Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021 was marked by remembrances of the horrific attack 20 years ago that transformed countless lives, our nation and the world at large. The remembrances focused largely on the 2,753 lives lost at Ground Zero — people who undoubtedly deserve to be remembered.
I was partying in Paris the moment I found out that Tufts had overenrolled the Class of 2025. Speakers were blasting reggaeton as I heard the distinct ringtone I had set for Tufts emails. I took my phone out of my pocket and read the headline. "Tufts Class of 2025 Housing Assignments." I skimmed the email looking for my roommate assignment and my residence hall but quickly found out it wasn’t in the email. The email simply stated that 100 or so students had been randomly selected to live in the Hyatt Place Medford, about a 35-minute walk from Tufts’ Campus Center. I celebrated at the time, as the email said that those unlucky 100 students had already been notified early in the morning and I had not been one of them. Nonetheless, the next day, peers I had met online were already asking me what hall I was in. I never received the housing email. Endless calls and unanswered emails to Residential Life left me desperate for an answer.
By the numbers themselves, it goes without saying that Hurricane Ida has brought immense destruction and desperation to the neighborhoods and areas it passed through. Nearly a hundred people have died from Ida’s tornadoes, extreme flooding and heavy winds. Ida hasaffected 22 states, plus Washington, D.C., and torn through 1,500 miles of the United States.
On Wednesday, Sept. 1, the Supreme Courtallowed Texas to uphold what is now the most repressive abortion law in the United States.The structure of Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB 8)mirrors the “heartbeat bills” of states like Georgia and Ohio, banning abortions past the detection of a fetal heartbeat. However, the law in Texas is the first tobypass federal blocking due to a backdoor provision that calls for enforcement by civil action rather than by the state itself. Instead of designating government officials to enforce the law, SB 8 gives citizens the ability to sue anyone who aids an unlawful abortion and allows them to collect at least $10,000 in the process.
Today, California voters face the decision of whether to replace Gavin Newsom as governor of California.The prospect that the Democratic governor may lose his position in the predominantly blue state has sparked nationwide concern.While a poll conducted found that 58% of likely voters say they will vote against the recall and support Newsom, the final turnout for this special election remains to be seen.
The members of the Class of 2024 have collectively lost some of the most important cultural and social experiences of our lives. In the United States, as well as in many other places around the world, the end of high school is a once-in-a-lifetime period of celebration and closure. Prom, graduation, senior week, senior trips, signing yearbooks of friends and acquaintances that you may never see again — all of these things signify the end of an era, of childhood. Our class missed out on all of these experiences.
A lot has changed since the start of the fall 2020 semester. Vaccines have become widely accessible in the United States, with 53% of the nation’s population being fully vaccinated. Tufts has changed its COVID-19 guidelines, easing us back in the direction of a somewhat more ‘normal’ academic year. Amidst a time of continued uncertainty and isolation, many students feel cautiously optimistic about what this school year has to offer.
As the semester drew to a close last May, COVID-19 infection rates were steadily declining, indicating a possible end to this deadly pandemic. However, by late July, reported statistics throughout the nation showed an alarming increase in cases and deaths, specifically as a result of the novel Delta variant of COVID-19. According to the CDC, the seven-day moving average of cases climbed from 12,000 in late June to over 60,000 by July 27. As vaccination rates plateau and infection levels increase, hopes for the near end of the pandemic are fleeting.
To the Class of 2025, welcome. We’re so glad you could make it. I’m sure it has been a long and tumultuous journey, but you’re here now. Congratulations.
To the Class of 2025 and all students, faculty and staff,
To everyone stepping onto campus for the first time and to everyone returning for another year, welcome to Tufts. We enter this fall semester with remaining uncertainty about COVID-19 and the increased prevalence of newer variants but also with the added comfort of vaccinations — bringing us just a little closer to some sense of normalcy.
Dear Class of 2021 and the Tufts community,
Head is pounding, sunlight hurts, body aches and there’s a mysterious bruise. Sitting in bed with a Pedialyte and a treat from Magnificent Muffin won’t fix it — it’s a hangover that can’t be slept off. It’s not going away unless we fight it off. It’s not from The Pub, the Burren or Mike’s; it’s from Belarus, Algeria, India, Hungary, Egypt, China, the United States and even the United Kingdom. Maybe we should call TEMS? Democracy’s down bad.
The financial aid system is notoriously difficult to navigate. At Tufts, a school with one of thewealthiest student bodies in the country,this problem poses a particular threat to the equality of education and opportunities for students across campus.
Can you imagine, for a moment, what it would be like to be invisible? Yes — invisibility is often people's superpower of choice, but what if it wasn’t a choice? Our names are Emma and Avani and we are two people who know what it's like to feel invisible. To our friends, professors, coaches, peers and often the administration, we appear to be perfectly able-bodied — from the looks of us, no one would think that we both manage a lifelong chronic disease.
Building more housing on campus is an issue of economic justice, as the current shortage leaves few options for low-income students at Tufts and for low-income renters who are being priced out of our surrounding communities. These problems risk getting worse in the years ahead with the Green Line’s imminent arrival to Medford, something that could contribute to further surges in housing prices.
Growing up Jewish wasn’t easy.
As a Puerto Rican who has worked at Tufts for the better part of a decade, I was heartened to read Sara Kessel’s April 22 Opinion article:“The issues of statehood in D.C. and Puerto Rico are not the same. Stop conflating them.” I commend her for writing about this often ignored topic, and I share her view that D.C. and Puerto Rico should not be thoughtlessly lumped together. Furthermore, I join the Puerto Rican student quoted in the piece in asserting that independence is the only option that respects Puerto Rican nationhood, and that being absorbed into the country that invaded the island 123 years ago is not a truly decolonial outcome.
As members of the Class of 2021 enter their final days at Tufts, now is an appropriate time to reflect on what its members have accomplished in their time here. Finishing college in circumstances that no one could have even imagined four years ago, Tufts’ graduating seniors have shown respectable resilience in the face of a challenging year. But beyond just doing the bare minimum, this is a class whose members have looked out for others in addition to themselves. In the year since this pandemic first shook the world, members of our student body — led by graduating seniors — have turned outward rather than inward, continuing our community's commitment to social justice and its tradition of activism. And compared to many of Tufts’ peers, our community has avoided the worst COVID-19 outcomes, owing largely to the behavior of students, including the graduating seniors who have sacrificed traditions enjoyed by previous generations of Tufts graduates.
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