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THE TUFTS DAILY
TUFTSDAILY.COM
Friday, September 26, 2014
VOLUME LXVIII, NUMBER 13
Where You Read It First Est. 1980
Swiss diplomat discusses humanitarian action by Patrick McGrath Daily Editorial Board
Martin Dahinden, director general of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and designated Swiss ambassador to the United States, presented a lecture yesterday evening, titled "Old And New Challenges To Humanitarian Action In Armed Conflicts." Admiral James Stavridis, dean of The Fletcher School, and Andreas Rufer, deputy consul of swissnex Boston, introduced Dahinden, who will be accredited as an ambassador by President Barack Obama later this year. Rufer's talk followed a reception for the traveling exhibition "War from the Victims' Perspective: Photographers by Jean Mohr," a collection from Swiss photographer Jean Mohr that is currently at The Fletcher School. The lecture was organized in conjunction with the exhibition, which is open until Oct. 5 and commemorates the 150th anniversary of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Stavridis noted the power of the photographs in the exhibition, which features photographs from conflict areas in Cyprus, the Middle East and Africa, according to Rufer. "These photographs are real," Stavridis said. "They are not shocking, but instead they invite you to consider each one individually and try to understand the story of that photograph, that face." Dahinden's talk began with a history of the ICRC and the story of Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman who went on to found the Red Cross after witnessing the carnage resulting from the Battle of Solferino in 1859. Dahinden noted that Dunant's description of the violence and suffering "appears strangely familiar," citing the com-
parable aftermath from conflicts such as those in Syria, the Central African Republic and South Sudan. Dunant's proposal for the founding of the Red Cross also led to the 1864 Geneva Convention, according to Dahinden. "The convention laid the foundation of present humanitarian law by codifying laws allowing aid to be provided to sick and wounded military personnel," he said. The original international laws set forth by the first Geneva Convention have developed over time, he added. Modern warfare has changed significantly in the past 150 years, and conflicts have become more complex and less clear-cut, according to Dahinden. "Legal norms became more sophisticated, wider in scope and were adapted to the transformation of warfare," he said. Dahinden also noted that the parties involved in conflicts are no longer easily distinguishable, and the theaters of war have moved to more populated areas. Migration and global interconnections also further complicate modern warfare. "The time is long gone when countries fought each other in clearly demarcated battle fields," he explained. Dahinden focused on three primary challenges that international humanitarian action faces today, the first being the increasing lack of distinction between civilians and militants. He said that there have never been as many civilian victims are there are today, noting that hospitals and schools are often no longer considered safe. Dahinden also noted the increasing growth of child soldiers. "Often the most vulnerable members of the civilian population, such as children, are used as instruments, turning them into soldiers with weapons and unisee DAHINDEN, page 2
Nick Pfosi / The Tufts DAily
A proposed Somerville ordinance could result in the eviction of Tufts students living in off campus houses of more than four people.
Somerville to consider University Accountability Ordinance by Justin Rheingold Daily Editorial Board
On Sept. 30, the City of Somerville's Legislative Matters Committee will consider an ordinance to increase regulation of off-campus housing occupied by Tufts students. The ordinance, proposed by Board of Aldermen President Bill White, would require the university to submit a list of off-campus addresses occupied by students and the number of students living in each housing unit to the city of Somerville. It would not, however, require the disclosure of students' names. According to White, the proposed ordinance is similar to one passed by the City of Boston in August. Boston's ordinance fol-
lowed an extensive Boston Globe investigation which revealed that many landlords violated city ordinances by allowing too many students to live in certain rental units. This resulted in dangerous conditions, and in one instance, the death of a Boston University student in a fire in April 2013. White submitted the proposal during the Board's Aug. 28 meeting, and it was then referred to the Legislative Matters Committee. In explaining the measure, he emphasized that it would help to reduce overcrowding and would assist in enforcing an existing city ordinance which sets a fourperson limit on the number of unrelated adults sharing a housing unit. "We get [the list from the uni-
versity], you refer it to Inspectional Services, [and] they get an inspector down there, so it really is a way ... to cut down on a practice that is affecting a lot of folks, especially with Tufts students surrounding them," White said at the Aug. 28 meeting. "We have to be vigilant because it has a number of effects ... quality of life, overcrowding, noise, parties, etc." The ordinance could adversely impact a number of Tufts students who currently occupy five- and sixperson rental units in Somerville. Although the city currently does not possess enough information to identify each unit that contains an illegal number of residents, two Tufts students were recently evictsee HOUSING, page 2
Student Language Exchange to provide teaching of non-traditional languages by Jei-Jei Tan
Daily Editorial Board
Turkish and Vietnamese language classes will make their debut at Tufts this fall through the Tufts Student Language Exchange (SLE), a new student organization dedicated to promoting underrepresented cultures on campus through informal, peer-led, noncredit classes. SLE is a nation-wide network that began at Brown University three years ago and has now expanded to four colleges, including Tufts, Brandeis University and Columbia University, according to sophomore Rhiannon Wiley, a member of the Tufts chapter’s coordinator team. The first Turkish class was held this Tuesday, and the first Vietnamese class this Wednesday, according to sophomore Amy Bu, another member of the coordinator team as well as a
cartoonist for the Daily. Wiley, who sat in on both classes, said that they talked about the alphabets, pronunciation and greetings. According to SLE’s website, only about 10 percent of native-born Americans speak a language other than English. The majority of undergraduate students in the country do not study a foreign language, and of those that do, most study a western language like French or Spanish. Less than one percent of undergraduates study a non-Western language, reported the website. “[There is] this crazy disproportion between the number of speakers in the world of a language and the number of people who are studying it,” Wiley said. Wiley hopes that in the long term, SLE will help to foster a more international attitude on campus. Its programs give American students better chances to connect with and understand their international peers, especially by
Inside this issue
introducing perspectives that are not usually found in Tufts classrooms, she added. Tufts has two language departments, one for Romance languages and one for everything else, including Russian, German, Swahili, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew and Japanese. According to Wiley, there are not enough courses being offered for areas like South Asia, even though India is the world’s second most populous country. Sophomore Phoebe Dinh, an international student from Vietnam, will be teaching Vietnamese this fall. Dinh first heard about SLE through friends, and although she could not commit to being a coordinator, she could identify with SLE’s goals, and decided to apply as a fellow — one of the student teachers who facilitate the language learning. Dinh, having lived away from home for almost six years, said that through SLE she hopes to spread knowledge of Vietnamese
culture and also to reconnect with her own roots. “It’s alarming how I came back to Vietnam and for the first week or two, wouldn’t be able to speak Vietnamese fluently,” she said. “I would have to pause and think.” Wiley explained that the languages offered by SLE depend mostly on what potential mentors can offer. The fellows, who go through a selection and training process, are often native speakers and thus very familiar with the target language and culture, she added. “Our philosophy is to pick the fellow, not the language,” Wiley, who serves as the fellowship coordinator, said. According to Dinh, the fellows first completed an online training course, where they created tentative syllabi and lesson plans. They then attended training sessions at Tufts, see LANGUAGE, page 2
Today’s sections
The newest “Sleepy Hollow” season does not disappoint.
The Tufts Art Gallery opens new exhibit exploring the history of Jumbo.
see ARTS, page 5
see ARTS, page 5
News 1 Arts & Living 5 Comics 6
Classifieds Sports
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