September 30, 2016

Page 1

BlaQ(ueer) Magic: Alum returns to discuss new book, politics of race, gender and sexuality see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 4

MEN’S SOCCER

Jumbos break win streak, rebound against Brandeis

After win under the lights, football sets its sights on Bobcats in Homecoming game see SPORTS / BACK PAGE

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

THE

INDEPENDENT

STUDENT

N E W S PA P E R

OF

TUFTS

UNIVERSITY

E S T. 1 9 8 0

T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXII, NUMBER 16

tuftsdaily.com

Friday, September 30, 2016

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Residential Strategies Working Group proposes new housing plans on, off campus by Kathleen Schmidt

led the other, which emphasized student experience and housing.

The Residential Strategies Working Group (RSWG) is now looking to implement its recommendations for student housing, which include offering more on-campus housing options for juniors and seniors, improving existing residential facilities and potentially charging different prices for different on-campus living arrangements. The RSWG initially presented its recommendations to University President Anthony Monaco and the Board of Trustees in May, according to Provost and Senior Vice President David Harris. The RSWG was co-chaired by Harris, Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser and Dean of the School of Engineering Jianmin Qu. Harris explained that it was comprised of 20 members of faculty, staff and students and that the group was divided into two segments: Campbell headed one focused on the financial side of residential strategy, while Glaser and Qu

Off-campus housing Monaco commissioned the group’s formation primarily due to growing concern about housing for juniors and seniors, Harris said. Harris pointed out that the university has a two-year on-campus residency requirement for students, after which some upperclassmen are able to stay on campus, but many are not, which, according to Harris, can pose problems. “Our concerns are being raised by ordinances in Somerville and similar discussions in Medford about the number of students that can be in a dwelling, and … those constraints will obviously increase the price per student because the landlords [are] not going to drop the total rent,” he said. Plans for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Green Line Extension to come to College Avenue and Boston Avenue have exacer-

Executive News Editor

MAX LALANNE / THE TUFTS DAILY

see HOUSING, page 2

Students exit first-year dorm Houston Hall on Sept. 29.

Tufts launches Trans Support Task Force, hopes to increase oncampus resources by Liam Knox News Editor

Tufts is launching the Trans Support Task Force to improve university resources available for transgender students and streamline communication within the Tufts community, according to Nino Testa, director of the LGBT Center and task force co-chair. The other co-chair is Chief Diversity Officer and Associate Provost Mark Brimhall-Vargas, and the task force will hold its first meeting on Oct. 20, Testa said. According to Testa, Office of Equal Opportunity Director and Title IX Coordinator Jill Zellmer, who works across all three Tufts campuses, will be on the task force as well to help broaden the scope of its efforts. Zellmer said that one of her goals as a task force member is to make sure Tufts’ public buildings are in compliance with new state laws concerning public accommodations for transgender individuals. The law, signed by Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker on July 8, will go into effect on Oct. 1.

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Testa said that while Tufts has accomplished much in regard to creating an environment that supports all forms of gender identity and expression, he hopes that the task force will ultimately provide a more structured overview of persistent issues and identify areas in need of improvement across the university. Brimhall-Vargas agreed that the university would need to review its current policies in order to make them more current and useful. “Part of the working of the task force is to figure out which policies need to be updated,” Brimhall-Vargas told the Daily in an email. Testa said that the development of the task force is another step in the LGBT Center’s ongoing efforts to bring the university closer in line with the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals’ list of best practices for supporting transgender students. The task force will include faculty, students and staff from the Boston and Medford/Somerville campuses, along with representation from Tufts’ transgen-

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der and non-binary community, according to Testa. “We were very intentional about making sure there was good representation on the task force of transgender and non-binary students, faculty and staff,” Testa said. “We need to let the conversation be driven by the needs, experiences and voices of those folks.” Unlike the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering (AS&E), Tufts’ Boston campus does not have an LGBT Center, Testa said. However, according to the School of Medicine’s student groups and activity website, the inter-school student group Tufts Biomedical Queer Alliance aims to connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex and allied students and professionals on Tufts’ Boston campus. Tufts’ Grafton campus, which also does not have an LGBT center, has a diversity council that works toward implementing the best practices for supporting transgender and non-binary students, according to Testa. Brimhall-Vargas added that iden-

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tifying and addressing the needs of transgender students of color and other intersectional identities will also be a focus of the task force. According to Brimhall-Vargas, one of the first priorities of the task force will be to address issues with changing names in the Student Information System (SIS). Currently, if a student wants to change their name, it is difficult to update the system to reflect that change. One of the primary long-term goals of the task force will be to improve communication with the entire Tufts community concerning resources for transgender students, according to both Testa and Brimhall-Vargas. “I think one of the biggest problems has been a failure on the part of the university to really communicate to the community what has been done and what’s being done,” Testa said. Another goal of the task force will be to expand transgender resources beyond AS&E, Testa said. This would

NEWS............................................1 ARTS & LIVING.......................5

see TASK FORCE, page 2

SPORTS............................ BACK


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