Letter from the Editorial Board: Thank you, Tony

by The Editorial Board

Dear President Monaco,

As we approach the end of the spring semester, and with it the end of your 12-year tenure as president, we, the Daily’s Editorial Board, wanted to take the time to thank you for your commitment to bettering the university and acknowledge your many accomplishments throughout your tenure at Tufts.

You led Tufts through several important initiatives and some tumultuous times during your time as our president. While many of your accomplishments predate even our most senior board members’ matriculation in September 2019, we nevertheless wanted to express our appreciation for your hard work.

Some of your accomplishments, such as the acquisition of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, seem so fundamental to Tufts as an institution that it is hard to envision a university without them.

Similarly, other work done behind the scenes to ensure the university’s institutional well-being is not without notice. Under your leadership, the Tufts endowment has nearly doubled, thanks in part to initiatives such as the Brighter World fundraising campaign, which expands financial assistance for students in need. Thanks to your financial aid initiative, Tufts brought in hundreds of millions to be used for financial aid, striving to make Tufts accessible regardless of wealth.

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Also during your tenure, Tufts removed the Sackler name from all facilities and programs, acknowledging the Sackler family’s role in advancing the opioid crisis by deliberately targeting high-volume prescribers to boost Purdue Pharma’s sales of OxyContin. By standing up to a powerful family like the Sacklers, and by establishing an endowment focused on substance abuse and addiction treatment and prevention, under your leadership, Tufts has rectified a problem of its past while addressing the omnipresent issue of opioid addiction.

When the COVID-19 pandemic reached Tufts in spring 2020, you led the university with poise. Your of the country not only on the battlefield but also in international sports competitions such as the Boston Marathon.

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pandemic response team, which included Tufts’ best and brightest, ensured that we could return to campus safely and re-engage in collaborative learning by the fall of 2020.

Not only did you usher in a safe return to campus, but you — along with several others — then designed and tested a pooled COVID-19 testing strategy for Tufts’ neighbors and community schools. This shows your compassion and dedication not just to the Tufts community, but also to the people of Medford and Somerville. It’s inherently important to give back to these cities which offer us so much as a university; when you can leverage your academic and clinical skills as you did, it makes your contribution all that more meaningful and effective at bettering the lives and health of Tufts’ host communities.

Before you came to Tufts, you focused your research on mental health. You continued this research during your tenure as president and have indicated an intention to continue further once you step down. While mental health disorders are not unique to our generation, they are notably common among our peers in a way that is distinct from older generations. Your interest in and focus on learning more about the afflictions our generation struggles with speaks wonders to your compassion and care for Tufts students’ well-being.

In July 2020, you announced the beginning of the Tufts as an Anti-Racist Institution initiative to “eradicate any structural racism at Tufts.” While the goal of becoming a fully anti-racist institution is far from complete, the initiative itself delivered over 180 recommendations across five workstreams that can help to make Tufts more diverse, equitable and inclusive. A lot of work remains, but by beginning these workstreams, Tufts has taken the first step in addressing these problems: identifying them. Initiating and undertaking such an important and wide-ranging project in the final years of your presidency is admirable and will no doubt engrave your legacy at Tufts.

Throughout all of this, you led with humility, always quick to credit your team. Easily approachable, you knew how to solicit feedback from the student body and the greater Tufts community. An excellent collaborator, you taught us — by example — how to be better students and better people.

Your leadership through these monumental efforts, changes and initiatives did not go unnoticed, and we express our deepest admiration and appreciation for all the hard work you have done to improve our school’s financial stability, student life, reputation, diversity and inclusiveness.

Sincerely,

The Tufts Daily Editorial Board Brendan, Julia, Alex, Hannah, Makenna, Elena and Faye

As Ukrainian military forces are preparing for the awaited counteroffensive, Russia continues to shell the country daily. Despite the constant attacks, Ukrainians try to live their lives, coping, in part, by collecting large sums of donations for the army and presenting the strength

Among the recent Russian attacks are a strike on a museum of local history in Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region and shellings in Kherson. The museum attack on April 25 took the lives of at least two people, one of whom was a museum worker, and left 10 injured. The city where the strike took place is home to a large railway hub and was freed from Russian occupation last September. Kupyansk is not the only locality around Kharkiv suffering from the violence. Russians continuously send missiles and drones both to Kharkiv and surrounding territories.

Kherson, another city liberated by the Ukrainian army, also regularly experiences deadly Russian attacks. On April 15, the shelling killed a 48-year-old woman and her 28-year-old daughter, who were walking together by a local school. Eight days later, Russians bombed the city with aerial bombs and directed kamikaze drones at residential buildings. The attacks are just a few examples of multiple Russian attacks on civilian objects that do not store any weaponry.

The effects of the war on the mental health of Ukrainians cannot be denied. Ukrainian men are generally not allowed to leave the country as they may be needed for military service. Yet, the nation has still been proving its incredible resilience both through successes in the combat area and through participation in various contests, including sports.

Ukrainian runners who took part in the 2022 Boston Marathon shared that the sport for them is an instrument for healing. Igor Krytsak, who obtained a threeday travel permission to participate, pointed out that they had to stop training entirely for a prolonged period of time, yet running the marathon was symbolic in terms of representing the strength of Ukraine. In messages to The Associated Press, Krytsak reflected that during the race, he thought about people in his home country who are currently besieged, hiding or running away from shelling. He thought about those who are defending the state and those who won’t wake up to a new day because of Russia’s violence.

During the 2023 Boston Marathon, the attention was directed toward Ukrainian runners again. In order to participate in the event and to raise funds for Sunflower of Peace — a charity that supplies Ukrainian medics in the war zone — TV anchor Marichka Padalko trained by running daily in Kyiv. In her interview with The Boston Globe, she shared that running is the only activity that helps her feel like herself. The movement gives Padalko the opportunity to dream of the future Ukrainian victory in the war and her husband returning from the frontline alive.

Ukrainian defender Artem Moroz lost both of his legs fighting in the Kherson region and yet participated in one of the races of the 2023 Boston Marathon on two prosthetic limbs. At first, he was supposed to ride in a wheelchair and push it with his hands, but suddenly he and his assistant changed roles — she sat in the wheelchair, and Artem pushed her while running on prosthetic legs.

Despite the challenges, Ukrainians have shown remarkable strength, not only on the battlefield but also in other fields. We must continue to stand with Ukraine, whether through donating to the military efforts, supporting athletes or other initiatives that help promote the country’s commitment to freedom.

Mariia Kudina is a sophomore studying studio art. Mariia can be reached at mariia.kudina@ tufts.edu.

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by Toby Winick Opinion Editor

The world has changed a lot in the last four years. Over the course of the Class of 2023’s tenure at Tufts, the state of the undergraduate experience changed tremendously. Tufts is in a unique position due to the issues that have arisen from its character and quality as a university.

It’s no secret that every year, the acceptance rate at Tufts and many other universities seem to consistently decrease. This is a phenomenon driven by an increased number of applicants to many schools. With more applications, the acceptance rate becomes automatically lower and the class more ‘prestigious,’ as Tufts admissions officers are able to choose from a greater quantity of talented applicants, while admitting the same number.

Despite this, nationwide college enrollment has actually gone down consistently. The primary reason for this is cost. At many four-year universities, tuition (without state benefits or financial aid) totals in the tens of thousands. Even among com-

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China’s role in the Russiaukraine war

During the first year following the Feb. 24, 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, China maintained a neutral stance, as Beijing attempted to undercut democracy without provoking Western economic sanctions. However, China’s true stance in the war was put on full display in March of this year when President Xi Jinping visited President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and the two leaders signed an agreement that promised a stronger relationship and