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T HE T UFTS DAILY
VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 38
Newhouse Foundation donates $1.5 million to endow CIRCLE directorship by Charlotte Chen
Dean of Tisch College Dayna Cunningham explained why CIRCLE is vital at Tufts and across the country. “CIRCLE … has an incredible database [for] monitoring youth political engagement. It has a really important piece of work of what I call field building, which is to chart a possible future direction for the field of civic studies,” Cunningham said. One of CIRCLE’s many ongoing initiatives is the Educating for American Democracy project, which aims to reimagine civics and history education. CIRCLE also works with educators across several states, including Illinois and Massachusetts, to reach youth. CIRCLE Project Manager Sarah Keese expressed her excitement about CIRCLE’S current research work. “[Our research] encompasses so many of our values of things like youth as assets, and overcoming that stigma of youth apathy, and I am really excited about all of the things coming up with growing voters,” Keese said. Before becoming director in 2015, Kawashima-Ginsberg
Contributing Writer
The Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation has gifted the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts with a $1.5 million endowment to fund the position of its director. The Newhouse Director of CIRCLE, Kei KawashimaGinsberg, expressed her gratitude to the Newhouses for their generosity in endowing her position, which she has held since April 2015. “I’m really grateful that the Newhouses see that there is a value in placing a really unique institution like CIRCLE … and decided to support a foundation for [its] director. It’s really significant that it’s not given to me, per se, as a scholar, but it’s given to the position, and it’s a really huge message to me … about how leaders see an institution like this to be a solid place within Tufts University,” Kawashima-Ginsberg said. CIRCLE, a nonpartisan, independent research organization based out of Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life, conducts research on youth civic engagement in the United States.
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Wednesday, December 1, 2021
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see CIRCLE, page 2
Tufts imposes no Thanksgiving travel restrictions this year
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The COVID Testing Center at 62 Talbot Avenue is pictured on Oct. 3. by Aaron Gruen
Contributing Writer
In a change from last year’s policy, Tufts allowed students who traveled during Thanksgiving to return to campus in the time between Thanksgiving and winter break. The policy was announced to the Tufts community on Nov. 9 in an email from Dean of Student Affairs Camille Lizarríbar. Tufts’ travel policy eased this year as COVID-19 vaccines were mandated for all members of the Tufts community. Students who traveled domestically did not need to obtain permission,
but international travel was still restricted. “Faculty, staff, and students seeking to travel internationally on university-related business must still obtain explicit approval from their dean (or their designee) of the school or unit,” the Global Tufts website notes. Nikhita Karra, who flew home to Chicago over break, was not worried about COVID-19 exposure when returning home. “Covid really didn’t impact me too much — I just had to wear a mask, but it was fine because I fly a lot going home and back to school,” Karra, a sophomore,
wrote in an electronic message to the Daily. Dyuthy Ramachandran, who is from the Bay Area, also traveled home for Thanksgiving, and expressed anxiety about air travel. “I am more nervous about planes, mostly due to the crowded environment,” Ramachandran, a first-year, wrote in an electronic message to the Daily. Students who were off-campus during the break were not required to test during the break, but if students developed COVID-19 symptoms while off campus during the see THANKSGIVING, page 2
CMHS continues virtual group offerings added in response to pandemic by Avery Hanna
Contributing Writer
This semester, Tufts Counseling and Mental Health Services is continuing to offer virtual programs and workshops, including those created to target pandemic-specific challenges. Since the start of the pandemic, CMHS has created several new groups targeting mental health challenges that can arise in quarantine. One such group offered this semester for both undergraduate and graduate students is the ReST & Renew group. This group offers Resiliency Skills Training (ReST) and is meant to help students work through the uncertainty and unexpected challenges that arise during the pandemic. CMHS Director of Outreach and Group Programs Marilyn
Downs discussed the motivations behind this new programming. “We have expanded our group and workshops offerings during the pandemic because we wanted to create more opportunities for students to connect with each other,” Downs wrote in an email to the Daily. Other more permanent groups were modified for the pandemic, such as the Coping with Loss in a Remote World group for those who have experienced the death of a loved one. A group about journaling for self-care was also created during the pandemic and was offered over last spring and this past summer. According to Downs, it will probably be offered next spring as well. Downs explained that usually groups and workshops are unavailable over the summer, due to the small number
MINA TERZIOGLU / THE TUFTS DAILY
Sawyer House for Tufts Counseling and Mental Health Services is pictured on Nov. 10. of students on campus. The transition to a virtual format, however, made these offerings possible, since students could participate from other locations.
During the school year, this format increased accessibility, since a Zoom meeting is easier to squeeze in between classes, Downs said.
FEATURES / page 3
ARTS / page 4
OPINION / page 7
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Burning bridges: Infrastructure bill highlights rifts within and between parties
However, the virtual environment comes with its disadvantages. Downs described how the Zoom sessions are different than the in-person meetings held in a comfortable conference room space where everyone can sit together. “You’re sitting in a circle, you’re in each other’s presence, in a room in real time and space,” Downs said in an interview with the Daily. “It actually does feel different than looking at your screen and seeing people in squares in front of you. I think there is some loss of the connection by being on Zoom. On the other hand, it makes it possible to meet.” Matthew Zimon, co-president of Active Minds, a club focused on raising mental health awareness see CMHS, page 2 NEWS
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