The Tufts Daily - Wednesday, November 3, 2021

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 26

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

TCU Senate passes resolution regarding legacy in undergraduate admissions, hears appeal from Tufts Republicans

Students petition Tufts to save Portuguese program by Aaron Gruen

Contributing Writer

The Tufts School of Arts and Sciences decided to terminate the Portuguese minor this fall due to lower than optimal enrollments. The unexpected news was recently announced to Portuguese language students and lecturers, who previously believed that the school would preserve the program. Following Portuguese Department Head Cristiane Soares’ resignation last spring, the university asked part-time Portuguese lecturer Maria Champlin to act as interim department head while it searched for a full-time professor. The university also decided to hire a part-time lecturer, Kamilla Silva, until a full-time professor could be hired. “This opportunity came to teach Portuguese,” Silva said. “And knowing that the department was at risk, I quickly jumped [for] the position.” When Silva was hired, it was to her understanding that the Portuguese department would

by Zoe Kava News Editor

MICHELLE LI / THE TUFTS DAILY

The F.W. Olin Center, which houses tured on Oct. 5. continue to offer the minor. “The people [Champlin] had spoken to had told her that the department was safe and that the minor was going to continue, they just needed time to hire somebody else to take over the position,” Silva said. Toward the end of September, however, rumors began circulating that the university would stop offering Portuguese classes. According to BR Rose, a student advocating for the preservation of the program, Pedro Ángel Palou, the chair of the

the Portuguese department, is picRomance studies department, revealed during a Spanish department meeting that while some classes would be kept, the Portuguese minor program would be eliminated. Champlin and Silva, who are currently the only Portuguese lecturers, were not present during the meeting. “We heard officially — not from Tufts University — but we heard from people who have said, ‘They’ve officially decided see PORTUGUESE, page 2

Somerville improves cyclist and pedestrian safety with new infrastructure

by Kathryn Hood

Contributing Writer

The City of Somerville is redesigning and implementing protected bike lanes and floating bus stops in various locations in order to create a safer environment for cyclists and pedestrians, as well as a more walkable and environmentally sound city. The city is implementing major infrastructure improvements at Somerville Avenue, Washington Street and Powder House Circle. Tom Lamar, chair of the Somerville Bicycle Advisory Committee, which advises the city on improving cycling conditions in Somerville and promotes bike safety, explained that bike lanes are being raised up to the sidewalk level on Somerville Ave to create distance from cars. “Probably the most important [thing] is being physically separated from cars,” Lamar said. “In this case by being raised up to sidewalk or closest sidewalk level [and] having a curb … as well as a small buffer that’s about two feet wide.” There are also now signalized crosswalks that alert cars to slow down for cyclists and pedestrians. Lamar noted that floating bus stops create an island in the

tuftsdaily.com

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

MICHELLE LI / THE TUFTS DAILY

A newly created bike lane near Powder House Circle in Somerville is pictured on Oct. 15. street with a sidewalk and a bike lane behind it, providing a safe place for cyclists to travel and for passengers to wait for the bus. Arah Schuur, co-founder of the Somerville Bicycle Safety group, which aims to organize people in support of bike safety, discussed the improvements made to Powder House Circle. The city implemented flex posts and protected bike lanes, and delineated the previously unmarked lanes. It also repainted crosswalks and put in pedestrian-initiated buttons at crosswalks. Various other locations are making similar changes, includ-

ing at Broadway and Wellington Bridge. Many of these locations also add improvements to bus mobility and driving safety. These changes have greatly improved the safety of cyclists and pedestrians. Noah Mills, a senior at Tufts, lives in Alewife and commutes about fifteen minutes a day on a bike. He often rides through Powder House Circle. “I was doing research over the summer … I would enter that intersection and sort of be competing with the cars,” Mills said in an interview with the Daily. see INFRASTRUCTURE, page 2

The Tufts Community Union Senate voted on its first resolution of the semester, heard an appeal from Tufts Republicans and heard supplementary funding requests in a meeting on Sunday. TCU Historian and Class of 2024 Senator Mariana JanerAgrelot introduced a resolution submitted by Ameya Menta and Christopher Tomo, calling on Tufts Undergraduate Admissions to cease consideration of familial connection to the university when selecting applicants. The resolution would call on admissions to stop asking applicants if they have family who are alumni, faculty or are connected to the university, and to remove the question of familial connection from all aspects of the application process. Menta and Tomo, both sophomores, were granted five minutes to present their case. Menta said that eliminating legacy in admissions will serve Tufts’ anti-racist mission. “The importance of equity in college admission is apparent now more than ever with Tufts’ commitment to an anti-racist institution,” Menta said. “In July 2020, Tufts University recognized a commitment to identify and eradicate structural racism in five key areas and one of the key areas included the selection of the academic body.” Tomo explained that several other institutions, including the Tufts University School of Medicine, have eliminated legacy from the admissions process. “In July, Colorado as a state banned the consideration of legacy at all of its public universities,” Tomo said. “Here at Tufts, the School of Medicine announced that it no longer asks that the student application provides special access to legacies. This particular resolution is about undergrad admissions and we demand that they … set the example for institutions across the country by ending this discriminatory policy.” Class of 2025 Senator Natalie Rossinow asked the authors of the resolution how much impact the removal of legacy admissions

SPORTS / back

ARTS / page 5

FEATS / page 3

Women’s soccer ends season with 1–0 loss to Hamilton

‘Blue Banisters’ blew us away

A taste of the local produce market

would have on admitting more students of color to the student body. “I don’t think that there’s any way for us to explicitly come out with that data,” Menta said. “Something that we are looking forward to is seeing how the … [incoming] Fletcher class demographics have changed when they changed their admissions.” Menta explained that Tufts has made changes to other parts of the admissions process, like transitioning to a test-optional system, but has not addressed the issue of legacy in admissions. “There are just so many social determinants that are built into a holistic application, but for us, we think that legacy is one of the things that is such an outdated process … that it’s almost ridiculous that it’s still there,” Menta said. The resolution was voted on and passed with 23 senators voting in favor, one opposing and three abstaining. The Senate body then heard an appeal from Tufts Republicans, which had requested $560 to attend a shooting range and learn firearm safety training with its members. This funding would cover fees for the shooting range, gun rental and ammunition. The Allocations Board recommended $0. TCU Treasurer and Class of 2022 Senator Elizabeth Hom outlined the request and said that TCU Senate has not funded this activity in the past. Tufts Republicans then had five minutes to state their case. Andrew Butcher, treasurer of Tufts Republicans, said that despite the Allocations Board’s recommending $0, the trip does support the organization’s mission. “When we requested the reason for this denial … it was that all TCU funding must be central to the mission of the student organization,” he said. “We would argue that this trip is core to our mission as stated in our constitution.” Butcher, a junior, explained that the trip contributes to the organization’s mission because it would allow its members to learn how to safely exercise their Second Amendment rights. see TCU SENATE, page 2 NEWS

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