New food and furniture: Tufts Dining jazzes it up for the new year see FEATURES / PAGE 3
FOOTBALL
Jumbos set for gridiron clash with Continentals
University art gallery exhibitions introduce American outsider art to Tufts audience see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 4
SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE
THE
VOLUME LXXVI, ISSUE 5
INDEPENDENT
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T HE T UFTS DAILY tuftsdaily.com
Friday, September 14, 2018
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.
Car crash prompts temporary power outage on lower campus by Daniel Nelson
Executive News Editor
A vehicle collided with electrical generators beside Pearson Chemical Laboratory late Wednesday night, according to Executive Director of Public Relations Patrick Collins. Collins added that the driver was not injured. The accident prompted a temporary shutdown of power to the Somerville side of the Tufts campus and an evacuation of the Mayer Campus Center. The details leading up to the crash remained unclear as of Thursday night. Collins said in an email statement that the driver “could not explain how the crash happened.” The crash occurred at approximately 10:15 p.m. Wednesday night, when the driver of a motor vehicle collided with the generators in Pearson’s parking lot, according to Sergeant Christopher McGee of the Tufts University Police Department ( TUPD). Emergency services were swift in their response, according to Collins, who said that the Somerville Fire Department, Cataldo Ambulance and TUPD officers worked together at the scene. They were joined by employees of utility company MassElectric, according to a TUPD email sent to students. Fencing surrounding the generators, as well as the generators’ metal housing, suffered visible damage, but it was not initially clear to responders if the generators themselves had been damaged in the crash. McGee said that the collision did not trigger the power outage.
RACHEL HARTMAN / THE TUFTS DAILY
The scene of a car crash that caused power outages throughout lower campus on Sept. 12 is pictured. TUPD sent an email at 11:40 p.m. warning students that the power would be shut off to the Somerville side of campus. The email stated that this was a necessary measure to allow responders to check the generator for damage. Students were evacuated from the nearby Mayer Campus Center prior to the outage, according to Noah
Zussman, a student on duty managing the Campus Center at the time. Zussman, a junior, said he was conducting his hourly head count of the center when, at around 11:30 p.m., a TUPD officer approached him. “The police officer told me about the situation and that we had to shut down the Campus Center,” Zussman said.
He said that he and senior Charlie Zhen, a fellow campus center manager who was present, though not on duty at the time, went around the center asking students to leave. Zussman added that power to the center was cut as he was locking up. A follow-up email indicated that power was restored at 12:35 a.m.
Author Linda Nathan discusses new book, higher education accessibility by Jessica Blough News Editor
Author and educator Linda Nathan gave a talk on her latest book, “When Grit Isn’t Enough: A High School Principal Examines How Poverty and Inequality Thwart the College-for-all Promise” in the Olin Center’s Laminan Lounge on Thursday night. The Department of Educationsponsored talk focused on how the themes Nathan examines in the book and in her research relate to the failures of higher education when it comes to supporting low-income and first-generation students. Tufts students and faculty, as well
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as staff from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and the financial aid office, attended the two-hour event. Nathan’s presentation lasted about 45 minutes and was followed by 30 minutes for questions, as well as time for book purchasing and signing. David Hammer, the Department of Education chair, began the event by introducing Nathan and her research, as well as her credentials in education. Nathan was the founding headmaster of Boston Arts Academy (BAA) and remains on its Board of Trustees, and she is currently executive director at the Dorchester-based Center for Artistry and Scholarship. “Something I appreciated about
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[Nathan’s book] is the care to attend to individuals who each have these particular stories,” Hammer said. Nathan began the talk by addressing her background as an educator and a headmaster at BAA, and how her experience at a high-performing high school revealed the ways that colleges can fail students of color, students from low-income families and first-generation students. Nathan explained that she wrote the book because she was frustrated with both the lack of understanding and the inequity these students face as they transition into higher education and face the financial burdens that come with it. “We continue to assume that deep
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social inequities can be overcome by individual effort, by grit — everyone will have an equal chance at success if we just work harder,” Nathan said. “But it’s not just about grit.” In writing her book, Nathan interviewed 90 young people — including several Boston Arts Academy alumni — on their experiences and difficulties adapting to college. For some of the students who failed to graduate, Nathan wanted to understand why they dropped out. “When Grit Isn’t Enough” addresses five of Nathan’s so-called “assumptions” of higher education: that money doesn’t
NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 ARTS & LIVING.......................4
see NATHAN, page 2
FUN & GAMES.........................6 SPORTS............................ BACK