Union Square in Somerville, Mass. is among 38 neighborhoods named in Time Out’s 2024 list of coolest neighborhoods in the world. Locals and business owners in the area seem to agree. From those who have been in Union Square for the majority of their life to those who have moved there in recent ...
Around 130 people protested in solidarity with School of Museum Fine Arts professors of the practice, School of Arts and Sciences full-time lecturers and School of Engineering graduate workers on Oct. 9. The three groups, all represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 509 union, are engaged in contract negotiations with Tufts for pay increases, among other demands.
Eaton Hall, which has been undergoing a complete renovation since November 2023, is set to be completed by the spring 2025 semester. The building, which first opened in 1908 as the university’s main library, has most recently housed the anthropology, classical studies, religion and sociology departments.
After over two years of discussion, a room in West Hall will be opened within the next few weeks as a community space for Southwest Asian and North African students to study and socialize.
Rent prices in neighborhoods surrounding Tufts are rising rapidly, raising concerns for Tufts students and local residents alike. In Massachusetts, a minimum wage worker must clock 120 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom rental home.
The Student Garden Club, Sustainable CORE Fellows, TCU Senate and the Tufts University Social Collective collaborated for the third annual farmers market, which was held at the Campus Center on Oct. 4. The market featured local produce and student artwork, along with educational tabling regarding environmental justice and food insecurity at Tufts.
“Grilled Cheesus” and “Tufts Crepes,” the popular, unofficial student groups hosting food vending events around campus, plan to continue functioning despite intervention into Grilled Cheesus’ operations from Residential Life staff and changing business plans.
Following the completion of a social probation issued in April 2023, the fraternity Zeta Beta Tau will resume hosting social activities starting this fall, while remaining under disciplinary probation.
In less than a month, Massachusetts voters will vote on a range of issues from psychedelic drug legalization to rideshare unions in the form of ballot questions. Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center for State Policy Analysis, engaged Tufts students and community members in a discussion about this year’s state ballot initiatives during an event on Oct. 9.
The Somerville Central Library resumed its regular weekday schedule on Oct. 2, following over a month of reduced hours aimed at combating violent and disruptive behavior by some patrons. Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne announced the reopening, along with “updated safety measures” put in place to create “a safe and supportive library environment.”
Tufts Health Service has begun to provide medication abortions, a method for terminating pregnancies up to 11 weeks.
At least 200 residents gathered in the Somerville Community Baptist Church for a meeting on public safety in the Seven Hills and Davis Square area on Oct. 9. Amid rising concerns about homelessness and public drug use in these communities, Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, newly-appointed Police Chief Shumeane Benford and other city leaders tried to balance public safety concern with compassion for unhoused individuals struggling with addiction.
Students marked the anniversary of Oct. 7 with memorials and demonstrations on Monday. Some organizations held an evening vigil for lives lost to Hamas’ attacks, while a group of students convened to protest in solidarity with Palestine.
The Department of Romance Studies hosted a discussion on Oct. 3 titled “The High Cost of Democracy, Freedom of the Press, and Immigration Policy,” focusing on the political climate in El Salvador and its parallels with politics in the United States. The event featured two speakers: Óscar Martínez, a Salvadoran journalist and co-founder of Latin America’s first digital newspaper, El Faro, and Iván Espinoza, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights in Boston.
The Medford City Council is working to combat the city’s rodent problem with new ordinances and enforcement tactics, in partnership with the Medford Health Department. The efforts come amid a recent increase in rodents and wild animals such as rats and raccoons, causing concerns about sanitation issues and the spread of disease.
Andrea Savage, a campaign manager for the Clean Transportation Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists and a Tufts alumna, spoke at the Hoch Cunningham Environmental Lectures series on Thursday. Hosted in collaboration with the political science department, Savage’s talk, titled “The Complexities of Community-Led Climate Solutions From an Outsider,” centered on her experiences directing community-led conservation efforts.
Come election day, Massachusetts voters will be asked to cast their vote on five ballot measures appended to their standard general election ballots. One such measure pertains to the minimum wage for tipped workers.
The Tufts administration has imposed an “interim suspension” on Students for Justice in Palestine, as announced in an Instagram post by SJP on Friday evening.
In light of growing concerns regarding off-campus housing, Tufts hosted two student focus groups in late September and created an administrative role for off-campus engagement. The steps come as students have expressed financial, legal and logistical concerns in navigating the process of finding off-campus housing for their junior and senior years.
On Sept. 27, a protest outside this semester’s career fair in Gantcher Center condemned the inclusion of national defense and military research recruiters, making it the latest Tufts career fair in the last year faced with student demonstrations. Spray-painted messages denouncing the presence of groups such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory were found on the doors of Gantcher.
