Thursday, February 23, 2017 by The Tufts Daily

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

Econofact offers approachable, objective analysis see FEATURES / PAGE 4

Jumbos claim NESCAC title, defeat then-No. 2 MIT

Netflix’s ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ stays true to novels’ dark comedy see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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VOLUME LXXIII, NUMBER 18

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Thursday, February 23, 2017

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Graduate students consider unionization following NLRB decision by Catherine Perloff News Editor

A group of Tufts graduate students in the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts has been working toward forming a union for graduate students, following the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) ruling last August that graduate students at private universities, as paid teaching and research assistants, have the legal right to unionize. Last semester, the Graduate Student Council started an ad hoc committee to gather information about unionization. Starting in February, this committee transformed into an organizing committee, ready to take the necessary steps to create a union, according to organizing committee member and English Ph.D. candidate James Rizzi.

Many on the organizing committee, such as Eric Fields, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychology, see the union as a positive step for graduate students, both practically and philosophically. “Unions give more people power and voice in their workplace. Given how much work structures our life … when people can have more of a voice in a workplace, that leads to a more democratic society,” Fields said. Yet not all Tufts graduate students share this vision. Some students see a union as unnecessary, with the potential to undermine the benefits graduate student employees already have, according to Piers Echols-Jones, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Most people I speak to are wary [of unionization],” Echols-Jones said. see UNIONIZATION, page 2

RAY BERNOFF / THE TUFTS DAILY

Computer science Ph.D. candidate Sam Burck, English Ph.D. candidate James Rizzi and psychology Ph.D. candidate Eric Fields are part of the group of graduate students pushing for a graduate student union at Tufts.

Fletcher School holds fourth annual Innovation Week

Tufts’ religious groups celebrate interfaith month this February

by Tashwita Pruthi

by David Nickerson

Contributing Writer

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy held its fourth annual Tufts Innovation Week last week. Titled “Innovate Tufts – Fletcher Disrupts,” it consisted of four events and conferences aimed at finding inventive solutions to current challenges. Miriam Freeman, one of the three organizers and a student in the Fletcher School’s Master of International Business program, explained that both Fletcher students and undergraduates at Tufts would be able to contribute to the event’s theme. “This has always been a collaboration between Tufts and Fletcher and so we wanted to find a title that would bring those two things together,” she said. “What we tried to do is pick topics for the different days of the conference that reflect issues where Fletcher really has sort of a competitive advantage in terms of tackling some of the big problems.” Freeman explained that panelists were selected based on both their expertise in the subject matter and their relationships and connections to the local area. “We tried to keep a lot of our speakers and moderators local, both because of weather considerations and because we think it is really important that since we are up on this hill in Medford, we want

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people here at the university to have the opportunity to connect with what’s going on in the Greater Boston community,” Freeman said. The events began on Feb. 12 with a workshop-style conference on the international refugee crisis. Speakers included Eric Aronson, who works with Amnesty International USA, Liza Ryan, the organizing director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, and others. After the speeches, participants worked in groups to develop solutions to current refugee issues. Audience members discussed a number of questions, such as how refugees should be seen as assets to society. The second event was a demo day called “Dusting Off Diplomacy,” during which participants pitched ideas to a panel. Freeman explained that the demo day worked in conjunction with the Monday’s session, as participants were able to display their ideas developed from the day before. “We had some TEDx-style presentations by experts and then we had demos by entrepreneurs, whether they were local or international, and they were able to sort of demo their ideas about different ways of looking at diplomacy,” Freeman said On Feb. 15, organizers held a third event called “Colombia’s Struggle for see INNOVATION, page 2

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Staff Writer

The Interfaith Student Council (ISC) and the University Chaplaincy are sponsoring Tufts’ second annual Interfaith Awareness Month this month, which focuses on the theme of “Strength in Unity.” ISC has organized and promoted diverse faith-based events on campus to encourage collaboration among religious groups, according to ISC member Maretta Morovitz. “We really wanted to focus this month on … recognizing that all of our [faith] groups have differences, but in coming together with those differences, it’s a stronger whole than any of the individual parts,” Morovitz, a senior, said. Morovitz explained that the events associated with Interfaith Awareness Month are planned and organized by student representatives from each faith group. “We each have our own individual [executive] boards, and we sort of plan events there,” she said. “When we come to the council, every group sends one or two representatives to the council and we discuss events, and if there’s anything they need help with, we’ll bring that up.” A few of the events that have been held include an interfaith Shabbat at Hillel, an interfaith Jummah with the Muslim Students Association, an interfaith Catholic Mass, an interfaith Protestant

evening worship service and a number of panels and discussion events on religious issues, according to the University Chaplaincy website. Morovitz said that one of the biggest challenges in promoting interfaith events this month has been getting students to show up to the events and ask questions without feeling culturally insensitive. “We’re trying to get over the initial hump of nervousness to becoming a part of the community you might not know much about,” she said. “You don’t want to ask questions that might sound ignorant or might be interpreted poorly, but all these [faith] groups are welcoming that.” Celene Ibrahim, the Muslim chaplain, said she is glad that Tufts students and administrators invest time and resources in interfaith work, because she believes awareness about other faith traditions is an important part of being an educated person. “Even if one does not come from a particularly robust faith background or have an identity that involves a faith commitment, being informed and educated about the role of faith in, for instance, the history of the United States … I think that’s highly important,” she said. “So this investment in the experience of students of faith and students seeking to be in dialogue is very special, and I commend the

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................4 ARTS & LIVING.......................5

see INTERFAITH, page 3

COMICS....................................... 7 OPINION.....................................9 SPORTS............................ BACK