Welcome back, Jumbos! And to the newly-matriculated Class of 2029: Welcome to Tufts! My name is Dylan Fee, and I am excited to introduce myself as the new editor in chief of The Tufts Daily. I would like to take a moment to acquaint you with the Daily and our incredible team.
Once I submitted my last final and the freedom of summer washed over me, I made a radical decision: I would not spend a single second of break doomscrolling. Pulling out my deteriorating phone, I gleefully deleted all my social media apps, committing myself to saving my attention span and being morally superior to my peers. But it only took one 40-minute layover on my flight home for me to supplement my need to scroll with another vice: obsessively checking the news.
There’s a special kind of anxiety I feel sitting in a room full of students, suspended in the silence between a professor’s question and the first raised hand. As I’ve spent the past week preparing to teach a class as part of Tufts’ Explorations program — a part of our Experimental College in which upper-level students instruct incoming first-years about a topic of their choice and help them adjust to college — I’ve been thinking, and worrying, about that dreaded silence. Why, in so many classrooms full of skilled learners, is this such a familiar phenomenon?
The media that individuals consume dictates their views on society. The average individual sees more than 5,000 advertisements per day, each of which has the power to shape their beliefs, attitudes and expectations. Hence, it’s imperative that popular media uplifts marginalized groups, rather than confining them to stereotypes that can normalize sexism, racism or homophobia. Gender stereotypes have persisted in popular media, from sexist portrayals of women in 20th century advertisements to their depictions in movies and music today. Although the representation of empowered women has increased, gender-restrictive stereotypes and the objectification of women are still prominent in popular media today.
On a Tuesday in March, I had spent most of my day working on my dissertation proposal and started to feel exhausted and hungry. It was the holy month of Ramadan, and I was fasting. Once finished, I quickly got ready to attend an iftar dinner, throwing on my hoodie, sweatpants and a jersey headscarf — definitely not a day for being fancy. I was looking forward to taking a short walk and catching up with friends at the Interfaith Center, when I was suddenly surrounded and grabbed by a swarm of masked individuals, who handcuffed me and shoved me into an unmarked car.
Dear Class of 2025 and the Tufts community, congratulations on an impressive finish to your undergraduate journey here at Tufts. All of your hard work has culminated in this moment of celebration and accomplishment. Your contributions over the years, in the classroom, on the field and in the studio, have enriched the Tufts community and our collegiate experience. Thank you.
Sadie Roraback-Meagher: Heya Evan! Evan Wang: Hey, Sadie. How’s your semester winding down? Sadie: “Winding” doesn’t seem very fitting. A better question would be: How is it crashing down in flames? Evan: Wow, I sure am going to miss your pessimism this summer. What will I do ...
Tufts students spend upward of 200 days each year at school. While it often feels like so much is going wrong in our world, both near and far, we want to make your time here more enjoyable by drawing attention to some of our favorite parts about life on the Hill.
When I came to Tufts in the fall of 2022, I was still in shock from the start of the full-scale invasion of my home country, Ukraine. I was exhausted by uncertainty watching the horrific news unfold, not yet knowing how to cope with the daily tragedies caused by the bombings and fighting on the frontline. Speaking up about the war on social media was helping me to feel less powerless. When I heard about the Daily, I realized that writing for the newspaper would be another great way to raise awareness about the war — a tool to turn my frustration into helpful actions. At first I was not sure that I would find support for a column about Ukraine. However, from the very first meeting in the Opinion section I felt encouraged to express my reflections about the war, and this support helped me tremendously to gain the courage to share my personal, often traumatic experiences through my writing.
More than 47,000 species are currently threatened with extinction. Just last year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List reported five newly extinct species and five others moved to the critically endangered list. Scientists from Dallas-based biotech company Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences are working to revive extinct animals in order to “jumpstart nature’s accestral heartbeat.” However, its choices in animals are questionable: Tasmanian tigers, mammoths, dire wolves and dodo birds. Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences’ mission, although a marvel of modern technology, is a shoddy attempt to restore balance to mother nature without addressing humanity’s failure to protect animals that went extinct in the last decade.
Over the past few months, I, like so many others, have been thinking a lot about what it means to be getting a liberal arts education. At a time when the world is changing with the advent of new technologies, changing markets and constant commentary from family friends that artificial intelligence will leave us unemployed: “Why liberal arts?” is a question that has become even more important.
The 2024–25 Diversity & Inclusion Report continues the Daily’s effort to gather insights into the composition of our staff and their experiences in our organization. The report was created by a group of Daily staff members under the purview of the paper’s Ethics & Inclusion Committee, formerly known as the Intentionality & Inclusivity Committee. The Daily is committed to upholding accuracy and inclusivity in our coverage and fostering an equitable environment for all staff. We seek to continually move the organization forward by improving our internal and external facing practices. To this end, the Ethics & Inclusion Committee has compiled this third annual report to offer transparency into our newsroom, identify ways in which we can work to better inform our coverage and assess how to make the Daily more inclusive and representative of the communities we serve and cover.
If you’re part of the Class of 2025, you’re likely no stranger to the emotional whiplash of dread, anger and anxiety, sometimes punctuated by flickers of hope and anticipation, that has characterized the last few months. Perhaps you’re part of a student research project whose funding was cut. Or, the jobs that once defined your dream career no longer exist. Maybe, like most of us, you’re facing adauntingly high level of competitiveness for entry-level jobs. In short, the future does not feel bright.I, for one, do not feel limitless career potential. Regardless of what commencement speakers may say, it is objectively a terrible time to graduate from college. So, how can we, as a graduating class, cope with the fact that our plans are being forced to change due to factors beyond our control?
As I prepare to graduate from Tufts, I find myself reflecting on what I’ve learned over the last four years. I’ve learned an incredible amount academically, grown emotionally and matured as an adult. Still, the piece of knowledge that grabs my shoulders and shakes me, screaming, “I am the most important!” is my new, glimmering mindset. Over my time at Tufts, I have realized that our perceptions of “reality” are often fake. As such, why not commit to living authentically, despite what others may think of you?
Dear Class of 2025, As you walk across the stage and receive your diploma, remember that this is your Commencement — a beginning. It is the start of your life as a Tufts graduate! When you graduate, you automatically become a member of the Tufts University Alumni Association, a 130,000-plus person network of Jumbo alumni that I am proud to lead as president.
On April 22, Knopf Publishing Company released “Notes to John,” a posthumous collection of journal entries Joan Didion wrote after sessions with her psychiatrist.The 224-page work marks the first release of new content by the writer since her 2011 memoir, “Blue Nights.”
When I arrived at Tufts in 2021, I knew who I was and what I wanted. When I introduced myself across countless icebreakers that fall, I made sure to let anyone and everyone know that I was here to major in international relations and minor in economics, aiming to work in a think tank after I graduated to be close to the political world. This confidence, at the time, seemed well justified. After all, since middle school, I had maintained a passionate interest in Model UN as a vehicle by which I could learn about international affairs and diplomacy, and in my International Baccalaureate program, I regarded my classes as preparation for delving deeper into international relations.
Summer is upon us! As yet another school year comes to a close, the Editorial Board has brainstormed some changes that we hope can improve students’ experience at Tufts.
Walking through the halls of Tisch, desperate to find a study spot, my eyes can’t help but dart to what rests on everyone’s desk. No, it’s not books that my peepers are gazing at but the vast array of colorful Owala water bottles that have taken over campus. I don’t think I’ve gone a single day this school year without seeing one of those brightly-colored vessels shoved into the side pocket of a backpack or standing tall on a desk. Even the Tufts Bookstore has caught on to the epidemic, now selling a variety of Owala bottles for students to hydrate with. Yet, as I sip on my microplastic-infused water from my deteriorating bottle, I find myself struggling to understand this trend. Wasn’t it just last year that everyone was clenching their Stanley cups? And what about those insulated Hydro Flasks that would thunder when they hit the floor?
When I was notified by my supervisor at the Student Accessibility and Academic Resources Center — also known as the StAAR Center — at the end of my first year that I had been accepted as a writing fellow, I was overjoyed. First of all, it was the first job I had ever been offered. Second, it was the only on-campus job I had been accepted to after applying to countless random positions at the Mayer Campus Center and Tisch Library through Handshake. I had always wanted an on-campus job because it seemed so cool and rewarding. Now, two years later, I can confidently say I was right, and that my Tufts experience wouldn’t have been nearly as meaningful without it.
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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