THE
INDEPENDENT
STUDENT
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T HE T UFTS DAILY
VOLUME LXXXII, ISSUE 4
tuftsdaily.com
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.
Somerville, Medford candidates prepare for upcoming mayoral primaries
Student Life offers orientation events for Class of 2024 by Bella Preneta
come from on-campus experiences in the last year,” Bolash, a sophomore, wrote in an email Despite COVID-19 arrival to the Daily. “Standout events testing and indoor mask man- from virtual orientation include dates, a relatively normal ori- watching the matriculation entation week for the Class of video with my family at home 2025 began on Sept. 2, com- and attending the TCU introplete with a student organiza- ductory meeting. I believe there tions fair and an illumination was a virtual illumination cerceremony. emony but I personally did not Since the Class of 2024 had attend and no one I know did a completely virtual orienta- either.” tion last September, and did Bolash added that in-person not get the traditional “O-week” orientation events likely would activities, Student Life provided have made the transition to colsome orientation opportuni- lege easier for her. ties for the Class of 2024, such “It took a very long time to feel as Discover Davis and Meet acclimated to Tufts,” Bolash said. Medford, the student organi- “I strongly believe an in-person zations fair and an illumination orientation would have helped ceremony. connect students in the absence Dean of Student Affairs of in-person classes [and] club Camille Lizarríbar said that ori- meetings and would have entation events help new stu- changed the amount of time it dents meet each other and took to feel comfortable with the become accustomed to life on campus.” campus, which is still valuable Lizarríbar explained that for the Class of 2024. Student Life partnered with “These activities not only TCU Senate, members of the help first year students become sophomore class and other stufamiliar with their surround- dent leaders to plan in-person ings but also give them an events for the Class of 2024, opportunity to get to know each despite not offering a full other,” Lizarríbar wrote in an in-person recreation of firstemail to the Daily. “While most year orientation. She added Tufts students were on campus that Student Life is seeking all of last year and most soph- input from sophomore stuomores are now very familiar dents to develop more prowith the university, [Student gramming. Life] think[s] sophomores in “We are excited to reinstiparticular deserve some spe- tute our special Illumination cial attention and the chance ceremony, an annual tradition to bond as a class given the dif- at Tufts that allows the entire ficult circumstances they faced class to be together at the last year.” start of their college career,” Claire Bolash, TCU Senate Lizarríbar said. “This year we’ll education committee chair, have two ceremonies, one for said that she remembers very first-year students and anothlittle from the virtual orienta- er, separate ceremony one tion events. week later for sophomores “I feel that most of what I have learned about Tufts has see ORIENTATION, page 2 Staff Writer
MAX LALANNE AND ALEXANDER THOMPSON / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES
Current Somerville and Medford mayors, Joe Curtatone (left) and Breanna Lungo-Koehn (right), respectively, are pictured. Both cities’ primary mayoral elections are today, Sept. 14, with a combined seven candidates running. by Coco Arcand News Editor
The cities of Somerville and Medford are holding their primary municipal elections today. Voters in both cities will choose between candidates for both mayor and city council. The Medford mayoral race will feature three candidates including incumbent Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Medford City Councillor John Falco and John Petrella, a retired retail manager in the food industry. Lungo-Koehn entered mayoral office in January 2020, only 10 weeks before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. She said she is proud of the accomplishments she made while in office, including increased transparency in the city budget, a social justice roadmap for the city and preventative maintenance for infrastructure. However, LungoKoehn believes re-election will allow her to finish more of the projects that she has laid the groundwork for. “If I’m elected, I want to continue this progress,” LungoKoehn said. “I want to continue to see the capital improvement plan worked out and implemented … I want to continue to fight for what’s best for our schools and our children … I want to be involved in continuing to be as transparent as possible, to continue with our social justice work. We’ve come a long way but there’s so much more to do.” Falco hopes to use the experience he acquired during his past decade in local government to improve the condition of Medford. He believes the current administration has failed to resolve multiple issues that have stunted Medford’s development and put the city at a disadvantage when compared to its neighboring cities.
“During the pandemic, these needs remained yet were largely unmet,” Falco wrote in an email to the Daily. “Surrounding communities didn’t stop improving city government and services but Medford did.” Petrella emphasized the need for a stronger relationship between Medford and Tufts University. He believes this strengthened relationship will benefit both parties. “I think both the City and Tufts need to put forward their best efforts for the mutual benefit of all,” Petrella wrote in an email to the Daily. “It seems now there is a lack [of ] ongoing communication between [Medford and Tufts] … A strong relationship provides a sound foundation as specific topics arise.” Somerville’s mayoral race will contain four candidates: Ward 7 City Councilor Katjana Ballantyne, Councilor At-Large Will Mbah, Mary Cassesso, the former chief community officer at Cambridge Health Alliance and businessperson William Tauro, who has decades of experience with local publications. This election will result in the induction of a new Somerville mayor for the first time in almost 20 years, following current Mayor Joe Curtatone’s decision not to seek re-election. Ballantyne runs her campaign based around the three beliefs she believes are essential to the next mayor: values, leadership and experience. During her time on Somerville’s city council, Ballantyne worked to tackle multiple issues including housing affordability, transportation and responsible development. However, it is her work on reducing Somerville’s environmental impact that she is most proud of. “I have made Somerville a leader on the environment,” Ballantyne said. “I wrote the Native Species Ordinance, the
LEED Platinum certifiable code for our zoning, the Somerville Green New Deal, and I’m so excited to have the boldest plan on the environment, where we’re calling for Somerville to be carbon negative by 2050.” Mbah believes his strengths as mayor would lie with his ability to personally relate to issues that are prevalent for many Somerville residents. Mbah immigrated from Cameroon in 2010 and faced many issues that commonly impact immigrants in the United States, including a lack of job opportunities, housing displacement and racial discrimination. “I don’t believe any other candidate has the ability to relate personally to almost every issue that our next mayor will have to address,” Mbah wrote in an email to the Daily. “On racial justice, I know what it is like to be racially profiled and discriminated against. On housing justice, I know what it’s like to move every year because of rising rents. On environmental justice, I have a background in environmental science and know how marginalized communities and people of color are impacted the most by the effect of climate change.” If elected into office, Cassesso hopes to continue to fight against social injustices, specifically those related to employment, education and affordable housing, issues to which she has been committed from a young age and throughout her professional career. “My mother brought us up to be involved in all causes of racial and social justice,” Cassesso said. “We worked to block the construction of I-93 … so it didn’t take away so many affordable houses in the neighborhood … I have spent my life since I was in single digits doing this kind of work. And so that’s why … now see ELECTION, page 2
SOPHIE DOLAN / THE TUFTS DAILY
Tufts students enjoy in-person, on-campus events as the fall semester begins with looser COVID-19 restrictions.
OPINION / page 9
FEATURES / page 4
SPORTS / page 10
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