuitive, the movement’s fundamental premise lacks evidence and the actions it advocates for are completely unfeasible.

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Guest

Op-ed: A response to the Office of the President’s message regarding the March 4 TCU Senate decision

By Yael Krifcher, Amaia Elorza Arregi and Erin Norris | March 11

As students at The Fletcher School, we are deeply disappointed by the administration’s response to the three resolutions passed by the Tufts Community Union Senate on the morning of March 4. While we are aware that the administration is not obliged to comply with resolutions approved by the Senate, its response has been grossly inadequate. As graduate students, we were not permitted to attend or participate in the March 4 Senate meeting; we write this letter in affirmation of the fact that we too have a stake in university proceedings and in the financial impact this institution makes on the world.

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Viewpoint

The overdiagnosis and overmedication of ADHD: Shortage or shortcut?

By Gretta Goorno | March 8

When I was five years old, I would climb onto my family’s circular oak table and hoist myself into the air, miraculously dangling – and swinging – from the faux-crystal chandelier. My third grade teacher can thank me for her fashionable rubber-band “bracelets.” She tallied my “blurt-outs” on them, granting me a prize if I was under ten by the end of the week. 

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Column

The Casual Death of Education: Publicly funded private schools

By Evan Wang | March 8

American politicians often lambast so-called shadow governments and praise the necessity of accountability in politics. Yet, what if I were to tell you that there is a parallel system in the U.S. primarily supported by the rich and powerful, with little transparency and actively funded by the U.S. ...

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Viewpoint

The MBTA deserves a true investment

By Kunal Botla | March 7

“Boston doesn’t work if the T doesn’t work;” the title of a single Boston Globe article echoes the critical importance of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to Boston and its surrounding metropolitan area.

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Viewpoint

To the Tufts administration: Do you think we’re stupid?

By Liam Chalfonte | March 6

Early Monday morning, the Tufts Community Union Senate voted to pass three resolutions pertaining to the Israel-Hamas war, calling for divestments from many companies with ties to Israel, an apology and a change in rhetoric from the administration.

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Column

From Classroom to Clinic: Is medicine a calling or a job? Why not both?

By Deeksha Bathini | March 6

This week, I attended a Grand Rounds lecture centered around Dr. Lisa Rosenbaum’s New England Journal of Medicine piece titled “On Calling — From Privileged Professionals to Cogs of Capitalism?” In this paper, Rosenbaum highlights the intergenerational shifts occurring in medical training wherein medical trainees are viewing medicine as a job rather than a calling.

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Viewpoint

Nex Benedict and Tufts’ next steps toward true inclusion

By Alex Lin | March 4

The tragic death of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary high schooler from Oklahoma, has ignited national conversation on the safety and rights of LGBTQ+ students. Benedict passed away on Feb. 8 following an altercation with classmates in a school bathroom. The altercation, detailed in a police-released video interview with Benedict, involved a physical confrontation initiated after Benedict retaliated against mockery from three girls.

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Column

The Casual Death of Education: Lots of children left behind

By Evan Wang | March 1

Imagine that you are a kid in middle school, and you are struggling with algebra. You go in, take a midterm and score a C. Not bad, but also not great. To improve your next test score, you’re hoping to receive some extra attention from the teacher and maybe some out-of-class tutoring. Now imagine if none of those things happen. Instead, your school is closed, your teachers have been fired and you must move to another school. Unfortunately, this isn’t an imaginary situation, it is the reality being lived by millions of American students and teachers at this very moment.

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