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.
Correction: A previous version of this cartoon misattributed the cartoonist of this piece. The cartoon has been updated to reflect this change. The Daily regrets this error.
Dear Tufts community,
As the 2019–20 academic year comes to a close, we recognize the change, passion and advocacy of our community’s responses. The Daily seeks to reflect this spirit throughout its pages and specifically within the Opinion section. We aim to capture the vibrant conversations and important issues on our campus, painting a comprehensive picture of how life on the Hill should be.
I was relieved when, in late April, University President Anthony Monaco, Provost and Senior Vice President Nadine Aubry, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser, Dean of Student Affairs ad interim Nancy Thompson and Dean of the School of Engineering Jianmin Qureleased a statement expressing their strong disapproval of the Office for Campus Life Student Organization Collaboration Award going to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
OnWednesday, April 22, the Office for Campus Life (OCL) awarded Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) the Student Organization Collaboration Award in recognition of the multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-racial coalition of activists we built as part of our campaign to end the Deadly Exchange at Tufts. We are deeply disappointed that instead of celebrating SJP’s coalition building, activism and fight for social justice across cultural, racial, ethnic, religious, socioeconomic and international boundaries, the Tufts administration, in astatement by University President Anthony Monaco, Provost and Senior Vice President Nadine Aubry, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser, Dean of Student Affairs ad interim Nancy Thompson and Dean of the School of Engineering Jianmin Qu, launched a disparaging, shameful smear campaign. In their statement, they stated that they “strongly disapprove of this award in light of SJP’s concerning policy positions, including its association with the [Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)] movement, elements of which [they] view as anti-Semitic.” We embrace the call for BDS; therefore, by describing BDS as antisemitic, the university is also accusing SJP of antisemitism.
I will start off by stating that I disagree with Trump’sdecision to withdraw American funding from the World Health Organization (WHO). I believe the world must be united in combating COVID-19. However, I want to provide some context on the current director-general of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, and how he and the WHO have made certain missteps inresponding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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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