WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Expert planners succeed at early graduation see FEATURES / PAGE 5
Tufts continues 16-game win streak
‘Man in the High Castle’ delivers in second season, for binge watchers. see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 7
SEE SPORTS / PAGE 13
THE
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T HE T UFTS DAILY
VOLUME LXXIII, NUMBER 1
tuftsdaily.com
Thursday, January 19, 2017
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.
Monaco announces committee to assess Greek life, undergraduate climate by Gil Jacobson and Elie Levine
News Editor and Assistant News Editor
University President Anthony Monaco announced the appointment of a Student Life Review Committee to examine the culture of undergraduate student life on the Medford/Somerville campus in light of recently-exposed issues with the university’s Greek life system in a Dec. 22, 2016 email sent to Tufts community members. Structure and Goals of the Committee Monaco wrote in the email that the committee will begin its review this month. It will holistically examine Tufts undergraduate student life with a focus on residential strategy, student groups and Greek life, Monaco explained. “I will ask the committee to report to me on its findings and recommendations for how we can strengthen student life and enhance its contributions to our students’ wellbeing, personal growth, and sense of connection to a vibrant Tufts community,” he wrote. Susan Murphy, who until June 2015 served as vice president of stusee GREEK LIFE, page 3
JEREMY CALDWELL / THE TUFTS DAILY
Chi Omega House is pictured on Saturday, Sep. 26, 2015.
Reported sexual offenses increase at Tufts, according to Clery Reports by Catherine Perloff News Editor
Trigger Warning: This article discusses sexual violence. According to a Dec. 23 Boston Globe analysis of colleges and universities in New England, the number of reported forcible sexual offenses on the Tufts University Medford/Somerville campus increased from 14 in 2014 to 25 in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. The data comes from the Clery Reports, federally mandated reports released every October by the Tufts University Police Department ( TUPD), as well as by all colleges and universities that receive federal financial aid. However, the article recognizes the limitations of these numbers, given that specialists say the number of sexual assaults on college campuses each year is several times higher than the number of assaults reported. Additionally, while the Globe reports rising numbers of assaults, there are
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multiple aspects of the report, as well as the nature of sexual assault reporting, to consider in conjunction with the data. The Globe reports only what it calls “forcible sex offenses,” which include rape and fondling. Individual schools’ reporting, on the other hand, is broken down into four specific categories as of 2015: rape, fondling, incest and statutory rape, according to the Department of Education. Prior to 2015, statistics for rape and fondling were combined under “sex offenses — forcible,” while incest and statutory rape were combined under “sex offenses — nonforcible.” In addition to the fact that many assaults go unreported, because the figures published only account for the reported sexual assaults in any given year, some assaults might not have occurred in the same year that they were reported. According to a report issued by the Tufts Department of Public and Environmental Safety for the 2016-
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2017 school year, in 2013 there were 12 reports of forcible sexual assaults that occurred on campus property on the Medford/Somerville campus, one that occurred on off-campus Tufts property and zero non-forcible assaults. In 2014, there were 14 reports of forcible sexual assaults that occurred on campus property and zero non-forcible assaults. In 2015, there were 17 reports of rapes on campus property, seven instances of fondling on campus and off-campus Tufts property and zero instances of incest and statutory rape. Reports of forcible sexual offenses at Tufts, as displayed in the Clery Reports, have steadily increased in recent years, quadrupling from six in 2012 to 25 in 2015. Executive Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) Jill Zellmer told the Daily in an email that she believes the rise in number reflects an increase in reporting, rather than an increase in these crimes. “Most colleges and universities in the area have been encouraging sexual misconduct reporting on their cam-
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puses, which has translated into more sexual assault reports across almost all schools in New England and across the country,” Zellmer said. In fact, the dramatic rise in number is consistent across many other colleges and universities included in the Globe’s analysis. According to the results of the last Tufts Attitudes About Sexual Conduct Survey ( TASCS), conducted for the first time in Spring 2015, of the roughly 30 percent of the undergraduate population who took the survey, about 25 percent of undergraduates reported having experienced at least one type of sexual misconduct. This means that the survey suggests a much larger number of instances than those reflected in Clery Reports. Tufts is planning to begin surveying students for the second TASCS in late January, according to Zellmer. This discrepancy is also reflected by the radically different numbers
NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................5 ARTS & LIVING....................... 7
see CLERY, page 2
COMICS.......................................9 OPINION...................................10 SPORTS.....................................13