A couple of weeks ago, I opened my phone to a message from one of my best friends that made my stomach drop. “The debt collectors called,” she said. Last year, she went through family-related financial difficulty and was unable to pay for her spring semester tuition in full.
Tufts Climate Action has been urging Tufts to completely divest from fossil fuels, including all indirect investments. Their plea has been criticized within this publication; some believe a complete divestment is impractical and will burden Tufts’ endowment. On the contrary, it is in the interest of both our planet and our university if Tufts wholly divests from this detrimental industry.
Though the digital age has certainly changed the style in which American politicians, or their communication directors, relate to younger voters, the practice of satirizing the opponent while bolstering oneself via imagery has always been a fundamental part of American politics.
U.S. automakers have faced significant challenges in recent months. Meanwhile, consumers still feel squeezed even though inflation and gas prices have gone down in recent months. These factors have disrupted the electric vehicle market where sales have slowed despite price cuts. Recently, 3,900 U.S. car dealers wrote a letter to President Biden informing him that electric vehicles are “stacking up on [their] lots.” Evidently, Biden’s executive order that 50% of all car sales by 2030 be electric or hybrid cars and the Environmental Protection Agency’s new rule that all cars should have a fuel efficiency of 52 mpg by 2026 are not resonating with consumers, something that reflects general opinion on Biden’s environmental legislation. Polling has shown that much of Biden’s agenda has not gone over well with the American people, as highlighted by his 37.9% approval rating. This letter proves that consumer upset is trickling up to producers, whose bottom lines are suffering.
The question of Taiwanese independence has long been one of the most contentious matters in U.S.-China relations. A Chinese invasion of Taiwan would have the highest likelihood of embroiling China and the U.S. in war, which would have disastrous effects on theAsia-Pacific region and the international legitimacy of either China or the U.S.On Nov. 14, Xi Jinping arrived in San Francisco to discuss bilateral relations with Joe Biden.
On Monday, a federal appeals court dealt a grievous blow to the Voting Rights Act, which has protected the voting rights of minorities since it was passed in 1965. The VRA has faced many challenges through the years and was considerably weakened in 2013. The Shelby County v. Holder decision ended the preclearance provision in Section 5 of the VRA — which required states to receive approval for new voting laws from the Department of Justice if they had a history of discriminatory voting practices. Preclearance was first upheld by the Supreme Court in 1966 and has been called the “heart” of the VRA.
Earlier this month, DoorDash announced upsetting news to all of us avid delivery app users: if you don’t tip your dasher, expect a longer wait. While DoorDash has provided the rationale that this new tipping mechanism allows for a triple-win situation, promising faster deliveries for consumers, higher rewards for delivery workers and increased repeat orders for restaurants, the consequences of such policies become apparent in consumer dissatisfaction.
I’m a first-semester undergrad in the five-year combined degree program with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. In my time at Tufts, I’ve noticed that registering for courses is made difficult by a significant factor — not knowing the specifics of how the classes I’m enrolling in are taught until the class’ first meeting or when the syllabus is posted on Canvas. From what I’ve heard, I’m far from the only one being impacted.
Donald Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail and in office has never been tame by any standards. Ranging from quoting the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini to calling white supremacists “very fine people,” Trump seems to incite controversy whenever he opens his mouth. Yet, as the 2024 election approaches, Trump has accomplished the amazing task of spouting even more controversial language than ever.
Joe Biden just turned 81 years old. He has served as U.S. President for three turbulent years, in which he has disastrously withdrawn from Afghanistan, ignored the people of East Palestine, Ohio and presided over a truly shocking crisis at the southern border. Despite these undeniable failures, Biden is still running for reelection, though he has hardly spent any time campaigning compared to his Republican counterparts. While Biden’s old age and mental acuity continue to concern voters, Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, nevertheless proclaimed during a press briefing that “eighty is the new forty.” This raises the question of why Biden needs to use the lower stairs of Air Force One, which allow him to enter the plane on a shorter staircase out of view from the media. Denial is rampant in the Biden administration, and the country is screaming for Biden to move aside for a younger, more able candidate to lead the country. Yet Biden refuses to back down, despite numerous gaffes and his frequent trips to the beach.
I can still recall my elementary school Thanksgiving celebrations. Using construction paper, we made “Indian” feather headdresses and Pilgrim hats to don at our Thanksgiving feast. We celebrated the voyage of the Mayflower (as we had those of the Niña, Pinta and Santa María a month before) and the friendship of two peoples. Considering that 90% of the Indigenous population of the Americas was killed by violence and disease following Christopher Columbus’ famed 1492 voyage, this story is false and deeply misleading.
The recent Supreme Court rulings of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina effectively eliminated the use of affirmative action in college admissions. SCOTUS has disregarded an avenue that increased educational opportunities for historically marginalized groups like racial minorities, women and LGBTQ+ individuals. We must open our eyes to the context in which this ruling is situated.
At the beginning of my sophomore semester, I woke up at my desk with my alarm ringing — from what my roommates had informed me — for the last 45 minutes. A half-drunk Celsius sat beside a red solo cup filled with stale Cheerios that had replaced my dinner, and I had exactly five minutes to get to my morning class. It was official: I had entered the sophomore slump.
As the least progressive Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has been thrust into the national spotlight numerous times for his staunch opposition to many aspects of Biden’s agenda. Despite the criticism Manchin gets from his more liberal counterparts, his recent announcement that ...
Flying cars, learning machines and domed cities — since the Industrial Revolution, humans have envisioned a future filled with striking, complex machinery. Hollywood has expanded on this concept, producing intense science fiction films like “Blade Runner” (1982) and “The Terminator” (1984) in which evil machines hide among humans, overtaking mankind and wreaking havoc on the planet.
Perhaps one of the most tired takes in American politics is that Americans aren’t patriotic enough. However, this sentiment conceals a wealth of presuppositions about what it means to be an American. This is perhaps no better exemplified than by the Zac Brown Band’s song “Chicken Fried” (2005). The chorus describes the ideals of the American heartland: “A cold beer on a Friday night / A pair of jeans that fit just right … See the love in my woman’s eyes / Feel the touch of a precious child / And know a mother’s love.”
Sidechat has become a forum for dangerous, anonymous discourse ever since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Furthermore, physical anonymity has been widespread at recent protests at Tufts — protestors have worn surgical masks or other face coverings to hide their identity. The recent fighting instigated by Hamas has exposed the darker side of anonymity, including the unchecked spread of hate speech and inaccurate reporting, as well as pro-Palestine rallies featuring protestors with their faces covered.
In our last article, we explained the reasons for and ramifications of Tufts’ high tuition. But how can we lower it? The solution is raising money and better focusing funds.
It is no secret that Tufts is expensive. Tufts is the fifth most expensive school in the country, with tuition for the 2023–24 school year being more than $66,000, well above the national average for private colleges, which is approximately $42,000. This astronomical price tag has numerous implications. For one, it limits the socioeconomic diversity of our student body. A 2017 study found that Tufts is ranked 10th in the nation for colleges with the highest median family income and 50% of Tufts students come from the top 5%. Only 44% of Tufts students are on financial aid, versus 55% at Harvard or 56% at Amherst. These stats are to be expected, with tuition as high as it is. There are certainly many qualified students who would love to attend Tufts, but aren’t here because they simply can’t afford it. Our campus is missing their perspectives and contributions.
President Joe Biden is currently polling lower than most of our last six presidents at this point in their first term. The only one who consistently matched these abysmally low numbers is his likely opponent in 2024, former President Donald Trump. The 2024 election is looking to be a rematch between two of the most deeply-disliked presidents in America’s recent past.
