The Tufts Daily - Thursday, November 5, 2020 by The Tufts Daily

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Thursday, November 5, 2020

Professor Brian Schaffner’s seminar class polls 2020 election in new study

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

A lawn sign in support of former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris is pictured in Somerville, Mass. on Oct. 25. by Sam Klugherz

Assistant News Editor

Tufts undergraduate students conducted a nationally representative survey of American adults for the presidential election as part of Professor Brian Schaffner’s “Polling the 2020 Election”

seminar. The poll was fielded online with a sample provided by Lucid, a company that provides samples to online survey firms. The poll found that former Vice President Joe Biden led President Donald Trump 52% to 45% in the national survey of likely voters.

Schaffner, a professor of civic studies, highlighted one important finding from the survey, which has been evident in other polls throughout the election cycle. “Almost one out of 10 people who voted for Trump in 2016 are not supporting him this year,” Schaffner said. “Given

how narrowly he won the election, that’s a pretty big deal.” Schaffner added that Biden is also preferred to Trump among voters who did not cast a ballot in 2016, and among voters who voted for a third-party candidate in 2016. “A big part of the story is that Biden has held on to

most of the Clinton voters, but Trump hasn’t really held on to as many of his own supporters,” Schaffner said. “And those people who are coming back to the polls or who are voting for the first time are overwhelmingly favoring Biden.” see POLLS, page 2

2020 election cycle sees increase in early votes cast by youth, surpasses 2016 margin by Coco Arcand

Contributing Writer

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement (CIRCLE) released a study on Oct. 30 that recorded the number of young people using early voting to cast their ballots in 14 states that are key to the 2020 presidential election. Rey Junco, a senior researcher at CIRCLE,

described some of the organization’s goals for the study. “One of [CIRCLE’s] values is focusing on youth who are typically underrepresented in political and civic processes. So we are really interested in promoting diverse voices and promoting equal and just outcomes,” he said. The 14 states in the study have been ranked by CIRCLE’s Youth Electoral Significance

Index ( YESI), which takes into account predicted electoral competitiveness and past youth voter engagement, among other factors, to determine young voters’ possible impact. Junco described CIRCLE’s findings and explained how the pandemic has caused a large number of youth voters to vote earlier. “There has been a phenomenal increase in early

votes cast by young people. Of course, there is the issue of the coronavirus right now and that is an impetus for people engaging in early voting,” Junco said. “Young people have now realized, ‘I can do early voting’ and they might take more advantage of that in the future.” The study also indicated that youth civic engagement initiatives have encouraged

OPINION / page 7

FEATURES / page 3

SPORTS / back

Exceptional Pass policies are necessary in a pandemic

Student organizations join together to organize Offline October

Buccaneers continue their winning season with Brady

a rise in youth voter participation. Young people have attended marches, helped peers and family register to vote and integrated more political discussion into their everyday lives. The major increase in youth early voting participation in the key states has already surpassed the same margin in the see CYCLE, page 2 NEWS

FEATURES

WEEKENDER

FUN & GAMES

OPINION

SPORTS

BACK

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, November 5, 2020

THE TUFTS DAILY Alex Viveros Editor in Chief

Rebecca Barker Hannah Harris Managing Editors Jake Freudberg Associate Editors Jilly Rolnick Alejandra Carrillo Maddie Aitken Jessica Blough Tom Guan Liza Harris Alex Janoff Matt McGovern Sara Renkert Sarah Sandlow Anton Shenk Carolina Espinal Sam Klugherz Alexander Thompson Alicia Zou

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PRODUCTION Kevin Zhang Production Director Rachel Hsin Executive Layout Editors Yanqing Huang Laura Mogannam Campbell Devlin Layout Editor Tys Sweeney Executive Graphics Editor Sam Farbman Graphic Designers Freya Gupta Helen He Kristina Marchand Calisa Sana Ethan Schreiber

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BUSINESS Robert Kaplan Business Director Devina Bhalla Account Managers Coley Goren Sharan Bhansali Business Managers Norice Lu Evelyn McClure Patrick Milewski Luke Allocco Outreach Coordinators Sam Russo

POLLS

The poll explored several public opinion research questions posed by the students, allowing them to apply concepts and statistical skills they learned in class, according to Schaffner. The sample used for the survey was weighted by gender, age, region, education, race and 2016 presidential vote choice. Earlier in the semester, the students learned how to weigh sample data to adjust for biases and they applied these methods to the survey sample. Aadhya Shivakumar, a student in the seminar, explained some of her takeaways from the project. “Doing something, in a practical sense, in politics has taught me a lot more about public opinion and how polling actually works,” Shivakumar, a junior, said.

Shivakumar analyzed the relationship between employment status and early voting from the survey results. “What I found is that nearly 47% of people who said they were retired had voted early by [Oct. 25], and the lowest category was people who are employed full time,” Shivakumar said. Shivakumar explained that her classmates are working in groups to explore public opinion for a separate research project with the polling results. Her group is running a survey experiment to look at the relationship between a political candidate’s sexuality and the participant’s vote choice. Schaffner hopes that the project will inform his students when they consume and interpret poll results during future election cycles. “Knowing the kinds of problems that can come up, knowing what to worry about

… that’s one big point that I hope they learn,” he said. Schaffner, who is also a co-principal investigator on the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, one of the largest academic surveys on U.S. elections, was thrilled to see the students get excited about analyzing the survey data once the results were finalized. “That’s how I feel about political science data and my own research,” Schaffner said. “When I see students having that same kind of excitement for their research, that makes me feel really excited for them.” He also hopes that he can impart an appreciation for visually appealing graphics when presenting results from polling data. “Since so much of what we do now is online, it’s really all about the visual medium, and you see so many of these graphs circulated on social media,” Schaffner said.

“There’s definitely an art to doing a really nice graphic.” Schaffner believes this experience will provide the students with useful data skills. “Data analytics are a huge part of a huge sector of jobs in politics, but also in other areas,” he said. “Giving students the skills to be competitive in the job market for jobs in those areas and getting them passionate about those kinds of jobs is also helpful.” Alan Solomont, dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, congratulated the students for their work. “This polling research is a great example of Tufts students participating in the election and of Tufts faculty teaching the skills of democracy,” Solomont wrote in an email to the Daily. “Tisch College is proud to be supporting this important work, and we congratulate the students on the wide reach of their polling and analyses.”

Study finds youth participate in early voting later than any other age demographic

Editorialists

Sruthi Kocherlakota Executive Sports Editor Tim Chiang Sports Editors Matt Goguen Jeremy Goldstein Aiden Herrod Pranav Jain Ananda Kao Delaney Tantillo Arpan Barua Assistant Sports Editors Jacob Dreyer Henry Gorelik Ethan Ling Arnav Sacheti Alex Sharp Eric Spencer

Ethan Steinberg Colton Wolk Brendan Hartnett Julian Perry Mariel Priven Kate Seklir Abigail Zielinski Mykhaylo Chumak Justin Yu Aedan Brown Elizabeth Kenneally Makenna Law

Students interpret poll results, gain useful data skills continued from page 1

EDITORIAL

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CYCLE

continued from page 1 2016 election, a sign that youth votes will have a large impact on the outcome of the election. Peter de Guzman, a research program coordinator at CIRCLE, described the importance of engaging young people. “Having more attention and more people investing money contacting young people is really positive,” de Guzman said. “Especially [for] young people, youth of color … the rural youth, that are less likely to be contacted because people don’t think they’re going to vote.” According to the study, youth participate in early voting closer to the election than any other age demographic.

In 2016, half of the early votes cast by young people arrived within six days of Election Day, while only a quarter of early votes cast by the 65-plus electorate arrived in the same time frame. Junco explained some of the benefits of early voting. “Barriers to voting include work schedules for young people or needing to take care of other people,” Junco said. “[Early voting] gives young people the opportunity to be able to vote, and not, for instance, have to take time off of work.” Sophomore Aidan Barg said he faced challenges when attempting to cast his absentee ballot for his home state of Arizona, which is ranked on YESI as the sixth most important state for the presidential race.

“I changed my address on the voter registration page for Arizona, and when I updated my address, it took away my early voting status,” Barg said. “I didn’t realize changing my address would remove me from the Permanent Early Voter List.” Barg also emphasized how the difficulty of navigating voting websites may discourage other voters. “Why would you waste 45 minutes navigating this really confusing website, especially if it was somebody that didn’t care that much about voting. You would spend 10 minutes on the website and if it’s not clear and easy to fill out, then it’s going to throw off a lot of people,” Barg said. De Guzman described how JumboVote and the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life work to overcome barriers to

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voting and simplify the process by offering notary services. “Some states have witness requirements [but] one thing JumboVote has been doing, which we did in 2018 as well, is that we have Tisch College staff members available to notarize student absentee ballots from a state that requires that,” he said. Junco believes youth votes will dramatically affect the results of the presidential election. He explained that CIRCLE aims to spread awareness of the impact young people have on the electoral process, as the media often portrays the opposite. “One of the things we like to see is when youth do make an impact, [we] like [to] highlight that because the media narrative is usually ‘Youth don’t matter, youth don’t vote,’” Junco said.

Features

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3 Thursday, November 5, 2020

Offline October challenge puts online shopping on hold, prioritizes election mail

GRACE LABER / THE TUFTS DAILY

Mail Services at Hill Hall is pictured on Oct. 9. by Juanita Asapokhai Contributing Writer

One month ahead of Election Day 2020, JumboVote announced the Offline October challenge to the community: For the month of October, Tufts students and faculty were encouraged not to order nonessential items in

Owen Bonk Since You Last Saw Me

A treatise on sad pop bangers Every sad pop banger that takes itself seriously culminates in collapse. The restrained versechorus-verse-chorus decorum must break into a bridge of absolute desolation. The artist can no longer channel the emotions through clean precision; the fabric of the song tears in the same way you rip off a Band-Aid. It becomes a sort of glorious, self-gratifying mess.

an effort to help the mailroom prioritize election-related mail. The initiative was a partnership between three campus organizations: JumboVote, a voter education and voting advocacy group; Tufts Labor Coalition ( TLC), a workers’ rights advocacy group; and the Eco-Representatives (Eco-Reps), an environmental

education and sustainability advocacy group. “Mail Services had been separating nonelection mail from election-related mail, which is an extra step in their normal workflow. They were having this already pretty big increase in nonelection-related mail, in addition to a major increase in election-relat-

ed mail,” Matthew Tolbert, a senior who leads JumboVote’s Democracy Reps program, said. Tolbert also pitched the Offline October challenge. He said the initiative was created in part to get students their ballots more quickly. “[Mail Services] couldn’t, from my understanding, effectively let people know

that their absentee ballots had arrived in a timely manner, while also dealing with the flow of packages from Amazon and from [students’] homes,” Tolbert said. According to sophomore and TLC Media/Communications team member Maeve McGean,

The break has myriad forms. Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” (1985) is at its most raw when she belts “Let’s exchange the experience,” a desperate plea for a partner’s empathy. Charli XCX and Christine and the Queens’ “Gone” (2019) takes its chorus, chops, shreds and glitches the vocals, and then throws them into a raucous, clanging dance break. Sometimes these sad pop bangers cave inward: Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” (2010), a song about seeing an ex with someone new, fully strips the tough-girl act when she concedes that she “just came to say goodbye.” The implications are stunning. She’s saying goodbye to something that has already ended; the rug has been pulled out from under her, and her legs feel the stone-cold floor of reality.

People generally don’t consider pop music to be particularly profound. Of course, these people are probably thinking about songs like “Girls Like You” (2017) by Maroon 5 or “Fight Song” (2014) by Rachel Platten; tunes that play with topics like love and hurt without actually plunging into their emotional depths. The best sad pop happens when artists take this plunge seriously, mastering not only the words of inconsolable sadness but also the sound. In “Hit Me Where It Hurts” (2019), Caroline Polachek’s defeated anger is palpable as she snarls, “Do you feel safe / Now that you’ve found my cure?” The pleasurable effect of sad music has been comprehensively studied by neuroscientists. In

a paper titled “The pleasures of sad music: a systematic review,” Sachs, Damasio and Habibi contend that throughout history, sadness has been associated with pleasure when it is placed in an aesthetic context. The sadness’ conversion to art has three implications: First, it does not pose an immediate physical threat, second, its emotional content has aesthetic value and third, it can regulate mood. In “The Republic of Plato,” Socrates condemns this artistic phenomenon as immoral. He asserts that “What is by nature best in us … relaxes its guard over this mournful part because it sees another’s sufferings, and isn’t shameful for it.” He looks down upon aestheticized emotion as lewd voyeurism because its con-

sumers don’t feel the totality of its sadness. I think he fundamentally misunderstands its purpose. In my life and in the lives of many around me, there is very real sadness, and as a human race, we face a great many existential threats. There is, of course, the pandemic, but we are also in the midst of a fateful election, a climate crisis and a period of economic turmoil. If aestheticizing sadness to momentarily forget its material threats is wrong, I don’t want to be right. There’s too much aching beauty to miss out on.

see OFFLINE, page 4

Owen Bonk is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Owen can be reached at owen. bonk@tufts.edu.

THE TUFTS DAILY | Features | Thursday, November 5, 2020

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Offline October campaign largely a success, organizers say OFFLINE

continued from page 3 JumboVote led the effort and reached out to the TLC because of its interest in supporting mailroom workers during the period of heightened traffic around the election. “We were happy to partner with JumboVote and the Eco-Reps to promote #OfflineOctober … They took the lead in organizing the event and creating the graphics. So far, no mailroom workers have reached out about being overloaded with work, so hopefully the challenge has been effective,” McGean wrote in an email to the Daily. JumboVote connected with the Eco-Reps for similar reasons. “This kind of work is always the most effective when you have as broad of a coalition as possible,” Tolbert said. “This whole campaign wouldn’t have been effective unless we could get a critical mass of people to reduce their nonelection-related mail orders, so we thought, ‘How do we get to as many people as possible?’”

Jenny Lu Tuff Talks

More dating Dear J: How can I bring up to my crush that I have feelings for her? J: The best way to go about confessing your feelings is to be direct about it so that neither party leaves the conversation with any misunderstandings. Figure out what you want to say and run it by a couple of friends first. You want to be clear that

The next step for JumboVote was collaborating with other student organizations. “We were thinking, ‘Whose mission does this align with?’ Reducing mail-related waste is something that definitely aligns with the work of the Eco-Reps,” Tolbert said. The on-campus push for mail-in voting is sharply contrasted by President Donald Trump’s antagonistic words about it in the media, calling mail-in ballots “a whole big scam.” Anxieties about mailin ballots received widespread coverage in the media this election cycle, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser said. The first instance of national concern around voting security emerged in the 1800s, when an influx of immigrants living in poverty created new constituencies for business-minded politicians. “It’s why we have voter registration in this country. It was put into place as a good government or progressive policy,” Glaser said. But the current level of concern

about voting security originates from a different place than the anxieties of the 19th century — and much of it is artificially made. “[ The risk of voter fraud] is ‘trumped up,’ so to speak,” Glaser said. “If you look, there are little bits of it here and there, but it’s very, very small — at least that’s what people who have studied it [have concluded]. They just haven’t found a lot of examples of it. But it’s certainly not a bad thing to be thinking about it. I think that the potential for outside interference with elections is definitely a well-founded concern.” Glaser said the security of our election systems does not reside in voter fraud, but rather foreign intervention and misinformation. “Foreign interference in elections — that’s something to be concerned about … But there’s no evidence that [voter fraud is] happening in any kind of widespread way,” Glaser said. “That idea is a concoction of the president’s rhetoric.”

JumboVote, like all campus groups this semester, has adapted to the safety protocols put in place to help our community weather the coronavirus pandemic. “JumboVote had a really big presence in 2018, and I think played a very decisive role in dramatically increasing our turnout since the 2014 midterm elections,” Tolbert said. The organization’s presence was still prominent on campus this semester; alongside flyers providing information about the Offline October challenge, JumboVote provided online resources on its website and held office hours twice a week throughout the semester to field questions from Tufts community members about everything election-related, an antidote for some of the concerns about electoral security. Tolbert expressed interest in checking in with Mail Services postelection to see how successful the last month’s challenge had been. He has received positive feedback from Democracy Reps, a group of students assigned to

dorms on campus to help other students register to vote and actively engage in America’s democracy in a variety of ways. “I noticed a reduction in the number of people that said that they weren’t hearing from Mail Services about their absentee ballots, so anecdotally it seemed to work,” Tolbert said. Voters on our campus and around the nation have now played the waiting game for results from the protracted vote-tallying process, a byproduct of large-scale use of mail-in ballots. According to data gathered by the U.S. Elections Project, 101 million ballots were cast ahead of Election Day. On Oct. 29, The Boston Globe reported that 2 million votes had been cast in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which has a population of over 6.8 million. Given the strong joint effort by JumboVote, TLC and EcoReps, a small but mighty percentage of those ballots came as a result of students who embraced the Offline October challenge this fall.

you like them more than a friend, but don’t lay it on too thick. For example, writing a long paragraph or talking for 10 minutes about how you’ve been in love with her for years is too much and comes off as too obsessive. First, decide the modality in which you want to do it, whether it’s virtual or in person. Either a FaceTime or in-person meeting is fine, but try to avoid text. Texts can be hard to read, and you don’t want to be anxiously waiting for a reply, so find a time that works for both of you. Then, figure out what you want to say. Again, don’t make

this a one-sided speech. Say what you need to say (“I think I have feelings for you”) and give her room to respond. Don’t expect an immediate reply because this may take some time to process! Even if the response is not what you were hoping for, you can feel good in the fact that it’s out there and no longer a burden, and make it clear that you’ll still be a good friend. Dear J: I am single and am hoping to meet someone in college, but I feel as though I have trouble opening myself up to people. It feels especially difficult with classes online and very few opportunities

for interaction. I’ve considered dating apps and such, but I don’t feel like they would work for me. Is that my best option, or do you have any advice besides dating apps? J: Because there are very few opportunities right now for interaction because of COVID-19 and online classes, I do think dating apps are a good alternative. You mention that you’ve considered dating apps and you don’t “feel like” they would be for you, so I would encourage you to give it a shot. There are many different kinds of dating apps (not just Tinder), so one of them might surprise you. But if you give it a

try and still decide that it isn’t for you, that’s totally okay too. Even though some classes are virtual, you can still private message someone you think is cute on Zoom. You can also do that for club meetings you have. I know many clubs are doing “speed-friending” activities. You could also try meeting people in your cohort or dorm. There are group chats for everything; you just have to find them. Jenny Lu is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Jenny can be reached at jen.lu@tufts.edu.

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WEEKENDER

5 Thursday, November 5, 2020

Poems & Pints provides intimacy, empowerment in the midst of uncertainty

VIA MASS POETRY

A promotional poster for the Boston Book Festival Poems & Pints event is pictured.

Contributing Writer

The annual literary social gathering, Poems & Pints, has become emblematic of the Boston Book Festival. The purpose of Poems & Pints is for Boston-area poets to share and advertise their current work while further connecting the metropolitan poetry scene through an interactive social gathering. The event was streamed on Crowdcast this year. Although this format limited the intimacy of the poetry readings, it still allowed for the poets’ impactful words to reach each listener. The ambiance of the room changed with the tonality of a poet’s voice; cups clinked and strangers cheered with each presenter. The event started when Kaylin Wu, MassPoetry’s community engagement coordinator, introduced Krysten

Hill, the night’s host. Hill is a respected poet currently teaching at UMass Boston. After a quick introduction of the event, Hill read her poem “Nothing” (2020). Her work discussed the physical, emotional and cultural silencing of minorities in their dayto-day lives, leaving viewers ready for the poems to come. The second reading was by George Abraham, a renowned Palestinian American poet. Themes he explores in his work include Palestinian displacement, love, queerness and family. Abraham dedicated his work by beginning with the statement, “For my parents, for my ancestors, for all that cannot return.” His first poem personified Palestinian land by turning it into a human lover to highlight the complexities of existing in exile and the consequential divorce of body and self. “What I am looking for is the opposite of forgiveness,”

Abraham said in conclusion. Diannely Antigua, a Ma s s a c h u s e t t s - b o r n Dominican American poet and educator, presented next. She recently published “Ugly Music” (2019), but decided to recite poems not included in the book. The second poem Antigua performed, “Free Education,” was darkly humorous as it extracted meaning from mundane experiences. The way she writes is a contrast between a soothing classical voice and modern references. “I’m almost 30, and I still think Bloody Mary is a game with a mirror,” she repeatedly recites to weave the poem together. Through these simple, vivid moments she analyzes how the lessons she learned throughout her youth turned her into the person she is. Third was Kay Ulanday Barrett, a poet, activist and educator whose work focus-

es on mapping systems of oppression in the United States. Barrett’s voice fluctuated by character, tone, changes of pitch and tempo. At times they sounded conversational, telling an anecdote or imitating a family member, but they would then fluidly shift back into the rhythmic meter of spoken poetry. Barrett’s second poem was about eating seafood with their aunties. Layered underneath the scrumptious descriptions was a celebration of culture and the powerful women who fuel it. The last presenter was Franny Choi, a Koren American writer, poet, activist and known figure in the slam poetry scene. Her poetry focuses on her experiences as a Korean woman in a white society. The first poem she recited was “The Cyborg Watches a Video of a Nazi Saying Her Name to a Bunch of Other Nazis” (2019) based

on the time someone sent her a video of Richard Spencer talking about her. In this poem she disempowers the men who are attempting to diminish her as a person by wittily describing them chewing on a robotic persona that represents her virtual figure. Although they have attempted to taint her figure in the virtual world, she takes the upper hand with this poem and fundamentally disempowers the men. “[ These poets] gave so much in their work, during a time when we don’t have that much to give,” Hill said in conclusion to the annual Poems & Pints. It was a strange experience, sitting in silence once the event was over, staring at my computer screen, feeling alone yet empowered. The event was certainly reflective of the time, giving a hopeful spin to sometimes lonely or uninspiring existences.

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7 Thursday, November 5, 2020

EDITORIAL

Extend Exceptional Pass policies to spring 2021 The pandemic has presented significant academic, emotional and financial challenges to the Tufts community. As we near the end of the semester, it is becoming increasingly apparent t the constraints presented by the pandemic will follow us into the spring, as Tufts students will continue to attend classes under conditions that are far from ideal. To alleviate student stress in the face of prevailing academic challenges, Tufts must extend its Exceptional Pass (EP) policy to the spring semester in order to continue its trend of empathy and academic flexibility in this time of pervasive uncertainty and volatility. In March, Tufts implemented an optional pass/fail policy for students, which faculty later extended to the fall semester. This policy was adopted in an effort to mitigate the disruptive effects of the pandemic and remote learning on students’ performance. On Oct. 9, the faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering voted to continue accepting college credit from courses taken at regionally accredited two-year colleges or community colleges for spring 2021. These policies illustrate Tufts’ receptivity to student concerns and prioritization of student academic success during current extenuating circumstances. However, as the pandemic rages on, it is necessary that Tufts extends its EP policy to the spring semester. The factors contributing to student stress have not diminished; if anything, the pandemic continues to pres-

Caroline DePalma Philosophy in Focus

No, I will not agree to disagree I’m tired of being mad at the state of the world. But I am absolutely furious that I’m still being told that the only way to make progress is to replace anger with politeness and respect. Not everything is good. Some things are objectively very bad. In some situations, it can be

BY ANNABEL NIED ent new challenges to students’ mental and physical well-being. The recent spike in Boston’s COVID-19 cases suggests that Boston could be entering a second wave, which could be exacerbated by the incoming flu season and cold weather. In addition, the implications of current political events, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s recent confirmation to the

Supreme Court and the presidential election, raise concerns among students about the future of our democracy. Unfortunately, these stressors will continue to impact students long after this semester ends. Tufts must take these circumstances into account and prioritize student mental health when deciding academic plans for the spring semester.

The EP policy is one way that Tufts could address student concerns, as it offers students flexibility in a time when so much is out of their control. In less-than-ideal learning environments and without sufficient academic resources, some students are unable to concentrate or devote all of their time to their studies. Online classes, as we have learned, are not entirely conducive to academic

counterproductive to respond to a supporter of a bad thing with polite, indifferent consideration of their ideas. I would like to specifically refute this plea to “agree to disagree” as it relates to modern political discussions. There is a time and place for debates in which each perspective is equally weighed, but given the danger our current president poses to our nation, we don’t live in that place right now. G.E. Moore wrote “The Subject Matter of Ethics” to discuss the meaning of “good” in its most basic form. He concludes that good does not have a definition; it is just something that we all understand. If you tried to explain the mean-

ing of “good” to someone who had never heard it, you would quickly resort to giving examples or to contrasting it with something very bad. Our mutual understanding of good must be the beginning of the conversation, the thing that we can return to in order to keep the debate civil. There are experiences that we all share, and observations that we have all made, of things that are consistently good or bad and that cannot be described in any other way. We understand them, even though we cannot put words to them other than “good.” In recent times, I have observed plenty of bad things. This country just faced its worst week yet for

COVID-19 cases, and there are active, legitimate concerns about voter suppression occurring in several places, just to name a few. Unfortunately, there are some who think that it is not bad to vote for a president whose choices and rhetoric are very closely linked to those two issues. Clearly, this is subjective, and my understanding of good and bad could differ from that of those people. But in order to engage in a polite conversation with them, some might argue that I would need to establish a middle ground for the discussion by entertaining their views on what is “good.” And I am not going to do that. I refuse to give those people a reason to think that

success, as student collaboration, hands-on experience and in-person instruction are limited. In these extenuating circumstances, students’ on-paper academic performance does not always accurately reflect their true abilities or efforts; thus, students should have the option to still obtain credit from classes without having to jeopardize their grades. Other universities have set a precedent for how these policies should be approached during the pandemic. At Stanford University, a similar exceptional pass/fail policy was established for the entire 2020–21 academic year after leaders in the student body voiced concerns about the impact of online learning on academic success. By providing students with this option through the spring, schools like Stanford acknowledge the long-term impacts of the pandemic on students’ mental health. While Tufts has successfully lived up to this standard thus far, it should follow in other universities’ footsteps for future semesters by extending this policy to the spring. Until a vaccine is released, it is unlikely that Tufts will be able to transition to an entirely in-person learning format. Therefore, as long as students are learning online in some capacity, Tufts must give students the option to pass/fail their courses. The transition to learning and living in this pandemic is not yet over for Tufts students, as old challenges persist and new ones arise. By implementing policies that emphasize academic flexibility, Tufts can ensure long-term academic success and emotional well-being among students.

I might agree that those issues are anything other than bad. Doing so would bring us even further from making progress than we already are. So the next time someone tells me that I should be having polite, civil discussions about individuals whose ideas directly challenge my understanding of what is fundamentally good, I will politely tell them that they’re being counterproductive. When we can all agree that avoidable deaths and voter suppression are bad, then we’ll talk. I’ll wait. Caroline DePalma is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Caroline can be reached at caroline.depalma@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board. EDITORIALS Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. OP-EDS The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length and submitted to opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. ADVERTISING All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editor in Chief, Executive Board and Business Director.

8 Thursday, November 5, 2020

SPORTS

8 tuftsdaily.com

NFL Week 8 Recap: Bills, Steelers, Buccaneers survive as trade deadline looms by Ethan Grubelich Contributing Writer

With disruptions to the league schedule that were caused by COVID-19 now back to a minimum, the focus, roughly halfway through the 2020 NFL season, is on the emerging battles for playoff spots. Although few trades had been made heading into Week 8, anticipation was being built for the trade deadline on Tuesday, when teams would announce their 2021 Super Bowl aspirations depending on whether they traded for future draft picks or upgrades at some starting positions. In Week 8, we saw the continued struggle of the New England Patriots against the resurgent Buffalo Bills, a huge division win on the road by the Pittsburgh Steelers to improve to 7–0 and a surprisingly tight contest between Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New York Giants. Without further adieu, let’s take a look at these matchups. New England Patriots vs. Buffalo Bills The New England Patriots traveled to Buffalo looking for a crucial division win after dropping three straight games, most recently a devastating loss at home to former Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. The Patriots’ run defense struggled all game, as it allowed two rushing touchdowns to Bills rookie running back Zack Moss and another to quarterback Josh Allen. Runs like these would accumulate to 190 total rushing

Aiden Herrod The Turf Monster

20 NBA players I can’t wait to watch next season I miss basketball. As the days removed from the NBA Finals have turned into weeks, the time has allowed me to appreciate on an even more fundamental level how much I enjoyed the NBA bubble. In what the experts are deeming a “short offseason,” as the Players Association and owners will vote on the start day of the 2021 season, I wanted to focus on some of the players who will be drawing maximum attention come tipoff. There is a considerable pool of star-caliber talent we haven’t seen in quite some time. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have both been nurs-

yards allowed by the Patriots in the game, which is a troubling statistic for any team that thinks it has a shot at winning. On the offensive side, the Patriots’ rushing attack picked up pace later in the game, as a rushing touchdown by quarterback Cam Newton with 9:36 remaining tied the game at 21–21 and forced the Bills offense to a field goal. This gave the Patriots’ offense the opportunity to either send the game to overtime with a field goal or win it with a touchdown. The Patriots were in prime position to do either of these until Bills defensive tackle Justin Zimmer punched the ball out of Cam Newton’s hands to force a fumble and a turnover at Buffalo’s 14-yard line with 37 seconds remaining, allowing them to hold on and win 21–24. The Patriots have quickly fallen out of contention as they drop to 2–5 while the Bills improve to 6–2 and strengthen their lead in the AFC East. Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens The Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to Baltimore for a highly anticipated matchup between two AFC North heavyweights who will surely be competing for a spot in the 2021 Super Bowl in February. The Ravens headed to the locker room at halftime with a 17–7 lead after a convincing defensive performance in the first half. The Steelers fought back quickly, however, and headed into the fourth quarter with a 21–17 lead courtesy of a passing touchdown from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to tight end Eric Ebron and a 1-yard

touchdown run by running back James Conner. A passing touchdown from reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson to second-year wide receiver Hollywood Brown restored the Ravens’ lead, but a receiving touchdown by rookie sensation Chase Claypool only a few minutes later proved to be the game-winner for Pittsburgh. The Steelers’ defense came up big down the stretch; in the final two Ravens possessions, they forced a fumble by Lamar Jackson and an incompletion in the end zone as time expired to win the game 28–24. The Steelers remain the only undefeated team in the NFL with an easy schedule ahead. The Ravens drop to 5–2 as Lamar Jackson struggles once again to topple the best of the best.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. New York Giants The New York Giants gave Tom Brady a run for his money in what was supposed to be a lopsided matchup between the 1–6 squad and the NFC South leaders. The Bucs’ offense struggled to get going in the first half, resulting in visible frustration for Tom Brady, as we saw against the Chicago Bears. While the Giants held an unexpected 14–6 lead at halftime, tight end Rob Gronkowski hauled in the first Bucs touchdown of the day with six minutes remaining in the third quarter to make it a 15–14 Buccaneers lead. The Giants’ offense had just under four minutes to drive down the field after Bucs kicker Ryan Succop’s

third field goal of the game made it an eight-point lead for Tampa Bay. The potential game-tying drive fell just short, however, as the Giants failed to convert the two-point conversion following the touchdown pass from second-year quarterback Daniel Jones to veteran wide receiver Golden Tate. The Buccaneers held on to win 25–23 and survived the threat of an upset to maintain their lead in the NFC South. The Giants continue to lose ground in a very wide-open NFC East division title race. This may be the last time we see the Bucs’ offense struggle this season, as they add suspended star wide receiver Antonio Brown to an already very talented receiving core in Week 9.

ing long-term injuries, while the star tandem waits in the wings for the Brooklyn Nets. Their return to, at or near their original peaks as scorers could yield one of the few duos that can give the dreaded LeBron/ Anthony Davis pairing a run for their money. Meanwhile, Klay Thompson is looking to reunite with fellow splash brother Stephen Curry to bring the Golden State Warriors right back into the championship conversation. Their return to form somewhat past the traditional player’s prime will be under intense scrutiny, but their generational ability has taught us time and time again to never doubt these guys. Want some more underthe-radar stars to watch for? Washington Wizards point guard John Wall, whose return could add some relevance to the empty-calorie scoring outbursts of Bradley Beal, was a face of the league once upon a time, before a brutal slew of injuries. There’s a ton of young talent on the rise, too. Zion Williamson is certainly the biggest name in

this vein, and it will be exciting to see what he can do with the Pelicans’ creative coaching and some more adjustment to his team, as well as the NBA game as a whole. Please, New Orleans, don’t ruin this man. Arguably the most impactful rookie from last year, however, was Ja Morant, who had the Memphis Grizzlies on the cusp of a playoff berth. His playmaking and shotmaking have accelerated a once-slow rebuild in Memphis, and the Grizzlies could make some unexpected noise out west as he steps into a leadership role for an exciting young core. Michael Porter Jr. was the story of the NBA bubble with his incredible scoring performances, and his continued growth will be critical for adding the juice the Denver Nuggets need to make a run at the finals this season. RJ Barrett has been, more or less, forgotten since being drafted, but he could be an indicator for the success of a potential New York Knicks rebuild; his scoring prowess this season is crucial for that.

Want a short list of candidates for “face of the NBA” over the next five-to-10 years? Look no further than third-year players Luka Doncic and Trae Young as the clear frontrunners. Both have arguably graduated to stardom already, but their ceilings could be as high as perennial top-five players. I could also see Jayson Tatum or Bam Adebayo ascending to these heights as well. How about some pot-stirring trade candidates? The NBA rumor mill is undeniably fun and absurd, and a few star-caliber players have been mentioned. After an 8–0 run in the bubble, I’m less convinced the Phoenix Suns would let go of Devin Booker unless the star himself expresses some displeasure. The Philadelphia 76ers hired Daryl Morey as president of basketball operations, with their shortcomings this season putting the awkwardly fitting Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid on trade watch, however unlikely it may be. Philadelphia would likely turn any trade into a swap of stars, and people can’t help but use the Morey

hire to speculate about James Harden going there. The Rockets seem to be less and less committed to their old regime every week, which certainly signifies that Russell Westbrook, along with Harden, could potentially be pried away for the right price. Chris Paul is a veteran who can still guide an offense to some impressive heights, and his name could be linked to any number of win-now situations. I’m especially scared by the Milwaukee rumors, as he would be a deadly playmaking presence for Giannis Antetokounmpo to benefit from. Speaking of Antetokounmpo, he will forever be one with this rumor mill right up until the Bucks win a title or he signs his supermax contract. The NBA has proven time and again that it has no aversion to splashy trades with big names attached.

PHOTO CREDIT / WIKIMEDIA

Wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster is pictured in a game against the Cleveland Browns on Nov. 14, 2019.

Aiden is a junior studying film and media studies and entrepreneurial leadership. Aiden can be reached at aiden.herrod@tufts.edu