The Fletcher School at Tufts University

The Musk vs. OpenAI case highlights pressing questions about who AI companies serve and who holds them accountable. ⚖️🌐 Professor Alnoor Ebrahim joins Tufts Now to unpack what the trial reveals about accountability, governance, and the future of AI.

Learn more: https://now.tufts.edu/2026/05/18/elon-musk-lost-did-public-interest-lose-too

[📸: Wikimedia Commons, Skyler Ewing via Canva, charliepix via Canva, and Jake Belcher / The Fletcher School at Tufts University]

Fletcher students took on D.C. at the International Law Review Editors’ Roundtable, hosted by ASIL - American Society of International Law. 📝🏛️ The Fletcher Forum connected with top student journals from across the U.S. to exchange ideas and build community.

Thank you to the Fletcher D.C. Club for welcoming The Forum’s senior leadership while they were in town!

Read The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs: https://www.fletcherforum.org/archives/2026/5/16/502-summer-2026

[📸 : Courtesy of students from The Fletcher School at Tufts University]

Tufts Alumni

“In high school, I liked math and was good at math and thought that I was going to be a mathematician: a weird thing to want to be as a teenager, but there it is. But I went to college with some people who were a lot better at math than I was. I started to understand if I worked as hard as I possibly could, maybe I could major in math, but I was never going to be a great mathematician. I was good enough at math to appreciate and enjoy it, but I wasn’t good enough to come up with original math. It’s like the ability to appreciate great classical music while also knowing that you’re never going to perform it at that level.

In theoretical math, the thinking is that we’re going to perfectly prove everything—there will be no exceptions. In some ways, cybersecurity’s the opposite: there’s no way to actually finish this job. Instead, we’re going to perfectly prove how secure this encryption algorithm is, and then we’ll implement it … but then someone’s got to manage the encryption keys, someone else has to install the update … and 1,000 things are going to go wrong.

The question I’ve found most interesting about cybersecurity research is: How do you marry the rigorous technical part with the imperfect human part? How do you characterize accurately what happens in that combination, and do that in a way that’s not all about blaming humans?

Part of my career has been about coming to terms with the fact that I was not going to be, as the great mathematicians are, perfect in that very specific way of ordering my thoughts rigorously, carefully, and beautifully. I still think mathematical proofs are beautiful, but I’ve come to enjoy solving other kinds of problems.

At the same time, I’ve realized that one of the things that I should be doing is thinking about some of these messier pieces of life, where that kind of rigor and that kind of structure is not necessarily as productive or applicable. There’s a lot that’s interesting and valuable in the parts of life that are not as perfectly ordered and as completely provable as Fermat’s last theorem—and there are great problems to be solved.”

—Josephine Wolff, professor of cybersecurity policy, The Fletcher School at Tufts University

is a series of personal stories shared by members of the Tufts community.

[📸: Andy Kwok/Tufts University]

When it comes to war, who really makes the call? ⚖️🇺🇸

Professor Michael Glennon explains how war powers are divided between Congress and the president, and why the debate persists today.

Learn more: https://now.tufts.edu/2026/06/08/who-decides-when-united-states-goes-war

[📸: Wikimedia Commons, Nothing Ahead via Canva, and Jake Belcher / The Fletcher School at Tufts University]

Congratulations to our Commencement 2026 award recipients for their outstanding academic achievements! 🎓✨ Join us in celebrating this year's awardees:

Maya Spalding-Fecher and Stuti Kulkarni, recipients of the Edmund A. Gullion Prize

Michaela Drucker, recipient of the Leo Gross Prize (not pictured)

Joey Ching Aracena and Lima Halima-Khalil, recipients of the Ackerman Prize

Learn more about The Fletcher School at Tufts University: https://fletcher.tufts.edu/

Fletcher's Leadership Program for Financial Inclusion ​was in Istanbul, Turkey! 🇹🇷 The 10-day intensive residency culminated in 25 policymakers from 16 countries presenting policy pitches on strengthening inclusive finance.

Since 2011, FLPFI has enabled more than 460 policymakers, regulators, and private sector actors from across 60 countries to create policies and products that have expanded access to financial services.

Learn more about FLPFI: https://sites.tufts.edu/flpfi/

[📸: Courtesy of Fletcher students and staff]

Özyeğin Üniversitesi

Fletcher students don't just learn in the classroom; they get hands-on experience through immersive simulations. 🌏⚖️ Participants collaborate, negotiate, and make high-pressure decisions, preparing our students to lead in an increasingly complex world.

Learn more: https://fletcher.tufts.edu/news-media-mentions/all-news/springing-simulation

[📸: Amy Sakai / The Fletcher School]