Where You Read It First Sunny 71/57 THE TUFTS DAILY Est. 1980 VOLUME LX, NUMBER 8 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2010 TUFTSDAILY.COM ‘Most dangerous’ ranking draws ire BY MICHAEL DEL MORO with more than 6,000 enrolled stu- Daily Editorial Board dents and residential facilities. The Daily Beast aggregated data from A new listing last week ranked 2006 to 2008, the most recent years Tufts as the most dangerous cam- available. pus in the nation, beating out The report said that 36 forcible 457 other institutions. University rapes, 100 robberies, 119 aggra- administrators have disputed the vated assaults, 174 burglaries, 49 label, calling the ranking “extreme- car thefts and one arson occurred ly inaccurate” and “based on at Tufts in those years. flawed methodology.” As the rankings generated much The Daily Beast on Sept. 14 local media coverage, university published its second annual sur- administrators decried what they vey of the country’s most danger- called an incomprehensive and ous schools, a listing based on data uneven methodology the website compiled by the U.S. Department used to determine campus crime JODI BOSIN/TUFTS DAILY of Education, FBI and Secret rates. The 13 freshmen candidates for the Tufts Community Union Senate introduced themselves at a public forum last night. Service. The numbers are based “In terms of the rankings, no, on incidents reported to campus we certainly don’t think that they or local police, according to the actually represent the situation Freshman Senate candidates news website. with regard to safety at Tufts. I The National Center for don’t know anyone who seriously Education Statistics, the federal believes that Tufts is the most dan- share ideas at Hotung forum body that collects education data, gerous campus in the country,” groups Tufts’ Medford/Somerville Director of Public Relations Kim BY BRENT YARNELL With less than a month of Valdes, a senior, said that he is and Boston campuses as one Thurler said. Daily Editorial Board campus life under their belts, excited by this year’s array of entity even though the Medford/ The Department of Education’s many of the candidates have candidates. “I am really moti- Somerville campus is located miles crime statistics are not uniform, In advance of Wednesday’s already generated ideas to vated by their energy and can’t from Boston. The Daily Beast fol- Thurler said, because some institu- election, 13 freshmen last night improve Tufts. wait to have those seven seats lowed the center’s delineation. made their pitches to repre- Several candidates said that filled,” Valdes said. The rankings covered colleges see DANGEROUS, page 2 sent the Class of 2014 in the improving common rooms in Freshman Jacob Wessel, who Tufts Community the dorms and installing hand attended the event, said the Union (TCU) dryers in dorm bathrooms forum was a good introduc- Senate in Hotung were worthy projects to pur- tion to the candidates’ leader- Café. sue. ship styles. Lia Weintraub, Candidates also cited “You could tell which ones Andrew Hunter, improving communication were being more upfront than John Asare, Josh between the administration, others,” Wessel said. “You Youner, Jesse the Senate and the student could get a feel for the per- Wang, Joe Thibodeau, Christie body as an important objec- son.” Maciejewski, Chris Ghabdan, tive. The candidates spoke to an Sofia Shield, Allie Can Lei, Joe The candidates delivered engaged Hotung crowd of more Donenfeld, Patrick Bressette opening statements and than 30 students. “The turnout and Laura Lasko are each seek- answered questions from Tufts was great,” Valdes said. “I was ing one of the seven Senate Elections Commission (ECOM) really happy to see so many seats allocated to the fresh- or from the audience. AALOK KANANI/TUFTS DAILY man class. TCU Vice President Tomas see FORUM, page 2 An emergency call box forms part of Tufts’ public-safety apparatus. Community representative ballot questions take center stage Referendum 3 extends full voting rights Referendum 4 witholds some privileges BY BRENT YARNELL contrast, the task force’s proposal, BY MATT REPKA Under Referendum 4, the community Daily Editorial Board now known as Referendum 4, does Daily Editorial Board representatives’ own groups, rather than not grant community representatives the entire student body, elect them to the Tufts students starting at midnight full voting rights. The second of the two ballot questions, Senate. will vote on proposed reforms to Currently, community representa- Referendum 4, makes fewer changes to the Like Referendum 3, Referendum 4 calls the Tufts Community Union (TCU) tives represent minority communi- Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate’s for the establishment of a diversity and Senate’s community rep- ties on the Senate and can vote on all existing community repre- community affairs (DCA) officer position resentative position that questions except those concerning sentative position. — a full voting member of the Senate is intended to ensure fiscal matters. Four TCU groups — the Referendum 4 is the who will chair the Culture, Ethnicity and adequate representation Asian Students Union, the Association product of last semes- Community Affairs Committee. But unlike of minority’s concerns of Latin American Students, the ter’s Diversity Task Force, under Referendum 3, the DCA role would on the body. Pan-African Alliance and the Queer convened by then-TCU be filled by an appointee chosen by the One of these pro- Straight Alliance — currently have the President Brandon Rattiner community representatives instead of an posals is Referendum 3, right to elect community representa- (LA ’10). It makes changes elected senator. which grants community represen- tives. to the community representatives’ role The largest difference between the two tatives the right to vote on all ques- Both proposals would shift the but does not extend full voting power to referenda is their position on granting tions put before the Senate, including responsibility of selecting commu- them, the largest factor distinguishing it community representatives voting rights those concerning the disbursement nity representatives away from the from Referendum 3. on financial issues. Under the current of the Student Activities Fee. four existing student groups and Under the existing system, four constit- Senate bylaws, community representa- Dissenting members of the Diversity to the four culture centers — the uencies have community representatives tives can vote in the Senate except on Task Force that was convened to Africana Center, the Asian American in the Senate: the Association of Latin matters concerning the disbursement of study the issue — seniors Chartise Center, the Latino Center and the American Students, the Asian Students the Student Activities Fee. Clark, Nadia Nibbs and Carolina LGBT Center — and other potential Union, the Pan-African Alliance and the Referendum 3 would extend fiscal vot- Ramirez — authored the Community groups. Queer Straight Alliance. ing rights to community representatives, Empowerment and Equality Model Senior Matthew Kincaid, who Under both new proposals, any TCU- while Referendum 4 would not. (CEE), which grants community rep- helped author CEE, said the existence recognized group can collect 250 signa- Junior Aaron Bartel, a former senator resentatives more influence and has tures and request to be granted a commu- become known as Referendum 3. In see THREE, page 2 nity representative in a school-wide vote. see FOUR, page 2 Inside this issue Today’s Sections Gargoyles Executive News 1 Editorial | Letters 8 Chef Jason Santos Photography exhibit recounts ‘Hell’s provokes thought on Features 3 Op-Ed 9 Kitchen’ experience. immigration issues. Arts | Living 5Classifieds 10 Comics 7 Sports Back see FEATURES, page 3 see ARTS, page 5 2 THE TUFTS DAILY NEWS Tuesday, September 21, 2010 Panel presents comm. rep reforms Referendum 4 supporters warn against FORUM that community representatives be continued from page 1 elected through a school-wide vote. compromising electoral equality freshmen interested in what the can- “Centers like the Africana Center FOUR Korovikov and senior Ian Hainline, also didates had to say.” have very specified needs and the continued from page 1 a senator, presented Referendum 4 at a “The candidates were very artic- people that are involved there are and TCU treasurer, explained in an e-mail forum in Hotung Café last night. ulate, very clear in their ideas for very educated on those needs, and to the Daily that he fears this extension As the two proposals undergo consider- the student body,” freshman Kwame I’m very wary that a school-wide of voting rights would compromise the ation, some senators expressed reluctance Firempong, another forum attendee, election wouldn’t reach the level nec- Senate’s impartiality in disbursing the to voice their support for one proposal said. essary,” Korovikov said. activities fee by injecting community-spe- over another. Hainline stressed the impor- A panel discussion on the commu- Nibbs disagreed, however, and said cific biases into the process. tance of publicizing both proposals as nity representatives referenda, which that the entire student body should Senator Yulia Korovikov, a sophomore his reason for presenting the referendum, will also be voted on Wednesday, fol- be responsible for electing the com- and chair of the Senate’s Administration rather than a personal attachment to the lowed the candidates forum. munity representatives because they and Policy (A&P) Committee, expressed proposal. Two panelists introduced each handle issues that concern all stu- strong support for Referendum 4. “There’s a lot of confusion on this issue, proposition and answered questions dents. “I don’t think that being in the majority and a lot of students who I think would be from the audience. “Half of the student body doesn’t means that you deserve less of a say in interested to hear both sides,” Hainline Charles Skold and Senator know where to fill out a bias incident how you spend money on this campus,” said.