The Tufts Daily: Friday, February 14, 2020 by The Tufts Daily

‘Fantasy Land’ revamped as horror film, Lucy Hale, Jeff Wadlow talk challenges of genre see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Thoerner drops career-high en route to NESCAC clinch SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

THE

INDEPENDENT

STUDENT

N E W S PA P E R

TUFTS

UNIVERSITY

E S T. 1 9 8 0

T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXIX, ISSUE 15

Friday, February 14, 2020

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Congresswoman Clark visits Tufts, discusses 2020 census

tuftsdaily.com

Cummings Center construction on schedule despite worker injury, mixed faculty attitudes by Robert Kaplan and Anton Shenk Executive News Editor and News Editor

PATRICK MILEWSKI / THE TUFTS DAILY

U.S. House Representative Katherine Clark addresses students at an event hosted by Tufts Census Action in Cohen Auditorium on Feb. 13.

Construction remains on schedule for the Joyce Cummings Center, despite faculty’s mixed perspectives on the building design and a recent on-site injury. A worker was injured on the structure’s fourth floor when strong winds caused a piece of the structure’s decking to hit the worker on Jan. 16 at about 1:30 p.m. According to Tufts’ Interim Director of Public and Environmental Safety Chip Coletta, the incident mobilized Tufts Emergency Medical Services ( TEMS), Armstrong Ambulance, the Medford Police Department and the Medford Fire Department (MFD), in addition to the Tufts University Police Department ( TUPD). Ruth Bennett, the director of strategic capital programs who is responsible for the construction of the new academic building at the intersection of Boston Avenue and College Avenue, said that no oversights led to the accident. Bennett added that there have been no other accidents on the site and that the construction company will implement additional preventative safety measures as part of its review of the incident and monitoring of the site.

“We hold our contractors to high safety standards, and thankfully, incidents such as this one are rare,” Bennett wrote in an email. The Cummings Center is one of Tufts’ most recent investments in new infrastructure on the Medford/Somerville campus. Like Tufts’ other major projects in recent years, such as the Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex at 574 Boston Ave. and the Science and Engineering Complex, the Cummings Center will also house a wide range of disciplines. The Departments of Computer Science, Economics and Mathematics are among some of those relocating to the new building, but the departments also contain a range of mixed attitudes towards the design of the new building. Chair of the Department of Mathematics Kim Ruane reported a wide range of opinions about the move within her department. “Some of our faculty feel they were not consulted nearly enough (or early enough) on the major decisions about space allocation for occupant groups and classrooms,” Ruane wrote in an email to the Daily. Ruane expressed several concerns among math department faculty, which included management of space in the Cummings Center, reduction of faculty

see CONSTRUCTION, page 2

by Robert Kaplan

kinds of things wrapped up in the census,” North, a sophomore, said. “So we thought that she would be the perfect person to U.S. Representative Katherine Clark come and talk about it.” (D-Mass.) discussed the upcoming census Clark began by emphasizing why the cycle and its policy implications with Tufts census, and the data it yields, are so importCensus Action (TCA) in Cohen Auditorium ant to government functionality. last night, as part of a talk moderated by “It’s the type of data that really influencTCA’s President and Founder Caroline es every decision that we make in governWolinsky and Community Outreach ment,” Clark said. “It’s so critical that we Director Anton Shenk, a sophomore. include as many people as possible.” TCA, which formed last semester, is a stuClark highlighted the prevalence of dent group funded by the Tisch Fund for Civic undercounting particular demographic Engagement which aims to increase partici- groups that would benefit the most from pation in the upcoming census this year. accurate representation in census data. Lauren North, TCA’s event planner, “Unfortunately we’re in what sometimes explained that Wolinsky, a sophomore, had we call an ‘immoral cycle’ with the census,” served in Clark’s congressional office as an Clark said. “The people who we tend not to intern, and managed to secure Clark’s visit count — very low-income families, people to speak about the census. of color, immigrant communities — also “[Clark is] obviously the congresswom- have the most to lose.” an for this district, she’s very passionate about families, immigrant rights, all the see CENSUS, page 2

Executive News Editor

Please recycle this newspaper

Sunny 27 / 8

/thetuftsdaily

For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily

tuftsdaily

ANN MARIE BURKE / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Cummings Center construction site is pictured on Feb. 3.

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES................................3 ARTS & LIVING.......................4

FUN & GAMES.........................5 SPORTS............................ BACK