THE TUFTS DAILY Est

Where You Sunny Read It First 48/ 39 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LXIV, NUMBER 42 FRiday, NOVEMBER 9, 2012 TUFTSDAILY.COM JoeyTracker still broken, founders look to make repairs BY MENGHAN LIU Although Vastola currently supervises Daily Editorial Board the JoeyTracker, the Department of Public and Environmental Safety (DPES) serves Since Joseph’s Transportation switched one as the liaison between Tufts and Joseph’s of its Joey shuttles three weeks ago, the GPS- Transportation. In order to fix the JoeyTracker, enabled JoeyTracker has not worked, leaving representatives from each organization will Tufts community members without a way to need to collaborate, Galvez said. determine the location of the shuttle along its “It’s kind of a three-way collaboration,” route from the Medford/Somerville campus Galvez said. “We’re trying to help in the mid- to Davis Square. dle. If there’s a GPS problem, we try to figure Unlike the old shuttle, the new bus does not out if it’s Joseph’s.” have a hardwired GPS. Although Joey drivers When Vastola first created the JoeyTracker, are provided with portable GPS devices, they the TCU Senate purchased portable GPS units are not accustomed to picking them up for for the New England Conservatory/Museum each shift, Administrative Services Supervisor School shuttle and the weekend Davis Square Louis Galvez III said. shuttle, as well as a hard-wired unit for the “It was an unfortunate oversight,” Galvez weekday Davis Square shuttle. said. “I want to make sure there’s uninter- Vastola plans to install an additional GPS rupted service until the end of the school system in the new Boston Avenue shuttle, year, and by the end of the school year, come according to Galvez. up with a long term solution so that this “I want everything up and running by the doesn’t happen again.” end of November,” Galvez said. The JoeyTracker, a free service run by Vastola, who is regularly informed via email OLIVER PORTER / THE TUFTS DAILY TuftsLife, provides real-time locations of the whenever the GPS units are offline, echoed Representatives from TuftsLife, the Department of Environmental and Public Safety and Joey and arrival times for each of its destina- the hope of fixing the problem soon. Joseph’s Transportation are working together to ensure that the JoeyTracker will be back in tions. Students have been able to use this “We’re doing everything we can to make service soon. technology through smartphone applications sure that the service survives and has a such as “JoeyTracker” and “iJumbo” or by tex- long life span and has continuous uptime,” been broken for weeks now and I don’t know someone can service us.” ting “FindJoey” to 41411. Vastola said. what’s going on.” Aside from the lack of GPS units, stu- However, these apps have also been mal- Although they are not involved with the To fix the problem, Galvez is considering hir- dents have reacted favorably to the new Joey functioning since they download data from management of the JoeyTracker, the Office for ing another service to manage the JoeyTracker shuttle, Joseph Albano IV, director of market- the original JoeyTracker website. As of now, Campus Life (OCL) has fielded many student beyond TuftsLife and Vastola. ing, sales and communication for Joseph’s the official shuttle schedules are only available complaints, Director Joe Golia said. “We’re working together with two other Transportation, told the Daily in an email. on the Tufts Administrative Services website. “We also do not want to be the office that is groups,” Galvez said. “It’s not the easiest thing He is confident that a GPS system will be Former TuftsLife President Mike Vastola constantly getting yelled at,” Golia said. in the world sometimes to coordinate.” installed in the vehicle before too long. (E ’11) created the JoeyTracker two years The two JoeyTracker displays, installed in If taken out of the hands of TuftsLife, the “[We] appreciate riders’ patience with the ago after the Tufts Community Union (TCU) the Mayer Campus Center two summers ago, responsibility for managing the JoeyTracker temporary unavailability of GPS technology,” Senate conceived the idea in 2000 but never now show unintelligible codes, Golia said. could fall to DPES, Galvez said. Albano said. “All Tufts routes are currently followed through. “This is a building for the students, and “The problem we would have at this equipped with GPS units, and we are working “We took it over, and we got it done,” Vastola if something’s broken, I want it fixed,” Golia point is the [software] expertise,” he said. with Tufts to insure all vehicles and backup said. “We were pretty happy about it.” said. “It really bothers me that this thing has “The big thing is, if there’s an issue, that vehicles will be fully equipped.” Symposium to address current Cuban issues BY ANNABE ll E ROBE R TS “This is a good time to bring the Contributing Writer topic to Tufts and open the issue for debate on campus,” Becque said. A symposium titled “Cuba (Re) A large part of the symposium will Considered: New Perspectives be to highlight the research students from Havana” will be held today in conducted while abroad, according the Remis Sculpture Court at the to Stern. The presentations will pro- Aidekman Arts Center to discuss con- vide insight into the unique social temporary social and academic issues and political happenings in Cuba, in Cuba. he said. The event will include presenta- “In Cuba they do things different- tions from five of the nine students ly,” Stern said. “Their health care, who conducted independent research their education system, the way they in Havana, Cuba for six weeks over deal with hurricanes.” the summer within a program run by The symposium is particular- Norfolk State University. The research ly important due to a general lack topics include race, health, agricul- of knowledge about Cuba among ture, economy and alternative energy Americans, Stern noted. JUSTIN MCCALLUM / THE TUFTS DAILY in Cuba. “In the media you get no sense A new student group hopes to take action to better the education system in the U.S. The other speakers include Gloria about what’s happening in Cuba Rolando, Tomas Robaina, Jorge besides the negative things and the Fornet and Roberto Zurbano, four political things,” he said. “In our Student group brings new Cuban academics who worked with country there is incredible ignorance the students last summer at La Casa about what is going on in Cuba, even de las Americas, a subsidiary of the within academic circles.” education reform dialogue University of Havana. Becque agreed, explaining that This summer marks the first time Cubans know more about the United BY SHANNON VA vr A and to take action. that Tufts students have participated States than Americans know about Contributing Writer Junior Lauren Schonberger began the in a program of this nature in Cuba, Cuba. Tufts SFER chapter with the hope that that Ruben Stern, director of the Latino “To people in Cuba, the [United Education reform may not have been Tufts students could begin to influence Center, said. States] is very important. It has a among the hottest topics in the run-up the development of education reform in The symposium is particularly rel- lot to do with how they live their to the recent elections, but a new stu- Massachusetts. evant now, as it is a time of political daily lives and the political realities dent group is taking matters into their “There are so many ways to do some- transformation both in Cuba and in that they face,” she said. “It seems own hands. Tufts Students for Education thing about that in Boston and as a stu- the United States, according to senior mind-boggling that people know so Reform (TSFER), which formed this dent at Tufts,” Schonberger said. “We are Averi Becque, who will be presenting semester, has two key objectives: to raise her research at the symposium. see CUBA, page 2 awareness about education reform issues see EDUCATION, page 2 Inside this issue Today’s sections Steven Spielberg’s The field hockey team News | Features 1 Classifieds 7 “Lincoln” is Oscar weathered a winter -nomination worthy storm to win 8-0 in the Arts & Living 3Sports Back but not spectacular. first round of the NCAA Comics 6 Tournament. see ARTS, page 3 see SPORTS, back 2 THE TUF T S DAILY NEWS | Features Friday, November 9, 2012 THE TUFTS DAILY Tufts SFER partners with Teach for America REBECCA K. SANTIAGO EDUCATION is what will make a difference. the purpose of the course. I can accept Editor-in-Chief continued from page 1 “What I love about education reform that [tests are] a measure, I just don’t think EditoriaL raising awareness and getting people to is that there is no right answer. Rather, they show us everything.” understand that there are issues in our there is a right answer but we just don’t One of the central tenets of the non- Ben Kochman education system that can be changed, know exactly what works best yet,” profit SFER as a whole is to connect col- Falcon Reese and at the same time, taking action. We Schonberger said. lege students in SFER chapters with non- Managing Editors are people who know there are issues “Education reform has come to mean profit organizations dedicated to educa- with education reform and who want to something very specific. Ten years ago, tion reform. One such organization, Teach Jenna Buckle Executive News Editor do something about that.” if you said ‘education reform’ I think for America, focuses on creating a pipeline Shana Friedman News Editors Lizz Grainger Tufts SFER, which is not yet recognized it would have meant a whole other set of great teachers to go into the teaching Stephanie Haven by the Tufts Community Union Judiciary of ideas and policies ..

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