Opinion

Viewpoint

Gutting Greek life: A call for reform over abolition of campus fraternities and sororities

By Bela Silverman | February 9

When my parents dropped me off at Tufts, they did not give me the run-of-the-mill advice to “make new friends” and “study hard,” but they did tell me to stay away from the frats. As professors who live a block away from their university, my parents have seen the drunken aftermath of college parties, and worse, the risk Greek life poses to the safety structure of college.

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Viewpoint

Hope on the horizon?

By Sam Habib | February 9

The jets whistled over south Beirut on Jan. 2, 2024. For the first time since 2006, Israel had bombed Lebanon’s capital. Israel broke the rules of the game, going beyond southern Lebanon and targeting Beirut in an operation reminiscent of the 1982 and 2006 Israeli-Lebanese Wars. Since Oct. ...

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Viewpoint

Our future depends on young people running for office, so I’m running

By Kunal Botla | February 8

In the past decade, we’ve seen the median age of politicians in Congress climb. At the same time, however, we have seen influential younger members of Congress, including Gen Z Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and millennial Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Overall, the House is getting younger. Young voters were instrumental in generating Democrats’ success in the 2022 midterms. In future elections, young candidates should be at the forefront.

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Viewpoint

Tennis commentators need to commentate, not opine

By Kevin Golub | February 8

Jannik Sinner conquered all at the Australian Open last month. The 22-year-old Italian dominated the lower-ranked players and overcame challenges in the later rounds to win the title, his first Grand Slam. With this crowning achievement, Sinner moved closer to the coveted title of world No. 1 — currently held by Novak Djokovic — and cemented his reputation in the tennis world.

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Column

Diet drugs: A paradigm shift in weight management?

By Deeksha Bathini | February 7

Ever since Ozempic took center stage, it’s been hard to look away. In my family medicine clinic, it seems like every patient is inquiring about weight loss drugs. These drugs seem like little miracles stuffed in once-per-week injectable pens, boasting weight loss of up to 34 pounds after about a year of treatment. We know that obesity is dangerous. I recall the exhaustive lectures on how excess adiposity increases your risk of stroke, heart attack, Type 2 diabetes and death. Now, we have this drug that seems like a cure for obesity, an issue that ravages about 2 in 5 adults in the United States.

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Viewpoint

Cities are sprawling and it’s only going to get uglier

By Sadie Roraback-Meagher | February 7

If I had to pinpoint my favorite thing about living in the Boston area, it would have to be the architecture: Victorian houses in pastel hues, cobblestone paths leading up to charming high rises and quaint cafes sprinkled throughout bustling neighborhoods. And how can you forget the magic of New England’s fall foliage transposed on these architectural wonders?

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Viewpoint

The Republican Party should support Haley after the New Hampshire primary

By Matthew Rampe | February 6

With a turbulent primary underway, the Republican field of eight candidates has been whittled down to just two: former President Donald Trump, who’s battling four criminal indictments, and former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley. After two state primary elections and looking at current polling, Trump is vastly outpacing Haley. He recently polled 26 points ahead of Haley in South Carolina, the state of the next primary and Haley’s home turf.

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Viewpoint

The job of a college president: Education, not edicts

By Gretta Goorno | February 5

Given the current political turmoil and societal tendency to attack an individual for one verbal slip-up or ill-informed decision, being the president of a university is a virtual death trap. Often seen as the face of the university, a college president represents hundreds of thousands of students, faculty and alumni. As they make decisions and statements, they juggle both approval and morality. 

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Guest

Op-ed: Diversity and inclusion is on the March 5 ballot

By Justin Klekota | February 5

On March 5, Massachusetts Democrats will have the opportunity to renominate U.S. President Joe Biden and elect local Democratic State, Ward and Town Committee members. Students nationwide are a vital part of the Democratic coalition, and through voting and volunteerism, Tufts University students can help elect local fair-minded, forward-looking leaders.

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Viewpoint

Sustainability is more than a buzzword — it’s our only option

By Reya Kumar | February 1

Last year, $13 billion was pulled from Environmental, Social and Governance funds, marking a significant downturn in contributions to these ‘sustainable’ investment options. ESG investing targets companies that value environmental awareness, social impact and effective governance. They rely on the idea that these companies involve less long-term risk than companies deemed most profitable by traditional investment analysis.

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Column

Ukraine at War: Visiting ‘Flying Trajectories’ exhibition in Kyiv

By Mariia Kudina | February 1

“Attention! Attention! An air raid alert has been announced in the city! Please proceed to the nearest shelter!” We heard as we entered the PinchukArtCentre exhibition hall in Kyiv. In the middle of the room, there was an installation by contemporary Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova.

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Guest

Letter to the Editor

By Asaf Grofman | February 1

Maya Roman’s “Critical Conversation” on Jan. 24 was incredibly meaningful and powerful. The Tufts community must know the full extent of her dialogue, much of which was omitted from the Daily’s coverage. Especially in the international, national and campus-wide moment we are in, a voice that is reasonable and humane should be amplified, not suppressed.

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Viewpoint

A critique of summer internships

By Justin Solis | January 30

There’s a quiet grace in the evenings, when the auburn sun gently rests on the horizon, casting the fields in a dusky glow. Every hour or so, the rustling of crops in the wind is disturbed by the sound of a passenger train in the distance, cutting swiftly through the fields.

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Viewpoint

Course registration is broken: Here’s how we can fix it

By Linda Huang | January 30

For students at many universities, the first week of a new semester is often filled with exhilaration and curiosity. Students add all the classes that interest them to their schedule, sometimes enrolling past the credit limit temporarily to figure out which ones suit them the most. For students at Tufts, however, the scene is quite different. The first week of school is stressful and hectic: Students worry about finding the best combination of classes, maneuvering through plans to drop unwanted classes and add new classes, all while trying to fit into an 18-credit limit and not lose a vital position on a waitlist.

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Viewpoint

Why I don’t use AI

By Liam Chalfonte | January 30

One of the more dystopian aspects of the beginning of this semester has been learning professors’ policies on artificial intelligence. The development of these new policies follows that of AI itself, as generative models like DALL-E 2 and ChatGPT have exploded into the public consciousness.

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Column

The Policy Perspective: The case for charter schools

By Keshav Srikant | January 30

The idea of charter schools is simple. They are publicly funded by taxpayers but operated by independent groups. In the face of traditional public schools that seemed to be failing, charter schools were an alternative. Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools face less governmental regulation, but they must meet accountability standards. They are also not beholden to teacher unions and can experiment with different learning styles. 

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Opinion

Op-ed: The reasonable, humane majority still stands

By Asaf Grofman | January 26

On Wednesday night, over 100 people packed a room at Tufts Hillel to hear Maya Roman, a relative of two Israeli hostages, tell her story. She spoke of the enormous pain she and her family are experiencing, the helplessness of their situation and the lengths to which they are going to bring them home.

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Opinion

Op-ed: We will not wait for the next school shooting

By Alexander Denza, Toby Winick and Andrew Sun | January 24

Editor’s note: The following is adapted from a nationwide op-ed, meant to be published today at over 50 student papers across the country, unifying student voices to organize together toward an end to gun violence and demonstrating shared concern about gun violence that exists on college campuses. The nationwide op-ed was signed by 144 student leaders representing 90 groups across the nation. From the beginnings of our educational journeys, students are taught to love a country that values guns over our lives. Some of us hear the sound of gunfire when we watch fireworks on the fourth of July, or when we watch a drumline performance at halftime. But all of us have barricaded a classroom door in an active shooter drill and feared that next time, someone will be waiting outside.

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Viewpoint

Fauci and Weingarten have destroyed American schooling

By Kevin Golub | January 24

COVID-19 has forever changed the world. Many people have fallen victim to the virus, with many of them dying as a result. Children were sent home from school and didn’t return for many months.

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Viewpoint

School breaks show wealth disparity persists across universities

By Bela Silverman | January 22

The week after winter break marks the start of the notorious “syllabus week,” better known as ‘sylly week,’ a time for students to ease into their early morning lectures after a month of oversleeping, catching up with friends and going out. Many students party without worrying about doing homework with a hangover the next day. But for others, syllabus week is the only rest they get after finals season, having spent their breaks working minimum-wage jobs to save up for holiday season gifts and, more importantly, their college tuition. 

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