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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Thursday, March 13, 2025

Opinion

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Editorial

Editorial: Setting the bar higher

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A campus bar is a staple of any university — a special place where students can celebrate a big game, grab a beer with an advisor or put their karaoke skills on full display. At Tufts, the MacPhie Pub was once a thriving part of campus life. ...


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Opinion

DOGE should dream bigger

Reducing the size of the federal government has long been a major goal for conservatives. However, since the New Deal, the government has actually expanded, much to the frustration of figures like Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman. In fact, conservatives haven’t been able to shrink the government much, sometimes actually contributing to its growth. But President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency is different — it is one of the most aggressive efforts to cut government spending in recent memory.


Coffee Table Socioeconomics
Column

Coffee Table Socioeconomics: Enhance our business education

With its highly educated workforce, business-friendly legal system, strong sense of interconnectedness between universities and government and businesses that drive continuous technological breakthroughs, the United States is arguably one of the best places for industries to succeed. However, none of this would be possible without a foundation of strong business education. Business literacy is essential in the private sector, where startups thrive and hands-on engagement with business ideas is key — it’s also an area where Tufts falls short.


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Viewpoint

Pronunciation, not polarization

The last time I doomscrolled on TikTok was nearly two weeks ago, before telling myself that I needed to stop what my parents would call an “addiction.” I had responded to over 40 different comments and videos, a feat that consumed precious study time and kept me up far too late. The slew of responses to my comments contained words such as brainwashed, communist, sore loser, elitist, sheep, puppet, snowflake — the list goes on. I found it hard to believe how a “sheep” and an “elitist” could have anything in common. Consequently, I began to wonder what has become of political discourse amid the era of President Donald Trump’s two terms and a significant national political divide. 


World leaders
Viewpoint

Europe, it's time to step your game up

These past few weeks have been quite exhausting, with the administration of President Donald Trump topping off thechaos by delivering a carnival of a congressional address. I worry about a lot these days when it comes to the future of our country, but now I, and really all of us who live in America, have yet another worry: the near-complete collapse of the post-World War II international order, underpinned by a possible splintering of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.


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Viewpoint

From Prime to predatory

The American retail market can be described with three words: variety, variety and still more variety. Anything and everything one could need is available for purchase at the biggest retail providers. Just walk into the closest Target, Walmart or Aldi, peruse the meticulously organized aisles and walk past the food, makeup, hardware, clothes, toys and technology. Tell me you haven’t found exactly what you're looking for. Now, imagine you could indulge in that same sense of pure bliss, calm and convenience from the comfort of your home. Fortunately, you can with Amazon.



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Column

Through Indigenous Eyes: What’s in a name?

For weeks, a battle between the administration of President Donald Trump and The Associated Press has raged over Trump’s executive order that changed the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America.” The AP has stated that it would continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as such and has since been barred from White House press briefings. Now, the issue is being brought to court, with the AP suing Trump administration officials for violating the First and Fifth Amendments. But in that same executive order, another name was changed — one that the AP Stylebook has been updated to reflect.


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Viewpoint

A WWE executive’s dreams of killing public education

President Donald Trump recently proclaimed that U.S. schools are “last in education out of 40 [countries],” but “No. 1 in cost per pupil.” Despite both of these statements being false, Trump is clearly determined to lift our nation’s failing public education system out of the gutters. More than one in three public school students are behind in grade level, while around half of Americans say K-12 education is going in the wrong direction.


Counseling Center
Viewpoint

Trigger warnings are necessary — we shouldn’t have to just ‘stay triggered’

Some conservatives are known for using simple-minded but harmful vocabulary in their rhetoric, especially online. They have a schoolyard bully-like tendency to simply cry ‘snowflake’ and mockingly ask “Why are you so triggered?” in response to many of the serious arguments liberals attempt to make on the internet. This enables them to disregard any of the substance of their liberal opponent’s arguments, while simultaneously attacking them as being ‘too weak.’ According to these right-wingers, it is impossible to form a logical argument while incorporating one’s personal feelings, and cold-hard facts alone should be the only evidence appealed to. I happen to believe this is completely false. In fact, empathy has been shown to be key to conflict diffusion, and thus, online conflicts, particularly political arguments, could stand to benefit from increased civility if both participants were to attempt to be more empathetic. Additionally, growing research is linking empathy to liberal political views, while failing to do so for right-leaning views, indicating a clear empathy gap among the parties.


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Viewpoint

Pop Princess 101: Chappell Roan is too weird for you

It was bound to happen — within months of Chappell Roan’s sudden rise to stardom, she fell victim to criticism of her costume choices, blunt political commentary and privacy boundaries. Chappell Roan had quickly lost the Midwestern-girl-to-popstar allure she amassed in late 2024. However talented she is, her extravagant aesthetic isn’t palatable to the general public, nor should it be — her persona is rooted in queerness and flamboyance, which appeal to a specific demographic.



Immigration
Viewpoint

Where the Democrats went wrong on immigration

For years, experts have believed that the Republican Party would be unable to win elections in the future due to their messaging on immigration, which many perceived as racist. In 2002, Ruy Teixeira,co-author of “The Emerging Democratic Majority,” suggested that unless the Republicans softened their rhetoric on immigration, they would be doomed to a future of electoral losses in a new multiracial America; so too did the authors of the2013 RNC autopsy, a report commissioned by the Republican National Committee after the GOP’s loss in 2012.


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Viewpoint

Pop Princess 101: How Addison Rae unexpectedly rose to pop stardom

The music industry is currently dominated by women. Two of the most prestigious categories at this month’s Grammy Awards — Album of the Year and Best New Artist — were awarded to female artists. Among the nominated and awarded artists were a plethora of pop girls — including Chappell Roan, SZA, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX. As women have taken the industry by storm, their increasing ability to influence the media is undeniable. Strategically, Addison Rae associated herself with Charli XCX, one of the biggest female names in pop. This deliberate friendship and collaboration facilitated her transition from cringey TikToker to pop princess.


Judith
Viewpoint

Eat the men: The politics of feminine violence and rage in fiction

“I stabbed at his heart and struck the sweet spot between his ribs.” So reads a line from the opening chapter of Chelsea G. Summers’s “A Certain Hunger,” where food critic Dorothy Daniels recounts a life that has lately revolved around seducing, killing and eating men. Though gruesome, this novel is a quintessential work in the genre of femgore — a subgenre of body-horror fiction typically written by and about young women with female protagonists carrying out brutal, vicious crimes against the men in their lives. In recent years, its popularity has significantly increased — a trend irrevocably tied to the absolute battlefield of modern gender politics.



Coffee Table Socioeconomics
Columns

Coffee Table Socioeconomics: Some food for thought from the Daily’s business model

In light of Daily Week and celebrating the Daily’s 45th anniversary, I dedicate this column to appreciating the success of the Daily’s business model and operational capability. I also want to highlight the lessons we can take from it, especially for students at Tufts, a school which I think falls short on its business education —come back for my next column, where I will discuss this.


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Viewpoint

Peter Navarro, the Jumbo who is shaping Trump’s trade policies

From the classrooms of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., to the political arena of Washington, D.C., Peter Navarro has built upon his Jumbo roots to influence the economic policies of the United States. But who is this Tufts alum, and what does his rise to the White House mean for Americans, and particularly, for the students of his alma mater?