WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
TASA culture show marries dance and politics see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 3
Cousens to play hosts to NCAA games Friday, Saturday
Oscars fashion: the good, the bad and the ugly see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 4
SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE
THE
INDEPENDENT
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T HE T UFTS DAILY
VOLUME LXXIII, NUMBER 21
tuftsdaily.com
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.
Activist Marian Wright Edelman speaks about child poverty by Natasha Mayor
Assistant News Editor
Marian Wright Edelman, the founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, spoke about American citizens’ obligation to combat the overwhelming presence of child poverty in a mostly full Cohen Auditorium on Monday evening. The talk was this year’s Merrin Moral Voices Lecture, in partnership with the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life’s Distinguished Speaker Series. Neubauer Executive Director of Tufts Hillel Rabbi Jeffrey Summit opened the evening by talking about the necessity of children having access to proper healthcare, education and opportunities. Co-Chair of Moral Voices Isabel Merrin explained that this year’s talk will center on children’s advocacy. Merrin, a senior, also listed Edelman’s various accolades, which include over 100 honorary degrees, a Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In Edelman’s speech, she reflected on the current state of national inequality, noting that the United States is divided between haves and have-nots. She encouraged the audience to decide what kind of future they want to see at this important junction in history and what legacy they want to leave behind. “Will our era and lifetime be remembered by how many material things we can manufacture, advertise, sell and consume?” she asked. “Or by our dis-
RAY BERNOFF / THE TUFTS DAILY
Speaker Marian Wright Edelman gives the Moral Voices lecture organized by Tufts Hillel and Tisch College at Cohen Auditorium on Feb. 27. covery, our more lasting, non-material measures of success?” Lamenting the prevalence of guns and gun-related deaths in this nation, Edelman said that regulating guns should be at the top
of our agenda. She talked about the United States’ high child mortality rates and our responsibility as people to fix this situation. “Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are
tortured,” Edelman said, quoting French philosopher Albert Camus. “But we can reduce the number of tortured children.” see EDELMAN, page 2
New prayer room in Fletcher School provides convenience and community by Luke Briccetti
Contributing Writer
Tufts opened a multifaith meditation and prayer room, or musallah, inside the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy earlier this month. The room is intended for use by Tufts’ Muslim community, but is open to use by people of all faiths and was organized by a group of both Muslim and non-Muslim students, according to Jack Whitacre (F’16). According to a 2015 Daily article, the construction of the prayer room follows that of Tufts’ first musallah, which was opened in Curtis Hall in 2015. The creation of the space was spearheaded by Tufts Muslim Chaplain Celene Ibrahim, who was concerned about the lack of availability of prayer spaces for members of the
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Muslim community at the Fletcher School. “I was aware that Muslim students in Fletcher were having to find little corners in which to pray between their classes and events,” Ibrahim told the Daily in an email. “The university generously constructed a prayer space in Curtis Hall, which was extremely convenient to the many Muslim engineering and computer science students, but it was too far across campus to serve the students, faculty and staff of Fletcher on a daily basis.” This concern was echoed by Seher Vora, a Fletcher School student who actively uses the prayer space. “As a Muslim, I do try my best to pray five times a day, but it’s a bit hard when you’re running around from place to place, and the other prayer room on campus is all the way across campus at Curtis
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Hall,” Vora said. “It’s really nice to have a space close to us that I can go and use and then it doesn’t become inconvenient.” According to Vora, although Muslims do not necessarily need to complete prayers and ablutions (ritual washing that accompanies prayer) in a designated space, it is often difficult and uncomfortable to find a suitable location for prayer. “If there’s an empty room or just an empty corner I could definitely go and pray there,” said Vora, “but I think a lot of times, it doesn’t necessarily put people off, but makes them feel awkward at times to do prayer in public.” The space contains certain features intended to enhance the experience of worshippers, such as carpets and an area for performing ablutions, according to Ibrahim and Vora.
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“Performing ritual washing and prayers several times a day is one of the most central components of Islamic spiritual practice,” Ibrahim said. The room also contains features and accommodations that increase comfort within the space regardless of faith, such as pillows for people who want a place to meditate or relax, according to Vora. “I think people like to use it as a meditation space as well, to use apps like Headspace or mindfulness apps like that to just sit and get away from the hustle and bustle for five minutes or so,” Vora said. Although the financial statements for the new project have not yet been finalized, the Fletcher School did not have any serious trouble completing the project
NEWS............................................1 ARTS & LIVING.......................3 COMICS.......................................5
see PRAYER ROOM, page 2
OPINION.....................................6 SPORTS............................ BACK