2010-03-04

Wintry Mix 37/28

THE TUFTS DAILY

TUFTSDAILY.COM

THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010

VOLUME LIX, NUMBER 24

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Tufts sexual assault policy under scrutiny

BY SAUMYA VAISHAMPAYAN

Daily Editorial Board

TIEN TIEN/TUFTS DAILY

The Senate has disbursed all of the money in this year’s buffer fund.

Senate exhausts buffer funds for the year BY

BRENT YARNELL

Daily Editorial Board

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate has spent all of the money in its buffer fund, the portion of its budget that is spent on unexpected costs. Groups seeking Senate funding will have to wait until the fall semester to seek financial backing.

Besides funding newly formed groups, the buffer fund is meant to cover unanticipated expenses, according

to TCU Assistant Treasurer Ard Ardalan. It also goes toward providing funds for student organizations newly recognized over the course of the year.

“Say a DJ costs more than you thought it would … Or say you’re [Media Advocacy Board] lab and a computer breaks, you’d have to go to the buffer fund for that,” Ardalan, a freshman, said. “It helps us fund things that are needed throughout the year.”

TCU Treasurer Aaron Bartel, a sophomore, said that while student groups can no longer get see BUFFER, page 2

Data from the U.S. Department of Justice revealed that sexual assault cases at 10 surveyed New England universities and colleges, including Tufts, have hardly ever resulted in severe sanctions for perpetrators.

Only four of the 240 alleged assaults reported between 2003 and 2008 at the schools surveyed resulted in expulsions, although the Justice Department numbers only cover the years in which the individual schools received grants and were therefore required to report sexual assault statistics.

At Tufts specifically, 13 cases were brought forward over this time period. Of these cases, one resulted in suspension, two were dismissed at the hearing stage because of a lack of evidence, and the remaining ten cases were settled through mediation or stay-away orders, according to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman.

Tufts and other institutions were required to report assault cases under a Justice Department grant program that sought to increase assistance for victimized females on campus. The university has, since 1999, received $1.3 million in grant funds, and The Boston Globe reported that none of the alleged perpetrators at Tufts have been issued reprimands or been sent for counseling.

Responding to the data, uni-

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Perpetrators of sexual assault on college campuses tend not to face harsh disciplinary action, data shows. versity officials like Reitman and Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler stressed that reports such as The Boston Globe’s article ignore other

measures Tufts uses to handle sexual assault allegations.

Many individuals interviewed see SEXUAL ASSAULT, page 2

This semester’s Cause Dinner sees record participation BY

CORINNE SEGAL

Daily Editorial Board

This semester’s Cause Dinner, held on Tuesday at Carmichael and Dewick-MacPhie Dining Halls in support of the Tufts Haiti Relief Coalition (HRC), raised the most amount of money in the event’s history.

“We shattered the records,” junior Moises Cohen, an event coordinator, said. “No one has gotten so much [money] before.”

Dining Services every semester co-hosts the Cause Dinner with the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate to support undergraduate charity initiatives. A portion of each participating student’s dinner is donated to a Tufts-affiliated organization. Groups apply to receive the money, and the TCU Senate Services Committee selects the eventual recipient.

Senators this semester chose Tufts HRC, which consists of several student groups that have combined fundraising efforts to help Haitian communities damaged by the earthquake. Participating groups include the International Relations Honors Society, RESPE: Haiti, the Senate, the Freshman Class Council, Chabad, One World, the International Relations Director’s Leadership Council and the Jackson Jills.

Senator Dan Pasternack, a junior and cochair of the Services Committee, explained that Dining Services had requested that the funds go to benefit Haiti because many of the

staff are Haitian and were personally affected by the earthquake. He also noted that some of the senators had personal ties to the disaster as well.

Senator Ard Ardalan, a freshman on the Services Committee, said the decision to focus efforts on Haiti was a natural one.

“We felt like this year … we were going to do Haiti because we were making the choice at about the time that the earthquake happened,” he said. “It just made a lot of sense.”

Senior Helaina Stein, co-leader of Tufts HRC, said that a preliminary estimate showed that the event raised at least $3,000. Over 1,600 students signed up to donate the cost of a meal, according to Cohen.

Volunteers from the involved student organizations mobilized to encourage students to donate a meal. “It came down to grabbing them for 20 seconds and saying, ‘Come, donate the cost of a meal,’” Stein said.

“For the amount of organization that we put in, I definitely think we got a great return.”

Ardalan attributed the Cause Dinner’s success to the efforts of the volunteers and the fact that the cause resonated with students.

“I felt like [HRC] was much more proactive than groups in the past, and that was reflected in the numbers,” he said. “I feel like the credit really goes to that group of students …

They did an amazing job. It’s a compound of really good leadership and students’ concern for Haiti.”

Stein added that the ease of making a donation was another factor in the fundraiser’s success. “It was really successful because it didn’t take much time out of

Inside this issue

TIEN TIEN/TUFTS DAILY

This semester’s Cause Dinner raised a record amount of money for Haiti relief efforts. people’s day,” she said.

Tufts HRC will donate the proceeds to Partners In Health, an organization currently working in Haiti, which aids communities in efforts to treat disease and alleviate poverty.

Cohen explained that HRC chose to donate the funds raised to Partners In Health because of its prominence in the field.

“We’ve just heard that Partners in Health is the best,” he said. “We’ve done some research into it and figured out that this is the best place.”

Associate Director of Dining Services Ralph Perrotto said that Dining Services see CAUSE DINNER, page 2

Today’s Sections

Tufts students explore new Internet phenomenon Chatroulette.

The Daily Arts Department makes picks for Sunday’s Academy Awards.

see FEATURES, page 3

see WEEKENDER, page 5

News Features Weekender Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 10

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

11 12 13 Back

THE TUFTS DAILY

2

Thursday, March 4, 2010

NEWS

University’s sexual assault policy under review SEXUAL ASSAULT continued from page 1

by the Daily indicated that unclear procedures for handling sexual assault cases at Tufts could explain the low number of sexual assault hearings and the lenient disciplinary consequences for perpetrators.

According to senior Alexandra Flanagan, president of the Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER), confusion surrounding the sexual assault policy exacerbates the problem of underreporting.

“The need for change is made glaringly clear from the Tufts [sexual assault] policy,” Flanagan said. “After hearing stories from survivors, we realized the real need for a policy that is clear, comprehensive and unbiased.

Survivors need to know what to do step by step.”

Current Policy There are currently four options available to victims and perpetrators of sexual assault, Reitman explained.

The victim can choose to pursue a university hearing, which could lead to expulsion or suspension if sufficient evidence is available; seek a campus stayaway order, which does not have any disciplinary consequences for the perpetrator but prevents all forms of contact; or engage in mediation, in which both parties try to reach an outcome.

The final option is for the accused party to withdraw from Tufts, which is the most common way for the perpetrator to leave the university, according to Reitman. However, a student who withdraws with a pending sexual assault hearing will have a permanent record of the disciplinary charges on his transcript.

Reitman added that victims are not restricted to one option. For instance, if the desired disciplin-

ary action is not reached through mediation, the victim still has the option of seeking a hearing.

Criticisms Mediation, however, is a controversial means of resolving sexual assault cases and is not supported by the Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Education.

Colby Bruno, an attorney with the Victim Rights Law Center in Boston, explained that using mediation ignores the victim’s fear, the most basic psychological effect of sexual assault.

“Mediation fails to take into account the power and control dynamic that is always involved with a rape or assault,” Bruno said. “The reality is that the victim has nothing to gain by mediation with her perpetrator, so it is an already imbalanced methodology.”

Bruno added that although Tufts makes available to victims the option of a campus stay-away order, it is not a sanction on the perpetrator — stay-away orders do not go on a disciplinary record — and should in fact be automatically granted to all survivors.

“A stay-away order is the least amount of protection that a school should give to a victim that has complained of a sexual assault or rape,” he said. “I would not categorize it as a disciplinary measure, but as a safety measure.”

Shalini Vivek, another attorney with the Victim Rights Law Center, disagrees with Tufts’ current judicial process that prevents attorneys from accompanying students to university hearings or mediation sessions in sexual assault cases. Sexual assault victims, Vivek said, need more support when facing the perpetrator.

This policy, Flanagan said, is an example of how alleged sexual

Justice Department sexual assault data

assault cases are handled differently from other types of disciplinary infractions.

“We think it isn’t really fair that the procedure is the same for plagiarism as it is for sexual assault,” she said.

Beyond the need for a new sexual assault policy, Bruno and Vivek both believe that the greater issue is the policy’s implementation, especially the question of university officials’ impartiality.

“Any person in the administration who makes decisions that affect the case also makes decisions about liability to the university, which is not objective,” Bruno said.

Change Reitman emphasized that the sexual assault policy has been undergoing review and discussions about how best to revise it are underway. SAFER has been working closely with the administration to amend the sexual assault policy.

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate is also currently working on a resolution concerning changes to the policy.

Freshman Wyatt Cadley, the senator on the Administration and Policy Committee who is working on the resolution, said that it will highlight the need to clarify the judicial process and codify a list of resources available for victims. He hopes that a new policy will be in place by the next academic year. “[The resolution] expresses our support for ideas put forth by Health Service and SAFER … and emphasize[s] that we need a new sexual assault policy quickly,” he said. “It will be unacceptable if there is not a new policy by the time we come back for the new semester.”

Retiman noted that one aspect of the sexual assault policy that may change is the mediation option.

10 New England schools receiving Justice Department grants reported 240 alleged assaults between 2005 and 2008.

The schools reported four resulting expulsions and a total of 24 suspensions.

Sanctions were issued to perpetrators in 59 cases.

University of Massachusetts Amherst reported a total of 54 sexual assaults over the five-year period for itself and four other colleges: Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith.

42 of the UMass-reported cases went to review boards; 26 were from UMass itself.

Flanagan highlighted differentiating the sexual assault judicial process from the process for dealing with other disciplinary infractions as one of the main changes SAFER is pushing for.

She also, along with Cadley, emphasized the need for clearer standards for university officials handling sexual assault cases. “[The policy] leaves a lot of discretion to the administration,” Cadley said. “We need a policy that clearly outlines to the student body what is going to happen in these instances and hold[s] administrators accountable to this policy.”

University officials noted that prior to this ongoing review of the sexual assault policy, efforts had already been taken to improve the handling of sexual assaults on campus and increase awareness about the policy.

According to Senior Director of Health and Wellness Service

Tufts reported 48 sexual assaults, no expulsions, no suspensions and no counseling orders.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology said that out of 19 cases reported, 10 victims chose not to pursue disciplinary action, four cases were dropped due to insufficient evidence, and the rest resulted in no sanctions.

Salem State College reported eight alleged assaults and one suspension.

Northeastern University reported 18 alleged assaults, one suspension, one expulsion and one counseling order.

—compiled by Ellen Kan Michelle Bowdler, the grant that Tufts received from the Justice Department between 1999 and 2007 has been used to increase campus education and implement measures to prevent sexual assault.

Bowdler explained that the grant funded programs such as police trainings, educational efforts and policy revision. She cited the increase in reporting of sexual assaults over this time period as an indicator of its success on campus.

“The fact that our numbers went up is an indication that students feel more comfortable with reporting,” Bowdler said.

Director of Health Education Ian Wong said that Tufts over the past year held two community forums on the sexual assault policy, and last semester’s forum led to the creation of a clearer sexual assault Web site for the Tufts community.

This year’s buffer funds have been completely spent BUFFER continued from page 1

funding, any groups that needed funding should have obtained it by now because the Allocations Board (ALBO) in the fall funds groups’ year-long expenditures.

“You can see that the spring expenditures were far less, and far fewer groups came in requesting money,” Bartel said, “which makes sense, because all we really fund through the buffer fund is the next two months of school, and if groups needed money, they would probably have needed it in the beginning of the year.”

Ardalan echoed this sentiment, saying that the timing was right for the buffer fund to run out. “It’s really good, considering we’re in budgeting season, so it’s a good time to end the buffer fund.”

The buffer fund this year contained about $85,000, an increase from last year, according to Bartel. Former TCU Treasurer Matt Shapanka (LA ’09) said that the previous year’s buffer fund contained between $40,000 and $45,000.

This growth in the size of the buffer fund does not represent an overall increase in spending, but rather a shift in the way the money is spent, according to Bartel. “It reflects the way we budget,” he said.

Bartel explained that the treasury factors student groups’ fixed expenses into the budget, while making use of the buffer fund’s flexibility to accommodate groups whose projected costs are variable and subject to change.

“For events like speakers, which we don’t know how much they’re going to cost, we tell groups here’s some money, but come back for the rest when you know who you’re bringing,” he said.

Shapanka added that although the buffer fund has doubled from approximately $40,000 to $85,000, the change represented a tiny shift in the TCU’s overall budget.

“The Senate budgets $1.2 million and has some money left over and throws it into the buffer fund,” he told the Daily.

“So the buffer fund is $85,000 versus $1.2 million. That’s a tiny, tiny amount.”

Besides using the buffer fund, the Senate can also fund groups through the co-sponsorship budget or the Senate surplus, which is comprised of the portion of money allocated to student organizations that goes unspent. There is $2,000 in the co-sponsorship budget, according to Bartel.

Allocations for this year’s buffer fund came almost entirely from the surplus because the Senate last spring voted to spend approximately $50,000 from the buffer fund to make TCU groups’ oncampus events free to attend. This nearly exhausted the buffer fund, leaving $800 in it.

The Senate’s decision to cut buffer funds at the time raised questions about the sustainability of the plan.

Such a move, some thought, would have adverse effects on student groups that needed funding.

The $800 left in the buffer fund was eventually supplemented by a reallocation of $84,000 from the surplus, according to Bartel.

Some members of the previous Senate expressed concerns, however, about the wisdom of budgeting out of the surplus, which generally acts as a cushion.

Bartel, however, in his State of the Treasury speech at the start of this academic year, offered his assurance about the health of the surplus and the TCU treasury’s overall financial situation.

He noted that he plans to slightly decrease the money allocated to next year’s buffer fund, allowing the next treasurer to decide if money from the surplus should be added to it or be spent elsewhere.

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Carmichael will be giving out trophies at its own version of the Academy Awards.

Carmichael hosting award dinner CAUSE DINNER continued from page 1

approximately 30 years ago started holding Cause Dinners every semester in response to student groups’ solicitations for donations.

“Many student groups would like to utilize or ask dining for donations, and it’s just not something we could possibly do for all the groups that are interested in doing it,” Perrotto said.

Stein said the Tufts HRC will continue to run fundraisers throughout the semester to help the Haitian cause.

Carmichael is currently running another special dining event for students and will offer its own version of the Academy Awards during tonight’s dinner, with theme awards in six categories up for grabs along with a chef trophy award.

Voting began on Feb. 25, asking students to vote for their favorite theme event from the past year in categories including holiday meals, night events and diningaround-the-world events. Students have up until lunch today to vote.

David Kelley, unit manager for Carmichael, said that theme nights and awards serve as inspiration for employees, who serve approximately 2,000 students per day. “It’s a great motivator for the employees to get involved in it,” he said.

The dining hall’s location necessitated creativity on the part of dining hall staff, according to Kelley.

“Uphill, we don’t have as many students so we have to come up with theme events,” he said. “Outside the box, we try to think of fun things to do.”

Features

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tuftsdaily.com

Students take a gamble with Chatroulette New networking site draws disgust and excitement from Jumbos

BY SARAH

BLISS

Senior Staff Writer

As the newest incarnation of instant Web connectivity, Chatroulette.com has been leaving users in an excited frenzy over a fresh form of cyber exposure.

Users beware, though: All who enter do so at their own risk. Five minutes on the site might result in seeing and speaking with anyone from a group of partygoers in Berlin to a silent pornographic image to a lonely student living only a few miles away.

The Web site provides users with a means of communicating with complete strangers anywhere in the world using text-, webcam- and microphone-based chat. Users have the option to “next” chat partners whom they find to be boring or unsavory. Developed by 17-year-old Russian Andrey Ternovskiy in November 2009, the site has soared in popularity and garnered over one million different users in January alone, according to a recent Associated Press article.

The Web site’s creator had remained a mystery until a few weeks ago, when Ternovskiy revealed his identity to The New York Times’ Bits blog.

Although Chatroulette has taken Internet communication to the next level of visibility, it isn’t necessarily a new phenomenon, according to Experimental College lecturer Philip Primack. Primack hasn’t yet used the site but is familiar with it.

“It is bringing back the old chat room: instant access, instant connection,” Primack said.

Chatroulette has certainly caught the attention of the Jumbo community, as experimenting with the Web site in different environments has proved to be an amusing distraction for some students.

Senior Sarah Ullman was introduced to Chatroulette while rehearsing for the play “Hedda Gabler” earlier this semester in the dressing room of the Aidekman Arts Center.

“When we finally got Internet in the dressing rooms, a whole new world opened up,” Ullman said. “Someone told me about Chatroulette right then, and we went on so much while we were hanging out.”

The context in which Ullman and her friend participated on the site proved to enhance their amusement with the site.

“When I used Chatroulette, we were in costume. My friend had a maid costume on because she played a maid in the show,” Ullman said. “A lot of funny reactions were from people who were really into the fact that we were in costume.”

Others, like senior Charlotte Steinway, have chosen to use the site as a “pregame” to their evening, with many students sitting around the computer playing the

DANAI MACRIDI/TUFTS DAILY

Students brave enough to click the “play” button have a wide range of experiences on Chatroulette.com. game prior to leaving for a party or event.

“I’ve been on the site about 10 times since I first heard about it. Initially, I took baby steps into ‘chatrouletting’ — starting with a huge group of friends as an activity before going out, but I slowly built up the courage to do it alone,” Steinway said. “It’s more fun that way because you can actually have conversations with people.”

With virtually no monitoring apart from the ability to report other users with a click of a button, Chatroulette offers a potent taste of cyber freedom, which Primack notes can go both ways.

“Chatroulette becomes a symbol for everything that is so great about the Internet and everything that isn’t so great,” Primack said. “The bad news is it ratchets up some of the negative issues like voyeurism, stalkers, risks to children and the Wild West aspect of the Internet.”

Accordingly, students have had experi-

ences on the site that cater to both ends of the Internet spectrum.

“As a sociology major, I find the Web site fascinating. I don’t know if it’s the fact that it lacks social norms, enables a kind of rapid conversation not found in other forums, or that it randomly links you with strangers — not contingent on any basis of former knowledge or general selectivity,” Steinway said. “It’s a leveling device for social interaction. Chatroulette doesn’t discriminate by age, race or class — it only requires that users have a computer.”

Though Steinway cited one of her favorite experiences on the site as the time she met a middle-aged woman who turned out to be a landlord at Tufts, even such instances of “it’s a small world” don’t trump other memorably odd faceto-face interactions. see ROULETTE, page 4

Students cite redundancy of purpose of the social networking tool BY

ROBIN CAROL

Is the newest Google.com rollout a “G-force” to be reckoned with or just a flop?

Gmail users everywhere were recently introduced to Google Buzz, a new social networking tool that combines Gmail contacts with features of Facebook.com and Twitter.com.

Billed as a way to combat user’s feelings of being overwhelmed by an excess of social media, Buzz appears as a tab on the Gmail Web site and allows users to link their accounts from Web sites like Twitter, Flickr.com and Google’s own Picasa.com so that their social media activity appears in one integrated feed.

Facebook is noticeably missing from the list of Web sites currently supported by Google Buzz.

Thus far, students’ reactions to Buzz have been primarily negative.

Consider the smørrebrød

I

The buzz on Google Buzz is far from positive Daily Editorial Board

BEN KOCHMAN | BETWEEN THE SLICES

“I set it on for a day, and I didn’t like it,” freshman Abha Gallewale said. “It was too much going on, and I liked it simpler. I like that they still have the option that you can keep it the old way.”

Junior Kyle Sicus did just that. “I removed it from my account the second that I saw it was there,” he said. “I needed to minimize distractions in my electronic life.”

“I use Gmail all the time. [Buzz] came up on my Gmail, and I was like, ‘What is this?’ One of my friends uses it a lot, and she shares really cool pictures,” sophomore Emily Clayton said. “I don’t see how it’s different from other social media or why it’s necessary. For older people who don’t have Facebook, it might be useful.”

Freshman Noam Shmueli feels that Buzz’s similarity to Facebook is a detriment. “I just think they’re just trying to do a Facebook thing, and it’s just

stupid,” Shmueli said. “We’re already on Facebook. Google is the best e-mail client, but we’re not going to start buzzing or whatever.”

In addition to the question of whether another social media tool is necessary, initial complaints about Buzz focused on potential privacy concerns of the new feature. Frequently e-mailed contacts were made public and visible to others — causing an uproar and forcing Google to quickly make changes to Buzz’s settings.

“We quickly realized that we didn’t get everything quite right. We’re very sorry for the concern we’ve caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback.

We’ll continue to do so,” Gmail and Google Buzz Product Manager Todd Jackson wrote in an entry on the official Gmail blog. see BUZZ, page 4

would like to preface what I am about to say with the fact that — albeit with a few exceptions of course — I really do like Danish people. Danish culture has many admirable qualities. Forbes consistently ranks Denmark as one of the best countries for business in the world; plus their pastries are consistently mind-blowing. And while I know that this might be a little provocative, I firmly believe that Jan “Big Mag” Magnussen is the greatest F1 racer of all time.

But with that shameless attempt to pander to my Danish readers aside, here’s the bitter truth: With regard to sandwiches, the Danish are clueless.

In Denmark, you see, the “sandwich” of choice for millions of people is the smørrebrød — one piece of dark brown bread (usually rye) topped with meat, cheese, fish or a spread, and then topped with a garnish of herbs or capers. Other countries in Scandinavia have embraced a similar concept (the Swedes call it the “smörgas,” for example) for what they call an “openfaced” sandwich.

The concept of an “open-faced” sandwich has always made me uncomfortable. After all, when Earl John Montagu invented the sandwich back in 1762, one of the creation’s unique properties was that it enabled him to both gamble and eat at the same time without his fingers getting greasy. A true sandwich allows the eater to have food in a mobile container; it is a food of both deliciousness and convenience. Using only one slice of bread negates this purpose, and while a smørrebrød may be tasty, it is often consumed with a fork and knife.

To back up my argument I turned to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, usually considered a valid source of information. I saw first this entry for the word sandwich: “two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between.”

OK I thought; that seems right. The inclusion of the split roll is a smart touch, since I couldn’t live with a lobster roll not being viewed as a sandwich. But then I read the second Merriam-Webster definition: “one slice of bread covered with food.”

Oh. My. God. It’s not that my personal view of what constitutes a sandwich is necessarily rigid and inflexible. Wraps and burritos may not be technically sandwiches in that they don’t have two slices, but they do share the essential sandwich characteristic of one being able to hold it with one’s hands and devour it that way. I would call a burrito a close cousin of the sandwich; maybe not a blood relative, but still family.

But others must feel differently. In the 2006 state Superior Court case of Panera Bread v. Qdoba Mexican Grill, a judge in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts ruled that a burrito was not a sandwich. So, Merriam-Webster, you’re telling me that I should live my life accepting that rice, beans and meat wrapped in a tortilla isn’t a sandwich, but that one piece of bread with scrambled eggs and anchovy paste spread on it — what the English call the “Scotch woodcock” — is a sandwich?

It’s not that the smørrebrød or the Scotch woodcock isn’t a tasty meal. There are actually a lot of positive attributes to these onesliced foods: a decreased calorie count, for example, or the fact that one can see all of the vibrant colors of the ingredients instead of being reduced to viewing the contents only in profile if you cut a sandwich in half.

But the concept of a sandwich implies a relationship of a filling being between two pieces of bread. A filling is clearly not here: Solely a topping does not make a sandwich.

If we go around calling any food on top of bread a sandwich, then we are in danger of pizza being dubbed a sandwich as well.

So I ask you, Merriam-Webster: Can you live with that?

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

THE TUFTS DAILY

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Thursday, March 4, 2010

FEATURES

Both violent scenes and friendly neighbors can be found on Chatroulette ROULETTE continued from page 3

GOOGLE.COM

Google Buzz has been hit with negative press regarding its usefulness and privacy concerns.

Students dissatisfied with Google Buzz BUZZ continued from page 3

“It has you automatically follow people. Some are my professors and some of my dad’s friends — people who I don’t want in my social media,” sophomore Rebecca Grunberg said. “I’m like, I don’t want to follow your Buzz because it’s anyone I’ve ever sent an e-mail to before. If you’re following random people and they can see your contacts, you don’t get to choose. It just showed up. They didn’t tell us it would show up to people I e-mailed.

I feel like on Facebook there’s an expectation that people can see it, but on your e-mail, it’s not like that.”

Senior Lucía Flores had similar sentiments. “I have a Twitter and I use it frequently. I have no problem going on Twitter.com,

so what is the purpose? It’s all very distracting from my e-mail.

Google Buzz came around three weeks after the start of the semester, and I was still trying to get into classes, so I was e-mailing professors. An English professor was automatically one of my followers, so it was awkward to see her in my contact list.”

Clayton said that there is an understanding that social media tools will always decrease privacy.

“Things that give you more contact with people make you more vulnerable. I don’t want to say there’s deception,” she said. “But Gmail is very simplified, and another thing that just ends up giving you more information is unhelpful.”

Carter Rogers contributed reporting to this article.

“Once a 90-year-old man was dancing in a diaper to carnival music, which I witnessed while procrastinating from studying in Tisch,” Steinway said.

Junior Michael Goldsmith plays Chatroulette between three and five times per week — and like Steinway, typically with a large group of friends before partying.

“I think the funniest thing I’ve encountered while using the Web site was a woman who sucked on her own toes at my command,” Goldsmith said.

Not every Chatroulette conversation is notable for its tame entertainment value.

“It feels sort of illicit — it’s a little bit scary who will come up next. You talk to some pretty strange people,” Ullman said. “It’s actually pretty repulsive when you see things you don’t want to see. I’ve seen some body parts and some pretty graphic scenes of self-harm, and that sort of takes the whole fun out of the experience. It’s part of what you get when you play.”

Ullman expressed concern for the potential for people to use the site as a venue for doing things that are harmful to themselves or to others.

“I take issues of suicide and depression very seriously, so to see an image of someone on Chatroulette hanging there or on the floor dead is worrisome,” Ullman said. “My friend told me once that some of the images are from weird movies that I’ve never seen, so they aren’t real, but I obviously didn’t know that, and it doesn’t sit right.”

Steinway also has felt unnerved by certain events or

images on the screen.

“Initially, I was shaken by the people who just troll — post fake images of bizarre things, including pornographic and overtly violent devices — especially this one image that I took to be a suicide,” Steinway said. “Luckily, I soon learned that those are false images used solely to illicit a visceral reaction.”

Goldsmith, on the contrary, said that at this point, very little left on the Internet is of extreme shock value, and he feels totally desensitized to what Chatroulette has to offer.

Still, pornographic and violent images or videos are precisely the reason for the choice some students make to stay away from the site.

“It freaks me out. It seems like such an invasion of privacy,” senior Lisa Tse said. “It is kind of cool in a way because you are speaking with and seeing people that could be anywhere in the world, but there is no screening process.”

In the event of an offensive or potentially damaging scene viewed on Chatroulette, Primack said that current Internet laws promise few if any consequences to Chatroulette.

“Right now, the laws on the Internet are very amorphous at best. Under federal court rulings to date, it’s pretty safe to say that Chatroulette is immune from legal action,” Primack said. “The courts have rules that an Internet service provider is not responsible for the content on its site. The individual is not immune, but Chatroulette is immune.”

Recalling the banning of gossip site JuicyCampus.com from some university servers across the

nation, Primack noted that the promotion of student wellbeing is a difficult task.

“The university pretty much has the right to control its own servers, but is that restricting the rights of students?” Primack said.

“I wonder if you’re going to start seeing serious attention paid to stricter Internet regulation, and if so, how do you do it in a way that does not undermine the First Amendment, doesn’t undermine creativity, but does give some value back to the rights and privacy of the individual?”

Despite the controversy, many agree that the popularity of Chatroulette signifies something — whether positive, negative or both — about the present generation of young adults.

“Even more so than social networking sites like Facebook[.com] and Twitter[.com], Chatroulette captures our unique generational zeitgeist in its lack of structure and unrestricted mode of discourse,” Goldsmith said.

Steinway argued that Chatroulette is heavily representative of our affinity for self-exposure.

“Chatroulette’s popularity indicates that our generation is willing to push the boundaries once more in terms of how much we are willing to reveal ourselves in the digital realm,” Steinway said.

Junior Henry Rea, who has never used the site due to lack of interest, agreed with that rationale.

“The more wholesome explanation is that the fact that people are getting more connected allows them to take advantage of things like this, but I think our generation also enjoys the exposure and self-advertisement,” Rea said.

Tufts Financial Group Speaker Series Presents DAVID CHANG (A’01)

Commodities Portfolio Manager Wellington Management Join us as David sheds light on the current commodities market

Thursday, March 4th 7 PM Join usDavid Chang (A’01)Center, sheds Room light on current Cabot Intercultural 206

commodities market

Pizza and refreshments will be served

Weekender ARTS & LIVING

5

tuftsdaily.com

‘AND THE W NNER IS...’

PHOTOS BY KRISTEN COLLINS/TUFTS DAILY; DESIGN BY ALLY GIMBEL

Arts department editors discuss their picks and predictions for the upcoming Oscars BY

ZACH DRUCKER

Daily Editorial Board

In preparation for the upcoming 82nd Academy Awards (March 7, 8:30 p.m. on ABC), Executive Arts Editor Catherine Scott, Movies Editor Charissa Ng and Assistant Arts Editor and one of the Bad Samaritans Zach Drucker sat down to discuss their Oscar predictions.

a big sob story for her in this one.

CN: What else is new?

CS: I think the pool of female roles for this year, both leading and supporting, was incredibly weak. Did either of you see “Nine?”

Messenger” is a hard sell because “The Hurt Locker” is getting so much attention that it’s hard to sell two war movies in one year.

Actress in a Leading Role CS: This is one of the exciting ones. A lot of people are saying Sandra Bullock [“The Blind Side”], which is a big surprise for this year, but it could also go to Meryl Streep [“Julie and Julia”].

CN: To be honest, I was a little frustrated when I saw that she was nominated. It’s gotten to a point where it’s just because she’s Meryl Streep. Granted, she’s a phenomenal actress. I think she did a great job with the role [of Julia Child], but I don’t think there was anything new.

CS: Yeah, I fell asleep during “Julie and Julia.” My theory about Meryl Streep, why she hasn’t won in a while, is because she’s consistently good. And the reason that Sandra Bullock, I think, is pulling ahead is because she surprised people. People don’t expect that from her.

Meryl Streep, if she did a poor job, it would be a big surprise.

CN: It’s kind of like when Reese Witherspoon won for “Walk the Line” (2005). I liked the film, but I think that people didn’t expect it, and that’s why she won.

ZD: I think the Southern belle character definitely sells. I don’t like Sandra Bullock. Once you do “Miss Congeniality” (2000), you shouldn’t be taken seriously in Hollywood.

Actor in a Supporting Role CS: Christoph Waltz did a really good job in “Inglourious Basterds.”

ZD: I think he’s the favorite, but he’s also our consensus.

CN: I walked out of that movie being like, “He needs to Actress in a Supporting Role Catherine Scott: I think we all agree that Mo’Nique win Best Supporting Actor.” for “Precious” (2009) is going to win, but probably my CS: I’m glad he’s getting the attention he deserves and favorite supporting performance besides Mo’Nique not Brad Pitt.

ZD: [Waltz] was really sinister in that movie. Quentin was Anna Kendrick for “Up in the Air.” Zach Drucker: I think Mo’Nique will win as well. I Tarantino is just a master of creating these kinds of vildefinitely feel like Vera Farmiga [also from “Up in the lainous characters.

Air”] deserves it. It wasn’t as hard of a role to play CN: He spoke three or four languages. as Mo’Nique’s was because she didn’t really have to CS: And he speaks them fluently and naturally. He’s immerse herself in this role … She’s played that simi- definitely the shoe-in. The only one that I have a lar character before, like in “The Departed” (2006). problem with is Matt Damon for “Invictus.” It was But she was excellent playing off George Clooney, and half biopic, half sports movie, so everything they did was clichéd. being the seductress in the movie.

ZD: I think Woody Harrelson Charissa Ng: I agree. I really enjoyed Vera [“The Messenger”] — I never saw Farmiga in “Up in the Air” and I think the movie, but I’ve heard really that, for Anna Kendrick, it’s just the honor Christoph Waltz did good things about him in that of being nominated. role. But, to me, if you’re going CS: With “Up in the Air,” it’s got such a a really good job in to nominate him, you’ve got to strong acting cast, but, like Zach said, the roles really weren’t that difficult to play. “Inglourious Basterds.” nominate him for “Zombieland.”

CS: Definitely! I think “The One thing I did love about Vera was that you couldn’t tell that there were two women that she was playing.

I walked out of that movie ZD: With some of the other nominees like being like, “He needs to win Maggie Gyllenhaal [“Crazy Heart”], for Best Supporting Actor.” example, I didn’t really love the role she was given. It’s

I’m glad he’s getting the attention

he

deserves

and not Brad Pitt.

see OSCARS, page 7

THE TUFTS DAILY

6

Thursday, March 4, 2010

WEEKENDER

MOVIE REVIEW

‘Formosa Betrayed’ turns true events into gripping thriller BY

REBECCA SANTIAGO Senior Staff Writer

Considering that Taiwan’s pending recognition as an individual country could feasibly

Formosa Betrayed Starring James Van Der Beek, Wendy Crewson, Will Tiao Directed by Adam Kane drive China and the United States to military conflict, the question of Taiwanese liberation is severely underemphasized in the media. The issue receives its due prominence in “Formosa Betrayed,” an intelligent, calculated, political thriller that grapples with the complicated and corrupted state of Taiwanese politics in the 1980s.

The film kicks off with the murder of Henry Wen (Joseph Foronda), a respected TaiwaneseAmerican professor who had been in the process of writing a book on the Taiwanese government and the island’s right to independence. Upon further investigation, FBI Agent Jake Kelly (James Van Der Beek) connects the case to the professor’s native land and is sent overseas to allegedly assist the Taiwanese government with the case.

From the moment Jake’s foot grazes Eastern land, he is swept into a whirlwind of upper-class

social affairs that hardly permit him a spare moment to conduct any investigative work. His nights are spent at ritzy dinners and opera houses, and his days performing tedious drudgework in the government office.

A tip from the professor’s widow drags Jake from his cushy hotel room — courtesy of the Taiwanese government — onto the streets, where tension between civilians and their government thrums palpably. As Jake becomes increasingly entangled in his unsanctioned side-investigation, he begins to unwind an intricate web of government conspiracies that violate not only the principles of democracy, but basic human rights. Outraged to learn that the Taiwanese government is acting directly against its people, Jake abandons his agenda and places his neck on the line to fight for justice.

“Formosa Betrayed” is a powerful film that, despite being based on a combination of truelife events, is first and foremost a political thriller. This adherence to a sort of dramatic formula works both for and against the movie. The script manages to be informative without settling into the sonorous realm of didacticism, and the heavy-but-intriguing exposition, smattered with crucial moments of violence, keeps audiences perched on the edges of their seats.

Unfortunately, the film occasionally loses its freshness and impact; the moments between

ROTTENTOMATOES.COM

“So, what makes you think you should be the next Taiwanese Idol?” its spurts of poignant brilliance resemble much more closely an episode of “Law and Order” than a work of socially-conscious cinematic genius.

The dialogue is also a little awkward at times as Taiwanese political dissidents elucidate the complexities of the Taiwanese political situation to the clueless Jake — and simultaneously to the presumably clueless audience. In many scenes, Jake walks alongside a secondary character while receiving a history lesson

INTERVIEW | WILL TIAO

REBECCA SANTIAGO Senior Staff Writer

Tufts alumnus Will Tiao (LA ’96) is the writer and star of “Formosa Betrayed,” an evocative political thriller that examines conspiracies in the Taiwanese government in the 1980s. Tiao sat down with the Daily to discuss his inspirations for the film, the challenges of bringing an indie film into the public light and the message he hopes to impart on audiences.

Rebecca Santiago: What inspired you to write the film?

Will Tiao: In a lot of ways, it stems back to my days at Tufts. I was an International Relations major, and I founded the Taiwanese Association for Students at Tufts my senior year, back in 1996. Back then, China had lobbed missiles off the coast of Taiwan because Taiwan was hav-

ing its first democratic presidential election. I held a panel discussion between four different panelists: one who represented the nationalist government in Taiwan at the time, another the pro-independence viewpoint, another who took a mainland Chinese viewpoint and one for the U.S. side. I kind of let them go at it. We were in an auditorium for 250 people, but like 300 people showed up. It was a really vigorous debate, and I remember thinking, “There is really something here. People are really interested in this.” And of course, my parents are from Taiwan, and they were political dissidents.

RS: Which parts of the film were based on true-life events?

WT: Actually, all of the events and characters are inspired by actual events. There were student spies from Taiwan who were spying on

the other Chinese and Taiwanese students, and some of that spying, which was sanctioned by the government of Taiwan, led to murders.

Some of those murders were linked specifically to the Chinese mafia and were eventually linked back to the government in Taiwan. So everything was based on actual events, but we dramatized the situation. We took a number of actual events and we combined them.

RS: What did you hope to get out of making this film? And what do you hope audiences, and Americans in particular, will take away from it?

WT: Well, I think that this issue of Taiwan democracy and independence are something that most Americans are really unfamiliar with, and I think it’s very important that they get up to speed. see TIAO, page 9

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE TUFTS DAILY Dear Kate Gosselin, So, we heard you’ve been invited to be a contestant on the 10th season of “Dancing with the Stars.” Isn’t that nice? Some two-bit hack of a producer at ABC thought you might be good for a few cheap laughs and a small ratings boost. You know, to pull in the housewife demographic, or because of some other equally asinine piece of marketing logic.

We at the Daily, however, think it’s time you just stopped. Lay low. Drop off the grid. Give the American public a bit of respite from your annoying whine of a voice and your absurd, tilt-a-whirl hairstyles.

By the way, we’re not sure if you were going for a Mike Score from Flock of Seagulls look, but we thought we’d let you know that neither the band nor the hairdo has enjoyed mainstream success since 1985. And no, we don’t care that you got a new haircut to look normal; you’ll always have weird hair to us.

Seriously, haven’t you done enough damage to your eight children? You basically exploited the fruit of your own uterus for money and fame on “Jon & Kate Plus Eight” (2007-2009). Then there was that messy divorce that effectively destroyed the show, and probably left indelible psychological scars on your kids.

As long as we’re on the subject of your kids, what on earth could have possibly inspired you to have sextuplets when you already had a three-year-old set of twins? We don’t know if you’ve ever heard of a guy named Thomas Malthus, but we’re pretty sure that your reckless disregard for the global problems of overpopulation would have him spinning in his grave.

While the network may be referring to you as “Reality’s Most-Watched Supermom,” we know what this is really about: You just can’t stand for your 15 minutes of fame to end. Your books haven’t become bestsellers, your talk show pilot flopped, and now you’re just scrambling to get on network TV again.

Congratulations on your boundless hunger for attention and money.

Sincerely, The Daily Arts Department

gripping and smart. The movie starts with the final scene and flips periodically back and forth between the linear plot and its conclusion — a technique which heightens a sense of suspense in the theater. Viewers’ minds will reel as they try to guess what manner of atrocities could have prompted straitlaced and idealistic Jake to go against the will of his own government.

The American actors, like Van see FORMOSA, page 9

TOP TEN | ARTISTIC DANCING CHARACTERS

Will Tiao dishes about making of ‘Formosa Betrayed’ BY

or a brief summary of Taiwanese current events. Though these debriefings are never boring, they are sometimes a little stilted.

Thus, the intensity of Jake’s hunt for knowledge is diminished to that of a summer-camp scavenger hunt, in which he is forced to check tree trunks and the undersides of benches for notes with quick blurbs of information and a hint for the next clue.

Still, the quick pace of the film ensures that periods of flatness fly by, and overall, the plotline is

Have you seen the lineup for the newest season of “Dancing with the Stars?!” Besides having that overexposed hag Kate Gosselin in there (see our Open Letter), we love, love, LOVE everything about this cast.

Hopefully Shannen Doherty will punch Kate in the face, or maybe Buzz Aldrin will drop dead on the floor. Who knows what could happen with this cast? Our excitement has led us to consider our Top 10 favorite artsy dancing people (and animals): 10. The penguins from “Happy Feet” (2006): They’re cute, they’re cuddly AND they can dance. Who doesn’t want to see a bunch of tap-dancing penguins like Mumble bust a move?

9. Tom Cruise in “Risky Business” (1983): Need we say more?

8. Turk from “Scrubs:” Remember that time Turk danced to Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison” (1990) in order to get into the janitor’s air band?

No? YouTube it. Dude’s got slick moves, you can’t deny it.

And when he points to his wrist when the singer says “time?”

Squeal!

7. Jake Blues from “The Blues Brothers” (1980): Few moments in film rival the agile epiphany of Jake Blues (John Belushi) during a gospel sermon delivered by the Reverend Cleophus James (James Brown).

Possessed with the Holy Spirit, the roguish and rotund Belushi begins to tremor, then launches into a nimble series of flips and tumbles. And all without losing his stylish Ray-Ban’s. You gotta give it up for that.

6. Elaine from “Seinfeld” (1990-1998): We’re not really sure how to describe Elaine’s iconic dance, which may have

been one of the funniest moments of the famed television series. What we do know is that she’s got moves.

5. Hugh Grant in “Love Actually” (2003): Grant proves that the Brits can break it down, too with some hip shaking and disco style finger pointing.

4. John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever” (1977) and “Pulp Fiction” (1994): Travolta has always had the dancing bug, and there is no other actor in Hollywood who can pull off skin tight white leather in one film and long, luscious locks in the next. We will have some Royale with that cheese.

3. Carlton Banks from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (1990-1996): Probably the most amazing thing about actor Alfonso Ribeiro’s ode to lame white dancers and Tom Jones is how his shoulders and his butt seem to be moving completely independent of each other. Also how he’s using a candlestick as a microphone.

2. Jon Heder in “Napoleon Dynamite” (2004): This lanky ginger rocked the stage with a dance so funky we couldn’t help but vote for Pedro.

1. Christopher Walken in the “Weapon of Choice” (2003) music video: Perhaps inspired by a feverish need for more cowbell, Christopher Walken dances, prances, jumps and jives through an empty hotel in this Fatboy Slim music video.

Without losing his impeccable composure, Mr. Walken abruptly leaps off of a balcony to display his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-esque abilities. Let’s see the celebrities on “Dancing with the Stars” do that!

—compiled by the Daily Arts Department

THE TUFTS DAILY

Thursday, March 4, 2010

7

WEEKENDER

ARTS FEATURE

Arts Haus to hold gallery opening benefiting Partners In Health BY

ADAM KULEWICZ

Daily Editorial Board

In the wake of the devastating earthquake that ravaged Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, the residents of the Tufts Arts Haus have taken an innovative approach to fundraising: putting art at the center of their charitable efforts to support victims of the disaster. The Arts Haus, a special interest house located at 37 Sawyer Ave., will host the gallery show “There’s No Place Like Haus” on March 4 at 7 p.m. The event will benefit Partners In Health, a charitable organization that provides health care to the world’s poor in Haiti, Peru and Siberia.

The show will feature more than 60 works of art for sale created by Tufts students in the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) dualdegree program and faculty members from the SMFA. In an attempt to make the works accessible to college students, the organizers decided to price all of the pieces below $60. The works, which include paintings, prints, collages and photographs, will be on display on the house’s first and third floors as well as the central staircase. The event will also include refreshments and live music.

Emily Cohane-Mann, co-president of the Arts Haus and a fourth-year student in the Tufts dual-degree program with the SMFA, explained how Partners In Health was chosen for the night.

“It’s based in Boston, and they’ve been established in Haiti for some time ... It’s a well-known, local, wellestablished, reputable organization,” Cohane-Mann said.

Cohane-Mann indicated that the show was also designed to generate interest in the Arts Haus and unite two different academic communities.

“Part of the idea of having this show was to bring together those two communities,” Cohane-Mann said. “Because, as a combined degree student, [I know] they’re very separate, and a lot of really different kinds of people go to the two schools ... so hopefully we’ll get a bunch of SMFA kids here.”

In the art world, gallery openings are often synonymous with high-priced pieces, but Cohane-Mann stressed that the relatively low price point for the works in this event was intentional.

“The idea was that there’s kind of a lack of art-making and art-absorbing going on the Tufts campus, so we wanted people to feel like it was accessible [for them to] have art of their own,”

Cohane-Mann said. “In some of the cases, we’re selling the work [at this event] for less then it actually cost to create.”

While normal gallery opening events generally mark the beginning of extended shows that are displayed for weeks at a time, that will not be the case in the Arts Haus. Since the works for this event are hung throughout the home — “All the space we have that isn’t people’s bedrooms,” according to Cohane-Mann — this show will only be held on Thursday night.

According to Luke Boelitz, a sophomore and resident of the Arts Haus, the building’s residents are looking forward to Thursday night’s event. “We discussed it as a house, and everyone’s really behind it. We’re definitely excited,” Boelitz said.

Like many residents, Boelitz has works of his own in the show. He contributed two photographs from a course he took last year and one that he created for this show from photographs he took while in Hawaii.

“I think it’s rare to see a show that really is soliciting work from everyone, from students who work in all different sorts of media and who work at all different levels,” Boelitz said.

Aside from works completed by residents of the Art Haus and other artrelated courses of study, the show will also feature works by students who are not studying art, including Ian MacLellan, a sophomore who is a geology and biology double major.

After he discovered the event through Tuftslife.com, MacLellan became interested in the showing at the Arts Haus because of the event’s charitable aspect and because it represents one of the few opportunities for students to exhibit their artwork on campus.

“I think it’s a rare opportunity at Tufts because there aren’t very many opportunities to show work [here],” MacLellan said. “I think it’s something we should try to do in the future. Not just when disasters happen, but just in general.”

Most of the show’s works were in place earlier this week, which led to some pre-sale speculation amongst the members of the Arts Haus.

“A lot of people in the house already have their eye on certain things ... [and] we’re already having to make rules about whether people can buy things ahead of time or not, which they’re not going to be able to,” Cohane-Mann said. “I think that bodes well for how [the event] is going to go.”

KRISTEN COLLINS/TUFTS DAILY

Tufts students will vie for artwork Thursday night, giving to charity at the same time.

Daily Arts editors agree that ‘Avatar’ doesn’t merit Best Picture title OSCARS continued from page 5

CN: You always have to start from somewhere!

ZD: I know, but this is her year, right? She made “The Blind Side” the same year she made “All About Steve.”

CN: And Carey Mulligan [“An Education”]...

CS: She got a lot of accolades — same thing with Gabourey Sidibe of “Precious.” They just peaked too soon; they hit the indie circuit. “Precious” was at Sundance all the way back in January of 2009, and same thing with “An Education.” The accolades came in, but “The Blind Side” hit this summer, and it’s been Sandra Bullock building and building.

Actor in a Leading Role CS: I was so happy Jeremy Renner [“The Hurt Locker”] was nominated. It’s hard to get the audience to believe that you don’t care if that bomb’s gonna blow up and kill you.

CN: Some of my favorite characters are the guys you want to hate, but you really like their characters. Although, I do have to say, I’m a sucker for British actors. So, Colin Firth [“A Single

Man”] — I personally thought that that was his best performance in a film.

ZD: He hasn’t been better in “Bridget Jones’s Diary” (2001) or something like that?

CS: He wasn’t good in “Mamma Mia!” (2008), Charissa?

CN: Fine! I think he did an incredible job with the role. He played this character where his partner had just passed away, and he was tender and funny.

ZD: I wanted to touch on snubs for this category. One is Matt Damon for “The Informant!” I thought he was excellent. He put on all this weight and played a bumbling idiot character.

Another snub was “District 9…”

CS: …Like Sharlto Copley! If you look at interviews with Neill Blomkamp, the director, a lot of Sharlto’s scenes were improvised. He just blew me away.

ZD: The problem is there are only five nominees.

CN: You could take George Clooney out.

CS: The thing about George Clooney is that that character is what people perceive George Clooney to be.

ZD: Well, I think that one of the hardest roles to do in Hollywood

is to portray somebody who’s just like you, but that’s also where actors really excel.

CS: It’s a consensus that Jeff Bridges is gonna win. Bridges is undeniably amazing and overdue for an Oscar. That plays into it a lot at the Academy.

ZD: At the same time, they love movies like this where it’s focused on one character; it’s almost a biopic.

CS: Plus, he sings!

ZD: It’s like “Ray” (2004). It’s a drugged out genius. I think he nailed it, and it’s a side of Bridges that we’ve never really seen before. And we’ve seen him in “The Big Lebowski” (1998). So actually, we have seen him as a druggie.

Best Picture CS: I think “The Hurt Locker” deserves to win, but I could see “Avatar” winning, and I could see “Inglourious Basterds” winning.

CN: I think “The Hurt Locker” was an incredible movie. It was touching; it was poignant. “Avatar” in terms of a film: innovation was amazing, but the story sucked.

CS: If you can spend $300 million on a movie, you can hire a script writer for $100,000.

ZD: Here’s my take on “Avatar:”

The story is nothing new.

CS: It’s “Pocahontas” (1995).

ZD: Right. Not a great storyline.

Visually spectacular. At the same time, I’ve seen the show “Planet Earth,” and it’s as aesthetically amazing, and that’s real. If I had to cast my vote right now, I would do “Up in the Air.” CS: Let’s talk about some of the outliers. Let’s talk about “The Blind Side” getting nominated.

ZD: This was just a holiday, feel good, happy-go-lucky movie that has no business being the Best Picture.

CS: I will say, I enjoyed it more than “Avatar.”

ZD: The fact that it’s a true story is a big deal for me, and I think that’s one of the reasons why “Precious” was not as powerful.

CS: But many would argue that there are girls like Precious, and that’s a true story for all of them.

That movie just hammers you over the head with how horrible life is for some.

CN: “An Education,” I’m glad it was nominated. It’s a really interesting coming of age story. It was an interesting take on showing how this girl can gallivant around Paris and, when it comes down to it, reality sets in.

CS: Let’s talk about “Inglourious

Basterds.”

ZD: I think it had all of these elements of Quentin Tarantino that I love: the gore, the artistic ability, the opening scene. Yet, I actually was kind of disgusted how this rewriting of such a tragic event could go over so easily with critics and viewers.

CS: I think it’s supposed to be like, “Yeah! Shoot Hitler in the face!” But I didn’t buy the revisionist thing either.

ZD: But I happened to like the movie; I thought the rewriting was Tarantino’s style.

CS: Okay, we’ll finish it up: “Hurt Locker.” This was my favorite movie of the year. There was no political statement. It was just, “This is war. And these are men in war.”

CN: I really liked the relationship between the two guys. I couldn’t tell if they hated each other, even when they were fighting.

CS: Something that was so beautiful about that scene was that I would have never understood the dynamics of that scene, as a woman. But [director] Kathryn Bigelow somehow does.

For an extended version of the Oscars conversation check out the online podcast at tuftsdaily.com.

8

THE TUFTS DAILY

WEEKENDER

Thursday, March 4, 2010

TAKE YOUR PROFESSOR TO LUNCH DURING MAJORS WEEK

MARCH 8—12 2010 Ask your favorite or soon to be favorite teacher to lunch at Carmichael or DewickMacPhie Halls and SPIRIT will foot the bill. More information will be provided in an email to all undergraduates.

MAJORS WEEK OPEN HOUSES Biology Information Session for the following Biology, Biopsychology, Biochemistry Friday, March 12 2:30-3:30 pm Barnum Elephant Lobby Center for Interdisciplinary Studies Joint Open House Wednesday, March 10 12:00-1:20 pm Eaton 102 Asian Studies Communications & Media Studies Latin American Studies Latino Studies Middle Eastern Studies Peace & Justice Studies Women’s Studies Chemistry Information Session for the following Chemistry ASC-Certified, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Chemical Physics Wednesday, March 10 12:00-1:00 pm Pearson Hall, Room P106 Computer Science 2nd Annual Robocode Tournament “Introduction to Game Development Class” Wednesday, March 10 Thursday, March 11 6:00 pm Economics Wednesday, March 10 12:00-1:00 pm Braker Hall Geology Monday, March 8 12:00 pm Lane Hall, Room 7

German Wednesday, March 10 12:00-1:30 pm German House 21 Whitfield Rd. History Wednesday, March 10 12:00 pm East Hall International Relations “Breakfast with IR” Wednesday, March 10 9:30-11:00 am Cabot Mezzanine (outside of Cabot Auditorium) Mathematics Majors Week Reception Wednesday, March 10 4:30 pm Bromfield Pearson Conference Room Philosophy Wednesday, March 10 12:00-1:15 pm Miner Hall, Second Floor Political Science Wednesday, March 10 12:00-1:30 pm Eaton 206 Sociology Thursday, March 11 12:00-1:15 pm 102a Eaton Hall

THE TUFTS DAILY

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Lead actors weigh down otherwise fantastic film FORMOSA continued from page 6

Der Beek and Wendy Crewson, who plays American diplomat Susan Kane, are wry when at their best. At their worst, they act clumsily and without direction, as if for a pilot of a television show destined to die after eight weak episodes. Perhaps their performances would be sufficient for films of lighter fare, but the complex subject matter completely overwhelms their abilities, and their performances become secondary to the vivid plotline.

Their lackluster presentations are, however, balanced by Will Tiao’s (LA ’96) moving portrayal of Ming, a Taiwanese citizen who risks everything for the sake of national independence. Tiao’s performance adds dimension and complexity to the film, enabling the viewer to deeply connect to his and his countrymen’s plight.

Although “Formosa Betrayed” suffers from certain mechanical stutters, it is still an incredibly evocative film that will not only entertain for an hour and a half, but promises to haunt the viewer with significant questions long after he or she leaves the theater.

9

WEEKENDER

Tiao links new film to current events in Taiwan TIAO continued from page 6

Of all the potential flash points with China, the only one that could potentially lead to military conflict between the United States and China is the issue of Taiwan and Taiwan independence. There’s over 1,000 missiles pointed at Taiwan right now, and if Taiwan declares [itself] by name or if countries begin to recognize Taiwan, that could provoke China to military conflict. The United States is bound by what’s known as the Taiwan Relations Act to help defend Taiwan if it comes under attack. I think most Americans are completely ignorant of this fact.

The film explores these [issues] in an entertaining way, but we hope that at the end of the day, that not only will [audiences] be entertained, but they’ll learn something along the way. And hopefully they’ll begin to research on their own, because the movie definitely provokes more questions than it provides answers.

RS: Is there a reason for naming the movie “Formosa Betrayed” instead of “Taiwan Betrayed?”

WT: Yes, actually. Formosa was the name given by Portuguese sailors when they were sailing by Taiwan: “Isla Formosa,” beautiful island. Until 1945, Taiwan was actually called Formosa, under Japanese rule. To this day,

there are a number of Taiwanese independence activists who would prefer the name Formosa over Taiwan. We thought that it’s also kind of evocative because a lot of people don’t know what Formosa is — is it a person, is it a woman? You know, what is Formosa?

And we liked that.

RS: What were some challenges that arose from working within a modest budget?

WT: The first major challenge to making this movie was financing. I mean, this is not your typical studio movie, so a modest budget is still a whole lot of money to raise. We did it literally without any studio backing; it was all independent financers who invested in the film. The second challenge was the shoot on two continents, in the States and in Asia; that was difficult because we didn’t have as much manpower as we would have liked.

The third major issue that we ran into was getting it distributed into movie theaters. We were very much in danger of [going straight to DVD] because we didn’t have any big stars — we didn’t have Johnny Depp or Jude Law or anything like that.

RS: What drove you to play Ming?

WT: I originally developed this project for selfish reasons; there aren’t a lot of roles for Asian-American actors. So when I came [to

Hollywood], I looked at people who I really admired, who had written their way in through [movies like] “Good Will Hunting” (1997) and “Slingblade” (1996). Over the period it took to write the film, my role started getting cut way, way down because I was so focused on producing. [When] my director, Adam Kane, came on board, [he] felt something was missing and came up with the character of Ming. He wanted me to play [him] because he thought we needed someone we could emotionally go with, to feel the Taiwanese journey and to relate to the Taiwanese struggle on a human level.

RS: What’s in the future for Formosa Films LLC? WT: I definitely trend towards movies that have a politically or socially conscious message, so I’m looking at a number of projects right now that fit that mold. I have a project I’m developing based on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, one that’s set in Brazil [about] a class struggle, another one that’s a cross-cultural love story between a JapaneseAmerican soldier and an Italian woman during World War II. Our hope is that we can become a company that’s associated, hopefully, not only with quality material, but also with material that’s commercial. But still not what you would see in everyday Hollywood fare.

WEEKENDER EVENTS Spice up your weekend with something artsy!

Beelzebubs Present Scratch ‘n Sniff: Fresh off of their nationally televised triumph on “The SingOff” and an international tour, the Bubs are back on campus.

Also, check out guest groups UVA Sil’hooettes and Smith College Groove. (Friday, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Goddard Chapel) Tufts Film Series Presents “Blue Velvet” and “Brick:” Catch the

1986 classic thriller “Blue Velvet,” featuring Dennis Hopper and Isabella Rossellini, as well as a similar but more modern mystery, “Brick” (2006), starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emilie de Ravin.

Free admission. Both films shown in Barnum 008. (“Blue Velvet”: Friday, 7 p.m., Saturday, 9:30 p.m. “Brick:” Friday, 9:30 p.m., Saturday, 7 p.m., Sunday, 3 p.m.)

Muse: Embarking on their longest U.S. tour to date, English rockers Muse are stopping for one night

only in Boston at the TD Garden.

Available tickets start at $65.50.

(Saturday, 7:30 p.m.)

Animated Oscar Shorts: Celebrate the Oscars with a viewing of eight mini-films, five of which were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. There may not be a red carpet at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, but you’ll be able to indulge in popcorn and snacks without worrying about fitting into a designer gown. 290 Harvard

St., Brookline, MA. (Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 4:55 p.m. and 10:05 p.m., Sunday, 12 p.m. and 4:55 p.m.)

A Mythic Space: The Closing of the Harvard University Art Museums: During the summer of 2008, Tufts alum Sarah Cowan (’09) filmed inside the Harvard University Art Museums and interviewed employees, visitors and community members, collecting perceptions and opinions of the museum closings prior to their

presents the

Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award to

Amb. Richard C. Holbrooke US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan

Amb. Holbrooke served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, where he was also a member of President Clinton’s cabinet (1999-2001). As Assistant Secretary of State for Europe (1994-1996), he was the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia. He later served as President Clinton’s Special Envoy to Bosnia and Kosovo and Special Envoy to Cyprus on a pro-bono basis while a private citizen. From 1993-1994, he was the US. Ambassador to Germany. During the Carter Administration (1977-1981), he served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and was in charge of U.S. relations with China at the time Sino-American relations were normalized in December of 1978.

After joining the Foreign Service in 1962, he served in Vietnam (1963-66), including a tour of duty in the Mekong Delta for AID. He worked on Vietnam issues at the Johnson White House (1966-68); wrote one volume of the Pentagon Papers; and was a member of the American delegation to the Vietnam Peace Talks in Paris (1968-69).

He was Peace Corps Director in Morocco (1970-72), Managing Editor of Foreign Policy (1972-77), and held senior positions at two leading Wall Street firms, Credit Suisse First Boston (Vice Chairman) and Lehman Brothers (Managing Director). He has written numerous articles and two best-selling books: To End a War, a memoir of the Dayton negotiations, and co-author of Counsel to the President, Clark Clifford’s memoir. He previously wrote a monthly column for The Washington Post.

He will speak on “Managing the Most Pressing Challenges of Our Times: Reflections on US Afghanistan and Pakistan Strategy.”

Today, Thursday, March 4, 1:30pm, Barnum 008 For more information: www.tuftsgloballeadership.org or x73314

renovations. Her resulting documentary film will be screened with a short discussion afterwards. Free admission. Tisch Library, Room 304. (Monday, 6 p.m.)

“La música del folklore latinoamericano:” Hector Martinez Morales, a renowned composer, will perform and teach traditional Latin folk rhythms to students.

Taking place in Barnum 104, Martinez Morales promises to use rare and unusual instruments.

(Thursday, 6 p.m.)

THE TUFTS DAILY

10

THE TUFTS DAILY KERIANNE M. OKIE Editor-in-Chief

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 Amelie Hecht Corinne Segal Martha Shanahan 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

Cartoonists

Editorialists

Thursday, March 4, 2010

EDITORIAL | LETTERS

EDITORIAL

Sexual assault policy should be more stringent Tufts students are greeted early on in their time on the Hill by an extensive sexual assault prevention program, from the blue light telephones introduced on campus tours, to presentations during orientation week, followed by the array of sexual crime prevention posters displayed in virtually every dorm on campus. However, incidents of sexual assault, unfortunately, do occur. The university maintains an official policy on sexual assault that allows a victim to pursue four different courses of action to be taken against his or her assailant: mediation between the victim and perpetrator, a campus stay-away order, a university hearing or the accused person leaving the university. These consequences have varying degrees of disciplinary action associated with them — the campus stay-away order, for example, is not a disciplinary measure.

Concerned Tufts students, specifically members of the student group Students Active for Ending Rape and members of the Tufts Community Union Senate, are taking issue with this policy, criticizing its weaknesses and calling it unfair and confusing. Such issues include the leniency of the mediation option, the subjectivity that administrators may succumb to when making important decisions regarding sexual assault and the fact that victims may not be accompanied to a university hearing by an attorney.

The university is currently reviewing

the sexual assault policy, a measure that the Daily applauds. While Tufts works to amend the policy, it is important to recognize that sexual assault is a problem that is dealt with all over the world, including at seemingly picturesque college campuses. A recent Department of Justice survey examining 10 New England schools including Tufts, UMass Amherst and Northeastern, found that 240 cases of alleged sexual assault were reported between 2003 and 2008. These statistics likely underrepresent the number of sexual assaults that actually occurred, as the Justice Department statistics were only drawn from years that the schools received grants; the numbers also do not include the tremendous amount of sexual assault incidents that are not reported at all. Tufts, not alone among its peers, appears to have been stuck in the mindset that just because a sexual assault occurs on campus and the victim chooses to keep the investigation and disciplinary actions within the context of the university that appropriately strict measures do not need to be taken.

The Boston Globe last week pointed out that Tufts has yet to expel, require counseling or suspend a student accused of sexual assault, even though the school received a large grant in 1999 from the Justice Department’s Office of Violence Against Women. There are, however, inherent difficulties in collecting data

on sexual assault cases from universities.

Tufts does not necessarily report to the Justice Department every action taken with regard to sexual assault. In addition, schools generally will not report incidents of sexual assault without a victim’s consent; Tufts will not inform the Justice Department of interventions or measures taken by the university against the offender. However, information regarding cases of sexual assault should be available at Tufts. Students and faculty must know that their school will take every measure possible to ensure their safety.

Factors like the reputation of the school should be negligible when the safety of a member of the university community is at stake.

As administrators work to amend the university’s policy, it should be kept in mind that reporting sexual assault may be the hardest thing someone ever has to do — victims often feel that they are to blame or are ashamed. It is difficult to tell a friend, much less pursue judicial action within the university, and even more of a stretch to seek legal action. For this reason, many sexual assault cases will remain within the jurisdiction of the university. The university should therefore make it its responsibility to ensure that the proper action is taken. Sexual assault is never simply a university problem; it is a serious legal infraction and should be treated as such.

DEVON COLMER

Alex Prewitt Executive Sports Editor Sapna Bansil Sports Editors Evan Cooper Jeremy Greenhouse David Heck Ethan Landy Daniel Rathman Michael Spera Lauren Flament Assistant Sports Editors Claire Kemp Ben Kochman James Choca Executive Photo Editor Josh Berlinger Photo Editors Kristen Collins Danai Macridi Tien Tien Virginia Bledsoe Assistant Photo Editors Jodi Bosin Alex Dennett Dilys Ong Scott Tingley Anne Wermiel Mick B. Krever Executive New Media Editor

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BUSINESS Kahran Singh Executive Business Director Benjamin Hubbell-Engler Brenna Duncan Dwijo Goswami Ally Gimbel

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OFF THE HILL | UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO

Psychics’ skills rely on lucky guesses and probability BY

BARRY BELMONT

The Nevada Sagebrush

At the beginning of every year, self-professed psychics make claims about what is going to occur in the upcoming year.

These predictions range from the ridiculous (a major celebrity will be cloned) to the mundane (there will be new medical breakthroughs) to the vague-enoughto-always-be-true (Obama will have a harder time this year than last).

With nearly 20 percent of this year gone and nothing but the meekest of evidence supporting any number of the millions of predictions made, why does anyone in today’s society believe in psychic abilities?

There are two main reasons: confirmation bias and the law of large numbers. These two pervasive forms of sloppy thinking in conjunction with “cold reading” techniques lead many people to be deceived by psychic claims.

People tend to notice and look for evidence that supports their beliefs while

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

ignoring and undervaluing all evidence held against that position. Conservative Republicans only reading conservative Republican blogs or watching conservative television (hence the joke of “Fixed News”) would be an example of a confirmation bias.

People also fail to realize how present coincidence is in our daily lives. Most of us are shocked to meet someone who has the same birthday as us, but in a football stadium of 50,000 fans, almost everyone is likely to share a birthday with roughly 135 other people. Even things with million-to-one odds should happen thousands of times a day on a planet of billions of people.

To test these claims, the magician James “The Amazing” Randi has a $1,000,000 prize for any person who can in any way prove the validity of their paranormal claims under controlled circumstances. Many psychics have tried and failed. But there are a few big name psychics such as John Edward, Rosemary Altea and Sylvia Browne who absolutely

refuse to be tested in any way.

Many psychics claim they don’t need the money, which is about as weak as any excuse could be for not taking the test, passing it and taking the million dollars.

If they don’t need the money, why don’t they just pass the test and give it all to charity?

The reason is clear, unless the above has been too subtle. All psychics are deluded, frauds, cheats or all of the above. There is no such thing as psychic abilities. There is no positive, scientific evidence whatsoever to prove the validity of psychic claims (even after the $20 million worth of research conducted by the CIA in the ’70s and ’80s). There are no psychics, only liars.

For any of you who think you’re psychic and want to prove me wrong I pose to you Barry Belmont’s $100 challenge: I have a sealed envelope on my desk with a number written on it, large and legible.

Use any psychic technique to figure out what it is. If you get it right, you get $100 cash, and I will admit I am wrong.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must be submitted by 4 p.m. and should be handed into the Daily office or sent to letters@tuftsdaily.com. All letters must be word processed and include the writer’s name and telephone number. There is a 450-word limit and letters must be verified. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length.

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

Thursday, March 4, 2010

THE TUFTS DAILY

11

OP-ED ELISHA SUM | OUR GENDERATION

The confusion of TCU Senate BY

What about the other sex?

CHRISTOPHER SNYDER

When is a Tufts Community Union ( TCU) Senate initiative not a TCU Senate initiative?

This seems a silly question — there must be a clear distinction between what Senate advocates for and what individual members or committees advocate for. But I can’t figure it out.

Neither can The Tufts Daily’s Senate reporter, freshman Brent Yarnell, who asked at last Sunday’s Senate meeting how he should differentiate between the two.

Why is it so confusing? Let’s take a look at some “Senate initiatives” from this year. First, there is the trayless dining pilot program that is coming to Carmichael Dining Hall after spring break, according to freshman Senator Alice Pang, whose Senate project is researching trayless dining. Senate never debated or voted on the merits of trayless dining.

Next, the new task force analyzing community representatives is not a Senate initiative, despite what TCU President Brandon Rattiner said in a Feb. 18 op-ed. Senate wasn’t even briefed about the task force until the night before a Feb. 16 Daily article by Yarnell about the task force was published.

Third, Senate’s response to last semester’s new alcohol policy did not include “a harm-reduction policy, specifically grounded in medical amnesty,” contrary to Rattiner’s claim in an Oct. 26, 2009 op-ed. Its policy committee didn’t even present the body with a proposal until two weeks later, at which point “medical amnesty” was watered down to “if Tufts’ goal is to create a healthy campus environment, then students cannot feel discouraged from calling TEMS.” Last semester, Senate voted only two or three times on student life issues. By contrast, it voted on 30 funding recommendations from its finance committee, the Allocations Board.

It’s this last point that merits the most attention. Much of Senate’s advocacy work happens either by implied consensus or by personal initiative, where members simply announce to the rest of Senate what they’re working on. Debating the merits of a specific proposal, and then expressing a consensus through a vote, happens sporadically — but it should happen whenever Senate plans to lobby administrators and faculty on behalf of us, the student body.

Senators have objections to debate and voting on specific proposals.

Those senators who support the status quo are concerned that debating proposals in Senate meetings would take up too much time, and that it’s easier just to work on projects. I disagree.

Senate has numerous committees to do much of the legwork in vetting proposals, much as the Allocations Board does for funding requests. And Senate handled 30 funding votes last semester with barely a hiccup.

Debating specific proposals gives Senate a chance to stop and consider briefly the merits of one project at a time. A proponent must be able to show, after doing research, why something should be changed. It shouldn’t be up to opponents to show why the idea isn’t good and to lobby administrators against listening to the proponents.

Status quo supporters are also concerned that some ideas may be reject-

T

TIEN TIEN/TUFTS DAILY

ed by Senate, making them less likely to succeed. However, if our elected representatives are not going to support an idea, that probably indicates problems with the idea. Besides, individual members of Senate can still pursue advocacy without Senate’s stamp.

Every Senator works on at least one project by virtue of being on Senate. If they are researching something as an elected representative of the student body, they should at least try to obtain Senate’s endorsement when they shift from research to advocacy.

The status quo doesn’t work, and for a variety of reasons. When sophomore MJ Murphy, community rep for the Pan-African Alliance, brought up concerns about the Voices (formerly Telescope) recruitment program last semester, the Senate response should have researched, then debated, then had a vote. Instead, it has consisted of a few members of Senate discussing the concerns with administrators.

This approach facilitates access to the administration, but it removes Senate (and therefore the student body) from the equation. By Senate not taking a stand, it looks like the student body isn’t all that concerned.

When the faculty Education Policy Committee (EPC) debated proposals last year to change the Advanced Placement credits policy, Senate’s reps to the EPC did not bring the proposals to Senate for debate and a vote. Instead, one rep briefed Senate on the existence of the proposals and said that they were a good idea. Only after the EPC endorsed the proposals did Senate debate them, subsequently rejecting parts of the proposals in a 15-5 vote. By then, Senate (and therefore the student body) had already lost its seat at the table, for the faculty accepted the EPC recommendations with little debate.

Things therefore need to change.

Three things need to happen to make the system clearer and more effective.

First, each Senate committee should set priorities each semester that are ratified by the full Senate. Second, Senate representatives to faculty committees should bring proposals to a Senate vote. And third, each time that a senator’s project moves from the

research stage to the advocacy stage, Senate should first vote to endorse the advocacy.

First: Right now, priority setting is vague. This year, the Senate officers drafted a list of priorities, and members of Senate debated the format and the merits of various items, and that was that. No vote, no followup. Instead, each committee, working with the Senate officers, should draft a list of specific priorities — either areas to research or areas to continue advocacy that has already been endorsed by Senate.

Senate should debate and endorse each committee’s priorities list so that there is ownership within Senate of the priorities. Committees and individuals can research other issues as they come up, but a priorities sheet highlights to Senators and outsiders alike what is most important for the semester.

Second: Faculty committees have student representation to get student input. Considering that Senators are the student body’s elected representatives, it only makes sense that Senate debate the merits of faculty proposals that will affect the student body.

Third: Whenever a proposal researched by a Senator is ready to move to the advocacy stage, Senate should debate its merits and vote to endorse a statement supporting it.

The statement can be as simple as a sentence or as complex as an 11-page report, depending on what the situation requires. That way, it’s clear what our elected representatives think is best for the student body, and a consensus is reached that’s bigger than any individual senator.

When the two outsiders who pay the most attention to Senate — Yarnell and myself — say that they can’t distinguish between Senate initiatives and individual ideas, change is necessary. The primary way for a democratic body to express an opinion is to come to a consensus through a vote.

It’s what I elect my senators to do.

Christopher Snyder is a junior majoring in political science. He is the editor of The Quad, a campus blog.

LET THE CAMPUS KNOW WHAT MATTERS TO YOU. The Op-Ed section of the Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. Submissions are welcome from all members of the Tufts community. We accept opinion articles on any aspect of campus life, as well as articles on national or international news.

Opinion pieces should be between 600 and 1,200 words. Please send submissions, with a contact number, to oped@tuftsdaily.com. Feel free to e-mail us with any questions.

ori Amos once sang, “Things are getting dear desperate when all the boys can’t be men.”

Some have criticized the dominance of women’s sexuality in feminist writing and gender studies, emphasizing that not enough time has been spent on defining masculinity. While feminist critical theory may not have explored masculinity in the in-depth way that it has with femininity, these critics should rather point to reasons that may exacerbate the lack of scholarship rather than pining for masculinity to gain centrality in fields that have allowed a feminine subjectivity to reign.

In an unequal society, those with power escape scrutiny; our patriarchal society thus renders men invisible, at least in terms of gender, for men are all too visible in other contexts. As the dominant sex, males enjoy the luxury of escaping classification; the gender spectrum considers only females, and other deviations from the male norm, as the “other.” In this way, men function as a normative gender ruler with which all others are measured and differentiated. (So I guess size does matter after all.) Society genders females, while males remain gender-neutral, which thereby results in a perceived lack of literature on masculinity.

Let’s ponder some scenarios in an attempt to render more apparent the privilege of invisibility conferred to men.

The authors were all women in one of my English classes last semester called NonWestern Women Writers, as expected. If however, had I studied only male authors, the class most likely would have simply been called Non-Western Writers. “Men” would not have replaced “women” in the title. Rarely do words relating to the male sex appear in titles, while those pertaining to females must always be prefaced with some gendered term because the assumption exists that “man” is the like the understood “you” in the imperative mood.

Also, in all of my high school English classes in which male authors dominated, the concept of masculinity never came up.

Rather, a work’s rapport with women or its stance toward femininity would sometimes take center stage. Yet if I think about examples of the converse situation in which the author was a woman, femininity would either make an easy entrance into the conversation or loom in the background as a loaded topic to be discussed later. In the case that literary work includes women or is written by a woman, femininity almost never fails to be the subject of discussion, while masculinity somehow always slips under the radar. The same phenomenon has also happened at Tufts, even in all of my nine English classes and three French literature classes.

Of course, it is important to note that the resultant conversations on femininity always happen with the normative backdrop of masculinity. Women can never escape judgment through the subjective lens of masculine standards, whereas males have the privilege of expecting an objective lens. We then define femininity with terms contrary to constructs of masculinity. This polarization of the sexes supports a biological determinist view that erringly does not take into account the interaction of nature and nurture and social constructions in shaping each individual.

Furthermore, the problematic assumption of maleness as normative valorizes masculinity as the standard to which humans must behave accordingly, further fueling gender inequality in attributing a relative superiority to maleness.

Thus, masculinity must be taken into account. We need to address “male” as a gender in order to better understand gender inequality and clearly see the injustices the constructs of masculinity cause if we want to see progress toward gender equality.

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

Thursday, March 4, 2010

COMICS

DOONESBURY

CROSSWORD

BY

GARRY TRUDEAU

NON SEQUITUR

BY

WEDNESDAY’S SOLUTION

MARRIED TO THE SEA

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: “Up” winning Best Animated Picture and Best Picture

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Wednesday’s Solution

Josh: “Kahran, I have mononucleosis. If you don’t turn off Christina Aguilera right now, I will open your mouth and cough into it.”

Please recycle this Daily

WILEY

THE TUFTS DAILY

Thursday, March 4, 2010 Housing

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CLASSIFIEDS POLICY All Tufts students must submit classifieds in person, prepaid with check, money order, or exact cash only. All classifieds submitted by mail must be accompanied by a check. Classifieds are $10 per week with Tufts ID or $20 per week without. The Tufts Daily is not liable for any damages due to typographical errors or misprintings except the cost of the insertion, which is fully refundable. We reserve the right to refuse to print any classifieds which contain obscenity, are of an overly sexual nature, or are used expressly to denigrate a person or group. Questions? Email business@tuftsdaily.com.

2010 NCAA Tournament wide open for lower-ranked schools

Durant invaluable for Oklahoma City’s success

INSIDE NCAA BASKETALL

INSIDE NBA

continued from page 15

The Orange were the only top-four team that won over the weekend, making a strong statement by routing a Big East rival, No. 8 Villanova. After a slow start, Syracuse took over in transition and ended the first half on a 20-6 run. They never looked back.

Syracuse dominated the undersized Wildcats in the paint and on the offensive glass. Villanova kept giving up second chance points and was never able to make a substantial run in the second half. Senior Scottie Reynolds shot only 6-for-14 and scored just five points in the latter 20 minutes.

Syracuse controlled the pace of the game throughout and passed the ball exceptionally well around the perimeter. The Orange run a solid seven-man rotation of players who have excellent chemistry with each other, as six Syracuse men finished in double digits on Saturday, though no player reached 20. Syracuse took over the No. 1 ranking at the start of this week and should go into the tournament as one of the favorites. Their meticulous, multifaceted attack and solid 3-2 zone defense will be hard to beat down the stretch.

With March Madness only weeks away, much is still in doubt. North Carolina was the favorite all of last year and ultimately delivered a National Championship. Kansas and Kentucky are still great all-around teams and may get No. 1 seeds. Syracuse

may very well enter the tournament as the favorite and could go deep. However, don’t be surprised if all of these teams are upset.

There are a lot of solid, confident teams that do not reside at the top of the rankings.

The Big East, for example, is stacked with squads that could go all the way, such as AP Poll No. 10 West Virginia, No. 17 Pitt and No. 19 Georgetown. Fourth-ranked Duke has seasoned leaders in junior Kyle Singler and senior John Scheyer and will be tough to knock off as well. There are also a handful of mid-major teams sprinkled across the rankings that could make a splash in March, and the plethora of good teams makes it difficult to bank on one of the favorites going all the way.

Rankings in college football and basketball are essentially pointless, as the transitive property exists in math but certainly not in college athletics. If Texas beats Oklahoma and Oklahoma beats Nebraska, there is no guarantee that Texas will top Nebraska.

Every matchup is unique, and it is impossible to say which team is really the best.

To be sure, some teams are better than others, but anything can happen in any given game. There is still an eternity of basketball left in the season. While it would be almost expected to see top dogs like Syracuse or Kansas cutting down the nets when it is all done, do not be blindsided by an unexpected team going all the way.

continued from page 16

way toward another MVP season, averaging 29.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and a career best 8.5 assists per game. Aside from the jaw-dropping highlights he consistently provides every night, his value to the Cavaliers is higher than Bryant’s to the Lakers, and he makes the players around him better.

Durant, a budding young talent who has been on the brink of a breakthrough season, has finally reached superstardom for Oklahoma City.

Durant is averaging 29.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, but the value to his team is on par with James’ for the Cavaliers. Four of the Thunder’s five starters are 23 years old or younger — Durant (21), Jeff Green (23), Russell Westbrook (21) and James Harden (20) — and the team is still 36-23 and currently ranks sixth in the highly competitive Western Conference.

Westbrook is quietly having a monster sophomore season, averaging 16.7 points, 7.9 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game from the point guard position, and a lot of that has to do with the outstanding play of Durant. At 6-foot-9, the lanky Durant has one of the best shooting strokes in the NBA, and he can shoot over any defender in the league. He is shooting

38.2 percent from 3-point range and 47.9 percent from the field and is a threat to score from anywhere on the court.

Without Durant, one of the league’s most prolific scorers, the Thunder would most likely be having a season like recent ones, ending with less than 25 wins and a lottery pick in the draft.

With him, however, the team is surging through the Western Conference with a starting lineup of players who, had they not left college early, would still be in school.

Durant’s streak of 27 straight games with 25 points or more, which finally came to an end on Feb. 25, is the longest recorded since Michael Jordan’s 40 straight in the 1986-87 season.

Durant’s play has lifted his team from the rebuilding stage to title contender in just one season, which makes him the most valuable asset to his team and among the most valuable in the league. In line for a scoring title in just his third NBA season, Durant promises to be an MVP candidate for many years to come, but he should also be in the discussion this season.

Unfortunately for the players in the LeBron/Kobe era of the NBA, it will be extremely difficult to steal the award from two players whose teams hold the best records in the league.

Congratulations 2010 Orientation Coordinators!

TOMORROW

Kate Carpenito ‘11

Barack Obama and American Democracy

Coordinator for Training and Leadership

Symposium Sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Department of History at Tufts University

Geoffrey Gaurano ‘11

March 5-6, 2010

Coordinator for Co-Curricular Programs and Major Events

Leo Greenberg ‘12 Coordinator for Academic Programs

Meredith Reynolds ‘11 Coordinator for Communications and Logistics

JOIN THEM!!!

Apply Now to be

2010 Orientation Leader www.ase.tufts.edu/orientation Applications Due 3/12/10

Two days of panel discussions featuring nationally renowned speakers and scholars, including Callie Crossley, Boyce Watkins, John Stauffer, and Peniel Joseph, who will critically analyze President Barack Obama’s first year in office. All of the Tufts University community is encouraged to attend.

Friday March 5, 2010 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Center for the Humanities at Tufts Fung House, 48 Professors Row Panels: Obama and the Joshua Generation, The Obama Doctrine: American Foreign Policy in an Era of War and Peace

Saturday March 6, 2010 9:00 a.m. – 5:15 p.m.

Coolidge Room Ballou Hall, 2nd Floor Panels: Civic Engagement and the Media in the Age of Obama, Hope and Change?: Assessing Obama’s Domestic Policies, What Barack Obama Means for American Democracy

THE TUFTS DAILY

14

Panthers poised to earn first NCAA victory INSIDE NESCAC continued from page 16

Tim Edwards said. “They stepped up and played, and they understand this is a winning program — it doesn’t seem like they’re [underclassmen] all the time.”

But should the youngsters ever falter, they know that someone else will be there to pick them up.

“The team has really jelled very quickly and they’ve been very efficient all year, and I feel like we have a lot of great chemistry,” Brown said. “We’re a true team in that any given night seven, eight guys we feel can have a really big game for us.”

“We have great team leadership and balance,” Sharry added.

“If someone has a bad day, someone else steps up.”

Known for its defense during its 2008-09 NESCAC title run, Middlebury has also managed to maintain its efforts on its own side of the court this season. It is currently ranked No. 1 in the NESCAC in scoring defense, allowing just 60.7 points per game.

A large part of that effort has been the play of junior Andrew Locke, who has led the conference in blocked shots the past three years, as well as Edwards, who recently earned the title of NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.

Edwards, however, attributes the Panthers’ defensive success to the willingness of his teammates to adopt coach Brown’s grind-itout philosophy.

“I think it’s just everyone buying into it,” Edwards said. “If you have three people buying in, you’re not going to be a great team on defense. So from the freshmen all the way up to seniors, we buy into the belief that defense will bring

us championships.”

As a result of this mix of freshman scorers and veteran leadership down low, Middlebury has again compiled a 24-3 record and will head into this year’s NCAA Tournament ranked No. 6 in the country — three spots higher than it was last year.

“Our team has been extremely efficient all year long,” Brown said. “Of our three losses, two have been to Williams, the No. 2-ranked team in country. It shows how consistent we’ve been as a ball club and our dedication towards defending.”

The Panthers failed to earn a bye this time around, but they will nonetheless enjoy the benefit of a first-round home game. Their opponent will be the Gordon Fighting Scots, a team that went 24-4 en route to its first conference title ever.

But after one-and-done appearances the past two years in the NCAA Tournament, the team seems poised to finally make some noise in the national competition.

“We feel that we can win games in this tournament, but obviously you have to go out and perform and make play some defend and rebound,” Brown said. “And looking at the bracket, they’re all quality teams. You just have to take it one step and one game at a time. Our focus right now is on Gordon.”

“We’re definitely confident in our ability, but we know the NCAA tourney is 61 of the strongest teams in the nation, and each game is going to be a dog fight,” Edwards added. “And we have to come out for 40 minutes of every game, and we can’t take anything for granted. If you lose, you go home, and that’s the end of the season.”

SPORTS

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Men’s swimming and diving lands eight on All-NESCAC team

SCOTT TINGLEY/TUFTS DAILY

The men’s swimming and diving team received a bounty of All-NESCAC honors on Tuesday after its second-place finish at the NESCAC Championships this past weekend at Williams College. Senior quadcaptain Rob Matera’s Diver of the Meet award was a highlight for the Jumbos.

Matera returned to the All-NESCAC team after capturing first in the 3-meter diving event and taking third in the 1-meter. This adds to Matera’s already stacked trophy case, which now contains six All-NESCAC awards. A first-time champion, Matera additionally earned Four Year High-Point Diver honors this season.

Senior quad-captain Lawrence Chan earned the honor with his showing in the 50-yard breaststroke and returns to the All-NESCAC team after a three-year hiatus, last earning the honors in 2007. Sophomore Owen Rood, who had a stellar weekend, earned All-Conference honors in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle events in addition to anchoring the 200-yard medley relay. The second-year was All-NESCAC in four events in his rookie campaign last year.

Five Jumbos earned their first-ever All-Conference honors. Junior Zed Debbaut (100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard medley relay), senior Patrick Kinsella (50-yard butterfly and 200-yard medley relay), freshman Brian Marko (200-yard butterfly), senior quad-captain Matt Salzberg (200-yard individual medley) and junior Michael Del Moro (200-yard medley relay), who is also a news editor for the Daily, all took home the award as Tufts prepares in the upcoming weeks for the NCAA Championships, which begin on March 17.

—by Alex Prewitt

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THE TUFTS DAILY

Thursday, March 4, 2010

15

SPORTS

INSIDE NCAA BASKETBALL

DAVID HECK | THE SAUCE

Shakeup at the top moves Syracuse to No. 1

BY SAMUEL

Empire state of mind?

O’REILLY

Senior Staff Writer

Kansas, Kentucky and Purdue, the former top three teams in the nation, were upset in a matter of 36 hours this past weekend. First, No. 2 Kentucky went down on Saturday afternoon, followed hours later by No. 1 Kansas. Then No. 3 Purdue scored only 44 points on Sunday afternoon and turned in one of its worst performances in recent memory. When all the rubble had settled, Syracuse had established itself as the No. 1 team in the nation. However, with the 2010 NCAA Tournament only weeks away, no team has truly emerged as a favorite.

It all began at noon on Saturday when Kentucky traveled to Knoxville to face Bruce Pearl’s then-No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers. Tennessee built up a 19-point lead early, only to see it dissipate in the last 10 minutes of the game. Kentucky finally drew even at 65-65 with 2:13 left in the game. With the result still in doubt, the Volunteers went on a 9-0 run to finish off the game and defeat the Wildcats 74-65.

Senior J.P. Prince hit clutch free throws down the stretch to secure the victory for the Vols, giving Kentucky just its second loss of the season. Saturday marked the second time this season that Tennessee defeated a team ranked in the top two, as the Vols also took down then-No. 1 Kansas on Jan. 10.

Ironically, Kansas’ second loss came mere hours after Kentucky fell, when the Jayhawks lost to a seasoned Oklahoma State squad 85-77. The unranked Cowboys were 10-19 from three-point land and held a comfortable lead for most of the game. Four players scored over 15 points for the Cowboys, including junior sharpshooter James Anderson who put in 27.

The Jayhawks drew to within six with 1:08 remaining but ultimately came up short.

The win all but ensures the Cowboys a spot in the tournament, and though Kansas will still be favored going into March, the Jayhawks looked vulnerable and pedestrian on Saturday.

Purdue fell to Michigan State 53-44 on Sunday, although its loss was unsurprising as junior Robbie Hummel — one of the team’s leaders — suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Boilermakers’ win over Minnesota on Wednesday. Hummel’s injury may very well spell the end of Purdue’s bid for a national title. Hummel

I

MCT

Marcus Morris, center, and Kansas were upset last weekend by Oklahoma State. All three teams at the top of the polls lost over the weekend, causing a shakeup that moved Syracuse to No. 1. averaged 15.7 points and 6.9 rebounds in the low-scoring Big Ten. Purdue’s other two scoring threats, juniors E’Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson, combined to go 7-for-27 and contributed just 23 combined points. The Boilermakers have now lost four times this season and will have to do something special in the coming weeks to salvage a campaign that looks to be on the brink of collapse.

Kansas and Kentucky will still remain favorites going into the NCAA Tournament and very well may come away with No. 1 seeds when Selection Sunday rolls around in two weeks. Both squads now have two losses on the year, matching then-No. 4 Syracuse, who, by default, took over the top slot in the latest rankings. see INSIDE NCAA BASKETBALL, page 13

WEEKLY POLL | TUFTSDAILY.COM/SPORTS

What March sporting event are you most looking forward to?

MCT

45 percent — March Madness

MCT

17 percent — Spring training

ALEX DENNETT/TUFTS DAILY

17 percent — Starting games of Tufts’ spring athletics

MCT

MCT

13 percent — The continuation of the NBA’s incredibly long season

9 percent — Return of the NHL after the Olympics

am a New York Knicks fan. I am a LeBron James fan. Naturally, there’s basically nothing more I’d like to see in the world than LeBron sporting a Knicks jersey next year.

But even I’m getting tired of the LeBron talk. Part of it is because I genuinely don’t believe he’s coming to New York (more on that in a bit), and part of it is because the story is so overblown that people will look for meaning in anything.

For example, the other day, LeBron officially filed paperwork to change his number from 23 — Michael Jordan’s former number — to six, out of respect for the basketball great. And people are now wondering if it’s a sign that he’s going to stay in Cleveland because he’s changing his number there.

Those people need to find something else to do. LeBron is attempting to change his number now because the deadline to do so is today — the NBA needs to know so that it can plan for the production of new jerseys — and that’s it. It doesn’t mean he’s staying; it doesn’t mean he’s going. All it means is that wherever he is, he’ll be wearing No. 6.

The fact is, nobody knows what he’s going to do but him — and he will play wherever he wants, regardless of that team’s cap situation (sign-and-trades, people). But with that said, let me explain why I don’t think New York is the place LeBron will choose.

Some will argue that New York is the basketball capital of the world, a place where LeBron can take his stardom to another level. But really, can LeBron get any bigger? He’s the biggest basketball superstar on the planet, and he’s got every endorsement deal he could possibly want — New York’s not really going to do anything for him in the selfpromotion department.

Money? Nope, New York can’t offer more of that either. The way the NBA cap system is structured, a free agent’s most recent team can offer him one more year with bigger raises. So the Knicks can offer LeBron a five-year deal with raises of eight percent, while the Cavaliers can offer him a six-year deal with raises of 10.5 percent. Not that LeBron really needs the cash. Just saying.

What about winning? That’s ostensibly what LeBron cares the most about. Sadly, Knicks fans are kidding themselves if they think New York provides the best chance to do that. Yes, the Knicks will have enough cap space to sign both LeBron and another max-contract player next year. But the Knicks are clearly a team in rebuilding mode, and they have nothing to offer LeBron as they are.

LeBron’s not going to sign with the Knicks unless they sign another superstar free agent like Dwyane Wade. But Wade’s not going to sign with the Knicks unless they sign someone like LeBron.

It’s the Catch-22 from hell, Knicks fans, and I just don’t see any way around it.

And even if LeBron did want to sign with a rebuilding team, that team would most likely be the Bulls — a team that also has enough cap room to sign two max-contract players, while also already having a superstar in Derrick Rose and other pieces. Can you imagine a trio of Rose, Wade and LeBron? I’m sure LeBron can.

But mostly, I think LeBron cares about his legacy. And the best way for a superstar player in any sport to build a legacy is to stay put. Derek Jeter, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning — these are players who have been with the same team for their entire careers.

You know who else formed his legacy with one team? Jordan. And despite LeBron’s number change, that’s the guy who he wants to be.

To emulate Jordan, he needs to build a dynasty from the ground up. He’s already done most of the work in Cleveland. Why would he leave now?

Results are out of 47 total votes. Poll is not scientific and reflects only the views of those tuftsdaily.com users who chose to respond.

Which star Tufts winter athlete was most essential to his/her team’s success?

To vote in this week’s poll, visit tuftsdaily.com/sports

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

Sports

16

INSIDE Men’s Swimming and Diving 14 Inside NCAA Basketball 15 The Sauce 15

tuftsdaily.com

INSIDE NESCAC MEN’S BASKETBALL

Young Middlebury squad looking to make waves at NCAAs BY

DAVID HECK

Daily Editorial Board

Last year, the Middlebury men’s basketball squad enjoyed one of the best years in the program’s 92-year history. The team — which was led by NESCAC Player of the Year Ben Rudin — had cruised to its first conference title in school history and headed into the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 9 in the nation on the strength of a 24-3 record.

The path appeared nicely paved for the Panthers as they attempted to win the first NCAA game in school history and to make their way toward the tournament finals. They had earned a first-round bye and found themselves facing the unranked Bridgewater State Bears at home — where Middlebury had gone 13-0 up to that point — in the second round. But Middlebury’s journey through the NCAA bracket ended abruptly and unexpectedly, as the Bears hit two three-pointers in the final 37 seconds of the second-round game to upset the Panthers 78-76 and drown their dreams of a national title.

“We were hopeful that last year we’d be able to go deep into the tournament, especially having a bye in first round,” Middlebury coach Jeff Brown told the Daily.

“It was very disappointing to lose an NCAA game at home, where we felt like we played pretty well. We had a lead late, and unfortunately we lacked a couple of plays down the stretch, and it really was an emotional loss for our team and especially for our seniors, who had done so much for the program.”

This year, Middlebury will be looking for some vengeance — albeit with a much different-looking squad. The Panthers graduated Rudin, as well as Kyle Dudley, the team’s No. 2 scorer, and Aaron Smith, the team’s leading rebounder.

And yet, Middlebury has played at an

JAMES CHOCA/TUFTS DAILY

Senior guard Tim Edwards, shown here against Tufts in 2008, and Middlebury will be making their third straight trip to the NCAA tournament this year. The Panthers will host Gordon in the first round Friday night. equally high level this year. Led by sophomore Ryan Sharry and freshmen Jake Wolfin and Nolan Thompson — all of whom average double-digit points — on the offensive

end, the Panthers have slightly upped their scoring average from 73.6 to 74.1 this season.

“They’ve been huge this year, especially

ALL-NESCAC BASKETBALL

Women rack up slew of top prizes, Pierce earns men’s honor once more

BY SAPNA

BANSIL

the first semester when I was out for the first six games,” Panthers senior co-captain

INSIDE THE NBA

Another tight MVP race garners much debate BY

ALEX SCAROS

Daily Editorial Board

Senior Staff Writer

The NESCAC announced its all-conference selections in men’s and women’s basketball on Wednesday, and the Jumbos were prominently represented. A look at Tufts’ honorees: Jr. Vanessa Miller | Defensive Player of the Year: For the third straight year, the conference’s top defensive honor went to a Jumbo.

This time, Miller was tabbed with the award after averaging a NESCAC-best 3.24 steals per game. The 5-foot-2 tri-captain did more than just wreak havoc on the perimeter, however, pulling down an average of 4.2 rebounds per game. Nearly half of those came on the offensive end.

Sr. Julia Baily | First Team AllNESCAC: In a year in which she was counted on to anchor the Jumbos’ post, Baily delivered the best season of her career. The senior forward was a First Team all-conference selection for the first time after ranking second in the conference in both points (15.6) and rebounds (9.1). Along the way, she posted a NESCACbest 12 double-doubles, including a string of four in a row versus NESCAC opponents between Jan. 30 and Feb. 13.

Jr. Colleen Hart | First Team All-NESCAC: The Jumbo point guard’s trophy case is filling up awfully fast. A former NESCAC Rookie of the Year, Hart added her second career First Team all-conference selection to her

Every year, no matter who is playing well or what teams seem to be dominating the NBA, there is always debate over who should win the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for the league.

In recent years, the same names have come up in the discussion: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade.

With the exception of Wade, who has been plagued with injuries and an underachieving Miami Heat team, Bryant and James are at the forefront of the discussion once again.

However, the award is given (or should be given) to the league’s most valuable player — that is, the player whose value to his team is the most significant.

Bryant’s Lakers are 46-15, one game behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the best record in the NBA, but Bryant’s supporting cast has proven to be better than most.

When Bryant was sidelined on Feb. 6 with a fractured finger that hadbeen bothering him all season, the Lakers went up to Portland and thrashed the Blazers — the one team that has inexplicably given them more trouble than any other over the past few seasons — 99-82.

Bryant missed five games, and in that span, the Lakers

JOSH BERLINGER/TUFTS DAILY

In the midst of a stellar junior campaign in which she led the NESCAC in scoring, tri-captain Colleen Hart, left, was named to the All-Conference First Team on Wednesday. awards haul yesterday after pacing the NESCAC with 16.6 points per game. The heart and soul of coach Carla Berube’s squad also led the conference in minutes played and three-point field goals this season.

Sr. Jon Pierce | Second Team All-NESCAC: The men’s basketball team’s lone all-conference

honoree, Pierce ended his sterling career on the Hill with his third straight Second Team selection.

With 18.3 points per game, he finished just shy of the NESCAC’s scoring title, while also leading his team in rebounding (7.3), steals (1.1) and blocks (1.5). Pierce leaves the program as its all-time leading scorer.

see INSIDE NESCAC, page 14

went 5-1, with their only loss coming in a one-point game to a hungry Boston Celtics team. In that span, the Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs and the Utah Jazz, two Western Conference playoffcaliber teams. Behind the play of All-Star forward Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Ron Artest and Derek Fisher, the Lakers put out a strong team every night, even without Bryant.

But while Bryant is considered by many to be the best player in the world, he is not the most valuable to his team.

This year, the MVP race should be between two players: James and Kevin Durant.

Without James, the Cavs’ roster is essentially a team filled with role players. Mo Williams and Delonte West are strong guards, averaging 16.1 and 7.9 points per game, respectively, but neither would be the go-to option on any NBA team. A 38-yearold Shaquille O’Neal, who is now out indefinitely with a badly sprained thumb, cannot carry a team on his back like he could five years ago, and without James, a starting lineup of Williams, West, J.J. Hickson, Antawn Jamison and Anderson Varejao appears average at best on paper.

James seems to be on his see INSIDE NBA, page 13