MEN’S, WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD
Sociology professors discuss implications of legacy admissions see FEATURES / PAGE 3
Several Jumbos qualify for NCAA Div. III championships
Editorial: Tufts must reassess transfer credits system to meet student needs, champion inclusivity see OPINION / PAGE 7
SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE
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T HE T UFTS DAILY
VOLUME LXXIX, ISSUE 32
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
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COVID-19 SHUTTERS CAMPUS
Classes go online, Tufts asks students to not return after spring break by Caleb Symons Staff Writer
Tufts University announced tonight that it will conduct all classes online starting March 25 in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus on its campuses. In an email to the Tufts community, University President Anthony Monaco explained that undergraduate and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy students living on campus must leave their residence halls by March 16. Tufts will allow students who cannot return to their permanent residences to remain in their residence hall, as long as they receive permission from the Office of Residential Life and Learning or the Fletcher School’s Office of Student Affairs. Monaco also announced the cancellation of undergraduate classes on Friday to
give students time to pack their belongings. Tufts will extend its undergraduate spring break by two days, with classes slated to resume online on March 25. Winter sports with remaining games and meets will continue as scheduled without spectators, while all spring sports are canceled, according to the email. Several winter sports teams have postseason competitions remaining on their schedules. Women’s basketball, men’s basketball, women’s indoor track and field, mens’s indoor track and field, men’s swim and dive and women’s swim and dive are all currently scheduled to compete in NCAA postseason events in the next two weeks. As of now, these events are planned to go on as scheduled and will be closed to spectators. The email also indicated that all spring sports, including NESCAC tournaments,
have been canceled, per a joint decision by the presidents of NESCAC members. No decision has been made on spring sports eligibility for NCAA tournaments. Tufts joins a growing list of Massachusetts colleges that have suspended in-person classes, part of a national effort by schools to stem the coronavirus outbreak by shutting their doors. Both Amherst College and Harvard University informed students in recent days that classes will be conducted remotely following next week’s spring break and asked students not to return to campus. Other Massachusetts schools that suspended classes today include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Babson College, Smith College and Mount Holyoke College. Tufts faculty members were warned last week to prepare for a scenario in
which classes would be conducted online, according to a March 6 email to the Tufts community from Executive Vice President Mike Howard. University administrators also announced last week a number of travel restrictions on faculty, staff and students. Those restrictions included a 14-day self-quarantine period on visitors to campus traveling from a country designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with a Level 3 travel warning — its highest risk level. Tufts also prohibited all university-related travel to CDC Level 3 countries and suspended several university-supported international trips scheduled for spring break. This is a developing story. The Daily will provide updates when more information is available.
Tufts SJP pushing referendum to TCU Senate passes 2 resolutions end TUPD training trips by Connor Dale
RAY BERNOFF / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES
Members of Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine are pictured at the annual Honk! parade on Oct. 9, 2016. by Alexander Janoff Assistant News Editor
Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) announced last week a proposed ballot referendum calling on the university to stop sending campus police officers on military training trips abroad. The referendum, which the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate discussed at its March 2 meeting, is part of SJP’s broader campaign to “#EndTheDeadlyExchange,” which seeks to end military training trips for the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) and all other police militarization on campus.
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Over 15 student organizations have endorsed the referendum. “We won’t be silent when the administration engages in policies or behavior that threatens the safety of students on campus,” SJP member Julia Asfour, a junior, said. According to SJP member Molly Tunis, the group initiated its campaign to #EndTheDeadlyExchange after it learned that Kevin Maguire, former executive director of public safety and former chief of TUPD, attended a training trip with the Israeli military in December 2017. She said that both the referendum and the campaign represent an opportunity to hold the university accountable for what SJP views as the militarization of TUPD. “I think it’s easy for [the administration] to pretend that people don’t care about this and that it is just in the past,” Tunis, a senior, said. “And I think it’s really important to show how many students in the present are still really scared by what happened.” The Daily reported in 2018 that Maguire, along with other Boston-area police chiefs and federal officers, attended an Anti-Defamation League-funded counterterrorism seminar in Israel in December 2017. These seminars were criticized by activists both for attempting see DEADLY EXCHANGE, page 2 For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily
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The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate passed two resolutions and approved 14 supplementary funding requests, including an appeal, during its meeting on March 8 in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose room. While TCU Senate had originally planned on reviewing more supplementary funding requests, TCU Treasurer Sharif Hamidi announced at the time that some events had been canceled due to concerns surrounding the novel coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19. Hamidi added that at the time, which was prior to Tufts’ decision to suspend in-person classes for the semester, the events were not canceled due to any action taken by TCU Senate or Tufts, but instead were canceled by the parties involved in hosting the events. “Due to concerns relating to the global coronavirus outbreak, the [Collegiate Alliance for Imigration Reform] Conference hosted by Tufts [United for Immigrant Justice], as well as two of the three competitions attended by the Tufts Ballroom [Team], have been canceled,” Hamidi said. “As a result, Senate will not be voting on those requests.” The first resolution passed by the TCU Senate, titled “S. 20-1 A Resolution Calling for
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Tufts University to Publish Undergraduate Course Syllabi” stated that course syllabi should be published and updated frequently on the Tufts Digital Collections and Archives and that course descriptions on the Student Information System (SIS) should be more accurate. The resolution also called on Tufts to update Tufts’ yearly Bulletin with general course information and academic program descriptions This resolution, sponsored by the TCU Senate’s Education Committee, passed with 24 senators in favor, none opposed and one abstaining. The second resolution passed by the TCU Senate, titled “S. 20-2 A Resolution Calling on Tufts University to Reevaluate the Undergraduate School of Arts and Sciences’ World Civilization Foundation Requirement in its Current Form,” called on the school to review and update the university’s World Civilization requirement. The resolution cited an op-ed authored by members of the Education Committee published in the Daily on Feb. 4, in which they argued that educating students on matters relating to diversity would promote inclusivity at Tufts. see SENATE, page 2
NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 ARTS & LIVING.......................4
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