Former U.S. Special Envoy James Dobbins drew on his personal experience in helping rebuild Afghanistan, giving the situation there a "mostly positive" review yesterday despite what he called serious bungling by the Bush administration.
Socialist activist Ayisha Zaki urged Tufts students to join a movement to push for the interests of the working class in the Middle East, blaming corporate interests for social plight in countries like her native Lebanon.
Mathematician Jeffrey Weeks led an introductory-level tutorial last night on a not-so-elementary concept: four-dimensional shapes. In the second talk of his three-part Norbert Wiener Lecture Series this week, Weeks discussed the nuances of the fourth dimension and the concept of space-time for an attentive audience in Braker Hall. Weeks' lecture, "Visualizing Four Dimensions," approached the fourth dimension from the introductory level. Asking that "only people not possessing a Ph.D. in mathematics" respond to his questions, the MacArthur Fellow took on the difficulties of visualizing a four-dimensional world from our perspective as three-dimensional beings. Weeks said the best way to deal with four dimensions is to drop down a level. He used the model of two-dimensional figures, or "flatlanders," living in a three-dimensional world as a device to help people approach the fourth dimension. He drew two-dimensional stick figures standing next to a cube. "They use their regular intuition for X and Y coordinates," he said, but for the vertical Z coordinates, they use a "rainbow's worth of color." Weeks filled the cube with colorful slices of squares in a method known as color coding. While the flatlanders only saw a line, he said, the colorful square slices extended out either way from the flat plane on which they stood to create one face of the cube. He applied this color-coding method when explaining how to visualize a four-dimensional hypercube. He asked members of the audience to point out the location of the hypercube's vertices, edges and faces and their respective colors. "This is the joy of the method, to just kind of look," he said. Weeks said that color coding is the first step in seeing these complex objects naturally. "Color coding is a crutch to get you started in visualizing the fourth dimension," he said. Once students have had experience with four-dimensional objects, they would ideally no longer need to use the color system. Weeks introduced new jargon to more accurately describe the four-dimensional realm. "English has words for left and right and up and down," he said. "But when you want to talk about the fourth dimension, you're at a loss for words." Ana and kata, he said, are the terms for describing positive and negative movement in the fourth dimension. Weeks went on to discuss the applications of the fourth dimension to space-time. He suggested that time is not as linear as we perceive it, but it is a collection of moments stacked together in one continuum. "Try to free yourself from the confines of a 3-D slice and think in 4-D," Weeks said. "Integrate the past and future into the same mental image." Weeks ended his lecture with a short question-and-answer session. The Department of Mathematics brought Weeks, the author of "The Shape of Space," (1985) to Tufts as part of the Wiener Lecture Series, a yearly event held in honor of Norbert Wiener (A '09), who founded the field of cybernetics. Senior Elizabeth Gibbons, a math major, was struck by the perplexity of Weeks' ideas, despite the accessible manner of his lecture. "This is a great way to really stretch your mind," she said. "It's not something you understand right away. It's just an eye-opener to get a different perspective and think in a different way." Mary Caddle, a graduate student studying math education, said she enjoyed Weeks' methods of visualization. "I really loved the idea of the color coding," she said. "This is just crazy," she said. "But I love the idea of … trying to see it, practicing it and coming back around. It becomes more natural to visualize." Weeks will focus on spherical spaces in his third Wiener lecture, which will be held at noon today in Pearson Hall.
The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine dedicated its new campus center yesterday to benefactor Agnes Varis during a ceremony that featured a speech from the Tufts trustee on her life philosophy. Varis expounded on her 14 life commandments, which will be engraved on a plaque and displayed inside the campus center. The commandments include, "All I need to know, I learned from my cats," "You can agree with me, or you can be wrong" and "A woman's work is never dumb." Varis' most germane piece of advice was her last: "When you die, no one will remember you for how much money you made. They will remember you for what you did with it." A member of the Cummings School's Board of Overseers and Tufts' Board of Trustees, Varis provided a naming gift of $4 million out of the $6 million necessary to convert what was a nurses' dormitory in the former Grafton State Hospital into the Agnes Varis Campus Center. The center, which opened earlier this summer after almost a year of construction, fills a void by providing students with a cafeteria, bookstore, offices, meeting areas, lounges, study rooms and a 1,000-square-foot fitness center. "All the things you think of that are built into an undergrad campus didn't really exist," Cummings Dean Deborah Kochevar said. The bookstore used to be in the Jean Mayer Administration Building, study lounges were scattered throughout the campus and the cafeteria was run out of a trailer. Annie Shea, a second-year veterinary student, said that the new campus center is already heavily used. "I've already spent a lot of time studying in their study rooms," she said. "We have a pretty small library that has a couple study rooms, but this really [increases] the study space on campus." Varis has also donated the naming gift for the second phase of construction on the campus center. This will include an outdoor patio area and a 173-seat auditorium, which will be called the Agnes Varis Auditorium. The project is slated for completion in the spring of next year. At the dedication, Varis was joined by fellow speakers Kochevar; University President Lawrence Bacow; David McGrath (V '86), the chair of the Cummings School's Board of Overseers; and Shea, who spoke on behalf of the student body. A crowd of about 250 attended. The audience included additional members of the Board of Overseers, state Rep. George Peterson, Jr., selectmen from Grafton, alumni, students and faculty. The event took place on the campus' front lawn. "It was a stunningly beautiful day in Grafton," Kochevar said. Bacow addressed the crowd first and expressed his gratitude to Varis. Kochevar echoed him in her remarks. "I was very pleased to also thank Dr. Varis for this truly transformative gift," she told the Daily. "She has made such a difference on this campus in so many ways," Kochevar said, citing Varis' many donations, but calling the new building her most significant. "None of those comes close to what a campus center is going to mean to us." Shea, who is in Tufts' Master of Public Health/Doctor of Veterinary Medicine combined degree program, spoke about "how much we really needed the campus center and [about] all the needs that it was fulfilling on campus," she told the Daily. Following the dedication, Varis sat with a group of about 20 students in one of the study rooms and answered questions. They had the chance to "sort of pick her brain and listen to her," said Shea, who attended the discussion. According to Shea, Varis has a "colorful personality." As the founder and president of both Agvar Chemicals, Inc. and Aegis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Varis is a "real pioneer in terms of both what she does and the fact that she is a woman in a mostly male-dominated world," Shea said. Varis, a long-time benefactor of the Cummings School, has also given naming gifts for a lecture hall and a hospital ward for cats. She has contributed to student stipends and an endowed professorship, as well. Varis does not limit her donations to the veterinary school. She contributed to the Granoff Music Center and gave the Agnes Varis University Chair in Science and Society, among other gifts. The campus center donation is part of Tufts' current capital campaign, Beyond Boundaries, which began in 2006 and aims to raise $1.2 billion by 2011.
The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate declared its support for the university's Greek community in a resolution on Sunday night, acknowledging the contributions of fraternities and sororities while calling attention to the interests that those groups share with the Senate. The resolution, which passed with zero "no" votes and three abstentions, stated that the Senate "strongly supports the efforts of the [Inter-Greek Council (IGC)] and the Greek community as a whole to strengthen the image of Greek life at Tufts and to develop leaders that can better the Tufts community." Jake Maccoby, the president of the IGC and a former senator, submitted the resolution last week on behalf of his council. He told the Daily that he put it forward to get an "affirmation" of the Greek community's values from the Senate, as well as to show that Tufts' greater "Greek family" contributes heavily to the student body as a whole. "What this resolution was about was getting our goals, our plans and what we believe in as a family out there in front of the wider Tufts community," said Maccoby, who is also an editorialist for the Daily. "The Greek community is a subset of the wider Tufts community." Before passing the resolution, senators clarified that the document would not obligate the body to provide any specific form of aid or commit to a particular project. Dan Pasternack, a sophomore senator and a co-chair of the Senate's Student Outreach Committee, said that specific undertakings by the Senate are outside the parameters of the resolution. "This proposal was just asking for our general support. It wasn't necessarily that we were unwilling to [commit to certain projects]; it was just that there wasn't anything [specific put forward] at the moment," he said. TCU Associate Treasurer Lauren Levine said, "Really, the resolution was just saying that we support whatever the IGC does." "It was really just a memento of our support, not really pledging any physical action," said Levine, a sophomore and a member of the Chi Omega sorority. Both the resolution and supporters of the document pointed to the fact that about one-eighth of students belong to Greek organizations. Moreover, the resolution pointed out that "many members of the Greek community take on other leadership positions in the Tufts community." President of the Panhellenic Council Jessica Snow said that the Senate's declaration of support would help strike down stereotypes of Greeks. Snow, a senior who is also the IGC's vice president and public relations director, said she hopes that in the future, Greeks will not be seen as a separate, disengaged part of the student body. "We've been doing really good things for a long time, and it's sad that [the Tufts] community hasn't had the opportunity to see those things as much as we would like them to," said Snow, a sister in the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. "We've always been promoting philanthropy, we've always been promoting sisterhood and brotherhood [and] we've always been promoting community. The resolution is about making sure everyone around us knows that these things are important to us." Levine shared those sentiments. "I supported [the resolution] because I think that the Greek system does have a bad reputation on Tufts' campus that isn't necessarily deserved," she said. "The resolution highlighted the number of leaders within the Greek community and the many philanthropic events held every year." Nine fraternities and three sororities have chapters at Tufts.
Tufts students were among the thousands of people who came together Saturday on the Boston Common to support the pro-marijuana Freedom Rally, commonly known as HempFest, which was sponsored by the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition (MassCann).
WHEREAS the Greek community at Tufts, governed by the Inter-Greek Council (IGC), is determined to forge a strong, durable, and cohesive community; and WHEREAS the Greek community is a subset of the wider Tufts community; and WHEREAS, traditionally, 12 to 14 percent of Tufts undergraduates are members of the Greek community; and WHEREAS fraternities, sororities, and multicultural groups are active in promoting philanthropy and social events both on the Tufts campus and in the wider community; and WHEREAS many members of the Greek community take on other leadership positions in theTufts community; and WHEREAS the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate promotes leadership and initiative by all members of the Tufts community; therefore, BE IT RESOLVED that the TCU Senate shares the Greek community's commitment to greater campus cohesion; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the TCU Senate strongly supports the efforts of the IGC and the Greek community as a whole to strengthen the image of Greek life at Tufts and to develop leaders that can better the Tufts community. Respectfully submitted by Jacob Maccoby, 16 September 2008 Adopted by a vote of 28-0-3 on 21 September 2008 —as passed by the TCU Senate
On Sunday Tufts Community Union (TCU) President Duncan Pickard announced that the university had repaid the Senate for the money that former employees Jodie Nealley and Ray Rodriguez allegedly embezzled. We at the Daily welcome this news. The university has filed an insurance claim and is waiting for a payout. It would have been easy to keep the Senate waiting too, but the response has instead been proactive. While the Treasury would have hardly fallen apart had the administration dragged its feet, what's important about the move is the symbolic message that making student groups whole is an important objective. Certainly, the administration's response has not been perfect. University Treasurer Thomas McGurty set aside the money for the Senate in June, but senators did not find out about this until earlier this month. In the interim, university officials were crunching numbers to find out exactly how large the payout to the Senate would be — a process that should have been more transparent. When such large stakes are on the table, leaving students in the dark even for a few months is far from ideal; nevertheless, the final outcome is nothing but admirable. In the wake of the embezzlement scandal, it has become necessary for the administration and the Senate to go above and beyond the call of duty in many respects. This is, after all, a situation in which no governing body wants to find itself with almost a million dollars missing, financial records a mess and numerous student groups crying foul. The Senate, always underappreciated by the student body, was faced with the daunting task of redoing the books and reassuring the students. The Treasury has had to change its banking system, repay old debts, and begin interacting with new employees. The administration, meanwhile, allegedly betrayed by trusted employees and friends, was forced to regain the confidence of the community. Both the Senate and the administration have performed admirably through difficult times, and this was brought home to us by the administration's actions over the weekend. Tomorrow, of course, we at the Daily will likely have to go back to pointing out hypocrisy and mismanagement. But the administration's actions in making good on its pledge to reimburse the Senate without even waiting for the results of its insurance claim struck us as a decidedly decent thing to do. We would just like to say thank you.
The university has transferred $902,338 to the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate as repayment for the funds allegedly embezzled by two former employees, TCU Pres-ident Duncan Pickard announced last night. The restoration marks the realization of the administration's pledge to compensate the Senate for the money supposedly pilfered between 2001-2007 by former Office of Student Activities administrators Jodie Nealley and Ray Rodriguez.
In its biggest year yet, the Tufts sorority Chi Omega's Swishes for Wishes basketball tournament raised over $1,300 on Saturday to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The foundation is the sorority's official charity at the national level.
This is the first article in a two-part series that will explore the landline phone use and its demise in the wake of the cell phone. This installment will focus on the landline services offered in Tufts' residence halls; the second piece, which will be published tomorrow, will examine how the trends in wireless communications will affect students post-college.
Tufts Community Union (TCU) President Duncan Pickard inaugurated a new year on the Hill with a State of the Senate address that underscored the importance of adapting to Tufts' evolving demographic landscape.
Dining Services will donate one percent of profits from food sales at the Commons this week to an organization dedicated to providing food to hungry children across the United States.
Somerville police officers arrested an area man near Davis Square and seized bags of an unidentified "white powder substance" while conducting routine surveillance on Sept. 12.
"Empire and Its Discontents," an art exhibit in the Tufts Art Gallery in Aidekman Arts Center, celebrated its opening last night. The exhibit pays tribute to the 30th anniversary of "Orientalism," written by Palestinian-American activist Edward Said. His book confronts the concept of a universal, Eastern ideology, which he identifies as simply a construct of powerful Western nations. See the Daily's preview of the exhibition in yesterday's Weekender.
Jonathan Tisch (A '76) and Jeffrey Stewart (LA '90), two prominent alumni who maintain close ties to the university, announced on Monday the formation of a new media firm named in honor of their alma mater.
While many students arrive on the Hill and are inspired by Tufts' global vibe, it was senior Shawna Russo's political upbringing that drew her to the realm of International Relations long before she became a Jumbo.
Ketchum, an international public relations firm based in New York, recently announced the launch of a certification program that it developed in collaboration with Tufts' Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
This article is the second in a two-part series about Tufts' presence at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. The first piece focused on the experiences of members of the Tufts community who attended. (To read the first piece, click here.) Today's piece will look at their broader reflections on the historical and political significance of the event and on how America's political landscape has changed this election cycle.
