As the academic year comes to a close, members of the Class of 2023 prepare for graduation, including Enrique Ernesto Rodriguez, a 2023 recipient of the Tisch Presidential Award for Civic Life. Each year, the award recognizes Tufts undergraduate and graduate students who have made notable contributions to community service and leadership.
Amid rising antisemitism, Holocaust education has been particularly notable. In “Not a Real Enemy: The True Story of a Hungarian Jewish Man’s Fight For Freedom,” Dr. Robert J. Wolf (LA’84) and Janice Harper tell the story of Wolf’s father Ervin’s escape from Hungary after surviving both the Holocaust and the Hungarian Revolution, as well as the stories of both his mother and his grandparents.
The Tufts community is home to a wide range of different cultural and ethnic clubs on campus, including the Tufts Persian Student Association. For junior and PSA co-president Sabrina Rangwani, the club has been an important part of her adjustment to Tufts. Growing up with a large Iranian community in Houston while attending an international school, life at Tufts was Rangwani’s first time being surrounded by large groups of Americans.
Due to its close proximity to campus, Davis Square has been a place for many Tufts students to spend time and enjoy a variety of local businesses in the area. But according to recent local news reports, Scape Development plans to construct a four-story lab building that would displace beloved businesses including When Pigs Fly bakery, McKinnon’s Meat Market, Sligo Pub, Kung Fu Tea, Martsa on Elm Tibetan Cuisine and Dragon Pizza. On Sept. 22, the City of Somerville’s Planning Board officially approved the renovation plan.
The Tufts community is home to a wide variety of upstanding community members, including senior Mindy Duggan, who has taken her interest in disability advocacy to her studies, extracurriculars and work life. Duggan crafted her major in child study and human development to concentrate in developmental diversity and deaf studies.
As a liberal arts institution, Tufts University offers students the flexibility to indulge in their various academic curiosities and interests. For second-semester Master of Philosophy student Mikel Moyer, his time at Tufts continues his journey back to school after working in the pharmaceutical industry for 30 years.
The Film and Media Studies program has seen significant growth during the past few years.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, masks have become an essential part of daily life. Unfortunately, single-use masks generate a lot of waste, which is important to consider amid climate change. A mask recycling initiative implemented by the Office of Sustainability aims to manage this increased waste. TheOOS Recycling and Waste Reduction Coordinator, Kaitlyn Reed, oversees this initiative. Reed feels the initiative is important in drawing attention to the number of masks that Tufts goes through as well as focusing on managing waste aside from traditional recycling bins.
With the festival of Purim just around the corner, this year marks the long-awaited return of Not Your Bubbe’s Hamantaschen, a student-run nonprofit currently operating from the Bayit — Tufts’ Jewish Culture House — after a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
