Bosfeed gives student a chance to comment on Tufts culture, learn video skills see FEATURES / PAGE 4
TUFTS BASKETBALL
Strong second half can’t save Tufts at Wesleyan
Tennis gives rousing performance despite tough week see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5
SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE
THE
VOLUME LXXV, ISSUE 5
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Tuesday, January 30, 2018
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ExCollege offers new course on ‘Hamilton’ musical by Lydia Ra Staff Writer
The Experimental College (ExCollege) recently added a new course, titled “Hamilton: In Context,” for the spring semester. According to the ExCollege newsletter, the course will examine the influence of LinManuel Miranda’s “Hamilton: An American Musical” in today’s society. It will also cover American revolutionary history, analyzing Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton, on which the musical was based. The newsletter said that Dean of Student Affairs Mary Pat McMahon is co-teaching the course with Miguel Rodriguez Santos, a senior majoring in biopsychology. According to ExCollege Director Howard Woolf, this is the first time that an administrator is collaborating with a see HAMILTON, page 3
EVAN SAYLES / THE TUFTS DAILY
Dean of Student Affairs Mary Pat McMahon teaches her ExCollege course “Hamilton: In Context” on Jan. 24.
Former AOII residence to house transfer students by Arin Kerstein News Editor
The Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) designated the house occupied by the former AOII Delta chapter as transfer student housing for the upcoming academic year. This decision follows the AOII national Executive Board’s withdrawal of the charter for Tufts’ AOII chapter in December.
Next year, ResLife will manage the property located at 25 Whitfield Road, which is owned by Tufts’ real estate subsidiary, Walnut Hill Properties, according to ResLife’s Associate Director of Housing Operations Matt Austin. The former AOII house includes space for 13 beds, laundry facilities and a kitchen in the basement with a large dining area, Austin said, noting that the property seems to be in suit-
able physical condition and that there are no current plans for any internal construction. Austin said that the space is comparable to other spaces previously used for transfer housing, adding that the former AOII house and the property at 45 Sawyer Ave. — which currently houses many transfer students — can both house between 13 and 15 students. Rainbow House will occupy the Sawyer Ave property in the upcoming academic year, and ResLife will maintain housing for transfer students at 25 Whitfield Road, Austin explained. “We’ve actually found that [it’s] been really great for us and for the students to really get connected to folks that are other transfers going through similar experiences,” he said. Transfer student Julia Pearl-Schwartz, who lived in the house at 45 Sawyer Ave. last semester, agreed that sharing a common space enabled transfer students to build a community. “Living at the transfer house is a great way to connect with other transfer students, which was especially helpful at the beginning of the year when we were all trying to figure things out,” Pearl-Schwartz, a ASHA IYER / THE TUFTS DAILY sophomore, told the Daily in an electronic message.
The old AOII house pictured on Jan. 24.
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Austin says ResLife will listen to staff feedback about the current transfer house, with a goal of improving the housing experience for transfer students in the new location. “We’re working with [our Community Development Assistant] to get a sense of what’s important to transfer students and what can we do better next year that we might have fallen short on this year,” Austin said. Long-term plans for the house are unknown and will depend on student needs, Austin explained. He added that the houses will be the topic of broader discussions on housing in the coming year, with further integration of wood-framed housing through the Capen Village project. Despite ResLife’s goal of housing transfer students together, the school has not always found on-campus spaces that can house all transfer students. Last academic year, ResLife used Delta Tau Delta’s fraternity house, which Tufts leased from the fraternity’s alumni corporation, for transfer housing. During the 2015–2016 academic year, transfer students were spread out across available on-campus apartments, special interest houses and some residence halls, former ResLife Director Yolanda King told the Daily in a September 2015 article. Pearl-Schwartz said that moving forward, ResLife should ensure that it fits all transfer students together in a common space, based on its inability
NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................4 ARTS & LIVING.......................5
COMICS.......................................8 OPINION.....................................9 SPORTS............................ BACK