• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Where You Read It First Sunny 47/35 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LX, NUMBER 52 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2010 TUFTSDAILY.COM Federal earmark ban could deal blows to city, university BY MICHAEL DEL MORO they get goes away, that would be a Daily Editorial Board problem.” The university is in the process of In light of the announcement by negotiating ways for the appropriation U.S. House of Representatives Minority to sidestep its designation as an ear- Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) earlier mark, Bacow said. this month that House Republicans will On the local level, the elimination of ban congressional earmarks when they earmarks could potentially restrict proj- take control of the body in January, ects, as well as cut back long-running Tufts and its surrounding communities programs. are bracing for an even greater tighten- Somerville Board of Aldermen ing of the belt. President John Connolly said conser- Senators and representatives rely on vative attacks on earmarks may be earmarks as a source of funding for proj- misplaced, and banning them could ects and programs in their respective have adverse effects in communities states. Although they account for less nationwide. than one-half of 1 percent of the fed- “In the very general sense, it sounds eral budget, earmarks have increasingly all well and good until there’s a par- COURTESY EVAN PARKER Delta Upsilon (DU) brothers Marty Finnegan, Andrew Rayner, Evan Parker and Zak Kline, left become the focus of conservative ire. ticular economic situation, and you can to right, in the DU house with bags of food destined for the Somerville Homeless Coalition. For Tufts, the ban will likely have mini- pick any place in the country,” Connolly mal effects, as the university receives only told the Daily. a small amount of money from federal Education in Massachusetts, both at earmarks, according to Vice President of the primary, secondary and university Greeks deliver Thanksgiving University Relations Mary Jeka. Still, she levels, could face considerable setbacks said, the university will not be able to if earmarks get hung up by legislators in entirely evade the impact of the ban. Washington, he said. meal to the homeless “Overall, the amount of funding In particular, the lack of research received from congressional earmarks grants from the federal government’s BY CORINNE SEGAL Most of the fraternities and sorori- is modest,” Jeka said in an e-mail to the National Institutes of Health could pro- Daily Editorial Board ties lent their support to the project, Daily. “Although the support received duce a decline in the quality of instruc- Parker said. from earmarks is not great, the ban will tion and result in fewer students work- An effort by the Greek community at “I got really positive feedback and require efforts to find alternative sourc- ing in labs, according to Connolly. Tufts recently gave dozens of families positive responses so we decided to go es of funding to minimize the impact on “It’s going to have a very negative in Somerville a chance to celebrate this through with it,” he said. staff and projects.” trickle-down effect,” he said. “We’re Thanksgiving. Parker and Paolo assigned certain food The primary project that may be going to be doing an awful lot less in Tufts fraternities and sororities, along items to participating Greek chapters. affected is the Jean Mayer Human terms of money coming through.” with the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Fraternities and sororities dropped off Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Connolly foresees “extremely difficult Affairs, donated 100 Thanksgiving meals the food items at DU on Nov. 19 and 22. run through the Friedman School of consequences” for Somerville if the fed- to families through the Somerville Paolo also bought 100 turkeys Nutrition Science and Policy for the U.S. eral government does not continue allo- Homeless Coalition (SHC), according to financed through private donations and Department of Agriculture (USDA). cating funds that the city has become Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs funds that the Office of Fraternity and In a recent interview with the Daily, accustomed to receiving. In the face of Tanya McGinn Paolo. Sorority Affairs sets aside for commu- University President Lawrence Bacow the impending lack of federal money, Delta Upsilon (DU) Philanthropy Chair nity service initiatives. said that the research center receives an the city is doing everything it can to Evan Parker, who organized the dona- DU brothers, along with fraternity and annual appropriation from the USDA keep certain programs out of jeopardy, tion, said that the Thanksgiving effort sorority affairs intern Daniel Flowers, for a cost-of-living increase, which is he said. was unprecedented in its nature and size. purchased other food at Shaws and cre- technically considered an earmark. “We’re not optimistic that the new “This was the first time we did anything ated 100 individual food bags to donate, Though Tufts does not depend on ear- Congress is going to be overly gen- like this,” Parker, a sophomore, said. according to Parker. marks beyond this funding, the ban erous in dealing with the state of Paolo, who first proposed the proj- Parker, along with Paolo and fellow could prove challenging for the research Massachusetts,” he said. ect, said that Director of Community DU brothers Andrew Rayner and Zak center to overcome, he said. The Green Line Extension project, Relations Barbara Rubel recommended Kline, both sophomores, on Nov. 19 deliv- “That’s our exposure to earmarks,” designed to expand the T into Medford the SHC as a candidate to receive the ered the food to the SHC’s Davis Square Bacow said. “It’s a modest exposure for and Somerville, is one such program food donations and put her in touch with us. I’m not terribly concerned about it, the organization’s executive director. see THANKSGIVING, page 2 but if the cost-of-living increase which see EARMARKS, page 2 With future in mind, MBTA implements expansions B Y BIANCA BLAKESLEY double-decker cars, purchased AND RACHEL RAMPINO in 2008, are now set to be phased Daily Staff Writers in beginning next month until December 2012. MetroWest Regional Transit The MBTA last month introduced Authority (MWRTA) buses will the Silver Line Direct Connect, a new soon accept fare payment from branch of the Silver Line that runs riders using the Massachusetts between Dudley Square Station and Bay Transport Authority’s (MBTA) South Station. CharlieCard, just one of several new In addition, the MBTA also last revamps to the Boston area mass month began testing expanded transportation network. trains on some routes, introduc- The MBTA announced the move ing three-car trains on selected last month as part of several new branches of the Green Line, rather improvements to the T system. than the customary two. Beyond increasing the reach of its Rivera said the MBTA plans CharlieCard system, the T has also for buses from 10 other regional introduced three-car trains on its transportation authorities (RTAs) Green Line, extended its Silver Line in the Greater Boston area to and unveiled plans to upgrade its eventually accept CharlieCards commuter rail. as well. The MBTA has also bought 75 “This is the pilot; this is the first new commuter rail cars for a sum one. What we want to do, and we of $190 million, according to MBTA DAILY FILE PHOTO spokesperson Lydia Rivera. The see MBTA, page 2 The MBTA is introducing longer trains and new routes and plans to expand its CharlieCard system. Inside this issue Today’s Sections The Tufts Student Fund The characters in News 1 Editorial | Letters 8 is fine-tuning its mes- ‘Fever Chart’ seek to sage to appeal to more form connections amid Features 3 Op-Ed 9 potential participants. Middle East tensions. Arts | Living 5Classifieds 11 Comics 7 Sports Back see FEATURES, page 3 see ARTS, page 5 2 THE TUFTS DAILY NEWS Monday, November 29, 2010 Greeks participate in Thanksgiving charity project THANKSGIVING continued from page 1 office and on Nov. 22 to a food pantry on Franklin Street. Every family received a food bag, a turkey and a turkey pan, Paolo said. Zeta Beta Tau and Zeta Psi joint- ly donated canned vegetables, while Alpha Epsilon Pi gave cranberry sauce. Sigma Phi Epsilon donated cake and brownie mix, and DU contributed bags of stuffing. Alpha Tau Omega and Delta Tau Delta together gave a roasting pan. Sigma Nu and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life donated muffin mix. Sororities Chi Omega and Alpha Omicron Pi donated boxed pota- toes and canned gravy, respectively, while Alpha Phi provided pasta mixes, according to Parker. The food deliveries were positively received, Parker said. “It turned out really well,” Parker said. “By the time we dropped them off, there were already lines of people ready to pick them up. … The people getting it COURTESY TUFTS UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHY were very happy, along with the people The Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, operated by Tufts for the USDA, receives an annual appropriation technically who worked at the homeless shelter. designated as an earmark. New congressional leadership will put such earmarks’ future in doubt beginning in January. They were really grateful.” Paolo echoed the sentiment, saying that the SHC was amazed at the volume Federal ban on earmarks could mean cutbacks for of the donations. “The executive director said that he education and development projects was pretty skeptical that we had actu- ally come up with 100 turkeys,” she said. EARMARKS Transportation Authorization Bill, er quantity of legislation, namely smaller “They were really wonderful and obvi- continued from page 1 which legislates the amount of federal bills with local funding initiatives, which ously they were incredibly appreciative that the city is working to safeguard, funds allocated to federal, state and could slow down appropriations to cit- and thankful for all of the donations and Connolly said, though he was unsure municipal transit facilities.

Load more

  12

Copy Link