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VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 28
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Friday, November 5, 2021
Fletcher launches new Master in Global Affairs degree program
New technology sends Tufts veterinary scientists on journey to center of the cell by Alexander Thompson Assistant News Editor
MAIA BARBEE / THE TUFTS DAILY
The Fletcher School this fall launched a new master’s degree program designed in part for students who wish to study part time. by Ella Kamm
Assistant News Editor
The Fletcher School launched a new Master in Global Affairs degree program this fall. The degree is designed for students who want to focus on a single area of study and complete their studies in less time than a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy typically takes. The MGA can be completed in as little as 16 months, while the MALD takes two academic years. Students pursuing an MGA can opt to study part time, too, which allows them to extend their studies for as long as two-and-a-half years. Kelly Sims Gallagher, academic dean and professor of energy and environmental policy at Fletcher, said that the program originated to provide a more practical option for graduate studies. “We recognized that there were some prospective graduate students who were not willing to take two full years out of the workforce, who were exceptionally focused in terms of what they wanted to study, and who wanted a more experiential approach to education,” Gallagher wrote in an email to the Daily. Students enrolled in the MGA program study year-round, which includes the summer. The program also requires students to take more classes in their area of study than do other degree programs. Another difference from the other programs offered by Fletcher is the MGA’s experien-
tial component. As part of the degree, students must complete an internship for credit and a practicum in the final semester. “While many students do internships at Fletcher, this is the first degree that allows the internship for credit, and the first to require a practicum in lieu of a capstone thesis,” Gallagher said. For Robert Jones, an MGA student, the experiential components of the MGA work well with the current stage of his career. Jones earned a financial undergraduate degree, worked as an equity analyst at a hedge fund and as a senior strategy consultant at a commercial strategy firm. He is looking to enter the field of political risk advisory after completing his degree. “I think having had my experience in the workforce, having the opportunity to pivot my career into this new area in a practical way was what really drew me towards it,” Jones said in an interview. Gallagher noted that the program interests students who are looking to pivot in their career or relate their studies to a specific field or position. “We had very strong applications for this new degree program, and the students it seems to attract are those who are early-to mid-career, with a clear idea of exactly what they want to get out of their graduate degree,” she said. “They are less exploratory and more pragmatic. Many are trying to execute career shifts based on their degree here at Fletcher.”
For MGA candidate Melinda Monzione, the degree fits well with her current position as director of the international traveling exhibition program at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She is pursuing an independent study on cultural diplomacy. “Years ago, I had intended to pursue a MALD at Fletcher, and when my professional career took off in my precise field of study … it was really hard to fathom walking away from my professional opportunities despite my dedication to continuing academic pursuits,” Monzione said. Monzione expressed how finding a program that fit all of her needs in her area of study was difficult, so the MGA’s ability to accommodate working professionals was ideal for her. “It’s the precise program that I’ve been searching for over so many years,” she said. “The MGA’s flexible curriculum, accelerated pace and the ability to pursue part-time is tailor made for me at this juncture of my career, so I’m delighted.” Monzione characterized the inaugural class as a supportive and engaging community within the broader Fletcher student body. “It’s this deeply dynamic global community, descended onto Medford,” she said. Gallagher reported that this class of MGA students has made the launching of the degree program very smooth. “We were pleased with the interest in the degree, and our new entering cohort is strong,” she said.
New cutting edge technology recently installed at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University reminds Cheryl London, the associate dean for research and graduate education, of the 1966 sci-fi film “Fantastic Voyage.” In the movie, an intrepid submarine crew shrinks down small enough to float through an injured scientist’s bloodstream to save his life. The new technology, called spatial profiling, allows scientists to see so deep into tissue samples that London, an oncologist, said it feels like you’re actually there on the surface of the cell. “It’s like taking a bird’seye look inside the cell itself,” London said. The Cummings School won a $2 million grant from the
Waltham-based Massachusetts Life Sciences Center for the new equipment this spring, and it was installed over the summer. London and her team submitted their grant proposal to the MLSC, an organization that pools state and private money to invest in science research across the state, through the agency’s Research Infrastructure Program in the fall of 2020. At the end of February of this year, an email informed London that Tufts had won the competitive grant. “When you get the notification that you’ve been funded it’s one of those woo-hoo moments,” London said. “You do a little dance, and you’re pretty excited.” The equipment was installed last June and July in the newly renovated Peabody Pavilion lab space, and by September it was available for use. see TECHNOLOGY, page 2
Mini-Med Connect supports underrepresented high school students in STEM by Kendall Roberts Staff Writer
Mini-Med Connect, an intensive summer mentorship program for high students interested in STEM and health care, was introduced last summer by the Center for Science Education at Tufts University. Mini-Med Connect allows high school students to explore career paths in research and medicine while also teaching important social and academic skills for STEM-related fields. The program ran virtually from June 28 through Aug. 6. According to Berri Jacque, director of the Center for Science Education and creator of MiniMed Connect, there were 15 Boston-area high school students selected for the program. Many students came from backgrounds that have traditionally been underrepresented in science — including low-income families and first-generation college students.
ARTS / page 5
FEATURES / page 3
SPORTS / back
True crime and humor bleed together in ‘Only Murders in the Building’
Long-running course returns to ExCollege following brief hiatus
A ‘Moneyball’ approach in the Premier League
“One of the biggest goals of our [program] was to give students an experience that makes them feel they belong in science and give them access to mentors and give them support mechanisms to help them maintain a course to whatever their goals are in STEM,” EmilyKate McDonough, a co-director of Tufts Mini-Med Connect, said. Mini-Med Connect was funded by a National Institutes of Health grant. Jacque explained that the mentors were paid and housed for the summer — and that each student received a stipend for their involvement in the program. “If a program is not paying students, it is not an inclusive program, and that’s a huge issue and a huge barrier,” Jacque said. Three undergraduate mentors were selected by the Tufts University Center for STEM Diversity to provide guidance for the program’s students while see MINI-MED, page 2 NEWS
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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Friday, November 5, 2021
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Cummings School wins $2 million grant TECHNOLOGY
continued from page 1 The new lab equipment also includes advanced genetic sequencing and NanoString technology, which is able to sequence the DNA of a single cell. London said the technology is a product of the latest in a series of major scientific leaps in the fields of genomics and pathology and has advanced rapidly. Spatial profiling technology was only developed in the last five years. Next generation sequencing is slightly older, having been developed in the years following the conclusion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. This is the first time that either technology will be available on Tufts’ campus, and the new lab will function as a shared resource, London said. While the technology is currently only available to those who have been trained extensively on how to use the expensive equipment, students and faculty from any of the university’s campuses will be able to submit proposals to use the equipment. London is talking with researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine who intend to apply for funding for experiments that use the technology. Some research is already underway with the new technology. One of the few researchers who has been using the technology for her research is Heather Gardner (GBS’20), a Cummings School assistant research professor specializing in veterinary oncology and genetics.
VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine is pictured. Gardner studies the impact of losing subsets of genes when DNA is transcribed into RNA in the context of bone cancer. The next generation sequencing has enabled her to examine that process in individual cells, she wrote in an email to the Daily. The spatial-profiling technology is helping Gardner too. It allows her to zoom in on canine bone cancer micro-environments to examine how the tumors change gene expression. “This equipment really compliments and adds a new dimension to the research already being done,” Gardner said. Frequently, Cummings School researchers like Gardner are doing experiments on nonhu-
man animal cells not only to develop therapies for the animals themselves, but to use them as models for treatments in humans as well. For that to work, though, scientists have to ensure the animal models accurately mimic the human body. “Sometimes models look like they’re the real deal on the outside,” London said. “But when you look at the genetic level it’s really not the same.” The new technology will help Cummings School researchers do just that. Joseph Sullivan, vice president of marketing, communications, and community relations at the MLSC, said the organiza-
tion was “very proud” to have funded Tufts’ new equipment. Sullivan wrote in an email to the Daily that the organization hopes the new shared resources will catalyze scientific collaboration, research and innovation in Worcester and the rest of central Massachusetts with the Cummings School as an anchor institution. For now, London said the team is still “getting [its] feet wet” but quickly warming up to the new lab. “Walking in and seeing all of this is super cool,” London said. “It’s like a car enthusiast seeing 10 Lamborghinis in a garage. It’s amazing to see the power of the equipment you have around you.”
Mini-Med participants receive mentorship MINI-MED
continued from page 1 simultaneously working in Tufts research labs. Mentors and mentees together discussed a variety of topics — including financial aid, college applications and how to respond to microaggressions in the classroom. One of the undergraduate mentors, Tufts senior Nashielli Diaz, admitted that it was challenging growing up without a mentor who shared the same experiences as her. However, she was grateful for the opportunity to fill that role for her mentees. “All of them are very highly motivated individuals who have the potential to achieve what they want to do and more,” Diaz said. “I just hope that through the program, we have been able to provide them with some skills that can help them do that or at least remind them that they have people who care about them and want to support them.” Mini-Med Connect’s curriculum focused on five core areas: learning science, having fun, celebrating diversity in STEM, receiving individual mentoring and learning professional skills
that are often not explicitly taught in schools. According to McDonough, getting lessons on this usually “hidden curriculum” gave Mini-Med Connect students the chance to learn skills that build confidence in professional settings. “Students who come from privileged backgrounds tend to have more exposure to the hidden curriculum and this ultimately results in them having a leg up when it comes to applying to college or work in a professional setting,” McDonough said. “We hope [that] by students getting to engage in interview role-playing activities or critiquing fictional emails, they are going to feel more confident to put themselves out into the world and ask for what they want.” In addition to the high school student participants, Mini-Med Connect also offered professional development opportunities to the undergraduate mentors as well. Revati Masilamani, a co-director of Mini-Med Connect, placed mentors into their respective labs for the summer. Masilamani emphasized the importance of giving the mentors access to
enriching experiences early in their undergraduate careers so that they too could explore a range of possibilities in STEM. McDonough explained why it was important to facilitate strong mentor-mentee relationships. “You can have as much mentoring as you want, but if you aren’t comfortable with your mentor, it’s really hard to have more difficult conversations,” McDonough said. Mini-Med Connect also highlighted diverse role models in STEM. According to McDonough, the program invited the co-founders of the Bostonbased organization Scientists in Solidarity to discuss their experiences as scientists of color. Masilamani hopes that by celebrating diversity in STEM, MiniMed Connect will help connect the high school students to their future careers. “I think when a student is entering into an academic research space for the first time, it might be daunting, but hopefully, understanding what the background of that context is gives them a better ability to negotiate those spaces,” Masilamani said.
While Mini-Med Connect was offered virtually this summer, Jacque wants the program to operate in-person next summer and aspires to see the program expand in funding and accessibility. “I really want to be able to have more students able to do it [and] more mentors,” Jacque said. According to Diaz, there was an in-person event at the end of the summer for all the high school students, mentors and co-directors to meet and explore the Tufts campus. Diaz was able to show the mentees her lab and research and wants a greater in-person component in future iterations of Mini-Med Connect. “I just wish there was more interaction throughout the year,” Diaz said. “I think that’s one way to grow.” McDonough hopes that the participants in Mini-Med Connect found a sense of belonging in the STEM community. “I hope that the students coming out of the Mini-Med Connect program are empowered to pursue a STEM career if that is what they want to do,” McDonough said. “ I hope that we’ve provided a network for them to lean on, if they need it.”
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Features
3 Friday, November 5, 2021
Long-running ExCollege course explores meaning of privacy in American law
MICHELLE LI / THE TUFTS DAILY
Though the ExCollege scrambles its courses each semester, The Right to Privacy in America has been running on and off for over a decade. by Abby Stern Staff Writer
The right to privacy has been a topic of legal significance since the founding of this country, and in 2008, Steven Sharobem and Douglas Martland thought a class on this subject would be perfect for the Experimental College at Tufts. Martland said the constantly changing legal status of the right to privacy makes the subject directly relevant to students. The ExCollege scrambles its course listings each semester, but Martland and Sharobem’s class has run on and off for more than a decade, etching itself in as one of the ExCollege’s staples. In the fall of 2008, Sharobem and Martland taught a class titled Constitutional Law and the American Education System. A semester later, the class morphed into what is now The Right to Privacy in Modern America. The lawyer-duo taught the class almost every year up through 2017. After a five-semester break that began in spring 2018, the course has returned this fall and reentered into the Tufts fabric. Sharobem and Martland met at Suffolk Law School. Graduating in 2005, the pair clerked together at the
Massachusetts Superior Court and then worked together at the Massachusetts Court of Appeals for two years. Together, they also worked at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office for about seven years. Now, Martland is an assistant attorney general at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, working in the constitutional and administrative law division, while Sharobem is an assistant U.S. attorney, working in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, affiliated with the Department of Justice and in the affirmative civil enforcement division. The duo first heard about the ExCollege when they were clerking together. “We had been exposed to some really interesting concepts while we were both in law school — as well as clerking with one another — that we thought would be a really interesting way to teach the law, much differently from what we experienced in law school,” Sharobem said. The course they developed is discussion-based and encourages critical analysis of Supreme Court cases. “The idea is really to explore the details of how the right of
privacy has been defined in the … last 25 years to 30 years of Supreme Court decisions, and how that has kind of bubbled up to the surface and how it’s really dominated daily life in some ways,” Sharobem said. Their course has been eye-opening for many students and has encouraged deeper thought on this subject of privacy. Emma Bittar, a sophomore and current student in the class, enjoys the open-minded discussions the course offers. “I’ve always really liked hearing other people’s opinions and perspectives, just because we all come from different places and experiences,” Bittar said. “I think it’s important to hear about that and to open your eyes to parts of the world that you might not be involved in.” According to first-year Larson Burak, another current student in the class, having two professional lawyers lead the class gives students opportunities to hear unique, professional viewpoints. “I really enjoy the perspectives that they bring to the discussions,” Burak said. “Kids in the class will be sharing our ideas, and they’ll contribute another anecdote or something that they’ve encountered in their professional careers that really
moves it to another level and changes the dynamic.” Bittar enjoyed how the professors challenge students’ ideas of privacy. “They definitely challenge our ways of thinking, I think more than I’ve really experienced before, which has been really fun just to kind of really kind of dismantle your thoughts and then rebuild them back up again,” Bittar said. According to both the professors and the students, a main draw for this course is its relevance to students’ lives. “The cases are usually drawn right from the headlines of the major newspapers, the major court hearings,” Martland said. “We spend a lot of this semester doing something new every time.” After thirteen years of teaching, both Martland and Sharobem agreed that the best part of the class is working with students and learning from their unique perspectives. Sharobem said he’s always struck by how engaged his students are with the subject and “how willing they are to share, both from a personal standpoint, as well as their own viewpoints about what they think is best.” In addition to enjoying interacting with the students,
Martland and Sharobem also enjoy working with each other. “It’s great to have two of us, so that we can always be there for the students outside the classroom. When they need to meet with us or talk to us about something, one of us can always be on top of it,” Sharobem said. “I think it’s also helpful from a classroom perspective for the students to have both of our perspectives. Martland and Sharobem create a relaxed environment where they have fun with each other while teaching. “I do really enjoy poking fun at Steve. And I hope that some of that humor reaches the students, and they can come into an environment that’s not so serious and regimented,” Martland said. Martland and Sharobem know that Tufts does not offer many law classes, and they take pride in providing a course that can help students decide whether or not they want to pursue a career in the legal field. Whether students decide to go into law or not, the pair is equally happy to help students with the decision. Burak took the course for this exact reason. see EXCOLLEGE, page 4
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THE TUFTS DAILY | Features | Friday, November 5, 2021
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After 4-year hiatus, classic ExCollege course returns EXCOLLEGE
Continued from page 3 “I was partially taking it as an investigation into whether I was interested in law. And I think this [class], not necessarily pushed me entirely away from it, but maybe channeled my interest in another direction,” Burak said. Similarly, Bittar did not know exactly what the future holds for her in the legal field, but regardless, taking this course has given her a more informed foundation for deciding.
by Emika Brown and Nick Januario Blind Luck
Date No. 2
W
elcome back. It’s been a minute. So excited to have you here. Just as a reminder, please send us your friends, your schemes and yourselves to nicholasjanuario@ gmail.com for a shot at true love on this desolate desert campus. The Marriage Pact can only carry us so far. This week’s date was full of banter and coincidence so let’s get into the deets from our favorite Halloweekend boos. Person 1: Our first boo started off by telling us about a chance encounter he had with his date a couple weeks before their Blind Luck date. The two had both coincidentally signed up for a trip to New Hampshire with a club for a
“For me personally, I speak from a very emotional place [and] in a very empathetic place,” Bittar said. “I want to feel like that is really needed in the law field, but I also feel like sometimes that’s really lacking. So I just don’t quite know how that’s gonna fit.” Sharobem and Martland have had multiple students over the years move on to law school, and many of them still keep in touch. “I did not realize how much I would really enjoy hearing from former students, and knowing
how much they’re still influenced by our little class for 13 weeks,” Sharobem said. “That we somehow provided any level of encouragement to them to be where they are is truly humbling to me.” Martland and Sharobem will not be teaching The Right to Privacy in Modern America in spring 2022. They would like to wait until the end of this Supreme Court term, during which several groundbreaking cases are on the agenda. The professors hope to come back and teach the course again next year.
The Right to Privacy in Modern America will constantly change in response to current events, and that is what makes the course unique. “I really think this course endures because it’s always an opportunity to talk about what’s going on in the country,” Martland said. “All of the issues that we talked about are usually front and center in everybody’s mind during the course of the semester in a way that they often aren’t in many other college classes.”
Sharobem and Martland are thankful for the experience of teaching this class and the 13-year journey they have been on with the university and its students. “I’m not sure that he and I, when we started this endeavor, thought we would be here in 2021. But we are and there’s a reason why we’re still here,” Sharobem said. “We really like it and it’s just amazing. And we know that that’s not just attributable to us, but it’s attributable to the students who are willing to put in the work, the time, and the effort.”
weekend. Not knowing they were paired for Blind Luck, Person 1 remembered Person 2 for her spontaneity on the trip. “A bunch of people on the second night were like, ‘Hey, let’s get up early and go [swim in the river]’ … so we wake up … and it’s pouring … Not ideal for a river dip … and she was the only other person who’s like, ‘Yeah.” When meeting on our doorstep for their Blind Luck date, Person 1 was happy and surprised to see that Person 2 was his date. Like last time, the date began with a beverage and a picnic blanket. They walked off with the goods and the date began. “We went to the park on the other side of the tower and sat down and drank the wine.” You know, the one with the cute benches and the stone tower by Powder House Circle. The conversation flowed, and Person 1 recalled talking for almost an hour and a half.
After sitting in the park, they found their way to Davis Square, where they were met with Fridaynight wait times at Dakzen and the Painted Burro. Luckily they managed to get into Genki Ya. To the surprise of Person 1, “We show[ed] up and [she] saw some of [her] friends outside.” Normally that might be awkward, but Person 1 reassured us it was not. “We kept talking and we ordered drinks,” Person 1 said. They were “vibing and having a really good time,” Person 1 recalled. After dinner, they parted ways but had the intention of meeting up later that night. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but when asked if he would ever see his date again, Person 1 replied, “I think I would … we had a pretty good flow.” Person 2: Person 2 had a different memory of the first time the two met. “The way that I first met him was at the club fair. My friend texted me [saying], “You have to
go to the [club] booth. There’s a really cute guy there.” Person 2 had come into the date with low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised. “They’re very charismatic [and a] good conversationalists” She went on, “[I’m] not going to have to worry about it being too awkward.” She expressed some initial hesitancy based on previous encounters with Person 1. “Based on what I knew about this person before … I knew that they were charismatic, but I felt that they kind of were, maybe a little full of themselves … I mean, in the beginning, it was kind of like what I expected,” she said. “But then they opened up a little bit, which was really nice. He talked about how he was really nervous for the [date] and how he spent an hour getting ready, picking out his outfit and listening to music before hyping himself up. So I was like, that’s really cute.” Person 2 continued the story at Genki Ya.
“We were waiting and they were playing music while we’re waiting, and then we just started dancing,” she said. “So we’re waiting in line and just like actually, full out dancing.” The daters returned home and then “texted later that night about maybe meeting up … [but it] never happened.” When asked if she saw any romantic potential, Person 2 responded, “Yeah, I think there was definitely chemistry. We were so glad that there was someone else that was also … asking questions … it was very easy.” One week later, while on a late night stroll, we, the writers of this column, happened to run into one of our Halloween boos. And guess what … they’re still texting. Emika Brown is a junior studying environmental engineering. Emika can be reached at emika.brown@tufts. edu. Nick Januario is a junior studying biochemistry. Nick can be reached at nicholas.januario@tufts.edu.
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Friday, November 5, 2021
‘Only Murders in the Building’ provides simple, mind-numbing respite by Henry Chandonnet Contributing Writer
True crime has become a cultural phenomenon, whether it be the smash successes of podcasts like “Crime Junkie” (2017–) or “My Favorite Murder” (2016–), or even the rising view-counts on YouTube crime series such as “Buzzfeed: Unsolved” (2016–). “Only Murders in the Building” (2021–) attempts to comment on this rising cultural sentiment, using comedy to portray the solving of a true crime mystery itself. Using standard sitcom tropes and often-overplayed generational humor, the show in no way reinvents the wheel. Still, it takes a lot of energy to critique the quaint dad-humor of the series. Rather, it’s much easier to sit back, get wrapped up in the mystery, and allow the world to pass you by. “Only Murders in the Building” follows three residents of the Arconia, an apartment building in the Upper West Side. There’s Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), a former television detective; Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), a musical theater director; and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez), a young artist renovating her unit for her aunt. The three residents first meet in an elevator with Tim Kono (Julian Cihi) and immediately go their separate ways. However, when Tim Kono is found dead, the three bond over true crime podcasts and decide to solve the supposed murder. The show, at first glance, is a bit cringe-inducing. Much of the comedy hinges on generational humor, with the two older men not being able to understand the millennial way of life. One episode includes an extended joke about the way that young people text each other, with Savage and Putnam signing off their texts like formal letters. After one too many jokes about Mora’s generation being strange, I began to lose connection with Savage and Putnam’s characters. It became clear that I, and mainly younger people, may not be the intended audience of the show. The jokes seem to be so specifically skewed toward an older generation, almost to the point where one could imagine their parents loving the show. Maybe that’s intentional, though — to be fair, I was the one who did not know who Steve Martin was before the show (a somewhat embarrassing flaw). Nonetheless, the humor of the show provokes a visceral reaction: sometimes laughing hard, sometimes cringing even harder. Still, at some point the show becomes wonderfully intoxicating. Maybe it’s the humor that eventually becomes quaint and easily digestible. Maybe it’s the pull of true crime itself and the desire to solve the murder with the podcasters. Whatever the reason, the show soon becomes a mindless binge in the best possible way.
VIA IMDB
“Only Murders in the Building” premiered on Aug. 31. Episodes are short and bleed into each other, and new clues in the murder present themselves in a somewhat even stream. In my personal viewing, I watched the first three episodes over three days, and then the following seven episodes over the course of a single morning. This viewing schedule reflects just how deeply the show hooks you in: Once the plot overwhelms you, it becomes a joyous free fall to the end. Likewise, the show succeeds in one of the most crucial elements
of a murder mystery: It provides a satisfying ending. The series sticks the landing in providing an unexpected-but-realistic conclusion, one that leaves the viewer questioning why they hadn’t yet thought of it. It leaves the viewer feeling accomplished and satiated, almost like they had done the work themselves. You are a detective with the podcasters, and thus finding a true and evident solution feels oh so satisfying. This series also has an incredible supporting cast, with the
show serving almost as a who’s who of big name comedians. Part of the joy of the show was watching an episode and realizing that the one-off episode feature was Tina Fey, Nathan Lane or Jackie Hoffman. The show also pulled from the theater community of New York, featuring favorites like Ali Stroker and Jayne Houdyshell. In all, whoever cast the show deserves a round of applause. Not only does it feature bigname leads, but it also includes fun side characters with which
you can play the IMDb game while watching. In all, “Only Murders in the Building” may be meant for another generation, but it was fun regardless. The show was joyful and stress-relieving, serving to be almost mind-numbing in just the right way. The plot clearly leaves the door open for a season 2, ending with a small cliffhanger in the final episode. Season 2 will likely function in the same way, and serve the same goal. You tune in, and you turn off. It’s just that simple.
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THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Pop Culture | Friday, November 5, 2021
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Louis Vuitton catwalk-crashing instigates change by Alice Belaya
Contributing Writer
An uninvited guest graced the Paris Fashion Week Louis Vuitton Show alongside the runway models on Oct. 5. Clad with a banner reading “Overconsumption = Extinction,” climate activist Marie Cohuet, 26, set the issue of the fashion industry’s directly contributing to the contemporary climate crisis — quite literally — under the spotlight. The choice to target this label in particular can be explained by the affiliation with its parent organization, LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods conglomerate. The corporation controls brands such as Celine, Fendi and Tiffany & Co., making its influence within the fashion section virtually incomparable. On her Twitter page, Cohuet described LVMH’s authority in the manufacturing of global fashion trends, and she indicted the corporation for perpetuating an inter-class “désir de surconsommer,” or “desire to overconsume.” The show was held in the Louvre, a legendary art museum and iconic stronghold of the Western artistic tradition, making it a perfect location for an event as indulgent and exclusive as a Louis Vuitton fashion show. The contrast between the glamorous venue with its luxuriously dignified invitees and Cohuet’s urgent, unrefined delivery of her message was striking. The activist walked among the models with confident nonchalance, as if her being there was an intentional creative decision rather than a radical call to action. Despite Cohuet’s efforts, Louis Vuitton declined to comment on the situation. Before being tackled by the show’s security, she got the chance to denounce the dangerous decadence of the fashion world. Cohuet represented three Europe-based climate organizations: Youth for Climate, Les Amis de la Terre (Friends of the Earth) and Extinction Rebellion. The last one has a history of climate protests amid fashion events, the most recent one at the Dior show in Paris in Sept. 2020, targeting another one of LVMH’s brands. Similarly, an activist calmly walked the runway, holding a banner with the words “We are all fashion victims.”
Interestingly, LVMH CEO Sidney Toledano noted the non-aggressive nature of the activist’s actions, saying that “her message wasn’t clear. You couldn’t tell if it was part of the show or not.” Whether speaking genuinely or deliberately downplaying the potency of the protester’s message, Toledano highlighted the range of activist efforts held by Extinction Rebellion. From catwalks to “die-ins,” this organization has utilized a wide range of effective means to communicate its message. Extinction Rebellion has infiltrated events in other fashion capitals of the world, including New York City and London, where protesters participated in a sustainable, self-organized, make-shift fashion show and, more gravely, a “funeral march for fashion,” respectively. Their provocative actions, such as covering themselves in blood or gridlocking roads, are designed to spread the message on the ruinous capacity of the fashion industry: “Fashion’s carbon impact industry has an impact carbon greater than Aviation and Maritime Shipping combined,” states Extinction Rebellion’s website.. The disruption of fashion events as a mode of protest is not new. Other activist groups, such as PETA, an organization advocating for animal rights, have been repeatedly crashing runway shows for at least two decades. During the 2002 Victoria’s Secret show, a group of protesters broke out on the catwalk with banners proclaiming “Gisele: Fur Scum” in critique of the supermodel Gisele Bündchen’s natural furs campaign. While Bündchen has since ceased participating in fur advertising campaigns, the medium of fashion protest, evidently, prospers. Its inherent theatricality proves to ensure abundant media coverage by both fashion gospel, such as Vogue Magazine, and ‘green’ news sources alike, broadcasting the fashion industry’s contribution to the environmental crisis. As COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, moves forward in Glasgow (Oct. 31–Nov. 12), the world anxiously awaits the next word in industrial sustainability, including in the sphere of fashion, which is responsible for an estimated 5%–8% of global
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An activist interrupted the Louis Vuitton Fashion Show last month in protest of the fashion industry’s contributions to climate change. emissions every year. The fashion industry is bound to face unprecedented difficult changes that include a thorough reformulation of brands’ supply chains. Generally, fashion labels are reluctant to channel resources into making factories more sustainable due to the sheer number
of facilities they work with, the huge cost required to improve each one and the undesirability of letting other competing brands working with the same factories benefit from their own investment. However, this attitude may be forced to change, as policymakers are working
to implement novel production regulations in participating countries. Until these reforms start to show results on the path to net-zero emission commitments, we need to be prepared to see more fashion-crashers, like Cohuet, recasting the image of the fashion show as we know it.
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The story behind Brentford’s meteoric rise to the Premier League
by Bharat Singh
Contributing Writer
Six seasons ago, Brentford F.C. found itself in the third tier of English football. Today, after a 74-year absence from the top flight, the small club from West London is mid-table in the Premier League. With a modest stadium capacity of just over 17,000, Brentford is economically dwarfed by its competition. So how did these minnows climb the daunting ladder of English football? According to Brentford’s co-director of football, “If David wants to beat Goliath, you can’t do that by using the same weapons.” With a decade under the ownership of Oxford physics graduate Matthew Benham, Brentford has remodeled its transfer and player development strategy on the foundations of data, earning countless comparisons to the iconic “Moneyball” approach used in MLB by Billy Beane in 2002. Benham made his name through his professional gambling firms SmartOdds and Matchbook, where he used analytics to gain insight into the fine margins of football matches. Having tested his quantitative approach at Danish side FC Midtjylland, a club he bought in 2014, Benham applied a similar philosophy with Brentford, which now specializes in recruiting underperforming players with extremely high potential. Rasmus Ankersen, Brentford’s co-director of football, claims that these “whispering talents” are either misjudged at a young age at top academies or are simply not being maximized in their club or league. A prime example is Neaul Maupay of Brighton, which is another Premier League club. In 2016, Maupay struggled for goals at Saint-Étienne and was loaned out to Brest in the second division of French football. There, his goal tally would improve but he still had the reputation of being an inconsistent striker. Brentford’s analysis, which includes data from tracking maps and expected goals, indicated that Maupay’s profile would fit its playing style. Having debuted at just 16 and suffered a few injuries, Maupay was yet to blossom into his prime. Ankersen claimed that “Maupay wasn’t a perfect player,” often described as “too aggressive, too angry,” but it was about “getting an unfinished package and making it better.” After a transfer of 1.6 million pounds, Maupay proved instrumental in
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A
fter the departure of legendary wide receiver Julio Jones, there was little doubt that young talent Calvin Ridley would become the undisputed new number one for Atlanta, both quarterback Matt Ryan’s favorite target and a fan favorite among the Falcons faithful. Yet on Sunday, Ridley was absent from Mercedes-Benz Stadium for warm-ups, and he was a surprise inactive for the 1 p.m. kick off. Soon after, the Fox broadcast showed Ridley’s tweet explaining his absence. “These past few weeks have been very challenging and as much as I’d like to be
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Brentford F.C. has ascended in recent years, despite tight finances. Brentford’s push for promotion. In 2019, on the back of several impactful performances for Brentford, Maupay was sold to Brighton for 20 million pounds. Last season, Maupay’s goals were crucial in Brighton avoiding relegation and he now finds himself on the scoring charts alongside the likes of Sadio Mané and Son Heung-min. Still only 25 and with a valuation of 40 million pounds, Maupay is on the radar of Napoli and Everton, indicative of what a specific environment can do for a player in just a few years. Another piece of Brentford’s puzzle was Ollie Watkins. Bought for just 1.8 million pounds from lower-league Exeter City in 2017, Watkins scored over 26 goals in all competitions in the 2019–20 season. Forming a formidable duo with Maupay, the young English winger turned center-forward was eventually sold to Aston Villa for a record fee of 28 million pounds. Last summer, he even made the provisional squad for England’s European Championships.
Alongside its strategic player recruitment, Brentford has restructured its academy to cut costs and avoid losing prodigies to wealthier clubs. Before deciding to close the academy and transition to a B-team model in 2016, Brentford spent over 1.5 million pounds a year on its youth academy. The last time the academy produced a first-team player was in 2005, and has since struggled to retain exciting talents like Ian Poveda, bought by Manchester City for just 30,000 pounds. The B-team model eliminates this risk of “player poaching” through financial regulation and focuses on developing elite players (ages 17–20) released by other academies. Since the transition, the B-team has produced over 15 debutants who are regularly tested against U-23 academy teams across the continent. Ankersen claims that to survive in such an economically skewed market, Brentford must out-think its competition since the
team can’t outspend the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United. In a way, this budget constraint has forced efficient investment. Apart from buying younger players who are hungry to prove themselves, like current star Ivan Toney, Brentford has pioneered set-piece innovation. With specialist coach Gianni Vio at the helm, famously dubbed Italy’s “secret weapon” in its Euro 2020 triumph, Brentford has found margins to win tight games out of nothing. This was evident from its first game, with a goal off of a carefully executed throw-in routine against Arsenal. The club’s obsession with detail and planning should inspire many throughout the sporting world, in particular smaller teams whose finances are slim, that success is possible even with the odds stacked against you. For Brentford, this chapter has only just begun, but it’s clear that the bees are buzzing and are clearly here to stay.
on the field competing with my teammates, I need to step away from football at this time and focus on my mental wellbeing,” Ridley tweeted. This is the second time this season that Ridley has been inactive due to personal mental health matters, and this time, although no timetable for return has been given, it seems like it will be more than a one-week absence. Ridley is doing what is best for him, and his status as a bona fide NFL star affords him the job security to take the time he needs to recover. For many athletes, however, there is no security whatsoever. For lower-tier professional, amateur and student athletes, taking time off for mental health is met with missed playing opportunities, lost scholarships and cold shoulders. Mental health in sports is not taken seriously enough. The notion that athletes should be impervious to stress and anxiety will continue to be detrimental to sports
culture everywhere unless that assumption changes at all levels. In America, we tend to revere athletes, whether they’re the quarterback of their high school team, the NCAA Div. I swim captain or the greatest gymnast of all time. This reverence can be positive, but excellence comes with expectations. When success becomes required, it is completely human to struggle with the mounting pressure. Herein lies the problem: Athletes become machines, means to victory for organizations and fans alike, and can become devalued as people. When gymnast Simone Biles pulled out of the majority of Tokyo 2020 events for mental health issues, the NBC broadcast capitalized on her choice and bravery. Biles’ courage acts as an important example for athletes everywhere, but her story should not be abnormal enough to yield pomp and circumstance. Athletes get injured all the time, and mental health should be treated as seri-
ously as physical ailments by teams and training staff. Had Biles instead broken her wrist and been unable to compete, her story would have been treated entirely differently. Thankfully, demands for mental health support in professional leagues are starting to find an audience. Many professional sports leagues have implemented mental health support for players in one form or another. But the vast majority of athletes do not have access to these programs. And no amount of behind-the scenes support systems will dent the popular contempt that athletes face for taking time off for their mental health. Because of their talents, it can be easy to forget that athletes are just people. It’s time for us to start treating them like it. Oliver Fox is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Oliver can be reached at oliver.fox@tufts.edu.