Opinions

By Albert Chang-Yoo   On the evening of March 26, Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk was walking outside her apartment, getting ready to break her Ramadan fast with friends. Without warning, she was approached by multiple masked, plainclothes ICE officers and apprehended. Since then Öztürk, a Turkish PhD student and Fulbright scholar on a legal student visa, has been held in a Louisiana detention center. In defending the arrest, Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled Öztürk as a “terrorist sympathizer” and a national security threat.    By all accounts, Öztürk was not...

Dear Editor,    I read with interest your recent article, “University Investigates Alleged Mishandling of University Torah.” As the only professor to teach a course solely devoted to Jewish studies on campus, I have been aware of the existence of this precious object for some time. I am further invested in the well being of this item as a Jewish member of our community.   As both a matter of academic and personal interest, I met with library staff years ago and asked questions and made suggestions to ensure that the...

To The Trail Staff and University Community,     We are writing in response to the November 8, 2024 article “University Investigates Alleged Mishandling of University Torah” by Veronica Brinkley. The piece includes many factual errors, starting with the title, which implies there was an open investigation when this article was published. This is incorrect. A complaint was lodged with the Office of Equal Opportunity, but no evidence of wrongdoing was found on the part of faculty or staff. The student journalist of this article did not consult with the...

To The Trail, Below is the statement the MENA Student Association sent to the Office of the Dean of Students in response to our invitation to this year’s Leadership Awards Ceremony. The MENA Student Association will not be accepting the awards offered to us at this year’s Leadership Awards Ceremony. We feel that awarding the MENA Student Association these accolades allows UPS administration to paint a certain image of itself as supportive of our group’s work. This image is inconsistent with our experience, and we will not legitimize this disingenuousness...

 To The Trail,  On October 20, 2023, it was brought to my attention by another Black colleague that the second-highest ranking Black administrator (second only to the president) at the University would not be returning to her position as an associate vice president. Apparently, I had missed the announcement in a university-wide email disseminated on Monday, October 16, the Monday of Fall Break, with a very nondescript subject heading: “Division of University Relations Staffing Update.” I assumed, like many people perhaps, that the email didn’t seem like something of importance....

  By Hannah Lee It has been a great honor and privilege to serve as a staff writer for The Trail for the past three years. If I could go back and tell my sophomore-year self about how they would be the public health point person on the team, I don’t think they would have believed it.   I hadn’t worked on a news team in any capacity before, and it was definitely a learning experience. Learning how to change my style to not write so academically and how to conduct effective...

To The Trail and the Board of Trustees of the University of Puget Sound,    The climate crisis poses an unprecedented threat to our planet, and it is our moral responsibility as global citizens to do what is within our collective power as a University to combat climate change. While the magnitude of this issue is broader than any one individual or institution could tackle on its own, it is imperative that our institution addresses the various ways in which it is currently contributing to the problem. The purpose of this...

Dear Editor, In her article in the last issue of The Trail, Grace Farrell asserted that “he ASUPS budgeting process appears thorough and helpful, but the logistics of reimbursements … remain burdensome.” I write as a co-president of the Jewish Student Union and former ASUPS president to attest to this burden (and its disproportionate weight on students who are economically disadvantaged) and suggest a policy to help alleviate it. When I served as ASUPS president during the 2022–2023 academic year, my administration issued purchasing cards to ASUPS clubs with budgets over...

Dear Editors, We are writing in response to your editorial, "University of Puget Sound Campus Must Respond to War in Gaza," in your November 10th issue. We need to continue to address the Israel-Hamas war on campus with care and thoughtfulness as to the suffering of Palestinians and Israelis alike. To that end, we would like to announce that Dr. Liora Halperin, Professor of International Studies and History, and Distinguished Endowed Professor of Jewish Studies, at the University of Washington-Seattle, will be giving a talk entitled, "Israel, Palestine, Gaza: Histories...

Dear members of the Trail Editorial Board,   The divisions of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Institutional Equity and Diversity acknowledge the call the editorial board of the Trail made to the campus community last week to engage in learning and conversation about the Israel and Hamas war, antisemitism, andIslamophobia.  We would like to share with the campus community some of the collaborations currently underway among our three divisions, as well as our continuing efforts to address the topics listed above. As plans are finalized, we will inform the community...