Dear Editor,
Increasing veterans' participation in Veterans Day events on campus, as called for by the recent Tufts Community Union resolution, should begin with increasing the overall number of veterans on campus. And in fact, the Tufts administration has recently taken steps toward doing just that.
Tufts has quietly joined the new Yellow Ribbon Program, wherein universities pledge to provide qualified veterans with a certain amount of financial aid beyond the maximum aid they receive through the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The university's pledge is in turn matched by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Tufts has promised $5,000 per student for a total of $10,000 of guaranteed additional aid for each veteran Jumbo.
Such a contribution may seem small compared to that offered by other Massachusetts institutions such as Harvard University ($15,500), Brandeis University ($14,806) and Smith College ($13,182). But Tufts is offering this amount to far more students — 200, as opposed to 15, five and two at the undergraduate level, respectively. The overall Tufts pot is substantially larger.
Tufts might operate close to need-blind, anyway, but many veterans will not be aware of this and will base their consideration of private colleges on the level of financial commitment they see on the list of Yellow Ribbon participants. This should hopefully put Tufts on the radar for a greater number of veterans applying to college. The Tufts administration, particularly Director of Financial Aid Pat Reilly, should be congratulated on making such a large, overt commitment to veterans' education.
More veterans on campus should also mean less hippies. And everyone hates hippies. Except hippies.
Sincerely,
Toby Bonthrone
LA '09
Dear Editor,
I'm disappointed that the administration felt the need to use a standard other than the First Amendment to guide university policy on free speech.
While the document sounds nice, it's vague and fails to answer the questions that have lingered since the Primary Source's "carol" controversy in 2006.
Will the administration interfere in which, and the way in which, stories are published?
Will they take disciplinary action against or withdraw funding from publications that print stories they disapprove of?
The student journalists deserve to know.
Sincerely,
Kathrine Schmidt
LA '07
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
The Tufts Daily
