Tufts students are smart. They are more than willing to make sacrifices in order to protect their health and the health of those around them. However, they also recognize nonsense. No one is expecting the concert choir to convene this semester, but exceptions should be made to allow students to sing in the privacy of their own rooms.
As Tufts grapples with this new hybrid reality, it is crucial that administrators and professors alike actively support remote students by instituting flexible academic policies and finding innovative alternatives to in-person learning.
As we react and readjust to the spread of COVID-19 on our campus, it is critical that the Tufts community and administration account for the concerns of our neighbors in making on-campus decisions.
Dear University President Anthony Monaco, Provost and Senior Vice President Nadine Aubry, Dean of the School of Engineering Jianmin Qu, Dean of Student Affairs Camille Lizarríbar, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Robert Cook, Associate Provost and Chief Diversity Officer Rob Mack and members of the Tufts community,
Whether you are a returning student, new to Tufts, in-person or remote, welcome back, and welcome home. This semester will be a time of readjustment and uncertainty; we begin school against the backdrop of a pandemic and institutional change. It is evermore important that as a community, we remain united, resilient and critical of the world around us. This fall The Tufts Daily remains committed to this mission, using our platform to cultivate conversations about issues impacting our community and spurring our administration to take action.
Dear Class of 2024,
On behalf of The Tufts Daily, welcome back to the Hill. We know this is a time of unique challenges, but we know this semester will undoubtedly yield meaningful experiences as well.
On Aug. 9, Lauren Border, an alumna from the Class of 2013, penned, “Op-Ed: An alumna’s call to burn Greek life to the ground,” detailing horrible offenses committed by the Greek community. Fully acknowledging her grievances, I admit that many of these organizations must transform. However, I take issue with the portrayal of these grievances as representative of the Greek community at large, and, with the inaccurate and incomplete characterization of its members. The Greek community has also had an immensely positive impact on members of the very communities she claims it has harmed. While I agree during this period of unprecedented social strife, it is appropriate to reflect and critically evaluate all institutions we hold dear, doing away with the Greek system is not the answer to creating a more inclusive campus.
Content warning: This article mentions sexual violence and exclusion based on racial, sexual and gender identity.
Hey Tufts — take a look around!
My father wasarrested for the first time in April 2013 for his work as a civil rights activist. Along with activist Xu Zhiyong, he led the New Citizens’ Movement (now China Citizens Movement), which aims to peacefully promote democracy and constitutionalism in China. To attain this goal, they helped like-minded individuals run as independent candidates in local people’s congressional elections and launched specific campaigns, such as calling for government officials to disclose their personal finances, insisting on the rights of property owners and demanding for equality in education.
When Adele took the stage to accept the award for Album of the Year at the2017 Grammy Awards, she broke down, stating that she “can’t possibly accept [the] award” because the “artist of [her] life is Beyoncé.” She told Beyoncé and the audience that “the ‘Lemonade’ album was just so monumental,” highlighting Beyoncé’s empowerment of the Black community.
As an Indian American woman, I have all too often come across members of my community shaking their heads at black people and dismissing the black struggle. I have watched the adults in my life rubFair & Lovely cream on their faces with the hopes of looking less dark, mock black accents, language and culture, avoid predominantly black neighborhoods and subtly imply that our Asian American communities are somehow above our black counterparts — after all, Asian Americans do boast anabove-median household income level and the highestaverage SAT scores, all while facing racial discrimination in everyday life. Some ask, if we can do it, what is the black community’s excuse? Why can’t they pick themselves up by the bootstraps and elevate their socioeconomic status?
Content warning: This article references instances of police brutality against black individuals.
Dear University President Anthony Monaco, Provost and Senior Vice President Nadine Aubry, Dean of the School of Engineering Jianmin Qu, Dean of Student Affairs ad interim Nancy Thompson and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser,
University President Anthony Monaco and four of the university's highest-ranking administrators recently published an unprecedentedstatement addressing an award given to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).In the statement, the administrators expressed their concern that elements of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, a movement the group promotes, are antisemitic.Many students were understandably shocked. Why would President Monaco walk back an awardgiven to a progressive student organization advocating for justice and how could anyone reasonably consider elements of the organization’s platform to be antisemitic? To many, the stereotypical antisemite waves a Nazi flag, espouses racial supremacy and believes theories about Jewish power over various aspects of society. The vast majority of Tufts students do not fit that description. Why then did the administration still decide to denounce the award?
Four years of university provide many opportunities for widespread change, both in the lives of students and the institution itself. The experiences of the Class of 2020 are no exception; throughout its time on campus, our university experienced drastic changes in favor of improving student life, preserving positive institutional values and the rights of all community members. The progress at Tufts during the Class of 2020’s college years and the class' role in advocating for these changes is worthy of pride and recognition by our entire community.
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, it continues to highlight issues within the structures of our world, country and university. In particular, the crisis has placed increased stress on health care systems, in turn aggregating the health caredisparities prevalent within American institutions.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges for our world, university and peers. Against the backdrop of an emerging economicrecession and widespreadunemployment, many Tufts students and families will experiencefinancial hardship. Students that did not qualify for financial aid prior to the crisis could have need in the near future, and those currently receiving aid may face holes in financial support while not on campus. Further, access to academic resources is extremely limited while confined to our homes, with cost-saving alternatives, such as selling back books to the Tufts Community Union Textbook Exchange, not available at the moment. Even after students can safely return to campus, the effects of the crisis will linger; some students may no longer be able to afford tuition, living, academic or travel costs.
I confess: This letter was difficult for me to write. It is extremely rare for the Daily to publish a letter from the executive news editor, especially so in our final issue of the year. The turbulence of this semester, however, prompts me to break from this precedent.
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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