The university has confirmed that a meeting between protesters and University President Sunil Kumar occurred today.
In an email sent to Tufts community members on Sunday evening, university President Sunil Kumar and four other university leaders addressed the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” for the first time since student protesters erected it on April 7, requesting that the tents be taken down to allow the university to prepare for Commencement. Shortly after, Tufts Students for Justice for Palestine reaffirmed in an Instagram post that they will not leave the Academic Quad until the university divests from Israel, ends the sale of Sabra and other Israeli products at Tufts dining locations, “acknowledge[s] the genocide in Gaza” and “apologize[s] for previous statements.”
Joel Omolade will serve as the next president of the student body and the Tufts Community Union Senate for the 2024–25 academic year, as announced by the Tufts Elections Commission on its website earlier today. Total election turnout was 30.36% of the student body, and over half of those students voted for Omolade — putting him ahead of the next candidate by 429 votes.
In the largest protest Tufts has seen this semester, over 300 students, faculty, nearby residents and Somerville High School students rallied on Friday in solidarity with Gaza. The demonstration, stretching from the Academic Quad to the front steps of the Mayer Campus Center, follows a wave of heightened student activism across the country.
Amid a national wave of encampments for Palestine on college campuses, Tufts students have set up tents on the Academic Quad to demand that Tufts divest from Israel and that charges against student protesters across the country be dropped.
The Tufts Community Union Senate finalized next school year’s student organization budget of over $2.9 million, approving it at its most recent meeting on Sunday. The 2024–25 academic year’s budget will rise 3.7% over this year’s budget of $2,843,373.
At a Wednesday night debate in the Joyce Cummings Center, Krystal Mutebi, Joel Omolade and Mikayla Paquette each presented their vision for the Tufts Community Union presidency. All three are juniors and current TCU senators.
Three senators are vying to be the 2024–25 president of the Tufts Community Union Senate: Krystal Mutebi, Joel Omolade and Mikayla Paquette. Ballots will remain open from Thursday to Saturday. In interviews with the Daily, each candidate highlighted the need for the Senate to serve as the voice for underrepresented groups on campus.
Joel Omolade will be allowed to appear on the TCU presidential ballot after the TCU Judiciary overturned the Election Commission’s decision on Thursday to disqualify him, the Judiciary announced in an op-ed Monday afternoon. After two hearings on Sunday, the Judiciary voted unanimously to reinstate his candidacy, having found that ECOM failed to uphold due process in its investigation of campaign rule violations.
Editor’s note: The TCU Judiciary reinstated the disqualified candidate on Monday, allowing the election to take place as initially planned. Ballots will be open from noon on Thursday to noon on Saturday. The fate of the Tufts Community Union Senate presidential election — currently set to be held on Wednesday — is up in the air, following the TCU Elections Commission’s decision to disqualify a candidate on Thursday for campaign misconduct. In an email to the Daily, ECOM wrote that a decision on the election’s timeline will be made public by 12 p.m. Monday.
The Tufts Community Union Elections Commission announced the incoming senators for the 2024–25 academic year on Friday, shortly after voting concluded at 12 p.m. According to ECOM Chair Charles Mitchell, approximately 20% of students voted in the election — 23.8% of whom were first-years, 36.6% of whom were sophomores, 25.8% of whom were juniors, 13.4% of whom were seniors and 0.4% of whom were fifth-years.
Tufts Democrats held its annual symposium titled “Democrats in Motion: The Future of Progressive Policy” on April 5, featuring speakers including U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, political consultant Elaine Almquist, expert political campaign organizers, reporters and Tufts political science professors across four different panels.
The Tufts Community Union Senate hosted its second Leadership Gala on April 7, honoring leaders of the student organizations and clubs at Tufts for their commitment to leadership. Five different awards were handed out to a total of eight winners, with several awards having multiple recipients.
“Since the next total eclipse visible from the Eastern Seaboard won’t occur until 2024, a great many amateurs will also be out to look at, and photograph this event,” an article in the Tufts Observer read the day before the last total eclipse fell over New England in 1970. But in a rare moment, scientific spectacle again eclipsed students’ usual academic schedules to bring hundreds of Tufts students flocking to President’s Lawn, basking in the dim light of the most recent partial eclipse on Monday. From the Medford/Somerville campus, students were able to catch a glimpse of a 93% covered sun using pairs of eclipse glasses, smartly passed between friends.
Tufts’ total cost of attendance has broken the $90,000 barrier for the 2024–2025 academic year, reflecting the rising costs of higher education across the country. For incoming undergraduate students at Tufts, the new price of attendance is approximately $92,167 — a figure that includes ...
Fiona Hill, a former advisor to three U.S. Presidents and the current Chancellor of Durham University, will deliver the commencement address to the class of 2024. University President Sunil Kumar announced Hill as the speaker on March 27.
Saffiyah Coker, a senior studying economics and international relations, was selected as the winner of the Wendell Phillips award and will deliver an address at this year’s Baccalaureate Ceremony. The award, established in 1896, is named for the attorney, women’s and Native Americans’ rights activist and abolitionist. The award is given to a senior who demonstrates marked ability as a public speaker and a sense of public responsibility.
The spring 2024 Tufts Community Union Elections are here. Polls are open from Wednesday at 12 p.m. until Friday at 12 p.m. All students will receive a link in their Tufts email address directing them to an electronic ballot. Sophomores and juniors will decide their incoming class representatives in competitive elections. The Indigenous Peoples’ Community Senator seat remains vacant for a third semester, while no candidates are running to fill the newly vacated Latinx Community Senator seat.
The Tufts Federalist Society hosted a panel titled “Intellectual Diversity on Law School Campuses” on March 28. The panel participants included Emily Miller, a third-year JD candidate at Harvard Law School; Ben Pontz, a third-year JD candidate at Harvard Law School and president of the Harvard Federalist Society; and Kristi Jobson, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Chief Admissions Officer for Harvard Law School. Dayna Cunningham, Dean of the Tisch College of Civic Life, moderated the panel.
In recent weeks, students purchasing food from Hodgdon Food-on-the-Run will have noticed the dining location’s line layout appears to have undergone a subtle redesign and that customers now receive a paper receipt upon checking out.Often, a watchful employee stands near the door.
