Opinion | Viewpoint

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Roger Federer: A human first and a tennis legend second

By Idil Kolabas | September 30

Who is Roger Federer? A legend in the tennis world? A humble Swiss ball boy? When asked by Joe Sabia in the “73 Questions” series for Vogue, he said he wanted to be remembered as “philanthropic” and “a good tennis player.” I am here to tell you that both descriptions are understatements of who he is, both as a tennis player and a philanthropic foundation president.

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The Mar-a-Lago Documents: Another witch hunt?

By Gian Luca Di Lenardo | September 30

On Sept. 21, famed conservative talk show host Sean Hannity televised an exclusive interview with former President Trump. With mounting pressure on Trump and his legal team, discussion of the search warrant that found classified documents on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property was inevitable. However, an attempt by Hannity to lob softball questions at Trump and allow him to continue his talking points about the politicization of the Department of Justice quickly made for a revealing interview.

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A democracy at dawn or dusk: The future of Taiwan

By Annabel Zhang | September 29

The China-Taiwan conflict has lasted for decades, from the establishment of the People's Republic of China to the present. When the PRC was established in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party’s adversary, the Kuomintang, retreated to the island of Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War. Since then, China has always claimed to hold sovereignty over Taiwan, an “inalienable” part of China. 

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The attack on women in Iran must not be ignored

By Esma Erdem | September 29

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died in police custody after having a “heart attack” and falling into a coma. She was arrested by the Iranian morality police for wearing her hijab “improperly” and violating the “dress code.” Although the police denied the allegations, witnesses have reported that Amini was beaten in the police van. Iranian authorities stated “heart attack” as the cause for her “unfortunate death;” however, her family mentioned that she had no preexisting heart condition. 

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Bivalent booster: The best use of two minutes

By Julieta Grané | September 28

On Sept. 16, Tufts Health Service announced that all students, faculty and staff would be required to receive both the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 booster and the annual influenza vaccine by Friday, Dec. 2. As our world oscillates between pandemic restrictions and relative normalcy, vaccine requirements remind people that coronavirus is still spreading and causing long-lasting harm; the only way to prevent more damage is to get vaccinated. 

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Tufts students needn't boycott the CIA, they can change it

By Maxwell Shoustal | September 28

On Sept. 16, students gathered in a passionate protest against the CIA hosting a recruitment event at Tufts through the Career Center. They leveled attacks against the CIA in response to its alleged involvement in the overthrow of leftist democratically elected governments in developing countries, as well as its participation in drug trafficking. Students have a right to protest, and I would not attempt to deny or defend the CIA against such accusations. I do believe, however, that students who would like to participate in the CIA recruitment process should be allowed to do so, and that it is reasonable for Tufts to maintain a relationship with the agency. 

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Is the pandemic really over?

By Toby Winick | September 26

Almost two years into his presidency, we are seeing a different Joe Biden than the one we saw on the campaign trail. For example, his recent comments on Trumpism and Taiwan reflect a boldness that has thus far been relatively absent from his presidency. Last week, President Biden issued yet another signal of this changed approach, one that impacts all Americans.

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Trigger warning: Andrew Tate

By Idil Kolabas | September 22

Content warning: This article mentions rape, racism and homophobia.

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Yes, it’s still happening: Refocusing on the war in Ukraine

By Henry Murray | September 20

In early 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Though Russia was certain of a swift victory over their neighbor, Ukraine has proved resilient over the last seven months. Reports on the war have been somewhat inconsistent, hampered by Russian authorities’ efforts to restrict the flow of information, at times explicitly targeting journalists.

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The End of the World Has Just Begun: Sri Lanka and supply chains

By Daniel Chung | September 16

A recent case study that signals the breakdown of the globalized system is the crisis in Sri Lanka. To those who observe from the sidelines, it seems that the crisis flared up on July 9, when demonstrators stormed the presidential palace. This sequence of events forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee to the Maldives and eventually step down from his position, handing it over to Ranil Wickremesinghe, a veteran of the political scene. 

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Op-ed guidelines from the editor

By Reya Kumar | September 14

To our readers and contributors in the Tufts community,

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A new school year, a new global health emergency

By Idil Kolabas | September 6

Watching the news has been difficult this summer, from conflicts in Europe, Asia and the Middle East to the horror of American politics, where a Supreme Court decision stripped the American people of their right to make choices about their own bodies. On top of these regular violations of human rights across the globe, we are also still suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic while fearing the next global health emergency: monkeypox. Data displays how far from over the COVID-19 pandemic is, especially for the United States, as the U.S. remains in the top five countries for new COVID-19 cases and deaths.

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From the classroom to the hospital and back again

By Ethan Jaskowiak | May 22

I can’t remember when I had my first seizure, but it must’ve been at least eight years ago. I’m sure it happened like most of them — a few seconds of confusion, a sprinkle of vision loss, shaking arms and that signature, distant look my friends have since come to recognize. It started as a curiosity, something to be experimented with, often by standing up suddenly to see if I could trigger one, whatever they were. It was easy to dismiss them in high school as a strange quirk springing to life a dozen times a year: odd, but nothing to worry about. The arrogance of a young man was enough to protect me, I was sure of it.

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The Class of 2021 deserves closure and celebration

By Reya Kumar | May 21

This May, Tufts is holding an in-person ceremony celebrating the deserving students of the Class of 2022. We are also celebrating the students of the Class of 2020, whose college experience was unceremoniously cut short by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it is undeniable that these students missed out on the communal rituals that signal the end of an undergraduate education, it is also important to acknowledge the similar experience of the Class of 2021.

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COVID-19 compromise: The city of Philadelphia versus its residents

By Henry Murray | April 29

This week, a group of Philadelphia business owners and residents filed a lawsuit against the city for reinstating a mask mandate. The plaintiffs fear the repercussions of a mask mandate for businesses and feel that the mandate is invalid considering the current advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the city’s lack of authority on the decision. The plaintiffs’ complaints are valid; mask mandates can hurt local business and the city is going against the decision of the state. The city’s response, however, is valid as well. When the suit was filed, Philadelphia’s case count had increased by more than 50% in the previous 10 days. Earlier this year when the omicron variant became the dominant strain in the U.S., an increase in death rates followed a few weeks later, with tolls surpassing those of the more deadly delta variant. Though we do not know how deadly the new omicron subvariant will be, the increased transmissibility of omicron variants means it still poses a significant threat to public health. In order to look after those that are immunocompromised and also respect the livelihoods of the people of Philadelphia, a compromise must be made between these two arguments.

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The attack on reproductive rights continues

By Reya Kumar | April 25

Roe v. Wade,the landmark Supreme Court case that has served as the primary protection for abortion rights since the 1970s, will likely be overturned this summer. Oral arguments were heard last December for the Mississippi case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which asks the Supreme Court to re-evaluate Roe v. Wade. With the current 6–3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, a decision to overturn — or, at the very least, limit — Roe is expected.

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France marches on!

By Makram Bekdache | April 20

The first round of the French presidential elections came straight from a textbook. Held on April 10, the elections sent current President Emmanuel Macron, head of the centrist political party La République En Marche! (“The Republic On The Move” in English), to the second round with an admirable 27.85% of the vote.

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The Class of 2026: More selective and diverse than ever

By Henry Murray and Reya Kumar | April 15

Two weeks ago, Tufts released information about the admitted students of Class of 2026. The selectivity and demographic diversity of the admitted students pool offers vital insight to Tufts’ future. 

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The Point of No Return: Why the Amazon should be a priority

By Henry Murray | March 17

The destruction of the Amazon rainforest has been profound and consistent over the last several decades, but in the last few years it has drastically accelerated and is nearing a critical point. As we have seen little progress from conservation efforts, our only hope has been that the rainforest can rebound on its own, but research is showing that this will not always be the case. The damage to the Amazon is making it more susceptible to and less equipped to recover from environmentally damaging events and activities like droughts, logging and fires. The changes to the rainforest are becoming irreversible.

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Double standards in international responses to the war in Ukraine

By Reya Kumar | March 15

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, international attention has been focused on the war. This full-scale invasion is a drastic escalation in a long-running conflict. In 2014, the Maidan protests against the Ukrainian government's decision to back out of an association agreement with the EU prompted pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych to flee. Taking advantage of the situation, Putin’s Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula in Southern Ukraine and supported pro-Russian separatists in the southeastern Ukrainian region known as Donbas. 

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