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T HE T UFTS DAILY Thursday, April 13, 2023
VOLUME LXXXV, ISSUE 11
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.
EMMA SELESNICK / THE TUFTS DAILY
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SHAPE, a new pre-orientation program, to focus on local civic engagement
Sen. Cory Booker talks fight for justice in Solomont Speaker Series
by Taylor Escudero
by Daniel Vos
Staff Writer
Tufts Student Affairs recently announced the creation of a new summer pre-orientation program called SHAPE, short for Students Heightening Actionable Political Engagement. Although the program is still in development, SHAPE aims to invite civically-minded and politically curious students to solve pressing issues in the Tufts community and beyond. The program advisors for SHAPE include Kevin Kraft,
associate dean of student affairs, and Peter Ciccarone, assistant director for student affairs for orientation. Advisors have been working with student coordinators Sophia Chung and Naheim Washington, both sophomores, to create a four-day experience for incoming firstyear students to make an impact at Tufts before the first day of classes. Including SHAPE, Tufts now has nine pre-orientation options, ranging from programs like Tufts Wilderness Orientation, a multi-day
backpacking operation, to Students’ Quest for Unity in the African Diaspora, which fosters and celebrates relationships within the African diaspora. Kraft spoke on the decision to add a new pre-o program to the roster. “Civic engagement is an important part of what makes Tufts special, so we decided to add an option to the already strong lineup of pre-orientation programs that would give incoming students a chance to jump right in and start their see SHAPE, page 2
AARON GRUEN / THE TUFTS DAILY
A display of Tisch College programming is pictured in Barnum Hall on April 12.
Deputy News Editor
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., spoke about his work on building bipartisan consensus, criminal justice reform, farming and gun control legislation on April 10 as part of the Tisch College Solomont Speaker Series. He was joined by dean emeritus of Tisch College and former U.S. Ambassador to Spain and Andorra Alan D. Solomont, who moderated the talk. Booker started off the discussion by recounting how his work in the Senate challenged his assumptions of Republican colleagues. In one instance, he found common ground with conservative former Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., working together on a legislative amendment to help unhoused and foster children despite their deep personal disagreements. “That would not have happened if I got stuck in this mode, where my hurt, or my offense or my own real substantive pain was where it was [before],” Booker said. According to Booker, however, there is still a long way to go to bridge the ideological gap in politics, specifically on issues of race and justice. “What is really frustrating to me is, I thought that legalizing marijuana would have a democratizing force on our country,” he said. “We’re not seeing the kind of
expungements with people who are using marijuana now legally. … If you’re Black in America, you are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than somebody that’s white.” The senator also spoke about prison reform, highlighting the disproportionate number of incarcerated women in America and the dehumanizing conditions they continue to live in. “I [visited] Danbury, Connecticut, a federal lockup,” he said. “On the way in [with] this tough warden, I asked her, how many women here are survivors of sexual trauma, violence? And this tough woman stops, looks vulnerable to me, and she goes, ‘90, 95%.’” Booker cosponsored the bipartisan First Step Act in 2018, which reformed criminal sentencing laws. “We have a system that is so tortured, that we would rather spend more and more money creating the problem or on the back end of the problem than making the humane investments on the front end that would not necessitate these so-called prisons in the first place,” he said. Booker still believes in the Democratic Party’s message going into 2024 — despite unfavorable polling numbers brought up by Ambassador Solomont. He commended President Biden’s legislative work, including an inisee BOOKER, page 3
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