This past winter, as the blistering, icy grip of New England winter tightened around Tufts University, Tufts Facilities unveiled an avant-garde approach to pedestrian safety: swapping traditional rock salt anti-icing agent for curry powder. The initiative, dubbed “Operation Ice Spice,” was born out of a need to address what students have described as “criminally under-seasoned campus walkways.”
Assistant Director of Tufts Dining Services Connie Leccese told The Zamboni, “Students were slipping, sure, but also, the pathways were bland.” She continued, explaining that if Tufts is truly committed to being an international community, “then our sidewalks must reflect that value,” and “should not taste like the Midwest.”
Operation Ice Spice was inspired by a recent study titled Thermofractological Herbs Against Winter (THAW), which found a positive correlation between ice melting capacity and Scoville score. The study also reported that South Asian spice blends, specifically curry powder, scored particularly well across various ice melting experimental designs.
The spicy sidewalks have been met with mixed reactions from community members.
“It’s nice to see Tufts making a commitment to multiculturalism, both in the classroom and beyond,” one staunchly pro-curry freshman told The Zamboni. Another student described the initiative as “well-intended,” though revealed “My allergies have never been worse… windy days are especially brutal.”
Just as Operation Ice Spice was beginning to garner support (a recent poll found 62% of students and 71% of faculty in flavor of the initiative), the Trump administration caught wind of the project. On Saturday afternoon, President Trump posted to X (formerly Twitter): “THE WOKE LATTE SWIRLING LEFTIST ELITES OF CROOKED ACADEMIA HAVE REACHED NEW LOWS… DEI SIDEWALKS.”
Kamala Harris posted “Salty much?” in response to the President’s post on X, to which Trump promptly retorted, “SCOREBOARD! #FAKEINDIAN #ICE.” Following the public confrontation between Trump and Harris, #bringbacksaltysidewalks and #MAGAagainstmasala began trending on X.
Adding to the litany of bewilderments, The Zamboni received a connection request on Signal from a user identifying as JD Vance. Within moments, several editors were added to a message thread titled “S.O.S. (Salt Our Sidewalks) PC small group.” Vance then sent a flurry of messages, beginning with, “Ice Spice has no place in classrooms. Say no to black Annie and woke sidewalks! Shame on Tufts,” and perplexingly concluding his rant with: “MY WIFE IS INDIAN.”
It is unclear whether Vance was referring to the campus safety initiative Ice Spice or the 25-year-old Grammy-nominated rapper.
Tufts University President Sunil Kumar urged for calm, writing in an email to students: “Despite national coverage, this is not about politics. It’s about bold-palated infrastructure.”
A joint report from Tufts Dining Services and Tufts Facilities found slipping at Tufts has decreased, but spontaneous samosa cravings are up over 400%. Whether Operation Ice Spice is a pioneering step in the direction of flavor-forward urbanism or just a slippery slope coated in garam masala, one thing is clear: sidewalk icing policy has become a proxy war for the soul of the Republic.
