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THE
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T HE T UFTS DAILY
VOLUME LXXII, NUMBER 45
tuftsdaily.com
Monday, November 14, 2016
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.
Tufts Student Action releases HaltTheHike demands following tuition increase announcement by Daniel Caron
Contributing Writer
Tufts Student Action (TSA)’s #HaltTheHike campaign released a list of demands on Nov. 1, calling for a halt in tuition increases, greater financial transparency and better financial aid resources. According to TSA member Parker Breza, the group is responding to the 3.6 percent increase in tuition that was announced in an email sent out in April by Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser and Dean of the School of Engineering Jianmin Qu. “[TSA] is a group of students devoted to racial, economic and gender justice … [Our] campaign right now is HaltTheHike … so we’re focusing on making sure that Tufts is accountable, transparent and accessible to everyone like it claims to be,” Breza, a sophomore, said. TSA is calling for a halt on tuition increases for the 2017-2018 academic year and for their demands to be met before any future tuition hikes are put in place. The organization is also asking for a meeting with university administrators, according to their list of demands. The demands, which are a continuation of another list made in the spring by TSA, were finalized through sessions designed as forums for student input, with intentional outreach to different communities at Tufts, according to Breza. “We wanted to make sure that … these demands were in line with what our different communities need on campus. … [That] meant specific outreach to … low income students, students of color, undocumented students, international students [and] students on significant financial aid,” Breza said. One major theme of #HaltTheHike is a call for greater transparency in Tufts’ budget, including clarity on tuition bills and justification for tuition increases, according to the list of demands. “Tuition just went up $2,000 this year, but I have no idea where that money is going,” Breza said. “We want clarity on where that money is going, so that we know that every
NICHOLAS PFOSI / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES
Students chant, protesting this year’s tuition increase by about 3.6 percent by Ballou Hall on May 4. The students have a list of demands that include changing Tufts to a need-blind admission school, locking in tuition rates for an accepted class and demanding an itemized list of where the increased expenses will be allocated. single dollar that is being spent is actually going to help us out in our education.” The #HaltTheHike demands also include a need for greater community input in the budgeting process. “Currently almost all [of] the budgeting is done behind closed doors by administrators and is approved by trustees without any input from students, faculty or staff,” Breza said. “I think that this is a huge short sight [sic] considering that these are the people that have to deal with the effects of the way that the university does finances and budget managing, so I think it’s vital that all of these members are
included equally in the conversation.” TSA is also demanding that the Financial Aid Office become more accessible to students by increasing office hours and the number of financial aid officers, so that they can focus on meeting students’ needs. “Most colleges have open office hours that students can go to for financial aid resources. Our university has one set of office hours on Thursday afternoons. That’s simply unacceptable,” Breza said. see TUITION, page 2
Several university investments re-structured by Gil Jacobson News Editor
Some of Tufts University’s investments have changed from commingled funds to a separately managed account, according to the Board of Trustees’ Investment Committee Chair Steven M. Galbraith. A commingled fund has assets from multiple accounts, and a separately managed account is a professional investment firm-controlled assets portfolio, according to Investopedia. However, according to Galbraith, Tufts has not changed how it invests, nor has it proactively aimed for investments in separately managed accounts. “Generally, Tufts’ endowment investments are made through commingled funds because the highly selective, active managers we choose prefer to manage client assets in a single portfolio, rather than in several separately managed accounts,” Galbraith told the Daily in an email.
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Sometimes, a manager will want to provide separately managed accounts for business purposes, in which case the Investment Committee reviews this request and decides whether or not to move forward, according to Galbraith. “Whether we invest in commingled funds or separately managed accounts, we do not direct managers where to invest,” Galbraith wrote. The largest benefit to using separately managed accounts as opposed to commingled funds is Tufts’ ability to clearly see its portfolio holdings every day, Laurie Gabriel, a member of the Investment Committee, told the Daily in an email. “Commingled funds typically provide their holdings on a monthly basis,” Gabriel wrote. As a result of using separately managed accounts, Tufts will be more aware of their invested holdings and can take increased responsibility in the investments made, according to Matt Webster, a valuation specialist for the student-run Tufts Financial Group (TFG).
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“Investors are given better updates on their investments every quarter and every year,” Webster told the Daily in an email. Webster wrote that it is easier to control separately managed accounts than commingled funds. As valuation specialist, Webster, a sophomore, works with various group sectors and conducts fundamental analysis to help groups contribute to the Tufts Alpha Fund, which has $152,000 in assets under management. He also gathers information on companies, performs valuations — which are estimations of an item’s value — using multiple models and works with the Portfolio and Investments Committee regarding control of the group’s investments. Through the use of separately managed accounts, Tufts will also have the opportunity to see cost savings, Gabriel added. Re-structuring could make a divestment from fossil fuels initiative at Tufts more likely in the future, according to Department of Sociology Professor Paul Joseph in an Oct. 25 Daily article.
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