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T he T ufts D aily THE
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VOLUME LXXXV, ISSUE 1
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Tuesday, August 29, 2023
MATRICULATION 2023: DEFINING MOMENTS FROM THE PAST YEAR UNIVERSITY
Rachel Kyte steps down as Fletcher School dean Daniel Vos
Executive News Editor
Originally published June 22, 2023. Rachel Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, will step down from her role effective June 30. University President Anthony Monaco and Caroline Genco, provost and senior vice president ad interim, announced the leadership change in an email to Tufts faculty and staff on June 22. Professor Kelly Sims Gallagher will take over as dean ad interim of the Fletcher School. Kyte will become a dean emeritus of the Fletcher School and will continue her work addressing the impact of climate change and energy scarcity.
“Throughout her tenure, she worked tirelessly to expand the school’s resources, including leading the school during its Brighter World Campaign resulting in more than $120 million in funding,” Monaco and Genco wrote in their email. In an email to Fletcher staff, Kyte announced she would rededicate herself full time to climate change and nature finance work, citing the current times as an “existential inflection point.” “For some time, I have felt a growing pull between the work I love of leading Fletcher and working with all of you and the opportunities to contribute to the vital and increasingly urgent work I feel compelled to be part of about our collective future,” she wrote.
Monaco and Genco highlighted Kyte’s achievements throughout her four-year tenure. “Rachel strengthened Fletcher’s faculty by recruiting globally renowned practitioners, scholars, and researchers and expanding the school’s curricular fields of study. She also leveraged her personal platform to expand Fletcher’s global impact, reach, and influence, reinforcing its position as a world-class school of global affairs,” they wrote. Kyte called on future Fletcher leadership to continue accessibility and academic reforms. “Fletcher’s academic offerings will need to be more flexible, more financially accessible, and more responsive to remain attractive and compelling for students who want programs that can more imme-
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diately impact their professional growth,” she wrote. “The reforms we have made in our academic offerings are having an impact, but we know that there is more to do.” Incoming Dean Gallagher will start on July 1 while the University launches a nationwide search for
TCU Senate reflects on one of its most productive years yet
Aaron Gruen
Editor in Chief
Joey Montalto
Originally published March 28, 2023.
Staff Writer
Originally published May 18, 2023.
ALEX VO-TA / THE TUFTS DAILY
The Tufts admissions office, Bendetson Hall, is pictured on Jan. 28. class, and students who will be the first in their family to graduate from a four-year college also comprise 11%. Students who attended public high schools or public charter schools comprise 55% of the class; of students from schools where class rank is measured, 91% are in the top 10% of their class. Students of color account for 57% of the admitted class, up from last year’s 56%. Black students comprise 12% of the class, Hispanic and Latinx students 14%, Asian American students 21% and multiracial students 11%. White students make up 39% of the class, and 3% of students did not provide race or ethnicity information.
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Ninety-five students have Native or Indigenous heritage, including 62 American Indian or Alaska Native students and 33 Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander students. Ninety-six students come from Medford, Somerville, Boston and Grafton, Tufts’ host communities. International students comprise 11% of accepted students, representing 75 countries, with the majority hailing from China, India, Canada, South Korea, Turkey, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Singapore. This year, the admissions department will host three in-person ’Bo Days for accepted students on March 31, April 14 and April 24. Accepted students have until May 1 to accept their offer to enroll at Tufts.
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a permanent dean. Gallagher has served as academic dean of Fletcher since 2020 and is a professor of energy and environmental policy. She is also the director of the Climate Policy Lab at Fletcher and a former senior policy advisor in the Obama administration.
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Tufts admits 9.5% to undergraduate Class of 2027 Tufts admitted 9.5% of students to the Class of 2027 from roughly 34,000 applicants, it announced on March 22. Acceptances were granted to the most diverse applicant pool the university has ever seen. This year’s class is one of the most selective in the university’s history, following last year’s record-low 9.7% acceptance rate. Women comprise 56% of the admitted class, an increase from last year’s 55%, while men comprise 41%. Another 4% identified as genderqueer, non-binary or opted not to specify a gender identity. Women also make up 52% of students accepted to the School of Engineering, down from last year’s 55%. Tufts’ admissions process remains test-optional for the next three years; around 40% of students chose not to submit ACT or SAT scores with their application this year, compared to last year’s 44%. Students affiliated with college access organizations like QuestBridge comprise 11% of the
AARON GRUEN / THE TUFTS DAILY
Rachel Kyte speaks at a climate rally at the Mayer Campus Center on March 3.
From hosting a farmers market to placing first aid kits around campus, the Tufts Community Union Senate launched a variety of pilot projects this academic year, making it what some senators say is one of the most productive years in recent history. The TCU Senate has organized dozens of projects, with nearly every senator spearheading their own pilot project. Among other initiatives, senators have distributed menstrual products around campus, begun creating a Wellness Center in Stratton Hall, organized shuttles to drive students to grocery stores and hired female-identifying strength and conditioning staff to lead classes on Monday nights. TCU President Jaden Pena feels that his approach of having each senator lead their own
passion project while also supporting each other has been a driving factor of the Senate’s overall success. “I’m most proud of the TCU Senate as a whole,” Pena, a senior, said. “We were by far the most productive Senate that there has ever been at Tufts.” The process of completing a pilot project takes an enormous amount of time, effort and funds. This year alone, the senate has spent $650,000 in supplemental funding and budgeted nearly $3,000,000. All of the supplemental funds went toward enhancing student life and the student experience. “I’ve been genuinely astounded by the level of productivity because everyone is working on projects, which was not the case [before]. … Everyone is very involved,” Senator Avani Kabra, who chairs the Administration and Policy Committee, said. Senator Anand Patil, who led an initiative to install emergency see TCU page 4
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