The Tufts Daily - Friday, January 27, 2022

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Thursday, January 27, 2022

Applications to Class of 2026 reach record high, admissions expected to be more competitive

by Ethan Steinberg News Editor

More than 34,800 students applied to the Tufts undergraduate Class of 2026, marking a record-high number of applicants and a nearly 12% increase from last year, according to a Jan. 18 press release from the university. The applicant pool is also the most diverse in Tufts’ history.

The total number of applications eclipsed last year’s pool by more than 3,600 and represents a roughly 50% increase from two years ago. This year marks the seventh in a row that applications to Tufts hit record highs, mirroring a nationwide trend among selective schools.

This is the second year of Tufts’ three-year test-optional pilot program. This year’s pool is also the second group of applicants to have maneuvered through mostly virtual tours and information sessions.

“It is clear that this is an exceptionally academically talented and intellectually curious pool of students,” JT Duck, dean of admissions, said in an email

to the Daily. “We know that most of their secondary school experience has been shaped by the pandemic, and I am impressed with how well they are navigating its impacts.”

Duck explained that he expects admission to the new class to be more selective than in prior years given the growth of the applicant pool.

Early Decision applications increased by 10% across the two rounds. Acceptances for Early Decision I were released in mid-December.

Tufts declined to release data on the number of students admitted via Early Decision I. Duck said data on the entire admitted Class of 2026 will be released in early April.

Twenty-four QuestBridge Scholars matched with Tufts in the first early decision round and university officials expect more to match in the second early decision and regular decision rounds.

Duck said he is particularly proud of the diversity of this year’s applicant pool. For the second year in a row, students

A stuffed Jumbo elephant is pictured on Feb. 8, 2021. of color make up a majority of increased by 88%, the press U.S. applicants, according to release said. the press release. Applications More than 6,500 forthcoming from Black, Latinx and multira- first-generation college students cial students also outpaced the applied to Tufts this year, repregrowth of the overall pool. Over senting an increase of 23% since the past three years, applica- last year and 66% since 2020, tions from Black students have according to the statement.

MBTA begins testing trains on GLX

by Charlotte Chen

Assistant News Editor

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has begun testing trains along the Green Line Extension (GLX), which was originally stated to open by the end of 2021 and is now scheduled to open in summer 2022.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, along with Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne and former Mayor Joe Curtatone, rode a part of the GLX on Dec. 30, 2021, reflecting the Somerville community’s anticipation of the project’s completion.

The project involves an extension of the Green Line northward from Lechmere Station in two branches that will terminate in Medford and Somerville, respectively. The Medford train station on College Avenue will be called “Medford/Tufts,” a name Tufts chose with the MBTA in exchange for $2 million over 10 years.

The Union Square Branch of the GLX will terminate at Union Square in Somerville, while the Medford Branch will travel through East Somerville, Gilman Square, Magoun Square and Ball Square before terminating at College Avenue in Medford. Terry McCarthy, deputy manager of

the GLX project, provided some insight into the completion dates of each branch.

“The Union Branch connecting Union Square to Lechmere and North Station is expected to be servicing the public by spring of 2022,” McCarthy wrote in an email to the Daily. However, McCarthy also explained that the Medford Branch will not be completed until summer 2022.

The new line will provide easier access to Tufts’ campuses in Medford/Somerville, Chinatown and Fenway according to Rocco DiRico, the university’s executive director of government and community relations.

“Students will also be able to get to jobs, internships, sporting events and cultural institutions via mass transit,” DiRico wrote in an email to the Daily.

CommonWealth Magazine reported in June 2021 that although the estimated cost of the project increased from $2 billion to $3 billion during its early stages, the GLX is now expected to come in under budget at a cost of $2.3 billion. At this price point, the MBTA will be able to pay the cities of Somerville and Cambridge back a combined total of $75 million that they invested into the project.

The MBTA’s vision for the GLX is to increase transit options in Medford and Somerville, reduce car traffic and contribute to local sustainability and urban redevelopment initiatives, according to its website.

One challenge of constructing the GLX, including the Medford/ Tufts station, is that both branches are being built on active commuter rail lines. The Union Square branch closely parallels the Fitchburg Commuter Rail tracks, while the Medford branch follows the Lowell Commuter Rail right of way.

“The physical space to complete work inside the work zones is extremely tight.” McCarthy wrote in an email to the Daily.

“The Lowell Commuter Rail Line, which also carries freight at night, had to be moved twice without interrupting service.

This feat left limited time slots to get the work done.”

The corner of Boston Avenue and College Avenue has been busy this past year with simultaneous construction of the Joyce Cummings Center, the Medford/ Tufts MBTA station and the footbridge connecting the two, requiring extensive coordination

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

Officials attributed the increase partly to a $25 million challenge grant the university received last year from the Schuler Education Foundation, which works to increase the see ADMISSIONS, page 2

Tufts Dining moves to grab-and-go, single-use containers only

by Elizabeth Zacks Staff Writer

Tufts Dining announced new guidelines for dining halls and retail food services for the spring semester in response to the rise in COVID-19 cases on and off campus. Most notably, all dining venues have moved to offering grab-and-go only, which is expected to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 on campus.

“For the start of the spring semester, all food from the dining centers will be grab-and-go,” Patti Klos, director of dining and business services, wrote in an email to the Daily. “As we did at the end of the fall semester, students will be provided with take-out containers to place their food in.”

University Infection Control Health Director Dr. Michael Jordan told the Daily in an email that while students still have the option to eat in the dining halls, they are encouraged to take their food back to their dorm or another location.

“With grab and go, people will see TROLLEY, page 2 also be strongly encouraged to

SPORTS / back

FEATURES / page 3

ARTS / page 4

Roger that! Luke Rogers records 1,000th career basket, eyes natty

Environmental policy takes action in Boston

‘Born to Die:’ lindy or lost to history?

leave the dining hall and find other locations to eat (e.g. their bedrooms, empty classrooms, study spaces, etc.),” Jordan wrote.

“This will de-densify dining halls for those who remain.”

Tufts Dining replaced all disposable takeout containers with more environmentally conscious reusable take-out containers last November. With the return to grab-and-go only dining, they have returned to single-use plastic containers until further notice, according to Klos.

Klos explained that students who choose to eat in the dining halls should find room to spread out and must continue to wear masks except when eating.

Inside the dining halls, steps are being taken to ensure the safety of both Tufts Dining staff and students. According to Klos, changes made earlier in the pandemic, such as enhanced cleaning, sanitation protocols and air purification, are ongoing.

“We provide our staff with fresh masks throughout the day, see DINING, page 2 NEWS

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FEATURES

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ARTS & POP CULTURE

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FUN & GAMES

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OPINION

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, January 27, 2022

THE TUFTS DAILY Alexander Janoff Editor in Chief

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ELIZABETH FOSTER KENDALL ROBERTS Associate Editors Chloe Courtney Bohl Executive News Editor Delaney Clarke Executive Features Editor Maeve Hagerty Executive Arts Editor Faye Shen Li Thijssen Executive Opinion Editor Makenna Law Editorial Editor Isaac Karp Executive Sports Editor Alex Viveros Investigative, Science Editor Aaron Klein Executive Audio Producer Mina Terzioglu Kiana Vallo Executive Photo Editors Ty Blitstein Executive Video Editor Michael Wu Executive Graphics Editor

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Test-optional policy, Schuler challenge grant contributed to increased diversity of Class of 2026 applicant pool ADMISSIONS

continued from page 1 number of undocumented and Pell Grant-eligible students admitted to top universities.

“I’m proud that Tufts is resonating with students from a greater diversity of backgrounds than ever before,” Duck said.

“While we are seeing increased interest from students from virtually all demographics, some of the most significant growth in applications in recent years is coming from students who have been traditionally underrepresented at Tufts.”

Applicants come from all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C.;

Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa, according to the press release. International students account for more than a fifth of the pool and have increased by 76% over two years. Duck said there are 16 countries from which more than 100 applicants hail, a significant increase from years prior.

Among regions in the U.S., the west, south and southwest boasted the highest increases in applications, rising 15%, 9% and 9%, respectively.

Duck attributed the growth in applications to the test-optional policy and virtual tours.

“[They] made it easier than ever before for prospective students to learn about colleges without enduring the often financially prohibitive costs of a ‘college road trip,’” Duck said.

Bella Juhaeri, an applicant from New Jersey who was admitted in December through the Early Decision I round, said she was drawn to Tufts for the intellectual curiosity of the student body and the opportunities to pursue her academic and extracurricular interests.

“I toured the campus and I talked to some students at Tufts, and it just felt like a warm, accepting environment, but also

somewhere where I could be academically pushed and challenged,” Juhaeri said.

Noah Novick, a rising firstyear from Southern California, said he’s looking forward to joining a diverse and passionate student body.

“From what I’ve heard from other Tufts students I’ve talked to, it’s a very collaborative environment where everyone doesn’t take themselves seriously but takes their work seriously,” Novick, who was accepted Early Decision, said.

“That’s something that I very much connect with and would like to be a part of.”

Medford branch of GLX estimated to open in summer of 2022 TROLLEY

continued from page 1 between Tufts, the MBTA and the City of Medford.

“Tufts University, the GLX, and the City of Medford have been in constant communication throughout both projects,” DiRico wrote.

Ruth Bennett, director of strategic capital programs at Tufts, explained that the Cummings Center construction did not interfere with GLX construction.

Like many ongoing construction projects, the GLX has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“GLX was affected by supply chain delays and labor resource issues,” McCarthy wrote.

DiRico discussed how the GLX will prove useful to the Tufts community.

“With over 2,000 employees living in Green Line com-

munities, it will enable many of them to use mass transit to get to and from work each day,” he wrote. “Over 70,000 people visit Tufts each year and they now will have the option of taking the MBTA to get here.”

Klos commends dining workers for vigilance amid pandemic DINING

continued from page 1 appropriate cleaning supplies and they continue to participate in the surveillance testing program on a regular basis,” Klos said.

Klos commended Tufts Dining staff members for their hard work amid the turbulence of the pandemic and referenced the added burden placed on them when students fail to comply with COVID-19 guidelines.

“We are grateful for the dedication and vigilance of our dining staff who balance great service with occasionally needing to remind students to follow the policies and guidelines to help keep everyone safe,” Klos wrote. “We appreciate when students comply without arguing or making it more dif-

ficult for the employees to do their jobs.”

The dining hall menus will not change due to the new grab-andgo system, nor will there be any changes at the retail locations on campus, such as Hodgdon Food-on-the-Run and Kindlevan Café. Klos explained that Tufts Dining has made adjustments to the regular menu based on feedback from the fall, and that special dinners and pop-ups will continue this semester.

Lydia Savitt, a student worker at Hodgdon, told the Daily that moving from only accepting online orders to fielding both online and in-person orders is exciting, but at times overwhelming.

“It has been a little bit stressful this year with having both online and in person [orders],”

Savitt, a sophomore, said. “But we’re getting used to it and it’s fun actually seeing people.”

Savitt explained that the pandemic has made the first few weeks of the semester a hectic time for workers at Hodgdon.

“Whenever there’s been high cases on campus, we’ve been really understaffed because there’ll be so many people in the mods,” Savitt said. “Takeout and the ordering setup for people who are getting food will probably be the same, but it might be busier at first because we’ll be short-staffed.”

Savitt added that traffic at Hodgdon will likely slow down as the semester gets underway.

At Hodgdon and all of the dining locations around campus, student workers and staff take necessary precautions to

Students waiting outside Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center, one of the dining locations on the Medford campus.

help protect the Tufts community, such as wearing masks and gloves and frequently sanitizing. Savitt said that she has always felt safe working there, despite fluctuating COVID-19 numbers.

According to Klos, the new Tufts Dining COVID-19 guidelines for the spring semester will remain in place until the Tufts medical team and health officials advise otherwise.

“Protecting the health of our community and neighbors has been our top and unchanging priority since the onset of the pandemic,” Jordan wrote. “Our COVID protocols and testing methods are based on a data-driven and flexible model that enables us to adjust according to the data and trends that we and public health officials are seeing.”

MICHELLE LI / TUFTS DAILY

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Features

3 Thursday, January 27, 2022

Tufts faculty weigh in on Boston mayor Wu's plans for sustainability, justice Assistant Features Editor

Boston has recently witnessed a dramatic shift in the annals of its mayoral history. A shift toward an administration that puts a spotlight on environmental justice, headed by a woman, person of color, mother and millennial all for the first time: Michelle Wu. Julian Agyeman is a Tufts professor of urban and environmental policy and planning and a professor of rhetoric and debate at The Fletcher School. He also served as an advisor on Mayor Wu’s transition committee, providing guidance for a myriad of intersecting areas including food justice and social equity.

Agyeman points to the growing gap between the rich and the poor as a key problem in Boston and all cities in the Western world.

“Remember that the Boston Globe did a survey and we found that the average African American family's net worth was $8 and the average for a white family was $247,000. That's plain wrong,” he said.

He noted that problems such as climate change, income inequality, unequal access to transportation and issues with food security are not unrelated.

“These issues are … related in the sense that they are the sum total of planning systems [and] policymaking that has not centered equity and social justice," Agyeman said.

According to Agyeman, Boston lacks adequate transportation infrastructure that could provide equal access to all. He connected this to economic decline in the region.

"Several companies have said that access and transportation issues are very, very important, and that if they can't get that in the Boston region, then [they] will move somewhere," Agyeman said. “All these companies are footloose in many ways nowadays and they move to places where public transit is cheaper or roads are better."

Penn Loh, director of the Master of Public Policy Program and Community Practice at Tufts’ Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, highlighted the threat of gentrification and displace-

ment in many of Boston's neighborhoods. However, he says, Wu's election signals a shift toward greater progress.

“Mayor Wu being elected was, in part, affirmation that voters are ready to embrace ideas like rent control again ... it will help put the brakes on this continual escalation of the housing crisis that's pushing people out," he said.

Loh also points to how the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed weaknesses in Boston’s climate preparedness. He mentioned that several of the impacts that occurred during the pandemic, such as online school and shutdowns, would also happen under a climate disturbance.

"When you look at the pandemic ... we can look to see, well, if we weren't prepared for that, if some of those same impacts happen under climate disturbances, then we're not prepared for climate [disturbances] either," Loh said.

Loh is interested in understanding how community responses to the pandemic are helping to build resilience within Boston.

“We heard from a lot of community organizations … that the city did not have the capacities to actually reach people, that they had to develop new partnerships and rely a lot on grassroots organizations who did have those relationships and means of communication and trust with various populations," he said.

Having pivoted from a background in electrical engineering, Loh spoke about technology in the context of climate change.

“It's not that we don't know how to avoid climate change ... we have technologies that can work. We know how to do things without fossil fuels,” Loh said. “So it's not a technology problem. It's not a lack of technology. It's a lack of political will, and the social systems to actually use them.”

Mayor Wu has a vision for a citywide Green New Deal.

“Our work focuses on achieving carbon neutrality while working to mitigate and prepare for the effects of climate change, including flooding, sea level rise, and extreme weather," a spokesperson for the Wu administration wrote in an email to the Daily.

"We also preserve the integrity of Boston's cultural and historic resources.”

Reflecting on his experience as a transition advisor, Agyeman said, “[Wu’s] policy platforms were the product of a lot of discussion amongst a lot of people.

My food justice class itself had an input to the food justice agenda.”

Wu also faces the task of reshaping the mayor's relationships with traditional actors in Boston politics.

"Developers have [historically] been in the pocket of the mayor. We're going to be changing that … let’s put communities and their wishes into the mix of ideas about what development looks like, rather than it just being some wealthy, often faceless LLCs," Agyeman said.

However, Mayor Wu’s initiatives haven’t been immune to pushback. “[Mayor Wu] was criticized a lot for having ideas that were too idealistic and ambitious,” Loh said.

A pertinent example is her Free the T project, which has been running as a pilot for the past year now, experimenting with removing fares for some of the most crowded bus lines.

Critics find it infeasible, since the MBTA is a state agency that reports to the governor, not the city of Boston.

“I think it's very, very important for a mayor to take a stand because ... the city of Boston is the hub of where the T is trying to get a lot of people back and forth from," said Loh. "Even though [the MBTA] is a state agency, [it] still has some accountability and needs to meet the needs of the people in this city."

Agyeman, who is originally from the U.K., explained the difference between urban planning in U.S. and the U.K. “[In the U.S.], urban planning is the spatial toolkit of white supremacy ... that’s not the case in the U.K.," Agyeman said.

"There is racism ... but what's very different is that urban planning in the U.K. was never seen as a tool of white supremacy [as it is in the U.S.]."

He also mentioned the difference in the kind of inequality found in both U.S. and U.K. neighborhoods.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is pictured.

"There are unequal neighborhoods [in the U.K.], of course, but it's more of a socioeconomic unequalness than that of one that was pre-programmed through policy, federal and local, around race [as there is in the U.S.]," Agyeman said.

In the United States, discriminatory urban planning has created cities which, according to Agyeman, are segregated and unequally provisioned in terms of park spaces, access to nutritious and culturally appropriate foods and physically unified neighborhoods.

Historically underrepresented students will now be able to pursue the fields of public policy and planning through the new racial equity in policy and planning master’s degree program at Tufts, funded by a grant from the Barr Foundation.

Agyeman recalls a point about how sustainable development means using our unlimited mental resources, instead of our limited natural resources.

“I’m interested in local narratives of change. 'What do local people think?' … these stories are real, these are data,” he said.

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Loh mentioned that many individuals find themselves overwhelmed when thinking of widespread issues like climate change.

“There can be a profound feeling of disconnect and being overwhelmed by these big global issues," Loh said. "When you learn about these things, you're like, ‘how can this ever be changed?’"

Nevertheless, there is power found in individual behavior and example-setting.

“All of these systems we're talking about are produced by people and our relationship to the environment,” Loh said. “[Certain] conversations might be informing the kinds of politics that you may get involved in … the more connections we have with people, the more we can do together to solve collective problems.”

Having emerged from a historically diverse field of mayoral candidates, Wu is just one changemaker in Boston who is a beacon of hope for sustainable development.

As professor Agyeman said, “she is the leader that I've been teaching classes about for a long time.”

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Weekender

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Lana Del Rey’s ‘Born to Die,’ 10 years later

by Jack Clohisy

Assistant Arts Editor

Sometimes artists can release music, and instantly, everyone knows it will be impactful. The artistry, themes, visuals and production are all key signs of a successful release. However, success can be subdued. Impact can be unprecedented. Legacy blossoms out of retrospect. This is true for Lana Del Rey, who is the titan of alternative sound, the goddess of indie pop and the empress of Hollywood sadcore.

Her sophomore album “Born To Die” (2012) left an impact on the industry far greater than any critic could anticipate at the time of release.

Holding a meager score of 62 on Metacritic, it is Del Rey’s lowest reviewed album on the score

aggregator. However, the retroactive reviews of “Born To Die” are glowing. Pitchfork, which initially rated the album 5.5 out of 10, revised its score to a 7.8 on the same scale nearly a decade later.

It was 2013 when I first heard the “Summertime Sadness” remix with Cedric Gervais in the parking lot of a Market Basket on a sunny summer afternoon, thinking, “Wow, this song is really good.” However, looking back, many Del Rey fans’ first true introduction to the singer was a year prior, when she performed “Video Games” on “American Idol” (2002–16, 2018–). As a generation of eventual Lana Del Rey fans, including myself, began to grow up, many of them began to dive into Del Rey’s limited discography.

At the time, her only releases on

The cover image for the album “Born to Die” is pictured.

Spotify were “Born To Die” and “Paradise” (2012). These were more than enough to establish Del Rey a passionate fanbase.

I remember dancing around my bedroom in seventh grade to “Diet Mountain Dew” and being drawn to the cinematic quality of “Dark Paradise.” The title track “Born To Die” opened up a whole new world of music to me, and I know I wasn’t the only one experiencing this newfound love for alternative pop music.

In 2019, Taylor Swift cited Lana Del Rey as “the most influential artist in pop” while naming Del Rey as one of her favorite artists of the decade.

Since “Born To Die” was released 10 years ago, Del Rey has earned No. 1 albums in the U.S., broken vinyl record sales and continued to push the

boundaries of what it means to be a popular artist. Radio hits are not needed from Del Rey; her music has a way of permeating the mainstream without the common production elements of pop songs ever-present on TikTok and other media.

Del Rey is a trailblazer.

Despite the criticism of her earliest works, she continued to produce record after record that slowly hooked critics on her talent. In 2016, New Musical Express ranked “Born To Die” as the 45th best album of 2012. When NME released its decade-end lists for the best albums of the 2010s, “Born To Die” surged up to the 10th best album of the decade. Clearly all the album needed was time for people to see the value in Del Rey’s work.

The quality of “Born To Die” lasts the test of time. Even today, I find myself putting the album on repeat as I work on projects for class. To have the same draw to an album throughout many different stages in my life and the lives of so many other fans highlights the masterpiece that is “Born To Die.” It’ll be interesting to see what lies ahead for “Born To Die” and Lana Del Rey in the next ten years. Who knows, maybe it will be revered as the greatest work of the 2010s and alternative music. Only time will tell, but if I’ve learned anything from the first ten years of “Born To Die,” it’s to expect deserved, retrospective praise. Del Rey thinks we’re all “Born To Die,” but ironically, that is anything but the case for the album itself as it continues to live on in the mainstream. Happy 10th birthday, “Born To Die!”

COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

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Thursday, January 27, 2022 | ARTS & POP CULTURE | THE TUFTS DAILY

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WaPo veteran Carl Bernstein celebrates journalism in new memoir

by Sadie Leite

Assistant Arts Editor

Carl Bernstein’s newest memoir “Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom” (2022) was released Jan. 11. Bernstein is known for his contributions to investigative journalism, specifically his part in revealing the scandal surrounding Watergate in the 1970s.

He reported on this event with journalist Bob Woodward for the Washington Post. Later, the two released their findings in the acclaimed co-authored memoir “All the President’s Men” (1974).

Bernstein’s success is clear and laudable. Still, he started as any professional does: an inexperienced kid dreaming of the future. His new memoir explores this start. Bernstein tells the story of how he began his journalism career, outlining the key memories, mentors and historical news events that propelled him forward.

The memoir begins with Bernstein’s first adventure related to journalism. After turning

16, and becoming newly eligible for work, Bernstein decided he wanted to apply for a job at the Washington Evening Star in Washington, D.C. He needed a suit for the interview. He bought the suit, encountered a little trouble with his interview but was ultimately hired as a copy boy for the paper. And so, his journalism career began.

Bernstein’s careful attention to detail is revealed immediately with his excited description of the newsroom. For the first time, as a newly hired copy boy, it was truly a sight for his young eyes.

Bernstein’s descriptors are perfect examples of the future experiences Bernstein would encounter. Not only is this scene an example of Bernstein’s straightforward and poignant prose but also the beginning of his journalistic advice which consistently appears throughout the memoir.

Bernstein highlights the skills he acquired along the way for his readers so they, too, can understand the qualities of an excellent journalist. Here, the skill is

clear: Journalists notice detail, so their pieces are interesting and factually accurate. Also, journalists function with constant high energy — they must juggle the chaos clear in the newsroom to produce a final product.

As Bernstein falls deeper into his role as a copy boy, he learns from the Star’s head reporters. For example, Bernstein began to work closely with the night police reporter Walter Gold. Gold fervently chased the chaos of the night in his Pontiac and Bernstein often rode with him. Bernstein observed Gold’s ease with the policemen at the scenes of night fires. He was so comfortable with the subject (based on his careful study of “fire journalism”) that he could easily draw information from interviews. Bernstein was learning that other aspects of good journalism included commitment to your beat and comfort in interviews so needed facts are revealed to complete a compelling story.

Bernstein’s most impactful mentor, however, was Sid Epstein.

Bernstein met him when he was city editor of the Star — he was a calm force that controlled the newsroom with stringent expectations. The two became so close that Epstein asked Bernstein to speak at his funeral. Clearly, the bond between writer and editor is important and lasting. Bernstein admired Epstein’s commitment to the Star’s five daily editions, each produced with skill and held to the highest standards in writing, editing, values and good storytelling.

Through the memoir Bernstein gained more responsibility. He was assigned to stories and he found his own to pitch to the Star. For instance, he covered a speech of President Kennedy during his campaign. Other historical events, which he didn’t cover, still shaped his career. For instance, Bernstein remembered the commotion that exploded at the paper when the Soviet Union first sent a living organism — a dog — into space. He

also recalled the juxtaposition of that event with the silence in the newsroom after the assassination of President Kennedy.

Bernstein also witnessed the struggles of the American civil rights movement. He questioned the paper’s role in its presentation and was appalled by the lack of news covering the crimes against Black Americans.

Also, in between the chaos of history and producing a paper, like any young adult, Bernstein fell in love, went to parties and failed out of college.

Bernstein’s account of his early experience in the news world is accurate and indulging for those pursuing journalism.

The profession is difficult and requires ambition and drive, but its rewards are great.

After the Star closed, Bernstein found his way to the Washington Post. Still, he started as a 16-yearold looking for a suit on the streets of Washington, D.C. He was unsure of his future and was only confident in his pursuit to be a real reporter one day.

When life throws you a financial challenge, you’ve proven you have what it takes to ace it.

Now it’s time to tackle your retirement savings at AceYourRetirement.org

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OP-ED

The world’s ‘dumbest environmental problem’ (and how to combat it)

by Tori Berlin One of the most enigmatic and troublesome failures of our modern socioeconomic system lies within our impractical food network. Food waste has been dubbed “the world’s dumbest environmental problem,” and for good reason. While 40% of the food supply in America goes to waste, over 38 million people in the United States experience food insecurity. Globally, 1.3 billion tons of food go to waste every year, which accounts for about a third of total food produced. When we talk about hunger in our country and in our world, it’s clear that these problems don’t arise from a deficiency in food production systems. So what is the cause of these harrowing statistics?

Often, it comes down to human error and general lack of consideration. Estimates of the Food Loss Index state that around 14% of food is lost between the harvest and retail stages of the process. Additionally, greed for profit presents a supplementary problem; large corporations are responsible for an estimated 25 million tons of food waste each year, equivalent to about 40% of total food waste throughout the United States by weight.

However, we cannot place blame entirely on corporate America — an additional 43% of food waste is generated by consumers. We are guilty of purchasing more food than we can possi-

bly eat in addition to making poor judgment calls. Many of us are taught to pick the freshest berries, the shiniest apples, the ripest bananas and to stay away from approaching expiration dates, bruised potatoes and cartons containing mold. We want our produce to be as perfect as we envision our lives to be. But what’s so perfect about throwing away an entire package of spinach?

Why is it so important to reduce food waste? If you’re not motivated by the 38 million starving people just in America, perhaps some climate-related statistics would be more provocative.

Food waste in landfills doesn’t disappear overnight. A simple head of lettuce, for example, can take 25 years to decompose when buried in a landfill. This elongated decomposition process emits greenhouse gasses when that lettuce could have been ingested in five minutes or decomposed in a compost pile in a matter of months. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “If food wastage were a country, it would be the third largest emitting country in the world.” Strikingly, the FAO adds that “the land devoted to producing wasted food would be the second-largest country in the world.” The embedded cost of food waste ranges from monetary to economic, social, environmental and moral. For example, take the environmental cost of beef — there are costs asso-

ciated with breeding, raising, feeding, slaughtering, skinning, preparing, selling and eventually cooking beef, just to have it go bad and be thrown away.

Not only does that waste money, but this cost is also shared by loss of labor, food and water, not to mention the loss of animal life. So as food in landfills emits methane over decades, we must also take into account the “large emissions of greenhouse gasses … [from] wasteful use of resources such as water, cropland, fertilisers or fossil fuels,” according to a study conducted in 2016.

Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom. While the deeply rooted issues surrounding food waste have an incredibly substantial impact on our world, plenty of room remains for opportunity and growth. Entrepreneurs, innovative chefs and environmental activists around the globe have offered numerous paths forward.

The film Wasted: The Story of Food Waste highlights various chefs and trailblazers who have dedicated their work to reducing food waste, from wholesalers who purchase “ugly” or damaged produce to restaurateurs who cook with food commonly dubbed inedible to humans, such as an entire fish carcass being turned into soup. When food is truly no longer edible, it can be diverted from landfills by using it as ecofeed, a type of feed for animals and livestock generated from recycled human food waste. Ninety percent of wasted

food ends up in landfills, when it could have been happily ingested if not by humans then by animals. With all of these other options, according to Wasted, compost should be viewed only as a last resort.

While Wasted presents optimistic large-scale solutions, it’s also important to consider individual ways to reduce waste.

Simple mental resets can invoke vast differences in our impact, such as planning meals thoroughly prior to going to the grocery store and recognizing the flexibility of many expiration dates. Shopping small, seasonally and locally are great rules of thumb when planning your next grocery trip. Consider making a weekly trip to the farmer’s market, where you can accomplish not only all of the aforementioned goals but also support regional farms and promote sustainable amplifiers of local economies.

If activism is more up your alley, there are plenty of local organizations to support and join. Right on campus is the Tufts Food Rescue Collaborative (TFRC), an initiative drawing from Tufts students, dining workers, the Environmental Studies program and the Leonard Carmichael Society in conjunction with the Somerville Homeless Coalition and Food For Free. Students can get involved with TFRC by volunteering to drive food from grocery stores to nearby donation

centers or collecting leftover prepared food from on-campus dining halls and repurposing it into ready-to-eat meals for local populations struggling with food insecurity. Just this one initiative can make a large difference; in the fall of 2020, the van rescue team rescued approximately 4,500 pounds of food that was on its way to the landfill.

Other local organizations to look into include Food Link MA, an Arlington-based organization dedicated to collecting food from community partners and donors and distributing to local groups in need, such as food pantries and at-risk youth programs; Boston Area Gleaners, whose volunteers help collect surplus crops directly from farms to be distributed to various nearby food programs; and the Daily Table, a grocery store selling discounted and recovered healthy food with locations in Cambridge, Dorchester, and Roxbury.

While food waste may be the world’s dumbest environmental problem, the plethora of solutions and opportunities available indicate that this need not be the case. With a bit of mindfulness, access to proper food education and holding corporations responsible, we can make the world a less hungry and wasteful place.

Tori Berlin is a senior studying English. Tori can be reached at tori.berlin@tufts.edu

8 Thursday, January 27, 2022

Sports

tuftsdaily.com

Luke Rogers hit the 1,000 point mark. Now, he’s vying for a national championship.

by Ananda Kao Sports Editor

Going into his senior season, men’s basketball co-captain and center Luke Rogers set personal goals of scoring 1,000 points and getting 1,000 rebounds. Thirteen games into the season, Rogers has become just the 33rd player in Tufts basketball history to surpass 1,000 points. Due to an injury in the first game of the season that resulted in Rogers’ sitting out for six weeks, the latter half of his goal is now out of reach.

However, Rogers still has the chance to lead his team to something that has yet to be achieved: a national championship.

“At the end of the day, I really try to put personal goals aside,” Rogers said. “As a team, we made a list of things that we wanted to do and the number one thing on that list was win the NESCAC championship, win the NCAA championship. What’s unbelievable about basketball, and specifically, the way that Division III basketball and college basketball works, is that no matter what’s happened in the first half of our season, that dream is still alive.”

Rogers hit the 1,000-point mark with a jumper in the first half against Hamilton College on Jan. 14. It was Rogers’ fourth game back after fracturing the head of his fibula within the first minutes of the first game of the season. After a few MRIs, rest and many miles on the Airdyne bike, Rogers returned to the court six weeks later on Dec. 29 when the Jumbos beat Carthage College 81–70 at the Music City Classic tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

Since being back, Rogers and the Jumbos have been unstoppable. He has led the Jumbos on a 5–2 tear compared to their 2–7 start of the season with him on the bench.

“It feels unbelievable to be back,” Rogers said. “I took a year off school to come back and have one last shot at playing basketball with my teammates. It’s such a special group that we have.”

“One of the best things about basketball teams is that they’re small enough that you really get to know every single one of your teammates on an individual, personal level and that’s why it’s so much fun to play with these guys, because I really consider them to be my best friends,” Rogers said. “It doesn’t just feel like I’m part of a team, you know, I’m part of a family, and getting to go out there and battle with these guys is an absolutely special feeling.”

Rogers has scored 20 points or more in three games. He scored a season high and tied his career high of 32 points at Bates, and grabbed 15 rebounds in a comeback 71–70 win on Saturday. His 32-point high leads the NESCAC in a single-game scoring total.

“It’s been great,” junior guard Theo Henry said. “He’s given us a huge lift the past couple of games. We’ve played a lot better, and he stepped up big time against Bates with 30 plus points.

Being able to go down low, [or] play inside out, puts a lot more pressure on other teams. He’s a big presence that teams have to deal with, which opens up the floor for everyone else.”

The accolades Rogers has received align with his stat line.

Notably, he was named NESCAC Player of the Week in 2018, and

again this season, after his first week back. He was NESCAC Player of the Year in 2020, which was the same year he became Tufts’ first men’s basketball player to be chosen as a D3hoops. com All-American.

After his junior season got cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rogers and many of the other players on the 2019–20 team made the collective decision to take the next year off and come back to have another shot at unfinished business. They were on the bus driving to their Sweet 16 matchup in the NCAA tournament when they received the call that they needed to turn around immediately and that their season was over.

Now, entering the last third of their regular season, their opportunity to do something special is inching closer and closer to becoming a reality. The Jumbos sit at sixth in the NESCAC and with Rogers back in the action, look to improve their positioning for playoffs. After soaking in various leadership tactics by the six seniors he had as a first-year, Rogers has stepped into a leadership role over his years on the team.

“I’ve always thought that there’s a few things you can control in basketball, and you can control the controllables and let the other stuff play out,” Rogers said. “Some of those things are energy and communication.

Those are the two things that I try my best to bring, whether I’m sitting on a bench — I want to be the loudest guy out there cheering on my teammates — and when I’m on the court, talking on defense, I want to be the loudest guy possible to make sure that we’re always in our right defensive sets and we’re making the right reads.”

COURTESY ALONSO NICHOLS FOR TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Rogers is featured in his Tufts men’s basketball portrait on Nov. 10.

This leadership mentality carried forward even when Rogers was forced to lead from the bench while injured.

“He stayed super engaged,” Henry said. “Definitely didn’t let his injury put a damper on things. At practice, he was on the sidelines rehabbing, in every huddle, talking, giving us advice and knowledge … We definitely felt his leadership presence throughout that.”

When reflecting on his years at Tufts, Rogers emphasized the impact his teammates have had on him.

“The stuff that I’m really going to remember are those little times with my teammates, like the bus rides, the talks in the locker room and shooting half-courters,” Rogers said. “That’s the stuff that’s special to me, those little moments of joy that you share with your teammates.”

Although his post-graduation plans are still up in the air, Rogers hopes that basketball remains a part of them. For now, he has his eyes set on bringing home the first national championship trophy for Tufts.

Tufts dominates Lyons Invitational, aided by record-breaking performance from Firth

by Caroline Cromwell Contributing Writer

The Tufts’ track and field team extended its winning season on Friday, Jan. 21, when the team placed first out of seven teams at the Lyons Invitational at Wheaton College. The Jumbo men racked up 165 points, crushing their opponents while the women scored 172.5 points, defeating their closest competition by nearly 80 points.

Multiple Jumbos on the men’s side had noteworthy performances that helped catapult Tufts beyond the second-place finisher, UMass Dartmouth.

Sophomore Harry RieneckerFound tied for the second-highest jump in Division III this season. Rienecker-Found improved upon his personal record that he had set the weekend before, by hitting 6 feet and 8 and threefourths inches to win the event.

“I’m really happy to be up there in the rankings, and it’s a great feeling, but the season has only just started,” RieneckerFound said. “Although it’s a good start, I want to be up there come the end of the indoor season, which will require clearing some higher bars, so I’m hoping I can push on and do better.”

In addition to RieneckerFound, the entire men’s team posted solid outings at the meet.

Junior Marcus Hardy won the 800-meter event with a time of 1:58.98, and junior Sawyer Wilson placed second. Junior Alex Lemieux won the 60-meter dash, coming close to matching his school record of 6.86 seconds with a time of 6.88. Sophomore Luke Botsford and junior Andrii Campbell had times of 22.70 seconds and 50.98 seconds, respectively, in the 200-meter and 400meter races, placing them 28th and 35th in the country in those

events. Junior Hunter Farrell and senior Alex Zsikla helped the Jumbos win the pole vault and the triple jump events.

Rienecker-Found noted that the team exceeded expectations.

“Oftentimes the first few meets of the season are just about getting out there and putting some times [and] marks down to build on, but I think not having an indoor season last year made the whole team hungry for PR’s and records, of which there were many,” Rienecker-Found said.

The Jumbos from the women’s team had an equally impressive meet, capitalized by first-year Sarah Firth’s breaking the university’s pole record by clearing a height of 12 feet and 6 and three-fourths inches in her second meet. Tufts finished the meet tallying a score of 172.5 points, well ahead of second-place Coast Guard Academy.

Firth had been previously disappointed in her jumps from the meet prior.

“I decided that whether or not I broke the record this week, I didn’t want to walk away disappointed in myself,” Firth said.

“I was proud of the quality of my jumps. I wasn’t just muscling them over. My run had really improved since the start of the year — I was extending my body in the right way, and focusing on driving upwards.”

Firth also emphasized the importance of her coaches in her success. She attributed her improvement this season to assistant pole vault coach Ingrid Gustafson, assistant jumps and multi coach Stephen Fleagle and head coach Kristen Morwick, as well as the rest of the coaching staff.

Other members of the team posted impressive finishes at the meet as well. Junior co-captain Jaidyn Appel helped the Jumbos

to victory in the high jump, and first-year Carly Rinko won the 800-meter race with a time of 2:23.44, placing her 15th nationally. Tufts won both the 4×400meter and 4×200-meter relays with times of 4:09.18 and 1:48.54, respectively. Junior Lia Rotti won the long jump for the Jumbos.

Other notable Jumbos include senior co-captain Hannah Neilon, who ran a 1:01.28 in the 400-meter, sophomore Maelynn Ugokwe, who won the triple jump and sophomore Sarah Pillone, who hit a 9.43 qualifying time in the 60-meter hurdles.

“We have an extremely talented group this season, so the sky’s the limit for this team,” Rienecker-Found said.

Next weekend, the Jumbos take on the Branwen Smith-King Invitational at home and the John Thomas Terrier Classic at Boston University, where they hope to continue their strong start.