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Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Political Science Professor Eitan Hersh selected as Emerson Collective Fellow by Simran Patel Staff Writer
The Emerson Collective announced the selection of Tufts Professor of Political Science Eitan Hersh as its newest fellow on Jan. 25 . The Emerson Collective is a for-profit organization that seeks to create social change through philanthropy, advocacy and investment. They partner with entrepreneurs, experts, policymakers, advocates and creatives to promote equality and justice. Hersh is joining the collective’s Democracy Cohort, a cross-disciplinary group of fellows working to study and strengthen democratic systems. As a fellow, Hersh will receive funding to research his next book. “Pretty much all of my work is in the democracy space … but the project … I’m working on now, which I think will be my next book, is specifically about business and what role business plays in continuing our democracy,” Hersh said. He said that business leaders are powerful actors in capitalist democracies.
“Politicians don’t want to screw up the economy, usually, and so they don’t want to do big things without business on board,” Hersh said. “Voters actually like that because voters work for companies and invest in companies. No one wants the economy to get screwed up, and because of that, business people have a lot of power.” Hersh suggested that there are various ways that powerful business leaders can engage with democracy. “Should they just try to lobby for things that are good for them personally or good for their companies?” Hersh asked. “Should they try to spend time helping to pass policies in government that are good for the broader economy or good for the environment?” Business leaders have an interest in promoting public stability but also in maximizing opportunity for their own private companies. Hersh also said that big businesses and smaller ones have different behavioral tendencies in the political realm.
“When it comes to retailers or small businesses, they are generally active in local government,” Hersh said. “In a place like Massachusetts, you have employers who are involved in construction or utility or insurance — they’re always at the Statehouse, but you have huge employers in Massachusetts, including universities, hospitals [and] law firms, that don’t necessarily see why they should be advocating at the Statehouse, and for what?” Hersh’s research deals with both giant corporations at the national level and the decisions of big players in any political community. “If you think that [businesspeople] should be the adults in the room, then they need a kind of blueprint for how to do that in a way that doesn’t suppress the voices of other people,” he said. Similar to his previous book, “Politics Is for Power: How to Move Beyond Political see HERSH, page 2
COURTESY EITAN HERSH
Professor Eitan Hersh is pictured.
Tufts community reacts to Ketanji TCU Senate votes on Brown Jackson’s SCOTUS nomination community senator stipend proposal, hears election timeline by Aaron Gruen News Editor
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden on Feb. 25. If confirmed by the Senate, Jackson will fill the seat currently held by Associate Justice Stephen Breyer once he retires at the end of the current judicial term. Alexandra Dingle, a member of Tufts Democrats, expressed her support and belief in Jackson. “I think that she is going to only bring wonderful perspectives and viewpoints to the Supreme Court,” Dingle said. Sam Brenner, a first-year and another member of Tufts Democrats, highlighted Jackson’s qualified experience as both an attorney and a judge. “She’s also placed a large amount of focus throughout her career on civil rights, which I think is a perspective that the Court has desperately been missing,” Brenner said. Brenner is confident that Jackson has proven herself throughout her career to be a judge that cares about both civil and human rights.
Jackson is the first Black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court and only the third Black person ever nominated. Katrina Lantos Swett, president of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice and an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Political Science, said Jackson’s nomination is significant in more ways than one. “She will be a historic figure on the Court, not only for being the first African American woman to sit on the Court, but also … the first federal public defender,” Lantos Swett said. “[The] Supreme Court needs someone who comes to their calling and to their high position from the perspective of having defended those who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law.” Breyer was nominated by President Bill Clinton to the Supreme Court in 1994 and votes with the liberal wing of the Court in most cases. Thus, it would be unlikely for Jackson to dramatically shift the ideological standing of the Court if she is confirmed. However, Supreme Court justices may persuade colleagues
to change their points of view, especially if they bring different insights and perspectives, according to Lantos Swett. “If somebody is particularly compelling, if they bring their own personal life experience to those discussions … they can sometimes, I think, persuade a colleague who is wavering,” Lantos Swett said. Jackson has served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since June 2021 and served on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for eight years prior to that. Jackson’s confirmation hearings will begin on March 21, when she will field questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee and face a vote there before making her case to the entire Senate. Deborah Schildkraut, chair of the Department of Political Science, does not believe that Jackson’s confirmation process will be as contentious as those of Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. see SCOTUS, page 2
by Madeline Wilson Assistant News Editor
The Tufts Community Union Senate heard a presentation from the Election Commission and voted on a proposal calling for the compensation of community senators in a meeting on Sunday night in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room. Before taking roll call, Director of the Office of Campus Life Joe Golia joined the meeting to discuss TCU Diversity Officer Jaden Pena’s proposal calling for a stipend for community senators. Golia advised TCU to think collaboratively and carefully about their decision and to focus only on the question of paying community senators, not the broader question of student leader stipends. TCU also heard from Ethan Walsey, who is in charge of technology oversight for the Election Commission, who announced the timeline for the upcoming spring elections. The general election is set to take place from April 13-14. Presidential elections will occur from April 26-27.
SPORTS / back
ARTS / page 3
OPINION / page 5
Jumbo lacrosse stomps out Mammoths to remain undefeated
Reincorporate Florence Price to the classical music mainstream
Countries respond with hypocrisy to war in Ukraine
After TCU President Amma Agyei took roll call, the floor was opened to revisions on Pena’s community senator stipend proposal. TCU Historian Mariana Janer-Agrelot read the proposal and Pena summarized the main points. The resolution proposes a semesterly stipend of $150 for each community senator and lays out the requirements for receiving the stipend. These include submitting a written report to Pena about the senator’s work throughout the semester, as well as hosting an open house or other space for community engagement every other month. In order to receive the stipend, the resolution also required that community senators work together on a semester-long project that highlights the diversity and intersectionality of the student body. Pena then answered questions about the specific events that community senators could hold and some of the amendments that were not included in the revised resolusee SENATE, page 2 NEWS
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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Tuesday, March 15, 2022
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Business leaders as powerful actors in democracies HERSH
continued from page 1 Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change” (2020), Hersh’s new book will combine a variety of research methods. “Partly, it’s narrative storytelling and qualitative interviews, and partly it’s data analysis of surveys and other kinds of quantitative measures,” he explained. He is currently working with students to survey the general public and business leaders, a group that he said can be difficult to evaluate. Deborah Schildkraut, chair of the political science department, highlighted the importance of
political science research and how it informs the way we construct equitable societies. “There are lots of things that maybe feel right in our gut and it turns out that the data and evidence just don’t support it,” Schildkraut said. “But it can also be really valuable to confirm the things that we thought we knew were true.” Research can uncover causal relationships in the social world, which can then be used by people to convert their potential into power and make gains on issues they care about. “Social science, like all science, works best when you have lots of people tackling a simi-
lar issue from different angles using different methods,” Schildkraut said. Elaine Donnelly, director of the Tisch College Community Research Center, discussed the range of social science research. “The [research] questions stem from community concerns,” Donnelly said. “[It] could be geographic, it could be demographic, you know, however you define community. … In that process, ideally, all partners are involved in all stages of the research.” In terms of furthering democracy and engagement, research is essential in knowledge creation.
“The data is more accurate, the interpretations are more useful [and] the dissemination [and] distribution of findings … gets to where it needs to be,” Donnelly said. Schildkraut noted that Tufts students have the advantage of studying at a university that values civic engagement and opportunities for involvement. Hersh reflected on his larger research purpose as an Emerson Collective Fellow. “I want students, and anyone who’s learning from me, to have that moment that they realize all of the gray in this world,” he said. “These things are complicated, and it’s good to have a nuanced approach.”
Jackson's nomination is groundbreaking on several fronts SCOTUS
continued from page 1 “The ideological balance of the court does not seem to be up for grabs right now,” Schildkraut said. “I think if [the balance] was going to change, it would be much more likely that she would have a harder time [getting confirmed].” Although she expects Jackson to be confirmed, Dingle worries that her hearings will become too politicized. “I’m a little nervous for the hearing[s], because I do think the Republican Party is going to bring some problematic, divisive questions,” Dingle said. Lantos Swett agrees that Jackson’s confirmation is likely but believes she will face difficult questioning from senators. “[Jackson] will be pressed to commit at her confirmation hearings to recuse herself from … the affirmative action case involving Harvard that is coming to the Court later this year,” Lantos Swett said. At some point in the next two years, the Supreme Court will hear a case involving Harvard,
NATE HALL / THE TUFTS DAILY
The Tufts Democrats club discusses Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was recently nominated by President Biden to be a justice on the Supreme Court, at a meeting on March 9. which will determine the fate of affirmative action in college admissions. Since Jackson currently serves on the Harvard Board of Overseers, this poses a conflict of interest. Democrats currently hold a slim majority in the Senate, meaning Jackson could be confirmed without the support of any Republican Senators. However, three Republican senators,
Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, voted to confirm Jackson to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last year. Once Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court was announced, however, Graham signaled dismay on Twitter. “The radical Left has won President Biden over yet again,” Graham tweeted.
While Jackson may not write many majority opinions in the near future, Lantos Swett noted that it is not uncommon for powerful dissents to become the precedent for future majority opinions. “I think she has the potential to … write what are likely to be dissenting opinions that are rhetorically very compelling,” Lantos Swett said.
Senate introduces six supplementary funding requests SENATE
continued from page 1 tion. He emphasized that the resolution is only a proposal to subsidize community senators. The proposal passed with 23 senators voting in favor, none opposing and none abstaining. The Education Committee then introduced a new resolution that calls for university-wide adoption of open educational resources. JanerAgrelot read the resolution and Academic Affairs Committee member Max Miller and Allocations Board member Nessren Ourdyl summarized some of the main points and took questions. The proposal builds upon efforts by Tisch Library to make academic material more accessible and affordable to students. Initiatives include distributing online access codes and textbooks for free or at discounted prices. One of the goals of the resolution is to decrease additional costs per major by 33% over the next five years. TCU Parliamentarian Ibrahim Almuasher motioned to table the
resolution to be voted upon at the next meeting. TCU Treasurer Elizabeth Hom introduced six supplementary funding requests. The Children of Cultures of Africa dance team requested $700 to rent Cohen Auditorium for their end of year showcase. The request passed by acclamation. The Chinese Students Association requested $800 for costumes for their upcoming culture show and $400 to fund a Loj retreat for active members. Both requests passed by acclamation. The Korean Students Association requested $700 to fund their end of year culture show, which involves paying outside dance groups, including the Wellesley Korean Dance Team and professional Korean fan dancers, and purchasing prizes for the event. The request passed by acclamation. The Education Committee, on behalf of TCU, requested $3,289 for a Student Resources Fair that will be held on April 6. The money would be allocated to setup and facilities for the event as well as hiring food trucks.
Part of the funds would also be used to pay senior René Jameson, who plans to hold a table at the event, and the remaining funds would be divided between advertising and prizes. The request passed with 23 senators voting in favor, none opposing and none abstaining. NeuroNetwork, a group of undergraduate students interested in neuroscience, requested $1,986 to fund catering for their Spring Research Open House on April 1. The request passed with 22 senators voting in favor, none opposed, and one abstaining. The Institute Sketch Comedy requested $1,992 to cover costs for a comedy contest at Skidmore College. The fund would go towards registration, lodging and transportation fees. The request passed by acclamation. Committee chairs then updated the body about their work. Members of the Education Committee discussed their plans for the upcoming Student Resources Fair, an event to educate students about inaccessible or underutilized resources.
The Services Committee asked senators to continue spreading the word about the spring break shuttles, which are available to take students to transportation stops the weekend that spring break begins. They also reminded TCU that tickets for the Class of 2024 Prom would be available on March 14. The Outreach Committee discussed the future of their committee and Allocations Board member Enrique Rodriguez noted that the group should focus on making TCU more accessible and understandable to the larger student body. Other members proposed a senator spotlight feature on social media, as well as a potential year-in-senate reflection. Pena reintroduced his plan to create a petition to add a community senator seat for the Indigenous Center. He plans to present the petition outside the campus center during the week of March 14 in order to gain the 250 signatures necessary for the seat to be added. The body conducted a closed session before adjourning the meeting.
ARTS & POP CULTURE
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Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Florence Price’s compositions still ring in modern ears by Megan Szostak
Henry Chandonnet A Compendium of Actors
Meryl Streep: Then and now
Arts Editor
Racial bias and misogyny are endemic in the practice and performance of classical music and have restricted many great talents from making their way into the classical canon. Florence Price (1887–1953) was one such musician whose compositions were celebrated during her lifetime but have since fallen into regrettable obscurity. Price was born to a mixed-race family in Little Rock, Ark. and showed an early aptitude for music. After graduating as valedictorian from her high school class, she enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Mass. At the institution, Price listed her hometown as “Pueblo, Mexico” in an effort to pass as Mexican to avoid abounding racial discrimination against Black Americans. Price graduated with honors in 1906 with a teaching certificate and an artist diploma in organ. She returned to Little Rock after her schooling, but she moved around and eventually went north to Chicago after a series of incidents of racial violence took place in the South. In Chicago, Price struggled with financial instability but was able to further her compositional career through the support of friends and connections with other Black artists. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Frederick Stock, premiered Price’s monumental Symphony No. 1 in E minor in 1933 in a performance that was met with a rapturous critical reception. Eugene Stinson, a critic writing for the Chicago Daily News, wrote that Price’s symphony was a “faultless work cast in something less than modernist mode and even reminiscent at times of other composers who have dealt with America in tone.” Price’s Symphony No. 1 remains a “faultless work” — a gentle amalgamation of Black American thematicism and traditionally classical styles and instrumentations. The symphony is a melodic masterpiece, constructed with precision and poise, that challenges what a classical melody sounds like and where it is sourced. Those familiar with the classical canon will notice parallels between Price’s work and Bohemian composer Antonin Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony No. 9 in E minor (1893). With his ninth symphony, Dvořák’s primary goal was to help establish grounds for an American school of composition. Both Price’s first and Dvořák’s ninth are built around themes heard in Black American folk music of the Antebellum and Reconstruction periods, and they represent the American school of composition. Price draws heavily on Dvořák’s No. 9 in her first symphony in the instrumentation and tonality she employs along with her use of the pentatonic scale. It is clear that Price’s Symphony No. 1 extends far beyond Dvořákian influence. In this symphony, the form is altered to
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Composer Florence Price is pictured circa 1942. include both a chorale and a juba dance, wherein complex elements of Black American folk music including call-and-responses, cross-rhythms and untraditionally classical percussion instruments abound. Price’s command over her melodies makes for an exhilarating auditory experience for even the most amateur listener, and the genre-defying nature of the composition — which samples themes from Black American folk music and elements of western European classical music, spiritual music and blues — is unmatched by any other classical composer. Despite the glowing critical reception, intricacy and melodicism of Price’s symphony, major orchestras of today seldom perform this work, as directors often opt to present the evergreen repertoire of Brahms, Beethoven and Bach. In the institutionalized discipline of classical music, white men often determine whose works are performed. These works, more often than not, end up being the work of more white men. Such dogmatism simply disserves the genre, which would benefit from a wider array of compositional perspectives.
Price herself commented on this disparity in a letter sent in 1943 to Serge Koussevitzky, the director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the time: “Unfortunately the work of a woman composer is preconceived by many to be light, froth, lacking in depth, logic and virility,” Price wrote. “Add to that the incident of race — I have Colored blood in my veins — and you will understand some of the difficulties that confront one in such a position.” Price’s work is far from lacking in “depth,” “logic” or “virility”; rather, her compositions exemplify these characteristics and upend preconceived notions of what femininity in classical music ‘should’ resemble. Perhaps it was Price’s blatant affirmations of her Blackness or her defiance of gender expectations that turned those who determined the direction of classical music away from her oeuvre. Perhaps it was too daunting for program annotators to attack questions of race and gender in what could otherwise be routine program notes. Whatever the reason for the modern obscurity of Price’s works, the global classical music scene would grow richer through the reincorporation of her music into the repertoire.
TRASHING ONE EGG WASTES 55 GALLONS OF WATER
he influence of Meryl Streep is far-reaching, with her performances fundamentally changing the field of acting. Thus, to focus on just one or two of Streep’s performances as encompassing of her talents would be an exercise in futility. Rather, one must consider the sheer glut of content. So, for this week, let’s go back in time and do a decade-by-decade analysis of what makes up a Streep performance. Streep earned her initial acting cache in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s with performances in films like “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979) and “Sophie’s Choice” (1982). Both films earned her Academy Awards, reflecting not only her own acting prowess but also her role within the broader industry. Her performances in these films are often harrowing and even devastating, whether it be complex trauma work within “Sophie’s Choice” or the more nuanced emotional grief of “Kramer vs. Kramer.” Ultimately, Streep’s work relied on her ability to portray devastation, and she does so brilliantly. The late ‘80s and early ‘90s brought a new era for Streep: camp queen. This period brings a cult classic Streep performance in the iconic tale of youth potions and debauchery, “Death Becomes Her” (1992). The film is far astray from the emotional nuance of her previous era, featuring Streep being slapped with a shovel or blasting Goldie Hawn into a pool with a shotgun. This commitment to raunchy, violent comedy is also true of some of her other works within the era, like the classic “She-Devil” (1989). The new fold in Streep’s career is evident — she’s not just a strong dramatic actress but a funny one too. It was not until the 2000s, however, that Streep found her classics of today. This is likely because she expanded her comedy, moving from baudy fun to more nuanced, but still truly enjoyable, humor. This is true of what most would argue is her most iconic film, “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006) but also of other hits like “Mamma Mia!” (2008) and “Julie & Julia” (2009). These films were international megahits and represent the power of Streep’s more approachable comedic performances: They surely pull crowds, and they have deep staying power. Now, in the 2010s and 2020s, Streep has the power to do whatever she wants. Her years of experience allow her to assert a breadth of work unparalleled within the industry. This ranges from quiet dramas like “Let Them All Talk” (2020) to big movie musicals like “Into the Woods” (2014) and “The Prom” (2020), or from political farces like “Don’t Look Up” (2021) to literary adaptations like “Little Women” (2019). Streep has shown that she’s good at just about everything — now, she gets to do it. Maybe this was a useless exercise, doing a resume crawl of one of the most prolific actresses in Hollywood. It’s possible there’s no way to sum up Meryl Streep — in fact, it’s likely that I missed your favorite Streep performance. Nonetheless, it’s helpful to see what makes a career so distinctive and how actors can adapt. If Streep is anything, it’s surely adaptable. Henry Chandonnet is a first-year studying political science. Henry can be reached at Henry.Chandonnet@tufts.edu.
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Opinion
5 Tuesday, March 15, 2022
VIEWPOINT
Double standards in international responses to the war in Ukraine by Reya Kumar Opinion Editor
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, international attention has been focused on the war. This full-scale invasion is a drastic escalation in a long-running conflict. In 2014, the Maidan protests against the Ukrainian government’s decision to back out of an association agreement with the EU prompted pro-Russian Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych to flee. Taking advantage of the situation, Putin’s Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula in Southern Ukraine and supported pro-Russian separatists in the southeastern Ukrainian region known as Donbas. The West responded to Putin’s clear violation of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty with sanctions, which did have an effect on the Russian economy but were clearly not enough to prevent Putin from further hostile action. The annexation of Crimea quickly lost salience in the international community, which continued to cooperate with Russia. One such example is the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Germany and Russia, which Germany did not back out of until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month. Now, the West has come together with a powerful economic response including sanctions targeting freezing the assets of the central bank. Many American and European-based companies, such as Nike and Apple, are also stopping sales in
Russia. Though the ruble to USD exchange rate has experienced a steep drop as a result of these measures, many believe that Putin will not be deterred. Associate Professor Oxana Shevel of the political science department explained that “any sort of expectation that Putin can somehow be reasoned with, that there could be some sort of diplomatic off-ramp … I think that’s quite naive.” Instead, Shevel believes that this war will end only by military defeat of either Ukraine or Russia. There has also been a historic provision of military support to Ukraine, though it is tempered by fear of Russia escalating hostilities, particularly considering that nuclear escalation is a concern. With Putin’s full-scale invasion, Germany reversed its policy not to send weapons into a conflict zone, agreeing to send anti-tank weapons and anti-aircraft defense systems to Ukraine and allowing other countries to send their weapons as well. The U.S. and other NATO countries have also sent hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine. However, Ukraine’s president, Volodomyr Zelensky, has called for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a plea that has been rejected by NATO for fear of causing a nuclear escalation with Russia. Shevel points out that providing air defense systems and military aircraft to Ukraine is another way for NATO countries to help protect Ukraine from the bombardment it is facing.
As the first full-scale war on European soil since WWII, the war in Ukraine has also brought up important considerations regarding the racism in the West’s treatment of refugees and conception of war. Over 2 million refugees from Ukraine have been accepted by nearby nations, while the 1.1 million Syrians who sought asylum in Europe over the past few years have met blocks at every turn. The racism and Islamophobia is most clear in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which broke EU law by refusing to host refugees from Africa and the Middle East. Last November, Poland refused asylum-seekers entrance, leaving them freezing in the forest on the Poland-Belarus border. Contrarily, Poland has accepted 1.2 million Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion. This double standard has been reinforced by Western media coverage, which also highlights a clear difference based on racism in how refugees from Ukraine and those from Africa and the Middle East are seen. The numerous examples of blatant racism from respected media organizations underscore the widespread bias in Western society. In The Telegraph, a journalist wrote, “War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations. It can happen to anyone.” On the BBC, Ukraine’s former deputy general prosecutor stated that, “It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed.”
Here in the United States, a CBS News senior correspondent referred to Kyiv as a “relatively civilised, relatively European … city where you wouldn’t expect that” in contrast to Iraq or Afghanistan. This last example is particularly hypocritical considering the United States’ own role in the crises in Iraq and Afghanistan. Though most Tufts students are too young to remember the U.S. invasions into Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s important that we confront the similarities to Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine. Ultimately, despite the lack of sanctions against the U.S., government actions killed countless civilians and destroyed families and communities, mirroring Putin’s current actions. Even without the repressive government and propaganda machine Russian civilians live under, U.S. public opinion largely supported both invasions at first. Though opinion on the wars turned negative over time, they were mostly out of sight and out of mind for the American public. We must understand that war and human suffering are unacceptable, regardless of which country is the perpetrator and what religion and ethnicity the primary victims are. While it is important to remain aware of the double standards in the response to this war, it is also clear that Ukrainians need our help to remain safe and defeat Putin. As Tufts students and, for many of us, American citizens, we have the power to make our voices heard. Here at Tufts, Shevel pointed to the lack of initial response from the Tufts
administration for days following the invasion and the problematic “institutional cooperation between the Fletcher School and the Moscow Institute of International Affairs, which is a branch … of the Russian Foreign Ministry.” However, Shevel stressed that individual students and faculty should not be ostracized for Russia’s invasion. Tufts did eventually issue a statement following a student-led protest, and students can similarly call for the university to cut ties with the Moscow Institute. Additionally, Shevel explained that another action students can take at an individual level is contacting their representatives to ask their government to allocate funds for humanitarian or military initiatives to help Ukraine. There are also many organizations you can donate to in order to provide military and/ or humanitarian support for Ukraine. Razom for Ukraine is one organization which Shevel recommends, though you can find many other reputable international and domestic organizations that support different groups online. Ultimately, it is vital that we take individual action while also urging our government to do what they can to help Ukrainians at this time of acute need while also recognizing the past situations in which our country and allies have failed to help people who are suffering due to racism and bigotry.
Sports
6 Tuesday, March 15, 2022
I
The Brooklyn bunch
have a theory that the Brooklyn Nets are a microcosm of the United States. If anything, Brooklyn’s young, dramatic and often troubled NBA franchise has been through the ringer in the last few years, much like the rest of the country. In three years, the Nets went from a gutted roster and low-level talent to a triumvirate of greatness with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. And just like a group of in-laws shoved under the same roof for uncomfortable periods of time, their estranged family didn’t work out exactly how they planned it would. Irving has been barred from home games for the entire season so far because he is still unvaccinated. Durant has missed valuable time with injury, and Harden decided he wanted out and got shipped off to Philadelphia. The Barclays Center has been a hotbed of household drama. Now the Nets find themselves with a shadow of their former roster, barely over .500, plagued still by vaccination statuses and needing Durant to produce a 53-point explosion Sunday night to top the lowly Knicks by just three points. After the game, Durant accused New York City Mayor Eric Adams of attention seeking, and, when discussing New York City’s vaccine mandates, demanded he “figure it out,” after Irving, still barred from playing, was permitted to enter the Barclay’s Center as a spectator for the first time all season. Durant’s frustrations are valid, and while I could not disagree more with Irving’s claim that his decision to forgo vaccination was merely personal, it is absurd that Irving is permitted to enter the stadium as a spectator but cannot play. Like many frustrated Americans, Durant just wants clarity from officials about how long COVID-19 will continue to affect his work and team. But pandemic mitigation efforts have proved problematic in recent months because of both their deployment and public reaction. The Nets’ remaining stars, like many Americans, are likely tired of COVID-19 disrupting their daily life, but Durant’s comments shed light on what may be an even larger issue than general fatigue: inconsistency with guidelines and restrictions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America’s first line for establishing and communicating new pandemic safety guidelines, has been anything but adept in communicating to people and administering proper and consistent COVID-19 guidelines. The Nets have seen this confusion firsthand; while Irving’s vaccination status has held him out of games, unvaccinated players on other teams have been allowed to play away games in Brooklyn all season, a policy that had even NBA Commissioner Adam Silver scratching his head. Combine the confusion with constantly changing mask and vaccine mandates — with requirements in cities like New York City’s and Boston’s changing over the last two months — and it’s not surprising that Durant just wants someone to figure it out. The reality is that pandemic policy was uncharted territory for everyone, including public health professionals. But two years into a COVID-19 world, experts’ messaging must be clearer — if anything, for Kevin Durant’s sake.
CORA HARTMANN / THE TUFTS DAILY
Players of the Tufts men’s lacrosse team are pictured during their game against Colby on March 5. by Ananda Kao Sports Editor
The No. 3 ranked, undefeated Tufts men’s lacrosse team narrowly beat No. 17 Amherst 18–14 in a back-and-forth battle on Bello Field on Sunday. The Jumbos improved to 3–0 on the season while the Mammoths dropped to 1–1. Sunday’s game was played in honor of Drew Kelleher, Amherst lacrosse ‘18, who passed away on Dec. 20, 2021. Drew’s younger brother, Camden Kelleher, is a senior co-captain on the Tufts team and took the opening faceoff to honor his brother. Kelleher was a key spark for the Jumbos in this game, scoring twice and assisting three goals. Amherst did not play last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore, their team consisted of many new players on the field. With more unknown of what the Mammoths would look like this year, the Jumbos put emphasis on playing their game. “It was a pretty interesting preparation process just because they didn’t play last year, and a lot of the contributors they had from 2020 [have] graduated now. So we didn’t have that much tape to prepare,” junior defender Kyle Adelmann said. “Coach [D’Annolfo] says it all the time that it just gives us a lot more time to focus on ourselves and what we can do to be the best team possible.” Tufts opened up the scoring just over a minute into the game, when junior midfielder Jack Boyden scored off a pass from junior attackman Tommy
Swank. Boyden went on to score three goals and had four assists in the game. The two teams traded goals until the Jumbos went on a five goal run after being down 3–2 to close out the first quarter up 7–3. The second quarter was evenly matched — each team put up four more goals during the second 15 minutes of play. Amherst junior attackman Brock Gonzalez scored four goals in the first half and finished the game with two assists and a career-high five goals for seven points. Tufts led Amherst 11–7 going into halftime. The Mammoths fought back in the third quarter, ultimately out scoring the Jumbos 4–2, despite junior attackman Kurt Bruun notching two goals in that quarter. Bruun earned a double hat trick, scoring a career-high six goals. Amherst first-year goalie Mitch Likins kept the Mammoths in the game with 15 saves on 24 shots faced, including 13 saves in the second half of the game. “Today was really one of the first times we’ve been tested in terms of resilience,” Adelmann said. “This game was really neck-and-neck the entire time. … Obviously, it’s Amherst, they’re one of our rivals, they’re always going to give us the best game that they have. They’re a really skilled team, really well coached.” The battle continued into the beginning of the fourth quarter, with Amherst junior midfielder Tanyr Krummenacher scoring back-to-back goals, bringing the game within one goal with six minutes left of play.
However, the Jumbos sealed off their win with a three-goal run at the end of the game. First-year midfielder Charlie Tagliaferri recorded a hat trick, highlighted by an around-the-world shot as well as an empty-netter, the final goal of the game. “Our biggest thing today was just being gritty [and] our resilience,” Adelmann said. “They threw a lot of different stuff at us in terms of their offensive sets, which was really good for our defense to be able to … improvise and play off of each other, and I think at times we did that really well.” On the defensive end, first-year Joey Waldbaum picked up six ground balls and caused three turnovers. Graduate student and co-captain Taggart Eymer and Adelmann recorded three ground balls and two caused turnovers each. Sophomore goalie Conner Garzone made 15 saves, including six in both the second and fourth quarters. Tufts will travel down and play at Stevens on Saturday and play at Lynchburg the following Tuesday over spring break. The Jumbos will look to retain their “really fast, really aggressive” style of play while also trying to be a little bit less rushed and more methodical and careful in their decision making, Adelmann said. “I think [we beat] teams with our pace — we like to play a really up tempo offense and a really fast transition defense and offense. So the more we can play into that, the more teams are going to struggle to play against us.”
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Oliver Fox is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Oliver can be reached at oliver.fox@tufts.edu.
Men’s lacrosse edges Amherst 18–14 to remain undefeated
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