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Where You Read It First Partly Cloudy 53/34 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LVIII, NUMBER 37 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2009 TUFTSDAILY.COM Flu spike taxes health care providers Tufts celebrates Black BY ELLEN KAN “This is a sign of a pandem- Daily Editorial Board ic: a new strain of flu that hasn’t been around for a long time and Solidarity Day Tufts has seen an increasing can start at any time of the year,” number of students with influen- Higham said. “Flu cases are now as BY SAUMYA VAISHAMPAYAN “Let’s make today the day when za-like illness (ILI), particularly on high or higher than they’ve been at Daily Editorial Board we get involved, honor our purpose the Medford/Somerville campus, the peak of any winter season I’ve [and] revive black solidarity on this over the last few weeks. experienced in the last 10 years.” Tufts students and faculty gath- campus,” junior Matthew Kincaid Health Service has seen a dra- The rapid rise in cases has ered yesterday morning at the cam- said in a student address during the matic increase in cases of ILI, mainly occurred on Tufts’ under- pus center’s lower patio to celebrate two-hour event. “The only way we which progressed from 22 to 55 graduate campus, according to Black Solidarity Day, an annual will ever truly have black solidarity and 66 new cases each week in Kanchan Ganda, a member of day of reflection that aims to unite is if we come together.” the first three weeks of October, the university-wide Task Force on the African American community according to Director of Health Pandemic Planning. around a set of goals. see SOLIDARITY, page 2 Service Margaret Higham. “The undergrad campus has a The Massachusetts Department larger student body and this is an of Public Health said that it is infection that gets transmitted very unnecessary to test every patient easily,” said Ganda, a professor at with flu-like symptoms for H1N1 the School of Dental Medicine. influenza, or swine flu. As a Preexisting sanitation protocol result, it remains unknown how has helped contain the number of many cases of ILI are actually the cases at the dental school, accord- H1N1 virus. ing to Ganda. But signs indicate that most of MIRIAM ROSS-HIRSCH/TUFTS DAILY “We have a lot of infection con- these cases are probably swine flu. An increase in influenza-like illness trol protocol for patient: care masks, Health Service sends two sam- struck Tufts’ Medford/Somerville goggles, gloves. Our numbers are ples a week for testing and, two campus last month. less for that reason,” Ganda said. weeks ago, both samples tested This increase mirrors trends positive. Meanwhile, many rapid falls, Higham said. across other college campuses flu tests, used to confirm influenza This volume of flu cases match- and Massachusetts in general. The with same-day results, have come es or surpasses that of the typical Centers for Disease Control and AALOK KANANI/TUFTS DAILY up positive for type-A flu, a cat- winter flu seasons, which generally History Professor Peniel Joseph yesterday delivered the keynote address egory into which the H1N1 virus start in January. see H1N1, page 2 for Black Solidarity Day. Senate trustee representatives switch positions Two trustee representatives on the Tufts pened “once or twice” in the past, Dixon said. Community Union (TCU) Senate have traded Pickard said that the switch does not change committees with each other. his or Weldai’s goals or ideas, but the respective Senior Duncan Pickard is now the represen- committees are a “better fit” for both of them. tative to the Board of Trustees’ Administration “I’m really excited to talk to a committee and Finance Committee. Pickard inherits the that’s more relevant to the projects I’m working seat from senior Adam Weldai, who has taken on,” Pickard said. Pickard’s place as the representative to the Pickard said that his main priority as University Advancement Committee. trustee representative is to move forward The third TCU Senate trustee representative, on renovations and improvements to the senior Emily Maretsky, who is a columnist and campus center. Administration and Finance editor for the Daily, remains in her role as aca- oversees expenditures for facilities, so any demic affairs representative. campus center projects would fall under its The Senate assigned Weldai and Pickard purview, according to Dixon. to their original positions at the beginning of Weldai said his main focus is on improving the semester; the two did not choose their Tufts’ community relations and the univer- assignments. In a meeting with Secretary of sity’s relationship with the surrounding areas the Corporation Linda Dixon, the two quickly of Medford and Somerville, which made him a discovered that they would be much more good candidate for the University Advancement VIRGINIA BLEDSOE/TUFTS DAILY suited to each other’s positions. committee position. The TCU Senate is considering offering community representatives in the body full voting rights. “When trustee representatives are selected “Adam is very interested in community rela- by Senate, they tend to have a particular issue tions at the grassroots level,” Dixon said. that they’re especially interested in … It just Each trustee representative will have the TCU Senate community turns out that the issue Duncan was most opportunity to make half-hour presentations to interested in didn’t fall under the purview of his committee during a series of trustee meet- the committee that he was assigned to,” Dixon ings in February, Dixon said. Both Weldai and reps hope to gain vote said. “The same was true of Adam.” Pickard said they are looking forward to making “It was one of those funny moments where the addresses. BY EMMA GOLDSTEIN Community representatives are members the light bulb just goes on,” Weldai said. Contributing Writer of TCU-recognized student groups which Such a switch is not unprecedented. It’s hap- — by Matt Repka stand for their respective constituencies on Not all members of the Tufts the Senate. Community Union (TCU) Senate have There are four student organizations that the same rights, and some senators are have community representatives on the Web site to off er advising center for students trying to change that. body: the Asian-American Alliance, Queer Community repre- Straight Alliance, Pan-African Alliance and BY CARA PALEY date this information. The Web site would sentatives are currently Association of Latin American Students. Contributing Writer be an advising center for Tufts students.” allowed to vote on all Representatives are elected in internal elec- Luo said that the advising process cur- TCU Senate issues except tions run by the Elections Commission. The Education Committee of the Tufts rently caters to students looking for advi- financial matters. Some Those representatives do not have Community Union (TCU) Senate is look- sors in Tufts’ largest and most popular say this restriction lowers strictly defined roles, according to Scarano, ing to create a Web site to facilitate the departments, including international rela- the status of community a senior. advising process and create a resource tions (IR) and history, for which informa- representatives on the “Right now, people don’t know that they that students can use to learn more about tion on professors is readily available on body, inspiring them to exist and that they are sitting members of prospective faculty advisors. department Web sites, according to Luo. push to expand the pow- the body,” she told the Daily on Saturday. “At The Web site would offer exten- “The history department Web site was ers of the representatives to effectively make times it’s a bit unclear.” sive information on the specialties and redesigned so that the faculty members them full members of the Senate. Opponents of the measure counter that research initiatives of the advisors within each have a biography, awards and major “I think it’s causing a serious rift on the extension of full voting rights would each department on campus, according to publications section,” history professor the body,” TCU Vice President Antonella lead to potential conflicts of interest and the TCU Senator Nunu Luo, a sophomore and Jeanne Penvenne said. “We have worked Scarano said at the Sunday, Oct. 25 Senate problem of giving some students dispro- chair of the Education Committee. towards making sure that what’s on the meeting, referencing the voting gap for “The process is too all over the place these students. see COMMUNITY REPS, page 2 now,” Luo said. “We’re trying to consoli- see ADVISING, page 2 Inside this issue Today’s Sections Sufjan Steven’s latest The volleyball team saw News 1 Editorial | Letters 8 release defies classifi- split results last weekend, cation, mixing instru- losing to Trinity but still Features 3 Op-Ed 9 ments and genres to winning the right to host Arts & Living 5Classifieds 10 varied succeeds. NESCAC Tournament. Comics 7 Sports Back see ARTS, page 5 see SPORTS, back page 2 THE TUFTS DAILY NEWS Tuesday, November 3, 2009 Senate contemplates changes to community representatives’ role COMMUNITY REPS The discussion comes as Senate that of a student not electing a com- The seat must be confirmed by a sentatives than senators,” said continued from page 1 members reevaluate the role of munity representative. campus-wide vote every four years. Guzman, a sophomore. portionate representation — or, in these students on the body. “For the most part the ideology Since the creation of the precur- Meanwhile, Lisnerva Nuez, the effect, two representative votes in “The answer’s not to definitely behind it is a conflict of interest, sors to community representatives community representative for the matters before the Senate.