TuftsDaily9-4-2012

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THE TUFTS DAILY

Pre-orientation numbers hold steady by

Daphne Kolios

Daily Editorial Board

An estimated 717 incoming freshmen participated in one of the four pre-orientation programs offered this year, a stable number compared to last year’s 724 participants despite enrollment shifts within different programs, according to Office for Campus Life (OCL) Director Joe Golia. The current streamlined application allows students to rank preorientation programs in order of preference, so all students who wanted to participate in a pre-orientation program were able to do so, Golia said. “Anyone who wanted to do any [pre-orientation] program had the option to, because we still had space,” he said. However, some students who were only interested in attending one of the more popular programs may not have been able to because of capacity limitations, Golia added. Four pre-orientation programs were available to freshmen this year: Tufts Wilderness Orientation (TWO), Fitness and Individual Development at Tufts (FIT), Freshman Orientation Community Service (FOCUS) and International Orientation (IO). The Conversations, Action, Faith and Education (CAFE) pre-

TUFTSDAILY.COM

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

VOLUME LXIII, NUMBER 2

orientation program, which would have been in its fourth year, was not offered. Though CAFE was traditionally a small program designed to encourage dialogue, its low application numbers were the primary factor in its cancelation, according to Golia. CAFE was canceled after consultation with and approval from the chaplaincy. The decision was reached in January, University Chaplain ad Interim Patricia Budd Kepler told the Daily in an email. CAFE remains a student organization, and the possibility of its return as a pre-orientation program has not been ruled out. “The option is still out there, but the numbers were so low that, financially, it was not able to sustain itself,” Golia said. TWO, traditionally the most popular pre-orientation program, expanded in response to increasing demand to include three more trips this year, opening up 24 more spots for incoming freshmen, according to TWO Co-Coordinator Rachael Wolber (LA ’12). Of the 390 freshmen applicants, 45 were chosen for the waitlist and 239 total participated. Like last year, students were randomly selected for acceptance to TWO, she explained. see PRE-ORIENTATION, page 2

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

SigEp to remain houseless by

Melissa Wang

Daily Editorial Board

The brothers of Tufts’ chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp) will remain without a house for at least another semester because the fraternity was unable to find the required number of brothers willing to transfer to a house from on-campus housing. The Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) in early July offered the house at 92 Professors Row to the fraternity for the year. The house formerly belonged to the Sigma Nu fraternity, which will not be returning to campus for the 2012-2013 academic year, according to Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Su McGlone. McGlone said that she contacted the SigEp fraternity members in early July, offering the group the Professors Row house for a year if it could come up with 10 brothers to fill the 10 beds available in the building. ResLife hoped to free up that number of beds on campus because of a housing shortage in undergraduate dormitories, McGlone explained. After SigEp leaders produced a list of ten brothers, McGlone clarified that all the brothers had to be signed up

for on-campus housing, but SigEp came up with only six brothers who fell into that category, according to SigEp President Michael McCarthy. The offer was then rescinded three weeks after the initial proposal because they could not fill those four extra beds, McCarthy, a senior, said. “We were a little disappointed by that because the university claims to value Greek life, and from our standpoint it seems like they chose four extra beds for undergradu-

ates as opposed to 40 juniors and seniors who had been here and done philanthropy and had high GPAs to remain in Greek life,” junior Stephen Ruggiero, a brother, said. “It’s tough to ask brothers to leave a highly coveted on-campus house or room to move into a fraternity house which we don’t even know will belong to us yet.” The house at 92 Professors Row will instead be temposee SIGEP, page 2

Virginia Bledsoe / The Tufts Daily

SigEp will carry on without a house for at least another semester.

Students advocate shuttle service Tufts alum Blumstein to Union Square was ‘natural leader’ by

Phillipe Maman

Daily Staff Writer

Two Tufts seniors submitted a proposal this summer that suggested an expansion

of Joey shuttle service from its existing Davis Square route into another large commercial location in Somerville: Union Square. Students Amy Bean and

Sam Kronish submitted their proposal on July 9 during a meeting with Vice President for Operations

see UNION SQUARE, page 2

Justin McCallum / The Tufts Daily

Students have entered into talks with university administrators about a shuttle service that would extend the Joey route to Union Square.

Inside this issue

by

Martha Shanahan

Daily Editorial Board

Emma Blumstein (LA ’10), known for her unyielding stamina on the rugby pitch and celebrated by a wide circle of friends and family for her charisma and positivity, died June 12 in a bicycle accident in Brooklyn, N.Y. She was 24. At Tufts she confidently earned the respect and love of the Tufts women’s rugby team, whose players named Blumstein MVP after her sophomore year and thrived under her leadership as captain. She served as an anchor for the whole team, close friend and fellow rugby player, Alex Schuman (LA ’09) said. “She was definitely a natural leader, which was kind of funny because on the team she’s not the one that’s yelling at people to get in line,” Shuman said. “She was kind of quiet, [but] people just went to her for advice, they went to her when they needed help.” Blumstein came to Tufts from Brookline, Mass. She graduated in 2010 with a B.A. in English and a minor in Film Studies. Blumstein’s crowning as Homecoming Queen her senior year only made official what

those close to her were already sure of: that to know Emma was to love her. The rugby community eagerly supported her campaign – alumni cheered her on via Facebook and some even came back to Tufts to see Blumstein crowned. “Everyone just immediately felt like a family and felt together,” Schuman said. On a May 2008 road trip across the country, Emma joined her friend and Brookline neighbor Becca Russell-Einhorn in a quest to complete “research and development on anything that resides between two pieces of carbohydrates.” Calling themselves “Team Sandwich,” the pair drove from Claremont, Cal. to Brookline, consuming exclusively sandwiches for lunch, dinner and, if possible, breakfast. Between the Subway Footlongs, chili cheeseburgers and breakfast burritos, RussellEinhorn said she and Blumstein found friendly people and just enough trouble to make their road trip an adventure. “When you’re the kind of friend where you can be three feet away from each other for 12 days, that’s a different kind of see BLUMSTEIN, page 2

Today’s sections

This summer, Walter White may have finally broken bad in AMC’s hit series.

Varsity athletes test out the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center for the first time.

see ARTS, page 5

see SPORTS, back

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 8

Op-Ed Comics Sports

9 10 Back


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