(‘Nncre YPLRead It First Wednesday, Aumst 27,1997 Volume XXXV, Number 11 lass matriculates today byLAUFtENHEIST academic study, but they also want Daily Editorial Board Largest class in University history. .. to make a difference,” he said, not- When the 1,260 members ofthe ing that the class has a “strong class of 200 1 matriculate today, commences orientation activities interest in helping others.” they will commence a four-year among 12,292candidates, the larg- Early Decision, indicating that “In one capacity or another, journey as the largest class in the est applicant pool in Tufts’ his- Tufts was their first-choice school. they’re going to play a leadership University’s history, which in- tory. “One of the biggest changes in role in the future,” he added. cludes 80 more students than in In the past six years, it has the last couple of years has been The class of 2001 is a very di- last year’s record-sized freshman become increasingly difficult to the number of students who have verse composite of individuals, class. get into Tufts. Last year, the num- Tufts as their first choice,” said with students hailing from 49 states According to the Office of ber of applicants jumped 40 per- Dean ofAdmission David Cuttino. and 5 1 countries. Six percent ofthe Undergraduate Admissions, these cent. A record high 35 percent of In a faculty meeting last Febru- class is African American, 11 per- students were selected from the class of 2001 were accepted ary, Me1 Bernstein, Vice President cent is Asian American, and five percent is Hispanic American. Daily file photo of Arts, Sciences, and Technol- ogy, announced the drop of the A quarter ofthe freshman class MaEy protests have taken University’sretention rate from 88 comes from rural areas or small place on campus this month. to 87 percent, resulting in75 fewer towns,athirdwillarrivefrom sub- undergraduates on campus than urban areas, 23 percent from me- previously thought. diumcities, while 19percentcomes UNICCO To compensate for this defi- from largecities. ciency in upperclassmen, 135 “We have a growing popula- transfer students were admitted tion that is coming from a wider rotests this year, up from 80 transfers last range of experiences,” Cuttino year. said. “It’s an interesting, very ca- This year’s average SAT ver- contract pable group of people,” Cuttino bal scores of the incoming stu- said. “They’ve set some very high dentsare between6 10and690and goals for themselves.” the SAT math scores are between decision Cuttino characterized the fresh- 630and710. by KAREN EPSTEIN man class as one interested in suc- The majority of the students Daily Editorial Board Daily file photo ceeding not only academically but come from public schools, how- Over the past month, the Uni- The incoming class will hear speacches today from Provost Sol also in extracurricular activities. ever 38 percent attended private high schools,and five percent were versity as been under a storm of Gittleman, as well as many other faculty members. “Most of [the students] are in- protest from formerUNICC0 work- tendingtogoontodosome form of enrolled in religious schools. ers, the University’s cleaning ser- vice, after the transition to a new custodial contractor, International Triples await new class Service System (1SS)on July 30. Many of the 1 10 workers who Largest ever freshman class disrupts housing lost their jobs, along with labor activists and local supporters, dis- by PETE SANBORN year’s Icttery through the Advantage Points tributed fliers and held demon- Daily Editorial Board system. “This system gives them the ability to strations in an effort to pressure Today, 78 freshmen will arrive on campus to choose in the top bracket of the sophomore the University to rehire longtime meet not one but two roommates. In order to class,” Gardiner said, adding that Advantage workers. accommodate the largest freshman class in Points have been used in years when triples According to Fran Fanning, c Tufts history, the Residential Life Office cre- were necessary. Photo by Rony ShramI business agent of Local 254 ofthe ated 26 freshman triples, while denying hous- While 55 ofthe 135 transfer students were Houston Hall Service Employees International ing to 55 transfer students and several upper- not offered housing for the first semester, Union, the union that represents classmen awaiting room assignments, said Gardiner guaranteed they would be housed on on theresidency requirement redemption, cre- both ISS and UNICCO, 43 former Anne Gardiner, DirectorofResidential Life. campus for the spring semester. ated last year to permit students to live off UNICCO employees were hired by Using square footage to determine the iarg- She added that several juniors waiting for campus during their sophomore year. Accord- ISS. Most of these employees, he est rooms, Gardiner said the Residential Life housing assignments have not been removed ing to Gardiner, 45 students were accepted into said, were hired when the Univer- Office created triples in Houston, Hodgdon, from thewaitinglist.“WecouIdn’t houseany- the program last year, but only 30 chose to live sity first contracted out its clean- Carmichael, and Hill Halls. one who came after the lottery asking for off campus. ing services in 1994 to UNICCO. “We started with 32 triples, but we are down housing,”Gardinersaid. “Westill have alistof “We could have the situation where more At that time, 7 1 former Tufts em- to 26,” Gardiner said, explaining that triples are people asking for spaces.” folks may actually want to apply to live off ployees were hired by UNICCO. eliminated as incoming students withdraw their While the freshmen are feeling the immedi- campus,” she said. All oftheformerUNICC0 workers enrollment. “Wewill trytogodown further. If ate effects of the housing shortage, Gardiner Despite the housing shortage this year, were offered opportunities to in- anyone announces that they are not coming, said next year’s junior class will be most af- Gardiner said that she has no plans to build a terview with ISS, according to of- we slide people around and will continue to do fectedbythe housing squeeze. “Next year will new dorm. “In order to cover the cost of a new ficials from Local 254 and the Uni- that.” be problematic. The junior spacing will be residence hall, the University would need to versity. Many longtime workers, She added, however, that once the fresh- reduced,” she said. build somethingroughly the sizeofthis build- however, are appalled at :SS’s of- men have arrived, they will have the option of “The squeeze is always on the junior class ing,” Gardiner said from her office in South fer of up to $3 less per hour for changing rooms or remaining in the triple, because there are enough singles on campus Hall. some workers. saying, “We don’t randomly pluck people out to house any senior who wants to be housed. “Thatwouldchangewhatwethinkofhous- Kevin Tarpley, a community oftheir rooms.” We will figure out as many strategies as pos- ing, and would require students to commit to Freshmen living in triples beyond Oct. 1, sible to deal with the situation.” see UNICCO, page 9 will be given preferential treatment in next One such strategy is an increased emphasis see TRIPLES, page 9 Tufts falls one spot in ranking of best universities by LEAH MASSAR At the top of the first tier, Harvard Rankings for schools that did not volun- egory. Daily Editorial Board University and Princeton University share tarily provide information were obtained The percentage of Tufts first-year stu- After achieving the 22nd spot in U.S. the number-one position, while Duke Uni- from informationfrom the USDepartmentof dents in the top ten percent of their high News and WorldReport’sannual national versity and Yale University are tied for Education and data from past US. News school classes increased by one percent- college ranking last year, Tufts remains in third. surveys. age point over last year to rest at 63 percent. the top 25 this year, dropping to number Although Tufts surpassed Georgetown Tufts’ reputation score is 3.0 out 4.0, Tufts’ student-to-faculty ratio is 1 1 to 1, 23. University last year, Georgetown is now which is the same score Brandeis Univer- which is the same as number-three ranked Tufts is not alone in the 23rd spot, how- tied with the University of Virginia for the sity received, and is lower than several of Duke and lower than number-five ranked ever; Carnegie Mellon University, the Uni- 2 1st berth. the universities ranked below Tufts in the Stanford University’s 15 to 1 ratio. versity ofCalifornia-Berkeley, and the Uni- Accordingtothepublication, U.S. News overall rankings. While Cuttino did not deny the impact versity ofMichigan-Ann ArboralljoinTufis bases its rankings on many criteria, includ- According to the magazine, 65 percent of that the US.News rankings have on admis- in a four-way tie. ing reputation, selectivity, retention rate, the University’s classes have fewerthan 20 sions, he did caution people not to put too Dean ofAdmissions David Cuttino said class size, and alumni giving. students and only eight percent contain 50 much emphasis on thenumbers themselves. that placement in the top tier ofthe rankings At the beginning of the year, the maga- or more students. The schools in the top 25 “There is no such thing as a perfect is good news for the University. zine sent questionnaires to 1,400 four-year with the highest percentage of classes with institution,” Cuttino said. “Cur excellence is not because of the schools. The information was then verified fewer than 20 students are California Insti- “Inthe end, whatwillreallymakeadiffer- isting system, but what it does is give with the schools and cross-chec!<ed with tute of Technology and Wzshington Uni- ence is who you are and the experience you gieatervisibilityto the University,” he said.