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September 14, 2007

School Mourns Recent Graduate

David Rawson (A’07) died on June 28 near his home in San Francisco. According to dean of students Bruce Reitman, Mr. Rawson’s death was caused by an unexpected arterial rupture in his chest. He died after a cross-country trip with Tufts friends after his graduation in May. He was 22.

Mr. Rawson graduated cum laude with a degree in International Relations and was a figurehead in many organizations on campus, including EPIIC, the Chamber Singers, and several campus publications. He aspired to become an intelligence officer in the United States Navy.

“Between tears and heartache, I have felt a deep sense of gratitude to work at a place that attracts and nurtures students like David,” said choral director Andrew Clark in an email to students. “He exemplifies the extraordinary talent and humanity of our students — a marvel and inspiration to me.”

A July memorial service was held for Mr. Rawson in San Francisco. Another service will also be held at Tufts during Homecoming weekend on October 7 in the Granoff Music Center. The entire Tufts community is invited to attend.

Hotung Opening Delayed

The grand opening of the renovated Hotung Café, once expected by this September, is now being pushed up to the spring semester, says student Senate president Neil DiBiase. He cites miscalculations of time by the construction crew for the fluctuations in the expected opening.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to use the space in November,” he said, “but everything will be done and we’ll start scheduling events for the space starting second semester.”

When completed, Hotung will include a new dance floor, lighting system, and furniture. Mr. DiBiase said that Hotung will operate under a “1-2-3” system Mondays through Thursdays, where alcohol will not be served after 1:00 AM, food will be stopped at 2:00, and Hotung will be closed at 3:00.

Tufts Falls in National Ranking

Tufts dropped one spot in the US News and World Report’s annual ranking of American undergraduate and graduate schools, released last month. The school is now ranked 28 in top universities, down from last year’s spot at 27. Tufts shares its current place with the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill.

Admissions dean Lee Coffin says that while he does look at and consider the rankings, he is not concerned with this drop. He explains that the largest component — 25 percent — of determining the US News ranking is a reputation survey sent to campus leaders around the country.

“I vote, and I get the list, and I haven’t heard of most of the colleges there,” he said. “Even the ones I do know, how much do I really know about the quality of their education?” Tufts, being a university, is hurt in this survey, he says, because it doesn’t have some graduate schools that are staples at other universities, like a law school. Also, Tufts is the smallest research institution among its peers in the ranking.

Other categories are given much less weight than the reputation survey, sometimes less then five percent of the total score. For instance, Tufts ranks as the fifteenth most selective university in the country and places well above many of the institutions in the top 27 in mean SAT score.

“I think too many people get mucked up in whether they moved up and down a spot,” he said. “If you took Tufts out of this category and put us in the liberal arts schools, I think we’d be in the top 10.”

University Receives Two Large Gifts

Steve Tisch A’71, the chairman of the New York Giants and Oscar-winning film producer of Forrest Gump, committed $10 million to a new sports and fitness facility planned for the campus, according to an email from President Lawrence Bacow.

The new facility will be built between Cousens Gymnasium and the Gantcher Center and will include a new fitness and sports medicine center, team locker rooms, and an office suite for coaches. It will also include an NCAA regulation basketball court, a new swimming pool, and squash courts. Construction is planned for fall 2008.

President Bacow also announced a $15 million gift from Steven Jaharis M’87 for new facilities at the University’s medical school in Boston.

Professor’s First Book

Benjamin Carp, assistant professor of history, published his first book in July. The book, Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution (Oxford University Press, 352 pages), chronicles the story of the great cities of colonial America: New York, Boston, Newport, Philadelphia, and Charleston. Prof. Carp describes how these cities pioneered the revolution but watched as the politics of liberty moved to the countryside once the Revolutionary War began.

Senate Elects Trustee Reps

The Senate elected representatives to the trustees last Sunday: Britteny Sommer (A’08), Academic Affairs Committee; Harsha Dronamraju (A’08), Community on University Advancement; and Adam Kornetsky (A’10), Administration and Finance Committee.