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In a letter to the men’s crew team posted on the Office of the President website, University President Anthony Monaco announced that, upon his request, the team is no longer suspended and will be allowed to compete in this weekend’s New England Rowing Championships. Monaco shared the letter on his Facebook page just after 5:30 pm Thursday evening.
As the Daily originally reported, the team was suspended earlier this week in response to shirts they wore at Spring Fling on April 28, which had “look at our cox” printed on them as well as an image of four rowers and a coxswain in a boat. In his letter, Monaco states that “the large majority of the team had broken team policy and disobeyed explicit instructions by Coach [Jay] Britt by producing, purchasing, and wearing as a group unauthorized tee-shirts last Saturday.”
The suspension also may have been in response to a bias incident report which, according to several people who saw the report and wished to remain anonymous, stated that the shirts were offensive toward women and promoted a culture of rape and sexual aggression. The report was filed anonymously and has not yet been made public on the Tufts Webcenter.
In his letter, Monaco said he reviewed the matter “with the coaches, Athletics Director Bill Gehling, and the deans” before requesting that they overturn the suspension. Monaco explained that, although team policy was violated, “we must balance the internal question of team discipline with the university’s commitment to an environment that supports free expression.” Monaco also offered his support to the coaches — who, according to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman, were responsible for suspending the rowers — saying he knows the coaches support free speech and that they acted “not in a spirit of censorship but in the interests of team-building,” but that “the issues…have become inextricably intertwined in this case.”
The letter did not address the status of the team’s four ex-captains — two from the varsity squad and two from the novice squad — who were asked to surrender their captain positions in light of the recent incident.
Now that the team has been reinstated, it will compete in the New England Championships on Saturday at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. at 8 a.m.
See the full text of President Monaco’s letter below. More =>>
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Read the latest post about President Monaco’s decision to overturn the suspension here: http://blogs.tuftsdaily.com/?p=5034
POST UPDATED THURSDAY AT 5:40 PM: In a letter to the men’s crew team posted on the website of the Office of the President, University President Anthony Monaco has announced that the team’s suspension has been overturned, and that the team will be allowed to compete in this weekend’s New England Championships. Read President Monaco’s letter here: http://president.tufts.edu/2012/05/letter-to-mens-crew-team/
POST UPDATED THURSDAY AT 11:28 AM: According to several people who heard or saw the text of the bias incident report that was filed, and wished to remain anonymous, the report stated that the shirts were offensive toward women and promoted a culture of rape and sexual aggression. Bias reports are generally made public on the Tufts Webcenter, but the most recent incident currently posted on the Webcenter occurred on March 31; Spring Fling was on April 28.
POST UPDATED THURSDAY AT 1:47 AM: According to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman, the recent suspension of members of the men’s crew team in response to their Spring Fling shirts was a decision made by the team’s coaches, not by the university. It was not a university judicial action or an action taken by the Dean of Student Affairs Office, Reitman said, and thus it will only affect the rowers’ participation in this weekend’s New England Championships, not their university standing. However, the Daily has confirmed that a bias incident was filed, and is still investigating whether the university played any role in influencing the decision to suspend the rowers.
ORIGINAL POST: Wearing matching, custom-made shirts to Spring Fling with your friends is all fun and games — that is, until someone gets offended. The men’s crew team has learned that the hard way.
Image originally from barstoolsports.com
After a student anonymously reported the team’s Spring Fling shirts as a bias incident to the Dean of Student Affairs Office, the rowers involved were suspended for this weekend’s New England Championships, the Daily has learned. Neither the novice nor the varsity squad will have enough eligible rowers to fill a boat, and therefore neither team will compete this weekend. In addition, both teams’ co-captains — two varsity, two novice — were asked to surrender their captain positions. The rowers’ suspensions will be lifted before next weekend’s ECAC Championships, the last scheduled competition of the season.
The tank tops in question have the phrase “check out our cox” written across the middle, a reference to the “coxswain” (pronounced coxun) in crew who sits at the front of the boat and gives instructions to the other rowers. Below the words is an image depicting four rowers in a boat and a coxswain in front of them who appears to be shouting directions.
Tufts Director of Rowing Gary Caldwell declined to comment on the situation, other than to say that “it’s an internal team issue.” The members of the team have written individual letters of apology, which they gave to Caldwell to pass along to the Dean of Student Affairs Office.
On Tuesday, the popular website Barstool Sports: Boston posted an anonymous reader email about the incident, which states, among other things, that “some feminist reported [the rowers].” However, the incident was reported anonymously. The email also states that “the dean said the picture was too phallic and promoted aggression and rape,” though it does not specify which dean is being referred to.
The Daily is still attempting to reach the Dean of Student Affairs Office for further comment. This post will be updated if and when more information becomes known.
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The Daily talked with gospel choir director David Coleman after the choir’s spring concert “For You,” which capped off a successful semester that included a spring break service trip to New Orleans. This video is part of a faculty profile series that aims to engage professors outside of the classroom.
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Today at 3:30 pm at Ellis Oval/Zimman Field, the Tufts football team will hold a “draft day” for 8-year-old Riley Roman, welcoming him into the program after he was recently diagnosed with a primitive neuroectodermal brain tumor.
The gesture is being made possible by Team IMPACT, a non-profit that offers team-based support systems for children battling life-threatening illnesses. Roman, a South Hadley native, has been treated at Children’s Hospital Boston, where he has undergone two brain surgeries and is now on his second round of chemotherapy.
Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich will be at the draft today — Ninkovich met Riley while making a hospital visit and has stayed in touch with him ever since. Dan Kraft (LA ‘87), whose father Robert is the owner of the Patriots, is one of four Tufts alumni on the Team IMPACT board.
In the fall, the women’s soccer team took 8-year-old Joli Talusan Vega under its wing through the Team IMPACT program, and Vega became a staple on the sidelines at both home and away games.
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Normally, the Presidents Lawn is lacking in vibrant colors and puns. But when Spring Fling rolls around its a whole ‘nother story. Jumbos celebrated the annual concert adorned in personalized garb from their dorms, student groups, and fraternities and sororities. Check out some of the Daily’s favorites below.
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The white staff meal vehicle is nondescript, tucked away behind a flashy redbones-mobile. A chalkboard in front bears the truck’s name and this word alone: “Tacos!”
staff infected patrons
The menu changes regularly, always offering a fare meant to mimic the meal a restaurant staff would have. And no ordinary restaurant at that. This week’s selection was a collection of tacos, some of which being chinese sausage, fried rice, black bean mayo and fried garlic, truck made chorizo, lime crema, radish and lettuce and moroccan lamb, harissa roasted peppers, preserved lemons and almonds. The only sauce available was a mysterious bottle labeled “Alex’s Ugly Sauce,” which of course I unquestioningly poured before realizing how spicy it was. Each taco came on two small tortillas, yours for the rolling, and were as beautiful as they were delicious. The moroccan lamb, for example, was sprinkled with a ras el hanout spice blend that shone like a thousand golden suns reflected off the Hancock tower. The chorizo was softly ground and incredibly, unexpectedly juicy, bleeding down my hands and arms in a horrible mess, no napkins in sight.
It was exhilarating.
sometimes fried garlic comes around & it knocks you down
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The fireworks display originally slated for Friday evening and postponed until tonight was canceled indefinitely. Citing high winds, Tufts Programming Board apologized for the cancellation in a Facebook post. In an additional post they promised “that the fireworks show will be bigger and better than ever!”
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Campus comments on President Obama’s announcement on gay marriage
by thetuftsdaily on May 9, 2012
ABC News
Today President Barack Obama announced his personal support of gay marriage, telling ABC News: “I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.” (See an extended clip here)
This news has elicited a wide range of reactions across the campus. We asked Tufts students and faculty to share their thoughts with The Daily:
More =>>
Tagged as: Campus Comment, Gay Marriage, LGBT, News, Obama
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