2010-02-18

THE TUFTS DAILY

Sunny 44/27

TUFTSDAILY.COM

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2010

VOLUME LIX, NUMBER 14

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

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BY VICTORIA

MESSURI

Contributing Writer

The 25th annual Norris and Margery Bendetson Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) International Symposium focusing on South Asia kicks off tonight with its first panel, marking the first time in 23 years that EPIIC is concentrating on a specific region.

EPIIC is again bringing in renowned speakers and leading intellectuals from around the globe to serve as panelists in this year’s symposium, which is entitled “South Asia: Conflict, Culture, Complexity, and Change.”

The annual symposium is the culmination of the EPIIC colloquium, a year-long course offered through the Institute for Global Leadership.

EPIIC, which has traditionally focused on more global, general themes, is this year studying the specific region of South Asia, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Maldives.

South Asia is home to three of the world’s most populous countries, and two of the nine nations with nuclear weapons.

Considering its political instability, poverty, see EPIIC, page 2

Swiss ambassador speaks at Fletcher COURTESY SOMERVILLE HAITIAN COALITION

Somerville Haitian Coalition volunteers prepare supplies to be sent to Haiti.

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HARRISON JACOBS

Daily Editorial Board

JENNA LIANG/TUFTS DAILY

Peter Maurer, permanent representative of Switzerland to the United Nations (UN), last night spoke at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy about his five years of experience at the UN, discussing issues like climate change and human rights. The Fletcher school, the Boston Consulate of Switzerland and the Fletcher United Nations Club sponsored the event.

In light of the tragic earthquake that rocked Haiti in January, the Somerville community has stepped up to lead fundraising efforts, hold benefit concerts and even send a team to help the underserved regions of Haiti directly.

The Haitian Coalition of Somerville, along with numerous other local organizations and the city of Somerville itself, has led efforts to support those in the community suffering emotional stress from the disas-

ter and to assist incoming Haitian refugees seeking temporary protected status (TPS).

“We have partnered with many local organizations to help people file for TPS that has been granted by the president to give to Haitians,” Franklin Dalembert, executive director of the coalition, told the Daily. “We will be helping people fill out applications and waivers to facilitate a number of things for them.”

He stressed that while organizing fundraisers is important, it is crucial to provide see HAITI, page 2

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DAVID HECK

Daily Editorial Board

When it comes to Jon Pierce, one might think it would be all about the numbers: five high schools, numerous foster homes, two colleges and, of course, 1,855 points — the most ever scored by a single player in the 99-year history of the Tufts men’s basketball program.

But for the senior tri-captain and those close to him, the most important things are not statistics, but moments — the ones that led him to where he is now, and the one that signaled one of his greatest achievements as both a basketball player and a person.

After he hit the first of two free throws to become Tufts’ all-time leading scorer, Pierce looked up into the stands to find his family and friends with tears in their eyes. He then turned his gaze to the bench, where he saw coach Bob Sheldon approaching him to shake his hand.

Every one of his teammates followed, each giving Pierce a congratulatory hug.

“That moment is what I’m going to cherish the most, because in 10, 15 years, someone’s going come along to Tufts and put in 2,000 points and I’ll slide down the list,” Pierce said.

“But no matter if someone comes in and scores 2,000 or 2,500, they’ll never be able to take that moment

on that night away from me.”

“I’m very proud of Jon,” Sheldon said. “To see his growth, from where he came from and even where he was as a freshman and sophomore — that’s the best thing that happened. It’s amazing how far he’s come as a person, and that’s been the most rewarding thing. And our relationship has grown too. I might be closer to Jon than any other player I’ve had.”

To say that Pierce’s road to the scoring record was a circuitous one would be a shameful oversimplification. Adopted at birth, Pierce grew up with a plethora of foster parents and experienced years of abuse, both physical and psychological.

But Pierce, a tremendous natural athlete, thrived on the basketball court despite troubles at home. He became a Div. I prospect in high school and was heavily recruited

by Purdue University and Indiana University, among other Big 10 schools, in his sophomore year.

Sadly, an ACL tear seven games into the season robbed him of his above-the-rim game and his prospect status, as the graft in his leg never fully reattached.

According to Pierce, the injury forced him to evolve both as a basketball player — developing his shooting and ball-handling abilities — and as a person.

“The biggest part was adjusting

my expectations to [realize that] college is just the next step to the rest of your life; it’s not a continuation of your basketball career,” Pierce said.

“Once I was able to understand that, which admittedly took a while, it was a lot easier to process and think that in the end it could be much better for me.”

Pierce wound up enrolling at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire for an extra postgraduate year and followed that up by attending Drew University, a small Div. III school in suburban New Jersey, after Tufts told him there was no room for him on the basketball roster.

“It came down to [Pierce] or another kid,” Sheldon said. “The other kid’s coach told us Tufts was his No. 1, so we went with him, and after we told Jon there’s nothing we can do about it, the other guy actually ended up going to Trinity ... But then it was too late.”

“We always joke about it now,” Pierce said. “I always blame them for not taking me and they always blame me for not wanting to come here.”

At Drew, Pierce quickly found that the situation was not right for him. He chose not to play basketball and began looking at bigger schools such as Columbia University, the University of Southern California and the University of Miami. At that

Inside this issue

JOSH BERLINGER/TUFTS DAILY

A Tufts basketball legend, senior Jon Pierce is ready for whatever lies next now that his historic career on the Hill has come to an end. point, he thought his basketball career was over.

“I was just going to be a student and play intramural ball when I could,” Pierce said.

But Reggie Hobbs, an assistant basketball coach at Tufts and an Exeter alumnus, had always stayed in contact with Pierce.

“He knew that I wasn’t playing, but he was great — he never put any pressure on me to give Tufts another chance,” Pierce said. “He

was always just there to listen if I wanted to talk about basketball or just life or anything.”

Eventually, Pierce reapplied to Tufts and got in. He subsequently joined the basketball team and was immediately thrust into an important scoring role. Though he did not start a single game in his first year for the Jumbos, he racked up the third-most minutes on the team see PIERCE, page 15

Today’s Sections

Take a tour through Boston’s diverse theater community with the Daily’s guide.

The women’s track and field team geared up for its postseason with successful weekend meets at BU and MIT.

see WEEKENDER, page 5

see SPORTS, page 13

News Features Weekender Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 10

Op-Ed Comics Sports Classifieds

11 12 13 15

THE TUFTS DAILY

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NEWS

Thursday, February 18, 2010

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ELLEN KAN AND CORINNE SEGAL Daily Editorial Board

The university on Feb. 25 will test a new live emergency alert system together with the current Send Word Now system to study the possibility of switching platforms.

In a Feb. 16 e-mail informing the community of the two tests and requesting that individuals update their contact information, John King, senior director of public safety, said that the university is “evaluating new technology to explore alternatives and compare to our current platform.”

The Tufts Emergency Alert System, which was first implemented in November 2007 following the Virginia Tech shootings, has been using the Send Word Now platform to disseminate information to the community via phone calls, e-mail and text message.

The university tests the alert system every semester and during the upcoming test will simultaneously conduct a trial of a new platform, Rave Mobile Safety.

Geoffrey Bartlett, technical ser-

vices manager in the Department of Public Safety, said officials will do benchmarking on the Feb. 25 to compare the performance of the two systems. This information will aid in the process of determining which alert system is more effective for the university.

He explained that the technological advances that have taken place since university officials chose Send World Now during the vendor selection process in the summer of 2007 was the motivation behind testing a new platform.

“Although the system works … there’s also been a lot of change in the industry over the course of the time,” Bartlett said. “We thought it was appropriate to go out into the marketplace and look at the technology that has emerged and look at the vendors we considered then to see how they’ve changed and see how the different technology compares to what we’re using now” Dawn Irish, the University Information Technology (UIT) director of communications and organizational effectiveness, said

that many other universities have switched to using Rave Mobile Safety, prompting Tufts to consider doing the same.

“A lot of other universities have recently chosen this [platform], so we thought it would be worth giving it a look and testing it in our environment,” she said. “We just want to make sure that the technology we’re using is still competitive with the other technology out in the marketplace.”

Irish echoed Bartlett in noting that Send Word Now has not yet posed any problems for Tufts. “It’s been a really solid technology and we’ve been happy with the performance,” she said.

The specific nature of the differences between the two systems cannot be known until after the test is run, according to Irish.

“All of the different groups out there do something slightly different in terms of the way they deliver messages,” she said.

Bartlett said that a lot of factors will influence the eventual decision on the vendor for the alert system, which will involve a standard request-for-proposals process.

“We look at the vendor’s architecture, references from other users, features you don’t see like how we control the system,” he said. “We look at all these factors before we can make any decisions about what’s best.”

Irish also highlighted issues like contracting and data privacy as other considerations.

One of the factors that, at least in the initial stages, will not be affecting the evaluation of the two systems is the relative cost.

“One of the things we did initially is that those of us who are involved in the use of the system and technical analysis have been shielded from the cost of the different vendors,” Bartlett said. “A few of us on the team are just doing technical analysis without being biased by knowing the costs of the different vendors.”

Bartlett emphasized, however, that ensuring the safety of the community went beyond having the right technology in place.

“Here at Tufts we’ve got an emergency system that we believe is an excellent system,” he said. “But in addition to that, we’ve got pro-

cedures and training that we feel [are] as important as the technology and that we think prepares us well to use that system to keep the community informed.”

Bartlett stressed the need for individuals to do their part to keep themselves protected.

“Prepared individuals are going to lead to a prepared institution,” he said. “Everybody, in addition to those of us in the industry, should be cognizant of their own preparedness … sign up for emergency notifications, keep your contact information up to date and do what emergency messages say.”

It is also important for individuals to share any information that they receive in the event of a notification, according to Bartlett.

“Even with technology, there are reasons information won’t get to everyone,” he said. “Not everyone signs up or has access to their phone, so we continue to underscore that word of mouth is part of our strategy.”

Irish said that Tufts’ priority is to ensure the safety of its community.

“We want to make sure whatever we’re using is the best,” she said.

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continued from page 1

DAILY FILE PHOTO

The annual EPIIC symposium brings in prominent speakers to discuss topics of international significance.

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continued from page 1

natural disasters and religious, ethnic and cultural clashes, South Asia currently plays a leading role as one of the world’s most dangerous and yet promising areas.

IGL Executive Director Sherman Teichman said he and the students responsible for this year’s symposium share a strong belief in South Asia’s vitality.

“The region is an active theater of warfare,” he said. “It is a theater of Mr. Obama’s war, which we need to understand in all of its complexities.”

IGL Associate Director Heather Barry pointed out that the theme of the symposium has significance for students because “becoming aware of these issues is becoming a more informed citizen.”

The EPIIC symposium grants students and community members access to experts in an unusually convenient setting, according to Teichman.

Barry said that panelists will give brief presentations lasting between 12 and 15 minutes, and several of the panelists will also be involved in breakout sessions.

Breakout sessions, which are open to the public, allow the experts to elaborate and further discuss their topics after the initial panel session.

Sophomore Cody Valdes, who has taken the EPIIC course twice, described these sessions as “the best part of the symposium.”

“They provide a chance to join an intimate discussion group with some of the more particular symposium guests,” he said.

One of this year’s guests is Keith Fitzgerald, director of the Asian Programme on Negotiation and Conflict Management.

Fitzgerald has facilitated negotiations in dozens of hostage and crisis negotiations in over 65 countries worldwide.

In addition to speaking as a panelist, Fitzgerald will during a breakout session discuss his book “Negotiating Hostage Crises with the New Terrorists” (2007), which he co-authored with Adam Dolnik.

Fitzgerald will be arriving from Sri Lanka, and is among a pool of expert speakers and international students who earlier this

week traveled directly to Tufts from South Asian countries.

Professors from Boston-area colleges, including Tufts and Harvard University, will also share their work on South Asian conflict and culture.

Professor of History Ayesha Jalal will be among five presenters who will open tonight’s first panel, “Burden of Memory, Quest for Identity,” at 7 p.m.

Other intellectuals will speak about Afghani issues. These include David Mansfield, a fellow of the Carr Center of Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, who will discuss his efforts to reduce Afghanistan’s devastating reliance on opium production.

Sarah Chayes, founder of the Arghand Cooperative in Afghanistan, will speak about her project, which buys locally produced soaps and scented products from Afghan farmers in an effort to encourage the growth of agricultural goods other than opium.

Teichman hopes the symposium encourages further student involvement in the region.

“As a teacher, I am hoping there will be a fulcrum for action,” Teichman said. “I want my students to become attracted to going to these countries.”

The symposium has been under Teichman’s direction for the past 24 years, but it’s the students’ determination that has brought breadth to the variety of individuals speaking at the event, according to Teichman.

“It’s pretty student driven,” Lauren Milord, a sophomore member of the colloquium, said. “[Teichman] will make suggestions and recommendations, but most of the ideas come from the students; it’s who they want to see.”

The IGL program Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES), which promotes civilian-military interaction, will also be involved in the symposium.

“ALLIES is a framework that builds understanding between our nation’s future civilian and military leaders,” junior Arjun Verma, co-chair of ALLIES, said in an e-mail. “This year, we have planned special opportunities for ALLIES to interact with the panelists in the symposium.”

an infrastructure of support for Haitians displaced by the tragedy.

“What we here at [the] coalition have been working on is helping the flow of people coming in from Haiti,” Dalembert said. “We have a number of people coming in that have nothing whatsoever … they come and they need everything from food and shelter to getting access to social services. We’ve been helping, but we have limited resources.”

The city of Somerville, which houses one of the largest Haitian populations in the state, mobilized a trauma response team to help affected people in the community cope with the emotional stress of the tragedy.

“The response team did work anywhere they were needed,” Somerville Deputy Director of Communications Jaclyn Rossetti told the Daily. “They made sure students who had family missing had the opportunity to speak to somebody, a counselor or the trauma response team. Families needed support, so we made sure folks were available to them. That was our main priority.”

Rossetti noted that the majority of city’s efforts, other than organizing trauma response, have been aimed at organizing a large benefit concert, Somerville Sings for Haiti, in partnership with members of the Tufts community and Somerville Kiwanis, the local chapter of a global volunteer organization.

“A lot of people knew we were having this event, so we are expecting most of our donations and fundraising to come through the community,” Rossetti said.

The concert will take place at 6:30 p.m. today at the Somerville Theater. Tickets, which sell for a suggested $30, will account for the majority of the donations, with other fundraising initiatives — like raffles and silent auctions — going on simultaneously.

Some of the groups performing at the event include Jimmy Tingle, Tony V., Booty Vortex, Ray Greene and Tufts performers sQ!, BlackOut and B.E.A.T.S. According to Rossetti, the basis for the concert came from the city’s experience hosting a large fundraiser in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which raised $23,000

for the cause.

“We wanted to do a similar event [to the Katrina fundraiser], but because a lot of community organizations are running fundraisers, we wanted to incorporate many different groups to make sure they have the chance to participate,” Rossetti said. “We reached out to many local bands and groups at Tufts, [which] has been a great supporter. The situation really lends itself to a concert better than any other sort of event.”

Sophomore Ethan Maccoby, a member and business manager of Tufts sQ!, expressed his excitement that the group was asked to take part and help. “sQ! is very proud to be part of this concert,” he said. “What happened in Haiti was a horrible tragedy and we just want to help … I’m glad we could be one of the groups representing Tufts, helping raise money for the relief effort.”

Beyond the local initiatives, the Haitian coalition has also spent the few months since the earthquake organizing a team to provide direct aid to victims in Haiti.

According to Dalembert, a delegation of doctors, nurses, nursing staff, social workers, therapists and mental health officials will be in Haiti from April 17-30. The goal will be to provide medical care and supplies to regions that are largely underserved, like Jacmel.

Dalembert added that the coalition has a 45-square-foot container in Somerville where people can donate food and supplies, and it is nearly full.

He noted the strong partnerships among different community groups that have emerged in response to the crisis. The coalition has partnered with organizations like the Community Action Agency of Somerville and local churches.

Rossetti echoed this sentiment, saying that the entire Somerville community has rallied around the Haiti cause.

“We’re not the only ones in the community,” she said. “Whether it’s businesses donating services/products to raffle off, or Tufts University’s great support with the musical groups and fundraising, the chamber of commerce for hosting this concert and the Somerville Theater for allowing us to have the concert there — everyone wants to give.”

ASHLEY SEENAUTH/TUFTS DAILY

The Somerville Haitian Coalition is selling shirts to raise funds for its projects.

Features

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tuftsdaily.com

BEN KOCHMAN | BETWEEN THE SLICES

I miss that red truck

I

SCOTT TINGLEY/TUFTS DAILY

ExCollege classes can be valuable, non-traditional learning experiences for students, whether they are taking the classes or teaching them.

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BY JON

CHENG

Contributing Writer

When senior Bronson Kussin was a freshman, he enrolled in an Experimental College film class. As a first-year student at Tufts, he was amazed that he was being taught not by professors or lecturers, but by Tufts upperclassmen. Kussin ultimately enjoyed the class so much that he decided he’d teach a class himself.

Two and a half years later, Kussin, along with then-junior Benjamin Rausch, applied to teach a course similar to the one he took his freshman year, entitled “Perspectives: Comedies of the 1970s to 2000s.” As rising seniors they were eventually granted the opportunity to teach the class to 14 incoming freshmen during the fall semester.

The ExCollege, established in 1964, offers juniors and seniors the opportunity to garner leadership experience by teaching a class on anything from religion to films and TV shows.

“Ben and I wanted to take that unique advantage,” Kussin said. “It’s a very rare opportunity for an undergraduate student to teach a full-credit undergraduate course to students.”

The ExCollege offers a variety of courses to Tufts students. Freshman students often choose to take the ExCollege’s “Explorations” or “Perspectives” courses with their orientation groups as a way to meet other freshmen. In the case of these courses, both the teachers and students receive pass/fail credits for their efforts. Other courses are open to all classes and are taught by either student instructors or visiting instructors.

Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education and ExCollege Director Robyn Gittleman said that because student teachers are given a fair amount of liberty in the design and structure of their courses, the ExCollege has become a popular opportunity among upperclassmen. The program administration has therefore had to devise a rigorous method of selecting which students will be permitted to teach.

“Our voting members make decisions as to which courses we choose and different policy decisions,” Gittleman said. “Once [the chosen applicant] is given the OK, they can teach the program to first- to fourthyear students.”

The application is not, however, the most difficult part of the process. To ensure that the students are well prepared and professional, the ExCollege requires that the chosen students attend peer-to-peer teaching sessions early in the semester.

Kussin recalled the difficulty of structuring a new course.

“The importance of preparation was shown to us very early on,” he said. “Ben and I did prepare quite a bit beforehand — if you don’t come well prepared to class, it won’t go very smoothly.”

Once the semester begins, the work involved in teaching a course is substantial. In addition to teaching a weekly two-and-a-half hour class and grading 14 short papers per week, Kussin said that he and Rausch had to come up with a list of movies, determine which scenes were important, devise in-class activities and identify an overall theme for each class.

Kussin commented that planning was essential, as any lack of preparation would make the instructors more nervous than they already were.

“There will be 12 to 14 kids staring at you with nothing much to say,” Kussin said.

Senior Stefanie Marx, who taught a Perspectives course about sports movies, echoed this sentiment. “At the beginning, we were all pretty nervous — none of us have ever taught before,” Marx said. “But we got a week of intense training over the summer, and it made me more confident.”

Marx, Kussin and senior Alec Jahncke, an instructor for a class on contemporary French films, all admitted that they were initially wary of treating their peers as students. They said, however, that as the semester continued, they began to embrace their roles as authority figures.

“It took us a few weeks to get our bearings, but we had great kids and we were like advisors to them,” Marx said.

Jahncke, too, got to know his students on a more personal level.

“It did definitely get easier knowing the kids going on,” he said. “Halfway through we realized that the freshmen coming in are not that judgemental and you kind of laugh it off.”

One issue that student instructors have to handle appropriately is their relationship with their students outside of the classroom, particularly so when their courses are open to all Tufts students.

Kussin said that even before the semester began, he knew that maintaining a teacher-student relationship with his students would be a struggle. “[If ] they become more comfortable and they tend to loosen up a little bit, then they don’t take it as seriously,” Kussin said. “There’s a sense that ‘I’m your peer, I’m your decent guy, so I won’t get furious at you,’ so being some level of an authority figure was a semi-difficult thing.”

Freshman Paul McBride acknowledged that it can be difficult to treat ExCollege instructors as an authority figures when students develop a social relationship with them. Nevetheless, he maintained that in class he viewed Rausch and Kussin not as fellow undergraduate peers who were three years older, but as teachers.

“We’re all in the same boat; he’s a senior, you might see him at a party,” McBride said. “But while it seemed like a very laid-back class at times, they put pressure when they needed to.”

“I often say that if you have friends in the classroom it can work one of two ways: They might strive to be the best student in class so you succeed as a teacher, or they’d want to take advantage of the friendship and not do the work,” Gittleman said. “However, there have been no problems so far.”

McBride said he enjoyed the program so much as a student that he plans to teach a Perspectives course during his junior or senior year.

’ve been pretty pissed off lately — maybe it’s the cold Boston winter getting to me, with its howling winds and rainy nights.

The steep walk up the President’s Lawn to Olin Hall for my 9:30 a.m. German class hasn’t helped either.

But a couple weeks ago, on a Saturday night, I realized what had really been bugging me all along.

I had just emerged from a grimy frat basement, hopefully disease-free, and I was consumed by a terrible hunger.

Standing on Professors Row, I scanned the street for the familiar sight of Moe’s Hot Dog Cart on the corner of Packard Avenue. I could almost taste the juicy, delightful Italian sausage that would soon hit my taste buds. I could smell the onions and peppers slowly grilling.

I bent down and felt within my sock to make sure that I had $5 strategically placed there.

Yet, to my dismay, the red cart was nowhere to be found.

You may be upset that someone who claims to be an expert on sandwiches would recommend a hot dog or hamburger from Moe’s, which is clearly not the most fresh or healthy dining option for a Tufts student. You might accuse Moe’s of exploiting drunken students for its own monetary gain.

You could say, “Hey Ben, if a hot dog is a sandwich, and a burger is a sandwich, is a taco a sandwich too? I mean where do you draw the line? Maybe you should start calling your column ‘Between the Buns.’”

All of these objections are fair. But all I can say is that when I am craving an Italian sausage from Moe’s, which is almost always on a Friday or Saturday night after midnight, I am usually in a state in which these sorts of concerns fade away.

For Tufts students looking for a latenight snack, one factor reigns supreme: convenience. It’s the reason why a quick tour around a freshman dorm at 2 a.m. on a weekend is filled with sightings of Pizza Days boxes. While few would argue that Pizza Days is actually tasty in any way (I liken its taste to that of melted plastic on top of cardboard, with grease poured on liberally), it is easy to order, and has very fast delivery times.

But eating at Moe’s is different from ordering Pizza Days in many crucial ways. When I went to Pizza Days for the first time, I saw a place devoid of personality; a faceless factory.

Moe’s, on the other hand, does have a face — in fact, it has two. The outgoing bearded man serving the food and charging customers exactly $5 for anything on the menu is Sammy, while the more mild-mannered Moe stands in the background, making sure that all of the cart’s machinery is in order.

Moe’s offers a convenient late-night option that actually tastes good and that is served by two men who clearly enjoy being at Tufts. When I talked to Moe and Sammy once while ordering food, the ground was icy, and a soft drizzle rained down upon the red cart.

Yet Moe still seemed in good spirits, as he told me about why he enjoyed setting up the cart here on campus. It became clear that they would never aim to exploit us, but instead genuinely enjoyed seeing the satisfied looks on their customers’ faces, especially if the customers were Tufts students.

At the end of our chat, Sammy offered me a free hot dog and helped me pick out some toppings. I settled on some ketchup, mustard and a dash of spicy tomato relish. I realized then that I could never in my right mind order Pizza Days again, not when I was presented with such a superior option.

Ben Kochman is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Benjamin.Kochman@tufts.edu.

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ARTS & LIVING

E N E C S R E T A E H ’S T

a closer look:

N O T BOS

A peek into some of Boston’s most exciting theater companies

BY MICHELLE BEEHLER

O

Daily Editorial Board

KRISTEN COLLINS/TUFTS DAILY; DESIGN BY ALLY GIMBEL

ne of the best perks of being a Tufts student is the university’s close proximity to Boston, a city with a lively and vibrant theater scene that extends far beyond the well-known Boston Ballet production of “The Nutcracker.” However, even the arrival of the most popular Broadway musicals often escapes the notice of Tufts students, who refer to Tuftslife.com instead of Web sites such as Boston.com when looking for things to do on weekends or when their parents are in town.

Boston’s theater scene offers a wide variety of shows that is constantly changing at venues such as the Citi Performing Arts Center, the Boston Opera House and many smaller stages throughout the area. Many of these companies make specific efforts to appeal to the large college-student population in Boston and are excited when students attend their productions. Some of the smaller theaters in particular offer incentives to attract college students to their productions.

These range from lower ticket prices to a starting place for students interested in pursuing theater after graduation.

Meg Taintor, artistic director of the theater company Whistler in the Dark, said that there is a definite place for students in Boston’s theater scene. “[Whistler in the Dark’s plays] are very intellectually challenging, and students in particular are appreciative of that,” Taintor said.

Taintor also noted that students haven’t yet reached a point in their life where they can’t engage with the art of the theater. “College students aren’t jaded,” she said. “They don’t just want to sit back and let the play wash over them.” This quality, according to Taintor, makes them valuable audience members who are interested in engaging with the performance as much as the actors are interested in engaging with the audience.

Paul Daigneault, the producing artistic director of the SpeakEasy Stage Company, is also enthusiastic about student involvement with theater. “The aesthetic and feel of the SpeakEasy Stage Company is youthful,” Daigneault said.

That quality is reflected in the company’s selection of shows this season. Daigneault also said that SpeakEasy’s shows are entertaining and socially relevant, aspects that students in the Boston area appreciate.

According to Daigneault, an important part of theater is the intimacy between the performers and the audience — an element that is nonexistent in film and television.

“Theater can’t exist without a strong bond between the audience and what’s going on onstage,” Daigneault said.

Another important aspect of a theater performance is the venue size. Both large and small theaters have their advantages: A smaller performing stage, like the Roberts Studio Theatre that SpeakEasy uses, provides the closeness necessary for a certain vibe, despite the fact that it is ostensibly less impressive and grandiose than larger venues.

When picking out shows to see this season, it might not hurt to try out different venues in order to experience the variety that Boston has to offer; each stage has a feel of its own, and all are worth checking out.

There are many exciting events and productions happening this semester besides Boston’s tourist-trap performances of the Blue Man Group and “Shear Madness.” The following is a breakdown of some of the most well-loved, but not necessarily well-known, venues and theater companies in the greater Boston area and the many performances they are offering this spring.

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) Always a little on the edge, the A.R.T.’s productions stand out as artistic and contemporary. This is largely thanks to the new Artistic Director, Diane Paulus, whose initiative “Experience the A.R.T.” operates with the goal of revolutionizing the theater experience.

The company’s productions are easily accessible since two of the A.R.T.’s venues, the OBERON and the Loeb Drama Center, are located right in Harvard Square. This spring, the A.R.T.’s theme of “America: Boom, Bust, and Baseball” exposes different aspects of the American identity. The A.R.T.’s upcoming show, Clifford Odets’s “Paradise Lost” (Feb. 27-March 20), will bring to the stage a disillusioned view of the American dream in the midst of financial crisis.

The company will also take a look at the present-day love of American baseball in its last show of the spring, “Johnny Baseball,” at the Loeb (May 14-June 27).

Additionally, the A.R.T.’s current production of “The Donkey Show” was recently extended through this summer due to its popularity. “The Donkey Show” is a ’70s disco version of “A Midsummer’s Night Dream.” As if Shakespeare’s classic comedy wasn’t already strange enough, it is now set in the world of retro disco, roller skaters and popular songs such as Sister Sledge’s “We are Family” and Rose Royce’s “Car Wash.”

Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) The BCA Complex, located on Tremont Street in Boston’s South End, is a non-profit performing arts center that is home to many small theater companies, including Company One, SpeakEasy Stage Company and Zeitgeist Stage Company.

The BCA is located right next to the South End’s top notch, if slightly pricey, restaurant scene, making dinner and a show an easy combination. An alternative option is a quick bite to eat at Francesca’s Café, a trendy spot where an order of “Sex on the Counter” satisfies any caffeine craving.

Exciting upcoming shows at the BCA Complex include SpeakEasy’s “Adding Machine: A Musical,” the musical adaptation of Elmer Rice’s 1923 play, which is the story of employee Mr. Zero and the machine that replaces him after 25 years of service (March 12-April 10). Also on stage is Zeitgeist’s “Private Fears in Public Places,” a play that connects the lives of six Londoners through odd circumstances (Feb. 12-March 6).

Boston Opera House One block over from the Boston Common, the Boston Opera House is the new home for the Boston Ballet,

which previously danced at the Wang Theater. From April 8 to 18, the Boston Ballet will be premiering Arthur Saint-Léon’s comic ballet “Coppélia,” in which a doll is mistaken for a beautiful young girl, creating a series of romantic mishaps.

The Boston Opera House is also the host of Broadway Across America productions, such as the upcoming “The Lion King,” a reinterpretation of Disney’s animated classic that captures a sense of magical elegance with its creative costumes and world-famous puppetry (Feb. 16-March 21).

Another Broadway production coming up this semester is the newest Mel Brooks musical “Young Frankenstein” (April 20-May 2). The show won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical in 2008 and is a comical retelling of the Frankenstein legend, following the efforts and mishaps of the scientist’s grandson who attempts to complete his grandfather’s work.

Central Square Theater Home to the Nora Theatre Company and the Underground Railway Theater (URT), the Central Square Theater is a new venue that opened up in July 2008 in nearby Central Square. One upcoming show this season is the Nora Theatre’s drama “Not Enough Air” (Feb. 11-March 14) by the local playwright Masha Obolensky. The play delves into the 1920s murder trial of Ruth Snyder and a journalist’s fictional retelling of the story.

Also coming to the stage is the URT’s “From Orchids to Octopi” (March 31-May 2), which is part of Catalyst Collaborative@MIT, URT’s science theater initiative with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Written by Melinda Lopez, “Orchids” was commissioned by the National Institutes of Health in honor of the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” and is a humorous glance at the theory of evolution.

The Factory Theatre Located in a downstairs parking lot in what was once a piano factory, The Factory Theatre is an unusual, if not new, addition to the Boston theater scene. The building was originally built in 1854 in Boston’s South End and was known as the Jonas Chickering Pianoforte.

A section of the old building has since then been converted into a small, intimate black box theater, which is now the home to many small theater companies.

Currently onstage at The Factory Theatre is Whistler in the Dark’s “One Flea Spare,” which takes a dark, introspective look at four strangers’ lives as they try to see THEATER, page 7

An interactive map is available at tuftsdaily.com

THE TUFTS DAILY

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WEEKENDER

Thursday, February 18, 2010

WEEKENDER INTERVIEW | SARAH SILVERMAN

COMEDYCENTRAL.COM

One big happy family on Comedy Central’s “The Sarah Silverman Program.”

9)&:+#*%-$7#+:)+@/$/+%/"-$(4#++$"B$4+#$4)($/4"@ BY

ROBYN LINDENBERG Contributing Writer

Sarah Silverman is an actress, comedian, writer and singer who produces and stars in “The Sarah Silverman Program” on Comedy Central, Thursdays at 10:30 p.m.

Known for her outrageous humor that satirizes various aspects of American society, Silverman

combines silliness with perversity and keeps viewers in a constant state of amusement. The Daily got the chance to talk with this eccentric comedienne.

Question: Would you say your show has any risky or possibly offensive humor?

Sarah Silverman: Well that’s

really not for me to say. We’re not looking to offend anybody, but we want to put stuff out there that makes us laugh. Once we put something out there, and it’s in the air, that’s for the audience to decide what it means. It doesn’t make sense in comedy to try to not offend somebody, because you never know what will offend people.

Q: If you were a drag queen, hypothetically, what would you choose as your stage name?

because what would they wear — a hoodie and jeans? Maybe I’d be called Rocky Fishsticks.

SS: Personally that’s not the biggest stress, because when I dress up I feel like a drag queen. So my name would be … something like Sarah McSilverman. If there was a drag queen of — well, there probably aren’t any drag queens of me

Q: Is there any subject you won’t joke about?

SS: Well, I don’t like jokes about fat women. We live in a countrysee SILVERMAN, page 9

ALBUM REVIEW

Massive Attack’s trademark dark sound prevalent in new album BY

MATTHEW WELCH Daily Staff Writer

At what point does a band’s sound become more of a trap than a trademark? Bristol’s Massive Attack has been

Heligoland Massive Attack Virgin Records in the business of making dark albums since “Mezzanine” (1998), and their latest “Heligoland” is no exception. Some critics have accused Massive Attack of redundancy since “Mezzanine,” but these accusations hardly acknowledge how adeptly this group conjures the varying shades of gloom and brooding that have come to typify their music. Even though Massive Attack’s latest LP does little to shift this critical perception, it affirms the band’s keen atmospheric sensibilities and reinforces its reputation as a challenging, if not sonically limited, outfit.

“Heligoland” is an unapologetically dark album. Stuttering drum lines, ominous bass drones and muted vocals all abound, creating an aurally unified, but irredundant listening experience. The tendency of critics to use words like “gritty” and “industrial” as vague blanket terms only reveals their lack of appreciation for the variety that can be found within such aesthetics.

Even though songs like “Pray for Rain” and “Flat of the Blade” are equally morose, they reveal entirely different sides of the mood. While the former contrasts the deadpan chords of the verse and chorus with a stratospheric vocal bridge, the later deepens its menacing tone with layered percussion and

increasingly unnerving lyrics.

The overwhelming pessimism of “Flat of the Blade” waxes and wanes over the course of the song, as the protagonist with “skills [he] can’t speak of” is cast in front of an ironically triumphant horn section before the song’s finale. This track illustrates how Massive Attack keeps even their most intense songs from wallowing in their own heaviness: The band keeps them moving.

There are very few stagnant cuts on “Heligoland.” Most tracks have a sincere momentum; they dynamically add and drop elements, frequently bringing the listener through unexpected instrumental passages that keep songs from hanging on to a refrain for too long.

The few exceptions generally make impressive mileage out of their simple grooves. “Splitting the Atom” keeps plaintive vocals and synth-pads in perpetual orbit around an unwavering organ stab that keeps its freshness for all of the track’s 5 minutes and 16 seconds.

“Saturday Come Slow” is the least interesting track of the album, with Damon Albarn of Gorillaz delivering an underwhelming vocal performance whose chorus of “Do you love me?” occurs a little too often.

The band’s employment of numerous contributing musicians, a tradition for Massive Attack, gives “Heligoland” a wealth of different vocalists and instrumentalists. TV On the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, Elbow’s Guy Garvey and Martina Topley-Bird all sing on the album.

Similarly, Adrian Utley and John Baggott of Portishead contribute guitar and keyboard work to various tracks.

Even though “Heligoland” is a sullen record, it is not without its lighter moments. Without the balletic xylophone of “Paradise Circus” or the nimbly fingerpicked guitars of “Psyche,” the album’s

AMAZON.COM

Massive Attack presents new gloomy album “Heligoland.” tone would be too homogeneous for its own good. Massive Attack does a good job of spacing out its heaviest tracks, preventing a lopsided listen that could have easily occurred if “Paradise Circus” hadn’t immediately followed “Flat of the Blade.”

The flow of the album as a whole is more consistent in the first half, with tracks after “Psyche” leaning to

a mid-tempo instrumental direction.

“Heligoland” is not an album for the lighthearted. If a listener wasn’t thrilled by “Mezzanine” or “100th Window” (2003), chances are this album will fall into the same category. For those willing to cope with some murky chords and give the album the repeated listenings it needs, “Heligoland” will not disappoint.

THE TUFTS DAILY

Thursday, February 18, 2010

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continued from page 5

survive the plague (Feb. 5-21). Whistler in the Dark prides itself on having a tight ensemble of artistically acrobatic actors who love to challenge themselves in difficult settings.

Next up at The Factory Theatre is 11:11 Theatre Company’s production of Brian Tuttle’s “Foreverendia” (Feb. 26-March 8), a play about children who climb up chimneys after a snowstorm and discover an imaginary world.

Huntington Theatre Company The Huntington Theatre Company’s two venues are the historic Boston University Theatre across from Symphony Hall and the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts.

The Huntington’s season includes an examination of sibling rivalry in “Stick Fly,” Lydia R. Diamond’s work about two brothers who bring their girlfriends into the ostentatious world of Martha’s Vineyard (Feb. 19-March 27).

The Huntington also hopes to generate a couple of laughs later this year with the writer and producer of NBC’s “Law

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE TUFTS DAILY

and Order,” Gina Gionfriddo, and her comedy “Becky Shaw,” which centers on a blind date gone horribly wrong (March 5-April. 4).

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston The Lyric Stage Company is located on Clarendon Street, a couple of blocks from Copley Square and the Boston Public Library. Founded in 1974, the theater is mid-sized — good for avoiding the crowded tourist trap productions and the often too strange shows that come with tiny theaters.

The company is currently showing “Legacy of Light” (Feb. 12-March 13), which blends the stories of two women scientists — brilliant physicist, Emilie du Châtelet from the Age of the Enlightenment and present day scientist Olivia.

In the play, Châtelet is pregnant and fears that she will die in childbirth.

She subsequently rushes to complete her research, while modern-day scientist Olivia wants to have a child of her own. Later on this semester, the music of Billie Holiday will come to the stage in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” (March 26-April 24).

What’s Up This Weekend Action Guaranteed! presents Get Yours: Do you love rock ‘n’ roll? How about free rock ‘n’ roll? Come see Tufts’ hardestrocking student band play an upbeat mix of contemporary and classic rock, both covers and originals. Free admission. (Friday at 10 p.m. in Hotung Café) “Black Dynamite:” Gather ‘round, suckas, a bad mother’s back in town!

Coolidge Corner Theatre presents last fall’s best and most loving blaxploitation parody, returning to the big screen in a special midnight screening. Tickets are $7.75. (Friday at midnight, 290 Harvard St., Brookline) New Found Glory: For the punk-pop fans out there, this tattooed, Floridabased rock group is sure to satisfy as it is accompanied by fellow emo rockers Saves the Day, Hellogoodbye and Fireworks at the House of Blues. Tickets start at

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WEEKENDER

$19.99. (Sunday, doors open at 7 p.m., 36 Lansdowne St., Boston) George Clinton and Parliament/ Funkadelic: For those aching for some groovy P-Funk and a stellar show from the man known for his rainbow hair, look no further than the House of Blues this weekend. Clinton and his crew wanna “get funked up” and so should you.

Tickets start at $29. (Friday at 7 p.m., 36 Lansdowne St., Boston) Chocolate Workshops at Elephant Castle and Restaurant: Not completely sugared out after Valentine’s Day? Head over to the Elephant Castle to learn all the secrets of the chocolatiers and go home with 50 truffles of your own. Workshops are $88. (Saturday at 1 p.m., Elephant Castle and Restaurant, Boston)

ACESHOWBIZ.COM

Dear Black Eyed Peas (but mostly Fergie), We in the Daily Arts Department, have some problems with your new music video. We know you liked “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (2009), but your new 10-minute-long extravaganza for “Imma Be Rocking That Body” is balls-out insane.

It opens with you guys in a recording studio with will.i.am presenting a new machine that is essentially a Black Eyed Peas automated robot. It then proceeds on a trippy voyage from a desert to a diner to a futuristic city with giant, menacing, glitching robots. These robots then start to dance, and they may have moves, but your video most certainly does not. It’s weird. And, when it ends, with your “victory” over these gyrating robots, all we have to say is that we wish you hadn’t won. But, one of its most glaring problems is the video’s heroine, Fergie.

Fergie, darling, you wake up in the morning NOT feeling like P. Diddy, and that’s pretty evident in this video. In one of the first scenes you’re suddenly in a desert? And you’re not wearing pants? OK, now that’s just a “Single Ladies” (2009) rip-off with more reptiles. Then you stalk into a diner and continue to gyrate? Not cool. Finally, when you wake up from this epic “dream” and announce that you just had a great idea for a video, we would like to tell you that you are wrong. So wrong.

So wrong, in fact, that we don’t think there’ll be any London Bridges coming down for you anytime soon. And we recommend that you stick to your … eh … more cultivated talents (mainly screaming “I like that boom boom POW!”).

And that goes for the rest of you, Peas. We didn’t like this video. We think you’ve got better stuff, and frankly, if things continue the way they are, we’re going to support the giant, dancing robots in the next robot-Peas showdown.

Love, The Daily Arts Department

— compiled by the Daily Arts Department

TOP TEN | TOP 10 SONGS WE’D DO OUR FIGURE SKATING ROUTINE TO We at the Daily Arts Department are totally excited about the Winter Olympics. Even though we don’t cover anything athletically related, we’ve been tuning in every night to watch the many varied events currently being held in Vancouver, especially our favorites: the men’s and women’s figure skating short programs. There’s nothing we like more than sequins, skates, ice and fussy judges. But, frankly, we’ve been disappointed by the musical choices so far, and we’d like to humbly submit our top ten suggestions for songs for short programs.

10) “I Try:” So this song may be slow and awkward, but we mostly like it because its lyrics “try to walk away and I stumble” would be so appropriate for that skater who gets unintentionally up close and personal with the ice during a routine.

We’re not saying that a fall would be pretty, but at least with the lyrics of this song, it wouldn’t be completely out of the blue.

9) “Enter Sandman:” This song’s loud heavy metal would give every figure skater the chance to head bang during a routine, which, we all know, they’ve been dying to try. It’s been pent up in there somewhere.

8) “Cotton-Eyed Joe:” We all did this one during every middle school dance we attended. Bring it to the rink, add sequined overalls and you’ll send ice a-flying. Yee-haw!

7) “Here I Go Again:” This one starts slow, cheesy and synthy, like all good short forms, but it gets headbangingly awesome pretty quickly. Plus, who doesn’t

want to pretend to be Tawny Kitaen on the hood of that car ... on ice?

6) “MmmBop:” Don’t pretend you hate this song. You love this song. This is your favorite song. You’ve danced to it in your room every day since 1997. We’re going to take that infectious energy all the way to the Olympics.

5) “You Make My Dreams:” With feathered locks of silky hair, scrumptious falsettos and intense sexual tension, Hall & Oates was one of the greatest duos of all time. So why not channel their essence on the ice with a skating partner and make your Olympic dreams come true?

FIND YOURSELF ABROAD Internships> Liberal Arts> Language> Science> Engineering

4) “Jump On It:” First, find the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (1990-1996) version of this dance on YouTube.com (if you haven’t seen it already). Then, imagine that instead of being tossed off the stage, Carlton does a triple lutz followed by a lunge. Now that’s jumping on it.

3) “Eye of the Tiger:” Imagine Sylvester Stallone. Now imagine ice skates. This song is all about the new Rocky, figure skating style.

2) “Bad Romance:” “Rah-rah-ah-ahahh.” Honestly, the costume alone for this routine would win you a gold. What could be hotter than a triple axel to Lady Gaga?

1) “Party in the USA:” For starters, Miley’s song is just overflowing with ideas for a killer routine: “So I put my hands up … noddin’ my head like yeah/ Movin’ my hips like yeah.” And if an American figure skater were to win a gold, it really would be a “Party in the USA.” How appropriate.

www.bu.edu/abroad

Financial aid is available.

An equal opportunity, affirmative action institution.

8

THE TUFTS DAILY

WEEKENDER

Thursday, February 18, 2010

WANT A FREE TRIP TO ISRAEL???

If you are Jewish and have never been on a peer trip to Israel, Tufts Hillel has the trip for you!

Registration Opens on February 17th at noon!!! To register for the winter break trip or for more information visit the Shorashim website at Israelwithisraelis.com Want more details? Questions? Concerns?

Contact Gordon Dale at Tufts Hillel: (617) 627-3242 or gordon.dale@tufts.edu THIS TRIP IS A GIFT OF TAGLIT-BIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL

SPACES WILL FILL QUICKLY

Thursday, February 18, 2010

THE TUFTS DAILY

9

WEEKENDER

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continued from page 6

where fat men still deserve love, and at least in white America it’s like fat women don’t deserve love or something.

Q: If your show were offered a collaborative episode with “Jersey Shore,” would you take it?

SS: Well by the time we’d ever be on the air again, they would be so last year’s news that it probably wouldn’t be worth it.

Q: I’m not sure if your sister ever actually convinced you that you were born a man, but do any of your other story ideas come from real life?

SS: Yeah, sometimes. On Thursday, [Feb. 18], there’s a part in the episode where I get obsessed with my neck, and that’s definitely based on truth. This is my take on the neck. Why isn’t there bone there?

There’s so much important stuff! Why isn’t it protected by like … an extended ribcage? I’m just saying the neck is f---ing vulnerable.

Q: Do you have any special guest stars this season?

SS: Yes! Andy Samberg plays my childhood imaginary friend who comes back all grown up, and becomes a total nightmare.

Bill Maher is in this next episode. You guys are too young, but Edward Asner plays a Nazi war criminal in an episode coming up. Tons of awesome guest actors!

Q: A lot of male friends consider you to be their celebrity exception, so do you have any pedestrian exceptions?

SS: I don’t really have a celebrity or a non-celebrity exception. I’m a one-person person. I have tunnel vision when I’m with someone. Maybe my UPS man. “What can Brown do for you?” I’ve got a few ideas.

COMEDYCENTRAL.COM

Comedian Sarah Silverman, looking as innocent as ever.

Q: Is the character you play on TV the reallife you?

!

Tufts University Department of Drama and Dance presents

SS: I hope not because she’s an a--hole. We talk alike and we look the same, but I think my character is a little more dumb. I think of her as an arrogant, ignorant person, which is an awful combination, but fun to watch. The Sarah Silverman on the show is always looking for an identity to put on.

The real way to go about it in life is just to discover who you are from the inside out.

She decides who she wants to be from the outside in.

Q: Sarah, you must have heard jokes about how funny girls develop personalities, because they’re not as pretty. So did you grow up pretty or did that come later?

SS: Well I feel pretty inside. Sometimes I feel really pretty, and then I go in the bathroom and see the mirror and think, “Oh, I thought I was so much prettier,” which I think is the better way to go. I think the reason I was forced to learn how to be funny comes from stuff like being Jewish in a town that had no Jews. Being hairy: hairy arms and hairy legs, because I was too young to be allowed to shave my legs. Being very different looking. Believe me, when I was 18 and I moved to New York, I couldn’t believe there were other people who looked like me! Where I grew up it was very blonde, very Christian, very L.L. Bean. I had this instinct to put people at ease about me by being very affable. I realized that people saw me as different and learned to put people at ease right away.

Q: What are you trying to accomplish in this season that is different from the previous two?

SS: Even though our goal so often is to just be aggressively stupid, you’ll see a definite amount of growth with these 10 new episodes. The characters are so much more defined, and it’s the funniest and best season yet in terms of quality, character and story. We really topped ourselves this year. So we’re hoping people tune in!

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BASED ON A LITERAL TRANSLATION BY

ANNE-CHARLOTTE HANES HARVEY

DIRECTED BY

SHERIDEN THOMAS Thurs, Fri, Sat Feb. 18-20 & 25-27, 2010 8:00 PM $7 Tufts ID/Seniors $12 General Public $7 on February 18th $1 on February 25th

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Balch Arena Theater Tufts University 617-627-3493 for tickets & information ARTWORK BY MAGRITTE, DESIGN © MELISSA YASKO

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THE TUFTS DAILY

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THE TUFTS DAILY EDITORIAL Caryn Horowitz Grace Lamb-Atkinson Managing Editors Ellen Kan Executive News Editor Michael Del Moro News Editors Harrison Jacobs Katherine Sawyer Saumya Vaishampayan Marissa Gallerani Assistant News Editors Corinne Segal Martha Shanahan Amelie White Jenny White Brent Yarnell Carter Rogers Executive Features Editor Marissa Carberry Features Editors Robin Carol Emily Maretsky Mary Beth Griggs Assistant Features Editors Emilia Luna Alexa Sasanow Derek Schlom Catherine Scott Executive Arts Editor Jessica Bal Arts Editors Adam Kulewicz Charissa Ng Josh Zeidel Michelle Beehler Assistant Arts Editors Zachary Drucker Rebecca Goldberg Niki Krieg Crystal Bui Nina Grossman Laura Moreno Andrew Rohrberger Devon Colmer Erin Marshall Alex Miller Louie Zong Vittoria Elliot Rebekah Liebermann Marian Swain

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editors

Thursday, February 18, 2010

EDITORIAL

Stimulus spending on the right track

KERIANNE M. OKIE Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL | LETTERS

Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan. The President yesterday stated that the program so far has run smoothly and successfully. Obama acknowledged some of the shortcomings of the program, such as the current high rate of unemployment, stating that the stimulus plan has achieved much in a temporary sense and is an ongoing project.

The question facing the government in the wake of the plan’s one-year mark is whether the economic stimulus bill should continue to receive support.

The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency, estimated last fall that the stimulus program had created somewhere between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs in America. Though this estimate has a large range, it still differs quite drastically from the 3 million reported lost by members of the Republican Party and 2 million saved as reported by Democrats. The ambiguity surrounding these numbers is partially the cause of America’s lack of faith in the stimulus bill. Recent polls reported that a little over 55 percent of Americans opposed the stimulus plan, with about 40 percent supporting it.

While the government has plans to

spend all of the money from the stimulus plan in the years to come, many Americans are frustrated and disappointed by the lack of apparent progress and how little of the money has actually been spent. So far, approximately $179 billion has been spent of the $334 billion approved for the stimulus bill.

However, the Daily feels that the way the money has been spent so far indicates that the administration’s plan is on the right track. The largest percentage of this money, according to the Congressional Budget Office, has gone to state governments for Medicaid and unemployment insurance. In total there is $207 billion in funding going toward Medicaid, social security, food stamps and unemployment services, all of which will continue to receive stimulus packages except for Medicaid, which will stop receiving stimulus payments at the end of the year. Thus far, $98 billion in total funding has been spent on education through stimulus packages to state governments. It is encouraging that the White House has diverted these two largest chunks of stimulus money to Medicaid and education; both are worthy of the attention they have been given, and both are frequently sidelined in political discourse.

The main objection of those opposed to the stimulus package is that it has not been effective. However, many have forgotten that the most imminent and urgent need of the country when Obama came into office was getting the U.S. economy out of a state of economic crisis. The economy undoubtedly remains in a weak state, but some progress has been made, and we are no longer plummeting down beyond help. We must remember that a year is a short time in which to implement such a monumental economic program, and it would be unreasonable to expect drastic changes throughout the country.

Looking to the future, however, the stabilization of the crisis should not allow the administration to be complacent. Obama should take the opposition to the plan as constructive criticism, and rather than blindly defending the package, his administration must now prove to those who have doubted the success of the package that it was not a quick fix, but instead a long-term recovery strategy. He can do so by continuing to alleviate the country’s dire unemployment situation and allocating funds to the social programs that need it most.

specialists. The government would also be more responsible for the failures of these doctors. Therefore, in time, the government will undoubtedly include assistance in paying for medical school costs and will work to ensure that these schools produce the same kind of great professionals that the capitalist system does.

White asks “If we don’t pay people the type of money we do, how will we get any good doctors?” This logic strikes at the heart of what is troubling about today’s health care system. Many today go into health care because of its potential for excessive wealth.

Wouldn’t we rather have a system that relies on professionalism and genuine desire to help rather than selfish motivation? That said, a universal health care system would not make doctors destitute and street-ridden. They would still be paid well. The number of paying patients would increase as the 46 million uninsured Americans become insured. Furthermore, doctors would have more time to see patients and actually make money, because they would not have to waste time filing and negotiating claims and worrying about the profits and costs of running their own businesses or of the Health Maintenance Organizations(HMOs)

that they work for.

Finally, I want to address White’s question: if health care is made part of the government, “how will we produce new medicines, vaccines and cures?” The new system has the potential to save the United States a lot of money, which could be funneled into research. The United States spends more money per capita on health care than Britain, France and Canada, yet according to the World Health Organization, our health care ranks 37th worldwide, after Costa Rica. There are options to refine the system and save the United States and its citizens money in the long run, which could then be used for research.

When attacking the proposed health care plan, White oversimplifies the issue. Using her limited personal experience, she argues that universal health care will negatively impact doctors’ lives, doctors training and searches for new medicines, vaccines and cures. I obviously disagree. And, according to a Reuters survey, apparently, so do 59 percent of doctors.

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, I found Amanda White’s Off the Hill on health care, posted in The Tufts Daily on Feb. 11, to be highly problematic. I love capitalism and value those in the medical profession too, but I support the health care plan.

White argues that doctors (such as her relative) deserve the money they earn, because they “can literally save your life and have vowed to do so.” I do not have a definitive answer on the salary I feel a doctor “deserves.” However, White’s justification of exorbitant salaries of doctors on this basis is absurd. Policemen and firemen take a similar vow — why are they not paid accordingly?

White’s answer to this would most likely be that doctors are in a specialized field requiring years of medical school and fees for which they should be compensated. I disagree with White’s claim, though, that a universal health care system could not create a system that works better to keep doctors from accumulating student debt and helps them to pay it off. A universal health care plan would mean that the government had a personal and financial obligation to produce competitive physicians and

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Sincerely, Caroline Incledon Class of 2013

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Thursday, February 18, 2010

THE TUFTS DAILY

11

OP-ED

Outlining the TCU Senate strategy on representing marginalized communities BY

BRANDON RATTINER

The representation of marginalized communities in student government has been a lightning rod for controversy, emotion and confusion for years. As a body entrusted with the responsibility of representing and advocating for all students and people at Tufts, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate’s support of marginalized groups has often been criticized from many different angles.

Although I sincerely believe that this criticism is more reflective of the issue’s sensitivity rather than a failure of the student government, the concerns of our constituents do not fall on deaf ears. Currently, four different clubs have community representatives in the Senate who act as liaisons between their clubs and the Senate. Additionally, these representatives have all the same rights as senators, with the exception that they cannot vote on financial matters. After years of frustration and stagnation, it has become painfully obvious that this system does not work and needs to evolve, and this year’s TCU Senate is committed to finally addressing the problem.

However, the Senate dually realizes that going about this alone is not an option. In short, we understand that our body is not capable of fully grasping the issues minorities face and we understand that we are limited by our own biases and traditions.

Making any real progress on the issue of minority representation is first and foremost predicated on transparency and honest conversation. Thus, the TCU Senate will attempt to include the entire campus in this conversation, by way of a diverse and large task force assigned with producing a definitive proposal on this issue.

Firstly, I need to clarify the purpose of the task force on diverse representation. Before I begin describing the aims, makeup and timeline of the task force, it is imperative to articulate what this task force is not. The TCU Senate and the entire task force are not going to pretend to be capable of solving all racial, religious and diversity problems here at Tufts. Ideally, the Senate would have the power and knowledge to bring about some sort of equality and climate that makes everyone feel comfortable at all times. Yet, as a student government comprised of mere undergraduate students, this expectation — especially at this point in time — is utterly unrealistic. In fact, even if Senate was able to solve all of the problems that aggravate marginalized students, we still would not have a good enough infrastructure to find out what those concerns and desired results are.

The purpose of this task force is to address that infrastructural shortcoming that is unfair to marginalized communities. I want to reiterate that this task force will not speak for all diversity issues on campus; it will merely be a vehicle to forge a stronger connection between marginalized communities and the TCU Senate. When the task force submits its final recommendations in mid-April, hopefully it will shed more light on how to merge the governance of the university with the inclusion of marginalized communities.

With that in mind, the task force will be dealing with two central issues.

Firstly, the task force will be assigned with fixing the physical representative model that Senate will use. For instance, the task force may find that community representatives as they exist are fine, or they need to be changed, or we need to create a new officer to handle diversity issues on our executive board. The actual infrastructural positions that represent minority concerns will be the first issue tackled by the group.

Secondly, the group will attempt to flesh out what it means for a student government to support marginalized groups. My experience has shown me that there exists a serious disconnect between minority students on campus and the TCU Senate. In essence, marginalized groups often demand support.

The Senate is not particularly sure what that means, and the lack of action causes further distrust and hinders future communication.

What it means for a government to support a marginalized community needs to be crystallized. It is important to note that the task force will not be making a laundry list of demands or concerns; rather, it will be engaged in a broader dialogue about what support ought to mean. Is it issue advocacy, more interaction at events or even different types of funding? Hopefully, this conversation will yield a better set of parameters and goals that make actual support more likely and meaningful.

I would also like to establish the composition and timeline of the task force. This task force will be modeled after the successful Alcohol Task Force convened by the Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman. As TCU President, I will be chairing the committee and I will be sending out personal invitations to students, faculty and administrators.

The committee will not just be composed of interested minority members, but it will also have a large contingent of majority students.

Because the purpose of this group is to clarify the best way to represent minority issues by a TCU Senate tasked with representing all of

Tufts, inclusion of all types of peoples and students is critical to getting an accurate reading on what will be best for the entire campus. In the upcoming weeks, invitations will be extended to various students, clubs, faculty members and administrators.

Serving on the task force will be a major time commitment. Starting on March 1, the task force will be meeting weekly in closed sessions to discuss its two mandates. The confidential nature of the meetings is important to ensure that the task force feels comfortable engaging in honest dialogue, and in my experience, more realistic compromises result from this type of atmosphere.

However, the members of the task force will be made public, and I do encourage any concerned student to feel free to speak with any and all of them to relay their own opinions.

The task force will be meeting throughout March and early April, and will hopefully have a proposal ready by the secondto-last Senate meeting of the year. This will leave ample time for the community at large to comment on the proposal prior to Senate voting on it, and prior to its probable inclusion on the TCU Presidential ballot in late April.

If you want to be on the task force, if you think your club should be represented on the task force, or if you have any faculty or administrators you would like to see included, please contact me immediately. It is important that this task force is not merely composed of the usual suspects, and its strength will lie in its diverse membership. So please contact me if you want to be involved.

This is your chance to make a difference.

Finally, I know that this is a sensitive issue, but please respect our efforts and process.

Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee a compromise that everyone will love, but we can promise that we will try our hardest. The end goal is of course to solve the issues marginalized communities are aggravated by, but the Senate will never be able to do this without the proper internal infrastructure to do so.

Like I stated at the beginning, this topic’s nature automatically leads to impassioned responses and reactions, but we will do our best to be fair. Thank you for reading and please remember to contact the TCU Senate, or me personally, if you have anything you want to be heard. We are here to help.

Brandon Rattiner is a senior majoring in political science and philosophy. He is the current president of the Tufts Community Union Senate.

TIEN TIEN/TUFTS DAILY

ELISHA SUM | OUR GENDERATION

La burqa en France

T

ori Amos once sang, “and the man with the golden gun thinks he knows so much.”

On June 22, 2009, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy said to Parliament that the burqa is not welcome in France and that the French people cannot accept women cut off from a social life and imprisoned behind a screen. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought Sarkozy was my BFFL, and luckily, he doesn’t know that I can only resist the charms of the French language when it puts on a feminist façade.

Like Sarkozy, other major political figures, including Prime Minister François Fillon and President of the Union for a Popular Movement Jean-François Copé, support a ban of the veil (which will be used to refer to both the burqa and the niqab). On Jan. 26, the 32 lawmakers who had been called to reflect over the question of the veil for six months recommended that the government ban it in all public services, such as hospitals, public transportation and administrative offices.

I can understand the reasoning that necessitates the visibility of a person’s face and also the oversight in using just the term burqa as all-inclusive, even though the burqa differs from the niqab. What I find truly problematic though is that these political figures dress up their rhetoric in a linguistic burqa, veiling the stripping of agency from women and the risk of stigmatizing the six million Muslims living in France.

The proposed law takes away the choice from women while demonizing the Salafi sect of Islam (the Sunni Islamic movement requiring that women wear a veil) as only a propagator of gender inequality. Sarkozy’s statement implicitly valorizes a modernity Western cultures embody, as if France has progressed enough to overlook the continuing fight for gender equality.

Although the most recent figure I’ve seen indicates that only around 2,000 women wear the veil, 32 lawmakers had to convene for six months to propose a law forbidding it. Why did an issue directly affecting just a minuscule percentage of the population receive such attention? If Sarkozy truly regarded the rights of women as requiring consideration to this degree, wouldn’t requiring that the law’s specialists discuss the issues of women’s rights vis-à-vis the veil result in a more productive and ultimately constructive legislative session?

Just imagine the universal impact and the anti-misogynistic message that would have resulted if the group had discussed gender inequality within a larger context while taking into account the question of the veil. But as the burqa symbolizes the subjugation of women, according to Sarkozy, the centrality of the discussion remained only on the veil, since the French government cannot accept a physically visible manifestation of the inequality of the sexes, while its pervasiveness throughout societal institutions remains ignored.

Thus, the feminist veneer masking the issue frames the proposed law as a step toward freeing the women supposedly subjugated under the veil. However, as the 32 lawmakers did not actually focus on women’s rights, it seems likely that the small minority of women wearing the veil will fall through the legislative cracks and deal with the aftermath without any support if the law passes, which will further marginalize these women who cannot simply change their lifestyle without suffering societal reprisal.

Though Copé rationalized his full support of the ban by framing it as an issue of security and the type of society in which one would want to live, I think I’ll choose to be wary of misguided rhetoric hiding behind veils, rather than the women expressing their faith in a visible fashion. The solution isn’t simple, but we can begin by giving women full agency.

Elisha Sum is a junior majoring in English and French. He can be reached at Elisha.

Sum@tufts.edu.

OP-ED POLICY The Op-Ed Op-ed section of the Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. Op-Ed 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 Op-ed editors. The opinions expressed in the Op-ed Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Tufts Daily itself.

THE TUFTS DAILY

12 SUDOKU

COMICS

Thursday, February 18, 2010

CROSSWORD

Level: Winning the gold in spite of a bad shin

SOLUTIONS TO TUESDAY’S PUZZLE

WEDNESDAY’S SOLUTION

Wednesday’s Solution

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY

Kerianne: “I’ll show you my thingy and you’ll show me your thingy.”

Sapna: “I don’t know how to show you my thingy.”

Friday, February 19, 5:30pm-7:30pm Screening: 5:30pm, Braker 001 Dinner and Speaker to follow

“A Village Called Versailles” documents the underrepresented perspective of the Vietnamese refugee community in New Orleans East in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It traces the historical trajectory of their migration from villages in North Vietnam to urban America, and the relief, return, and rebuilding efforts after !"#$%&'!#(&')%*#$'$!+,-%."+%/)0%+12)(,+$3% through the eyes of local leaders, the questions of immigrant political empowerment, interracial relations, and intergenerational community formation.

Associate producer LOAN DAO, who will be speaking after the screening, was awarded the May 2009 Yamashita Prize from University of California-Berkeley’s Institute for the Study of Social Change. From an early age, she has been involved in creating social networks and locally-based organizations that provide sites of healing and support for Southeast Asian American communities. She co-founded “VietBAK” (Vietnamese Bay Area Katrina Relief Group) and frequents the Gulf Coast to help with rebuilding and relief efforts, provide translations, and advocate for more resources for the Vietnamese communities.

Sponsored by the Vietnamese Students Club and Asian American Center, through funding from the AS&E Diversity Fund Co-sponsored by American Studies, Anthropology Department, Sociology Department, Asian American Alliance, Anthropology Collective, Filipino Cultural Society, Japanese Culture Club, Leonard Carmichael Society, and Tufts Association of South Asians For more info: asianamcenter@tufts.edu, 617-627-3056

Sports

13

tuftsdaily.com

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

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BY JESSICA

BAL

JAMES CHOCA/TUFTS DAILY

Senior co-captain Andrea Ferri, shown here high jumping in the pentathlon in the Tufts Invitational on Feb. 5, competed on the 4x400-meter relay team that finished 15th among 35 teams at Boston University, with a time less than a second off of the NCAA provisional qualifying mark. second away from qualifying, with Ferri, sophomore Kayley Pettoruto and juniors Andrea Caruth and Kaylee Maykranz finishing in just a shade over four minutes.

Their impressive performance was due in part to Caruth, who had a strong weekend of 400-meter runs all around. Her time of 59.30 seconds in the open 400 was

good enough for the 35th place out of 145 competitors in the event, and just 0.66 seconds away from the provisional mark.

“It was really exciting,” Ferri said. “We’re running a 4x400-meter race next weekend [at the New England meet], and we’re a see WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD, page 15

INSIDE THE OLYMPICS

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

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Hale breaks school record in 1,000-meter

BY

DANIEL RATHMAN

Daily Editorial Board

For those unfamiliar with Olympic pairs figure skating, the Russians are like the NCAA women’s basketball powerhouse Connecticut Huskies. In each of the past 12 Winter Games, beginning at Innsbruck, Austria in 1964, a duo from Russia or the Soviet Union has triumphed with the gold medal. But that remarkable streak came to a screeching halt after Monday night’s free skate, as the veteran Chinese pairing of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo usurped the top spot on the podium.

Shen, 31, and Zhao, 36, began skating competitively in 1992 and were quickly regarded as one of the top pairs in the world. The married couple has won three World Championships (2002, 2003 and 2007), three Four Continents championships (1999, 2003 and 2007) and six Grand Prix Finals championships (2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009) on its ascent up the figure skating ladder. Yet the top Olympic prize eluded Shen and Zhao, as they settled for bronze in each of their first two tries, at Salt Lake City in 2002 and Torino, Italy in 2006.

Their third-place finish in 2002 earned Shen and Zhao the first figure skating medal in Chinese Olympic history, but they were upstaged in those games by a judging controversy that ultimately resulted in two gold medals being awarded: one to the Russians (Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze) and the other to the Canadians (Jamie Salé and David Pelletier).

In the 2006 games, Zhao was plagued by a ruptured Achilles tendon, which cost him and Shen the majority of their preparation time. They persevered to win bronze, nonetheless, but watched compatriots Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao surge past them and take silver in a competition won by Russia’s Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin.

A year later, Shen and Zhao won their third World Championship. Seemingly satisfied without their sport’s ultimate crown, they married and announced their retirement, preferring instead to travel with the show “Stars on Ice.” But the powerful itch for another chance at Olympic gold brought Shen and Zhao back

The ‘sport’ of hockey

I

Daily Editorial Board

Before swapping cards or candy hearts, the women’s track and field team spent Valentine’s Day weekend gearing up for the upcoming Div. III New England Championships with back-to-back meets at BU and MIT. The Jumbos competed at BU on Friday and Saturday in the competitive and crowded Valentine Invitational.

Sophomore Nakeisha Jones led the team on Friday and continued her streak of improvement in the triple jump, placing third out of 20 competitors with a 39-foot, 1.25-inch jump. Jones leapt almost seven inches past the NCAA provisional qualifying distance as early as Jan. 16 with a mark of 37 feet, five inches. Though her performance at BU on Friday ranks her comfortably at the best triple jump mark in Div. III this season, Jones was humble about her success.

“I did pretty well, but I know I can do better,” Jones said. “It hasn’t been my best season.”

Having jumped 40 feet, 10.25 inches for the Tufts program outdoor record in 2009, her standards are high. Now, Jones is looking to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the pentathlon this weekend when she competes in the event at the Div. III New England Championships. Her teammate, senior co-captain Andrea Ferri, has already secured a slot in the pentathlon at the NCAA meet with a score of 3,023 points.

Tufts hovered around NCAA Div. III qualifying marks in several other events, keeping the Jumbos optimistic for the upcoming championship season. Tufts’ 4x400-meter relay team was less than a

DAVID HECK | THE SAUCE

BY

LAUREN FLAMENT

Daily Editorial Board

to the competitive stage last year, and their dedication was finally rewarded.

In Sunday’s short program, Shen and

It appears as though senior quadcaptain Billy Hale’s best performances are coming at the most crucial time in the season.

Hale broke the five-year-old Tufts record in the 1,000-meter run on Saturday at the BU Valentine Invitational, finishing 17th among 83 competitors, as the Jumbos were split last weekend between BU’s meet and the MIT Invitational.

Hale’s time of 2:28.70 broke the previous record of 2:28.93 set by Aaron Kaye (LA ’05) in 2005, and was just one of the many highlights enjoyed by Tufts in the final weekend leading up to the NCAA Div. III Championships.

“Overall, BU was a very good meet,” assistant coach Mark Carberry said.

“It’s the time of the year when you want to see PRs [personal records] and fast times, and that is exactly what the majority did.”

The middle-distance squad had an especially strong meet on Saturday at the Valentine Invitational. In the 800meter run, freshman Dan Kirschner and senior Jason Hanrahan finished in times of 1:55.71 and 1:55.87 to place 37th and 38th, respectively, in a field of 172 athletes. Additionally, Freshman Jeff Marvel ran a personalbest time of 1:56.17 to finish in 45th and win his section.

“My race went pretty well,” Hanrahan said. “I was boxed in for

see OLYMPICS, page 15

see MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD, page 15

MCT

China’s Zhao Hongbo, bottom, and wife Shen Xue won their country’s first pairs skating gold medal and ended a decades-long run of Russian dominance in the event.

love the Winter Olympics. I love the patriotism involved, I love seeing the world’s best athletes compete with so much on the line, and most of all, I love seeing all the obscure sports that I would never watch otherwise: short track speedskating, ski jumping, the biathlon, hockey.

Wait … hockey?

That’s right, Canada. To me, ice hockey is on the same level as Nordic combined — a sport I’ll watch only once every four years.

Part of it, as I said, is the patriotism involved.

If I have the time, I’ll sit through curling if an American has a decent chance at winning it.

Plus, the “Miracle” (2004) effect — the fact that U.S. hockey is almost always a relative underdog — certainly has something to do with it too.

But mostly, it’s because I respect the sport of Olympic hockey far more than I do the NHL version. And it all comes down to one simple thing: the presence of fighting.

The fact that the NHL allows — even encourages — its players to fight makes it less than a sport to me. It makes it a joke.

When two players drop the gloves, the referees skate around them, looking as helpless as WWE officials allowing wrestlers to hit each other with steel chairs and suplex each other through tables. Eventually the hockey refs will stop the fight, just like the WWE refs will eventually signal for the bell to be struck (unless it’s a hardcore match — then anything goes).

But why is fighting so prominent in the first place? I should not be able to compare the NHL, a “sports” league, to the WWE, a theatrical entertainment company.

A lot of people say that fighting should be allowed because it keeps people watching. “It’s just like waiting for a car crash in NASCAR.” But there’s an important difference: NASCAR does not want its drivers to crash, and it will go to great, ratings-damaging lengths to make sure it does not happen.

That was the case over the weekend, when the Daytona 500 was delayed two times for a total of two hours and 24 minutes because of a pothole in the track.

The NHL, in contrast, purposely allows its players to be put in danger. Any sports fan will remember the Todd Bertuzzi-Steve Moore episode in 2004, when Bertuzzi punched Moore in the back of the head and landed on him as Moore slid face-first along the ice. Moore suffered a broken neck and a concussion, among other injuries. He has not appeared in a hockey game since the incident.

Obviously, what Bertuzzi did was despicable, but the NHL bears some of the responsibility too for fostering such a dangerous culture. Nothing like that would happen in another major sports league because the rules of appropriate behavior are perfectly clear. In the NHL, the line is too gray — just ask Bruins fans how they feel about the acceptability of Scott Walker’s sucker punch of Aaron Ward in the playoffs last year.

The difference between fighting and a delay-of-game penalty in the NHL is three extra minutes in the penalty box. In the NFL, a delay of game means a five-yard penalty for the offense, while fighting means ejection, potentially heavy fines and possible suspension (oh, and 15 yards).

I realize that the NHL has gone through tough times over the past few years and that penalizing fighting more appropriately would probably be met with a lot of disdain from fans. But ratings and attendance shouldn’t prevent the league from doing what’s right — for both the safety of the players and the sake of promoting proper sportsmanship.

To the hockey traditionalists out there, watch the Olympic Games and tell me that you can’t enjoy it as much because there are no awkward, unbalanced punches being thrown by men on skates. If you really find that it’s less entertaining, maybe you should take up an interest in ultimate fighting.

David Heck is a senior majoring in philosophy. He can be reached at David.Heck@ tufts.edu.

14

THE TUFTS DAILY

SPORTS

Thursday, February 18, 2010

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most of it, but really the goal for the weekend was to get a seed time for the fast heat of the 800, and I got that. Marvel and Kirschner ran really well, so they should be in the fast heat, too.”

Senior Jesse Faller also posted a strong race on Saturday, running a personal-best time of 8:28.73 in the 3,000-meter run after recently returning from injury. Faller’s time placed him as 31st out of 186.

“The team had a great weekend,” Hanrahan said. “It’s a fast track, and there’s a lot of good competition there. A couple of the sprinters had some really good races.

[Sophomore] Ben Crastnopal came back from injury to run a fast 400, and [freshman] Lomie Cunningham ran a fast 200.”

The Jumbos also sent a portion of their team to MIT, which provided a quality surface for many of Tufts’ athletes hoping to post top scores in field events.

“We went there with the impression that guys who were finishing their season really wanted to peak,” Carberry said. “A lot of guys went out there and ran really tough.

Some of these guys were coming off of injuries and racing for the first time, looking to set up for the outdoor season.”

The Jumbos at MIT were led by junior Frank DeSalvo, who rebounded from an injury to jump 21 feet, 0.5 inches, placing second in the long jump and hitting the Div. III qualifying distance in the process.

“It was a good combination of a bunch of the field events,” Hanrahan said. “It was a good surface for them. Frank had a good jump to qualify, and some other people were wrapping up their season and running PRs.” The Jumbos now look ahead to next weekend when they will battle it out at the New England Div. III Championships, hosted by Bates College on Friday and Saturday.

“The goal of any divisional meet that we always have is to run our best times during the championship meet,” Carberry said. “We can’t dictate how another team is going to run, so all we can do is do the best that we can with the preparation that we put into the entire season. Whereas a place always matters, we’re looking to just do as best we can.”

Tufts won the meet in 2008 — for the first time since 1991 — but fell to Williams and tied MIT for second place last year.

“We’ve lost a little bit in the sprints [from last year],” Carberry said. “But we have a great freshman class that is really deep, and these guys are tough enough to just go out there without any idea what they’re doing.

Overall, I think these guys can run better than they did last year.”

In the past, Tufts has entered the meet with its sights set on beating Williams and MIT, two of the perennial favorites.

However, this year, many more teams will be contending for the championship title, most notably Bates, Bowdoin and the University of Southern Maine.

The meet will open on Friday with the pentathlon, in which Tufts will hope to score points early to head into the running and field events on Saturday in a good position.

“As a team, [our goal] is really just to have our best performances this weekend,” Hanrahan said. “I think we’re ready for it. [We need to] just not worry too much about points, but as a team just run our best and see how it comes out at the end of the day.”

“We have people in every event that have a good shot to score,” Hanrahan continued. “So hopefully we’ll be pretty balanced, and we’ll be able to come out on top.”

15

SPORTS

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second away from qualifying for nationals. Andrea [Caruth] made a huge personal improvement on her 400s last weekend, and based on that, we know she’s going to run well next weekend.”

While the foursome hopes to place in the 4x400 for nationals, senior Logan Crane is still seeking a spot in the 55-meter dash at the NCAA Championships. She ran 7.45 seconds at the Valentine Invitational on Friday, just 0.16 seconds off the NCAA Div. III qualifying time and 0.27 seconds off her program record-breaking time of 7.18 for Tufts in 2008. Despite the strong times, Crane’s performance was not enough to make the final in a stacked field.

At the non-scoring MIT Invitational on Saturday, sophomore Dayorsha Collins returned for her first meet this season after taking a hiatus to play for the women’s basketball team. She cleared 5-feet, 5-inches in the high jump, just 0.25 inches from qualifying for nationals.

“I came back to track because I knew I could contribute to the team, and I missed my teammates and coach,” Collins said. “I was definitely really nervous for my first

meet back. I’m just trying to get back into it and jump the highest I can right now.”

Though a spot in the high jump for the NCAA Championships looks feasible from her results at MIT, Collins is hesitant to get too far ahead of herself after her recent return to the sport.

“I don’t want to think too much about nationals just yet,” she said. “I’m focusing on the next meet and thinking about my team winning.”

Junior Kanku Kabongo proved to be a triple threat at the Invitational on Saturday, taking all levels of the podium across her three events. She won the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 11.25 inches, grabbed second place in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.73 seconds and took third in the triple jump with a mark of 34 feet, 11 inches.

The Jumbos presented a strong showing in several other events at MIT. Freshman Kelly Allen placed second in the shot put, while senior Julia Feltus snagged sixth place in the weight throw.

Freshman Evelyn Orlando continued a strong first season for Tufts, placing fourth in the 3,000-meter with a time of 11:16.18.

Sophomore Heather Theiss was the other

top-five finisher for Tufts on the day, tying for fourth in the pole vault.

The upcoming New England Div. III Championships at the University of Southern Maine on Feb. 19-20 marks a shift in mentality for the women’s team, according to Ferri.

“This is where it all comes together for us as a team,” she said. “We unite — it’s just a different atmosphere. Last weekend was all about doing our personal best, and the next meet is about placing and beating the competition.”

Ferri said the Tufts team has an eye on rival Williams, a competitor it has not overcome since the Div. III meet in 2008.

“We always want to win this meet, so now it’s more about doing the best you can to get the most points for your team, and I think we have a good shot,” Collins said. “This year I’ve noticed a lot more people really into it, really focused in on doing what they need to do to contribute to the team.”

“I think that we’ve all worked really hard and have a good shot at doing well,” Jones added. “Of course I want to PR, but the win would definitely be more important.

We all want to win this.”

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continued from page 1

and led the Jumbos with a scoring average of 16.5 points per game, good enough for third in the NESCAC. Over the course of the next two seasons, Pierce’s role on the team only grew. He led the NESCAC in scoring each of the next two seasons with averages of 21.5 and 21.7 points, respectively, while also improving his rebounding to the point where he led the conference in the 2008-09 season. He was also asked to step up his game on the other side of the court, becoming the quarterback of the defense as his basketball IQ began to soar.

“For Jon and I, it’s at the point now where I lean on him for advice,” said Pierce’s former Exeter coach Jay Tilton, who speaks with Pierce every week and was on hand to see him set the scoring record. “I’ve been a coach for 18 years, a handful at the collegiate level, and I rely on Jon when we’re having some struggles to give some perspective on what the big picture is and what our mission is.”

Following his junior season, Pierce realized for the first time that he was on pace to break the Tufts scoring record. The moment finally came during a Feb. 2 home game against UMass Dartmouth, when he netted 24 points to surpass the 24-year-old record of former basketball star Greg Davis (LA ’86).

When asked about how he felt about seeing his record broken, Davis showed a perspective similar to that of Pierce.

“Well, it’s interesting, because I just sent Jon a note congratulating him on breaking the record, and in that note I mentioned to him that I always knew it was just a matter of time before someone broke my record,” said Davis, who now works as an attorney for Travelers Insurance Companies in Hartford, Conn. “I was very pleased to have him break my record, because he’s a nice young guy who works hard ... And being in second place is still OK, because it’s still in the books.”

Davis, a true three whose game revolved mostly around outside shooting, was quick to point out, however, that there was no three-point line during his time at Tufts — the rule was instituted in the NESCAC the year after he graduated.

“I always joked with coach Sheldon [the assistant coach during my senior year] that I took a lot of three-point shots and never got credit for them,” Davis said. “I’d say [I would have scored] quite a few [more points].”

But even though Pierce had the benefit of the three-point arc — from which he drained shots 126 times in his career — Sheldon doesn’t think that takes away from the legitimacy of Pierce’s record.

“Jon’s right up there in the top two or three [players I’ve coached],” Sheldon said.

“It’s hard to compare different positions, but I’d say he’s the best all-time big man I’ve ever had.”

While Pierce is now immortalized in the Tufts record books, he is not entirely satis-

fied with his collegiate basketball career. The only time Pierce made it to the playoffs was his first year, when the Jumbos bowed out in the first round.

“I regret that we didn’t win, and that’s going be something that I’m going regret for the rest of my life — that my college career didn’t end with wins,” Pierce said. “And I would sacrifice every single one of those 1,800-odd points if we could’ve played in one NESCAC title game. Just played in one. And I truly mean that.

“But at the same time, the memories and the bonds that I made with these guys, those are friendships that are going to last for the rest of our lives, hopefully,” he continued.

“So that’s something that happens regardless of winning or losing, and that’s probably the biggest lesson I took away from the whole process.”

In the future, Pierce plans to spend a year or two playing professional ball in Europe before eventually applying to law school.

But no matter what endeavor he pursues, as long as he keeps the same resolve he’s demonstrated his entire life, those who know Pierce know he’ll end up succeeding.

“A lot of people say Jon’s a survivor, but he’s more than that,” Tilton said. “He’s a thriver; he gets the most out of every opportunity put in front of him. I think he has a sense of integrity about him, and he understands how to handle adversity more so than most people do. He’s going to do well no matter what he chooses to do.”

K3//)%-$/(#%-.&+4"&,$"-$7%)#/$E).3#+$/>%()-.$."&,$+-,/ OLYMPICS

continued from page 13

Zhao delivered a flawless performance to Queen’s “Who Wants to Live Forever.” Their stunning jumps and synchronicity earned them a score of 76.66, the highest-ever total awarded for the pairs short program under the International Skating Union (ISU) Judging System. Still, the No. 1-ranked German pairing of Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy was just seven-tenths of a point behind, and the Russian duo of Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov was in third-place at 74.16.

Come Monday, jumps proved to be the Russians’ undoing, as Kavaguti bailed out after three rotations of a quadruple salchow, nearly lost her balance and threw the

program out of rhythm. Smirnov was then unable to complete the second jump of a double-axel sequence, and after Kavaguti fell on a throw triple loop, the pair’s medal hopes were dashed.

The Germans were also relatively unspectacular, as Savchenko completed only two of three rotations on the second jump of a triple toe-loop sequence, and Szolkowy tumbled on a double axel. They were fortunate to cling to third place and earn bronze.

When all was said and done, Monday night belonged to the Chinese. The country’s other pairing, Pang Qing and Tong Jian, ranked fourth after the short program, was brilliant in the free skate, posting the top score in the longer event and surging to the overall silver medal.

But Shen and Zhao needed only a solid effort to clinch their country’s first-ever Olympic gold in figure skating, and they provided just that. Their only blemish came on an axel lasso lift, when Shen slipped and had to slide down Zhao’s back to land safely on the ice, and the seasoned duo still had more than three points to spare, as they prevailed over their countrymen 216.57 to 213.31. They cleared the top-ranked Russian duo by nearly 20 points.

Thus, the role reversal was complete. After decades of dominance, the Russian team will head back to the drawing board to prepare to host the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. For Shen, Zhao and their fellow Chinese, on the other hand, Monday night’s gold-silver performance was a lifelong dream come true.

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THE TUFTS DAILY

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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thanks! from!the!Beelzebubs!Alumni!Association!!

In December, the administration, the faculty and the whole Tufts community made it possible for the Beelzebubs to spread “fun through song” to their biggest audience yet.

We are truly grateful for the ongoing support of President Bacow, Provost Bharucha, Dean Reitman and the Tufts faculty. Without you, the Bubs’ success would not have been possible.

To the students, parents and alumni who watched and voted, thanks for your encouragement.

And to the 2009 – 2010

Congratulations!

You elevated collegiate a cappella to new heights, and made the entire Tufts community proud.

To learn more about Bubs giving back to the community, supporting music education in the greater Boston area, and teaching a cappella music to local students, please visit www.bubsfoundation.org.

Paid for by the Beezebubs Alumni Association – helping Bubs do amazing things.