2009-12-11

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THE TUFTS DAILY

TUFTSDAILY.COM

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2009

VOLUME LVIII, NUMBER 62

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Diversity director Coleman plans to leave for Harvard BY

ALEXANDRA BOGUS

Daily Editorial Board

Executive Director of the Office of Institutional Diversity (OID) Lisa Coleman yesterday announced her resignation effective at the end of December. Coleman plans to take a position at Harvard University next

VIRGINIA BLEDSOE/TUFTS DAILY

Singles in dormitories across campus have been used as isolation rooms for sick students.

Following national college trend, swine flu cases decline at Tufts BY

KATHERINE SAWYER

Daily Editorial Board

The number of new H1N1 cases, commonly known as swine flu, is on the decline at Tufts, mirroring the situation across college campuses nationwide and pointing to the university’s success in containing the pandemic this fall. The American College Health

Association’s (ACHA) weekly survey of an average of over 250 colleges and universities encompassing about 3 million students reported in the week ending on Nov. 13 the first decrease in the number of new influenza-like illness (ILI) cases with a 27 percent drop from the previous week. The number of ILI cases continued to see SWINE FLU, page 2

COURTESY TUFTS JOURNAL

Lisa Coleman is resigning as the inaugural executive director of institutional diversity to take on a new role at Harvard University.

Board of Trustees awards Dixon esteemed Ballou Medal upon her retirement BY

CORINNE SEGAL

Daily Staff Writer

see COLEMAN, page 2

Former Jumbo explores career in poetry BY

The Board of Trustees last month awarded outgoing Secretary of the Corporation Linda Dixon (J ’63, F ’99) the prestigious Hosea Ballou Medal in honor of her service to the university. University President Lawrence Bacow presented the award to Dixon at a trustees weekend reception on Nov. 6. The Board of Trustees awards the Ballou Medal to “recognize members of the Tufts community who have rendered exceptional service for the institution,” according to a press release from the board. Dixon, who has served for 17 years as secretary of the corporation, described the event as emotional. “I was blown away,” she said. “I know the significance of it.” Including Dixon, The Board of Trustees has conferred the Ballou Medal to only 14 people in the university’s history. Past recipients include Herbert C. Hoover, the son of U.S. President Herbert Hoover, and former University President Jean Mayer. Board of Trustees Vice Chair William O’Reilly praised Dixon’s dedication to the university. “We know that even before she came to work for the university, she was immensely committed to it,” he said. Dixon’s ties to the university go back decades. Shortly after graduating from Tufts in 1963, she volunteered as a chapter adviser to the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. She

semester. Coleman’s announcement caps off nearly ten years working in a variety of capacities within the university. She served for almost eight years as the director of the Africana Center before being selected to direct the OID when the university established the office in 2007. “She’s made an enormous contribution,” Provost and Senior Vice President Jamshed Bharucha said. “She was the inaugural holder of this position and for the first time brought some coherence and coordination to diversity efforts at Tufts University.” Bharucha told the Daily that her move to Cambridge will be a loss to the university but said the administration was pleased that she had an opportunity for a “new challenge.” Coleman also served as a teaching affiliate in the American Studies and Women’s Studies Programs during her tenure at Tufts. She will take on the role of chief diversity officer and special assistant to Harvard President Drew Faust. “My new position offers exciting opportunities for personal and professional growth, but the decision to leave Tufts after almost a decade has

MARISSA CARBERRY

Daily Editorial Board

COURTESY AGB

Outgoing Secretary of Corporation Linda Dixon receives prestigious award honoring her dedicated service to the university. has also been an Alumni Council member since 1968, chairing various alumni committees, including the Homecoming and Alumni Weekend Committees. The trustees wanted to recognize Dixon’s legacy as she leaves her long-held position. “On her retirement, the board really wanted to say, this is not just someone who worked with us

for a long time,” O’Reilly said. “We wanted to give a warm goodbye to someone who has left a tradition behind her.” Paul Tringale (LA ’82, F ’01) will succeed Dixon on Dec. 15, Tringale said. Dixon was hired as secretary of the corporation in 1992, while she

Inside this issue

see DIXON, page 2

In May 2001, the Internet bubble had burst, and the economy looked somewhat like it does now. Tufts alum Melissa Broder had just graduated with a major in English but was struggling to find a job that would incorporate her lifelong passion for writing. With no jobs to be had, Broder decided to enroll in a publishing program in Denver. She embarked on a road trip across the country. Upon completion of the program, Broder drove to San Francisco for a job interview. Though she didn’t get the position, she decided to stay, job or no job. Broder’s journey to the West — and the two years she spent living there — ultimately fueled many of the poems in her new book, “When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother,” to be released by Ampersand Books on Feb. 1, 2010. “When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother” is both the title of one of the book’s poems and the punch line to the joke, “What is a Freudian slip?” Broder said that she chose the title because she thought it fit the tone of her work. “I felt like it just really captured the ethos of the book,” she said. “It has a sort of Jewish, neurotic vibe, which is definitely present in the book.” Though she said her husband

touts the book as an “NC-17 rated spiritual experience,” Broder said the characters present in the 90-page book are the main attraction. “The poems are obsession poems. There are a lot of obsessions about junkies. Somebody is enrolled in a junkie studies program. There’s a camp counselor who belongs to the NRA. You get a lot of cult leaders. You get an aging anarchist. You get face tattoos. There’s a tall lady who’s obsessed with laundry. There’s adult-onset acne. There’s tripping on Dimatap. There’s reincarnation in a deli. There’s a nose job that takes on a life on its own … not my nose, though,” Broder said. Daniel Nester, author of “How to be Inappropriate,” said of the book, “Melissa Broder’s ebullient, essayistic poems pay attention to sounds and sense ... She addresses her poems to a world of non-poetic people who might find themselves in her poems: people with acne, teenage waifs and aging anarchists alike. They are cosmopolitan in a playful kind of way. They’re super poems.” Though none of the work in the book dates back to Broder’s time as a Jumbo, she said that her academic experience allowed her to significantly improve her writing. At Tufts, Broder took a creative writing see BRODER, page 4

Today’s Sections

A semester in review: The Daily takes a look at fall 2009.

“Alice in Wonderland” takes viewers through a brand new looking glass.

see NEWS, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News | Features Arts & Living

1 5

Comics Classifieds Sports

8 9 Back


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