Select Statements

Issued February 2024

Since Tufts has long practiced a holistic, contextual, and individualized selection process, much of our process is unchanged from prior to the Supreme Court ruling on the SFFA case. We have used this Supreme Court decision as an opportunity to hone our selection process so that it aligns even more closely with the University and School mission and vision statements. That is, we spent several months over the past year examining what it is we strive to be as an institution - as stated in our mission statements - and reconfirmed that the qualities we value in the admissions process allow us to live out our stated educational mission as a university.

The Supreme Court Opinion made clear that admissions offices cannot consider an applicant’s racial status as part of our decision-making - which is why that information is no longer visible to our admissions office staff. At the same time, the Court also said, “Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise.” The Court has made it clear that colleges and universities can continue to consider each candidate’s unique lived experiences, including those that have been influenced by an applicant’s racial identity, when they write about this in their applications.

For many years, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions has asked first-year applicants to the School of Arts & Sciences and the School of Engineering to respond to one of three short answer prompts. Every few years, one or more of those prompts change to better reflect the information we seek from applicants and to provide applicants with new opportunities to tell their stories. This year, one of those three prompts is new: “Using a specific example or two, tell us about a way that you contributed to building a collaborative and/or inclusive community.” This question emerges directly from the Tufts University Mission Statement, and was made public via our website on June 21, prior to the Supreme Court ruling. We made no changes to our essay questions following the ruling.

Tufts is proud of its work with pre-college and community-based organizations (CBOs) that support students on their paths to college. These organizations play an important role in supporting students from low-income backgrounds and students who might not have the same opportunities as students from other communities or schools. From hosting special group campus tours for CBOs, to conducting in-person or virtual information sessions and workshops, to our partnership with the QuestBridge program, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions invests in these organizations - whether they are local to Boston, anywhere across the country, or even organizations abroad - to support students in navigating the college admissions process to Tufts specifically, and higher education more broadly.

Tufts University has continued to grow in name recognition in new communities in the US and around the world. That our Early Decision pool continues to grow each year is a testament to the strong connection that prospective students feel to this special place, and the belief by more and more students each year that Tufts is the best place for them to learn in a supportive residential community that prepares them to be effective and engaged citizens.

As for how Tufts approaches diversity in its admissions process, we seek to build a class from among applicants with a range of backgrounds, talents, interests, and perspectives and from a range of geographies. The Class of 2027, the most recently enrolled class, was the most ethnically and racially diverse class ever to enroll at Tufts. Students came from more than 1,100 high schools, the largest number of high schools ever represented in a single, incoming class—and included more than 300 that had not sent a student to Tufts in the previous five years, if ever.

Issued September 2024

The Tufts University Career Center provides access to a broad range of internship, part-time and full-time job opportunities to meet the demands and interests of our diverse student body. The Career Center consistently encourages students to select opportunities that best align with their personal interests and values. The Center’s advising staff is always available to talk through these decisions with students. An employer’s presence at a Career Center event should not be interpreted as a university endorsement of the organization.

Issued April 2024

The university considers nominees for commencement speaker and other honorary degree recipients who, at the time of their nomination, have a record of distinguished and sustained accomplishment in the varied academic, scholarly and professional fields represented at Tufts, including business and industry, the visual, literary, musical, and performing arts, or public life. The process of nominating potential honorary degree recipients is open to all members of the Tufts community, including students, as encouraged here.  In addition, an email invitation soliciting nominations is sent to all members of the Tufts community in the spring and again in early fall. The Honorary Degree Committee of the Board of Trustees votes to recommend nominations for approval by the full board. The president—in consultation with the board—selects the speaker.

Community values and expectations
Issued August 2024

Event disruptions
Issued January 2022

We respect the right of demonstrators to exercise their free speech rights and to express their opinions in accordance with Tufts’ policy on Gatherings, Protests, and Demonstrations. Tufts encourages students to be engaged in civic life on campus and in the world and supports students in learning methods of effective and safe action on issues that are important to them. As an educational community, Tufts also has a responsibility to ensure that our students, faculty, and staff can carry out their academic and professional work without undue interruption, disruption, or obstruction that prevents access to learning and/or work. Students are encouraged to share their views about the policies of companies recruiting or presenting at Tufts, or any other topic. But disagreeing with someone does not grant license to shout down speakers or to disrupt university-sponsored events. The free exchange of ideas at Tufts relies on an individual’s ability to hear and thoughtfully consider different views and come to their own conclusions. Taking action to stop people from doing so is fundamentally inconsistent with the pursuit of knowledge.

Issued September 2022

We’re proud of the steps we have taken on this important issue and the transparency with which we have engaged the university community.

The University has pledged to reduce its carbon footprint to meet President Monaco’s 2016 commitment for Tufts to be carbon neutral as soon as possible, but no later than 2050. Tufts Medford/Somerville and Grafton campuses already have plans to decarbonize their buildings and the Sustainability Council has drafted a new vision, key principles and goals to guide sustainability at the University. Currently, actionable strategies to reach those goals are being developed and will be open for public feedback in October (see more). More information on the university’s decarbonization plans is also available online.

Our investment approach has included restricting the endowment from directly investing in coal and tar sands companies, taking steps to reduce indirect investments in them, and making significant investments in funds that will have a positive impact on the trajectory and impact of climate change.

Our actions include:

• a prohibition on direct investments in coal and tar sands companies – of which the university has none

• the investment of up to $25 million in positive impact funds related to climate change over five years in an effort to help de-carbonize the economy; already, the university has committed $18 million to funds supporting wind and solar energy projects and other technologies required to meet the world’s carbon-neutrality objectives
• direct communication with all current and future investment managers to inform them of Tufts’ policies, impress upon them the university’s belief in the urgency of climate change, and encourage them to further integrate climate-change risk and other environmental, social, and governance considerations into their investment processes.

These commitments are in addition to Tufts’ continued leadership in research and scholarship in the area of climate change.

As of fiscal year 2021, the university’s endowment had a very small exposure – about 0.7 percent – to coal and tar sands companies through its indirect investments, and a total of 2.9 percent invested in the broad energy sector. (See more here.) These commingled investments are pooled funds – similar to mutual funds -- in which multiple investors hold a share of an investment. Investments in commingled funds offer Tufts the benefits of scale, access to leading investment managers and broad portfolio diversification. However, one characteristic of this investment structure is that investors cannot dictate the guidelines of the commingled fund. To divest from one particular industry would require divestment from the entire fund, with potentially significant financial implications for the endowment.

We will continue to monitor our performance over time and look for additional ways to both reduce our minimal exposure to fossil fuels through our indirect investments and to continue investing in the positive impact funds that will make a difference in reducing the economy’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Issued February 2023
Updated December 2024

Tufts students, faculty, staff, neighbors, and visitors all benefit from the Green Line Extension. It connects three of our campuses: Medford/Somerville, Chinatown and the Fenway, making it easier for our students to travel back and forth. Students also have great access to jobs, internships, sporting events and cultural institutions via mass transit. Our students live, work and learn all along the Green Line, and graduate students in particular might benefit from being able to live in lower cost areas with Green Line access. Additionally, over 2,000 employees live in Green Line communities, so the extension enables many of them to use mass transit to get to and from work each day.  Over 70,000 people visit Tufts each year and they now have the option of taking the MBTA to get here. The Green Line Extension means fewer cars on our campuses, which will in turn reduce emissions, improve air quality, move us closer to carbon neutrality, and improve health outcomes for our neighbors.

Lastly, in recognition of the special circumstances of SMFA students, the Dean of Student Affairs Office and the Parking and Transportation Office are conducting a pilot program to assess the experiences of students who travel between campuses by train rather than shuttle bus. The findings will be used to make recommendations about how to best meet the needs of students traveling between SMFA and the Medford/Somerville campuses in the future. More information is here:https://students.tufts.edu/student-affairs/help-support/smfa-information/mbta-green-line-pilot-program-smfa-and-nec-transportation

Neighbor concerns
Issued December 2024

Tufts University is a mission driven nonprofit organization that educates more than 6,000 undergraduate students on our Medford campus.  A key part of that mission is providing on-campus housing options for our students. Over the last several years, Tufts University has added more than 700 beds on campus through conversions, renovations, and new developments. Currently, we are renovating Blakeley Hall, which will provide another 120 undergraduate beds on campus.

The proposed residence hall on Boston Avenue in Medford, which will be operated by Capstone Management Partners, is part of that ongoing effort and meets many of the city’s and university’s shared goals: more on-campus housing, mixed use development, transit-oriented design, and an energy efficient building design that meets the city’s specialized energy code.

The project, located across the street from the Medford/Tufts Green Line station, will house 677 juniors and seniors on campus, freeing up apartments off-campus for working families. Additionally, Tufts will be adding new sidewalks on both sides of Boston Avenue, new crosswalks, new trees, new retail options, and a Bluebikes station, making Boston Avenue greener, more walkable, and more accessible.

We have spent the last four months meeting with neighbors, elected officials, city department heads, the Community Development Board, and other key stakeholders. We have incorporated as much of their feedback into the project as we can. We are aware of neighbors’ concerns about the project’s height and are discussing them with city officials. We look forward to continuing to work with the city and our neighbors to get the project approved.

Selection of Capstone Development Partners, LLC
Issued September 2024

Financial aid
Issued September 2024

Developing a new residence hall with ample amenities to support the student experience is challenging, particularly in today’s environment that is experiencing inflationary pressures on construction costs, interest rates, and operating costs. Accordingly, the housing rates will be higher than the rates for older resident halls on campus. However, the rates will need to be competitive with, or comparable to, the cost of living in off-campus housing in the Medford/Somerville area. As Executive Vice President Mike Howard mentioned in his announcement to the community earlier this month, the University is committed to providing eligible students with financial aid so they can be part of this new residential community

Green Line Extension Community Benefits
Issued February 2023

The Green Line Extension also is a factor – among many -- in rising rent prices in Boston, Medford, and Somerville. In anticipation of those rising rents, Tufts University made housing a top priority in the years leading up to its opening. And we continue to add on-campus housing options for our students.

• Over a 5-year period (2016 – 2021), Tufts added 485 beds through major renovations, bed optimization, and new projects like CoHo.

• This past summer, Tufts built the Court at P Row which houses 150 first year students.

• Recently, Tufts purchased 114 Professors Row and renovated it.  That adds another 24 beds on campus.

• Tufts is also expanding CoHo by adding two new houses.  Together, they will house 50 Juniors and Seniors.

• We are also renovating 29 Sawyer Avenue in Somerville.  That will add another 25 on campus beds.

In total, that’s more than 700 on-campus beds that have been or will be added since 2016.

SJP suspension
Issued November 2024

On Nov. 6, the university suspended Students for Justice in Palestine at Tufts through January 2027 for multiple and repeated violations of university policy and failure to complete sanctions assigned as a result of previous violations.

The group was found responsible for nine violations over five incidents, listed below in reverse chronological order:

• Violating the Gatherings, Demonstrations and Protests Policy as well as the Posting Policy and failing to comply with a university official during an October event;
• Violating the Threats Policy in October by publishing images and text that, taken in context, constituted threats;
• Failing to comply with a university official by refusing to take down the threatening post;
• Violating the Gathering, Protests and Demonstrations Policy and failing to comply with a university official during a September event; and
• Violating the Gambling Policy and failing to comply with a university official during the student organization fair in September.

All current Tufts students who are affiliated with the organization are required to abide by the suspension. Failure to do so will be considered a violation of the University’s expectations and will result in disciplinary action.

Prior to the findings issued on Nov. 6, SJP had been found responsible for violating policy three separate times last academic year, resulting in incrementally increasing sanctions. On Oct. 2, the group was placed on interim suspension, a temporary measure imposed when there is a serious complaint pending resolution; interim suspension is not a disciplinary action.

That complaint is now resolved, resulting in a disciplinary suspension that takes into account the group’s actions, their impact on other community members, the group’s repeated refusal to cooperate with university policies and expectations, and its refusal to follow through on sanctions arising from previous conduct policy violations. The suspension also follows multiple attempts over the last year by the university’s student life staff and other administrators to work and communicate with SJP and its leaders, who have rejected these efforts.

Any student or student organization that is suspended for policy violations must follow an individualized series of terms and requirements prior to returning from a suspension. If SJP complies with the terms of its suspension, addresses all outstanding sanctions, and meets other requirements, it would be eligible to petition for re-recognition in January 2027. If approved, the group would be subject to a one-year probationary period and be required to take other steps, such as identifying a faculty advisor and undergoing campus climate training, among others.

The Student Code of Conduct for the Schools of Arts & Sciences and Engineering considers and addresses student and student organization behavior, regardless of their viewpoints. Individuals and groups that violate university policies face a range of potential disciplinary actions, up to and including suspension or expulsion from the university for individuals, and suspension or permanent revocation of university recognition for student organizations. The outcome of disciplinary proceedings involving individuals is confidential.

SJP interim suspension
Issued October 2024

On October 2, Tufts University placed the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group on interim suspension due to multiple violations of university policies. These include:

• September 30: SJP posted an image on their Instagram account depicting individuals with assault rifles, calling for students to "Join the Student Intifada!" and "escalate" at an event scheduled for October 7.
• September 12: During an SJP-organized demonstration, members marched through an academic building and hung signs from and blocked the entrance to another campus building, for which it is already facing a conduct proceeding.
• Ongoing non-compliance: SJP failed to meet the requirements from previous disciplinary actions related to demonstrations the group led last spring and had already been placed on a hold, meaning some of its privileges had been suspended, pending resolution.

The suspension will remain in effect until the case is fully resolved. During this time, SJP must halt all activities, events, and meetings. Any attempt to continue operating during this suspension will result in serious disciplinary consequences for both the organization and its leaders.

At the start of this academic year, Tufts University emphasized its expectations for student protests and advocacy. We provided clear guidelines to ensure a learning environment free from disruption, while supporting students' interests in speech and demonstration. As outlined in our August 22 message: "Advocacy and protest must not disrupt university operations, engage in name-calling or discrimination, or intimidate or harass others."

Union Labor/Carpenters
Issued September 2024

Tufts has a deep respect for labor unions. We have several unions at the university and continue to cultivate strong and productive relationships with each one. We’re committed to constructive engagement at the bargaining table and fair and equitable treatment of all Tufts employees. We respect each union’s membership and the negotiation process and are proud of our Collective Bargaining Agreements. It is important to note that the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters does not represent any university employees, and the university is not a party to any collective bargaining agreements with this union.

Selection of Construction Contractors
Issued September 2024

Tufts works with many vendors and contractors, and pays close attention to vetting, hiring, and engaging with these third-party companies. In all our relationships, our goal is to support our mission and to follow a set of principles, including providing quality learning and research opportunities, ensuring a safe and respectful work environment, individual and institutional accountability, efficiency, and flexibility. For its construction projects, Tufts hires general contractors who are responsible for hiring the trades that perform work on the projects. The North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters is not a general contractor. Subcontractors that perform certain types of work, such as electrical, plumbing, or carpentry, submit bids for work to the general contractor.  It is common for Tufts’ contractors to use subcontractors that use union labor.  We are unaware if the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters has engaged directly with the general contractors currently working on university projects.

To prequalify general contractors for specific projects, Tufts considers criteria that include:

• capability, e.g. the company’s expertise, capacity, and experience with similar work;
• commitment to ESG principles, consistent with the university’s focus on sustainability, social progress, and ethical business practices.Prequalified contractors who have demonstrated experience and expertise based on the specific requirements of a particular project are selected to bid on a project.

In making its final determination, the university considers approach, ability to meet the project schedule, ability to maintain a safe work environment, compliance with laws and regulations, and other factors. And, in recognition of its fiduciary obligations, it chooses the lowest-cost, qualified contractor.