Tufts says it won’t discourage internships with a Mass. congressman

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According to Rep. Seth Moulton’s office, a professor at Tufts University said his department would no longer support internships with the congressman following his comments about trans student-athletes.

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A private university in Massachusetts is pushing back against accusations that it will no longer facilitate student internships with a member of Congress following comments the lawmaker made about transgender student-athletes.

In an interview Thursday with The New York TimesRep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., blamed Democrats’ widespread losses in last week’s election in part on his party’s approach to debates over trans students participating in youth sports.

“I have two little girls,” Moulton said. “I don’t want them to be run over on a playing field by a male or former male athlete, but as a Democrat I should be afraid to say that.”

The comments prompted backlash, including a phone call Friday from David Art, head of Tufts University’s political science department, according to internal call logs from Moulton’s office. The records, provided to USA TODAY by Moulton’s office, show that Art spoke to an aide to the congressman on Friday and said his department would no longer facilitate internship opportunities for students at Moulton. According to the records, Art said he consulted his colleagues, who did not want Moulton’s office to contact his department about internships.

Art did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday, but previously told an opinion writer The Boston Sphere that he ‘certainly said other things’. He also told the Globe that he had urged Moulton’s office to clarify its position on Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs.

In a statement to USA TODAY, Patrick Collins, executive director for media relations at Tufts, said the university is not discouraging internship opportunities with Moulton, who handily won reelection last week after running unopposed in a blue district.

“We have reached out to Congressman Moulton’s office to clarify that we have not – and will not – limit internship opportunities with his office,” Collins said. “We remain committed to fostering an inclusive environment that values ​​diverse perspectives, and our Career Center will continue to provide students with a wide range of employment opportunities across the political and ideological spectrum.”

In an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday morning, Moulton amplified his criticism of the university and the broader disapproval among Democrats over his comments.

“This is just everything that’s wrong with this cancel culture,” he said.

The Democrat’s comments represent one of several ideological rifts that have emerged following his party’s stinging performance in the presidential election and down-ballot races across the country. Republicans sailed to victory Tuesday in a red wave that will likely lead to Republican Party control of most of the instruments of power in Washington, D.C.

Engaged in the early stages of a divisive post-mortem, some Democrats are pushing the party to shift its message on a variety of issues, including immigration policy and culture war topics.

Dozens of anti-transgender measures aimed at athletics in primary and higher education have done just that introduced in recent years at the state and federal level, according to the independent research group Trans Legislation Tracker.

The organization says more than a third of states have “passed laws banning transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.”

Only about 1.4% of youth ages 13 to 17 identify as transgender, according to federal survey data and the Williams Institute, a research center at the University of California, Los Angeles. According to one Research from 2017 among 17,000 young people conducted by the University of Connecticut and the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, only 14% of trans boys and 12% of trans girls said they played sports.

Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele.