The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life and the Institute for Global Leadership hosted a panel of speakers on Oct. 14 to discuss the current, worldwide uptick in misinformation. The event was part of a three day symposium on “Preserving and Promoting Freedom of the Press.”
The Gordon Institute, a school within the Tufts School of Engineering, has introduced a new minor this semester called Foundations for Future Leadership. The minor seeks to equip students with personal and professional skills needed to develop their leadership abilities and tackle future challenges.
On Sept. 21, Maura Healey, the Democratic nominee for governor in Massachusetts, released her policy plan to tackle the housing crisis in the state. The plan focuses heavily on increasing housing production, preserving current housing options and supporting homeless individuals and families through strengthening the state’s rent assistance program.
No Theta Chi members are currently living in the fraternity’s house on Packard Avenue for the 2022–23 academic year after it was unable to fill the house with any of its members. Instead, nine non-affiliated students are living in the residence. As a result of the agreement reached by the Office of Residential Life and Learning and the current residents of the house, Theta Chi is allowed to use the space only for limited chapter and recruitment events, but not social events.
Students, alumni and faculty joined renowned Tufts professor Sol Gittleman, the Alice and Nathan Gantcher University Professor emeritus, on Saturday to break ground on the school’s new baseball park named after him.
The Tufts University Police Department hosted a Coffee with TUPD event at Hotung Café on Oct. 5. Tufts Dining provided free coffee and breakfast to students who came to speak with members of TUPD and the Department of Public Safety.
The Tufts Community Union Senate hosted “Navigating Student Life at Tufts,” a town hall event, on Oct. 7 in the Alumnae Lounge. The question and answer event was an opportunity for any student to meet with members of the Tufts administration, including University President Anthony Monaco, Director of Dining and Business Services Patti Klos, Director of Residential Life and Learning Christina Alch and Dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life Dayna Cunningham.
The University Chaplaincy offered a multifaith “Spirituality, Community, and Mental Health” event on Oct. 6 as part of President Monaco’s Mental Health Awareness Week. At the event, led by several members of the chaplaincy staff, participants discussed practices relating to mindfulness, resilience and well-being.
Dano Weisbord will become the executive director of sustainability and chief sustainability officer on Oct. 24. He plans to further Tufts’ commitment to becoming a higher education leader in sustainability and climate matters across the university, bridging campus operations with education, co-curricular and research activities.
University President Anthony Monaco wrote to the Tufts community in a Friday evening email about an “alleged antisemtic incident” involving members of a club sports team while they were traveling to another school for a match. Tufts and the other school are jointly conducting a formal investigation into the matter. The club’s activities have been suspended for the duration of the investigation.
Tufts announced in a Thursday evening email to the community that its vaccine clinic provider, Pelmeds, has experienced a data breach involving images of patients’ insurance cards. The number of Tufts community members affected by the breach is still unknown. Tufts has ended its contract with the company and postponed all previously scheduled COVID-19 booster clinics, including one scheduled for tomorrow. The flu shot clinics planned for next Tuesday and Wednesday — which are not part of the Pelmeds partnership — will go forward as planned.
“Evicted,” an exhibit put on by the Community Action Agency of Somerville, is currently running at the Somerville Armory until Nov. 4. Based on sociologist Matthew Desmond’s novel “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City”,the interactive exhibit explores the reasons for the millions of evictions in the United States every year and their consequences. Somerville is one of the final stops on the exhibit’s national tour. The exhibit is open at the Armory Monday through Wednesday from 4 p.m.–8 p.m. and on weekends from 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Peter Levine, Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs and an associate dean at Tufts, received the Established Leader Award from the Civic Engagement section of the American Political Science Association at its annual meeting in September. At the same meeting, Tufts Professor of Political Science Deborah Schildkraut received an honorable mention from APSA’s Latino Caucus for her book, “States of Belonging: Immigration Policies, Attitudes, and Inclusion.”
Tufts Chabad, a center for Jewish life on campus, is introducing new courses that cover a wide variety of topics, including Talmudic Perspectives on Today’s Perspectives and Outsmarting Antisemitism. Chabad will be offering these courses in partnership with JewishU, a national organization dedicated to Jewish learning on college campuses.
Five families in Somerville are facing eviction and potential displacement after their home was acquired by landlords seeking to raise rents on a property close to the Green Line Extension. The 182–184 Tremont Street home currently houses primarily Salvadoran and Haitian families, some of whom have lived there for more than 25 years.
Somerville City Councilor At-Large Willie Burnley Jr. introduced a resolution on Sept. 22 that calls upon President Biden to remove Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism List and pressure Congress to end the “failed policy of regime change.” Similar resolutions have been introduced by Cambridge, Boston and the town of Brookline in the past year.
The City of Somerville announced that they will establish an advisory committee to create a Pollinator Action Plan. The plan aims to protect pollinator species and preserve the health of the local urban ecosystem.
The Tufts University Chaplaincy announced that they will begin holding masses in Spanish on Oct. 16.
At the end of September, Tufts concluded its second annual Innovation Month. The program, which was launched by the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, aims to educate students about resources in the greater Boston area, help them to develop applicable real-world skills and provide them with networking opportunities.
Tufts’ Parents and Family Weekend will be held on Oct. 21 and 22, marking the first time in-person programming has been offered since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. Programming will include tours of laboratories and galleries, panels with deans and lectures by professors, a significant change from the virtual programming of the past two years.
