The Tufts Daily

National newspaper chain Gannett plans to cease print publication of 19 weekly papers in eastern Massachusetts and merge another nine papers into four, beginning this month. Tufts’ host communities will have their papers — the Medford Transcript and the Somerville Journal — merged into one. The combined paper will still be distributed in print weekly. […]

University President Anthony Monaco announced in February that Tufts would prohibit direct investments in 120 coal and tar sands companies. In addition, the university committed to investing between $10 to 25 million in positive impact funds, which seek to make a positive environmental impact in addition to generating a return on investment over the next […]

Tufts reported 463 cases of COVID-19 across campuses this semester, or approximately 33 per week, according to Patrick Collins, Tufts executive director of media relations. This represents a 12.6% decrease in the number of cases compared to last spring, when the university reported 530 cases. According to Collins, 321 of these cases came from the […]

DARTing across the cosmos: NASA’s plan to protect planet Earth  NASA plans to launch a spacecraft this week that, in late 2022, will intentionally crash into an asteroid, hopefully changing its trajectory. Planetary defense research has been conducted over the past several years in hopes of preventing foreseeable meteor crashes. Although scientists believe massive meteorites […]

COVID-19 vaccination rates in Tufts University’s surrounding Medford and Somerville communities have plateaued recently, despite remaining high compared to others in the state. As of Nov. 11, 79% of Medford residents have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, compared with 77% as of Oct. 28. In Somerville, 85% of residents have received at least […]

As the delta variant of the COVID-19 virus continues to spread through Tufts University’s campuses in the form of breakthrough infections, the university has clarified its quarantine, isolation and contact-tracing protocols. Notably, close contacts of COVID-19-positive individuals no longer need to quarantine and the university has reduced capacity to house students in isolation.  Amid these […]

As smartphones, online shopping and cryptocurrency have become more prevalent in the past 20 years, so too have ultraprocessed foods, which make up the majority of youth diets. The percentage of child and adolescent diets composed of ultraprocessed foods — those made with refined ingredients and additives — has increased from 61% to 67% in […]

Tufts University is switching to a pooled COVID-19 testing procedure for the 2021–22 academic year; pooled testing processes up to 10 samples at once, performing the same polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 test that was used for individual testing in the past. “Pooled testing combines samples from up to ten students and performs a COVID-19 […]

​​​​Jianmin Qu, dean of the Tufts University School of Engineering, is leaving Tufts to become the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Stevens Institute of Technology, according to an email sent to the Tufts community on Monday. The email, which was signed by University President Anthony Monaco and Provost and Senior Vice President […]

Members of the Tufts Action Group, a collective of faculty, staff and students committed to grassroots anti-racism efforts within the university, met in April to discuss and respond to the five recently published anti-racism workstream reports. TAG’s response acknowledged the progress made by the “Tufts as an Anti-Racist Institution” effort and called for increased transparency, accountability and community presence in its implementation.