THE TUFTS DAILY
Partly Sunny 48/32
VOLUME LXV, NUMBER 38
by James
Pouliot
Daily Editorial Board
Ten members of the Tufts Community Union (TCU) government gathered in the Mayer Campus Center last night to draft a number of procedural changes to the TCU Constitution. The draft of the new document will require 250 student signatures by Wednesday to qualify for a general referendum of the student body at the general elections this April. Though the convention was open to all members of TCU, it was only attended by seven senators, including President Wyatt Cadley and Parliamentarian Robert Joseph, two members of the TCU Judiciary and Treasurer of the Elections Commission (ECOM) Daniel Johnson. Joseph, a sophomore, said he was underwhelmed by the sparse attendance, but felt that they had addressed the issues that the convention was called to discuss.
Heather Nathans, a Tufts alumna and current professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, on March 12 was appointed the new Chair of the Tufts Department of Drama and Dance. “It’s wonderful to be coming home to Tufts,” Nathans told the Daily. “I have tremendously enjoyed my time at the University of Maryland, but ... the opportunity to come home, the opportunity to come to a place that I’ve loved for so many years and have so many colleagues [at] is a really special opportunity.” Associate professor and present department chair Downing Cless announced last semester that he would retire at the end of the academic year, prompting the search for his replace-
Hunter Ryan
Contributing Writer
New minor in environmental science and policy to debut in fall
“We addressed everything that we needed to talk about,” he said. “If I wrote the constitution the way I planned to submit it and I didn’t get that input, I didn’t know who was going to oppose it.” With so few in attendance, the group decided to approach only non-controversial topics in this referendum, leaving more controversial issues for individual members of the TCU to add with their own referenda. “The constitution is lagging behind where we are,” Joseph said. “We’re just trying to make modernizations to it in response to things that have happened.” The new draft would bar the Judiciary from issuing judicial orders before the event referred to in the order occurs. This came as a response to the events of Dec. 9, when the Judiciary issued an order to prevent senators from voting on a resosee CONSTITUTION, page 2
Tufts alumna picked as chair of drama department by
TUFTSDAILY.COM
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
TCU Constitution to see new draft pending student input
Where You Read It First Est. 1980
ment, according to Department of Drama and Dance Professor Barbara Grossman. Nathans will begin serving in her new role upon Cless’ retirement. According to Grossman, the search process for Cless’ replacement first involved crafting a position description and advertising it. The department search committee sought applicants who had administrative and teaching experience, held doctorate degrees and were scholars and leaders in their fields. “We decided not to make [the position] field-specific,” she said. “[ We were] really looking for someone who can be a mentor to students and can be a role model.” The department search committee advanced with four finalists after reviewing applications from 30 qualified candidates after the Oct. 31 deadline, see NATHANS, page 2
A newly created environmental science and policy minor will be available for engineers starting in the fall. The environmental science and policy minor is designed to offer engineers the ability to focus on policy-related environmental initiatives, according to Director of the Environmental Studies Program and Professor of Biology Colin Orians. Previously, he said, engineers interested in environmental studies needed to complete both their degree in the School of Engineering and the 10-course environmental studies major in the School of Arts and Sciences, which only one or two engineers a year were able to accomplish. “If they don’t decide their freshman year that they are going to be an environmental studies dual major, they really can’t do it,” Orians said. Orians hopes the new minor will eliminate this problem. Students minoring in environmental science and policy will take six courses from both the School of Engineering and the School of Arts & Sciences’ Environmental Studies Program, according to Associate Dean for Undergraduate Curriculum Development and Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Chris Swan.
Misako Ono for the Tufts Daily
“The minor allows engineers to capture some component of the Environmental Studies Program in just a less intense way,” he said. Compared to the environmental engineering major, the new minor would focus more on the social and economic aspects of environmental decisions, Swan said. However, he believes the environmental engineering major and new minor work well together. “If your pursuit is environmental engineering, this would fit in very well in that degree program as a minor,” Swan said. “Now you are going to be able to look at the cultural and social aspects, as well as the economic aspects, of these decisions that you are going to do, but you are still being the technical person in that your major degree is still environmental engineering.” Swan said he thinks more engineers will choose to take the opportunity to study environmental policy if it is offered as a minor. “It is a positive step for many engineers who have an interest in the social, cultural and economic aspects of the decisions that need to be made,” he said. —by Annabelle Roberts
Dean Knox inducted into engineering honor society by Sarah
Reitzes
Contributing Writer
Courtesy Stan Borouh / University of Maryland
University of Maryland Professor Heather Nathans was appointed earlier this month as the new chair of the Tufts Department of Drama and Dance, replacing current chair Downing Cless who will retire at the end of this year.
Inside this issue
Associate Dean of Engineering Kim Knox on Thursday will be inducted as an eminent engineer into Tau Beta Pi, Tufts’ engineering honor society. “I am honored and humbled by this honor,” Knox told the Daily in an email. Tau Beta Pi is a nationwide society with chapters at nearly 250 colleges and universities comprised of students and alumni who have excelled in engineering. Although chapters at other universities have inducted eminent engineers, Knox is the first person to be inducted as an eminent engineer by the Tufts chapter of Tau Beta Pi, according to Tau Beta Pi president Adam Pardes.
“It’s up to us to take the initiative to [recognize an engineer],” Pardes, a senior, said. “We got the idea from the district conference. We’d heard of other schools’ inducting professors,” he added. Pardes said Knox, who earned a Master of Science in Structural Engineering at Tufts, was identified as a candidate for induction for reasons beyond her long career in the engineering field. “She was pretty much the prototype for the type of person they’d like to honor as an eminent engineer,” he said. “Just because someone has been an engineer for 10 years doesn’t mean we fill out the paperwork. We thought having Dean Knox would be great see KNOX, page 2
Today’s sections
The Huntington’s production of ‘Raisin in the Sun’ falls short of potential.
The men’s diving team’s Johann Schmidt competed in his third NCAA Championship over the weekend.
see ARTS, page 5
see SPORTS, back
News Features Arts & Living Editorial
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Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports
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