Tufts University offered admission to 9.7% of applicants to the undergraduate Class of 2026, the admissions office announcedTuesday, marking the lowest acceptance rate in university history.
Tufts announced its commitment to increasing its contributions to the international Scholars at Risk network to support Ukrainian scholars in an email to the community on March 4. Now, faculty and administrators are considering how best to support these scholars and are exploring additional ways to help them beyond SAR. The university joined the SAR network in 2011 to help threatened scholars, defined broadly by the program to include private researchers, writers, artists and practitioners.
Valarie Kaur, a civil rights leader, lawyer, award-winning filmmaker and best-selling author, spoke about the power of revolutionary love in the joint Russell Lecture on Spiritual Life and Solomont Speaker Series on March 28.
Caitlin Caseyjoined the Tufts undergraduate advising team of the School of Arts and Sciences as associate dean of undergraduate advising in February. Casey advises upward of 1,000 undergraduate students with last names beginning with the letters S through Z. Before coming to Tufts, Casey worked at Harvard as the assistant dean of Harvard College and as the Allston Burr resident dean of Lowell House.
In an email sent to the Tufts community on Tuesday, Executive Vice President of the University and Chair of the Working Group on TUPD Arming Michael Howard announced the release of the working group's final report. Based on the report, the WGTA released its recommendation to transition to a “hybrid model” of arming in which the Tufts Department of Public Safety employs both armed officers and unarmed security professionals.
Mayors Katjana Ballantyne of Somerville, Breanna Lungo-Koehn of Medford and Michelle Wu of Boston came together for a virtual discussion on March 22 in the latest installment of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Lifes Solomont Speaker Series. They discussed the challenges they face as women in politics as well as their plans to transform their communities.
COVID-19 cases declined drastically at Tufts as students left the Medford/Somerville campus for spring break. The university reported 7 new cases on Friday and 21 in the week before.
Cher Xiong, a sophomore in the School of Arts and Sciences, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday evening, according to an email from university administrators. The email highlighted Xiong’s kind, outgoing nature and the impact their passing will have on the community.
Editor’s note: Aaron Klein is the Executive Audio Producer at The Tufts Daily and also one of the two co-chairs of J Street U Tufts. Klein was not involved in the reporting, writing or editing of this article. Skyler Goldberg is the chair of The Tufts Daily’s Education Committee and also the president of Tufts Friends of Israel. Goldberg was not involved in the reporting, writing or editing of this article.
The Fletcher School at Tufts University announced it will break off its academic relationship with the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO),an elite research university under the umbrella of the Russian Federation Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the wake of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Fletcher also cut ties with the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE), another Russian institution, earlier this month.
In an email sent to the Tufts community on Wednesday, administration officials announced Tufts’ plans to “gradually lift” the COVID-19 restrictions that have been imposed since the pandemic’s onset forced the university’s campuses to remote learning in March 2020.
After nearly 20 years of serving the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life as director of community partnerships, Shirley Mark has assumed the newly-created role of assistant dean for diversity and inclusion. Mark will oversee Tisch College’s work in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in addition to continuing her responsibilities as director of community partnerships.
The Emerson Collective announced the selection of Tufts Professor of Political Science Eitan Hersh as its newest fellow on Jan. 25 . The Emerson Collective is a for-profit organization that seeks to create social change through philanthropy, advocacy and investment. They partner with entrepreneurs, experts, policymakers, advocates and creatives to promote equality and justice.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden on Feb. 25. If confirmed by the Senate, Jackson will fill the seat currently held by Associate Justice Stephen Breyeronce he retires at the end of the current judicial term.
The Tufts Community Union Senate heard a presentation from the Election Commission and voted on a proposal calling for the compensation of community senators in a meeting on Sunday night in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room.
Tufts’ Working Group on TUPD Arming anticipates releasing new recommendations regarding TUPD’s arming status this semester, Executive Vice President Mike Howard confirmed in an email to the Daily.
Tufts Climate Action staged a protest outside of Ballou Hall on Friday, calling for the university’s complete divestment from fossil fuel holdings. The protest complements the work TCA has been doing since its founding in 2012.
While Massachusetts recently lifted its mask mandate for K-12 schools and both Medford and Somerville have removed their indoor masking requirements, Tufts continues to enforce a mask mandate.
Tufts administration and faculty are reviewing policies for faculty compensation and promotion, with a focus on hiring and retaining talented faculty members. Mike Howard, the executive vice president of Tufts, and Kim Ryan, vice president for human resources, delivered a presentation on the topic to theUniversity Faculty Senate at its February meeting.
Tufts will continue its mask mandate despite the state of Massachusetts dropping its mandate for K-12 schools and Medford and Somerville eschewing their mandates entirely.
