To the Class of 2025 and all students, faculty and staff,
My name is Maddie Aitken and I’m honored and excited to be introducing myself as the Editor in Chief of The Tufts Daily for the fall semester.
It’s traditional for the Editor in Chief to use this space in the first issue of the school year to introduce themselves and introduce you, our readers, to Tufts and to this space within Tufts that we all love so much — The Tufts Daily. To begin, welcome to Tufts, Class of 2025! I’m sure I’m not the first person to share that sentiment with you, but we really are so glad you’re here.
Joining our community this year will be a unique experience for you. Of course, beginning college is always a new and different experience, but this year feels especially unique. Though it will likely still be largely defined by the confines of the pandemic and the accompanying guidelines and precautions, it’s the first year since the pandemic began that we’re seeing at least a partial return to normalcy, with most classes being held in person and indoor meetings and gatherings being allowed once again. As a member of the Class of 2023 who had their freshman year interrupted in March 2020 by COVID-19, I’m hopeful that you will have a freshman year filled with many of the opportunities and experiences that make Tufts as special as it is.
And now, to introduce you to the Daily more specifically: the Daily is the smallest independent daily college newspaper in the country (a mouthful, but something we are very proud of!), and we’re here to disseminate information, educate readers on important issues and share the stories of the people who make up our community. The importance of sharing information, both at a school like Tufts and outside of the university’s walls, has been redefined and reemphasized in the last two years by the pandemic. Despite widespread uncertainty and unpredictability, the Daily continued to publish after students were sent home in March 2020, and operated in full daily production throughout the 2020–21 school year.
Daily production is something I look forward to continuing this semester. We will be publishing our issues online every day, and printing and distributing them every Monday and Thursday. We will also publish four special issues over the course of the semester. This tradition was established by the Fall 2020 Managing Board, and we are excited to be continuing it.
If you’re reading this, in your hands or on your screen, right now is our first special issue, which we call the “Welcome Back” issue.
Our second special issue will be released in October, to celebrate Homecoming. November will bring a special issue covering elections that are happening in Medford and Somerville, including the mayoral races for both towns. And as we close out the semester in December, we’ll publish one more special issue to highlight, showcase and celebrate various communities at Tufts.
Beyond these special issues, we have a few other new initiatives this semester. We’re launching a weekly science subsection under our News section to follow the latest news in science both on and off Tufts’ campus, including biological and health sciences, physical sciences, engineering, climate science and public health. We're also launching a website redesign, thanks to our web team, and we can't wait to share it with you all soon.
Though not a new development, we're continuing to put the work of the Intentionality and Inclusivity Committee at the forefront of our mission. This committee works to ensure all members of our community are represented respectfully and equitably in our reporting and management, and is one of the most important parts of our organization.
To the Class of 2025, I wish you the best of luck in your journey here at Tufts. I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but if I can share one more piece of advice with you: Be open-minded and try new things, but remember who you are and stay true to yourself.
Your freshman year will be exciting, fun, messy, lonely, invigorating, scary and stressful... I could go on, but the bottom line is that there will be good and there will be bad. This year will contain some of the best days of your life thus far and some of the worst, but no matter what, you will come out the other side. We all do.
And my wish for all of you is that when you do come out onto that other side, when freshman year is over and you finally know where all the buildings are and have a firm opinion on the Carm vs. Dewick debate, that you will be able to look back and genuinely feel that you gave it your all. That you tried that thing you were interested in, that you reached out to that person you thought seemed cool, that you leaned into all the new experiences and had the best time you could, but also that you took care of yourself and remembered your values. Welcome to Tufts, Class of 2025. I’m so glad you’re here.
Pax et Lux,
Maddie Aitken
Editor in Chief, Fall 2021
