The Tufts Daily - Friday, April 15, 2022

THE

INDEPENDENT

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TUFTS

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXXIII, ISSUE 46

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

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Friday, April 15, 2022

University seeks to control enrollment, admits fewer students this year

MICHAEL WU / THE TUFTS DAILY

‘Bo Days return for the Class of 2026

by Claire Ferris

Assistant News Editor

For the first time in three years, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions will welcome thousands of high school seniors to campus this month for a batch of rebranded Jumbo Days — known as ‘Bo Days — in hopes of offering members of the admitted class a glimpse into life at Tufts. In-person events, divided across six days, will supplement a month-long supply of virtual programming for admitted students, a remnant of the pandemic.

During in-person ‘Bo Days, prospective students can expect tours, student and faculty panels and lunch catered by Tufts Dining, according to Paz ELIN SHIH / THE TUFTS DAILY

The statue of Jumbo, located in front of Barnum Hall, is pictured on April 10.

by Ethan Steinberg News Editor

Jana Dia has never been to the United States before, but she knows she wants one of her first stops to be Medford, Mass.

This rising first-year hails from a city in eastern Paraguay that borders Argentina and Brazil. She knows four languages — she hopes to learn a fifth at Tufts — and come September, she’ll be one of just two students from her graduating class attending college in the U.S. “When I was researching Tufts, of course I wanted to look into the clubs and organizations that make you feel at home and that give me a sense of belonging,” Dia said. “And since I’m someone from a multicultural background, I found all the clubs and all the organizations that do make me feel like I’ve landed at home at Tufts.”

Dia, who applied through the federal program

EducationUSA, is one of less than 3,200 students who were offered admission to the Class of 2026 out of more than 34,880 applicants. Applications this year increased by 12%, and the acceptance rate dropped to a record-low 9%.

“The students we have admitted this year are very impressive — both for their accomplishments, and for their aspirations,” Dean of Admissions JT Duck wrote in an email to the Daily. “This is a very civically engaged class.

Through their community engagements and activities, and through the essays that they wrote, our admitted students showed a strong interest in bringing their voices and energy into conversations about how institutions and societies govern themselves.”

Civic engagement is one of Tufts’ core values, one that’s embodied by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life.

And it’s a message that resonated with at least one rising first-year.

Luca O’Neil, of Weston, Conn., said he was drawn to Tufts after a pair of students approached his tour group last summer seeking signatures in support of Tufts Dining workers. At the time, activists were rallying for workers to continue receiving pay from the university after many were not offered work at Tufts over the summer.

“Nowhere else is the student body so engaged,” O’Neil said in an interview.

The Connecticut native said he plans to study chemistry and join student activist groups. An enthusiast of the “Pitch Perfect” (2012) group The Barden Bellas, O’Neil said he’s also looking forward to attending a cappella concerts on campus. see ADMISSIONS, page 2

Pitarque, senior assistant director of undergraduate admissions.

“For ‘Bo Days, we will offer a half-day full of meeting some current students whether that is tour guides, our Admission Fellows, and students representing DSDI centers,” Pitarque wrote in an email to the Daily.

Welcoming prospective students to campus requires more planning during the pandemic, Pitarque noted. Tufts has restricted the scope of ‘Bo Days, compared to pre-pandemic Jumbo Days.

“A big difference will be the number of people we are able to welcome to campus,” Pitarque wrote. “We want to be mindful of the number of people we welcome on camsee 'BO DAYS, page 3

New hybrid public safety model to supplement armed police with unarmed security officers

by Madeline Wilson Assistant News Editor

Tufts will transition to a “hybrid” model of arming its university police department based on the recommendations of the Working Group on TUPD Arming, according to a March 29 message to the Tufts community from Executive Vice President and WGTA Chair Mike Howard.

The working group recommended that authorities transition to a hybrid model of arming that specializes the response to the nature of the call.

According to the group’s final report, the hybrid model will be coupled with a new “differential response” system. The

FEATURES / page 4

ARTS / page 8

EDITORIAL / page 11

Students discuss their gap year experiences

From children’s theaters to student-written musicals: An incomplete guide to Tufts’ theater scene

Admissions must reform to ensure accessibility

Department of Public Safety will employ both armed officers and unarmed security professionals, and choose which to deploy depending on the particular public safety situation.

Armed, uniformed officers will continue to respond to criminal complaints and “potentially dangerous situations,” while unarmed campus security officers will respond to “most routine calls for service,” such as lockouts and most wellness and alarm checks.

The report disclosed that TUPD currently employs just one community service officer on the Medford/Somerville see TUPD, page 3 NEWS 1 FEATURES 4 PHOTOS 7 ARTS & POP CULTURE 8 FUN & GAMES 10 OPINION 11 SPORTS BACK

2

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Friday, April 15, 2022

THE TUFTS DAILY Alexander Janoff Editor in Chief

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New TUSM center to harness power of community, combat maternal health inequities

by Aaron Gruen News Editor

Tufts announced on April 8 that it will open a new Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice (CBMHRJ) within the School of Medicine.

Dr. Ndidiamaka AmutahOnukagha, the Julia A. Okoro professor of Black Maternal Health at the Tufts University School of Medicine, will direct the center.

The center aims to address systemic inequities in Black maternal health outcomes through research, advocacy and training. Black women in the United States are currently three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. Structural racism and implicit bias on the part of health care providers contribute to this disparity. In an interview with the Daily, AmutahOnukagha stressed the urgency of the center’s work.

“We are fighting for Black lives,” she said. “There has to be an air of justice and an air of timeliness and priority.”

Before founding the CBMHRJ, Amutah-Onukagha launched the Maternal Outcomes for Translational Health Equity Research (MOTHER) Lab, a research, mentorship and advocacy center which addresses inequities facing Black women who give birth, in July 2020.

Amutah-Onukagha is also the assistant dean of diversity and inclusion for the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at TUSM and worked with colleagues Anthony Schlaff and Fernando Ona to develop an anti-racism curriculum for TUSM students.

Amutah-Onukagha told the Daily that her immediate priorities for the center include putting together a team of clinicians, researchers, faculty affiliates, medical students and community members, all of whom will be essential to the center’s success.

To begin, Amutah-Onukagha is focused on assembling a

KATRINA AQUILINO / THE TUFTS DAILY

Tufts Medical Center is pictured in Chinatown, Boston, on Feb. 5. team of specialists from various community health and medical backgrounds.

“We’re going to be recruiting from my department, [from] Tufts Medicine, people that have an interest and commitment to Black maternal health or maternal health inequities,” AmutahOnukagha said. “That looks like engaging with researchers, epidemiologists, nurses, clinicians, OBs. … Once we get those major players in house, then we’ll figure out [the] affiliated faculty and affiliated people that need to be at the table.”

She added that she hopes to “build a pipeline for doctoral students, for postdocs, for masters students [and] for clinician students” between the School of Medicine and the new center.

Once the CBMHRJ is up and running, its programming will focus on reproductive justice and anti-racism in medical education and medical practice.

“Everything we do has to have a lens of justice,” AmutahOnukagha said.

The center will also offer doula training led by Black doulas.

“Doulas are a part of the public health and professional workforce that can help disrupt these [mortality] rates,” Amutah-Onukagha said.

Amutah-Onukagha emphasized that the center is a national-scale project and will need to be funded accordingly.

“I need $10 million for me to be able to fund the center, to fund my faculty leads, for me to be able to stipend my students, for me to be able to get the full time staff I need,” Amutah-Onukagha said. “This is a national coordinating center, so I need resources.”

In the future, AmutahOnukagha plans to open a physical space for the center in Boston where students, researchers and specialists can collaborate.

“It would be incredible for us to be able to actualize and cement this dream in a way that is building a sustainable legacy for students,” AmutahOnukagha said.

Amutah-Onukagha also emphasized that community interaction will play a key role in the center’s work.

“A physical building for the [CBMHRJ] is not for me — it’s for the community,” AmutahOnukagha said. “Community members should be able to come here and grapple and talk and celebrate and strategize around how to reduce these inequities in their communities.”

The center will be the first of its kind in the country, and Amutah-Onukagha hopes it can serve as a blueprint for future institutions.

“I think this could be a national model because what we’re doing here is really unique,” Amutah-Onukagha said. “I want to highlight …

community-engaged research, policy and mentorship of student development.”

Laura Baecher-Lind, dean of educational affairs at the School of Medicine and a practicing obstetrician and gynecologist at Tufts Medical Center, said that the center “is very exciting because it first recognizes the disparities that Black women face in obstetrics as far as increased morbidity and mortality … and helps us to work towards mitigating those risks and improving the health care that we deliver to our patients.”

Baecher-Lind noted that, since well-intentioned interventions can sometimes cause harm, the center will be instrumental in creating effective treatment measures.

“We want to be thoughtful in any interventions that we develop and implement to reduce the rates of disparities in obstetrics,” Baecher-Lind said. “That’s what the center will help us afford — doing this [research] in a strategic and evidence-based manner.”

Amutah-Onukagha announced the creation of the CBMHRJ on April 8 at the fifth annual Black Maternal Health Conference, which she founded and organized. Judith Jeanty, the conference coordinator, said that over 1,800 people registered to attend the conference.

“We had amazing physicians, pediatricians … just amazing speakers in their field who really were highlighting the policy needs for Black maternal health,” Jeanty said. “This is the crux. We need policy to make effective changes for women and mothers.”

Among the speakers at the conference were Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Biden administration.

During the conference, AmutahOnukagha’s work was recognized and congratulated by the City of Boston.

Admitted students reflect on college decision process ADMISSIONS

continued from page 1 When asked if he plans on joining one of the groups, O’Neil responded, “No, oh God, no. I’m not a good singer.”

O’Neil is part of the class of students entering college this fall that mostly began touring and applying to colleges well after the pandemic was underway. Piled on top of the anxiety that college admissions is known to produce, in-person tours — muted by the pandemic — didn’t always provide what O’Neil envisioned to be an authentic glimpse into what life in college was really like.

O’Neil said he felt a disconnect between himself and the students he saw on some of the campuses he toured, in part because of mask mandates and the way that the

pandemic was affecting campus life.

“On tours,” he said, “It was so ever-present that [COVID-19] was there, and the people were not the same.”

Nonetheless, O’Neil was able to come to campus for a tour, and since his admission, he has spent time connecting with his future classmates on Instagram.

One incoming student spent a greater percentage than many of his peers on Zoom for his secondary school years. Julian Kelly is a high school junior from an island located three miles off the coast of Maine, where the population is just under 600 and where the only access point to the coastal United States is via ferry.

Kelly will graduate in June and begin studying at Tufts in the fall — a year earlier than he expected. He’ll be one of 13 stu-

dents to graduate this year from his K–12 school, which has less than 40 students in grades 9–12, according to Kelly.

Duck explained that as applications have swelled, the admissions office has relied increasingly on its “committee-based evaluation process of reviewing applications.”

“This reading process relies on small committees of application readers discussing each application and deciding together whether that application continues moving forward in our iterative process,” Duck wrote. “This process leans into committee dialogue, and our belief is that multiple readers working together make better decisions than one reader alone.”

The university offered fewer students admission this year than in recent years, after enrollment for the Class of 2025

exceeded expectations and left about 100 first-years housed in a Hyatt hotel off campus.

As the university continues to expand the size of the undergraduate student body, officials announced last week their plans to install temporary residence halls on the Vouté Tennis Courts, where modular units have housed COVID-19-positive students over the past two academic years. Approximately 150 first-years will live in the new housing units next fall, which will continue to house students for the next five years, Dean of Student Affairs Camille Lizarríbar confirmed in a campus-wide email.

But most of all, O’Neil said he is excited for “something new, being somewhere that I can be myself and meet new people and have new experiences.”

News

Friday, April 15, 2022 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Virtual programming offered alongside in-person events for admitted students

QUIRN TRAN / THE TUFTS DAILY

Miller Hall is pictured on April 13.

'BO DAYS

continued from page 1 pus and for capacity reasons, we expect about 300 guests each ‘Bo Day. We will also be doing lunch and registration outdoors.”

She also noted that, this year, prospective students won’t be allowed to stay in residence halls overnight, a hallmark experience of the admitted students’ days that represents yet another casualty of the pandemic.

In accordance with university health guidelines, campus visitors will be required to show proof of vaccination and wear disposable 3-ply or KN95 masks indoors.

Haitong Du, a tour guide, said prospective students are permitted inside buildings on campus, excluding residence halls. Du, a senior, added that tours on ‘Bo Days will focus more on the guides’ individual Tufts experiences rather than the school as a whole.

Pitarque said this year’s virtual Jumbo Month content will remain similar to last year’s, complete with mock classes and social events.

“We have many current student volunteers signed up on our Tufts Admitted Student Network ( TASN) platform and they are opening discussions with students, serving as resources when students ask questions like ‘What is the closest grocery store to campus?’, and connecting with admitted students who may be interested in certain student organizations,” Pitarque wrote.

Pitarque added that virtual events are key to enabling all prospective students to learn about Tufts in an accessible manner, since coming to campus for ‘Bo Days may not be financially feasible for some.

“We typically ask any student that may need some type of assistance coming to campus, to contact our office directly,” Pitarque wrote. “However, like last year, a lot of our efforts are focused on Jumbo Month where we aim to make Tufts as accessible as possible to all admitted students.”

However, virtual admissions events cannot fully replicate the experience of physically visiting campus, according to Du and Aarav Gupta, an incoming first-year.

“Although I’ve never attended any previous in-person admitted student days as a tour guide, I could guess that prolonged in-person exchanges were much more comfortable and effective,” Du wrote. “Many admitted students make the final decision as they visit and ‘experience’ the campus in-person, so I very much look forward to … ‘Bo Days this year.”

Gupta said he applied to Tufts through the Early Decision II program in January.

“I would’ve wanted to do more in-person tours, because I’m sure that helps you get a better feel for the school, but I only did one, which happened to be Tufts,” Gupta told the Daily.

Gupta explained that being able to meet other incoming first-years and prospective Tufts students in person and on campus is very important to him, even as a committed student.

“I’ve gotten to know people [through social media], but it’s

not the same once you really meet them in person and get to know them that way,” Gupta said. “That’s why I kind of pushed to go for this [‘Bo] day.”

Gupta added that, after realizing that the opportunity to come to campus and connect with prospective first-years was not available the previous two years, he thinks it’s valuable to meet his peers in advance.

The most important thing for Pitarque and the admissions team as they designed ‘Bo Days was finding the balance between hosting exciting events for admitted students and maintaining a COVID-19safe environment for the rest of the community on campus.

“A lot of our planning has taken into consideration things like room capacities, vaccination requirements, striking the right balance of outdoor/indoor activities with our guests,” Pitarque wrote. “We are hopeful that though our events are smaller this year, students can get a better understanding of the Tufts community whether it is through ‘Bo Days or Jumbo Month — or both!”

Working group recommends new TUPD arming model based on community feedback TUPD

continued from page 1 campus and plans to hire more as it adapts to the new policing model. Across all of its campuses, Tufts currently employs nearly 50 armed officers.

The Working Group on TUPD Arming was formed last year as an offshoot of the Working Group on Campus Safety and Policing, which in turn was conceived as part of the Tufts as an Anti-Racist Institution Initiative. The goal of the WGTA was to examine more closely the issue of arming TUPD officers, using community-based data to determine what kind of structural changes might be necessary.

“This vision called for a renewed and broader understanding of campus safety that encompassed the physical, psychological, and emotional well-being of our entire community,” the report says.

The working group was composed of representatives from across Tufts’ campuses, including faculty, students, staff, administrators, one police officer and Executive Director of Public Safety Yolanda Smith.

Through campus forums, focus groups, a community survey on arming and an analysis of over 150,000 calls for service, the group concluded that transitioning to a differential response would be the best course of action.

“One theme that we heard consistently throughout our discussions with community members is support for flexibility in response, greater reliance on mental health resources, and low preference for greater involvement of munici-

pal police,” Howard wrote in an email to the Daily. “Many of those who participated in our surveys and discussions indicated that they were interested in differential response, which allows for public safety responses to vary depending on the nature of the call, the campus, and other factors.”

According to the report, most of the community members surveyed said they would support a departure from TUPD’s current operational model, which keeps all officers armed.

The data collected by the working group also showed that “less than half of the Tufts community currently feel that an armed TUPD makes the Tufts community more physically safe.” Support for an armed TUPD was reported to be lowest among undergraduates.

“One of the results of this approach will be fewer interactions between community members and armed officers, supporting the psychological and emotional well-being of our community and reducing potential trauma,” Howard wrote.

Smith emphasized that the transition to a differential response model represents just one step the university is taking to re-envision campus safety. Tufts has also hired a crisis intervention and threat assessment manager to manage some of the mental health components of public safety and made other structural changes to the system.

“We’re expanding the training that TUPD officers receive on issues related to mental health,” Smith wrote in an email to the Daily. “And we’ve introduced the option of con-

KIANA VALLO / THE TUFTS DAILY

A TUPD car is parked in the basement of Dowling Hall. tacting the counselor on call directly after hours by calling the number for Counseling and Mental Health Services without having to call dispatch.”

According to the report, officers will be required to complete a “specialized police curriculum” training that aims to decrease the risk of serious physical or psychological harm that may occur during an interaction between police officers and people with mental illness.

Groups like the Student Prison Education and Abolition Coalition have been pushing for the restructuring of TUPD for years.

“SPEAC works on investigating and trying to dismantle the ways that the carceral state manifests itself at Tufts,” Olivia

Barker, a member of the Student Prison Education and Abolition Coalition, said. “Currently, our goal is to disarm the TUPD, but our overall goal is the abolition of the TUPD.” According to the report, the working group decided that disarmament would not be an effective solution to community concerns because it would lead to an increased reliance on municipal police as the primary responders to many service calls.

“In these situations where municipal police would be primary responders, the university would give up control and decision-making authority,” the working group’s report said. “As a result, this model would subject Tufts community members to the policies and

procedures of the municipal police as well as their respective protocols around detainment and arrest.”

Barker noted that while the transition to a hybrid model is a step in the right direction, it may not be enough for Tufts to maintain a safe and healthy anti-racist institution.

“It shows that the administration is thinking about disarmament, and they’re considering it,” Barker, a sophomore, said. “But this differential model is really an increasing of policing. They’re hiring campus safety officers, but they’re going to retain … the nearly 50 armed officers that they already have. So although it’s a step to be thinking about it, it is not towards abolition or justice.”

4 Friday, April 15, 2022

Sophia Grekin Humans of Tufts

Sophia Nuñez

​​S

ophia Grekin (SG): Can you talk about your first love?

Sophia Nuñez (SN): Oh, um, God, my first love was probably to, like, a stuffed animal, honestly. But, um, I am dating my boyfriend from high school still. We’ve been dating for, like, over two years now. And I don’t know if that’s necessarily, like, my first love, but it’s, like, the first relationship I’ve ever been in where it’s like I’ve felt this strongly about a person.

Um, yeah. It’s, like, incredibly fulfilling to be in a relationship that, like, has felt so caring for so long. And we’re currently long distance, which kind of is, like, awful. But we always feel like it’s better than the alternative of breaking up, which I think is just like a testament to, like, how we feel about each other.

SG: How did you guys meet?

SN: Um, so we actually met when I was in ninth grade. Um, and he was — he’s … a year below, a freshman um, in college, not in high school, to clarify. We met when he was an eighth grader and we both met in the, um, art room of our high school. And I taught him how to clean his paint brushes.

Um, and he’s an amazing painter.

And so he wasn’t really dedicated when we first met and I was like, ‘You are coming to the art room; we are painting together because you’re way too talented to not do that.’ Um, and so we were like peripheral friends up until my senior year when we had classes together and we both figured out we have a love for rodent-based films. So … we just ended up hanging a ton and then, um, we got together New Year’s of 2020.

SG: That’s so cute.

SN: We created a fake club at our high school called, uh, rodent movie club, um, which just only watch movies where main characters are rodents.

So of course you’ve got like the classics: “Ratatouille,” “Flushed Away,” like “Stuart Little,” but then you have like, “G-Force,” the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” series and “American Tail.” … There’s actually quite a few.

Um, for our very first Valentine’s Day, we went to see “Sonic the Hedgehog” opening day, because Sonic is in fact … a rodent, and so we said it was a club activity.

SG: Did you get funding for it?

SN: We never became an official club.

And also imagine, like, having school funding your Valentine’s Day, that’d be insane.

SG: What do you think is something about them that drew you to them?

SN: Um, I think it’s just, like, it’s like a weird underdog story. … I think. It’s such a funny underdog to be rooting for, like this scrawny rat, um, that you’d, like, never care about.

SG: Is he, [your boyfriend], the scrawny rat?

SN: No. The— oh wait, are you talking about rodent movies or my boyfriend?

SG: Your boyfriend!

SN: Oh, um, all good. My boyfriend is maybe one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. There’s nothing he can say that, like, everything he says makes me laugh. And so as someone who, like, has a lot of stuff going on in my personal life, like, it’s really nice to talk with him.

Sophia Grekin is a sophomore studying cognitive and brain science. Sophia can be reached at sophia.grekin@tufts.edu.

Features

tuftsdaily.com

Gap years promote personal growth, transformative experiences

by Kendall Roberts Associate Editor

With the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many students were forced to reconsider their plans as schools shut down, internships were canceled and lockdowns were implemented around the globe. From Medford to Dubai, many Tufts students took gap years to gain professional experience, to prioritize their own physical and mental health and to explore passions outside of a classroom setting.

According to Dean of Admissions JT Duck, there are about 40 to 45 newly admitted first-year students who take a gap year before enrolling at Tufts each academic year.

Duck explained that the 2020–21 academic school year saw an increase in gap year approvals.

“Tufts Admissions approved gap year requests for about 140 first-year students during the 20-21 academic year,” Duck wrote in an email to the Daily. “The number of approved gap year requests returned back to the 40-45 range this past year.”

Junior Kyle Sayers chose to take a gap year after being sent home in March 2020.

Sayers was able to find work as a junior software engineer at GreenSight, a Bostonbased company that develops flight and sensor technology for drones.

“I think for me, I took [a gap year] as an opportunity to kind of restart on my experience at Tufts and see what life outside of school really looks like,” Sayers said.

As a computer science major, Sayers explains that he was able to employ what he learned in his classes, including image processing, machine learning and web development.

“The gap year was incredible, because now I have a year and a half of almost full-time work experience under my belt and all the tools and skills and personal relations that come with that,” Sayers said.

“In terms of interpersonal [skills] … being able to forge an identity outside of college and classes was a really important step in my life.”

Similarly, first-year Sofia Ladak used her gap year to gain work experience and volunteer in Sri Lanka. Originally from Dubai, Ladak explained that the city had very different COVID-19 restrictions from the U.S., and she valued her college experience more than the amount of time it would take to complete her degree.

“It wasn’t my intention to take a year off, but kind of looking at the situation … from abroad, I saw just kind of how hectic everything was in respect to [COVID19],” Ladak said. “I just didn’t really feel like the American college experience that I was coming over here for [was something] I was gonna get if I came in September of 2020.”

Ladak was able to find an in-person internship position at a college counseling firm, as well as a remote internship at Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, where she examined agricultural projects in Afghanistan. In her free time, she tutored students in math and biology.

As COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted, Ladak was able to pursue her love of travel. She had a busy schedule; she went to Sri Lanka to teach English in a local orphanage for 6 weeks, then went to Europe to visit Spain and Italy. According to Ladak, volunteering at the orphanage helped her explore her passion for education.

“My experience in Sri Lanka … has put together what I want to do in the future,

COURTESY KYLE SAYERS AND SOFIA LADAK

Kyle Sayers (left) and Sofia Ladak (right) are pictured during their gap years. which is looking at education through the purpose of life development … and looking at how we can improve and reform education systems in developing countries,” Ladak said.

While some students took time off at Tufts to gain professional work experience, first-year Aliza Keegan decided to take a gap year in August 2020 due to medical reasons.

Keegan has lived with Lyme disease for six years, and decided against immediately enrolling at Tufts due to being immunocompromised and having a family history of chronic illness. According to Keegan, her decision was very last minute, so she had limited job opportunities.

“The pandemic impacted me a lot and so a lot of it was dealing with mental health,” Keegan said. “I think that the most valuable part of it was seeking help for a lot of underlying things that I had been dealing with for a long time.”

In between doctor’s appointments, Keegan worked part-time at a cafe in Belmont, Mass., her hometown. She also volunteered at the Cambridge Women’s Center and Cradles to Crayons.

Keegan explained that it was quite a struggle to see her friends go off to college.

“It’s kind of a double edged sword, … because they’re all starting college in the pandemic and so it was much different, but still I wanted so badly to be in that position,” Keegan said.

However, in the end, Keegan ultimately decided taking a gap year was the best decision for her.

“So many people are on so many different paths in their life,” Keegan said. “There isn’t one direct path that you have to go down to be successful and to be happy which again, is a really valuable … thing that I learned.”

According to sophomore Jenny Lu, she also didn’t have the traditional gap year experience. After enrolling at University of Pennsylvania in 2019, she decided college was not the right fit for her at that time and decided to take a leave of absence for the 2019–20 academic year. During her time off, Lu worked as a lifeguard and a substitute teacher for the Medford school district before the COVID-19 pandemic left her unemployed.

“Those two jobs were very difficult, so they really taught me discipline,” Lu said. “[For example], getting up every day at 5 a.m or dealing with a roomful of 20 children.”

Lu explained she felt both parental and societal pressure to attend college right after high school, but she wished she took her gap year sooner.

“I didn’t want to fall behind,” Lu said. “I just wanted to push through a normal path.

But now, I can very confidently tell people that it literally doesn’t matter if you graduate at 22 or 23 or 24 [years old]. It doesn’t make a difference at all … in the grand scheme of things.”

Upon transferring to Tufts for the 2020– 21 academic year, Lu, who is from Medford, explained that being only 10 minutes from home made her college transition smoother. For Ladak, returning back to academics was a struggle, but she was eager to return to the classroom. “[It had] been a good year and a half since I’d been in an academic setting,” Ladak said. “It made me really excited to go into it.”

Sayers agrees that it was an adjustment period returning back to campus life, but his gap year solidified his academic pursuits and encouraged him to be more open to new friendships.

“During my gap year, I met people from India, I met people from China, I was friends with people who were a decade older than me,” Sayers said. “So having had those experiences with people who have different age ranges with me … made me feel way more comfortable being friends with people who were maybe a grade below me or a grade above me.”

To anyone thinking about taking a gap year, Ladak advises that planning ahead can enhance the experience.

“There might be a lot that’’s not in your control, and that can get frustrating, so just be flexible,” Ladak said. “I think having a little bit of a goal of what you want to get out of that year helps you figure out what to do and make it productive.”

Keegan also emphasizes the importance of taking a gap year, and the many valuable lessons she learned along the way.

“If you’re thinking of taking a gap year, do it,“ Keegan said. “Taking time for yourself when you know that you need it is the most important thing that you can do for your mental well- being, for your physical well- being. … The gap year was the most important thing I could have done for myself. I changed a lot as a person in a lot of really good ways.”

F e at u r e s

Friday, April 15, 2022 | Features | THE TUFTS DAILY

Canada’s national Inuit leader Natan Obed reflects on journey of self-discovery through senior honors thesis at Tufts

by Mark Choi

Features Editor

In the historic meeting between the Pope and Indigenous leaders from Canada on April 1, Pope Francis apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in the abuse against Indigenous children in residential schools that operated from the 1880s to the 1990s. According to the New York Times, the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission approximates that “4,100 children went missing nationwide” from these residential schools, while some believe that the number is much higher.

Pope Francis’ apology follows last year’s discoveries of more than 1,000 unmarked graves at former residential school sites across Canada.

A Tufts alumnus, Natan Obed (LA‘01), led the Inuit delegation for this historic meeting as the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. Obed, who graduated from Tufts with a degree in English and American studies, is committed to bringing about reconciliation between Inuit and the Crown in Canada.

In his interview with the Daily, Obed explained his roles and responsibilities as president of ITK. “I’ve been the president [of ] Canada’s national representational organization [since 2015]. We represent the roughly 65,000 Inuit who live in Canada,” Obed said. “I’ve had an incredible opportunity to influence the way in which Canada thinks about Inuit and how we chart a path of reconciliation in Canada.”

At its core, ITK is about bridging differences and building connections among Inuit across Canada, Obed noted, a mission that has resonated with him personally.

“At the heart of our organization is a sense that there are different regions of Inuit in Canada with different land claim agreements [and] different colonial histories, but we are all the same people, … and we want to make our way together at the national level to implement our own self-determination,” Obed said.

When Obed ran for the organization’s presidency in 2015, he was the youngest candidate and had to prove himself to those who doubted his leadership. It was particularly challenging for Obed to withstand the criticism that he was somehow not ‘Inuk enough’ during the election process.

“We don’t choose our childhoods. We don’t choose where we end up living, … but we have identities and we have connections to cultures and societies where our parents are from,” Obed said.

“I still don’t speak Inuktitut fluently, [and] I may not be the best hunter, but it doesn’t necessarily make me any less of an Inuk.”

Obed added that while his father is an Inuk from Nunatsiavut, his mom is from Maine, and she is not Indigenous.

Even as Obed shuttled back and forth between Maine and Canada growing up, he thinks of Nain, in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, whenever he hears the word ‘home.’

“When I close my eyes [and] I think of [where] home is, I think of Nain. I might not have lived there very long in my life, but that is where I find the most connection. It’s where I feel at peace, and it’s also where I think I draw my strength from,” Obed said.

Obed further elaborated on his philosophical view of identity in light of his personal journey.

“Too often, we feel forced to say, ‘This is where I am from,’ or [someone else] looks at you and says, ‘This is where you are from.’ I think that is detrimental to our mental health and detrimental to our sense of belonging in the world, if we feel like we have to conform to other people’s perceptions of who we are,” Obed said. “It takes a long time to be comfortable with yourself enough to just discard the things that people want you to be and to hold onto the things that you know you are.”

In his journey of self-discovery, it was his independent study at Tufts that brought him back to his home in Nain.

Obed won the Shapiro Award within the American studies department to study the Labrador Inuit land claims during his junior year.

“That particular project reconnected me with my community. I hadn’t been back to Nain since I was, I believe, six years old. So me coming back at [the age of ] 22 or 23, a lot of my family still lived there … but people didn’t really know me. … Some people didn’t even think that my father had kids,” Obed said.

“So that was really tough, [but] that was something that was necessary for personal growth.”

Based on his independent study project and presentation, Obed formulated and wrote his senior honors thesis on the Labrador Inuit land claims and, by extension, on the Inuit across Canada in general.

“I thought of [my thesis] in an academic way when I dreamed it up, but it ended up being much more of a personal journey … [with] some associated academic components to it,” Obed said.

“It ended up being all-consuming during my senior year. I did not expect for it to be as large as it became, [but] it was something like 130 pages.”

Through it all, Obed noted that his advisors, Joan Lester, who taught Indigenous studies courses at Tufts, and Ronna Johnson, a lecturer in the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora, helped him find his voice as a scholar and a leader.

In hindsight, Obed also sees how his studies at Tufts turned out to be his lifelong journey and passion. “[My first independent study] is kind of the basis of what I’ve been doing for

the last 20 years or so now. It is first and foremost talking about who Inuit are, providing an empathetic and inclusive lens on identity, … talking about land claims and Inuit rights,” Obed said.

Indeed, Obed has grappled with the truth of history — in its fullness and totality — as an extension of his senior thesis, an ongoing journey that ultimately took him to the Vatican. Obed contextualized the salience of Pope Francis’s apology in this process of reconciliation and healing.

“Many people are completely ignorant of what’s happened to Indigenous peoples and not by their own lack of trying. … It has not been in textbooks in school; it’s not something that is [a part of ] a large political discourse every single day,” Obed said. “No matter what, we want everyone to understand what happened, the truth of what happened, and then work with us on reconciliation.

And part of the journey to Rome and [to] the Catholic Church is … that journey where an apology by the Pope to the Indigenous peoples in Canada makes all of this real, in a way that it wasn’t last week, to millions of people.”

Ultimately, Obed hopes that raising awareness around issues such as residential schools in Canada can foster greater understanding toward the Indigenous people in North America, thereby inspiring more people to act for social justice and reconciliation efforts.

“I want to bring people into a conversation, but once [people] know this, then I would hope that people will not forget it and won’t be on the sidelines moving forward,” Obed said.

In light of his personal journey that started at Tufts, Obed added that there is much an individual can do for the movement toward reconciliation.

“For an individual, it could mean just knowing where you stand [in] the world, where you’re located [and] what Indigenous peoples’ land you are living on. Also [by] understanding how to be supportive of larger societal change, we all can play a role in reconciliation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis in Canada, and in the [United] States for Native Americans,” Obed said. “It’s possible — we just have to … understand the influence that we do have and then utilize it to the best of our ability.”

COURTESY PATRICIA D'SOUZA

Natan Obed is pictured playing with the men’s hockey team during his time at Tufts and meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state of Vatican City.

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JoJo Lee Innocent Pleasures

An ode to Laundry Day and Carm’s charm

I

n the words of 2000s pop icon Hannah Montana, “Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days.” In my case, days were entire semesters spent sorely mistaken. This fortnight I’m shedding light not on the greatness of “Hannah Montana” (2006–2011) and other such defining shows of Disney Channel’s golden age — they need neither defense nor endorsement to be enthusiastically and unapologetically appreciated — but on the naivety of firstyear me, who on any given day unhesitatingly answered with undue confidence “Dewick” to the age-old question of one’s dining hall preference.

Having now seen the error of my ways, I hope to prevent future Jumbos from repeating my mistakes by highlighting two of the purest possible pleasures to be found on this campus that I previously have denied myself not out of shame but ignorance. At first glance, laundry and Carm appear to have no connection, other than the outside entrance to the latter always smelling delightfully of detergent and dryer sheets.

Both, however, are things I initially misjudged but have since come around to and couldn’t imagine my life at Tufts without.

The viscosity and scent of detergent, the meditative act of folding (and the chance to show off my mad fitted sheet folding skills), the routine and rebirth and resetting of it all is why I don’t simply love Laundry Day but live for it. Before beginning college, laundry was a chore, something to put off until it couldn’t possibly be put off anymore. Overwhelmed by the uncertainty and stress of starting school far from home during a pandemic, I instituted Laundry Day: a set day to do my laundry every week. Its magic is in more than the physical laundry — it’s about the day being an event sacred in itself and dedicating a weekly space for reflection and opportunity for renewal. It’s easy to lose track of yourself (and your laundry), and though with their subterranean setting and scarcity of washers and dryers, dorm laundry rooms can feel more like a battlefield than a haven, so my number one piece of advice for incoming students is to have a Laundry Day. My second is to not discount Carm — frequently cast (unjustly) as the inferior dining hall. In spite of our rocky start, I fall more in love with Carm every day. From its yellow and brown pillars that will never not seem giraffe-like (and reminiscent of my giraffe-like roommate) to me and the meatlessness of its Mondays, to its windows delivering natural light, vitamin D and greenhouse vibes, Carm is the gift that keeps on giving. Without gluten or nuts, it manages to always serve immaculate energy and a fantastic brunch. Every time I step into Carm’s embrace, I’m reminded of the friendships I’ve cemented under its auspices.

Though these are the underrated pleasures that have made my Tufts experience, it all comes down to knowing yourself. This column aspires to facilitate the discovery of the places and practices that bring peace, comfort, joy, but that is ultimately a project each of us must undertake for ourselves. In determining the innocent pleasures that restore your soul, look within and defer to your own judgment. But if you’re looking for a shortcut to happiness, Carm berries will almost assuredly get you there.

JoJo Lee is a sophomore studying English. JoJo can be reached at josephine.lee@tufts.edu.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Features | Friday, April 15, 2022

Koloris Wu Kolumn

What we mean when we talk about nostalgia

N

ostalgia is a Greek compound. It is the combination of the wordόστος ν(nóstos) or “homecoming” and ἄλγος (álgos), “pain and ache.” This deconstruction of the word precisely describes, in my opinion, the exclusively human feeling of bittersweetness, a mix of emotions that evoke a larger complex of sentiments.

To begin with, ‘homecoming’ literally means that the subject returns to their home or shelter — a physical space where they feel safe — possibly from a physically or emotionally exhausting event. The notion of ‘home’ has latent meanings in human discourse. It is not limited to a single space but can be multiple places — even nonphysical places. It can be a group of people one identifies themselves with; it can even exist solely as an abstract idea that relates to or represents oneself.

Here comes the second part: pain. It is an emotion that generalizes a spectrum of upsetting sentiments. For example, feeling pain can be perceived as being disappointed, hurt or undergoing a sense of loss or a mixture of all of these.

The mental processes that involve the interpretation of home and pain require complicated brain activity that is mostly acquired through secondary socialization, a highly interactional, even artificial process that is distinct to mankind. Thus, I conclude that nostalgia is unique to humans.

Okay, but what are we really talking about when we talk about nostalgia? MerriamWebster defines nostalgia as “a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition.”

According to this definition, nostalgia involves something in the past tense — something we miss. Most superficially, those things can be objects, people, the hometown you left, the food you had or the ex you broke up with. However, while we miss the concrete materiality of those things, most of the time, these objects essentially symbolize what’s behind, like episodes of memory.

For me, whenever I miss my home city, Shenzhen, I go to dim sum places with my friends. The Cantonese food and chit-chatting brings up memories of past mornings I spent with my family, discussing all kinds of topics, feeling connected and loved.

To generalize my thoughts, the feeling of nostalgia explains the existence of communities centered around a central religion or culture in any metropolis. Moreover, abstract things like atmospheres or concepts can also incite nostalgia, even if it is out of place within the original context. For example, the melancholy atmosphere brought about by a rainy day can immerse me into the same sorrow caused by an upsetting event.

Sometimes, we are even just in love with the idea of nostalgia itself. We feel good about everything when we put on a nostalgic filter — it reinforces what was beautiful while diminishing what was ‘ugly’ and ‘undesired.’

Furthermore, we love it more when we know it has passed, even if it brings us pain.

At last, I argue that although pain is spurred by nostalgia, it shouldn’t be avoided or rejected in a classical utilitarian account, which takes pain as the ultimate nemesis of achieving a good life. Conversely, we should appreciate and embrace the complex feeling of nostalgia and take it as a special gift to humankind.

Koloris Wu is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Koloris can be reached at caibinfen.wu@tufts.edu.

tuftsdaily.com

Tufts students from Medford and Somerville reflect on their hometown communities

by Delaney Clarke

Executive Features Editor

For many Tufts students, the cities of Medford and Somerville are new and unfamiliar. They get to know the cities slowly, through weekend ventures to Davis Square or late night stops at Medford pizzerias. Other students, however, have called these communities home long before their time at Tufts. The cities that surround Tufts are not just their college towns but places that house their hometown high schools, childhood friends and family members. In conversations with the Daily, students from Medford and Somerville shared some of their stories, reflecting on what they’ve learned and how their hometowns have changed.

An alumna of Medford High School, sophomore Qing Cheng, was born in China and lived there for nearly 10 years before moving to the United States. After living in Chinatown in Boston for a while, she moved to Medford in 2013.

Growing up, a few of Cheng’s favorite places in Medford included the Medford Public Library and MacDonald Park. She said she appreciates the city’s simplicity.

“I feel like … Tufts students, when they want to do something, they want to go to Davis or they go into Boston because they think there is nothing to do in Medford, which might be true,” Cheng said. “But with my personality, I kind of like it. It’s a quiet place, [and] it’s really calm.”

Emily Childs, a sophomore, lived in Boston for years before moving to Somerville. She describes attending Somerville High School as a transformative experience.

“Somerville High School fostered such this nature of acceptance and openness and love, and I had never experienced that in a school setting, to that extent,” Childs said.

Now as a Tufts student, Childs volunteers in her hometown community through the club Strong Women, Strong Girls, which offers mentorship to young girls at Somerville and Medford elementary schools.

Justin Millette, a first-year, is a graduate of Somerville High School. He has deep roots in the area — he’s lived in Somerville his whole life, and his dad attended Tufts. He said he was happy to stay here for college.

“I like the people,” Millette said. “I like most things about Massachusetts [and the] Boston area, so I’m happy to still be here.”

Julian Portelli has also lived in Somerville for his whole life. Similar to Childs, Portelli, a sophomore, still actively gives back to his community through FitMoney Fellows, an organization that teaches financial literacy to high school students in the Boston metro area, including those who attend his former high school.

Given the proximity of his hometown to Tufts, the university had a fairly large presence in Portelli’s childhood. His brother attended the school, and he visited the university a few times on school field trips. Portelli reflected on how his perception of Tufts has changed since his childhood.

“When I was a freshman, there was a culture shock,” Portelli said.

“Somerville High [School], I think is like 70% nonwhite. That’s not what Tufts is. In terms of economic situations, people out here have fancy cars

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The newly constructed Somerville High School building is pictured in December 2021. and fancy Canada Goose jackets. …

That’s not something I was used to either, so I guess that is how my definition of Tufts has changed.”

Raised in Davis Square, Portelli notes how his perception of his hometown has also changed, mostly due to the fact that the area has become quite different in recent years.

“Now, it’s really expensive to live in Davis Square,” Portelli said. “It’s kind of sad. I have a lot of friends that can’t afford to live in Somerville anymore, that I’ve lived with my whole life.”

Childs agreed, sharing how she has taken note of rapid changes in the Somerville community in recent years.

“I have definitely noticed [gentrification],” Childs said. “I think that the Green Line Extension is a testament to that. From my personal experience, … [Somerville] looks so different from how it did just five years ago. There was this … convenience store that was on the corner of Cedar and Highland, … and magically in five years, it has been knocked down, and a huge condo is in that place now.”

Childs also touched upon the way in which Tufts’ growing presence affects the broader community.

“Housing is another thing that’s been a major conversation by Somerville residents, because Tufts students are obviously starting to overtake this area, especially as class years just get bigger and bigger,” Childs said.

As the community around Tufts shifts and changes through the years, Childs and Millette also reflected on how their own perceptions of the area have changed since experiencing the Medford/Somerville community as college students.

“Before, [my perspective] was definitely in the lens of how things affected me as a high schooler or as a middle schooler, but now, I definitely see the more big world perspective of how Somerville is, in fact, succumbing to gentrification,” Childs said.

Millette added that his hometown has become more interesting through the freedom of exploring it as an adult.

“I’m seeing it through a new lens, and that lens is of a person who has access to literally almost anywhere,” Millette said. “Because of that, I now have a perspective of, ‘Okay, this place is actually really interesting.’”

Despite this new lens, certain places are still associated with past memories for students who grew up in the area.

A special connection that Childs shares with the area is that her parents got engaged in Powderhouse Park, a place that she returned to in her first year of college.

“I was like, ‘Wow, … [my parents] decided to get married in the spot that I’m now sharing with my first college friends,’” Childs said.

Portelli shared some of his favorite memories from different restaurants and cafes around Somerville.

“Playing pool at Diesel Cafe was something I used to love doing,” Portelli said. “They used to [charge] like $5 an hour to play pool, and you would go as a group. … Actually, Pini’s Pizza … used to be on Broadway [in Somerville]. … It was kind of a staple for us.”

Cheng shared how the Orange Line holds memories of time with her family.

“The Wellington area [is meaningful to me], because before my family had a car, we would always take the bus and take the train to get anywhere,” Cheng said. “We would always take the Orange Line to go into Chinatown. I heard some people say, ‘The Orange Line is so sketchy. It’s so old,’ … and I’m just like ‘Okay, it’s what I grew up being used to, so I don’t really mind it.’”

Going forward, Childs shared that she hopes that more Tufts students will work to interact with the surrounding community.

“We just don’t see a lot of effort [from most on-campus organizations] to bring the community together,” Childs said. “Davis [Square] and West [Somerville] is like the whitest part of Somerville by far, and that’s all Tufts [students] get to see.”

Portelli wishes other students knew that Somerville is so much more than just Davis Square and the Tufts campus.

“I think when Tufts students think ‘Somerville,’ it’s just ‘Davis Square,’” Portelli said. “That’s kind of just not true. There’s East Somerville [where] there’s a ton of restaurants and barber shops. There’s Union Square that people can go to. … I’m not saying ‘Oh go to this place or this place,’ but I just … wish people knew that Somervillle’s not just Davis [Square].”

P

Friday, April 15, 2022 | PHOTOS | THE TUFTS DAILY

Springing into life at Tufts PHOTO CREDITS: KIANA VALLO, NATALIE BROWNSELL, CECILIA WANG / THE TUFTS DAILY

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Arts & POP ARTS Pop CULTURE Culture

tuftsdaily.com

Friday, April 15, 2022

Arts editors and tour guides talk about their nontraditional connection to the arts on campus

by Jack Clohisy and RaiAnn Bu

Arts Editor and Assistant Arts Editor

Art comes in many forms, and it permeates all facets of life. No matter how removed from artistic practice some people may be, it’s undeniable the impact that art has on everyone. Two editors of the Daily dive into their own experiences with the arts and how they came to join a greater community of Tufts students who appreciate and celebrate art in all its forms.

RaiAnn: Jack and I had crossed paths for about two years before we formally met at our summer tour guiding job. I now know Jack wants to have a family large enough to fill a basketball court.

When we met, however, he was the one who inspired me to begin writing for The Tufts Daily in the first place. We were both athletes, both STEM majors and on paper what I thought were the farthest things from the ‘artsy’ kids.

During high school, I had little interaction with the arts.

There has always been a dichotomy in my mind that puts arts and academics on two opposite sides of the spectrum. If I chose to be more involved in arts, it would be less ‘prestigious’ than a dedication to science or math.

As a result, I did minimal work for music class in high school and made my interest in movies, drawing and fashion a hobby instead. When I came to college, I was excited to suddenly have such a wide range of academic freedom. My first semester, I took an art class as part of the arts requirement.

Like with my interest in art, I had never had any interest in writing for a school newspaper. Before college, I had always

COURTESY RAIANN BU

Jack Clohisy and RaiAnn Bu are arts editors at the Daily. been more STEM oriented in my extracurricular activities, trying to fulfill an image of what I thought were ‘smart’ activities (I actually don’t even like science now). Additionally, two of my friends were editors of the high school newspaper, and hearing about the stress of meeting monthly deadlines was enough stress for me. So if you had told

me in high school that I would enjoy writing for the newspaper so much that I wrote an article every week, I would tell you that you visited the wrong dimension. But it has been so freeing to finally explore an interest I suppressed for so long.

What’s so beautiful about Tufts and college in general is the space to grow, discover your

own interests and have your ideas challenged and changed.

Since I’ve been at Tufts, my worldview has changed to consider shades of gray where I previously saw black and white. For example, math, which had previously been my worst enemy, turned out to be the class I looked forward to the most (embarrassing, I know).

A nonexhaustive guide to Tufts theater

by Henry Chandonnet Assistant Arts Editor

Tufts has a vibrant theater community, with many options and on-ramps for prospective members. They range from department-run to student-led and vary in commitment level.

This includes all facets of theater engagement, whether it be acting, directing, tech, costume designing or anything in between. For incoming students, the most important note is just how open and accepting the theater community is.

However involved you want to be, in whatever form you would like, you’re welcomed. So, here’s an incomplete list of all the theater opportunities at Tufts. This list will surely miss a few, mostly because the theater opportunities here at Tufts are constantly changing and growing. Still, it’s helpful to have an idea of what the broader theater community

looks like. So here it is: a nonexhaustive guide to Tufts theater.

To start, there are the classic department-run shows.

These are the closest to “professional” and thus may expect higher commitment levels. The Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at Tufts will generally put on two mainstage shows a year, though it may support other productions on an ad hoc basis. The TDPS department put on two shows this year: “Almanac” (2021) in the fall, a student-written musical based in the past and present history of Black art, and the new-age hit “Spring Awakening” (2006) in the spring.

Anyone can take part in these shows, either by auditioning to act or by contacting the production team for more behindthe-scenes roles. The TDPS department is also supporting one student-led production this semester, with four seniors

directing and acting in their own production of “Macbeth” (1606) for their capstone. In addition to these shows, there is, of course, a myriad of classes students may take within the department, each having performance and technical opportunities. Overall, the TDPS department provides bountiful theater opportunities that are both professional and accessible.

In terms of student-run theater, the organizations are divided between musicals and dramas. Tufts’ musical theater student organization is called Torn Ticket II and will generally put on three or four shows a year. In the fall, Torn Ticket II produced “Mamma Mia!” (1999), and the spring brings both “Chicago” (1975) and “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” (2014) to the stage. These productions are entirely student-run, with the whole production team made

up of students. In fact, the shows are proposed and voted on in Torn Ticket II student meetings.

This means that if there’s a musical you’ve always wanted to put on, Torn Ticket II might be your chance to do it here. Torn Ticket II also puts on its biannual “Over The Rainbow” cabaret, which is also open to all for submissions.

Torn Ticket II allows students to produce and perform in a number of different shows each year, giving them freedom that they may not have had in their high school programs.

For plays, Pen Paint and Pretzels, known as 3Ps, is the student-run drama program.

3Ps puts on traditional shows and original student works every year. In the fall semester, 3Ps put on “Dry Land” (2014) by Ruby Rae Spiegel and “Trainwreck” (2021), written by student Tatyana Emery. The spring brought “The Impromptu at Versailles” (1682) by Molière and

I think college is a time where you learn to be your own human, separate from your parents, friends and any expectations.

Tufts gives you that space and resources to explore your previously held beliefs about yourself and others. It gives you a place where you can dumpster-firestyle fail but still be safe.

Jack: When I first met Rai, we immediately connected over the shared interests we had. She, a lover of Minecraft, and I, a lover of Minecraft YouTube videos, were destined to unite. It was when Rai shared her playlist with me that I realized we were going to be friends. Chock-full of Phoebe Bridgers, Lorde, Mitski and the likes, we had an instant overlap in music taste. Rai also became one of my closest friends within the first few months of our friendship when I could rely upon her for support in my personal life, and I am so grateful for her.

When I was younger, because I considered myself ‘good at math,’ I didn’t think I could inherently be an artistic person. It wouldn’t be until my high school years that I discovered that art comes in more forms than visual arts. I fell in love with the artistic craft of authors in American literature such as “The Scarlet Letter” (1850) and “The Catcher in the Rye” (1951), but what really struck me was music.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that for a presentation on evolving freedoms in American culture, I juxtaposed the works of Emily Dickinson’s poetry with Rihanna’s “Sex with Me” (2016). see EDITORS, page 9

“Opus 1” (2022) by student Ryan Pratt. This means that whether you want to act in, direct or even write a play for 3Ps, you can do it. These shows also have many students in technical roles helping behind the scenes, bringing another opportunity for students interested in theater tech.

Finally, there are also two audition-based children’s theater groups on campus. Trunk! puts on shows for schools in the area, performing silly skits and scenes for younger children. The group also occasionally performs shows on campus, still bringing that fun children’s theater air. Local Bard’s Players, which is housed under 3Ps, is the other children’s theater group on campus, specifically adapting Shakespeare’s plays for young school audiences. These productions are often silly and goofy but make Shakespeare’s see THEATER, page 9

A r t s & Po p C u l t u r e

Friday, April 15, 2022 | Arts & Pop Culture | THE TUFTS DAILY

Editors RaiAnn Bu and Jack Clohisy discuss what arts at Tufts means to them EDITORS

continued from page 8 I had a knack for staying up late when my favorite artists would release albums and would spend the next week with their projects on repeat. I loved the idea of album concepts and how tracks could form a story, much like literature. When I was 14 years old, I sat down and listened to the entirety of Lana Del Rey’s “Honeymoon” (2015) one Friday in ninth grade to absorb myself in the craft of my favorite artist. It would become common

for me to do this, and now I see new album listen-throughs as my favorite pastime.

When I stepped foot on Tufts’ campus, I had no idea where my path would take me. I came in intent on majoring in clinical psychology but quickly pivoted paths toward computer science and cognitive and brain science with a brief stint considering an English major. I began college on the track team, but as the years progressed, I found myself enjoying my time focused on other interests, such as The Tufts Daily. My first article was an opinion

piece on racism in the music industry, specifically centered on Beyoncé’s 2016 Grammy snub. From there, I began to write more frequently and wanted to delve into the intricacies of the art world that my other Tufts peers were writing about.

I’m so glad to have been able to embark on this new journey in the art world where I can lay out my appreciation for pieces that move others and me and hopefully inspire those who consider themselves ‘less artistic’ to find a medium that speaks to them.

Tufts offers a vibrant theater community THEATER

continued from page 8 complex language more digestible for a younger audience. Local Bard’s Players also does occasional on-campus shows and this school year, the group is putting on the parody show “A Very Hamlet Musical.”

Surely this list is missing a couple of shows, as there’s simply too much theater to list. This also ignores the countless a cappella groups, comedy and improv troupes and even a mime performance group. If this list tells you anything, it’s that arts and creativity at Tufts is expansive and liberating. You can do whatever you’d like with whatever involvement you want. Theater can be your main thing, or it could be a two-to-three week stint. In sum, if there’s anything Tufts theater has, it’s nearly everything.

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Aidekman Arts Center, home of Tufts TDPS, is pictured in August 2020.

SPORTS

Students share their recruitment experiences, path to Tufts RECRUITMENT

continued from back Edward Iuteri shared an anecdote about his visit that sold him on Tufts.

“The culture of family really drew me to school,” Iuteri said. “The coaches and players all really made me feel welcome. … I’d done a couple different [overnight visits] at a couple different schools, but this school was the only school where the player I was staying with let me sleep in his bed, and he slept on the floor. That’s one of the reasons why I felt like I was part of the family.”

The process starts to become personal — as personal as sleeping in a player’s bed.

No more faceless emails and awkward handshakes with coaches who are strangers. For the football program at Tufts, potential recruits are aware that Tufts, in addition to the school’s many unique attributes, is also unique in the structure of the postseason. Unlike several other Div. III schools, there is no postseason. The team plays nine games throughout the season, regardless of outcome. In addition to the family culture, Iuteri said the postseason format actually drew him to Tufts.

“The reason we are not in playoffs is because they were never in playoffs,” Iuteri said. “Tufts football has been around since 1875, so being part of that history and exhibition, I thought, was cooler than going to a random Div. III school and

being in the playoffs. … You’re a part of history; they kind of preach that to you when you come in, so that’s kind of cool.”

Sophomore football player EJ Comerford echoed Iuteri’s positive outlook on the team’s lack of a postseason.

“One thing that [the coaching staff] talk about a lot is, you only have 33 games left in your career and that’s it,” Comerford said. “Or when you’re a senior, they’ll say you have four games. That’s a big talking point they have — you might as well give it your all because you might only have like two left, three left, four left.”

No postseason and centuries-long history — those are the special, school-specific things that athletes at this stage of the recruiting process look for. While it’s easy to strive for the top-ranked school or the best statistically performing team, junior baseball player Jimmy Evans looked for a balance that would work for him. As he entered his senior year of high school with several options spanning all divisions of play, the recruiting process work was nearly done. Now, he just needed to decide.

“A piece of advice I’d give is: Trust the process and know what you’re looking for in a school, both athletically and academically,” Evans said. “At the end of the day, wherever you commit is not just for the sport, but for a degree, the location and the school itself, which includes social life

and everything like that. Don’t just commit to commit, if that makes sense. Find what’s the best fit for you and your family.”

While I agree with the sentiments of my fellow student-athletes, I feel one important piece of the recruiting process is missing. In my experience, it was about being in the right place at the right time — luck. It was luck I’d earned through my long, grueling recruiting process, but luck nonetheless. As my dad and I evacuated a muddy softball field due to thunderstorm delays at the summer ball tournament, I looked to my right and saw the Tufts softball coach sitting in her car, also waiting out the rain delay. She motioned for me to come sit in her car with her, gave me her card, told me she’d seen my emails and I was on her radar and invited me to come to campus for a camp. Two weeks later, I went to the camp and performed well at the right place and right time. She offered a ten-minute meeting after the camp, and I committed a week later. If I hadn’t made slight eye contact in a rainy storm in Colorado with the Tufts softball coach, I don’t know if I’d be sitting here in my Stratton Hall dorm at Tufts University, writing this article for The Tufts Daily. Hard work, marketing, good grades and research are all important.

But for athletes looking to get recruited, I’d also wish you a little good luck.

TRASHING ONE EGG WASTES 55 GALLONS OF WATER

9

Sacha Waters Public Cinemy No. 1

‘The Batman’ fails in its social justice commentary

E

very time I watch another superhero blockbuster, I can’t help but imagine the producers sitting around a table, breathing down the screenwriters’ necks as they decide which social issues to water down, aestheticize and shoehorn in.

Will it be something contemporary, like the pandemic? A timeless classic, like misogyny? Or a safe choice, like wealth inequality?

My point isn’t that blockbusters shouldn’t comment on political and social issues, but that their commentary is deliberately hollow. The thing about big-budget megahits is that spending a lot of money means you have to make a lot of money, and you must therefore appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Any commentary on any remotely controversial topic is ultimately compromised to avoid alienating any demographic. Wide audiences aren’t designed to have worldviews expanded; they’re designed to buy tickets, and it’s difficult to sell things to groups you make angry. The result is political commercials — soundbites that sell.

“The Batman” (2022) is the latest usual suspect. The movie portrays Gotham’s police as incompetent and corrupt, invoking a subplot on cops pushing drugs in low-income communities and stating that the department is funded by mobsters.

To Batman’s surprise, the Riddler is right: Gotham is built on a dishonest political system that champions the rich at the expense of the poor.

And then the message is walked back.

The Riddler — who, until the last hour, has a reasonable motive — decides to hurt civilians. Hero cop characters emerge as foils to a broken system. The AOC-coded Mayor Reál calls for rebuilding trust in untrustworthy institutions. The speech Batman’s writers gave her isn’t progressive or radical — they just assigned a white man’s talking points to a woman of color.

The fundamental problem with blockbuster social justice is perfectly captured within this microcosm. The Riddler’s plan and interspersed police protests satisfy moviegoers supporting police reform and the ACAB movement, while the ‘good apple’ boys in blue are there to mollify those who identify with or support police. The movie depicts social issues, but its stance on them is a shrug.

“The Batman” isn’t an isolated example, but it calls to mind a trend bolstered by many predecessors. For example, “Joker” (2019) features incoherent commentary on white male rage and the mental health-based justification for it. The female empowerment of Wonder Woman within “Justice League” (2017) and “Wonder Woman 1984” (2020) is immediately followed by sexualized cinematography. The potentially pro-Palestine message within “Captain Marvel” (2019) seemed paired with Air Force deification (and military recruitment advertisements that ran before it in theaters).

To be clear, the superhero genre has a long history of being successfully political, from the original comics to Marvel’s acclaimed “Black Panther” (2018). The line toed stands between movies that use political and social issues as a foundation and fundamental message, and movies that adopt a social justice aesthetic to justify the towering corporations behind them.

Unfortunately, one is more common than the other.

Sacha Waters is a sophomore studying political science. Sacha can be reached at sacha.waters@tufts.edu.

10

THE TUFTS DAILY | FUN & GAMES | Friday, April 15, 2022

F& G

tuftsdaily.com LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Mac: “Bush alums run the Daily.”

FUN & GAMES

SUDOKU

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Difficulty Level: Getting into a university with a 9% acceptance rate.

By Greg Osha

Thursday’s Solutions

SEARCHING FOR HEADLINES...

CROSSWORD

Opinion

tuftsdaily.com

11 Friday, April 15, 2022

VIEWPOINT

The Class of 2026: More selective and diverse than ever

by Reya Kumar and Henry Murray Opinion Editor and Staff Writer

Two weeks ago, Tufts released information about the admitted students of Class of 2026. The selectivity and demographic diversity of the admitted students pool offers vital insight to Tufts’ future.

Over the course of the last few years, we have seen application numbers rise and acceptance rates drop among colleges all over the United States, but Tufts, in particular, has exemplified these trends. This year, Tufts’ acceptance rate is in the single digits at 9%, the lowest ever recorded at Tufts, dropping from 11% last year. That 9% was taken from a record-breaking applicant pool of over 34,800 students, showing a 50% increase in applications since 2020.

Closer inspection of this trend, coinciding with the pandemic, reveals that policies like virtual tours and optional test score submission which arose amid the pandemic are partially responsible for the increase.

Tufts’ dean of admissions, JT Duck, noted that it is easier than ever for students to learn about colleges and apply to them because of new policies and new technology. Additionally, Tufts’ adept handling of the pandemic in comparison to other universities along with a test-optional admissions process may have also contributed to the increase in applications. In fact, 40% of admitted students chose not to submit test scores.

While Duck wrote in an email to the Daily that he is encouraged by the fact that “some of the most significant growth in applications in recent years is coming from students who have been traditionally underrepresented at Tufts,” the increase in applications could be damaging to underprivileged students that are applying. A larger applicant pool drives down acceptance rates and makes colleges more selective, consequentially making it more challenging for students to set themselves apart from others. Prospective students

without access to certain extracurriculars or resources, such as college counseling, that others can utilize may find difficulty attracting attention in the admissions process.

Additionally, with acceptance rates now in the single digits, which is often seen as a sign of prestige among selective institutions, Tufts may be seen as more elite. The acceptance rates of many similar institutions have been dropping as well, with Brown University and Rice University among those who hit record lows with the Class of 2026. We hope that, regardless of its perceived prestige, Tufts will find ways to responsibly navigate the changes in application pools to ensure equal opportunity for all.

Despite these potential issues, the Class of 2026 admitted student pool is also historically diverse. This diversity stems from a historically diverse applicant pool, which included 52% students of color, with Black, Latinx, and multiracial applicant numbers showing the greatest increase. Geographic diversity has also increased, with 22% international applicants in addition to representation from every U.S. state and four U.S. territories. Additionally, a record 19% of the applicant pool is comprised of first-generation college students.

Accordingly, the pool of admitted students is astonishingly diverse. Of admitted students, about 56% are students of color and 11% are international students representing 84 different citizenships. Last year, 50% of admitted students accepted offers from the university.

In particular, the School of Engineering has shown a marked increase in diversity.

This year’s admitted pool includes 55% women, which is the highest percentage on record. It also includes 13% Black students, an even higher representation compared to the 11% admitted to Tufts in general. This increase in historically underrepresented groups in engineering demonstrates how Tufts is moving toward

GRAPHIC BY ALIZA KIBEL a more diverse community throughout its schools and programs.

The admission of first-generation college students at Tufts rose from last year’s 10% and now comprises 12% of the incoming student body. The Schuler Access Initiative has played an important role in encouraging first-generation students to join the Tufts community.

The initiative will invest $500 million in a matching gift challenge across 20 universities over the next 10 years, including Tufts. The Schuler Foundation aims to fund scholarships for Pell Grant-eligible students as well as those with undocumented or DACA status. The mean household income of first-generation students tends to be lower than that of students whose parents attended college, making the Schuler Access Initiative an important change for first-generation students. Tufts’ test-optional program may have also made applying to Tufts more affordable for lower-income students given the high cost of taking standardized tests and send-

ing scores to various universities. These initiatives are vital, as private universities like Tufts may often feel out of reach for many qualified low-income students due to their high cost.

Overall, the demographics of the admitted students pool show that the Class of 2026 will bring a variety of perspectives and experiences to the Tufts community. As Tufts admits a more diverse class each year, our community is enriched by new ideas and viewpoints. These students will join performance groups and clubs, play sports, take classes and write for the Daily, all the while sharing what they’ve learned from so many different places and backgrounds.

Trends toward lower acceptance rates and higher diversity may change things at Tufts, but they won’t change what draws in so many students in the first place: Tufts’ welcoming and open atmosphere that focuses on collaboration and interdisciplinary studies. We are excited to see what new and unique ideas the Class of 2026 and other classes will bring to our campus.

EDITORIAL

Tufts admissions process favors wealthy applicants. That needs to change.

Students have long expressed frustration over the university’s lack of budget transparency and its implications for admissions.

The rate of Tufts’ students receiving financial aid has remained low and stagnant, hovering around 46% for the past five years, according to the university factbook. Tufts has long practiced “need-aware” admissions, meaning a students’ ability to pay is a factor when deciding whether or not they will be admitted. As such, the university should take steps to ensure Tufts is more accessible for lower-income students.

“When evaluating an individual application for admission, we look at what an applicant presents to us based on their merits — academics and what they would bring to the campus community — without taking into account their financial status,” JT Duck, dean of admissions, wrote in an email to the Daily. “However, when assembling the class, we are forced to make some difficult decisions because our financial aid resources are finite.”

Tufts is importantly taking steps to expand the financial aid budget and this year became an inaugural member of the Schuler Access Initiative, which, as Tufts raises financial aid money, “will match those gifts up to $25 million to support the enrollment of even more Pell Grant recipients and low-income students with undocumented or DACA status over the next ten years,” Duck said.

While we commend Tufts for its growth of the financial aid budget, there is more that can be done to promote equity. Many other nearby schools such as Amherst College, Wellesley College, Boston College and Bowdoin College have need-blind admissions policies, though these schools differ from Tufts in size and endowment.

Even at George Washington University, which practices need-aware admissions and has a somewhat smaller endowment than Tufts, 65% of students receive financial aid compared to just 41% of Tufts students, as of 2020.

“I do not foresee becoming need blind on the immediate horizon, but I am heartened that our aid budget continues to grow, allowing us to enroll students from an ever greater array of socioeconomic backgrounds,” Duck wrote.

Tufts has cited budget constraints as the primary barrier against moving toward need-blind admissions. Indeed, only a select few schools, many with larger endowments than Tufts, are both need-blind and meet full demonstrated financial need without loans. Even so, there’s a lot more Tufts can do to combat elitism at the school. While Tufts may not currently be able to make the move to need-blind admission, the university must move to embrace a need-blind and full-need admissions strategy as a primary objective.

It’s also important to note just how much economic diversity Tufts lacks. A 2017 study by the New York Times, for example, found that Tufts had more students from the top 1% of the income scale than the bottom 60%.

Tufts had the 10th-worst gap in economic inequality among the nearly 2,000 schools included in the study. It’s clear that drastic action is needed to promote economic diversity.

Tufts expresses an unwavering commitment to make its campus accessible and accommodating for a diverse group of students. However, in maintaining a needaware model that considers the wealth of its student body, Tufts is failing to live up to these ideals. While we appreciate the challenges of growing the financial aid budget, Tufts must make equitable access a priority in admissions.

With the lack of data on Tufts’ economic diversity, students are left to wonder just how much our need-aware admissions policies favor wealthier students. In 2018, Tufts published previously unavailable data on socioeconomic diversity but has yet to do so again. The data show that for the class of 2021, 75% of students came from the top 20% of income-earning families while only 3.8% came from the bottom 20%. These numbers make it clear that the Tufts admissions process worryingly favors wealthy students. Notably, data on economic diversity

— specifically, on family income levels — was absent from Tufts’ profile of the Class of 2026.

We urge Tufts to make this data publicly available, especially given that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit low-income communities the hardest.

A lack of transparency about Tufts’ spending makes it difficult to assess the university’s ability to give out financial aid to low-income students. While it is understandable that the COVID-19 pandemic demanded more spending from Tufts, the lack of transparency and glaring income inequality make it difficult to excuse need awareness even as a result of this particularly justifiable deficit.

Tufts’ expansion presents an opportunity to make its actions reflect its ethos of equal opportunity. The difficult economic conditions of the late 2000s that ended Tufts’ needblind experiment have changed, but the admissions process at Tufts remains geared toward the acceptance of wealthier students.

In the coming years, Tufts will likely find even more success in attracting applicants and has demonstrated its access to revenue in recent projects like the construction of the Joyce Cummings Center. With these resources, Tufts has the responsibility to expand low-income students’ access to higher education in elite institutions. With a record-low acceptance rate of 9% this year, Tufts’ incoming class should represent the most capable students, not the wealthiest.

12 Friday, April 15, 2022

SPORTS

tuftsdaily.com

Getting a head start: A look into athletic recruitment at Tufts

by Keila McCabe Sports Editor

From sending college coaches emails between homework assignments after school to parents recording hours of game footage on weekends, the college recruiting process takes a lot. As a young adult balancing the dynamics and academics of high school, student-athletes essentially start a campaign, selling their skills and themselves as early as their first year of high school.

While students who are not pursuing athletics look at the commitment posts from athletes on Instagram and envy the security of knowing where the next four years will be spent, the process is stressful and hard work, just like the normal college process. Sophomore volleyball player Megan Harrison said her recruiting process was a grind.

“People think that [the college recruiting process is] a lot easier than it actually is,” Harrison said. “It’s actually super competitive. … It’s a bunch of emailing and you have to get video. …

I made all the highlight reels myself. … I kept all my emails straight. … If you really want to get where you want to go, you’ve got to put in the work and start planning early.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, starting early allows time for error — what originally sounded appealing at 14 years old may no longer be what the student wants as a senior in high school. For sophomore rower Violet Morgan, this was the case.

“It was really helpful to start early. … I kind of had an idea of where I wanted to go and then after going on my [official visits], I realized that that really wasn’t what I wanted. Then I was left scrambling and kind of wished I’d started the process earlier,” Morgan said.

Kids, especially those looking to play sports at a college level, need to work on the entire package from a young age. They have to do everything right athletic performance-wise while maintaining the grades to be admitted into their college of choice. Once they’re admitted, it doesn’t get any easier.

At most NESCAC schools, the support can be minimal, as academics are emphasized as the first priority while sports come second. Admission is not guaranteed, considering that when athletes commit to a Div. III school, they are encouraged to use the verbiage “committing to the admissions process” rather than simply announcing their commitment to the school as if they have already been accepted. Morgan said that in her process, admission was specifically impacted by her choice to apply in the early decision round.

“It was really important for me to tell them whether or not I was going to do early decision,”

Morgan said. “If I didn’t do early decision, I probably wasn’t going to get in. … [Director of Rowing Noel Wanner] was really honest.

He told me, ‘You probably have the best chance if we support you in ED1, but we can’t promise that support for you if you decide to wait.’ … Knowing what schools are your top choices by the time the process rolls around is really helpful.”

While a lot of the recruiting for nonlocal students takes place online, the pandemic gave athletes who wanted to get recruited no choice but to become tech savvy. Many high school students took to Twitter, Instagram and Youtube to showcase themselves virtually. Incoming firstyear softball player Lucy Brucker went through high school and the recruiting process in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, visiting campuses during COVID-19 did not necessarily display the best that colleges had to offer. A typically vibrant campus life instead resembled something more similar to a ghost town. Brucker said Tufts was unique in her process, since she was interested early and visited early.

“I think it was harder to make a decision because when we went to [campuses], there wasn’t really anyone there,” Brucker said. “So I was lucky with Tufts because … I went early. I went my sophomore year before [COVID-19], so I think that’s part of the reason why I chose it too because I actually felt like I knew what the campus was like.”

First-year field hockey player Rachel Hart worked around the 2020–21 academic year COVID19 protocols by taking an extra year at a boarding school. While obviously advantageous to avoid an isolated first-year experience, taking an extra year at boarding school — as several New England college athletes do — has other benefits.

“Not only did I have an extra year to develop as a player and be older, but I also decided to repeat for my own reasoning too, just because I wanted to go to a boarding school,” Hart said. “I didn’t want to also go to college when there was [the COVID-19 virus] going around. Taking the extra year was very nice and definitely helped me get better as a player and gave me extra time and definitely helped me make the team.”

When the hard work pays off, athletes are no longer in the recruiting process but now in the decision process, and the momentum tends to shift.

A coach sold on recruiting a kid now wants to sell themselves, the team and the school.

Either before or after committing to a college, visits with the coaches and team impact an athlete’s decision-making process. Sophomore football player see RECRUITMENT, page 9

ANN MARIE BURKE / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center is pictured on Aug. 28, 2020.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAM

MASTERS OF ARTS IN TEACHING SPANISH

Whether you are new to the language, on your second year and considering a major, or already working on your Spanish major, you should know that Tufts University offers a Masters of Arts in Teaching of Spanish (for grades k-12)

10-12 CREDITS: 8 COURSES THROUGH THE DEPT. OF ED. AND 2-4 COURSES IN SPANISH (AND/OR HISPANIC CULTURE) OF THE 100 LEVEL

ONE YEAR AND TWO SUMMERS (INCLUDING ONE YEAR OF PRACTICUM AT A PARTNER SCHOOL)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Teaching is a truly rewarding career, and there is a high demand for Spanish Teachers in our area and across the US. To know more about the program or hear about successful Tufts alumni please contact:

Prof. Juliana Berte Department of Romance Studies Liaison to the Department of Education for Spanish Teacher Certification Juliana.Berte@tufts.edu Olin Center Office 220

PERSONAL WORK WITH PROFESSORS, ADVISORS, AND MENTORS AT THE DEPT. OF ROMANCE STUDIES, THE DEPT. OF EDUCATION AND THE SCHOOLS WHERE CANDIDATES ARE TEACHING.