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TCU Senate to vote Sunday on genocide acknowledgment, university divestment

By Carly Cohen | February 27

On Sunday, the Coalition for Palestinian Liberation at Tufts introduced four full-text resolutions to the Tufts Community Union Senate which, if passed, will call on the Office of the President and other senior leadership to acknowledge Israel’s continued assault on Gaza and to end all ties to the country. Senators will vote on finalized versions of all four resolutions at next week’s meeting, just two weeks after the introduction of abstracts on Feb. 18.

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Community health majors must pay eight times original price for required summer internship

By Erin Zhu | February 22

Community health majors learned earlier this month of Tufts’ decision to raise the summer cost of a required internship course, CH140, from $500 total to $1,035 per credit. This change, meaning an increase of over $3,640 for the 4-credit class, has surprised students who will experience increased financial burden when they work a required internship over the summer.

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Theta Chi returns from a year of probation

By Carly Cohen | February 22

After completing a year-long probation for violating Tufts’ alcohol-free recruitment policy in December 2022, Theta Chi has resumed normal activities this semester. During its probation, the fraternity was suspended from hosting social events.

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Former news editors turned global correspondents

By Shannon Murphy | February 22

After serving as devoted leaders of the Daily’s News section, two former executive editors are spending their spring semesters in Europe. Junior Aaron Gruen, spring 2023 executive news editor and fall 2023 editor in chief, is currently studying at University College London, while junior Daniel Vos, fall 2023 executive news editor, is at the University of Amsterdam.

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Solomont Speaker Dr. Talithia Williams discusses strategies for minimizing health disparities

By Lucas Frota | February 21

Dr. Talithia Williams, a renowned statistician and TED Talk speaker, discussed her unique perspective in the fight against health disparities in her most recent lecture at Tufts, “Data Driven Solutions for Eliminating Health Disparities,” jointly presented by the School of Engineering’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Colloquium Series and Tisch College’s Solomont Speaker Series.

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Writers grapple with the reality of AI in ExCollege course

By Layla Kennington | February 20

This semester, the Experimental College is hosting a class focused on helping aspiring writers enter the tech industry called “Careers for Writers in the Tech Sector.” Visiting Lecturer Rita Reznikova (LA’08), the course’s instructor, seeks to introduce students to the variety of professional opportunities for writers, even amid the rise of generative artificial intelligence models like ChatGPT that threaten traditional career paths.

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Four Tufts faculty members receive grants for women’s health research

By Rebecca Barrie | February 16

In late January, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Women’s Health Initiative awarded grants to four Tufts faculty members to fund projects addressing the issue of inequities in women’s health research. Assistant Professors Nisha Iyer and Juan Gnecco, Professor Sameer Sonkusale and Frank C. Doble Professor Fiorenzo Omenetto received these grants towards their projects, which focus on understanding and solving issues related to women’s health.

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University

Housing lottery numbers released Friday for 2024–25 school year

By Caroline Vandis | February 15

On Friday, the Office of Residential Life & Learning released housing lottery numbers for sophomore housing via email. All rising sophomores, who are required to live on campus per the two-year residency requirement, were given lottery numbers which ranged from 1,000–2,900. Interested rising seniors and juniors had to apply for a lottery number in the fall, and those accepted last semester were assigned numbers between 1–400 and 500–900 respectively, with some flexibility.

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Journalist Neil Swidey discusses nonprofit for college completion

By Samantha Eng | February 15

Tufts alumnus Neil Swidey spoke at the Tisch College Civic Life Lunch about his work on the Alray Scholars Program, which aims to support Boston Public School students in completing their college degrees, on Feb. 5 in Barnum Hall.

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University

Carmichael Hall residents see rodents’ reign recede

By Josué Pérez | February 15

Students in Carmichael Hall reported an uptick of mouse sightings and encounters following their return from winter break, with the university formally addressing the problem of pest control on Jan. 19 via an email from the Office of Residential Life & Learning.

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CPLT stages walkout on National Student Day of Action for Divestment

By Matthew Sage | February 13

In a walkout from classes on Thursday, students assembled in front of the Mayer Campus Center to protest Israel’s continued war in Gaza, which has now taken the lives of over 28,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023. The protest, organized by the Coalition for Palestinian Liberation at Tufts, coincided with similar demonstrations at other schools in a National Student Day of Action for Divestment.

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University

Class of 2028 first to be admitted post-affirmative action

By Amaani Jetley | February 9

In the school’s first round of admissions since the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action, admissions officers lack access to any part of applicants’ racial background, leaving the Class of 2028’s racial makeup, for now, ambiguous.

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Fostering collaboration and understanding, TCU Senate hosts leadership lunch

By Alexandra Huenlein | February 8

Club leaders from media, programming and performance groups met with Tufts Community Union Senate leaders in the Alumnae Lounge on Friday for a shared lunch, part of a five-part series where the TCU Senate invites different club presidents to lunch. These meetings were coordinated to discuss problems these clubs face and to foster a stronger connection between TCU Senate leaders and student organizations. 

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TCU Senate deliberates on student retreats, hosts Dean Lizarríbar

By Michael Onysko | February 6

The Tufts Community Union Senate heard and denied the Singaporean Indonesian Malaysian Students Association’s request to fund an additional off-campus retreat on Sunday, and heard from Dean of Students Camille Lizarríbar on her plans to promote “restorative justice” on campus in order to “build community” and “strengthen relationships among students.”

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Africana Center, Chaplaincy awards students with Voices of MLK Award

By Michael Onysko | February 5

The university held its annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration in the Joyce Cummings Center on Jan. 31, featuring keynote speaker Christian Walkes, who studies race and inequality within the U.S. education system as a PhD student at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. The event centered around the theme of a “single garment of destiny,” a concept first described by King in his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” highlighting the shared nature of the future.

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Tufts launches Jumbo Spring Break civic engagement program

By Dhruvii Mehta | February 1

In March, students will have the opportunity to dedicate their spring breaks to civic engagement through a new program, Jumbo Spring Break, which was collaboratively designed over the last semester by the Dean of Students Office, Tufts Community Union Senate, Tisch College of Civic Life, Career Center and the Chaplaincy.

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Earth Hacks’ co-founder champions environmental hackathons

By Lang Law | February 1

Sanjana Paul, the co-founder and executive director of Earth Hacks, explored the philosophy of her nonprofit’s mission to make hackathons more environmentally conscious on Jan. 25. The event, titled “Hacking the Climate Crisis: Environmental Hackathons as a Vehicle for Justice-Centric Climate Action,” was part of the environmental studies department’s ongoing Hoch Cunningham lecture series.

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Coalition for Palestinian Liberation holds ‘emergency protest for Palestine’

By Matthew Sage | January 30

More than 50 students gathered by the Mayer Campus Center’s lower patio and later marched through campus in an “emergency protest for Palestine” on Friday, organized by the Coalition for Palestinian Liberation at Tufts. The group’s first protest of 2024 follows a semester marked by activism over the Israel-Hamas war.

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Hemispheres journal launches its magazine counterpart

By Rebecca Barrie | January 30

Hemispheres: The Tufts University Journal of International Affairs, the country’s oldest undergraduate international relations journal, officially launched its magazine counterpart on Jan. 24.

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Family member of Israeli hostages speaks at Tufts Hillel

By Matthew Sage | January 26

Maya Roman — the family member of two women kidnapped by the U.S.-labeled terrorist organization Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 — spoke in front of over 120 students at Tufts Hillel on Wednesday. At the Hillel-branded “Critical Conversations” event, Roman spoke about her experience and subsequent activism to earn the release of Israeli hostages — including one of her family members still held captive.

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