November 2, 2015

Kidnapping drama “Room” astounds with performances from Larson, Tremblay see ARTS AND LIVING / PAGE 5

Tufts falls to Amherst with 32-7 loss

DNA evidence identifies alumna Lena Bruce’s murderer in 1992 cold case see FEATURES / PAGE 7

see SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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stude n t

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u n i v e r sity

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXX, NUMBER 36

Monday, November 2, 2015

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

tuftsdaily.com

SJP members disrupt annual ‘Taste of Israel’ event Two new with signs, flyers ARDs hired amid ResLife transition

by Ariel Barbieri-Aghib Staff Writer

Members of Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) disrupted “Taste of Israel,” an annual event hosted by Friends of Israel (FOI) that is intended to introduce students to Israeli culture and food, in the Carmichael Hall lounge last Thursday.

Foods such as falafel, hummus, fresh produce and waffles were spread out on five tables at the event. Students in SJP, an international college student organization that supports the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination, were present at the event to protest the appropriation of Palestinian food as part of Israeli culture, according to SJP see PROTEST, page 2

by Marianna Athanassiou News Editor

Nora Nord / The Tufts Daily

Members of Tufts SJP protest at Friends of Israel’s “Taste of Israel” event on Oct. 28.

tcu senate update

Senate passes resolution to allow students to select gender identity, pronouns in Tufts systems

by Roy Yang News Editor

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate passed a resolution allowing students to select their own gender identity and pronouns in all Tufts systems, such as the Student Information System (SIS), during their meeting last night.

Before discussing the resolution, Senate first spent some time in passing a project approval proposed by Chair of Student Outreach Committee Benya Kraus.

Kraus, a sophomore, spoke about her project to get all university language departments to post reading, video or any miscellaneous material over winter and summer breaks, so that students will have the resources available to continue practicing languages.

Citing her own and other students’ personal experiences, Kraus argued that the university should provide a system for those who want to practice their language of study over the long breaks.

“The goal of this is to help students become better language speakers,” Kraus said. “I want to be able to come back and… not be able to remember any of the tenses and grammar. It comes down to helping student get as many resources as they can to do the best at [their] language.”

The Senate approved the project by a majority vote.

Partly Cloudy 61 / 42

After that, TCU Parlimentarian Sam Berzok opened the floor for the main resolution of the night.

The resolution, written by first-year Parker Breza, sophomore Anna Del Castillo, junior Gauri Seth, sophomore Shai Slotky and senior Brian Tesser, will allow students to change their pronouns whenever they want to and as many times they need to. The writers hoped the resolution could be utilized by administrators and student groups as lobbying tools to affect change in university policies.

According to the resolution, Tufts has a responsibility to make a space in its systems for students to indicate their pronouns, since Tufts prides itself as an LGBTQ-friendly campus and was included in non-profit Campus Pride’s yearly list of Top 25 LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges & Universities.

The resolution also states that Tufts should provide “clear and explicit instruction on how a student may change their name, gender identity and pronouns in university systems” as there is no easily accessible method of doing so.

“This is really important because the student is being acknowledged by the university for their full identity,” Breza said. “And instead of outing yourself to the administration and go through a convoluted process to change anything, we are hoping that through this resolution, it will push students to recognize

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this as an important issue as well as expedite the implementation of this change in system.

According to Tesser, the resolution will not affect any legal measures and laws, such as financial aid, which require students’ full legal name and gender as requested by the United States government. The resolution will only look to affect change in platforms that Tufts has control over, Tesser said.

According to the writers, the resolution represents an important step to help ensure a safer campus for all Tufts students. After much discussion, Senate passed the resolution through a roll call vote of 25-0-2.

After the conclusion of the resolution, Slotky, the TCU Treasurer, opened the Treasury Report and presented the week’s supplementary funding requests.

Senate then approved supplementary funding of $484 for the Tufts History Society by a vote of 13-8-5. Senate members then debated GlobeMed’s funding request of $480. After voting to reduce the Allocations Board’s original amount to $450, Senate approved the altered funding amount by a vote of 26-1-0.

Senate then quickly approved supplementary funding of $125 for the Sharewood Project by acclimation, $1,701.50 for Tufts Ballroom Dance Team by a vote of 26-1-0 and $362.50 for Melisma Magazine by acclimation. Tufts sQ!’s supplementary funding request was tabled for a future date.

Contact Us P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

The Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) finished its process of hiring two more Area Residence Directors (ARDs) earlier this month.

According to Director of ResLife Yolanda King, the two new ARDs are Donisha Thaxton for Area Four (Lewis Hall and South Hall) and Mohamed Barakat for Area Two (Carmichael Hall, Wilson House, Wren Hall, Carpenter House, Metcalf Hall and Richardson House). They join Tanya Mascary and Julie Kennedy, the existing ARDs for Areas One and Three (Bush Hall, Hill Hall, Hodgdon Hall, Haskell Hall and Tilton Hall), respectively.

Prior to the new hires, current ResLife staff — including four new senior resident assistants (RAs) — fulfilled the responsibilities of the missing ARDs, King said. The new senior resident assistant (RA) positions, which serve as leadership liaison positions for RAs, are still in place to bridge the gap between the ARDs and the RAs. “Each area has a senior RA who has a certain level of [higher] responsibility,” King said.

The hiring of Thaxton and Barakat, who will also pursue graduate studies at the university, follows staffing issues that ResLife has faced amid the transition from its former system, in which graduate student residential directors (RDs) were assigned to head individual dorms, to the ARD system, in which ARDs are assigned to a designated area on campus, including multiple dorms.

According to the ResLife website, ARDs are full-time professional staff members who are responsible for the “planning and delivery of a Living and Learning Community for the area they supervise.” Specifically, ARDs are responsible for supervising student staff and student behavior, organizing area-wide programming, dealing with housing operations such as room assignments and changes, serving as members of the on-call rotation and developing an area-wide sense of community and pride.

News............................................1 COMICS.......................................4 Arts & Living.......................5

see RESLIFE, page 3

FEATURES................................. 7 OPINION.....................................8 Sports............................ Back

2

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Monday, November 2, 2015

tuftsdaily.com

News News

T HE T UFTS D AILY Joe Palandrani Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Lancy Downs Abigail Feldman Managing Editors Sarah Zheng Executive News Editor Marianna Athanassiou News Editors Melissa Kain Reena Karasin Arin Kerstein Safiya Nanji Sophie Lehrenbaum Emma Steiner Annabelle Roberts Roy Yang Isha Fahad Assistant News Editors Miranda Willson Mengqi Sun Executive Features Editor Kendall Todd Features Editors Arin Kerstein Nicole Brooks Becca Leibowitz Nina Joung Assistant Features Editors Joshua Podolsky Executive Arts Editor Anjali Nair Arts Editors Yotam Bentov Assistant Arts Editors Merilla Michael John Gallagher Ascher Kulich Yuki Zaninovich Nick Golden Erin Sifre Katie Matejcak Hannah Hoang Ty Enos Fury Sheron Natasha Khwaja Nick Golden

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editor

Cartoonists Editorialist

Alison Kuah Executive Sports Editor Ross Dember Sports Editors Alex Schroeder Chris Warren Steven Hefter Phillip Goldberg Ray-Paul Biron Josh Slavin Evan Sayles Executive Photo Editor Sofie Hecht Photo Administrator Caroline Ambros Picture Tufts Editor Merilla Michael Executive Jumbo Beat Editors Rachel Allen

PRODUCTION Andrew M. Stephens Production Director David Westby Executive Layout Editors Nick Golden Julie Doten Layout Editors Molly Harrower Allie Merola Annabelle Roberts Emily Sharp Natasha Statz-Geary Sebastian Torrente Astrid Weng Shirley Wang Creative Director Alison Epstein Executive Copy Editors Sophie Lehrenbaum Iqra Asghar Copy Editors Arthur Beckel Aastha Chadha Melissa Feito Noah Habeeb Jonathan Heutmaker Andrew Kager Melissa Kain Reena Karasin Serena Kassam Claire Mullany Rachel Salzberg Dan Strauss Caroline Watson Kayla Williamson Assistant Copy Editors Sarah Kalinowski Paolo Scalla Nitesh Gupta Executive Online Editor Max Bernstein Executive Tech Manager

BUSINESS Kristie Le Executive Business Director Chris Chininis Ad Director Yiran Xu Receivables Manager Eva Sachar Ad Manager Evan Sayles Jahlyn Hayes Qinyue Yu Caroline Talbert Marketing Director Qinyue Yu Marketing Manager Scott Geldzahler Social Media Editor Vera Masterson

02

today

“Fall 2015 Lyon & Bendheim Alumni Lecture Series” Details: As a part of Tufts alumni-established Lyon & Bendheim Alumni Lecture Series, Emanuel Stern (LA ’85) will be giving a lecture. Stern is the Managing Principal at the New York City-based real estate investment firm Tall Pines Capital, which Stern recently formed with Bradley A. Settleman.

When and Where: 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Alumnae Hall.

Sponsors: Tufts University Alumni Association, Tisch College.

03

Tuesday

“Tufts Environmental Alumni (TEA) Fall Speaker Series” Details: Bruce Carlisle (LA’90, AG ’94) will be featured at the TEA Fall Speaker Series, where he will speak about his time after Tufts and his environmental work. Carlisle is the director of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management, as well as a member of the Gulf of Maine Council on

Visiting the

hill this week

the Marine Environment and a member of the Northeast Regional Ocean Council.

When and Where: 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., Remis Sculpture Court, Aidekman Arts Center.

Sponsor: Tufts Environmental Alumni.

04

Wednesday

“Nancy Bauer: How to Do Things with Pornography’” Details: Nancy Bauer, philosophy professor and dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences, will speak about what philosophy is and its role in everyday life. Her talk will model a new way to write philosophically about pornography, women’s self-objectification, hook-up culture and other contemporary phenomena.

When and Where: 3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m., Hirsch Reading Room, Tisch Library.

Sponsor: Friends of Tufts Libraries.

05

Thursday

“Mr. Smith Goes to Prison: What my year behind bars taught me about America’s prison crisis” Details: As part of a Frank C. Colcord

event, former Democratic Missouri State Senator Jeffrey Smith will talk about his new book “Mr. Smith Goes to Prison” and his prescriptions on how to fix America’s prison system. Smith is also a professor at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at the New School.

When and Where: 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m., Crane Room, Paige Hall.

Sponsor: Department of Political Science.

“Lost Antarctica: Drug Discovery in a Disappearing Land” Details: As a part of the Environmental Studies Program Lunch and Learn lecture series, Dr. James McClintock, a polar and marine biology professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will speak about how rapid environmental change in Antarctica is threatening biodiversity loss.

When and Where: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., Rabb Room, Lincoln Filene Center.

Sponsors: Environmental Studies Lunch and Learn Program, Tufts Institute of the Environment.

SJP challenges classification of food at ‘Taste of Israel’ event PROTEST

continued from page 1 member Nic Serhan, a junior.

Claudia Aliff, another SJP member, explained that the appropriation of food is a large part of the oppression of Palestinians.

At approximately 6:20 p.m., 20 minutes after the event began, SJP members walked into the Carmichael lounge with signs that read “Taste of Israeli Occupation” and “Don’t dip into apartheid,” among other phrases.

“The disruption of this event is the purpose,” Aliff, a junior, said.

Students from SJP distributed flyers titled “Israeli Culture is not Apolitical!” to people at the event, as well as chocolates whose wrappers contained facts about Israel.

“Thanks to the Taste of Israeli Blockades, Palestinian imports in Gaza have been heavily restricted and exports barred. Israeli companies profit from a monopoly on the supply of goods to Gaza, making $375 [million] in 2012,” one of the wrappers read.

SJP member Leah Muskin-Pierret said that she felt distaste for the “pain-free narrative told by Hillel and other Jewish organizations on campus.”

by Emma Steiner News Editor

Bike Snatcher

Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) reported that there has been an uptick in bike thefts in recent weeks. TUPD will be putting a notice on improperly locked bikes reminding students of the safest way to lock their bikes. Officers say that a cable lock is not sufficient and that students should use either a cable lock and a U-Lock or only a U-Lock. Students should also ensure that both the bike frame and the wheels are locked to the rack.

On Oct. 16, a bike was stolen from outside South Hall. The bike had been locked with a cable lock, which was cut when the bike was taken.

On Oct. 26, a bike was stolen from outside South Hall at 10:25 p.m. The bike

“FOI can’t expect to put on [a] subtly political event without a challenging opinion,” Muskin-Pierret, a senior, said.

According to FOI vice president Itamar Ben Aharon, a sophomore, FOI is an apolitical student organization that aims to “celebrate Israel beyond the conflict and endorse peace between a secure Israel and a Palestinian state.”

FOI’s other co-president, Aviva Weinstein, added that the event tried not to be political and expressed disappointment with SJP’s organizing at the event.

“It’s disappointing that this is how student groups from the same university interact with each other,” Weinstein, a junior, said. “This event was supposed to be kept apolitical and is a way to show the plurality of cultures.”

“Taste of Israel” included a “Plurality” table as part of the event, which detailed the Egyptian origin of falafel and the Arabic origins of hummus.

However, Serhan said that despite the acknowledgement of the non-Israeli origins of certain foods, there were still problems. “[It’s] nice to see the distinction, but the language is still upsetting,” he said.

“It is very violent, acknowledging and talking about one diaspora while com-

pletely ignoring the other [Palestinian].”

Sophomore Grant Steinhauer, who is unaffiliated with SJP or FOI, said he was frustrated with the way that SJP disrupted the event.

“SJP is using methods which delegitimize their cause,” Steinhauer said. “In order to talk about Palestinians, they shouldn’t hand out chocolate; it undermines what they stand for.”

FOI member Harrison Rubin said that he wished SJP would host their own event to express their opinions, instead of using the FOI event as their platform to do so.

“I wish SJP would do their own event, since Taste of Israel is dedicated to exploring cross-cultural food,” Rubin, a first-year, said.

Approximately one hour into the event, SJP members left the lounge, leaving behind posters and flyers, which were subsequently cleared out by Tufts University Police Department and members of FOI. The event’s disruptions follow tensions between SJP and FOI on campus in the past over SJP’s annual Israeli Apartheid Week and Tufts Hillel’s decision not to co-sponsor events with SJP, among others.

Police Briefs was stolen from the rack, although the perpetrator left a bike that had been lying unlocked on the ground untouched.

person had left the phone on a desk for a few moments; when they returned, the phone was gone.

Warranted Arrest

Picky Pickpocket

A non-Tufts affiliated male was arrested in Tisch Library on Oct. 15 at 2:15 p.m. on an outstanding warrant. TUPD said they arrived when they were notified by library staff that the man was in Tisch.

The man was sitting at a computer when he was arrested. The warrant for him was a default warrant from outside of the immediate Medford and Somerville area, meaning that he had been had been given a court date for trial and had failed to present himself in court.

Call 911?

A brand new iPhone, still sealed in its box, was stolen from Tisch Library on Oct. 9 at 4:30 p.m. A non-Tufts affiliated

On Oct. 25 at 5:15 p.m. a wallet was stolen from the bleachers of Cousens Gym. A student reported that he had been playing basketball in the gym and had left his wallet, keys and phone on the bleachers next to the court. When he was finished with basketball practice his wallet was gone, but his phone and keys remained untouched.

Disappearing Act

At 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 23, an undetermined amount of cash was stolen from the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center locker room. A student had been practicing soccer and returned to find his money gone.

Monday, November 2, 2015 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

tuftsdaily.com

News News

Thaxton, Barakat join ResLife staff as ARDs RESLIFE

continued from page 1 King explained that responsibilities of the ARD position at Tufts include working with first-generation students, student leadership, student service and other related issues.

King said that both of the new ARDs have residential life experience from other institutions, although their areas of focus have differed slightly. According to the ResLife website, ARDs are required to have two to three years of post-baccalaureate experience, and preferably have previous experience working in Residential Life and Housing.

Barakat, who could not be reached for comment, previously worked for two years as the RD at Fordham University, where he supervised RAs, desk assistants and tutors, according to his LinkedIn profile. While at Fordham, Barakat was also the co-chair of the department assessment committee and chair of the RD recruitment and selection committee.

Thaxton said she has had two years of experience at Bowdoin College as an RA for first-years and worked with Upward Bound (UB). According to the U.S. Department of Education website, UB is a federally funded college preparatory program for first-generation and low-income high school students.

“Through Bowdoin Reslife and UB, I gained many skills that I use everyday

in my role as an ARD including leading a staff, planning and executing meaningful programming, creating safe and respectful environments, mediating conflicts, managing crises, and the list goes on and on,” Thaxton told the Daily in an email.

She added that, as a part of ResLife, each day comes with new challenges, all of which must be met with patience and flexibility. Thaxton said she believes the newly restructured ARD system at Tufts is more efficient than the past RD system.

“Because our time is not split between work and graduate studies, we can take that extra time to better serve our areas,” Thaxton said. “We can get to know our RAs better and meet more residents. We can be much more effective at solving problems quickly, recognizing patterns and trends, creating community and connecting students to resources.”

Thaxton aspires to maintain a high level of commitment this year and welcomes any future challenges with open arms.

“My hope is to be an approachable and effective ARD,” she said. “To me, that means being present in the halls, being in constant communication with RAs, the other ARDs and Central [ResLife] Staff, and finding ways to help residents feel supported enough to be themselves without shame.”

Tufts University Department of English

Looking for a great course for the Spring?

Course & Section #

Course Title

Block

Time

Instructor

Fulfills the Pre or Post 1860 Major Requirement

TR 10:30AM-11:45AM

LURZ, JOHN

Post 1860

ENG 009201

TOPICS LIT. & CULTURE: MODERNISM AT SEA: EXPERIMENTAL TEXTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY

ENG 009202

TOPICS LIT. & CULTURE: TH FEMINISM IN 20 - CENTURY U.S. LIT. AND CULTURE

L+

TR 4:30PM-5:45PM

JOHNSON, RONNA

Post 1860

ENG 009203

TOPICS LIT. & CULTURE: COLONIALISM AND DECOLONIZATION

G+

MW 1:30PM-2:45PM

LOWE, LISA

Post 1860

ENG 019201

SEMINAR IN ENGLISH: AFRO-PALESTINA & COLONIAL FASCISM

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THOMAS, GREG

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SEMINAR IN ENGLISH: TH THE BRONTES AND THE 19 -CENTURY NOVEL

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For additional information about our Spring 2016 course offerings, please visit us online: http://ase.tufts.edu/english/courses

3

THE TUFTS DAILY | Comics | Monday, November 2, 2015

tuftsdaily.com

Comics

Late Night at the Daily Evan: “He was originally wearing athletic shorts, and I had to get rid of them.”

FOR RELEASE NOVEMBER 2, 2015

Comics

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis Crossword

our location

our contact (617) 440-7361 or

bostonburgerco.com

our hours

37 davis square somerville, ma 02144

mon - wed:

11 AM to 10 PM

thurs - sat: 11 AM to 11 PM sun:

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12 PM to 8 PM

ACROSS 1 Bit of talk show self-promotion 5 Judean king 10 “Hurry up!”

14 Real snoozefest 15 Native New Zealander 16 Angelic aura 17 *Guys’ hair coloring product 19 Cruise stop 20 Dry, as bread 21 Maui memento 22 Kind of computer error that may cause data loss 23 Steel-cut grain 25 Eccentric person 27 Chain with headquarters at One Geoffrey Way, Wayne, N.J. 31 Former Southwest subsidiary 34 Give __ on the back: praise 35 Criticize nonstop 37 Hold in, as a sneeze 38 Cheering word 39 *Radioactive emission 41 Suffix with percent 42 Defeats soundly 44 Actress Ullmann or Tyler 45 Ran off 46 Informer, to a cop 48 Allergy stimulants 50 Pig noises 52 “__ is me!”

53 Sends junk e-mail to 55 Busy pro in Apr. 57 Digilux 3 camera maker 61 Red “Sesame Street” puppet 62 Hard-to-define element, or a hint to what can precede each last word in the answers to starred clues 64 Bank claim 65 Bluesy Memphis street

11/2/15

By C.C. Burnikel

DOWN 1 Sandwiches with Jif, briefly 2 Rude dude 3 Heavenly bear 4 “Beat it!”

5 Gp. with a copay 6 Countess’ spouse 7 Lover of Juliet 8 Crispy Crunchies! fries maker 9 Noisy clamor 10 Ristorante red 11 *Root source for a database 12 Southwestern pot 13 Holiday season 18 Emotion causing quaking 22 Winks count 24 Listens to, as a radio station 26 Repudiate 27 Fruit pastries 28 Eye-fooling genre 29 *Big place to play online 30 Minded the kids

©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

32 “Magic in the Moonlight” director Woody 33 Food, shelter, etc.

36 Cowboy’s lady 39 Nearly excellent grade 40 Tear apart 43 Latter-day Saints 45 Defrauds 47 Carves in stone 49 “Copacabana” temptress

11/2/15

51 Command to Spot 53 Go like hotcakes 54 Ballerina’s bend 56 Wheelconnecting rod 58 Restless desire 59 Chanel of perfume 60 Yankee with more than 3,000 hits, familiarly 62 Schedule abbr.

63 Nourished

THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME

by David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

JUMBLE

Unscramble these four Jumbles, one letter to each square, to form four ordinary words.

PAHYP ©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.

KLUPC CLATEK

CCITHE

Difficulty Level: Dressing up as Gumby for Halloween.

Thursday’s Solution Saturday’s Puzzle Solved

66 Danish shoe brand 67 Not as much 68 Made inquiries 69 Like plow horses

Saturday’s

Check out the new, free JUST JUMBLE app

4

Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, as suggested by the above cartoon.

(Answers tomorrow) Jumbles: OPERA WITTY SLOWLY DREDGE Answer: When she started to give out extra candy, the trickor-treaters thought it was a — SWEET DEAL

Thursday’s Solution HOUSING Four bedroom + Three bedroom. Both very close to schools. Both have laundry facilities on premises – Do not wait these will not last – for the 2016-2017 school year.

Call 617-448-6233.

Classifieds EMPLOYMENT

Employment

Hoping to earn extra $? Local Tufts alum seeking responsible, patient, non-smoking nanny for 20-35 hours/week starting ASAP. Hours flexible. Salary commensurate with experience. Must have a car. Please call Faith at (781)258-9027 for details.

Hoping to earn extra $? Local tufts alum seeking part-time personal/administrative assistant. Computer fluency and high ethical standards a must.

Hours flexible. Please call Faith at (781) 258-9027 for details.

classifieds policy All Tufts students must submit classifieds in person, prepaid with check, money order or exact cash only. All classifieds submitted by mail must be accompanied by a check. Classifieds are $20 per week or $4 per day with Tufts ID or $30 per week or $8 per day without. The Tufts Daily is not liable for any damages due to typographical errors or misprintings except the cost of the insertion, which is fully refundable. We reserve the right to refuse to print any classifieds which contain obscenity, are of an overly sexual nature or are used expressly to denigrate a person or group. Questions? Email business@tuftsdaily.com.

Monday, November 2, 2015

ARTS&LIVING Movie Review

‘Room’ offers testament to power of storytelling

by Jonah Allon

Ruth Hurl VIA MCT

Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay deliver emotionally powerful performances in “Room.” into the great, unfathomable beyond.

He has everything a kid could ask for — at least, as far as he knows.

Contrast his perception of Room with his mother’s, and you begin to get a sense of the thorny dynamics at play in this film. Ma relies on Jack’s wideeyed naiveté, even cultivates it, but she also needs to narrow the gulf of understanding it has opened up between them if she ever wants to escape this hell. Jack sees Room as a physical man-

ifestation of the warmth Ma envelops him in, so the idea of leaving Room becomes equated in his mind with losing her. Casting his silhouette over both of them is their captor, Old Nick, whose tyrannical presence is always felt, even when he himself is not there.

Ma tries to keep Jack shielded from him by stowing her son away in a wardrobe before Nick shows up, but Jack’s see Room, page 6

New CBS show ‘Supergirl’ soars in premiere episode

Darren Michaels VIA MCT

Melissa Benoist plays the title role in “Supergirl,” a new show from CBS that puts a female superhero front and center.

Assistant Arts Editor

Before the big budget superhero movies of today, live action depictions of superheroes were primarily found in one place: the small screen. For decades, live action superhero television programs

Natalie Girshman Bibliofiles

B

TV Review

by Justin Krakoff

tuftsdaily.com

Pratchett, Gaiman and averting the apocalypse

Contributing Writer

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” Joan Didion once wrote, pithily articulating our innate capacity for making sense out of the senseless.

“Room,” a harrowing new film directed

by Lenny Abrahamson, offers a slightly different take on Didion’s claim: we tell ourselves stories in order to survive.

Stories buoy our hopes, pull us back from the precipice of despair, moor us to meaning. They don’t just make life comprehensible — they make it possible.

For the protagonists of “Room,” stories — especially fanciful ones — take on vital importance. They’re both a means of broadening the bounds of the imagination and of obscuring horrific truths, each equally necessary in the environment of the movie. Trapped in a claustrophobic shed for the past seven years by her kidnapper and frequent rapist, whom she calls Old Nick (Sean Bridgers), Ma (Brie Larson) has reared her son, Jack ( Jacob Tremblay), on a steady diet of maternal love and healthy doses of fantasy — the biggest fantasy being that the world begins and ends within the tight confines of Room, Jack’s affectionate name for the only home he’s ever known. He has a name for everything else in Room, too — lamp is Lamp, bed Bed, sink Sink, and so on. Here, among his coterie of inanimate companions, Jack’s imagination is given free rein: it gallops over the light that plays on the walls, along the dusty floor and up through Skylight

5

populated screens across the country, beginning with “The Adventures of Superman” (1952 – 1958), continuing with “Batman” (1966 – 1968) and culminating with “Wonder Woman” (1975 – 1979).

For millions of Americans, the advent of Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman was

a watershed moment in American pop culture. Her portrayal of the Amazonian princess transcended the show’s inherent campiness to make a broader statement about women and equality. Perhaps this is why Carter’s portrayal remains so see Supergirl, page 6

ringing about the apocalypse is significantly more difficult than one might expect, especially when the Powers That Be have happened to misplace the Antichrist. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s “Good Omens” (1990) is a hilarious and clever take on the end of the world, a landmark of the fantasy genre and one of my top five most recommended books.

It’s a marvelous blend of humor and poignancy unique in the fantasy genre and provides an escape from everyday life as well as a reminder of all the things that can be good about it. On the one hand, there are fantastical characters, from the Four Horsepersons of the Apocalypse to a boy Antichrist with the power to reshape the world to a fussy angel who collects antique books to a demon who numbers the creation of a British super highway among his greatest accomplishments.

Yet there’s something unmistakably human and emotional about all of the characters that speaks to the reader, something in the rendering of modern-day Britain that makes you think that you’d quite like to save the world as it is too.

Perhaps best of all, “Good Omens” is also an introduction to the work of two superb fantasy writers whose work offers not one, but many, new worlds to explore. Pratchett is perhaps best known for his “Discworld” novels (1983 – 2015), set on a fictional, completely flat planet that rests on the backs of four elephants who stand atop a turtle. (Asking what’s beneath the turtle may not be advisable.) Discworld is populated with corpulent wizards, canny witches, a City Watch ready to grudgingly but efficiently deal with all manner of problems and Death, the traditional skeletal figure with a scythe who always speaks in capital letters. But the events that take place on Discworld reflect those in our world as thoughtfully as, if not more than, any topical political satire. A good place to start might be “Wyrd Sisters” (1988), the first book in the Witches sequence, that exemplifies the Pratchett style, doesn’t require any background knowledge and, as it pays homage to “Macbeth” (1611), will be sure to delight theater fans.

Gaiman is one of the most popular fantasy writers today but, as each of his books presents an entirely different world and tone, it can be difficult to know where to begin. I would recommend “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” (2013), a beautifully written story about the loss of childhood that packs a huge punch for its relatively short length. Then, you can continue on to “Neverwhere” (2009), a sort of modern-day “Alice in Wonderland” (1865) that follows a slightly befuddled young man named Richard Mayhew down into a dangerous magical world beneath London after he helps a girl he found bleeding on a sidewalk. Alternately, if you’re interested in a more unconventional style, there’s “Stardust” (2009), an old-fashioned English fantasy with pirates, a fallen star and all the swashbuckling adventure your heart could desire, or “American Gods” (2011), a sprawling epic road-trip fantasy featuring a truly dazzling array of gods in the modern world. Whatever you choose from either of these authors, it’ll be a reading experience you won’t soon forget.

Natalie Girshman is a senior majoring in history. She can be reached at natalie. girshman@tufts.edu

6

THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Monday, November 2, 2015

tuftsdaily.com

A&L

ARTS&LIVING

Book adaptation makes universe within four walls Room

continued from page 5 natural curiosity gets the better of him.

We see the kind of prevarications Ma has to perform to keep Jack in the dark, all while stifling an urge to scream.

Larson is a revelation. Ma’s quiet resilience in the face of unspeakable horror, the expressiveness she achieves with her dull eyes, the vulnerable tenderness with which she treats Jack — all of it coalesces into an Oscarworthy performance. Tremblay doesn’t shrink from the challenge either. His Jack avoids sainthood, and he instead delivers a more nuanced portrayal of

a young boy asked to shoulder the weight of the world and all the petulance, terror and bewilderment that goes along with that burden.

“Room” was adapted from a highly acclaimed 2010 novel of the same title.

Authored by Emma Donoghue (who also wrote the movie’s screenplay), the book tells the story from Jack’s perspective, giving the narrative a certain quality of untarnished innocence. The viewer still sees plenty through Jack’s eyes throughout the film, but otherwise Donoghue wisely abandons that model in her script, sprinkling in a few of Jack’s internal monologues in voice-

over without letting them draw focus away from the subterranean plates of drama that grind beneath Ma, Jack and Room. Abrahamson, for his part, mostly keeps his camera tight on the two leads, creating a closeness that teeters precariously between intimacy and suffocation. But he also allows enough room for Jack’s expansive reveries, which have an airy quality that widens the space. Through the alchemy of shifting angles and often abrupt cuts, Room transforms from a prison into a living, breathing organism, as much the product of Jack’s fertile imagination as it is a real, solid thing.

It might come as a relief to some that only half the film takes place within Room. Without giving too much away, the second half changes settings and adds some new characters into the mix but still retains its essential dramatic elements. That said, the narrative also loses some of its urgency and begins to meander. It never strays too far from Room, however, where the story returns at the end of the film.

Survival may seem like a tall order for Ma and Jack for much of the movie, but ultimately their — and the viewers’ — faith in the redemptive power of story is rewarded.

‘Supergirl’ paves way for new directions in superhero genre Supergirl

continued from page 5 iconic more than 30 years after the end of the show.

The past three decades, however, have not been kind to female superheroes. While there have been attempts to bring female superheroes to both the small and silver screens, most of these television and film projects have either ended in abysmal failure — see 2002’s “Birds of Prey” and 2004’s “Catwoman” — or never even made it off the ground due to a lack of support from studios.

CBS’s “Supergirl,” which premiered on Oct. 26, looks to buck this trend and prove once and for all that the female superhero is more than worthy of being the lead in a program. Focusing on the

Man of Steel’s lesser-known cousin Kara Zor-El, “Supergirl” stars Melissa Benoist in the titular role. After shunning the use of her powers for many years, Kara is on her way to becoming a full-fledged superhero.

The pilot of “Supergirl” opens with a brief introduction to Kara’s world. After the destruction of her home planet Krypton, Kara beings to live a near normal life on Earth with an adoptive family. This normalized existence ends quite abruptly, however, when the life of her foster sister is placed in jeopardy, and the situation demands the powers of a superhero.

While the pacing of the pilot can occasionally feel ludicrous, as Kara seemingly becomes a hero within the span of 15

minutes, all is forgiven the moment she puts on the big S — we cannot help but feel Kara’s optimism and desire to do good in the world.

The shwow also has a decidedly feminist slant. When Kara’s media mogul boss Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) — unaware of her employee’s secret identity — decides to label the new superheroine as Supergirl, Kara decries this antifeminist labeling as “something less than what she is.” Cat quips back that there is nothing wrong with the word “girl” and that if Kara perceives “Supergirl as anything less than excellent [then] isn’t the real problem [her]?” This question points to the sexist associations we have with certain words and serves to reject the kind

of problematic thinking many people, including Supergirl herself, are capable of falling into.

With “Supergirl,” CBS has the chance to place itself at the forefront of Hollywood’s current superhero boom.

The superhero genre is undoubtedly a male-dominated one, and CBS has taken an important step forward in developing a superhero show with a woman at the center. The audience, meanwhile, has eaten up this change –“Supergirl” had the largest debut for a fall TV show this year with an audience of 12.9 million. After this success, hopefully now Hollywood and the television networks will be inclined to create superheroes beyond the white, male mold they have stuck to for far too long.

Tufts University Department of Drama and Dance

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Ballet II: DNC 13, M/W Ballet IV: DNC 15, M/W Modern I: DNC 21, T/Th Modern III: DNC 23, T/Th Hip Hop: DNC 31, T/Th th 20 -Century American: DNC 81, T/Th Studies in Dance Composition: DNC 117, Fri Dance Movement & Creative Process: DNC 71, M/W

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Drama and Dance classes are open to ALL Tufts students Spring classes open online October 20th For more information about the Tufts Department of Drama and Dance, please visit us online: dramadance.tufts.edu

Monday, November 2, 2015

Features 2015

1992 Lena Bruce was murdered in her home in Boston’s South End. Evidence from the murder was saved, but the case went cold.

In January, Boston Police were notified that DNA collected at the scene of the crime matched Witkowski’s DNA.

1998

Advances in forensic technology allowed the Boston Police Crime Lab to develop a DNA database where they could store and record DNA profiles from crime scenes.

This is where the sperm cells and fingernail scrapings found at the crime scene were stored. Information from the lab was uploaded to the FBI’s DNA database.

A Case

2014

left cold

DNA evidence helps police indict suspect in 1992 Lena Bruce cold case

Police collected DNA from James Witkowski after he violated his probation for assault and battery charges.

Witkowski, who was 19 at the time of the murder, originally claimed in interviews that he did not know Bruce.

On Oct. 1, a grand jury indicted Witkowski on a charge of firstdegree murder.

Witkowski is scheduled to appear in court for trial during October 2016.

Shirley Wang / the Tufts Daily

by Emma Rosenthal Contributing Writer

A Suffolk County grand jury on Oct. 1 indicted James Witkowski, 42, for the 1992 murder of Lena Bruce (E ’92). Twenty-one-year-old Bruce was found dead in her South End apartment just a couple months after graduating from the university. The case went unsolved for more than two decades until DNA evidence linked Witkowski to the homicide in January.

According to an Oct. 1 Boston Globe article, Bruce grew up in Philadelphia before moving to Boston to study at Tufts. She was the only African-American woman in her class to graduate with a degree in electrical engineering.

In July 1992, Bruce, who was working at a Boston engineering firm at the time, was found by her roommate bound, gagged and partially undressed.

“My thing is, a bright light has gone out,” Bruce’s mother, UnaVee Bruce said, according to a July 15, 1992 article from The Philadelphia Inquirer. “It’s senseless. But she left a mark.”

All of the evidence from the crime scene — sperm samples and fingernail scrapings – were stored in the Boston Police Crime Laboratory, according to Jake Wark, press secretary for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Wark explained that when investigators first got hold of the DNA evidence, there was little they could do to link it to Witkowski.

“At the time, in 1992, investigators didn’t have any idea of the evidentiary power of DNA evidence,” Wark said. “But what they did know is that, in some cases, a certain percentage of the male population[’s] blood type is identifiable through a sperm sample. So it conceivably could have helped to identify a person, although not nearly as distinctively as DNA evidence does today.”

According to Wark, the next development in the case came in 1998, when new advances in forensic technology allowed the Boston Police Crime Lab to develop a DNA database where they could store and record DNA profiles, including the profile for DNA found in Bruce’s homicide case.

That data was uploaded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s DNA database, the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a year later when Massachusetts joined the system. “[CODIS] has only grown larger over the past decade or two decades [and]

allows the comparison of known offenders to the DNA profiles from unsolved crimes,” Wark said. “And that’s constantly updating, constantly checking for new submissions in the database, and despite the uploading of that DNA profile [from Bruce’s case], there were no hits.”

The 1998 advancements brought the police one important step closer to solving Bruce’s murder case, but many years were still ahead of the prosecutors before the suspect was identified.

“Periodically, Boston Police homicide detectives and Suffolk [County] prosecutors would try some new technique, maybe another appeal to the public, but in each case, unfortunately, [they] were not able to develop a potential subject,” Wark said.

“A bright light has gone out ... It’s senseless. But she left a mark.”

During the summer of 2014, Witkowski, who was 19 at the time of the murder, was arrested for a probation violation for a 2013 assault and battery conviction and was sentenced to 18 months at the Suffolk County House of Corrections. State police collected a sample of of DNA from Witkowski during that time, Wark said. “…[I]n Massachusetts, a person convicted of a felony must supply a DNA sample to the database,” he said. “There’s not really an enforcement element of that law, however, so if a person gets probation and they walk out of court, there’s a chance that they may not actually give that sample … So, periodically, teams of state police visit the various prisons, house of corrections, jails and other detention facilities throughout Massachusetts, essentially looking for anybody who hasn’t given a DNA sample as ordered to.”

In January of 2015, Boston Police were informed that Witkowski’s DNA matched the CODIS profile from the DNA evidence found at the crime scene in Bruce’s apartment.

“And that leads to really a moment of what the district attorney called a ‘blizzard of activity’ on the case,” Wark said.

This “blizzard of activity” included re-interviews with each initial witness, a comprehensive investigation into Witkowski’s history, in-person interviews with Witkowski and the drawing of another confirmatory DNA sample, Wark said.

In addition to the revelation that Witkowski’s DNA matched that found

at the scene, interviews with Witkowski also provided evidence that he was involved.

“In his interviews, Witkowski claimed that he didn’t know Lena Bruce, had never met her, had never had sexual relations with her,” Wark said. “When he was confronted with the fact that we had DNA, he made statements like he had been drinking in those days, was subject to blackouts, he had sex with a lot of women, it was possible that he did it and just didn’t remember.”

Witkowski was indicted for first-degree murder by a grand jury on Oct. 1. Wark said the Suffolk County Court expects to hold Witkowski’s trial during October of 2016, though his next court date is Nov. 3.

“It’s usually at least a year, and more often about two years, before a murder case will go to trial,” Wark said. “And that’s due in part to the constitutional protections that are afforded to every defendant.”

While at Tufts, Bruce was a member of the Xi Tau Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Following her death, the sorority created the Lena D. Bruce / Anita Y. Griffey Scholarship, granted annually to a bright female high school senior in the Cambridge area. The sorority also holds an annual candlelight vigil for Bruce.

Following the development of the case, Tufts offered its condolences to Bruce’s friends and family. The statement, issued

by Tufts on the same day of the announcement, was cited by the Boston Globe and other news outlets.

“Tufts University extends its deepest sympathies to the loved ones and friends of Lena Bruce, whose death in 1992 deeply shocked and saddened our community,” the statement says. “We hope they can take some measure of comfort in today’s news. We also extend our gratitude to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and the Boston Police for their continued efforts on this case.”

Although the murder happened more than two decades ago, it’s still an emotional case for Bruce’s loved ones.

“The toughest part was realizing that both of [Bruce’s] parents had died before Witkowski was identified, and that’s a sad fact to confront,” Wark said. “She was certainly beloved in her community but obviously much more so within her own family … It’s clear they were just devastated by her death and really hoping to find some closure, or at least an understanding of who had taken her life. And so that was a tough fact to confront.”

7 tuftsdaily.com

Henry Jani Lexiconversation

Eau de omelet

W

ord of the Day: Underwhelm verb \un-der-WELM\ :to fail to impress or stimulate I still often shiver with fear at the sight of eggs. When my team arrived at my cross-country camp senior year of high school, the bus doors opened, and we were welcomed with a wall of stench that came to be described as the “Poopy Eggs” fragrance. I don’t think that I will ever un-smell that fetid odor, which lurked with omnipresence that entire week. We were all promised quintessential rural running vistas, air-conditioned cabins and a diet specifically catered to young runners. The reality was underwhelming, to say the least.

With a new coaching staff that summer, our running program was in major overhaul — including the annual team camp. This new camp was promised as a “team bonding” delight, where coaches and runners from several teams could combine in a harmonious assembly. After a few hours there, we learned of our natural enemy: sulfur mines. Beneath our very feet was an enormous cavity of sulfur that exploded days before our arrival. The minerals leaked into the well water we drank and seeped into the musty air circulating through our lungs during workouts. We all endured as best as we could, but even the shower situation turned out to be rather problematic. A large room, with endlessly high ceilings corroded by dense rust, mimicking prison showers, served as the only source of bathing for over 200 people. All of the curtains had been tied together to offer that truly “communal” feel among runners. And worst of all, the water there seemed to smell of poopy eggs more so than anywhere else. Most people forwent showering for that week, but after day two of sitting in my own stench produced by the summer heat and intense workouts, I needed to do something about it. I ended up stealing someone’s Costco-sized pack of water bottles and bathed in a nearby parking lot. I can’t say that I’m a very bashful person, but you do feel a certain way when a group of high school runners stares at you vigorously scrubbing your body with Head and Shoulders while 20 empty water bottles circle your feet.

On the eve of our departure, our coaches announced a midnight workout. I ran only with the incentive of actually showering the next day. After an hour, we suddenly stopped, surrounded by a boundless continuum of darkness in an isolated cornfield.

We were told to sit on the ground silently as we prepared for yet another team bonding exercise. Our coach droned on about race times and envisioning strong workout finishes, while all I could think about was the possibility of a rabid raccoon biting my behind in the middle of that cornfield. And yet, I did feel a sense of peace wash over me. It was rather inexplicable and fleeting, but I completely disconnected from my surroundings at that moment. I felt at peace despite my usually neurotic mind frame. Everything slowed down. The earth felt warm and familiar under me. And for once that entire week, it did not smell like poopy eggs.

Henry Jani is a sophomore majoring in English. He can be reached at henry.jani@ tufts.edu.

8 tuftsdaily.com

Opinion Editorial

Worsening contract laws threaten to trap generation of students in debt As of the end of last year, the burden of excessive student loan debt was affecting 40 million American students, whose debt totaled $1 trillion. Student debt is also the only type of consumer debt that has actually risen since the Great Recession, increasing by 84 percent between 2008 and 2014, according to a study by Experian. At the same time, college debt appears to be its own industry. Student debt is bundled into packages and sold to investors as securitized loans in practices not dissimilar from those that contributed to the subprime mortgage crisis. To add insult to injury, the mechanisms that favor creditors and produce seemingly perpetual debtors are allowed to operate with little hope of legal help because of powerful instruments of corporate law: mandatory arbitration clauses.

A recent expose by the New York Times found that a well-organized coalition of credit card companies, lenders and retailers — from Starbucks to American Express to TimeWarner — have lobbied successfully to change contract law in a way that fragments people who could comprise a broad opposition to predatory implementations of fees, penalties and interest rates.

A mandatory arbitration clause stipu-

lates that, upon signing a contract, “the company ‘may elect to resolve any claim by individual arbitration.’” The average American can be fined a $600 fee for canceling their phone service and be forced to go take on corporate giants in court alone, instead of joining with others in a class action suit — a vital tool for the public to hold non-state power accountable. Corporations argue that class action suits are unnecessary since people are capable of having their cases solved in court on their own; however, massive legal fees involving long, drawn-out court battles make serious challenges untenable for anyone outside the nation’s upper economic echelon, leaving them with little choice but to accept the unfair hand they are dealt.

According to the National Consumer Law Center, “the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act legislation banned forced arbitration in mortgages and gives the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) the authority to prohibit or impose conditions on other forced arbitration provisions involving consumer financial products or services.” However, lenders still find ways to practice virtual extortion and leaving their borrowers no way to meaningfully defend themselves. According to

the website Fair Arbitration Now, “lenders will often insert forced arbitration clauses in private student loan agreements to bar borrowers from challenging the loan’s terms in court … these clauses allow predatory lenders to escape responsibility for their abusive lending practices or other violations of the law.” Secondary lenders who step in to offer emergency loans are even more likely to get away with and make use of these tactics, further choking students with debt.

On their own, the prohibitive costs of higher education and the loan packages required to pay them are robbing millennials of their futures. To combine these with exploitative and opaque techniques for extracting still more value from a debt-saddled generation is nothing short of criminal. While some class action suits have been successful on relatively small scales, the kind of broad challenge to unaccountable creditors that is necessary to improve the conditions of many struggling students and graduates has yet to materialize. With college tuition prices becoming increasingly unaffordable, the least the government — on both the state and federal level — can do is prioritize passing a ban on mandatory arbitration.

editorial cartoon

by Issy Del Priore

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 oped@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 Executive Business Director.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Aren Torikian The Arena

Rubiowning it

M

arco Rubio is going to be the Republican nominee to be the next president of the United States of America. Good to get that off my chest. I’ve been ready to say that for a few weeks now, but Wednesday’s debate solidified the Florida senator, currently a solid third in polls, as the man to beat.

Getting the nomination is a sort of Goldilocks and the Three Bears scenario. A candidate must be conservative, but not too conservative. A candidate can’t be too ingrained in party politics, nor be a total outsider. A candidate needs to be youthful, but also have experience. And, above all, a candidate must be likable. Rubio seems to be the only candidate that passes this litmus test.

In a field of around 15 candidates, Rubio’s competition was nevertheless limited. Take any candidate and apply the above properties. Mike “I want to eradicate cancer” Huckabee? Too conservative. Chris Christie?

Not likable. Donald Trump and Ben Carson?

Top two in polls, but from too far outside the party. Ask these questions of the rest of the contenders, and Rubio is spat out as the only viable candidate.

But I saw Jeb Bush as a real threat to win the nomination. Yes, Bush is as ingrained in Washington as traffic or distinctly mediocre sports teams. However, the ex-governor of Florida has a massive financial advantage; Bush’s campaign and Super PACs raised almost triple Rubio’s through June of this year, according to the New York Times. Bush, though, continued his disappointing decline with one of the poorest debate performances in recent memory.

When he was asked about DraftKings, the daily fantasy sports site, Bush bragged about his 7-0 fantasy football team lead by Rob Gronkowski. Christie of all people reminded the audience, to much applause, how ridiculous the conversation matter was. Bush’s tame attempt to connect with fantasy playing Republicans everywhere flopped more than Demarco Murray (his fantasy owners will understand).

Bush had earlier tried to attack Rubio’s decision to miss the majority of Senate votes to campaign. Rubio had a somewhat obviously pre-thought out response, comparing himself to John McCain, another senator who missed votes to campaign. Rubio embarrassed a desperate-looking Bush. When the moderators attacked Rubio’s age (he’s 44), he pulled out an equally well-articulated but clearly rehearsed answer on “the time [being] now.”

Rubio partnered with Ted Cruz (a national champion debater at Princeton) to absolutely lambast the CNBC moderators, accusing them of biases and double standards against conservatives. To some extent, they had a point.

The moderators asked at one point whether Trump was running a “a comic book version” of a presidential campaign. Regardless, this garnered the biggest applause of the night. The Republican National Committee even decided to cease cooperation with NBC, who shares a parent company with CNBC and was scheduled to host the next GOP debate in February.

As a Floridian, Rubio makes sense for the Republicans. The GOP stands little chance at winning the elections without Florida’s 29 electoral votes. I just thought the Floridian to do it for them would be Bush. But it will be Rubio vs.

Clinton. And we still have a year to go.

Aren Torikian is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at aren.torikian@tufts.edu.

Monday, November 2, 2015 | Opinion | THE TUFTS DAILY

tuftsdaily.com

Opinion

9

Opinion

op-ed

The case for respect: Holding ourselves accountable as members of a shared community

by Aviva Weinstein and Anna Linton We could write this op-ed as co-presidents of Friends of Israel, addressing inaccurate allegations made against us last Thursday at our Taste of Israel event, parsing the careless conflation of politics and culture and dismantling the absurdity of uninformed accusations of appropriation. Although these are legitimate discussions to be had, none of these are as immediately threatening to our Tufts community as the lack of basic respect demonstrated by our Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) peers at the Taste of Israel event. We write this op-ed as two individuals on campus who are disturbed by bullying masquerading as social justice, and will no longer accept such behavior as the status quo.

On Thursday night, Oct. 29, Tufts Friends of Israel hosted our annual event, Taste of Israel, a food fair showcasing Israel’s multifaceted culture through cuisine. In response to seeing our Facebook event, the leaders of SJP planned and executed, as they called it, “a strategic interruption” to usurp our event and replace our message with theirs. They stood at both entrances and handed out candy

with their own factoids, and hung up satirical posters with messages such as “Fresh from stolen Palestinian land” across from our decorations.

None of these actions in and of themselves would have been so striking. This isn’t the first time SJP has protested Israel events on campus; honestly, it wasn’t even the most radical of their protests. Two years ago, they hosted a die-in at our spring barbecue. Last year, they hosted a die-in at a Fletcher event. SJP’s appearance at our events has become not the exception, but the norm.

What was particularly inexcusable about Thursday was that they walked around the room, and line-by-line read posters that our members had spent weeks preparing and audibly mocked them. What was also inexcusable about Thursday was that when one of our members was visibly upset, members of SJP actually pointed and laughed at her.

When we went to speak to their leadership and asked them if they would leave, they informed us that their primary purpose was to disrupt our event, and that asking them to leave would silence their voices.

Not knowing how to proceed, we went to a police officer and asked what we could do. (It is absurd that we should

need to have the police officer at our small, student-run event). He responded that he could not ask the members of SJP to leave, as they were not physically threatening us, but that we had every right to take down their posters in response.

The only options we have are to accept their antagonistic behavior or rip down their posters? This situation is unacceptable. We will not rip down their posters because we refuse to show this type of blatant disrespect to our peers.

We will not show up to their events with the intention of “strategically interrupting” them, and it is not because we do not believe ardently in our own vision to promote peace in the Middle East.

While there is a very legitimate need for advocacy for the Palestinian people — in fact the two of us are involved in Tufts Students for Two States — and support the creation of both a Palestinian and Israeli State living side-by-side, bullying another group and ruining their event does not address this need. This protest did not benefit the Palestinian people, or promote peace — either in the Middle East or on campus.

It is unacceptable for Tufts students to demonize and isolate student

groups because they express different views. This protest was not political, it was personal. The students from SJP directly satirized our graphics, mocked our posters and disrespected us as people.

As peers at Tufts, we are fortunate to have enough space and resources on our campus for all of us to have our voices heard through hosting our own events. Every student has the right to express her or his ideological, religious or political views. We must fight to ensure that Tufts remains an open community where students of all backgrounds and nationalities are allowed to hold non-mainstream views, and will not be castigated or ostracized for doing so.

As a student body, we must hold ourselves accountable to higher standards of conduct. Silencing parts of our peers’ identities through bullying isn’t what we do at Tufts.

Aviva Weinstein is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. She is political chair of Tufts Friends for Israel and can be reached at aviva. weinstein@tufts.edu. Anna Linton is a junior majoring in English, psychology and Judaic Studies.

Fall 2015 Lyon & Bendheim Alumni Lecture

Emanuel Stern Managing Principal at Tall Pines Capital & Vice Chairman of Hartz Group

Join the Tufts Alumni Association and Tisch College for an evening with successful entrepreneur and real estate investor Emanuel Stern, A85

TODAY - November 2 | 7:00 p.m.

Alumnae Lounge, Medford Campus Please RSVP at tuftsalumni.org

10

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Monday, November 2, 2015 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Sports

11

Sports

Brady scores historic ninth touchdown in loss to Amherst FOOTBALL

continued from back Civetti elected to go for it, a move that paid off as Snyder found junior wide receiver Mike Rando, who carried a defender on his back for the last five yards of a 20-yard gain. Another shot to Rando brought Tufts to Amherst’s two-yard line. Three failed attempts later and the Jumbos, down seven points, decided to go for it on 4th-and-1. Brady broke through to the end zone for his ninth touchdown of the season, becoming the Tufts running back with the most touchdowns since Harry Lightfoot’s 1989 season.

Amherst answered back, starting off its next drive with two Kelly rush attempts for eight and four yards, respectively.

Another Kelly rush, on which senior co-captain linebacker Matt McCormack and junior defensive back Mike Stearns were credited with tackles, set Amherst up at Tufts’ 45. McGonagle extended his full 6-foot-3-inch frame on a diving grab 33 yards down the field and rushed for a 10-yard gain on the next play, but Williams saved the touchdown. On the next play, however, Foy snuck into the end zone on a dive play.

“Patrick [Williams] has played a lot of football here,” Civetti said. “I think he’s smart, [and] I think he’s a really talented, athletic kid. He’s a student of the game and he knows where to be at the right time. I think he’s starting to feel more and more comfortable in his element and continues to do a great job.”

Down by seven points, the Jumbos were well within striking range. However, after the kickoff, Snyder was intercepted by senior defensive back Jimmy Fairfield-Sonn, who returned the pick 25 yards for a touchdown, putting Amherst ahead 21-7. “[Snyder] owned that pretty hard,” Civetti said. “That play that he threw the pick on, it’s something that we do every day. He’s probably thrown that ball 100 times this season between practice and between games. It’s a regular play for us.

That took some wind out of our sails a little bit. Knowing [Snyder], he’s going to own that pretty hard. I’m sure he’d love to have that one back. In terms of his read,

he wasn’t necessarily wrong in going to the tight end on that play, and might not have seen the safety as close as he was.”

Tufts came out of halftime ready to establish the run. Brady rushed four plays in a row for gains of three, five, five and one. Next, Snyder scrambled out of the pocket and picked up eight yards on the ground to bring up 3rd-and-1. However, Tufts was unable to muster enough force to push past Amherst’s 48-yard line and were forced to punt.

Amherst marched to the Tufts 20 on their next drive, as Foy found Boehm for a 34-yard gain. Boehm then rushed for 10 yards, but the play was negated by holding on Amherst. Foy rushed to the Tufts 13, but on second and third down Adinkra was stuffed by Adebayo and sophomore defensive lineman Zach Thomas. Sophomore kicker Charlie Wall’s field goal attempt from 29 was good, putting Amherst up 24-7.

Tufts again tried to establish the run, but Brady was stuffed for three yards and then a loss of two. On third down with no one open, Snyder was brought down for a loss of 10. Tufts was forced to punt the possession — and the next two as well — but the defense forced Amherst to punt thrice.

“I think the defense as a whole played pretty well,” Civetti said. “You look at 32 points and think, ‘How can you say that, coach?’ but they were out there a lot.

There were a lot of three-and-outs by that offense, and that D-line made a lot of trips back and forth from the sideline.

They didn’t play as well as we needed them to, but I think they executed in some stage of the game. They did put some pressure on [Foy]. That’s an OK day, but we are not really satisfied with being OK.” On a drive beginning at the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Snyder was again sacked and fumbled the ball into the end-zone. Brady managed to recover the ball and allowed a safety.

“I think what has given Alex some success over the last couple weeks is that Chance [Brady] has carried a big part of the load and [first-year] Dominic [Borelli], with the offensive line being

great at the point of attack, getting some great yardage,” Civetti said. “We haven’t had to throw the ball as much as we did on Saturday … and those linebackers were at a point where they knew that we were down ‘x’ amount of points. It was a lot easier for linebackers to just get to their drop areas, safeties to play more coverage and not have to play run. It had a huge impact. Huge.”

Tufts had to kickoff following the safety, and Amherst was able to run the ball all the way down in a drive that killed four minutes of time and ended in a four-yard touchdown by Adinkra. Wall was unable to connect on the point-after attempt.

Substitutes for both teams were brought in. Senior co-captain defensive lineman Corey Burns forced sophomore quarterback Craig Carmilani to fumble, and Williams recovered at the Amherst 34-yard line. However, Nault fumbled on the ensuing drive and Adinkra recovered to all but end the game.

“I knew it would be a tough game,” Civetti said. “I don’t think we gave up at all on Saturday. If anything, I think guys were just frustrated that we were running out of time. Certainly in a loss like that it’s hard to find things to be positive or encouraged about, but to be honest with you, we didn’t make a lot of mistakes. We just didn’t execute.”

While the loss means that Tufts was eliminated from title contention, Civetti pointed out that the team still has a chance to finish with a winning season.

“Those [seniors] signed up to be a part of something four years ago that they have to take some ownership of,” Civetti said. “They have an opportunity to put this team into the win column. You know, being 5-3 or 6-2 is a big deal, especially since their [first] and sophomore years they never won a game here and they signed up knowing that. They wanted to be the guys that changed it.”

Tufts takes on Colby away next week in an effort to lock down a fifth win and a winning season.

“We’re just focused on getting that fifth win next week at Colby,” McCormack said. “Really trying to learn from this last one and be better next week.”

Bowdoin seniors Hofstetter, Godley key to team’s victory WOMEN'S SOCCER

continued from back year keeper Emily Bowers, whose heroics have kept Tufts in games throughout the season. Hofstetter’s goal came off a poorly hit free kick in the defensive half that was easily picked off and fed through to her feet at the top of the box. Bowdoin’s forward had time to settle her feet and calmly strike a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner.

Just minutes later, Bowers again saved low to the ground only to have the rebound tapped in by sophomore back Jill Rathke. As the time winded down, Campellone and Weiller tested both the Bowdoin keeper and the integrity of the crossbar, with their fierce shots stinging the palms of the keeper and rattling the woodwork. Ultimately, Bowdoin withstood the pressure to keep a clean sheet and ended Tufts’ season with a 3-0 shutout.

“To be honest, I would rather have lost 3-0 than 1-0,” Weiller said. “We pushed up and really went for it because we had nothing to lose. The late goals were a result of us pushing up the field, and if

the game had ended 1-0, I think we would have been frustrated with ourselves for not going for it hard enough. A loss at this point ends the season anyways, so it’s good to know that we gave it our all.”

Tufts finishes the season 6-8-2, while the second-seeded Bowdoin heads into its next match: the NESCAC semifinals against Trinity, who hold an 11-4-1 record.

The Jumbos end the season with a defensive record of just 19 goals allowed over all 16 games but can only boast of 14 goals on the offensive end over that same stretch, winning many games by small margins.

“Some people say that defense is the best offense, but at the end of the day you have to score to win,” Weiller said. “[It was] tough hitting the crossbar or post, or [the ball] would fly just left of the goal or the goalie would get a tip on it. I think all of us were just waiting for it to fall and to start going in the goal, and it was really unlucky that it just never seemed to happen.”

The future for the women’s soccer program is bright, with 10 first-year players on the team this year. However, the loss marked the end of Campellone, Weiller

and co-captain keeper Emily Morton’s college careers.

“It’s bittersweet, obviously, but I couldn’t be more excited about the team in the upcoming years,” Morton said. “They’re going to have so much success, and they’re perfectly set up to excel in the NESCAC and even beyond.

We’ve built a really strong foundation as a team for them to really get the job done next year, and I can’t wait to see where it takes them.”

First-year players such as midfielder pair Emma Ranalli and Sarah Grubman, winger Alessandra Sadler and goalkeeper Emily Bowers all played significant roles on the team this year, and the team’s leading scorer, Capone, will also be returning.

“Our thing this year was to always fight to get the next goal, to get the next win, to get the next 50/50 ball, and that was the most important thing for us — to fight back and never give up until the final whistle,” Weiller said. “[When I look back on] the people I played with when I was a freshman and the people I play with now, we’re all a part of this legacy that I get to hold onto for the rest of my life.”

Zach Ohara The Best Kept Secret

Officiating and the evolution of the game

T

he NBA has evolved over the years since it was founded in 1946, but one of the most notable differences we have seen is the change in what referees consider fouls and technical fouls. A game that was once won by physically dominating one’s opponent is now more of a finesse game as the number of foul calls have increased. A league that was once dominated by big men like Shaquille O’Neal, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon now has transformed into a guard-dominated league where teams without a prolific ball handler have little to no chance of winning a title.

And the reason that the league has changed so dramatically has been because of an increased emphasis on respect for the game and its officials, as well as a focus on making the game safer for the players.

In past years, we saw physical bruisers like Dennis Rodman — who physically and mentally intimidated opponents by harassing them on both ends of the court. Trash talk and physicality were tolerated by officials and embraced by the fans as part of the game. Today, it seems that players cannot so much as contest a call without officials issuing them a technical foul. For many fans who have been watching basketball throughout this transformation, the game and many NBA players seem to have “become soft.” This shift in officiating has, in many fans’ opinions, changed the game for the worse.

However, I feel that there have also been many positive aspects to these changes, such as a safer league for the players and also the allowance for smaller, more skilled players to dominate the league. The most obvious benefit of the change in foul calls is that the league is much safer — there is less risk of serious injuries for its players, allowing many athletes to have long-lasting careers and remain competitive at an older age. Players like Stephen Curry who hang their hat on ball skills and long-range shooting can now flourish in the new NBA where they aren’t trying to out-muscle bigger defenders. Now that defenders can no longer hand check on defense, smaller and less athletic players can now have a fighting chance in the NBA. Not only have these effects changed the game on the court, but they have also changed players’ actions off the court.

We have seen a number of players fined for talking poorly about officiating, most recently Paul George, who was fined $10,000 for blaming the officiating for the Pacers’ loss. There are many benefits to these new officiating changes that have emerged, but many have also upset fans — leaving the jury out on whether these changes have been for the better or for the worst.

Zach Ohara is a junior majoring in economics. He can be reached at zachary. ohara@tufts.edu.

Sports

12 tuftsdaily.com

Monday, November 2, 2015

FOOTBALL

Defending champions hold Jumbos to just seven points in 32-7 victory

by Phillip Goldberg Sports Editor

Coming off a dominant victory over Williams, Tufts was ready for its game on Saturday. Amherst, however, now 6-0,

FOOTBALL (4-2 Overall, 4-2 NESCAC) at Ellis Oval, Saturday 1 Amherst 7 Tufts 0

2 14 7

2 3 0

2 8 0

FT 32 7

boasts the NESCAC’s second stingiest defense and limited Tufts to a season-low seven points in its 32-7 victory at Tufts’ Ellis Oval. Tufts falls to 4-2 and, after losing to both Amherst and Trinity, is mathematically eliminated from the race for a conference title.

Amherst took an early lead at 7:20 in the first quarter after junior running back Nick Kelly punched in a sixyard touchdown. The drive began at Amherst’s 33-yard line, where senior defensive lineman Ife Adebayo got to sophomore quarterback Reece Foy for a sack on the first play. Foy threw to the flats, where his receivers, juniors Nick Widen and Devin Boehm, turned short catches into chain-moving gains along the sidelines. Kelly got loose for a 17-yard run before senior linebacker Patrick Williams brought him down on the Tufts six.

“I thought Ife Adebayo had a pretty big day,” coach Jay Civetti said. “Ife had a big sack and put some good pressure on the quarterback. He’s been battling an injury. I was really proud of him and what he did in there.”

Tufts could not sustain a drive until early in the second quarter, when junior quarterback Alex Snyder found sopho-

Alex Knapp / The Tufts Daily

Tufts junior running back Max Athy runs the ball past Amherst on Oct. 31. more wide receiver Joe Nault for a 14-yard gain. Junior running back Chance Brady rushed outside to the right sideline for a six-yard gain, which would be his longest of the day. Amherst senior inside linebacker Tom Kleyn was flagged for a late hit penalty, which gained another 15 yards for Tufts. Snyder then threw to junior tight end Nik Dean on the left side for a crucial third-down conversion, but junior kicker Willie Holmquist missed a 34-yard field goal wide to the left, ending the drive.

The Tufts defense got to work on Amherst’s ensuing drive, as Williams stopped senior running back Kenny Adinkra for a one-yard gain. On second down, first-year defensive back Alex LaPiana leapt backward to intercept Foy’s throw intended for senior quad-captain wide-receiver Jackson McGonagle.

“Amherst has some great receivers,” Civetti said. “[McGonagle] made a really nice move on [Alex LaPiana] to get him out of position, and Alex recovered

very, very well, which is something that I think he does nicely and continues to get better at each week. He really played the ball well and got us down in the redzone … and I think we scored six plays later. That’s the football that we needed to play more of.”

Tufts’ drive began at the Amherst 37-yard line, but only gained four yards through three downs. On fourth down see FOOTBALL, page 11

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Tufts falls 3-0 in quarterfinal loss to Bowdoin

by Noah Smith

win over the weekend. Hofstetter finished the game with a goal and two assists, while WOMEN’S SOCCER (6-8-2 Overall, 4-5-1 NESCAC) Godley scored the opening goal in just the at Brunswick, Maine, Saturday eighth minute, receiving the ball inside Bowdoin senior forward Jamie the box from Hofstetter and taking a touch Hofstetter and classmate midfielder 1 2 FT left before calmly slotting it into the corMaggie Godley, the architects of their Tufts 0 0 0 Bowdoin 1 2 3 ner. It was the third year in a row that team’s win over Tufts less than a week Tufts played Bowdoin in the first round before, were once again key in their 3-0 of the NESCAC tournament, with Tufts winning 2-1 in 2013 and losing 4-0 in 2014.

After conceding early against the Williams Ephs and the Bowdoin Polar Bears just a week before, the Jumbos were looking to make a good start against opponents that, after playing them close in their previous match-up, they felt they could beat.

“The regular season game [was] so close and we knew we played well,” senior co-captain center-back Nicole Campellone said. “We also knew Evan Sayles / Tufts Daily Archive Tufts senior co-captain and defender Nicole Campellone attempts to steal the ball from a Lesley player on Sept. 9. we had potential to Staff Writer

play so much better, so everyone was actually really confident going into the quarterfinal game.”

The early goal appeared to focus and sharpen their game, and after going behind early in a few games this season, the Jumbos tried to use their experience playing catch up to their advantage.

The intense pressure on the Polar Bears’ goal by the Jumbos throughout the first half almost resulted in more than a few goals. Junior forward Jess Capone, the focal point for the Tufts attack, repeatedly made good runs in behind the Bowdoin defense and offered a good target for crosses into the box, which were delivered tirelessly by the Tufts wide midfielders. Despite being behind, the half was very much controlled by the Jumbos, who ended the first 45 minutes with eight shots to the Polar Bears’ six.

“At halftime I 100 percent would have rather been on Tufts than on Bowdoin,” senior forward Allie Weiller said. “We were definitely outplaying them; [in fact] it was some of the best soccer we’ve played all season, but sometimes, unfortunately, the score doesn’t necessarily show how the game was played.”

The Jumbos came out with a sense of urgency in the second half with their season on the line. Early pressure from the Polar Bears drew two saves from firstsee WOMEN'S SOCCER, page 11