Tys Sweeney
Tys Sweeney is a sophomore studying political science. Tys can be reached at tys.sweeney@tufts.edu.
Repeal and Replace: Tufts’ tuition hikes
In a recent email to the student body, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser and Dean of the School of Engineering Jianmin Qu attempted to justify a mystifying tuition increase of 3.8% for the upcoming academic year. Beyond exceeding this year’s consumer price index increase by a factor of two, the […]
Repeal and Replace: The Sacklers at Tufts
It shouldn’t take too much activism or comment to convince our leaders at Tufts that severing ties with the Sackler family is a good idea. More than 130 people die each day in the U.S. due to opioid overdoses in an epidemic kicked off in the 1990s by Purdue Pharma and their aggressive marketing of OxyContin. […]
Repeal and Replace: Campus accessibility policies
Tufts lacks a formal transport system specifically for disabled and temporarily disabled people on campus. This week I won’t be writing to repeal anything because we can’t repeal and replace what we lack in the first place. Instead, this is a call to action: Implement a formal system for getting injured and handicapped people around […]
Repeal and Replace: The Confucius Institute
Dear fellow students, Tufts University has an incredibly good track record for critical world-class thought and academic freedom. I’m afraid we may tarnish that if we continue our association with the Confucius Institute, an organization run by the government of the People’s Republic of China ostensibly to encourage cultural dialogue but in reality designed to manipulate […]
Repeal and Replace: Tufts Dining price gouging
Dear fellow students, There is something audaciously wrong with Tufts Dining. The organization feels emboldened and entitled to mistreat dining workers and price gouge Tufts students. As dining workers prepare to vote on a strike this week, I wish them luck and hope the university will finally make the right decision. Meanwhile, there are other […]
Repeal and Replace: Landlording
Dear Fellow Students, Last week, I wrote about the importance of transparency in university decision-making. Our community faces an unprecedented housing crisis, and as with any other multifaceted issue, opacity serves only to obstruct mutualistic solutions. Tufts Housing League, Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate and many other groups on campus have been involved in negotiations and […]
Repeal and Replace: Opacity
Dear fellow students, The political and financial challenges we face at Tufts are consequences of years of administrative insensitivity to community needs and a lack of transparency at the highest levels. The housing crisis we face today is the direct result of poor administrative decision making. Yearly tuition hikes and enrollment increases prioritize long-term development goals […]
Repeal and Replace: Tilton Lane
Dear Fellow Students, Tilton Lane needs to go. The paved area between Hodgdon, Lewis, Tilton, Bush and Haskell Halls is a disaster waiting to happen. The constant flow of traffic swirling through tight spaces and around multiple blind corners presents a clear and present danger to the unobserving students checking Instagram or changing the music […]
Repeal and Replace: Hotung Café
Dear fellow students, I’ve never been a big fan of Hotung Café. It’s dark, the aluminum chairs make a terrible noise, the food isn’t unique enough to justify another Tufts Dining establishment next to the Commons Marketplace and I can’t use my meal swipes. Can’t we do better? Let’s repeal and replace Hotung Café. In 2010 […]
Pretty Lawns and Gardens: What is it with 2050?
Time horizons should never be conservative, generalized or arbitrary, but ambitious, specific and planned. This is why attempting to make our world economy carbon-neutral and green by 2050 bothers me. Why 2050? It’s a long way off, it’s clearly arbitrary and it’s hardly ambitious. But perhaps it’s fair — 30 years to transform an energy […]
