Boston Symphony Orchestra opens new season with Leonard Bernstein tribute see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 6
TUFTS FIELD HOCKEY
Jumbos remain undefeated in NESCAC play
Students experience different side of Boston in off-campus jobs see FEATURES / PAGE 4
SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE
THE
VOLUME LXXIV, ISSUE 15
INDEPENDENT
STUDENT
N E W S PA P E R
OF
TUFTS
UNIVERSITY
E S T. 1 9 8 0
T HE T UFTS DAILY tuftsdaily.com
Thursday, September 28, 2017
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.
Peace and Justice Studies Program under continued review
RACHEL HARTMAN / THE TUFTS DAILY
Erin Kelly, the new director of peace and justice studies, poses for a portrait on the Eaton Hall steps on Sept. 25. by Daniel Caron News Editor
The Peace and Justice Studies (PJS) Program is currently under review, after the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences considered canceling the program due to a lack a faculty support in recent years, according to Erin Kelly, the newly appointed director of PJS and an associate professor of philosophy. Kelly explained that two committees will be charged with reviewing the program: an executive committee tasked with reviewing the major as a whole, and a curriculum committee tasked with reviewing the content of PJS courses. The executive committee is focused on gathering input from colleagues and students to revise the major, according to Peter Levine, a research professor in philosophy and executive committee member.
Please recycle this newspaper
Partly Cloudy 74 / 48
/thetuftsdaily
Kelly explained that some of the courses in the requirement areas have not been offered in recent years, signaling a need for an updated curriculum. “I am in the process of updating the list of courses that count under the core requirement areas, adding some courses and subtracting some courses that haven’t been taught,” she said. Kelly said students currently majoring in PJS have the full support of the program and, if the curriculum is changed, will be able to choose whether to complete the major under the old or the new requirements. Kelly said that these committees hope to revitalize the major as a whole. “[The goal of this process is] to solidify the strengths of the major as well as its identity and curriculum,” she said. “[We hope] to update it so that the major connects with current faculty,
For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily
tuftsdaily
tuftsdaily
resources and interests at Tufts, and attracts the current interests of students who could potentially find it a good fit.” According to Kelly, administrators are re-examining PJS due to concerns that there was no longer enough faculty involvement to make the program sustainable. She added that faculty support for interdisciplinary programs requires dedication. “The work that faculty do for interdisciplinary programs is on top of much of the work that they do for their own departments, so they have to be pretty motivated in order to make time to do the extra work,” she said. Kelly attributed the loss of interest to the fact that not enough was done in recent years to motivate faculty members. “It may be that not enough outreach was done in recent years, and that some of the faculty who were invested
Contact Us P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 daily@tuftsdaily.com
in the program [either] retired or had felt they had done their time with the program and were moving on to other interests,” she said. Students expressed concern when they heard the program faced review at the end of last semester. In particular, Abigail Alpern Fisch, a sophomore considering majoring in PJS, was concerned to first learn about the potential change in the program through an article in the Daily. “Last semester I … was so excited because I thought maybe there was a major for all my varying interdisciplinary interests … I was starting to plan my courses,” she said. “[When] I did see that article … [I] started freaking out a little bit.” Olivia Bradley said that, as a PJS major, she felt left out of conversations to review the program. see PJS, page 2
NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................4 ARTS & LIVING.......................6
COMICS.......................................9 OPINION...................................10 SPORTS............................ BACK