Rain 60/53
THE TUFTS DAILY
VOLUME LXVIII, NUMBER 29
by Daniel Bottino Daily Editorial Board
Tufts began negotiations to create a new plan for the operation of its janitorial staff with DTZ, the contracting agency for its janitors. The plan will complement a new contract the university signed with DTZ during the summer, according to Vice President for Operations Linda Snyder. Whether the proposed plan will include janitorial layoffs remains uncertain, according to Snyder and Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler. Creating a new plan is a requirement of the contract with DTZ, which Tufts has already signed. “What we’ve asked DTZ to do is to think about a plan … that would bring Tufts more in line with the efficiency and practice standards that are common in higher education,” Snyder said. She noted that with the new plan’s negotiation, the administration sees an opportunity to gain significant benefits for the entire Tufts community, including increased efficiency and improved sustainability. A greater emphasis on sustainability may include looking at the management of office resources on the Tufts campus. In particular, Snyder explained that Tufts would like to increase the
amount of recycled items. In order to meet Tufts’ sustainability objectives, a new scheme of office cleaning would be needed, which could include cutting down on the number of times janitors visit offices. Members of Tufts Labor Coalition (TLC) have expressed significant concern about the possible implications of the new plan in regard to the potential layoffs of janitorial staff members. Anna Gaebler, a board member of TLC, believes a new contract with DTZ may involve a loss of janitorial jobs on campus. “Based on what we know from the union representatives, Tufts has decided that, in an effort to cut administrative costs, they are going to be asking DTZ … to slowly cut janitors from the campus,” Gaebler, a junior, said. Snyder acknowledged the possibility of staff reduction. However, she emphasized that the university has not formulated a concrete plan to lay off janitors. “We can’t say yet what the impact [of the plan] might be,” she said. “We just don’t know [about staffing issues] yet because we don’t have the [finalized] plan.” Although the plan is not yet complete, Snyder and Thurler emphasized that it could help the university increase its see JANITORS, page 2
Asian American Alliance launches #wearenotminor photo campaign by Denali Tietjen Daily Editorial Board
Tufts Asian American Alliance (AAA) last week launched a #wearenotminor photo campaign, a month-long initiative that aims to explore, celebrate and reflect upon the Asian American experience. The campaign seeks to provide a forum for Asian American students to explore and share their experiences — both positive and negative — on a university-wide and a nationwide level, according to AAA President Jessica Wu, a senior. “Honestly, Asian Americans on campus aren’t really heard, and a lot of times, when people think about racial issues, they don’t consider Asian Americans as involved with that,” she said. “The AAA photo campaign aims to raise awareness and show that we do experience racism in both subtle and major ways.” AAA hopes the photo campaign will provide a comfortable forum for Asian American students to speak out on the subtle microagressions they otherwise dismiss, Wu and AAA Arts Co-chair Julianna Ko, a senior, explained. “Microaggressions are short messages that people say that imply that the person that they are targeting belongs to an ‘other’ group, and they’re also discriminatory,” Ko said. Since microaggressions can be subtle and even unintentional, they often go unaddressed, but their effects build up over time, according to Wu.
TUFTSDAILY.COM
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Tufts starts negotiations for new janitorial operation plan
“Microaggressions are sort of little things that happen daily — little racial tensions or comments — that come up that aren’t okay, but they are so small you can’t respond to them,” she said. “They happen between friends, between professors — it happens all across campus — and they’re difficult to counteract, but I think a photo campaign provides a way to react.” Ko explained that the campaign is meant to address common stereotypes about Asian Americans, but also aims to celebrate Asian American identity. “For example, last week one student wrote, ‘No, I don’t get straight As’ to dismantle that stereotype,” she said. “We want to show Asian Americans are a range of things, not just one stereotype. It’s also a celebration of Asian American identity. It’s saying, ‘Yeah I get Asian flush,’ and embracing that.” The medium of the campaign was inspired by similar photo campaigns that highlighted identity and diversity at Tufts and other universities, according to Wu. “Our campaign was inspired by the ‘I, Too, Am Harvard’ photo campaign for black students at Harvard and ‘South Asians of the Hill,’ organized here by [the South Asian Political Action Committee],” she said. “[First Generation Student Council] did a similar photo campaign last year too, and we saw the power of all those cam-
Vigil mourns Israeli-Palestinian cycles of violence
nick pfosi / the tufts daily
Tufts Students for Two States, a coalition including Tufts Friends of Israel (FOI), Tufts Hillel, J Street U and Tufts American Israel Alliance (TAIA), hosted the Vigil for IsraeliPalestinian Peace last night, with about 60 people in attendance. Student leaders and Rabbi Jeffrey Summit read poems and testimonials from Palestinians and Israelis affected by the clashes over the summer.
Singaporean professor discusses city-state's potential democratization by Patrick McGrath Daily Editorial Board
Kenneth Paul Tan, vice dean of academic affairs and associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, hosted a lecture about Singapore’s current political situation and the outlook toward its future democratization process in an event titled, “Will Singapore Become a Liberal Democracy?” yesterday in the Crane Room at noon. The event was sponsored by Tufts Singapore Students Association, the International Relations’ Director’s Leadership Council, the Department of German, Russian and Asian Languages and Literatures and the Fletcher Association of Southeast Asian Nations Society. Tan focused his lecture on the question posed in the title of the lecture, noting that this is a “deliberately unanswerable question.” He explained that it is difficult to answer either way, but noted that recent developments may provide further insight into the question, which serves as a source of tension in a “global city of some distinction,” as he called Singapore. Tan proposed two perspectives that explain the emergence of capitalism and liberal democracy as the final products of a nation’s development as posited by Francis Fukuyama, which include the
logic of Plato and Hegel. Both paths start with Plato’s idea of the three components of the human soul: intellect, passion and appetite. The Platonic path shows that the combination of intellect and appetite eventually lead to capitalism, while the Hegelian path indicates that passion, including the struggle for recognition, can only be appeased through the universal and reciprocal recognition provided in a liberal democracy. Tan added that thinkers have claimed that “capitalist liberal democracy becomes the dominant form, maybe the only form, the exclusive form.” Singapore, however, appears to defy this traditional explanation, according to Tan. He underscored, however, that Singapore is still an exceptionally stable, safe, modern and wealthy city. “And yet it seems to resist these sort of assertions about liberal democratic development, so it’s an exception,” he said. Tan noted that an analysis Singapore’s ability to function without a fully liberal democracy while still being a prosperous nation may provide answers beyond its borders. “There’s something about Singapore that is bigger than itself,” he said. Tan explained that according to these notions of liberal democratic development, Singapore should include, among others components, a representative govsee SINGAPORE, page 2
Concert Board announces Cage Rage lineup Alternative duo MS MR will headline this year’s Cage Rage concert on Nov. 15. According to Concert Board co-chair Matthew Marber, the first opening act will be indie-pop band Gentlemen Hall and the second opener will be a DJ set from electronic group STRFKR. Tickets go on sale Nov. 3.
see AAA, page 2
Inside this issue
Where You Read It First Est. 1980
—by Alex Schroeder
Today’s sections
“Letters to Medford” retraces the city’s historical roots.
Men’s soccer victory lifts Jumbos to first place in NESCAC.
see ARTS, page 5
see SPORTS, back
News 1 Features 3 Arts & Living 5 Editorial | Letters 10
Op-Ed 11 Comics 12 Classifieds 15 Sports Back