THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF TUFTS UNIVERSITY EST. 1980 THE TUFTS DAILY VOLUME LXXIX, ISSUE 37 MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS. TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2020 tuftsdaily.com Tufts anticipates significant budget deficit from COVID-19 costs by Jessica Blough classes will be online only, resulting in News Editor more lost revenue. Glaser and Collins both said that the APRIL 20 — Tufts expects to come in university expects to face additional costs in drastically over budget this fiscal year due fiscal year 2021 from health care, technolo- to an estimated $15 million in unexpected gy and financial aid. Tufts is committed to costs and lost revenue resulting from the meeting all demonstrated financial need for coronavirus pandemic. Administrators its students, and Glaser said that the univer- estimate that costs associated with the sity expects that this need will increase for pandemic could rise to over $50 million many students in the coming year. next fiscal year. “We anticipate that this crisis is going In response to the unexpected costs, the to hit students and their families, and university will suspend hiring, wage and then it will require us to have additional salary increases, capital project spending financial aid that we have not budgeted,” and spending on nonessential services. Glaser said. “We’re very proud of [meet- Tufts cancelled all in-person classes ing demonstrated financial need]. And it and asked students to move off campus means that we have to prepare for that.” in mid-March to prevent the spread of the The university also expects to expe- novel coronavirus. All in-person events rience losses from philanthropy and its for the rest of the semester have been RACHEL HARTMAN / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES investments, both significant sources Ballou Hall is pictured on April 20, 2018. cancelled. of income for the university. During the All of Tufts’ schools will face signifi- Major costs “This obviously knocks that way off last major financial crisis in 2008, the cant financial losses caused by the virus, The university is expecting both a course,” Glaser said. administration projected that the school’s Patrick Collins, Tufts’ executive director decrease in revenue and an increase in Room and board reimbursements cost endowment would decrease in value by of media relations, said in an email to the costs as a result of COVID-19, Collins said. the School of Arts and Sciences and the 25%, according to the Daily, partially Daily. All areas of the budget have been Before this semester, Tufts had come School of Engineering approximately $8 due to a $20 million loss in the Bernard negatively impacted. in with a surplus budget every fiscal year million, according to Glaser. Tufts has also Madoff scandal. In response, the universi- The university is currently uncertain if since 2009, and that surplus budget was pledged to pay work study students for ty planned for $36 million in budget cuts it will reopen in the fall and is planning for expected to increase from $5.7 million their regular hours regardless of whether in fiscal year 2010. multiple possibilities, Dean of the School this year to $28.9 million by fiscal year they are working remotely through the Collins and administrators did not of Arts and Sciences James Glaser said in 2024, according to previous reporting by end of the semester. respond to questions about whether the an interview with the Daily. the Daily. The School of Arts and Sciences The university will also lose revenue unexpected costs would prompt Tufts to “I wish we could tell people, you know, was expected to run a surplus this year from clinics at its dental and veterinary raise tuition for the 2021 school year. here’s the plan, but some things have to for the first time in several years, accord- schools, which have been closed. Summer develop further,” Glaser said. ing to Glaser. programming has been scaled back and see BUDGET, page 2 Sarah Wiener elected TCU President ning such a positive campaign – I’m so by Robert Kaplan happy that we can go back to working Executive News Editor together again!” Wiener likewise thanked her APRIL 24 — Sarah Wiener was elect- campaign’s supporters and praised ed as the Tufts Community Union Gebetsberger’s candidacy in a state- (TCU) President over opponent junior ment posted to her Facebook page Grant Gebetsberger, following the following the close of the election. close of a 48-hour election window Wiener alsvo expressed excitement that began on Thursday at midnight. over her victory, applauding the con- Wiener, a junior who served on the nectedness of the Tufts community TCU Senate for three years except for she witnessed in the election. one semester abroad, won the elec- “Even though we were discon- tion with 53.89% of the vote over nected across the country, students Gebetsberger’s 44.52%, while 1.59% of showed how much they care about our voters abstained. community throughout the election. I One thousand and four voters par- am so honored to have been elected,” ticipated in the election, translating Wiener wrote in an electronic mes- to a voter turnout rate of 17.37%, sage to the Daily. “I hope everyone is according to Elections Commission staying healthy wherever they are. I (ECOM) Chair Matt Zachem, a think the election has shown that no sophomore. matter where we are, we are stronger The light turnout falls short of the together.” participation rate in the two most This year’s election was also notable recent TCU Presidential elections for its absence of any referenda on the that were contested. Last year’s was ballot. One intended referendum was 26.79%, when outgoing TCU President proposed by Tufts Students for Justice Shannon Lee, a senior, was elected. in Palestine (SJP), which sought to In 2018, turnout was 29.5% for the garner student support in calling upon COURTESY SARAH WIENER election of former TCU President Sarah Wiener is pictured. Tufts to stop sending its police on mil- Jacqueline Chen. itary training trips abroad. Wiener’s win came in the first elec- In a statement on his campaign’s “Sarah is one of the most hard-work- Lee told the Daily in March that tion cycle among recent years to be Facebook page, Gebetsberger thanked ing people I know. Her approach SJP’s referendum would be post- held over two days, instead of the his supporters for their energy despite to solving problems on campus is poned until the fall semester, when usual 24-hour window, due to the the stresses surrounding the coro- supremely creative and her commit- a possible return to campus would closure and evacuation of campus navirus pandemic and congratulated ment to follow through on ambitious help boost student participation past necessitated by the ongoing COVID- Wiener, a long-time friend and col- projects is unwavering,” Gebetsberger the minimum threshold needed so it 19 pandemic. league, on her victory. wrote. “I want to thank her for run- may pass. Please For breaking news, our content archive and recycle! exclusive content, visit Contact Us NEWS............................................1 P.O. Box 53018, OPINION ..................................12 tuftsdaily.com FEATURES.................................5 Medford, MA 02155 SPORTS ........................... BACK [email protected] /thetuftsdaily @tuftsdaily tuftsdaily tuftsdaily ARTS & LIVING ......................9 2 THE TUFTS DAILY | NEWS | Tuesday, April 28, 2020 tuftsdaily.com THE TUFTS DAILY RYAN SHAFFER Tufts-based researchers design model connecting Editor in Chief EDITORIAL Alex Viveros hospitals, college residential halls Nathan Kyn Managing Editors by Matthew McGovern “The model is valuable in the fight Duchin explained that the MGGG Tys Sweeney Associate Editor News Editor against the spread of COVID-19 because received additional funding which will Robert Kaplan Executive News Editor it helps planners visualize connections support the expansion of its modeling Alejandra Carrillo Deputy News Editor APRIL 24 — Researchers at the Metric between hospitals and colleges,” Collins project over the summer. Connor Dale News Editors Abbie Gruskin Geometry and Gerrymandering Group wrote in an email to the Daily. “As the sit- “We want to expand to all 50 states and Natasha Mayor Matt McGovern (MGGG), who usually focus on redistricting, uation continues to unfold over the spring to move to a dynamic model that can keep Sara Renkert have developed a new model in recent weeks and summer, we can use the matching to up with events as they unfold,” Duchin said. Anton Shenk Seohyun Shim to alleviate the burden on hospitals as they decide how to potentially extend our net- The topics motivating these models are Daniel Weinstein Maddie Aitken Assistant News Editors fight against the coronavirus pandemic. work to other hospitals.” the focus of Duchin’s course in the math Carolina Espinal Alex Janoff The model, which connects hospitals with He explained that the technology could department, Mathematical Modeling and Renner Kwittken residential spaces at local universities that be expanded to other universities. Tufts Computation. Bella Maharaj Stephanie Rifkin have offered to house COVID-19 patients has been promoting it to other universi- “We want to solve a relatively simple Sarah Sandlow Elli Sol Strich and health care workers, was announced in a ties by webinar and other means to assist optimal transport problem: we imagine a community-wide email from Executive Vice them in effectively responding to the flow of people from hospitals to colleges Amelia Becker Executive Features Editor Sid Anand Features Editors President Mike Howard on April 10. COVID-19 outbreak. and we want to minimize the travel time Jessie Newman Sean Ong The announcement follows Tufts’ com- Barbara Stein, vice president for oper- while respecting the limits on total capac- Michael Shames Fina Short mitment earlier this month to house up to ations, explained that Tufts will heed ity,” Duchin said.