THE TUFTS DAILY Est
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Where You Rain Read It First 49/46 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LXI, NUMBER 40 MONDAY, APRIL 4, 2011 TUFTSDAILY.COM BY MICK B. KREVER document. She did, however, financial document online. Daily Editorial Board tell the Daily in an email that New group leaksthe university does confidential not currently A new player A group of current and for- hold any direct investments. This In his interview with the Daily, mer Tufts students identifying would mean that the Jumboleaks Ramsdell was opaque about the Tuftsthemselves as “Jumboleaks”financial on document information is wholly outdated. makeup of onlineJumboleaks. He said Saturday posted online an out- Ramsdell rejected the signifi- that the organization consists dated list of university financial cance of this fact. of Tufts students and people holdings, citing financial trans- “I don’t really think that that’s whom he believed to be Tufts parency and responsible invest- relevant to the issue here,” he graduates. ment among their motivations. said. “The 2010 list is still a valid Ramsdell described the The list, posted to the web- representation of what the Tufts organization as a group of like- site Jumboleaks.org, comprises endowment represents.” minded individuals who were 35 companies ranging from CVS The initial Saturday post on drawn together by a common Caremark to Monsanto, a pro- Jumboleaks.org did not identify interest when the document vider of agricultural products the list as specifically reflecting surfaced. that has often been linked to information from 2010, nor did “The organization formed controversial business prac- it acknowledge that the infor- around the existence of the leak tices. According to senior Will mation was no longer current. itself,” he said. Ramsdell, a representative of Remsdell acknowledged that He said there was no hierarchy COURTESY DAVID SCHILDMEIER Jumboleaks, the list presents a Jumboleaks had prior knowledge within the organization and that Tufts Medical Center nurses picketed last month over ongoing contract snapshot of Tufts’ direct hold- of both of these things. The orga- he had volunteered as spokes- negotiations that center around the hospital’s staffing procedure. ings from sometime in 2010. nization updated its website late man largely because he was not Ramsdell said that to the best of Sunday evening to reflect this fearful of legal repercussions. Jumboleaks’ knowledge, the list information. “I’m one of the people in presents the university’s direct Jumboleaks approached the the organization who’s willing Nursing contract holdings in their entirety for the Daily in mid-February about to come forward and use my time period it represents. releasing the content of the leak. name,” he said. Tufts has long maintained that The Daily declined to run a story Jumboleaks did not consult negotiations continue its policy of keeping its financial at the time because the signifi- the university about the accu- holdings secret is crucial to the cance of the information the list racy of the list before posting it BY LAINA PIERA media relations and publica- success of its endowment. brought to light did not seem to online, Ramsdell said, explain- Daily Editorial Board tions at Tufts Medical, told the Ramsdell declined to identify outweigh the university’s desire ing that the organization feared Daily in an email. the source of the document. for investment secrecy. The edi- repercussions. A protracted dispute between The hospital’s proposal, how- Director of Public Relations tors elected to cover the story The organization vetted the the Tufts Medical Center and ever, does not set a concrete Kim Thurler would not com- today only after Jumboleaks the union representing its limit to the number of patients ment on the authenticity of the independently published the see JUMBOLEAKS, page 2 nurses continues amid talk of assigned per nurse, which an an impending nurses strike. MNA representative called the Following changes to the main issue at stake in the nego- hospital’s staffing pattern tiations. undertaken in early 2010, which “[Tufts Medical Center has] strained tensions between said they can not consider our Tufts Medical and its nursing proposal because they can staff, the hospital has offered a never set a firm limit that would one-year contract extension to have to be held to on how many members of the Massachusetts patients a nurse takes care of,” Nurses Association (MNA), the David Schildmeier, director of professional association and public communications for the union supporting Tufts’ 1,200 MNA, said. nurses. The hospital changed its Negotiations, which began staffing pattern in January in November of last year, are 2010, resulting in a savings of still ongoing, and public state- $34 per patient per day, which ments from both sides indi- Schildmeier said put eco- cate the two sides are still at nomic concerns over those of odds in advance of the current patients. contract’s expiration date of “They’re cutting millions of April 11. Negotiators will meet dollars of care,” Schildmeier MCT again tomorrow and then again said. “It’s totally an economic The Roots, pictured above, will be the main performance at this year’s Spring Fling concert. next Monday, but the future of interest. ‘Let’s cut the cost of negotiations beyond that point care to patients, the money we Roots, RJD2 to perform at Spring Fling concert is unclear. spend taking care of them, so Tufts Medical has proposed a that we can profit more money Hip-hop/neosoul group The Roots will headline this Spring Fling alongside the two professional acts, one-year extension of the cur- for ourselves.’” year’s Spring Fling concert, Concert Board announced according to Schur. rent contract that also includes Jette said the hospital, a at the annual Battle of the Bands contest on Saturday. “I think [what we’re looking forward to the most] is changes such as a 3-percent nonprofit institution, insisted DJ and instrumentalist RJD2, who creates and produces just the opportunity to perform in front of our friends raise for all nurses and has that the changes were under- a mix of hip-hop and electronic music, will also play. and perform before The Roots and get the chance to offered to maintain current taken in order to improve the The choice for Spring Fling acts is a matter of balanc- meet them,” Explicit vocalist Rashad Davis, a sopho- health and pension benefits. institution’s financial standing, ing costs with wide appeal, Concert Board co-Chair more, said. Davis said the group’s style was undefined The offer also includes propos- not for profit’s sake. Kelsey Schur, a junior, said. but that at Battle of the Bands they played music rang- als to hire additional nurses “We do not have share- “A lot of times it comes down to who’s available,” ing from funk to rock. who would be available on a holders who derive earnings Schur said, adding that she was satisfied with the result The Roots played Spring Fling in 2004. “We don’t moment’s notice to fill short- from our revenue,” Jette said. of the process. repeat within the same four years, but past that it’s term staffing needs, add charge “Whatever margin we generate “I’m extremely happy, I’m so proud of this,” Schur fine,” Schur said. nurses that serve solely as a — if any — is invested back into said. The bands will appeal to a wide range of students, The board finalized the process of securing The clinical resource and limit the the hospital. In order to invest she added. Roots in February and chose RJD2 to complement use of overtime and temporary in the vital equipment we need “They worked out on so many fronts that it was them. reassignments of nurses. to save lives and to improve just an obvious choice for us,” Schur said. “RJD2 is … “I’m very happy with how things are turning out,” “We have received very good quality, we must generate some probably not as well-known as The Roots; that’s often Schur said. feedback on the offer from our margin to reinvest.” the case with the artist that comes out before the nurses and we understand that Jette said the MNA’s pro- headliner.” For more on The Roots and RJD2, see Arts, page 5. many of them would like the posed nurse-to-patient ratios Two student bands, the American Symphony of opportunity to accept this pro- Seoul and Explicit, earned a performance spot at —by Martha Shanahan posal,” Julie Jette, director of see NURSES, page 2 Inside this issue Today’s sections News 1 Op-Ed 9 What is responsible for “Merchant of Venice” the recent resurgence meets Wall Street in a Features 3 Comics 10 of the ’90s? refreshing rendition Arts | Living 5Classifieds 13 Editorial | Letters 8 Sports Back see FEATURES, page 3 see ARTS, page 5 2 THE TUF T S DAILY NEWS Monday, April 4, 2011 Visiting the Hill this Week MONDAY House, Nelson Auditorium Sponsors: Public Health at Tufts, Tufts company SinoHub will discuss East-West Sponsors: The School of Engineering Institute of the Environment, The business connections. “Trade Liberalization When Resources are Community Health Program When and Where: 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Misallocated” “Fares Lecture: What Future for Mugar Hall 200 Details: Amit Khandelwal, assistant profes- Jerusalem?” WEDNESDAY Sponsors: The International Business Center sor of economics and finance at Columbia Details: Salim Tamari is director of the at the Fletcher School Business School, will offer a lecture on Institute for Jerusalem Studies and pro- “Maryruth Coleman: Current U.S. Economic Chinese textile exporters as part of the eco- fessor of sociology at Birzeit University, Priorities” nomics department’s Seminar Series.