2009-10-06

THE TUFTS DAILY

Mostly Sunny 65/51

TUFTSDAILY.COM

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2009

VOLUME LVIII, NUMBER 18

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

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BEN GITTLESON

Daily Editorial Board

COURTESY LAURA SKLAVER

Army Capt. Benjamin Sklaver, a graduate of both the School of Arts and Sciences and the Fletcher School, was killed in an ambush in Afghanistan last Friday.

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MATT REPKA

Daily Editorial Board

U.S. Army Capt. Benjamin Sklaver (LA ’99, F ’03) was killed Friday during an ambush in Muscheh, Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. He was 32.

Sklaver, a captain in the 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, was serving in his second tour of duty.

The ambush is believed to have been perpetrated by a suicide bomber.

Sklaver graduated from the School of Arts and Sciences in 1999 with an international relations degree. He focused on security studies and humanitarian assistance at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. While at Tufts, he enrolled in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC)

program, and went on to serve with the U.S. Army in northern Uganda.

Sklaver’s service with the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa in northern Uganda opened his eyes to the problems plaguing the region, a site of continuous civil unrest and conflict since the 1980s. He returned home determined to bring clean drinking water to villagers who did not have access to it because of the violence there.

While working for the Centers For Disease Control on emergency health and refugee relief, Sklaver founded the ClearWater Initiative in 2007. This international nonprofit organization works to supply clean drinking water to rural Ugandans. see SKLAVER page 2

An unusually large-scale hacking attack over the weekend affected at least 100 computers on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus, causing the university to temporarily shut down WebCenter and send many employees home early.

The security breach likely resulted from people outside of the university trying to hijack Tufts-affiliated computers in order to send out spam e-mails or to use network storage space for other purposes, according to Dawn Irish, director of communications and organizational effectiveness for University Information Technology (UIT).

Irish said that information technology officials will not know for sure what caused the attack until they complete an analysis this week.

Impacted computers included those in faculty and staff offices in the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering, as well as machines in Tisch Library and in Undergraduate Education, Student Affairs and Student Services (USS), Irish said.

She added that to the best of her knowledge only three of the approximately 100 computers affected belonged to students.

The breach did not affect all sectors of the university, or even of the Medford/Somerville campus. The university advancement office and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

were among several sectors that escaped harm.

Information technology employees began noticing jumps in traffic from a number of compromised machines around midnight on Saturday morning. The appearance of spikes in activity — which can result in slow performance but which are not always noticeable by users — spread to scores of other computers throughout the day on Saturday and into Sunday, Irish said.

Over the weekend, UIT notified relevant information technology teams across campus of

the security breach, and those offices subsequently employed a variety of anti-virus and security measures on hacked machines, according to Irish. Officials reinstalled computer operating systems, made passwords more complicated and tweaked network settings.

UIT this weekend traced the attack to servers located in Amsterdam. After those servers were blocked, the attack shifted to Brazil and — after the Brazilian base was denied access — to Estonia. This offshore hacking see ATTACK, page 2

AALOK KANANI/TUFTS DAILY

A computer in Dowling Hall reads “No Input Signal.” Many employees left early yesterday after a weekend security breach affected computers.

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EMMA GOLDSTEIN

BY

Contributing Writer

MARTHA SHANAHAN Contributing Writer

Tufts students will have new identification cards in hand next semester as the university is forced to comply with state legislation that aims to curb identity theft.

Massachusetts state law chapter 93H, which became effective in 2007, established stricter regulations on financial account numbers in response to several reported cases of identity theft in the commonwealth. The law puts JumboCash numbers in the same category as credit card numbers, forcing the university to issue updated JumboCash numbers and IDs in line with the new regulations

by Jan. 1 of 2010.

The JumboCash number on ID cards that sophomores, juniors and seniors currently carry is the same as their student ID number, which the state says puts students at risk of identity theft.

“The law really centers around protecting people’s financial information and protecting identities,” said Geoff Bartlett, technical services manager in the Department of Public Safety.

JODI BOSIN/TUFTS DAILY

Tufts’ Office of Undergraduate Admissions has taken the lead in a number of urban public school initiatives in an attempt to steer Boston-area middle school and high school students onto a college path.

The initiatives organized by the admissions office are designed to connect Tufts with area schools that do not have adequate resources to prepare their students for the college admissions process and the university experience, according to Associate Director of Admissions Walker Coppedge.

The admissions office’s efforts are not designed to bypass or replace existing guidance programs at Boston-area schools. Rather, they are intended to help guidance counselors who often face overwhelming workloads that keep them from making the college application process fully accessible to their students, according to Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Coffin.

Guidance offices generally serve as the point of contact for admissions officers, but, according to Coffin, in the past Tufts offi-

see IDENTIFICATION, page 2

The admissions office is reaching out to schools in the local community as part of initiatives to expose students to their college options.

see OUTREACH, page 2

Inside this issue In-Goo Kwak, of flyer controversy notoriety, defends freedom of speech in an opinion piece. see OP-ED, page 11

g y g. However, the flyer was taken ou d made its way around campus. S ed. I first apologized to the creato hat I mocked, and then anonymo e Asian American Alliance’s Septem Chat; I was interested to hear the v t disagreed with what I had done. te the polarizing effect my flyer w mpus. While it is true the poster w f my views, I did not post the flyer ptuous intent to send a message to

Today’s Sections Women’s tennis dominated the courts last weekend, sweeping both MIT and Babson 9-0. see SPORTS, back page

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Letters

1 3 7 10

Op-Ed Comics Sports

11 12 Back

THE TUFTS DAILY

2

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method is common in these cases, according to Irish, who added that it can prove difficult to absolutely stop an attack when offenders switch servers so easily.

“We shut down their access to the university, but it doesn’t do much to alleviate the problems,” she said.

After computers were pulled offline on Saturday, UIT saw the attack wane on Saturday night. Irish said yesterday she thought fewer than 10 computers were affected on Sunday.

But more machines became affected during the day on Monday, inhibiting many staff’s ability to carry out their jobs, Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman said last night. Reitman decided in the afternoon to allow many USS staff members to return home if they felt they could not work productively, and most left by 4 p.m. Many were unable to leave behind “out-of-office” messages on e-mail or voicemail accounts.

USS employs about 125 people, including staff at cultural centers, the Office for Campus Life and the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife), among other offices.

“There are a lot of people whose jobs really depend on the technology,” said Reitman, who himself learned midday on Monday that his computer and several others had been “newly compromised.”

Hackers most likely gained access to the Tufts network via a security weakness, such as a password of inadequate complexity, which attackers can exploit to gain access to a vulnerable computer.

Universities often come under attack by hackers, a result of their relatively open computer networks with fewer restrictions, according to Irish. Corporate networks, on the other hand, have the luxury of locking down to a greater extent, she said.

The high number of hacked computers stood out from other more common attacks, which occasionally impact one or two computers if, for example, a student connected to a Tufts network accidentally downloads a virus onto her machine.

Because of the atypical nature of this breach, Tricia Sheehan, the director of Student Information Systems Technology, decided on Saturday morning to take down WebCenter, a student services Web portal, and all other online Student Services applications, including similar WebCenter versions for faculty, staff and parents.

Sheehan said she did not want to take any chances given the amount of sensitive student data on Student Services servers. “I was actually being overly cautious,” she said.

Student Services put WebCenter back online yesterday around 9 a.m.

Reitman said that “the assumption is” that USS will open as usual today.

UIT did not observe any increased network traffic yesterday, according to Irish, although she said it is possible that additional computers may have been hacked yesterday without showing telltale signs.

A lot still remained unclear yesterday, with UIT not providing much information publicly, such as on its Web site, a tactic Irish said would have been unnecessary.

“You don’t always want to advertise when it’s sort of localized,” Irish said. A more sizable security breach impacting more machines or students would have warranted a public announcement, she added.

Irish said the last time she could remember such a significant security breach at Tufts was when the Blaster virus infected computers earlier this decade.

As an investigation into the causes of the hacking attack carries on this week, university information technology officials remain cautious yet optimistic that the attack has died out.

“We think the measures we took pretty much fixed the problems, but we can’t know for sure,” Irish said yesterday morning.

Police Briefs... ...will return in next Tuesday’s Daily.

NEWS

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

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ClearWater is an all-volunteer organization. Drawing on the efforts of Sklaver and other leaders, the nonprofit spent a full 78 percent of its total 2008 budget on water projects, according to the ClearWater Web site.

Thomas Williams, Tufts’ senior associate director of alumni relations, who knew Sklaver personally when Williams first began working at Tufts, called him “an outstanding person.”

“He was very energetic,” Williams said, “a very civic and public-minded citizen.”

Sklaver was a native of Hamden, Conn.

On Monday, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell ordered all flags lowered to half staff in honor of the fallen captain. In a statement released by her office, Rell called Sklaver “a brave son who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedom.”

The flags will remain at half staff until

Sklaver has been laid to rest. Funeral arrangements are set for today.

Sklaver was engaged to be married to Beth Segaloff. Shortly before he was called back into active duty in Afghanistan, Sklaver had taken a job with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in New York so that he could be closer to Segaloff.

During his time at Tufts, Sklaver had been an active member of the Jewish community. Tufts Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, who is a member of Sklaver’s extended family and grew up with his parents, said he was heartbroken by the loss.

“Ben was an extraordinary man,” Summit told the Daily in an e-mail statement. “He had the gift of being able to combine his vision and practical experience to make transformational changes in communities.”

According to Williams, Sklaver was also part of a student-alumni relations com-

mittee that recruited alumni to come to campus to speak with current students about their majors and career aspirations.

Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler expressed her sadness on behalf of the university. “Our hearts go out to Benjamin Sklaver’s family and friends on the loss of this caring and courageous young man,” Thurler told the Daily.

For Tomo Takaki, a junior and a member of the ROTC, the news is a stark reminder of the realities of the ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. “We’re all aware of the risk, but you don’t really think about it every day,” Takaki said.

“When it’s right in your community — someone who lived in the same buildings you do — it makes it a lot more real,” Takaki said.

Katherine Sawyer, Ben Gittleson and Giovanni Russonello contributed reporting to this article.

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The Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) issued the new IDs to all freshmen at the start of the academic year. Those cards feature a student ID number, a different JumboCash number and a library bar code on the front. Older cards issued before this year show the student’s ID number on the front and a library bar code on the back.

“We set about this because changes in state law essentially required us to do so,” Bartlett said. He added, however, that the university had not encountered significant problems with identity theft in the past.

The university’s redistribution of IDs conveniently coincides with theTufts Community Union (TCU) Senate’s plans to change the ID system in order to add useful information on the back of the cards, including emergency phone numbers.

On older cards, two magnetic strips and a bar code inhibited TUPD from adding any additional information on the back. Now that newer cards only have one strip running along the bottom of the card, other information can be added.

(TCU) Senator Edward Chao, chair of the Senate’s Student Outreach Committee, said that the Senate requested that TUPD add useful phone numbers and Web sites to the back of the cards approximately a year ago.

“A lot of students here at Tufts University don’t really know about the [emergency] numbers,” said Chao, a junior.

The Senate originally became involved in the ID project in the hopes of adding emergency phone numbers on the back of the ID card, but its involvement is currently focused on distribution.

“It’s not what we had envisioned at the beginning, but it’s a huge contribution,” said TCU Senator Joel Greenberg, a sophomore who worked on the ID project over the summer.

Greenberg said that the distribution of the

STELLA BENEZRA/TUFTS DAILY

TUPD will issue upperclassmen new IDs similar to those freshmen currently carry by next semester. cards to upperclassmen may prove to be one of the most difficult parts of the process.

“The burden I believe at this point is having [the distribution of new ID cards] properly planned,” he said. “It has to be systematic.

We see very long lines for things like Fall Ball and Senior Pub Night and these are things you receive a general ticket for … we need to make sure that if you show up, we have your ID available.”

Another hurdle facing distribution is informing students who are studying abroad this semester that their IDs will no longer work when they return, according to Greenberg.

Changes to the ID system are also designed to accommodate residents of Tilton and Sophia Gordon halls, which have hybrid readers that can work with both ID cards and fobs.

Bartlett said the university is in the process

of implementing the hybrid readers across all residential dorms over a period of several years to avoid a large one-time expenditure.

Once all readers are installed, the university hopes to do away with the fob system, relying completely on IDs for entry into dorms.

Greenberg said that complying with the new law will be the university’s first priority and adding emergency phone numbers may happen later on. Adding this additional information to the back of the ID cards would involve a complete revamping of the printing process, which would come with a steep cost.

“The ID project is going to happen in phases,” Greenberg said. “We’re going to have to solve one problem at a time. The responsibility of knowing emergency numbers falls on the students. The responsibility of the security of account numbers falls on the university.”

<4='*0&*7"1-$4(,&)0(=0-9%&0*-1'&("$&$(&.(1-.&%$"7*,$% OUTREACH

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cials have found those offices understaffed or without basic information on college admissions, including how to write an admissions essay. Sometimes, when Tufts administrators would visit schools, Coffin said, “the resources weren’t there.”

Tufts’ admissions office has stepped in to provide resources to schools that may otherwise not have the capacity to familiarize students with their options after graduation. Tufts administrators and students have visited middle schools and high schools in and around Boston, Medford, Somerville, Cambridge and Revere in line with this effort, Coppedge said.

“The program has been a way to bring a taste of college culture and application advice to students that may not otherwise consider applying to college,” Coppedge said.

As part of its efforts, the office has brought over 20 local middle school classes to the university during the past two years as part of the Early Awareness Initiative, providing what Coffin called a “mini dunk” into the college life.

The visits consist of “middle-school friendly” tours and a panel of current Tufts students that aims to demonstrate the diversity of Tufts’ student body and introduce the adolescents to college students. Tufts students on the panel also discuss what middle schoolers

can do to prepare for college.

Additionally, middle schoolers are offered a free lunch at Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall, a popular highlight of the visit.

The Early Awareness program attempts to bridge the gap between higher education and elementary and secondary schooling.

“One of the challenges of higher education is what happens in K-12,” Coffin said. “How does a college partner with a K-12 system to affect the outcomes?”

These visits, Coppedge said, serve as the “centerpiece of the work the office is doing.”

“They’re usually really interactive and enjoyable for both the Tufts students and the middle school visitors,” Coppedge said.

He hopes the admissions office will expand the program even further, allowing “as many schools from the area as possible” to participate in coming years.

Tufts is also in its fourth semester of partnership with Somerville High School as part of Let’s Get Ready, a national network of student-run college preparatory programs.

The program at Tufts is led by students who generally meet twice a week for eight to ten weeks in the fall. “[It] has been really valuable, not only for getting kids to think about Tufts but for getting [them] access to SAT prep and other college resources and opportunities,” Coppedge said.

In addition to Let’s Get Ready, Tufts

maintains partnerships with a variety of college access programs such as College Summit, which allows colleges to host students during the summer for a variety of workshops. Tufts representatives last year also visited a Dorchester middle school to talk to eighth graders as part of the TERI college access program.

The admissions office also recently held an admissions resource symposium at Tufts for over 60 local guidance workers and principals. “We invited staff from schools in Boston and the surrounding area to talk about admissions at Tufts and the admissions process in general,” Coppedge said.

In addition to opening the university’s doors to local adolescents, this year officers will follow through with their plans to visit high schools around the country.

Compared to the Early Awareness Initiative program in the Boston area, these visits have more of a recruitment theme specific to Tufts.

“We don’t have the capacity to measure in a concrete way the success of our university awareness programs,” Coppedge said. “The measure of success for us is getting to kids and allowing them to be educated about the college process.”

Ben Gittleson contributed reporting to this article.

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

EMILY MARETSKY | NICE SHOES, LET’S DATE

First Date Planning Theory 101

A

YURI CHANG/TUFTS DAILY

Complicated language may be preventing students from keeping informed on the current health care policy debate.

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GRAHAM ROGERS Daily Staff Writer

Health care reform has sparked one of the most contentious political debates in recent months, with Republicans and Democrats ferociously disputing the matter. In September, Republican Rep. Joe Wilson from South Carolina notoriously received a formal rebuke from the House for shouting, “You lie!” during President Obama’s discourse on health care reform. And government officials are not the only ones focused on health care — in an April 2009 CBS News/New York Times poll, respondents ranked health care as the second most important national issue, after the economy. Likewise, in an August Wall Street Journal poll, 63 percent of respondents said that providing all Americans with afford-

able health care was a priority.

So, to what extent are Jumbos engaged in the health care reform debate?

Thus far, organized involvement has been limited. A contingent of Tufts Democrats took part in a rally in support of reform on Boston Common several weeks ago, and the presidents of both the Tufts Democrats and Tufts Republicans said that they are collectively planning a debate on the issue in the near future. Additionally, according to Public Health at Tufts President Nadine Kesten, the Junior Class Council is organizing another health care discussion event.

But unlike on Capitol Hill, health care reform has provoked little publicized outrage among Jumbos.

Cole Archambault, the former editor-in-chief of TuftScope: The

Interdisciplinary Journal of Health, Ethics, and Policy, believes that the lack of discourse on campus is due to the fact that all Tufts students are insured.

“Since all Tufts students are required

by Massachusetts law to have health insurance, I doubt any reforms currently proposed would affect the average Tufts student,” he said. Current TuftScope Editor-in-Chief Michael Shusterman, a senior, noted that “None of the bills currently moving through Congress will provide a benefits package that is likely to be more generous than the current insurance available.”

Since graduating seniors will soon lose their current coverage, however, Tufts Democrats President Andrea see HEALTH CARE, page 4

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BRIAN WOLF

Contributing Writer

If recent news has made it seem like Tufts is the only school where students get “sexiled,” think again. A recent Playboy survey of college students makes it clear that students at other universities are having plenty of sex.

Playboy isn’t limited to centerfolds stuffed under mattresses and the televised antics of Hugh Hefner and his girlfriends on the show “The Girls Next Door.” The organization also conducts surveys. Not surprisingly, these scientific forays focus on only one topic: sex.

Playboy recently polled 5,000 college students on a variety of sex-related topics. Questions included “Do you always use a condom?,” “Have you ever seen someone ‘ruffied’?,” “Did you begin college as a virgin?,” “Have you ever faked an orgasm or had sex with somebody who has faked an orgasm?,” “Have you ever posed nude (or topless) for a camera phone?” and “Do you know a stu-

dent who has slept with either a prof or T.A.?”

On the Web site that conducted the survey, PlayboyU.com (a social networking website for college students that is a subsidiary of Playboy magazine), there are an assortment of links to various categories of schools. These range from “The east coast’s best student bodies” to the “Top 2009 Party Schools.” These rankings may not be an accurate representation of student bodies, however, as students who do not frequent PlayboyU could not have responded to the surveys. Moreover, the results the Web site reported were inconsistent. Playboy posted its college sex poll on two separate sections. One poll stated that 41 percent of students know someone who has slept with a professor or T.A., while the other poll, featuring the identical question, stated 52 percent.

Tufts was not on the PlayboyU list, but a more informal survey of students gauged their reactions to the Web site’s

results.

Tufts students were shocked to learn that according to Playboy’s survey, 58 percent of college students do not always use a condom. When asked the same question, Ursula (names have been changed in this article for purposes of anonymity) said “yes, yes, yes and yes.”

Stephanie echoed the same reaction.

“The obvious reason [that I use condoms is that] STDs are nasty and no college student wants little babies with the people they hook up with.”

When told of the question’s results, Kate was perplexed.

“The result to this question is tragic because no one wants sexual[ly] transmitted diseases. You spread it along to other people and some of them are incurable.”

According to Elaine D. Theodore, the Health Education and Prevention Coordinator at Tufts, when she “hears see PLAYBOY, page 4

h, the first date — so exciting, yet often so nerve-wracking. Maybe you’ve been asked out, gotten up the courage to do the asking yourself, or perhaps it’s just the follow up to the cup of coffee you grabbed after class last week.

But now what? What should you do on your date? How can you get to know this person a little better while still leaving a good impression?

Although a perfectly planned and executed date can’t create chemistry, a good date can go a long way in your favor. And a good game plan gives the two of you an activity to do and something to talk about after.

OK, let’s cut to the chase — I’ll let you in on my top-secret, fine-tuned equation for date planning success: Optimize the multivariable equation, 5A4(2B + 5)/10C3, using the method of LaGrange multipliers to find the points where the partial derivative is zero. Of course, “A” stands for the number of new things you learn about your date, “B” represents your outfit-to-shoe matching ratio and “C” is the total seconds spent in awkward silence.

Just kidding. Though it appears nauseatingly complicated, planning a first date isn’t exactly rocket science.

Still, if you’re planning the date, there is a little strategy involved. In my opinion, the best first dates are engaging ones that are enjoyable for both people. This is best accomplished by planning an activity you think that the other person would enjoy that also gives them a chance to learn something personal about you.

My favorite first date practically wrote the book on this one. Before I went out for the first time with a guy I met during my semester abroad, he knew little about me beyond the fact that I was an American student who had a little nerd-obsession with her Czech history class. And that I’m an “awesome” (read: hilariously awful) dancer. But I digress.

When he took me to the National Museum in Prague, little did he know that it had been a place I’d been meaning to cross off my tourist list for months. Not only was I excited to wander the museum, but I soon found out that my date was a history buff who was able to add his own personal narration as we walked though the new modern history exhibit.

The museum gave us a lot to talk about over coffee afterwards, and I was doubly impressed. First, it was nice to know that my date put a little thought into planning somewhere to go. Second, he was able to show off a side of himself that I didn’t know, whether or not that was his intention.

One of my best friends always makes a face as I grin goofily while telling that story — she thinks my idea of a “good first date” is girly and formal. She would much prefer “sneaking a Big Gulp full of beer to candlepin bowling.” That’s totally fine, too, and the type of guy she would have the most fun with wouldn’t plan a museum date anyway.

The point is, find something that the two of you would have fun doing — something beyond dinner and a movie can go a long way! If you don’t like indie music, don’t get tickets to see an obscure band just because your date writes for Melisma, but do put a little thought into what album you play when he or she comes over.

Last but not least, leave a little room for spontaneity. No one wants a date scheduled down to the minute, and a fun spurof-the-moment twist can turn a bad date around or make a good one even better.

Emily Maretsky is a senior majoring in engineering psychology. She can be reached at Emily.Maretsky@tufts.edu.

THE TUFTS DAILY

4

FEATURES

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

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continued from page 3

things about condoms, [she] hears about comfort levels, communication, and needs and desires. It brings up what people are asking for, what they want and what they receive.

“It concerns me that the healthy fear and scare of AIDS and other sexual transmitted infections (STI’s) has subsided,” Theodore added. “Playboy needs to sell their magazines. My goal is to have the safety of students in mind. Playboy does not have this agenda; they’re a business.”

Despite the unanimous responses that Jumbos gave for the question regarding condoms, Theodore offered some intriguing statistics on the sexual activities of students at Tufts that were more in line with Playboy’s survey. Theodre stated that 57.9 percent of male sexually active Tufts students who had vaginal intercourse within the last thirty days used contraception; in addition, 60.1 percent of female Tufts students also used a contraceptive within this period.

“ Playboy needs to sell their magazines. My goal is to have the safety of students in mind. Playboy does not have this agenda; they’re a business.”

Elaine Theodore Health Education and Prevention Coordinator The response from the Playboy survey to a question that all interviewed female students agreed upon at Tufts was whether they faked an orgasm. According to the Playboy survey, 77 percent of girls have faked one, but one student at Tufts said, “It’s more like 90 percent.” Kate echoed the observation and added, “It’s hard for girls to reach orgasm. It’s not an uncommon situation because most guys generally suck at sex. The guys that are good at it are so self-absorbed and egotistical.

But someday, I will hopefully make that beautiful ‘O face.’”

One male Tufts student did not have a problem with knowing that such a high percentage of women may be deceiving their partners.

“Faking only matters when you find out. I had fun; as long as I don’t know, it’s good,” he said. “To not fake it and admit it, it’s a self-esteem killer to the guy.

Once you say you can’t [orgasm], there’s no going back.”

However, there was another male student, David, who offered the explanation that “it’s not necessary for a girl to fake orgasm. It plays into the notion that guys are very narcissistic when it comes to sex. I don’t care.”

JAMES CHOCA/TUFTS DAILY

A recent Playboy survey shed light on the sexual habits of college students.

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continued from page 3

Lowe, a senior, thinks that students should educate themselves on the issue.

“Since we will soon be in the challenging position of trying to pick and pay for our own insurance, it is important that students understand the facts of what will happen to our health care system,” Lowe said, noting that proposed reforms, even if passed today, would not come into effect until after many current students have graduated. “I don’t think the debate is going to resolve quickly or easily,” she added. “It will definitely be into 2010 before a reform bill is passed.”

Furthermore, according to Shusterman, many students choose not to immerse themselves in the health care reform debate because it is just too complex.

“Health care is a topic that is

rarely discussed by many students, even those in the premedical community, when it’s not a major political issue,” Shusterman said. “Health care policy, bioethics, medical economics, etc., are all involved, intrinsically complicated topics that require substantial time to follow and understand.”

In fact, when compared with the general public, Shusterman does not think that Tufts students on the whole have a better grasp of the issue.

“Students have a general understanding of the issues, but, unfortunately, often a superficial one,” Shusterman said. “It’s hard to blame them … the media does not make it easy to learn about healthcarerelated issues outside of these types of political debates.”

Lowe agreed with Shusterman’s assessment of the state of the health care reform debate at Tufts.

“I believe … that many people

do not know the facts of the proposed reforms, or even much about the current system, given that very few students purchase their own health insurance,” Lowe said.

“This has all been pitched as ‘health care’ debate, where health care is asserted as a right. In fact, it is a debate over health insurance.”

Michael Hawley President, Tufts Republicans

Even among students who are well-versed in health care policy, there was considerable disagreement about what degree of reform was neces-

sary, if any at all.

“Sixty-five to 80 percent of Americans have health insurance and are reasonably happy with it,” Tufts Republicans President Michael Hawley said. “[Apart from this group] you’re left with a very small number of people. The word ‘reform’ tends to imply a correction of flaws, whereas the current proposed Democrat plans fix almost none of the flaws in our system while adding a myriad of new ones.”

Kesten, however, disagreed wholeheartedly.

“I think the health care debates are greatly needed in our country right now,” she said. “There are many people who are uninsured because they cannot afford health care, which is a right I believe everyone should have.”

Archambault agreed with Kesten.

“I think the health care system needs a drastic over-

haul and the current reforms being debated in the House and Senate represent political compromises that will lead to incremental reform at best,” Archambault said.

Jumbos will remain mostly insulated from the direct effects of any health care reform in the near future. The debate, however, is far from over.

“This has all been pitched as ‘health care’ debate, where health care is asserted as a right,” Hawley said. “In fact, it is a debate over health insurance.”

None of the changes currently proposed would alter the fundamentally expensive nature of providing health care to an entire national population, and high price tags are likely to remain an issue for some time.

“It is almost certain that we will be discussing health care again,” Shusterman said, “and this time in the terms of enormous costs.”

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

THE TUFTS DAILY

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Tuesday, October 6, 2009

On the holiday of Sukkot, the Jewish people are commanded to dwell in the sukkah (the hut), as our ancestors the Israelites did in the desert after the exodus.

The commandment to "dwell" in a sukkah can be fulfilled by simply eating one's meals there or some people even study and sleep in the sukkah.

Check!out!all!the!Sukkot!festivities!happening! this!week!!

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6pm!services,!7:15pm!dinner!at!Hillel! *Bring!your!spare!change!to!donate!to!charity

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Saturday,!October!10th! !6:15pm,!at!Hillel! *Go!to!www.tuftshillel.org!for!more!information!about!any!of!these!events!

Arts & Living

7

tuftsdaily.com

TV REVIEW

DEREK SCHLOM | I BLAME POP CULTURE

I

ABC.COM

Courtney Cox attempts to keep up with twenty-somethings on the dating scene in ABC’s “Cougar Town”

‘Cougar Town’ home to gender stereotypes !"#$%"$&%"'#()%#*++&,-%"#.-+)%#&/'#,""/&0"12)%,.3#)/"14*/"%5 EMILY MARETSKY

BY

Daily Editorial Board

Most college students find it hard to believe that 40 is the new 20. It seems impossible that someone roughly our mothers’ age could toss back shots, flirt

Cougar Town Starring Courtney Cox, Josh Hopkins Airs Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. on ABC

with bouncers and bring younger guys home for the night.

In ABC’s new comedy “Cougar Town,” watching a woman almost twice the average Tufts student’s age suffer from a hangover and get walked in on by her teenage son makes it seem like middle-aged women can party (almost) as hard as twenty-somethings.

“Cougar Town,” one of four new comedies that the network debuted on Wednesday night, features veteran actress Courtney Cox as Jules, a new divorcee who constantly embarrasses her teenage son as she tried to relive her twenties and

jump back into the (much younger) dating scene. The show’s creators, Kevin Biegel and Bill Lawrence of` “Scrubs,” try to take on some cultural double standards while tossing in a few corny one-liners, but the show fails to rise above the guilty pleasure category. Jules is an over-the-top caricature whose behavior is downright outlandish, yet funny enough to keep viewers watching. The show premiered to higher-thanexpected ratings and a respectably large audience, but it is unclear whether viewers were simply tuning in briefly to gawk at see COUGAR, page 9

ALBUM REVIEW

MOVIE REVIEW

WATCHMOJO.COM

“All right, which one of you jokers stole my guitar pick?”

ROTTENTOMATOES.COM

Apparently, it’s cool to stand around awkwardly with guns after killing a bunch of zombies. All the kids are doing it. And Woody Harrelson.

Take a ride in ‘Zombieland’

6)%%)%#&/'#7)+"'3#7)+8*/"#*/#&$)7&43$,*7#,&4" BY

RYAN ZUCKMAN

Daily Staff Writer

In the ebb and flow of Hollywood trends, there are a few film archetypes that inevitably return and see a resur-

Zombieland Starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg Directed by Ruben Fleischer gence in popularity every few years: pirates, vampires and, of course, the undead. Strict horror movies rarely appeal to a wide audience, hence

‘Pieces’ compiles Stills’ unused studio material BY

NICHOLAS HELLBERG Daily Staff Writer

the adaptation of the hormoneridden “Twilight” (2008) and now “Zombieland,” a zombie comedy with touches of romance. Eschewing genre conventions and employing a very modern and hip brand of humor, “Zombieland,” despite a lack of any serious weight, is a thoroughly entertaining romp through post-apocalyptic America.

“Zombieland” tells the tale of a group of people attempting to survive and cope with the downfall of society by way of the undead. Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), the Snarrator and hero, is a neurotic twenty-something whose solitary life and set of zombie survival

Following the temporary disbandment of folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY )

see ZOMBIELAND, page 8

see MANASSAS, page 8

Pieces Stephen Stills, Manassas Rhino Records in 1971, bandleader Stephen Stills took the opportunity to assemble a new backing ensemble that included The Byrds’ Chris Hillman and acclaimed steel guitarist Al Perkins.

This allowed Stills to release some of his fresh solo material with a

In defense of Kanye aand Serena

’ve got something to say to some close personal friends, and this is obviously the appropriate forum. Sorry, Kanye West and Serena Williams. I just had to say it before the three of us meet up for our weekly “Mad Men” viewing party.

Phew. What a load off my chest.

Okay, fine, whatever. You got me. I confess that I don’t actually know West or Williams. But they still deserve an apology. Think about it: Might they — for weeks now the proverbial punching bags of pundits, daytime television gabbers and even President Obama — have (gasp!) actually been on to something?

In case you were making useful contributions to society for the past few weeks instead of attempting to watch awards shows and tennis matches in 10-minute chunks on YouTube, I’ll fill you in. Two points from defeat in the semifinals of the U.S. Open, a lineswoman called a foot fault on Williams’ second serve. Williams then berated the woman, pointing her racquet toward her with one hand and holding a ball in the other while exclaiming something along the lines of “I’d like to take this ball and shove it down your throat,” minus an expletive or nine. Williams was docked a point, thereby ending the match. The next evening, at the MTV Video Music Awards, West cut perky (and utterly insufferable) Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech short, taking to the stage to proclaim that Beyoncé Knowles’ “Single Ladies” video (the one with the leotards and the freaky robot glove), a loser in the category, was “one of the best videos of all time.” This isn’t necessarily the timeliest of columns, but with repercussions somehow still reverberating — Williams will soon face a possible suspension, and West just cancelled a potentially glorious co-headlining tour with Lady Gaga, reportedly to allow for some personal reflection — now’s as good a venting period as any.

Do I condone threats of violence?

Only when peanut butter is at stake.

Is it nice to interrupt a teenager’s big VMA moment? Not really, considering that Swift, like the rest of our age group, probably suffers from enough crippling, hilarious self-doubt as it is, fame be damned. But, with some time now to think, I’m actually shocked at my own initial, immediate outrage in response to both incidents. I happen to think that I’m pretty easygoing (not that my suitemates would agree when I tell them to turn their music down at 2 a.m.) and I’m a fan of West and Williams, but in the days following their respective transgressions I found myself joining in the chorus of insults levied towards them.

And I was wrong.

Amid the “firestorms” of “controversy” (because health care and the recession aren’t diverting enough, duh) I concluded that, for one, Williams and West were both kind of right on the mark, and two, that each was actually exhibiting the very traits for which I admire them. So what’s with the shock and horror?

Getting called for a questionable foot fault at that late a stage of a match that deep in such an important tournament is pretty messed up, and the “Single Ladies” video is, indeed, rather awesome. Were their methods of expressing their honest feelings a little inappropriate? Sure. But the fault for the explosion of public outcry to such an absurd degree lies with me and others like me.

I’ve realized that I’ve been asking for too much. I’m as entertained by feisty celebrities with superiority complexes as anyone, but I tisk-tisk with the masses see SCHLOM, page 9 Derek Schlom is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Derek.Schlom@tufts.edu.

THE TUFTS DAILY

8

ARTS & LIVING

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

!"#$%&'()*+%",#'%-./01()++2%)3'/+#"3%),4%3'/,#(*%('352%67"030+8%40."90(+%9",#)10%9)("0#* MANASSAS

continued from page 7 slight country bent. Under the name Manassas, Stills’ group released two albums, including its wildly lauded eponymous 1972 debut, before the reunion of CSNY in 1974 brought the project to its de facto end. Though Manassas hasn’t recorded together in over thirty-five years, a large quantity of unreleased material was left over from the two album sessions, and on September 22, 2009, Atlantic Records released the appropriately titled “Pieces,” a compilation of the best of these previously-unheard master tapes.

As a castoff compilation album, “Pieces” (2009) is necessarily and forgivably flawed. Many of the songs never got the full fleshing-out they deserved, and a number of tracks barely clock in at a brief two minutes. Some of them include bits of studio banter and conversations with the recording engineers that somehow made their way onto the master tapes. Nevertheless, every song selected for inclusion is well-produced and instrumentally crisp, with none of the off-hand, throwaway, filler material that so frequently comprises typical “unreleased sessions” albums.

While many of the tunes are quite short, they don’t feel incomplete or unresolved, even though they could easily have been expanded with another few hours in the studio. The musical variety represented on the disc is surprisingly broad. Tossed in amongst the requisite soulful electric soft rock and emotionally raw acoustic pop, which have so distinctively characterized Stills’ solo sound over the years, are the swampy “I Am My Brother” and the Latin-soaked instrumental “Tan Sola y Triste.” The funky, country-rock sound of “Fit To Be Tied” and “Lies” would feel right at home on any Eagles album — a vibe heightened by Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh’s guest performance on the latter song. Towards the end of the album, the band members even trade in their organs and guitars for fiddles and mandolins on a spontaneous foursong bluegrass bender worthy of its own separate discussion.

The bluegrass jam kicks off with “Panhandle Rag,” an exuberant, upbeat instrumental piece showcasing virtuosic fiddle and mandolin solos. “Uncle Pen” continues the folksy vibe, taking the tempo down a

BILLBOARD.COM

“It’s hard to tell what’s classier, my guitar or my distinguished southern gentleman-style chin beard.” hair and adding elegant vocal harmonies that wouldn’t seem out of place at a Nashville square dance.

Stills reintroduces his trademark political activism in the instrumentally sparse “Do You Remember the Americans,” a cynical lament for the returning soldier who discovers an America unwilling to welcome him back. Finally, the band rounds out its musical digression with the delightful, casually-paced “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music),” a country song celebrating life on the road as a touring musician. While these tunes are all in the two-minute range, they still comprise one of the strongest parts of the album. They represent a total break from form, giving the band a chance to shine in an atypical setting.

While the musical snippets do hold their own quite well, and most of them

do exhibit a wholesome level of musical character, one of them stands out from the rest of the pack. At one minute and twenty-three seconds, “My Love Is a Gentle Thing” is one of the shortest tracks on the album, but it may also be the best. Driven by a pair of rhythmic acoustic guitars and soft hand drums and replete with vibrant, shimmering harmonies over the choruses, “My Love Is a Gentle Thing” sounds like a long-lost Crosby, Stills & Nash masterpiece, perhaps a fifth segment of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” that was cut before that song was released.

Regardless of its origin and its length, the song is beautifully crafted and lovingly rendered by the band, and may well be that rarest of musical rarities — a truly perfect track.

While “My Love Is a Gentle Thing” may be the best track on the album, it would be unfair not to examine the col-

lection of feature-length tracks in their own right. Of all the songs reaching past the three-minute mark, “High and Dry” is the clear frontrunner. Beginning as a slow, psychedelic odyssey, a la the Beatles’ “Yer Blues,” the song morphs into a more up-tempo rocker around the midway point. Strangely, the track seems to be compiled from a studio take for the first half and a separate, live stage recording after the transition, complete with audience cheering and applause. Even so, it remains one of the most viscerally raw works on “Pieces,” and deserves a bit of credit as one of the best hard-rock songs Stephen Stills has ever created.

“Pieces” gives viewers deeper insight into the musical experimentation of an often-pigeonholed artist. The album has its shortcomings, but they are easy to forgive in light of its numerous shining moments.

:';-"0%3';04*%3)(90+%,0<%,"3$0%",%#$0%$'(('(%10,(02%+#"..%="#+%",%-.''4%),4%1/#+ ZOMBIELAND

continued from page 7

ROTTENTOMATOES.COM

We’ll choose to “nut up,” thank you very much.

rules help him stay alive. On the road, he encounters Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a renegade man in a cowboy hat who takes time to enjoy the little things, such as twinkies and stylishly killing zombies. Named after their respective destinations, they travel across the country, forming an unlikely bond and picking up a few more survivors along the way.

The film is set a month or so after a virus has already transformed the vast majority of America into the living dead.

This setup is a rather clever break from tradition, not only establishing a shared character history of loss and isolation, but also expanding the world’s possibilities: the characters roam an abandoned country, doing as they please and indulging in fantasies like exploring the home of a Hollywood celebrity (resulting in an absolutely priceless cameo). It also frees up more screen time to devote to the action, which is plentiful and satisfying.

In fact, the film spares no expense in delivering a cornucopia of creative deaths — the entire opening credit sequence is a slow-motion montage of highly entertaining zombie executions, and the amusement park sequence is an action-lover’s dream. Indeed, the charac-

ters brag about their “zombie kills of the week” in order to pass the time, an opportunity for the filmmakers to flash back and cram even more gore into the movie.

Inhabiting this traditionally straight-laced genre and infusing it with comedy, Zombieland will inevitably draw comparisons to “Shaun of the Dead” (2004). In terms of humor and pacing though, it manages to find a unique voice — rather than silliness and slapstick, it relies on sarcasm and snappy dialogue, as exemplified

by Columbus’ favorite thing about a nation of the undead: “no more Facebook status updates.”

Furthermore, while there are indeed some truly tense moments, the aim of the movie is not to be an homage to classic zombie films; instead, it simply seeks to take viewers on a ride.

Although Eisenberg’s character seems to hail from the Michael Cera school of socially awkward man-boys, he plays Columbus with a bit more depth and confidence, creating an endearing and relatable hero. The real comedic anchor of the film, however, is Woody Harrelson, who appears to be having the time of his life in the role of Tallahassee, enthusiastically offing the undead and spitting one-liners in a way that will surely reaffirm

ROTTENTOMATOES.COM

the actor’s cult status.

Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone turn in decent enough performances as Little Rock and Wichita, two sisters who vow to stick together no matter what. Unfortunately, the film’s brisk pace (it clocks in at 80 minutes) devotes no time to their history and therefore robs their characters of emotional depth, even if they make fine foils for the men.

Ultimately, “Zombieland” delivers on the promise of its trailer, giving audiences big laughs and frequent thrills.

It even manages to carve a niche in the zombie genre, and what the movie may lack in emotional punch, it more than compensates for with entertainment value.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

THE TUFTS DAILY

9

ARTS & LIVING

!"#$%&'$('$)%*$ %+$,-.'&,+%&,$ !/00/%),$%1*$!',+2 SCHLOM

continued from page 7

ABC.COM

Despite Cox’s attractiveness, her character in ‘Cougar’ constantly obsesses over her weight and age.

3-4,+%15'$67$896-:%&;$4-&/'*$4'1'%+"$/)%:/1'*$46*#$7%+ COUGAR

continued from page 7 the sheer ridiculousness of Jules’ character, or if there is enough substance in “Cougar Town” to keep them coming back for more.

The show kicked off its pilot episode with Cox jiggling her nonexistent body fat and calling herself a farm animal. This gave even women in their 20s reason enough to have a cow over her ludicrous complaints about elbow flub and imaginary belly rolls.

In fact, Jules seems to have all the insecurities and the maturity of a thirteen-year-old rather than a fortysomething. She constantly gossips with friends, delivering lines such as “I started thinking with my coochie cooch.”

Perhaps the reason Jules is attracted to younger guys is that her low maturity level matches theirs.

To the show’s credit, the teeny-bopper one-liners coupled with a fair share of squirm-worthy awkward moments keep

the show light-hearted and funny. Viewers can’t help but laugh at Jules’ first misadventure bringing home a younger guy as she struggles to clumsily dim the lights or explains that her impressive stomach scar is actually from her C-section.

While the show doesn’t take many steps to break prescribed gender molds, Jules nabs a few independent woman points for writing the alimony checks to her deadbeat ex-husband (played by Brian Van Holt) and for having the courage to follow her twenty-something friend out to the bars.

Still, many of the show’s characters are just blatant, underdeveloped stereotypes, from Jules’ irresponsible, un-empathetic ex-husband to her bitter, married friend to the real “cougar,” her scary coworker who preys on younger men just to feel better about herself. But take Grayson, Jules’ recently divorced neighbor, portrayed by Josh Hopkins. He brings home younger women almost every night with-

out qualms, much to Jules’ chagrin Grayson’s “man-whore” role serves to highlight the double standard between men and women in our youth-obsessed culture. Younger women find Grayson’s age adorable; he can prey on all the younger women he wants and flaunt it.

Jules, despite her attractiveness, feels the need to obsesses over her signs of aging and sneak her latest hookup into the house. “Cougar Town” manages to make a few intelligent remarks about society and peoples’ insecurities.

For viewers who cringe at lines like “Give a girl a warning, my uterus almost shot out” and are easily annoyed by formulaic, superficial characters, “Cougar Town” is probably a show to pass on this season. But for those who enjoy slapstick one-liners about BJ’s and wrinkly elbows and a couple of jabs at our cultural double standards, the show is worth a shot.

when their behavior crosses some invisible boundary from adorably outrageous to rude and offensive. I look up to role models who project confidence, but I criticize them when I detect a barely perceivable shift to cockiness. I want it both ways.

My affinity for West and Williams centers on each one’s unfailing, borderline delusional self-belief. They really, really like themselves, and when they’ve accomplished as much as they have, they’ve earned the right to boast. So why was I suddenly surprised to learn that these two have massive cajones? Is Williams not the same woman who once wore a skintight black catsuit on court?

Yet, for some reason, my opinion of her is tarnished when she shows the same brazen confidence as always and speaks her mind about an unfair call. I find West’s self-comparisons to everyone from Muhammad Ali to Prince to Nelson Mandela to be totally charming, but I cry foul when the same bravado carries over into questioning the legitimacy of a meaningless award. If anything, West was milder than usual — he began his rant by diplomatically telling Swift that he was happy for her and would allow her to finish her speech. His earnestness was actually kind of endearing.

Again, neither Kanye nor Serena went about their business in the proper fashion. But the manner in which we laud Williams and West when they’re up and kick them when they’re down just isn’t fair, particularly when they’re only giving me, and every other fan, exactly what I ask of them. Disappointment in the handling of these situations is one thing, but flat-out vitriol? Serena should shove some balls down our throats for that one.

So, to repeat: Sorry, guys. Call me to figure out who should bring the chips and dip to the viewing party.

The Daily wants to hear from YOU.

Have a problem with our coverage?

Upset about something happening at Tufts or in the community?

The Daily welcomes thoughts, opinions and complaints from all readers — have your voice heard!

Send op-ed submissions, 800-1200 words, to oped@ tuftsdaily.com.

THE TUFTS DAILY

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THE TUFTS DAILY GIOVANNI J.B. RUSSONELLO Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL Naomi Bryant Managing Editors David Heck Alexandra Bogus Executive News Editor Nina Ford News Editors Tessa Gellerson Ben Gittleson Christy McCuaig Matt Repka Ellen Kan Assistant News Editors Harrison Jacobs Katherine Sawyer Saumya Vaishampayan

Robin Carol Executive Features Editor Marissa Carberry Features Editors Meredith Hassett Alison Lisnow Emily Maretsky Kerianne Okie Romy Oltuski Christina Pappas Charlotte Steinway Julia Zinberg Sarah Korones Assistant Features Editors Carter Rogers

Jessica Bal Executive Arts Editor Emma Bushnell Arts Editors Mitchell Geller Adam Kulewicz Catherine Scott Josh Zeidel Charissa Ng Assistant Arts Editors Benjamin Phelps

Michelle Hochberg Executive Op-Ed Editor Vittoria Elliott Editorialists Nina Grossman Opinion Editors Andrew Rohrberger Molly Rubin Erin Marshall Editorial Cartoonists Alex Miller

EDITORIAL | LETTERS

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

EDITORIAL

Health care debate could benefit from student input Every Tufts student has some form of health insurance. It’s a requirement for enrollment in a Massachusetts university.

Though there are plenty of exceptions, the typical Tufts student knows that her parents take care of her health care — and that when she is very ill she can go to the hospital, sign some papers, direct the bill to her “permanent address,” receive treatment and hopefully go home happy.

Beyond that, how health care works and even what it costs probably remains a mystery to her.

As some of the sources quoted in an article in today’s Features section suggest, this isolation from the inner workings of the health care system could help explain why the health care debate raging on Capitol Hill and in media across the country has garnered such muted attention on Tufts’ campus. But students ought to understand that this is an issue of grave importance, not only from a moral perspective but also for people who in the next few years will have to start fending for themselves in the health care market.

The health care debate is one of ethics and ideals, but it is also one that promises to have a practical impact on all Americans — from those who have too little money to buy any insurance at all to those who are shopping from insurer to insurer after elite educations have landed them prime jobs.

The average cost of health insurance in the United States has risen by six percent each year for the past three years. That is roughly twice the rate of inflation, and it’s a pace that has little hope of abating without concerted action. In 2007, the United States was spending $2.2 trillion on health care — that is over three times the roughly $714 billion the nation paid in 1990.

The “Washington consensus” around health care reform seems to state that if the government becomes directly involved in health care, the values holding this nation together will come apart as easily as a spool of yarn. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that if a certain “centrist” contingent perceives that a certain plan would give the federal government a real stake in our health care system, that plan’s political viability evaporates. A “public option,” under which the government would provide a form of health insurance to compete with private companies, has thus been kicked under the rug; detractors have essentially silenced the left, at least for the moment, saying that a government option would drive private businesses into bankruptcy.

Never mind the fact that Germany saves money by running a system in which a public option successfully competes with a private one, as the government’s plan offers lower costs while private companies typically offer more services. Never mind the

fact that the entire argument is founded on the defense of a nebulous ideal that seems to value private enterprise over human beings’ well-being or even their lives.

The more politically palatable alternative to the public option, a collection of local health insurance cooperatives, would take a long time to get off the ground. It would involve penetrating localized markets in which particular insurance companies often possess near-strangleholds, not to mention setting up strong nonprofit businesses in an extremely complex and opaque industry. Numerous attempts at establishing health insurance co-ops in areas around the country have failed, although the few exceptions that have survived until today now provide fodder for the Washington politicians who push co-ops as a tool of compromise.

With the Senate Finance Committee preparing to vote on a bill that relies on co-ops, there has never been a time when students’ input on the issue was needed more. As last year’s presidential election demonstrated, there is plenty to be said for the importance of youth activism and positive political messaging. With a clear articulation of what needs to accomplished and how it can be realized, students could provide a needed renewal of energy on the progressive side of the health care debate.

ERIN MARSHALL

Ethan Landy Executive Sports Editor Sapna Bansil Sports Editors Evan Cooper Philip Dear Jeremy Greenhouse Alex Prewitt Michael Spera Alex Lach Assistant Sports Editors Daniel Rathman

Annie Wermiel Executive Photo Editor James Choca Photo Editors Aalok Kanani Danai Macridi Andrew Morgenthaler Josh Berlinger Assistant Photo Editors Kristen Collins Alex Dennett Emily Eisenberg Rebekah Sokol Tien Tien

Arlin Ladue Executive New Media Editor Jessica Bidgood New Media Editors Kyle Chayka

PRODUCTION Karen Blevins

Production Director Steven Smith Executive Layout Editor

Dana Berube Layout Editors Caryn Horowitz Andrew Petrone Amani Smathers Menglu Wang Adam Gardner Assistant Layout Editors Brian Lim

Grace Lamb-Atkinson Executive Copy Editor Rachel Oldfield Copy Editors Ben Smith Elisha Sum Ricky Zimmerman Sam Connell Assistant Copy Editors Sara Eisemann Katherine Evering-Rowe Ammar Khaku Niki Krieg Luke Morris Lucy Nunn Regina Smedinghoff

Ben Schwalb Executive Online Editor Christine Jang Online Editor

Michael Vastola Executive Technical Manager Muhammad Qadri Technical Manager

BUSINESS Kahran Singh

Executive Business Director

Benjamin Hubbell-Engler Brenna Duncan Dwijo Goswami Ally Gimbel

Advertising Director Online Advertising Manager Billing Manager Outreach Director

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EDITORIAL | IN MEMORIAM

Fallen alum embodied Tufts ideals As members of the Tufts community mourn the dreadful passing of a beloved alum, we have the opportunity to reflect on and grow from his remarkable achievements and his outstanding embodiment of the active-citizenship values this university hopes to promote.

U.S. Army Capt. Benjamin Sklaver was a “double Jumbo,” a 1999 graduate of the School of Arts and Sciences and a 2003 Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy alum, who worked consistently but in various ways to improve others’ lives across the globe.

During his first stint in the Army, Sklaver was a member of the Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, a military division devoted to promoting stability by developing schools, roadways and other necessities in needy areas.

While serving in war-torn northern Uganda, he spotted a problem: a scarcity of clean drinking water. Identifying the need was not the hard part; addressing it was. Sklaver spent the time between his first and second Army tours founding and directing ClearWater, a non-profit organization based exclusively on volunteer work that focuses on providing clean drinking water to Ugandans.

In 2008, its first year, the organization provided clean water for more than 5,000 people, including over 1,000 school children, far exceeding its own expectations while spending an impressive 78 percent of its funds to support its program work, according to its Web site. ClearWater achieved all this while operating on a bare-bones budget of under $25,000.

Sklaver had also worked at the Centers

for Disease Control as an international emergency and refugee health analyst, and later he took a job at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Sklaver went to Afghanistan this year to help lead infrastructural missions, but his life was reportedly taken by a suicide bomber.

As a Tufts student, Sklaver showed the same drive to make a difference that he demonstrated in his later life. He served in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program, worked on a student-alumni relations committee and took an active role in the campus’ Jewish community.

Sklaver’s contributions to Tufts and to our planet serve not only to highlight the tragedy of his loss. They are also tangible inspirations to all of us who are steeped in Tufts’ rhetoric and resources promoting active citizenship.

Corrections The Oct. 5 op-ed, “The line between offensive and censorable,” incorrectly stated that University President Lawrence Bacow’s quote was in response to last semester’s bias incident involving members of the Korean Students Association. The statement was actually made in response to issues concerning free speech and The Primary Source in 2007.

The Oct. 5 op-ed, “Missed opportunity: the Daily’s TCU presidential election coverage,” incorrectly stated that Brandon Rattiner was a senior when he ran in last year’s Tufts Community Union Senate election. He was a junior.

The errors listed above occurred during the editorial process and were not the fault of the writers.

EDITORIAL POLICY Editorials that appear on this page are written by the Editorial Page editors, and individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of the Tufts Daily. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Tufts Daily editorial board.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must be submitted by 4 p.m. and should be handed into the Daily office or sent to letters@tuftsdaily.com. All letters must be word processed and include the writer’s name and telephone number. There is a 350-word limit and letters must be verified. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length.

ADVERTISING POLICY All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director. A publication schedule and rate card are available upon request.

THE TUFTS DAILY

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

11

OP-ED

A call for reason

BY IN-GOO KWAK Two weeks ago, I spent 15 minutes creating and posting several flyers in my dorm parodying the poster of a fellow classmate who was running for a seat on the Tufts Community Union Senate.

There was no malicious intent. I spoke with a resident assistant and agreed to remove the flyers in the morning. However, the flyer was taken out of Hill Hall and made its way around campus. Some were offended. I first apologized to the creator of the poster that I mocked, and then anonymously attended the Asian American Alliance’s September Bubble Tea Chat; I was interested to hear the views of those that disagreed with what I had done. I did not anticipate the polarizing effect my flyer would have on campus. While it is true the poster was a statement of my views, I did not post the flyer with the presumptuous intent to send a message to the community or the ridiculous notion that I simply wanted to gain attention.

While I believe it is a non-issue, for the record, I am a Korean immigrant and I distinctly remember learning a new language, assimilating into an unfamiliar culture and weathering years of harassment and denigration. I understand why my fellow Asian Americans, as well as other minority groups on campus, are upset.

Some, including the director of the Asian American Center at Tufts, have insinuated that I turned white inside, that I am a lost or confused Asian — that I am internalizing racism as a result of having lived in a community with a white majority. I take no offense to this understandable, although mistaken, reaction.

I am not ashamed of where I came from, who I am or what I look like — and I respectfully disagree with anyone who says otherwise.

I consider my background a non-issue because the

motives behind the flyer and the person posting the flyer should not matter. What difference does it make if a black person, a white person or a purple person posted my flyer? What difference does it make if the person who posted my flyer had squinty eyes, big lips or a large nose? The physical appearance, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and race of an individual are irrelevant to being able to openly pronounce one’s beliefs or values — regardless of their nature.

While some see this as a controversy about the issue of political correctness or racism, I discern this as the ability to freely express one’s thoughts without fear of ostracism or castigation.

Cultural groups have the right to send a dozen emails to the entire Tufts community denouncing me as a racist Asian dehumanizer. Administrators have the right to condemn my actions. Offended peers have the right to call me a “Twinkie,” and the newspapers have the right to call me insensitive and foolish. I respect their views, and I encourage them to continue to express themselves however they wish, in whatever medium they choose, for as long as they want. They have that right. But I also have the right — along with everyone else on campus, so long as it remains within the law — to express whatever views I may hold at my discretion.

I am not here at Tufts to champion the issue of political correctness or foster discussions on race relations. I am here for a Tufts education. That being said, if I happen upon an opportunity to express or advocate for a personal or political principle that I feel strongly about, I will not hesitate to do so. I have always done so in the past, and I will continue to do so in the future. I call upon my peers to do the same.

As students in an institution of higher learning, we should not be discouraged from speaking our minds — regardless of the subject — for fear of

repercussions from peers, disownment from cultural groups or punitive measures from the administration. It is my view that, as a society, we should develop a thicker skin for the greater good — to be able to laugh at ourselves and poke fun at others in good humor.

Similar to how pouring salt water on a wound hurts initially but helps the wound to scab over and heal faster, discussions about race, or any other sensitive issue, may sting one’s ego or elicit caustic memories in the short term. However, over time, it is the only way to make progress, as the delicate issue at hand will not remain in stasis but be openly discussed in public discourse — educating the uneducated, informing the uninformed and leading the misled to a more tolerant and amicable society.

I encourage my peers to not get offended by things they know aren’t true, and if they are true, to accept them as such. I ask that the faculty foster discussion without squelching or deterring any views they personally oppose. And finally, I call upon the student government and administration to allow students to work out their differences in a transparent forum without resorting to penal measures which amount to nothing more than temporary solutions to a larger communal matter of contention. We should never be afraid to engage in — and even prompt — frank discussion through words or actions some may see as offensive, controversial or even wrong.

At times we may disagree with what one of us has to say, but here as a community at Tufts, we must defend above all else the right to say it.

In-Goo Kwak is a freshman majoring in international relations. He is a candidate running for the open seat on the Committee on Student Life.

OFF THE HILL | TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

Grow up, avoid Peter Pan syndrome

BY ROY LONG Daily Toreador

Peter Pan was my childhood hero. He had every quality a kid could want.

He could fly, hang out with fairies, and fight pirates in Never Never Land.

Besides wearing the tights, I could really see myself doing all of those things and tried to emulate him in many ways.

Now that I am an adult, I know I should not act or be like Peter Pan. We must beware of Peter Pan Syndrome.

This is a disease which causes us to believe we can remain in childhood forever, like Peter Pan. It preys upon college kids who believe their lives parallel the life of this hero of children’s literature. Those afflicted with this syndrome believe Never Never Land exists and it is called college.

Peter Pan Syndrome is the pandemic of our generation.

Manifestations of Peter Pan Syndrome include a refusal to grow up. It is fear of the next stage in life. This is an understandable fear, especially when those who are afflicted with this syndrome are children. However, most of those attending classes at Texas Tech do not fit this category, yet still fill the criteria for Peter Pan Syndrome.

Symptoms include a refusal to go on dates, spending hours upon end playing video games, and eating pizza every meal of the day. In short, it is a refusal to take responsibility for life.

Undiagnosed and untreated, Peter Pan Syndrome will result in years wasted in the pursuit of things which do not matter.

There is a cure, but it requires more than just a pill or a workout regimen.

First, we have to recognize the problem and then we have to make that next step. Change can be scary. It is ironic that we as a nation voted on the platform of change in 2008, yet fear change in our own lives. However, we must make that next step.

Life occurs in phases, and we do not need to fear the next phase in life.

Perhaps it is time to devote yourself more to your schooling, get married to your long-time boyfriend or girlfriend, or get a job. Whatever that next step may be, taking responsibility is a good thing. It makes us more capable individuals and we find that happiness does come from successfully providing

MCT

for those dependent on us.

The message is simple. We need to grow up. Things which are most important in life should not suffer from those things which are not. We need to put the pursuit of fun and entertainment on the bottom of the totem pole, below family, responsibility and personal development.

Those who join onto this ship of responsibility must beware of going overboard. We need to remember what happens in Disney’s sequel “Hook” (1991). It is important to keep outside responsibilities in moderation. In the film, Peter Pan grows up and in a trip back to Never Never Land, realizes he has become a jerk. He placed himself

and his pursuits ahead of his family.

This is yet another manifestation of Peter Pan Syndrome: selfishness. It is still a prioritization problem.

In college students, this is manifested by being fulfilled in what they do, instead of who they are. For example, some actually believe they will be fulfilled through their vocation. While we should do those things we enjoy, work is not the purpose of life. We need to understand that happiness stems from our identity, not our accomplishments.

The shadow of our accomplishments should never overpower the reality of our own selves.

So, my advice is simple: reprioritize.

To those of you who spend the bulk of

your time pursuing your own happiness, look to others. You will find deeper fulfillment in relationships with others, in personal development (which is distinct from the pursuit of fun) and in devoting yourself to your studies (which is one of the purposes of your time in college).

To those who always seem “too busy” for these things, I advise you to simplify your life. Close the books, clock-out of work, and reconnect with those who matter. Whether we relate more with Peter Pan as a young boy or as a man, it is time to grow up, to remember Never Never Land does not exist, and to keep fun and responsibility in moderation to those things which matter most.

OP-ED POLICY The Op-Ed section of the Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. Op-Ed welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length. All material is subject to editorial discretion, and is not guaranteed to appear in The Tufts Daily. All material should be submitted by no later than 1 p.m. on the day prior to the desired day of publication. Material must be submitted via e-mail (oped@tuftsdaily.com) attached in .doc or .docx format. Questions and concerns should be directed to the Op-Ed editors. The opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Tufts Daily itself.

THE TUFTS DAILY

12 CROSSWORD

COMICS

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

DOONESBURY

BY

GARRY TRUDEAU

NON SEQUITUR

BY

SOLUTIONS TO MONDAY’S PUZZLE

MARRIED TO THE SEA

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Debunking the scientific merits of a Playboy survey

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Solution to Monday's puzzle

Naomi: “Adam, sports is ready to be laid out when you are.”

Please recycle this Daily

WILEY

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

THE TUFTS DAILY

SPORTS

13

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continued from page 16

under head coach Bob Sheldon.

“We came out and fired an even 300 on Saturday, our best day of the year,” senior Cal Shapiro said. “We were playing our hearts out and doing everything we could to qualify.”

Tufts’ short-game benefited from softer greens due to Saturday’s rain, as the Jumbos were able to avoid costly three- and four-putts. Play was called on Saturday due to darkness, with juniors Luke Heffernan and Danny Moll on the 17th tee.

Sheldon showed his trademark ingenuity and motivational creativity after Saturday’s action was called and the Jumbos were boarding the team van back to the hotel.

“First or fourth, there’s no looking back boys!” Sheldon yelled as he tore down the rearview mirror.

The tactic appeared to work, and a message was clearly sent to the team.

“We couldn’t have been more fired up after Coach’s speech,” senior Brett Hershman said. “We just wanted to get right back out there again.”

Tufts did in fact get an early start to their next day, as the entire squad showed up at 9 a.m. to support Moll and Heffernan on their final two holes.

The moral support seemed to pay off, as the two juniors combined to go one under-par on 17 and 18.

“Every team still had two players on the course finishing their rounds on Sunday morning,” Shapiro said. “But Tufts was the only squad to wake up early and support their teammates.

That’s how a team is supposed to help each other.”

But the team couldn’t put together the round it needed, as it shot a 325 on the

second day of the tournament.

“There were no excuses for our play on Sunday,” Hershman said. “We’ll just have to step back, re-evaluate and put together two solid rounds at New Englands.”

Heffernan was the team’s low man for the weekend, shooting a 72 and a 79 for a total of 151, good for a 12thplace tie in the individual standings.

Moll was second on the team, shooting a 74 and an 80 to notch a 20th-place tie overall. Hershman and freshman Mike McCarthy both shot cumulative 160s, and Shapiro rounded out the team with a total of 179.

“I really flopped off the dock this weekend,” Shapiro said. “I turned 21 so I don’t know if I was thinking about that or whether it was nerves. But the fact remains, my style is impetuous and defense is impregnable, so I know I’ll be able to get it back.”

Coach Sheldon has other ideas for team improvement “We’re going to have to start heavier workouts, because I think we just ran out of juice on the second 18,” he said.

Hamilton College and Trinity College took the other two qualifying spots, finishing second and third in the tournament, respectively. Senior Phil Preiss of Hamilton was the individual champion with an even-par total of 142.

The Jumbos hope they can put the disappointment of this weekend behind them, and the team remains upbeat about its chances at the New England Championships.

“We really wish we could have gotten that fourth place finish for Coach Sheldon, but we have to move on,” Shapiro said. “I’m still really excited about our team’s prospects.”

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WOMEN’S TENNIS

continued from page 16

love victories at five of the six singles spots. MIT sophomore Anastasia Vishnevetsky managed to score one game against junior tri-captain Julia Browne at the No. 1 singles slot to prevent a clean sweep.

“They definitely didn’t have their best lineup there that day, but at the same time, we easily could have gone out there and felt it was going to be an easy match and not played to our potential,” senior tri-captain Meghan McCooey said. “We didn’t let that affect the way we played; we still went out strong and focused on our game and used each match to really work on things and get better.”

Babson mounted a bit more of a challenge Sunday in a match that was moved indoors to the Gantcher Center because of inclement weather. Yet Tufts still ran away with a shutout victory to conclude the abbreviated fall portion of its dual-match schedule at a perfect 2-0 mark.

During the preseason, coach Kate Bayard called her 2009-10 roster “the strongest that we’ve had in the last number of years” in part because of the addition of a solid freshman class. In their first taste of dualmatch action, rookies Janice Lam and Lindsay Katz held down the third and fourth singles spots, respectively, with Katz yielding just two games over the entire weekend of play. Meanwhile, classmate Lauren Hollender made her collegiate debut with a 6-0, 6-0 rout of MIT first-year Caitlin Pomeroy at the No. 6 singles position.

“Me and the other two freshmen, we’re all really competitive, and when we play against each other in practice, our matches are always really close,” Lam said. “I feel like we just fit in well with this team, and it’s been a lot of fun so far. We’ve only been here for three weeks, but it’s been really exciting for the time we’ve been here.”

“All three of them just played incredibly,” McCooey added. “They didn’t show any signs of nervousness, and they showed a lot of mental toughness and confidence by just getting right in there and playing gutsy tennis. It’s going to be really exciting to see how well they do in the spring once we start to play against some tougher competition.”

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continued from page 15

The Daily is searching for a social networking chair to spearhead online outreach via Twitter and other Web forums.

E-mail editor@tuftsdaily.com to learn more.

Since the season-opening ITA New England Championships, where the Jumbos advanced five players to the final 32 in the singles bracket, the depth of this year’s Tufts squad has been readily apparent. The bottom third of the Jumbos’ singles lineup was especially solid over the weekend, with a rotation of junior Edwina Stewart, Hollender, senior Erica Miller and sophomore Jenn LaCara combining to win four matches love-and-love.

“That’s how the team this year distinguishes itself from those in years past — we just have so much more depth than we’ve ever had,” McCooey said. “Everyone could play anywhere in the lineup. We’re all so even, and we can all give each other a good match. It’s really exciting to know that we have that kind of depth throughout our entire lineup, and that gives us a lot of confidence going into every match.”

Tufts’ matches against MIT and Babson also featured strong doubles play. Fresh off their victory at ITAs, the Browne-McCooey tandem kept rolling with runaway wins out of the top doubles spot, while the first-time pairing of Katz and Miller had little difficulty at No. 2. Meanwhile, Lam and Hollender both got their first taste of college doubles over the weekend, teaming to post a pair of 8-1 victories out of the third spot. “[Hollender] is the perfect doubles partner for me,” Lam said. “Even when I miss a point or when I double-fault, she brings me back and moves on to trying to win the next point. I feel like we’re a great team, and I’m really glad Coach put us together. It’s been great playing with her, and I feel like we’re going to get a lot better.”

With the fall season dual matches now behind them, the Jumbos look ahead to a pair of season-ending events.

On Oct. 15, Browne and McCooey will head to Mobile, Ala. to defend their ITA doubles national championship. The following day, the rest of the squad will partake in a regional tournament in western Massachusetts. Tufts will look to put an exclamation point on a stellar campaign, which has thus far featured a New England doubles championship and two resounding dual-match wins.

“We’ve just had a great start — we couldn’t have really asked for much better,” McCooey said.

G-Men might just have one of the best receiving corps in the NFL. Like the Giants, the New Orleans Saints also addressed a huge issue during the offseason. Last year the Saints’ offense led the league in yards per game (410.7) and points per game (28.9), and quarterback Drew Brees came just 16 yards short of breaking Dan Marino’s record for most passing yards in a season (5,084).

But the Saints’ defense proved to be the team’s Achilles’ heel, and consequently the team only mustered an 8-8 record and finished last in the NFC South.

New Orleans’ Head Coach Sean Payton was confident that his offense could repeat the success it experienced in 2008, so during the offseason he hired Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams to come in and revamp his defense.

Throughout the first four games of the season the change has paid off, and it’s clear that the Saints no longer have to rely solely on Brees’ arm to win football games. While New Orleans scored more than 40 points in its first two games, Brees has not thrown a touchdown pass since Week Two, and the team is now counting on defense to win games.

On Sunday the Saints beat the previously undefeated New York Jets (3-1) 24-10. Thanks to newly acquired safety Darren Sharper and defen-

sive tackle Remi Ayodele, the New Orleans defense actually outscored the offense.

Early in the second quarter Sharper picked off rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez and returned the ball 99 yards for a touchdown. Shortly after Sharper’s coast-to-coast return, Sanchez was sacked and stripped inside the Jets’ five-yard line and Ayodele recovered the fumble in the end zone for a New Orleans touchdown. The Saints only intercepted 15 passes in 2008, but behind Sharper — who leads the league with five picks — they are currently No. 1 in the NFL with 10 interceptions thus far in 2009.

Now that they have proven that they can win games in multiple ways, the Saints have to be considered one of the early season favorites to make a run at the Super Bowl.

Both the Giants and the Saints have already addressed the most pressing issues they had entering the season, but there is still one final question that the two teams have yet to answer: Who is the best team in the NFC? The Saints have a bye in week five, and the Giants will play host to the lowly Oakland Raiders. Barring a major upset, the Giants should enter Week Six at 5-0, when they will head down to the Big Easy to take on the Saints. Mark that date on the calendar as the biggest game of the first half of the NFL season and as a possible preview of this year’s NFC championship game.

THE TUFTS DAILY

14

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SPORTS

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Feiger gives Jumbos second straight NESCAC award Tufts’ senior co-captain setter Dena Feiger became the second consecutive Jumbo to win the NESCAC women’s volleyball Player of the Week award, following in the footsteps of classmate and fellow co-captain Brogie Helgeson.

The award, announced on Monday, honors Feiger’s outstanding performance in a win over UMass Boston last Tuesday and sweep of the annual Tufts Invitational over the weekend. Those victories helped the Jumbos run their winning streak to 16 games.

Feiger, who was also named the MVP of the Tufts Invitational, averaged 10.5 assists and 2.3 digs per set in the four matches she played last week. In last Tuesday’s win over UMass Boston, Feiger registered a phenomenal 52 assists, her best effort so far this season.

This is Feiger’s second Player of the Week honor; she previously won it in October 2007, during her sophomore year.

Feiger and Helgeson are the first Jumbos to take home the award since then-sophomore Dawson Joyce-Mendive in November of last year.

Feiger and Helgeson are also the first Tufts duo to earn back-to-back Player of the Week honors this decade and the first pair in the conference to do so since then-junior Ellie Healy and then-senior Lisa Drennan accomplished the feat for Wesleyan in October of 2008.

On the year, Feiger has accumulated 580 of the Jumbos’ 683 assists, good for 85 percent of the team’s total.

MEN’S TENNIS

continued from page 16

performance in doubles, an area in which the team has been working particularly hard to improve this season.

Against MIT, Tufts took two out of the three doubles tilts.

Victoria and junior Jake Fountain kicked off the doubles success, defeating Kevin and Larry Pang in a tiebreaker 9-8. The third doubles team, consisting of sophomore Sam Laber and freshman Ben Barad, also secured a win for the Jumbos, rolling to an 8-3 victory over the Engineers’ duo of Andrew Cooper and Brian Oldfield. Tufts nearly swept the doubles matches, as Lutz and sophomore Morrie Bossen fought hard in another tie-breaker, eventually falling to Skalak and freshman Tymor Hamamsy 9-8.

“Last year, we lost all three doubles matches to MIT, so this was a definitely an improvement in that regard,” Rosen said.

The strong showing of the Jumbos’ doubles pairs was particularly exciting for Tufts, which will soon head into the winter offseason and begin preparing for its spring campaign. “Historically, doubles have been a weaker point for the team, so now we’re looking forward to having confidence in that aspect and combining it with our historically strong singles performances,” junior Paul Kohnstamm said. “It was a hard loss, but now we have a lot to look forward to.”

Overall, the fall has been a promising beginning to the season, with veterans returning strong and freshmen demonstrating great talent and potential in the abbreviated schedule. Though both Kohnstamm and senior Dan Landers have been injured and junior Tony Carucci is abroad, the team has laid a steady foundation from which to move forward. With players returning in the spring and the rest of the team coming back fresh from training, the Jumbos look to continue improving on last season’s performance.

“We’re excited to put it all together in the spring and add to what the guys playing this fall have been doing,” Kohnstamm said.

Before the team moves indoors for winter training, though, it will face Babson on the road this Friday in a make-up match that was previously postponed.

In the past, Babson has proved a less formidable foe than MIT and the other NESCAC competition the team faces.

Tufts rolled to a 9-0 win over the Beavers last fall. Should this weekend end with a similar result, the Jumbos would ensure at least a .500 record for the fall. Tufts wraps up its 2009 campaign on Oct. 16 at Harvard.

“We’re looking forward to going right out there and getting a ‘W’ heading into the offseason,” Kohnstamm said.

— by Daniel Rathman

ANNIE WERMIEL/TUFTS DAILY

SCHEDULE | Oct. 6- Oct. 12 TUE

WED

THU

FRI

SAT

SUN

MON

vs. Bowdoin 1:00 p.m.

Football

Field Hockey

vs. Colby 1:00 p.m.

at Wellesley 4:30 p.m.

at Babson 3:00 pm

Men’s Tennis

Men’s Soccer

at Plymouth St. 6:00 p.m.

vs. Colby 1:30 p.m.

Women’s Soccer

vs. Brandeis 4:00 p.m.

vs. Colby 3:30 p.m.

Volleyball

vs. Bowdoin 7:30 p.m.

vs. Bates at Bowdoin 8:00 p.m.

vs. Colby at Bowdoin 1:30 p.m.

Women’s Tennis

JumboCast

STATISTICS | STANDINGS Field Hockey

Women's Soccer

(7-0, 4-0 NESCAC) NESCAC

W 4 Trinity 4 Tufts 4 Williams Middlebury 3 2 Bowdoin Conn. Coll. 2 2 Amherst 1 Colby 0 Bates Wesleyan 0

T. Brown A. Russo M. Kelly M. Burke T. Guttadauro J. Perkins M. Scholtes L. Griffith A. Roberts

L W 0 7 0 7 0 4 2 5 2 6 2 3 3 5 3 4 5 1 5 2 G 7 5 2 1 2 1 1 1 1

Goalkeeping GA M. Zak 3 K. Hyder 1

(4-3-0, 2-2-0 NESCAC)

OVERALL

L 0 0 3 2 2 4 3 3 6 5

A 4 2 1 3 0 2 1 1 0

T 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Pts 18 12 5 5 4 4 3 3 2

S S% 12 .800 3 .750

NESCAC OVERALL

W Middlebury 5 4 Williams 3 Amherst 2 Bowdoin 2 Tufts Wesleyan 2 1 Trinity 1 Bates 0 Colby Conn. Coll. 0

A. Michael W. Hardy A. Maxwell C. Cadigan S. Nolet J. Love-Nichols F. Gamal L. O’Connor J. Jamison

L 0 0 1 2 2 3 2 3 3 4 G 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0

T 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0

Men's Soccer NESCAC

W 7 8 5 4 4 5 2 2 2 3

L 0 0 2 3 3 3 2 4 4 5

T 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0

W Wesleyan 3 Williams 3 Conn. Coll. 3 Trinity 2 Bowdoin 3 Amherst 2 Middlebury 1 Bates 0 Tufts 0 Colby 0

L 0 0 1 1 2 2 1 3 3 4

A 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0

Pts 6 4 4 3 3 1 0 0 0

D. Schoening S. Saropoulos Blumenthal A. Lach R. Coleman M. Fitzgerald B. Green P. Tonelli N. Muakkassa

G 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0

Goalkeeping GA S S% K. Minnehan 4 27 .871

T 1 1 0 1 0 0 2 1 1 1

A 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0

L 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 4 4 5 Pts 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 0

Goalkeeping GA S S% P. Tonelli 12 23 .657

T 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 1 2 2

NESCAC OVERALL

W 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0

L W L 0 8 2 0 6 3 0 12 1 0 9 4 1 7 5 1 10 3 0 8 2 1 3 15 2 8 2 2 4 9 2 4 8

Offensive C. Updike Joyce-Mendive B. Helgeson L. Nicholas E. Lokken K. Ellefsen B. Neff

Kills SA 190 59 160 48 140 54 74 46 69 48 30 12 26 26

Amherst Trinity Tufts Williams Bowdoin Conn. Coll.

Middlebury Hamilton Bates Colby Wesleyan

Defensive A. Kuan D. Feiger B. Helgeson C. Updike N. Shrodes K. Engelking

B 0 6 2 1 1 0

NCAA Div. III Field Hockey

(1-1, 1-1 NESCAC)

(16-1, 2-0 NESCAC)

OVERALL

W 5 6 5 5 5 4 4 2 1 1

Football

Volleyball

(1-4-2, 0-3-1 NESCAC)

Digs 253 116 113 113 97 70

Amherst Trinity Bowdoin Hamilton Middlebury Tufts Wesleyan Williams Bates Colby

W 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0

L 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2

PF 34 61 62 38 80 18 21 44 21 19

(Sept. 29, 2009)

Points (First-place votes) 1. Messiah, 1085 (44) 2. Salisbury, 1025 (2) 3. Tufts, 975 (6) 4. Ursinus, 906 5. SUNY Cortland, 848 6. Trinity College, 761 7. Lebanon Valley, 708 8. TCNJ, 606 9. Johns Hopkins, 604 10. Skidmore, 527

PA 24 35 48 35 50 14 29 45 50 68

Rushing Att. Yds. Avg. P. Bailey 28 92 3.3 D. Ferguson 25 55 2.2 M. Howell 4 48 12.0

TD 0 0 0

Passing Pct. Yds TD INT McManama 42.2 245 2 1 Receiving P. Bailey M. Howell

No. Yds Avg. TD 10 141 70.5 1 2 22 11 0

Defense M. Murray T. Tassinari F. Albitar

Tack INT Sack 1 14.0 0 0 14.0 0 1 10.0 0

N.E. Div. III Women's Soccer

(Sept. 29, 2009) 1. Williams 2. Amherst 3. Middlebury 4. Springfield 5. Wheaton 6. Babson 7. Brandeis 8. Tufts 9. Keene State 10. Husson 10. Westfield State

THE TUFTS DAILY

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

15

SPORTS

INSIDE THE NFL

ALEX PREWITT | LIVE FROM MUDVILLE

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Where is the love?

ZACH GROEN

Senior Staff Writer

After some early skepticism, two of the NFC’s 4-0 teams have shown that they made some solid decisions during the offseason, and for that, they deserve some recognition.

The New York Giants, who are arguably the most balanced team in the NFL right now, have answered the one big question that faced them following their 2008 playoff run. Tom Coughlin’s team started off last season 11-1 but crashed and burned down the stretch, finishing 12-4 and exiting early from the playoffs by means of a second-round loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Everyone knows the story behind the Giants’ late season collapse, as star wide receiver Plaxico Burress suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound late in November and was suspended by the Giants organization for the rest of the season. Without Burress in the offense, quarterback Eli Manning and his young wide receivers simply could not get the job done.

Giants General Manager Jerry Reese — who is quickly becoming one of the most highly-regarded executives in the NFL — did a fantastic job during the offseason to fill the void left by veteran receivers Burress and Amani Toomer. Rather than going the Daniel Snyder or Jerry Jones route, Reese shied away from trading for big-name wide receivers Anquan Boldin and Braylon Edwards in favor of lesserknown names who were already in house.

To say that Reese’s decision not to make a move was anything short of genius would be an injustice. If someone had to guess in August who the best wide receiver in the NFL would be this season, the most likely answers would have been Larry Fitzgerald, Randy Moss, Calvin Johnson, Andre Johnson or Steve Smith. Through the first four weeks of the regular season, the answer has been Smith — but it’s not the one many would have predicted.

Steve Smith of the Giants — not Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers — is statistically the best receiver in the NFL. A third-year product out of USC, Smith has come into his own in 2009 in the absence of Burress

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New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has had more help from his receivers than many thought he would have this season. and Toomer. He currently leads the NFL in every major receiving category and is a big reason that the Giants have started 4-0. Although we’re only through the first month of the season, Smith has already hauled in 34 balls for 411 yards and four touchdowns. To put that in perspective, Smith totaled 57 catches for 574 yards and one score for the entire 2008 season.

In years past, the Giants have been known for their powerful running game and their dominating defensive front, but this year could be the year of the pass in New York. Combine Smith with the currently injured Domenik Hixon, second-year pro Mario Manningham and rookie Hakeem Nicks, and the see NFL, page 13

DAILY DIGITS

3 Consecutive years with a one-game playoff to decide a postseason spot in Major League Baseball. The Minnesota Twins and the Detroit Tigers will play one final game tonight to decide who will be the American League Central champion. Last year, the Twins suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox in a playoff game, while the year before the Colorado Rockies used their tie-breaking victory over the San Diego Padres to propel themselves to the World Series.

2 Men’s soccer teams besides Tufts that do not have a NESCAC win so far this season. Despite an 0-3-1 record in the conference, the Jumbos have a realistic chance at making the NESCAC tournament thanks to the winless records of Bates and Colby. The teams are currently battling it out for eighth place in the NESCAC, which is the final spot to earn a conference tournament berth.

40 Difference in shots between the Tufts field hockey team and Bates in the Jumbos’ 3-1 win on Saturday in Lewiston, Maine. Tufts kept the barrage coming all game, finishing with a season-high 44 shots on the day. The Jumbos also kept the Bobcats’ offense in check by limiting them to just four shots, with three of them coming in the second half. The dominating effort helped keep Tufts undefeated at 7-0 on the season.

31 NFL Teams, out of 32, that Brett Favre has beaten in his career heading into the Minnesota Vikings’ game last night versus the Green Bay Packers.

A win would give Favre victories over every team in the league, making him the only player in history to accomplish such a feat. Not that the game, with the storyline of Favre facing his old team, needed any extra drama.

4 Members of the Washington Capitals who comprise the top four players in the League in terms of points so far in this young NHL season. The Caps are 2-0 and have scored 10 goals in their wins over the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. That has led to a flurry of points by two-time reigning MVP Alex Ovechkin, who is at the top with six.

Fellow winger Alexander Semin and centers Brooks Laich and Nicklas Backstrom all have five points each, putting them just behind their teammate in spots two through four.

9 Games between three goal efforts for the women’s soccer team before its 3-0 win Saturday at Bates. The last time the Jumbos had scored more than two goals in a game was on Oct. 19 of last season in a 3-0 victory over Wesleyan.

The breakout offensive performance came after a frustrating game against non-conference foe Babson in which the team was shut out despite numerous chances.

ollectively, as a sports culture, we love to hate. From the deeply-held Red Sox-Yankees rivalry to the obscenities shouted at the television set when a wide receiver drops a big pass, disdain comes naturally and it comes far more easily than love does. Especially in a society as technologically advanced as ours, anger is instantaneous.

Josh Hamilton slips up and has a few drinks?

Whip out the cell phone camera.

Chicago failed to earn the right to host the Olympic Games? Let’s blog about our feelings.

Al Davis overdosed on baby-eating? Omg tweetz!

But why do we react so swiftly when we are angered, and yet rarely jump at the chance to praise something lovable? Why not post about how hard a certain team tried, how a certain player spent two postgame hours signing autographs, or how cute Jacoby Ellsbury looked on Saturday?

Instead of jumping aboard the anger train, maybe we should linger at the station, searching for happier things to react to. These are just short snippets of three stories that we should have heard more about, and sometimes they come from the least expected sources.

The Yankees, who are owned by a man who rivals Davis for the record of “Most Innocent Children Punched in 20 Minutes” and are perhaps the most universally-despised sports franchise, have a soft side that some might not know about.

At 3 a.m. one night this summer, New York welcomed young kids from Camp Sundown to the field. All of the campers have a rare disease known as XP, or xeroderma pigmentosum. Basically, if the kids catch a UV ray, they can develop cancerous tumors.

But the Yankees brought the campers onto the field beneath the stars one night, welcoming them into a darkened suite for the night’s game. Afterward, they ran around the bases, slugged pitches from A.J. Burnett, and listened while General Manager Brian Cashman sang a Police song.

Still hate the Yankees? Fine.

Last week, I wrote about how Alex Ovechkin might have saved a failing sport in Washington D.C. In fact, these athletes we all love to hate are generally more philanthropic than the devil’s offspring we make them out to be. For example, earlier this year, the Columbus Blue Jackets raised the spirits of a 19-year-old with a terminal disease.

Though the cancer eventually proved too much for his body to handle, Ryan Salmons’ is an inspirational story featuring an equally inspirational act by his favorite team.

General Manager Scott Howson surprised Salmons at his home one day, signing the teenager to a one-day contract, giving him a team jersey and a $3 signing bonus.

In his final year of life, Salmons developed close ties with the Blue Jackets, and defenseman Marc Methot even agreed to turn over his No. 3 jersey to Salmons. Manny Malhotra and Jason Chimera were especially drawn to Salmons and served as pallbearers at his funeral. Columbus went on to earn the franchise’s first playoff bid that year, carrying the memory of Salmons in their hearts.

Another example of altruism came from Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young, a man who once sued for exclusive rights to the term “Invinceable” and who is known throughout the league for complaining about playing time.

On Sept. 16, more than two months after former Titans quarterback Steve McNair was shot and killed, Young surprised Trenton and Tyler McNair at their house and took them to the Pancake Pantry as part of a “Dear Dads Breakfast” hosted by St. Paul Christian Academy.

For two kids worried about who would take them to the breakfast, Young gave the best gift in the world.

I may not know how to obtain a “Boom boom pow,” nor do I know how to be “2,000 and late,” but the Black Eyed Peas definitely got it right when they asked “Where is the Love?”

Perhaps, sometimes, it’s where we least expect it.

Alex Prewitt is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Alexander.Prewitt@tufts.edu.

Sports

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tuftsdaily.com

WOMEN’S TENNIS

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Daily Editorial Board

The women’s tennis team rolled through a pair of dual matches over the weekend unchallenged, cruising to WOMEN’S TENNIS (2-0, 0-0 NESCAC) at Voute Courts, Sunday Babson Tufts

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at Cambridge, MA, Friday Tufts MIT

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dominant 9-0 wins over non-conference foes MIT and Babson. For their overwhelming victories, the Jumbos did not drop a set in any of their 12 singles matches and lost a grand total of four games across six doubles matches.

On Friday in Cambridge, Mass., Tufts put together a near-perfect effort against an MIT squad so depleted by illness that just six players were able to suit up.

Among those sidelined was senior Leslie Hansen, the anchor of the team’s singles and doubles lineup and the seventhranked singles player in the Northeast region.

The Jumbos, however, showed the Engineers no mercy, earning love-and-

JAMES CHOCA/TUFTS DAILY

see WOMEN’S TENNIS, page 13

Senior Erica Miller did not drop a game on Sunday, earning a straight set 6-0, 6-0 victory as the Jumbos’ No. 5 singles player against Babson.

The Jumbos won the match 9-0 and beat MIT by the same score Friday.

MEN’S TENNIS

GOLF

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Tufts falls just short at NESCAC Fall Qualifier

REBECCA DIBIASE

Contributing Writer

Torrential rain forced Saturday’s men’s tennis match against MIT into the Gantcher Center, but the change MEN’S TENNIS (1-0, 0-0 NESCAC) at Gantcher Center, Saturday MIT Tufts

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The Tufts golf team had one number on its mind coming into this weekend: four. That would be a fourth-place

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of scenery did little to turn the tide in the Jumbos’ favor. Tufts entered the match knowing it was in for a tough fight, and though it fell to the Engineers 5-4, the team left pleased with its overall performance.

When they last faced MIT on April 22, the Jumbos fell 6-3 in a doubleedged loss that handed MIT the national No. 30 ranking, a standing previously held by Tufts. With revenge on their minds, the Jumbos did not go down last Saturday without a struggle, forcing two doubles tie-breakers and two three-set matches in singles.

“MIT has recently gotten very good, and they’ve added some strong recruits this season,” said senior Andrew Rosen, who was one of two Jumbos to win in singles, triumphing in the No. 5 slot 6-2, 6-1. “It was a tough match, but overall we fought very hard and played well.”

Sophomore Kai Victoria also won his singles match in three competitive sets, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. In No. 6 singles, senior Bryan Wilner battled through three sets, eventually falling to freshman Matthew Skalak 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Tufts first-year Andrew Lutz had a notable performance against MIT sophomore Samuel Harmatz in the fourth singles position, even though he ultimately lost 6-4, 7-6.

Though Tufts dropped four out of six singles contests, the highlight of the match for the Jumbos was their persee MEN’S TENNIS, page 14

DANNY JOSEPH

Senior Staff Writer

GOLF NESCAC Qualifier at Williams, Saturday-Sunday 5th out of 10 teams T-12. Luke Heffernan (151) T-20. Dan Moll (154) T-34. Brett Hershman (160) T-34. Mike McCarthy (160) 49. Cal Shapiro (179)

LAURA SCHULTZ/TUFTS DAILY

Junior Jake Fountain, pictured above, and sophomore Kai Victoria earned a No. 1 doubles victory over MIT on Saturday. Despite strong doubles play, the Jumbos fell to the Engineers 5-4.

finish or better, which would have ensured the team a spot in this spring’s conference championship.

However, the Jumbos came away with a disappointing result, as they fell one step short of their goal and finished fifth at the NESCAC Fall Qualifier. The tournament was held at the par-71 Waubeeka Golf Links in Williamstown, Mass. The hosting Williams Ephs were the tournament champions, with an impressive two-day team total of 595.

Tufts finished with a cumulative score of 625, 30 strokes off the lead and 17 strokes behind fourth place finisher Middlebury College.

The result was especially tough to swallow because the Jumbos compiled the best round of their season on Saturday. After first-round action, Tufts was alone in third, poised to capture its first NESCAC Championship berth see GOLF, page 13