Armed conflict broke out in Khartoum, Sudan on April 15 as the national army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces battle each other for control of the country. Fletcher School students Eliab Taye and Chepkorir Sambu offer perspective on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan along with Professor Chidi Odinkalu.
The Cummings/Hillel Program for Holocaust and Genocide Education hosted its annual “Survivors Speak” panel on April 19. This year’s panelists included artist Jack Trompetter, author Consolee Nishimwe, businesswoman Jasmina Cesic and activist Bol Riiny, who spoke about their experiences as survivors of the Holocaust and the genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia and South Sudan, respectively.
Nikita Bhat, Carolina Lopes and Sarah Norris are three of the students working to create a club gymnastics team at Tufts. They are currently in the process of gauging interest and writing a proposal to submit to the Club Sports program over the summer.
A Solomont Speaker Series event with rapper and activist Dee-1 was disrupted by messages containing racial slurs on April 19. University President Anthony Monaco and Dayna Cunningham, dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, condemned the incident the following morning in an email to the Tufts community.
This year, Tufts accepted its “most compositionally diverse” class yet, citing student identities, especially racial identities, as an indicator. However, in October 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States heard arguments regarding the future of race-conscious college admissions in cases between Students for Fair Admissions Inc. and Harvard College, as well as SFFA and the University of North Carolina.
Tufts Community Union senators Itamar Oelsner and Jose Armando recently launched a petition to establish a permanent Disability Center on campus. Oelsner, elected in February, is the TCU Senate’s first disability community senator; through the proposed center, he and Armando hope to provide a physical space where students with disabilities can feel supported.
The Tufts Community Union Elections Commission released the results of 2023–24 TCU election on April 19. 1,309 people voted, representing 20.14% of TCU members. The final Class of 2026 senator will be decided in a runoff between Anand Patil and Savannah Thompson during the TCU presidential election. The results are as follows:
The TCU Senate passed a resolution during their weekly meeting on April 16 calling on the Tufts Department of Public Safety and Tufts University Health Service to compensate all Tufts Emergency Medical Services student members. The senate also passed a resolution calling on the university to invest in outdoor pedestrian infrastructure, citing safety concerns on multiple streets around campus.
On April 13, renowned orator and civil rights activist Bishop William J. Barber II spoke on his work with the Poor People’s Campaign and how he believes the moral crisis he sees in America can be addressed.
Jason Rezaian, an Iranian American and Washington Post writer, spoke about his imprisonment in Iran at an April 10 event at The Fletcher School.
Professor Craig Wilder spoke about his work to uncover higher education’s connection to the slave economy on April 12 at the inaugural event for the Slavery, Colonialism, and Their Legacies at Tufts project. The event was co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities at Tufts, the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy and the Office of the Provost.
The Somerville City Council passed an ordinance on March 23 seeking to combat discrimination against polyamorous people in the workplace and in interactions with law enforcement. The bill is one of the first of its kind, and comes three years after Somerville passed an ordinance officially recognizing polyamorous relationships.
The TCU Senate voted at their weekly meeting to endorse the Tufts Labor Coalition’s campaign to support higher wages for Tufts dining employees on April 9.
Tufts Student Affairs recently announced the creation of a new summer pre-orientation program called SHAPE, short for Students Heightening Actionable Political Engagement. Although the program is still in development, SHAPE aims to invite civically-minded and politically curious students to solve pressing issues in the Tufts community and beyond.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., spoke about his work on building bipartisan consensus, criminal justice reform, farming and gun control legislation on April 10 as part of the Tisch College Solomont Speaker Series. He was joined by dean emeritus of Tisch College and former U.S. Ambassador to Spain and Andorra Alan D. Solomont, who moderated the talk.
The Medford City Council recently passed an ordinance to create an affordable housing trust for the city. This trust would allow a selected board to buy small properties and secure land to turn into more affordable housing. Medford residents would be able to buy or rent property from the city, and that property would be kept under market rates.
Members of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy gathered on April 5 to award the Edward R. Murrow Award to Daniel Langenkamp, a U.S. State Department public diplomacy officer who served in Ukraine at the beginning of the Russian invasion. The event, titled “Public Diplomacy on a Digital Planet: The View from Kyiv,” was co hosted by the Edward R. Murrow Center for a Digital World and the Institute for Business in the Global Context.
Dr. Anu Gokhale, professor and chairperson in the Saint Augustine’s University Department of Computer Information Systems, gave a lecture at Alumnae Hall titled “Algorithmic Bias: Myth or Reality?” on April 4. Gokhale was invited to speak about her insights and research as a leader in a STEM field.
The Fletcher School’s Initiative on Religion, Law and Diplomacy organized a book talk with Shaun Casey, former U.S. special representative for religion and global affairs, on his new book, “Chasing the Devil at Foggy Bottom: The Future of Religion in American Diplomacy” (2023), on April 4. The talk was moderated by Fletcher Military Fellow Chris Melvin.
Tisch College’s final Civic Life Lunch welcomed artist, activist and Tufts alum Scheherazade Tillet (LA’00) on April 6 to speak about her work and goals. Alonso Nichols, Tufts’ chief of photography, moderated the conversation.
