2010-12-01

Showers/Wind 55/38

THE TUFTS DAILY

TUFTSDAILY.COM

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2010

VOLUME LX, NUMBER 54

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Facilities considers President-elect Monaco makes his debut strengthening Dewick floor BY

MATT REPKA

Daily Editorial Board

BY

BRENT YARNELL

Daily Editorial Board

The Facilities and Construction Department has commissioned engineers to examine the possibility of strengthening the floor in the DewickMacPhie Dining Hall to make the venue safe for concerts, according to Facilities Director Robert Burns.

Dewick has not hosted concerts since the Fall Rock Show of 2008, featuring Hellogoodbye. The floor started to vibrate when the entire crowd began jumping simultaneously, according to Director of Dining and Business Services Patti Klos.

“The floor was not designed for that,” she said. “The floor was designed for hundreds of people to dance on, but not to jump in unison.”

Tufts Community Union ( TCU) Senator Yulia Korovikov, who chairs the Senate’s Administration and Policy Committee, approached Facilities this semester about renovating the floor after hearing student interest in using the venue as a concert space.

An engineer inspected the space a few weeks ago, and Burns expects a preliminary proposal on how to correct the issue, including initial cost estimates, to be submitted sometime in the near future. Facilities will forward the proposal to the Senate but abstain from further consideration of the report until the Senate secures funding for the project, he said.

“Let’s say the proposal becomes hundreds of thousands of dollars — we’ll give that information to the student government,” Burns said. “When there’s a commitment made by the student government … then we’ll do the fullblown study.”

Korovikov expects the costs of any renovation to be high.

“The general concern right now is to see how much it would cost to fix those structural issues,” she said. “It will be expensive. There’s no doubt that it will be expensive.”

Burns said the project’s high potential cost stems from the location of Dewick’s industrial kitchen, which lies directly beneath the main floor.

“If you have to beef the floor up, this is where it could get costly,” he said.

“That could interfere with the kitchen, too.”

Dining Services would be involved in any future considerations of renovating the floor, Klos said.

“We curate that building. We serve thousands of people a day. We would be involved,” she said.

The foundation of the Dewick floor is crumbling, according to Korovikov.

Though the floor never appeared to be close to breaking, Klos said that the ban on concerts was taken as a precautionary measure.

“We don’t know its limits,” Klos said.

Korovikov said that the Medford campus lacks another venue of a similar size to Dewick, which can hold between 200 and 300 people.

The Carzo Cage in Cousens Gymnasium and the Gantcher Center, which were used for Passion Pit and Fall see DEWICK, page 2

University President-elect Anthony Monaco met the Tufts community for the first time in the Coolidge Room yesterday morning, kicking off a whirlwind tour of Tufts’ three campuses.

The Board of Trustees Monday evening elected Monaco, a University of Oxford administrator and scientist, to succeed University President Lawrence Bacow as the university’s next head. In a short, upbeat ceremony, Monaco, accompanied by his wife Zoia and sons Alexander, Nicholas and Anthony, briefly addressed a capacity crowd about his vision for the future of the university.

“It is a tremendous honor to be here today,” Monaco told the audience.

“Zoia and the boys and I are really excited about this opportunity to come to the Tufts community.”

In his remarks, which lasted less than five minutes, Monaco thanked see MONACO, page 2

AALOK KANANI/TUFTS DAILY

University President-elect Anthony Monaco, second from left, and Board of Trustees Chair James Stern (E ’72) shake hands yesterday as Provost and Senior Vice President Jamshed Bharucha, far left, and Presidential Search Committee Chair Peter Dolan (A ’78) look on.

Consultant Malloch promotes corporate ethics BY

KATHRYN SULLIVAN Daily Staff Writer

DAILY FILE PHOTO

Students recently called for a bigger celebration of World AIDS Day, according to organizers of this year’s events. Above, students participate in a 2004 AIDS vigil.

Tufts to recognize World AIDS Day BY

MICHAEL DEL MORO Daily Editorial Board

The Tufts community today will hold a daylong celebration in honor of World AIDS Day, an international effort to raise awareness of the disease and its impact.

The event will include free HIV testing for students, activities in the Mayer Campus Center to raise awareness, and an evening performance featuring student groups and a speaker from the Cambridgebased HIV education group Youth On Fire.

The HIV tests will be administered in the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Center by The MALE Center, a Boston-based organization geared toward providing resources for gay and bisexual men.

An evening performance will feature performances by various student performance groups, including the percussion group B.E.A.T.S., the dance group Sarabande, Tufts Belly Dance, the allfemale a cappella group Essence, Social Justice Arts Initiative and students associated with Pen, Paint and Pretzels’ (3Ps) Over the Rainbow, a theater production centered on AIDS awareness.

This year’s Tufts celebration of World AIDS Day, sponsored by the Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS), will be the most

Inside this issue

extensive commemoration ever held for the event at Tufts, according to junior Priya Larson, a co-coordinator of the day’s events. Recognition for the day has in previous years been limited to dining hall tabling, she said.

“We wanted to do something special at Tufts, whereas in the past few years, it’s been really small,” Larson said.

The expansion of the event was driven by student suggestions, according to Larson and fellow co-coordinator Rebecca Hershow, a senior.

“As we started talking to [students] earlier in the semester, people were really enthusiastic about the event,” Larson said.

“I’m just glad to see that people care about this cause.”

Larson and Hershow, both members of the HIV/AIDS Initiative within LCS, have enlisted student groups to participate in the activities, including sexual education group VOX: Voices for Choice; Social Justice Arts Initiative, a group that promotes global equality issues; and the PreMed Society, along with Health Service and the LGBT Center.

“AIDS is a disease that affects a lot of people around the world,” Larson said.

“Many people don’t realize that AIDS is

Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, author of the best-selling book “Spiritual Enterprise: Doing Virtuous Business” (2008) and CEO of business consulting firm The Roosevelt Group, spoke last night as part of a six-week tour around the United States and Canada promoting the documentary “Doing Virtuous Business” (2010). Malloch, a research scholar at Yale University, is showing a sneak preview of the film at several universities, hoping to receive feedback before its release. The documentary focuses on how firms can promote virtue in the business world.

The Daily spoke with Malloch yesterday about the documentary and his motives for making it.

Kathryn Sullivan: What is the focus of “Doing Virtuous Business”?

Ted Malloch: It’s an argument about how companies can be profitable and do good, and it argues the case from virtue ethics, so it identifies 14 different virtues and then it gives examples in 14 different companies where they’re embodied. Obviously, I have a cast of characters. There are different academic people, business school people and deans of different universities that are in the film, so some leading lights, and then these 14 CEOs. KS: What is the purpose of the documentary showing?

TM: This is a sneak preview. … I’m on a six-week, 26-city tour where people — mostly students and faculty, and I think there’s going to be some corporate respondents on a panel — look at the movie and tell us what their impressions are. It’s soon to be released.

see AIDS, page 2

see MALLOCH, page 2

Today’s Sections

The controversial human papillovirus vaccine’s use is questioned again.

Why the Daily thinks you should check out ‘Community.’

see FEATURES, page 5

see ARTS, page 7

News Features Arts | Living Editorial | Letters

1 5 7 10

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

11 12 13 Back

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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

NEWS

Anthony Monaco officially introduced as president-elect MONACO continued from page 1

DAILY FILE PHOTO

The Fall 2007 Hip-Hop Show, headlined by Girl Talk, right, was one of the last concerts held in Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall before the floor was designated too weak for concert use.

If floor is fixed, student organizers eye Dewick-MacPhie as prime venue for events DEWICK continued from page 1

Ball respectively, are far too large for a crowd of 200 to 300 students, Korovikov said, while Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room is too small.

“We don’t have many big spaces on this campus that are indoors, at least,” she said.

Dewick’s size offers a fitting place for a concert space, she said.

“It’s the very basic fact that it’s a big, open space,” she said. “Imagine if you moved all those chairs.”

Senior Sarah Habib, co-chair of Programming Board, said the body has been frustrated

by Dewick’s unavailability, as it uniquely suits a variety of on-campus events.

“The openness, the capacity of Dewick cannot be matched by any university spaces,” she said. “We know it’s not useable, so we kind of avoid it, but it’s definitely a problem.”

Dewick, Habib said, is small enough to allow organizers to

avoid the extra costs associated with hosting an event in one of the campus’s larger venues.

“If we have an event in Gantcher, we’re required to pay for more security and more facilities costs just to have the event,” she said. “It helps keep costs down because having an event is much cheaper than having an event in the Cage or in Gantcher.”

Nicole Goodwin, co-chair of Concert Board, said that after Dewick became unavailable for concerts, Concert Board adjusted by booking bigger shows in larger venues, a move that turned out advantageous for them, she said.

“Out of necessity, we moved to other places, but that ended up being a great step for Concert Board by having bigger shows and doing things like Passion Pit in the Cage,” she said.

Goodwin does not see the inability to use Dewick as a major problem for Concert Board, explaining that she pre-

fers larger-scale concerts hosted in the Cage and Gantcher, which can be open to more students.

“As Concert Board, what we want to do is have bigger shows and have shows that everyone at Tufts can get excited about, along the lines of Spring Fling,” she said. “At this point, if Concert Board can do shows for 2,000 people, why would we want to do shows for 200 people in Dewick?”

Klos emphasized that Dewick can currently host any kind of campus event besides concerts.

“You can have lectures, you can have the kinds of events where the audience is not likely to want to jump in unison,” she said. “Certain kinds of events don’t lend themselves to that.”

Students should not worry about the sturdiness of the floor for tame events hosted in the dining hall, she said.

“Going to eat is not an issue,” Klos said.

Malloch screens ‘virtuous capitalism’ documentary throughout United States, Canada MALLOCH continued from page 1

KS: What is the mission of The Roosevelt Group?

TM: It’s a for-profit consulting firm that I’ve had for 20 years, and we work with very large corporations to talk about penetrating various markets and risks. The largest program I’ve ever had is with [Pricewaterhouse Coopers]. It’s a very large accounting and management consulting firm. The name of the program is the CEO Learning Partnership and the subject is ‘Inventing the Future,’ so we talk about what’s going to happen in a given industry or a set of industries over the next three to five years. It’s oriented toward larger, for-profit multinational companies. That’s what I’ve done primarily in the last 17 or 18 years.

KS: How did you decide to develop The Roosevelt Group?

TM: I was on the board of the World Economic Forum. When I came out of that, I basically got the idea of working with CEOs independently and then with groups of CEOs to think about

the future. That’s where it really got started…

KS: What does your current work include?

TM: I spend more and more of my time teaching at Yale where I have a very large research grant on this topic. I have three post-doc students and two other people working with me, and we’re working on 24 case studies, which are business case studies on businesses that exhibit virtue.

KS: What are the companies included in these case studies?

TM: It’s a wide range. Fourteen of the companies are based in North America, and 10 of them are based outside around the world. They come from all different industries, public and private companies, and all kinds of different backgrounds. One is Tata … in India. Another is HSBC. … And another would be Cargill, which is one of the largest private companies in the world; it’s a $100-billion private company.

KS: What is the goal of this

research?

TM: It’s basically to provide cases of the whole paradigm of virtuous capitalism that can be taught in business schools. I’m teaching a course at Yale in the school of management on the topic of the virtue in business.

the search committee and the Board of Trustees for their confidence in him. He said he was informed of the decision two weeks ago but had to keep the news a secret.

“It’s been very difficult because I haven’t been able to tell anyone,” Monaco said.

“So my colleagues at Oxford may have noticed my sudden penchant for ties with little elephants.”

Monaco said that his own personal values — including a commitment to academic excellence, diversity and need-blind admissions — were “well-matched” to those of the university.

“Tufts is truly a remarkable university, and I look forward to advancing its mission,” he said.

The entire event, which consisted of introductions and remarks by top administrators prior to Monaco’s address, was broadcast live online through a university website dedicated to information about the next president.

In his introduction, Bacow said Monaco’s appointment marked “a truly great day for Tufts University, a great day for American higher education and, I think, a great day for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

Bacow in his remarks reflected on his own introduction to the Tufts community; he took office in 2001.

“I was just thinking that it was just yesterday in which I walked into this very room and greeted so many of you for the very first time,” he said. “It has gone incredibly swiftly.”

Monaco is an accomplished geneticist and neuroscientist who is currently the pro-vicechancellor for planning and resources at Oxford.

“The real challenge was to find that special combination that would be the right match for Tufts,” Board of Trustees Chair James Stern (E ’72) told the audience. “One candidate stood out above all the others.”

Presidential Search Committee Chair Peter Dolan (A ’78) and Provost and Senior Vice President Jamshed Bharucha also spoke. Dolan thanked the members of the search committee for their work in maintaining confidentiality about the body’s deliberations until the eve of the announcement.

Testing, daylong festivities to raise AIDS awareness AIDS

KS: What are your goals in the future?

TM: The big thing is right now the launch of this film, so once it shows on PBS, about 15 million people will see it, and it will be translated into five languages and shown in other countries around the world. Our hope is that it generates a lot of interest and builds a case for more case studies and more academic studies and more interest in this whole topic. I’ve already been to 15 to 18 different places, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive, very inspirational. Generally people are very interested in this kind of narrative. There’s so much antibusiness narrative out there, so this is a different approach. It’s saying that business can actually be a positive force.

After the event’s conclusion, Monaco expressed satisfaction with the proceedings.

“I think it was great. It was exciting, obviously, and it’s nice to have a bit of a laugh and not take it so formally,” he told the Daily, referencing Stern’s joke at the outset of the event about converting Monaco’s sons to New York Yankees fans — and Monaco’s retort that Red Sox Nation would most likely claim his kin.

After visits yesterday of Tufts’ three campuses, Monaco and his family planned to return to the United Kingdom in the evening.

“I’m afraid I have to travel back to England … because the boys have to get back to school,” he said after the morning event. He will return to Tufts again before the end of the academic year.

After the event, Stern called Monaco’s personal background “an American dream story.”

Born in Wilmington, Del., Monaco attended Princeton University on a full scholarship, according to Stern.

“It’s obviously a very exciting day for the university,” Stern said. “He’s the 13th president — we haven’t had too many days like this in our history.”

Monaco, Stern said, was well prepared to follow in Bacow’s footsteps.

“We all know and love Larry, and we knew there were huge shoes to fill,” he said. “We think we have found someone who in any and every respect fills those shoes and understands the legacy that has been built and what he’s been given, and the opportunity to build it and grow it even more.”

Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences James Glaser expressed approval of the choice, though he said the transition to a new president was somewhat bittersweet.

“He sounds like he’s a great fit for the institution,” Glaser said. “I have to say that it brings Larry’s departure closer to home, and that makes me sad. But change is a good thing for an institution, and I understand that.”

Stern said that Monaco presented exactly what the university was looking for in its new resident of Gifford House.

“This is the whole package.

This is what you hope for,” Stern said of Monaco. “We got very lucky 10 years ago, and I think we’ve gotten very lucky again.”

continued from page 1

a problem in Boston as well as around the world.”

Larson said that LCS’s HIV/ AIDS Initiative addresses the disease as it affects Tufts’ surrounding communities.

“I think that the heart of LCS is to help out in the local community,” she said.

A celebration of this magnitude on campus, Hershow said, is designed to remind students of the global gravity of the disease.

“I think Tufts students want to be aware of the big issues right now, and HIV is still a pandemic, and it’s still a huge problem,” Hershow said. “It’s a global memorial day for the pandemic.”

Hershow hopes that the event will serve to promote healthy lifestyles.

“I think it’s just important for

students to learn to protect themselves and just be aware of these global issues,” Hershow said.

Larson hopes the event will encourage attendees to become active in AIDS education and prevention efforts, particularly in the local community.

Tufts Community Union Senator Tabias Wilson, a sophomore who helped coordinate today’s events, said that the outreach was especially important for young people and students.

“It’s really the time to sort of form safe sexual practices, and it’s a good time to get the facts out to people,” Wilson said.

Hershow appreciated the participation of the groups in recognition of the day.

“I think it’s really cool that all of the groups dedicated their time to support World AIDS Day,” she said. “I think it’ll be really fun.”

THE TUFTS DAILY

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

3

NEWS

Tufts, meet Anthony Monaco “As I look around the room at all the portraits of these previous presidents, I’m reminded of the saying, ‘standing on the shoulders of giants.’ So today, standing on the shoulders of these giants — and Larry.”

—Anthony Monaco, university president-elect

“The real challenge was to find that special combination that would be the right match for Tufts.

One candidate stood out above all the others.”

—James Stern (E ’72), chair of the Board of Trustees

“It’s obviously a very exciting day for the university. He’s the 13th president — we haven’t had too many days like this in our history.”

—James Stern

“A truly great day for Tufts University, a great day for American higher education and, I think, a great day for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

—Lawrence Bacow, university president

“Tufts is truly a remarkable university, and I look forward to advancing its mission.”

—Anthony Monaco

“I was just thinking that it was just yesterday in which I walked into this very room and greeted so many of you for the very first time. It has gone incredibly swiftly.”

—Lawrence Bacow Photos by Aalok Kanani

4

THE TUFTS DAILY

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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Speaker Series Presents

An evening with

Iqbal Quadir Bottom-Up Entrepreneurship for Democracy and Development

Professor Quadir is the founding director of MIT’s Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship and the founder of Grameenphone Limited in Bangladesh. For nearly twenty years he has advocated for the use of mobile phones and commerce-based solutions to empower ordinary people in low-income countries. Don’t miss this chance to discuss innovative and sustainable solutions to global poverty with a leading expert in the field, and join us afterward for a small dessert reception.

Thursday, December 2nd at 7pm in Pearson 104.

Features

5

tuftsdaily.com

Use of human papilloma virus vaccine again at the center of controversy

CJ SARACENO | BAN TOGETHER

Friendly banter

BY SARAH STRAND

Daily Staff Writer

B

The controversial vaccination for the most common sexually transmitted virus, human papilloma virus (HPV ) — which has been available for girls’ use since 2006 — is once again becoming contentious as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) debates whether it should recommend that boys receive the vaccine as well.

Last year the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — which approves drugs for use in humans but does not issue recommendations — cleared the way for Merck & Co.’s Gardasil, one of two competing HPV vaccines, to be used for boys and men ages nine through 26, pointing to its ability to prevent genital warts.

MCT

see HPV, page 6

The CDC currently only recommends the HPV vaccine for girls but is debating whether to recommend it for boys, particularly gay boys, as well.

With the release of his new memoirs, George W. Bush’s favorable rating rises BY

ALEXA SASANOW

Daily Editorial Board

Although former President George W. Bush left office nearly two years ago, with the recent release of his memoir, “Decision Points,” he is back in the public consciousness. It looks as though he aims to stay and that many Americans are happy to have him back. His favorable rating has gone up four points from when he left office to 44 percent currently, according to a recent Gallup Poll, and his memoir has sold 1.1 million copies.

Many parts of his legacy, however, are still being written.

“I think his reputation is undergoing something of a rehabilitation,” senior Michael Hawley, former president of Tufts Republicans, said in an e-mail to the Daily. “I do think that, for instance, the Bush tax cuts are an example of a policy that appeals now to a broad swath of society as a statement about allowing Americans to keep more of what they earn. As for history’s judgment, I think Bush consciously tied the fate of his legacy to his aggressive approach to the War on Terror. Therefore, the final verdict on his administration will have to wait until we see the outcome of this struggle.”

Peter Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic

Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), said that Bush’s current rise in popularity is not uncommon for a former president who has been out of the public sphere for some time, but for Bush’s particular situation it is somewhat surprising.

“What’s unusual about Bush is he doesn’t have a base,” he said.

“Republicans in the Tea Party view him as part of the problem. He doesn’t come back and rally supporters like Bill Clinton, for example. As a head of state and national leader, I’d usually say they [have a base], but he was quite unpopular. I’m sure some people would rather have him away for good.”

Hawley said that what’s changed the most about public perception of the former president lies in the strength of their feelings, not necessarily in the nature of their political views.

“It seems to me that more than a four percent swing in approval, the real difference in the country’s orientation to him lies in intensity,” he said. “That is to say, that when he left office, George Bush wasn’t simply unpopular — he was hated by a large and vocal percentage of the population. That fervent ire, it seems to me, is no longer there.”

The press, however, has been fervently covering the release of the former president’s memoir and subsequent book

“H to the E to the HELL yes.”

—a graduate student celebrating data in a chemistry lab

“When I was little, I wanted to hatch a chick so badly that I put an egg in my pants and walked around with it for three days.”

—a potential Freudian case study in Hotung Café

tour, with a major focus on Bush’s assertion that the “all-time low” of his presidency was when Kanye West announced on the Katrina Telethon that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

“I think that was a particular petty and foolish claim on the part of the president,” Hawley said. “Some pop-culture figure said something mean about you, and that’s what you consider the worst moment of your presidency? I think 9/11 or the actual event of Hurricane Katrina and any number of other crises or tragedies should have ranked above Kanye West.”

Levine pointed to the invasion of Iraq or instances of waterboarding as potential worse moments. “[Though] a lot of people thought Iraq was terrible, psychologically that doesn’t impress him,” Levine said. “He thought it was a success. I’m personally extremely against torture and the violation of U.S. criminal laws. His memoir says he’s in favor of waterboarding people. I would say that’s the worst moment, but he doesn’t. It’s definitely debatable.”

As a president’s legacy moves from being news to being history, a certain amount of the conversation moves to the halls of the George W. Bush see BUSH, page 6

Male 1: “I saw ‘The Town’ yesterday.”

Male 2: “What’d you think?”

Male 1: “It made me want to be a robber.”

—future felons in Carmichael “I wonder where pea coats got their name from. They have absolutely nothing to do with peas at all.”

—a student musing while eating dinner

“I’d rather sit in my car for four hours in traffic than walk anywhere on two feet.”

—lazy female outside Dewick. Did she drive there?

“Wait, what’s The New Yorker?

Like, a person? Like someone from New York?”

—an intellectual in Dewick —compiled by the Daily Features Department

Overheard something funny? Want to profess your love? Need to give a shout-out to that kid you always see unicycling on campus? E-mail features@tuftsdaily.com with the subject “Overherd on the Hill.”

efore I admit my inability to supply Tufts’ activists with their next villain, I offer an abridged list of some topics that never gathered enough popular support for me to dedicate an entire column to them: Unfair trade coffee: Do you know how many farmers you bankrupt when you choose to not drink fair trade coffee? Does the French Roast really taste that much better than Uganda Blend? A ban on unfair trade coffee is the best way to signal to those corporate fat cats that we’re not dependent on their bourgeois commodities.

Mama hens: The number one c---block in universities nationwide is the mama hen, the plus-sized, self-appointed ringleader of most female cliques. Her primary responsibility is scooping up her chickadees and getting them back to the nest before any male poachers can lure them away from the pack. Mama hens rely on peer pressure and shame to coerce their more attractive peers into watching “The Office” reruns and pigging out on chocolatepeanut buttercup ice cream instead of hooking up with that hottie in Zeta Psi. Cheryl Milligan e-mails: Dear Cheryl, I enjoy a constant flood of e-mails detailing the ins and outs of intramural sports, so this isn’t coming from me. However, I recently discovered that a majority of people don’t share this affinity. For starters, can we at least fix the subject line in your e-mail blasts? They don’t need to read “Announcement from Cheryl Milligan.” We know that from your e-mail address (also the liberal use of capital letters).

Alternative Joeys: Tufts now has a new Joey.

It might be cleaner and more efficient than the old-school inmate bus I’m used to running after or waiting a half-hour for, but this new guy makes campus look like an airport shuttle station. Get rid of this new-school bus, or at least ding it up a bit so it can fit in with the ’70s-themed aesthetics of the buildings it hovers in front of.

Voices: Voices of Tufts: The Diversity Experience is an Office of Undergraduate Admissions-based outreach program that provides certain prospective students with the opportunity to visit Tufts. After participating in this program two years in a row, I suggest we either continue it and stop offering to subsidize some participants’ travel expenses or ban it altogether and integrate former participants with the thousands of other prefrosh visitors.

The TCU Senate: When not debating whether to pass a resolution condemning the absence of rainbow flags, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate is blowing your Student Activities Fund on “important stuff.” We elected these kids, so we only have ourselves to blame, yet I still can’t believe how little public attention has been given to the recent distribution of the $200,000 budgetary surplus.

Instead of holding onto the surplus for a time of true need or even donating it to charity, TCU senators have decided to give it away to clubs that could fabricate any excuse for needing more money. Clubs are supposed to teach thriftiness and resourcefulness. What happened last month was an outright rejection of these values. Instead we saw an outright breakdown of the normal checks and balances, transforming into a competition to see which group could suck more money away from Tufts by fabricating the lamest reasons.

As a result, TUTV is getting a costly dolly, and $50,000 went to a bike-share program, which will be used in part to purchase 30 bikes and helmets. Sharing bikes is one thing, but helmets … that’s gross. And yes, the Daily covered this distribution of excess funds in a tame puff piece but forgot to actually point out the huge flaws in the process. Senators turned down condom machines in dormitories, making the TCU Senate seem like the most incompetent group of kids to come together at Tufts. But hey, at least we can rest assured that the Tufts Robotics Club will be getting a $15,000 laser cutter.

CJ Saraceno is a senior majoring in political science. He can be reached at Christopher.Saraceno@tufts.edu.

THE TUFTS DAILY

6

FEATURES

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Some worry that the HPV vaccination is too costly HPV continued from page 5

HPV can lead to cervical cancer in women and anal cancer in men, among other ailments.

The FDA last year approved GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix for use by girls and women ages 10 to 25, but not for boys or men.

Gardasil has been found to be highly effective in preventing anal lesions and cancer in men — men who have sex with other men are approximately 20-times more likely to develop anal cancer in their lifetime than men who only have sex with women.

The CDC, which does make recommendations, is now deliberating whether to recommend the vaccine for all males, homosexual males or just for females, as it currently does.

The CDC currently recommends that all girls aged 11 or 12 be vaccinated with either Gardasil or Cervarix.

The vaccine has been met with significant opposition, particularly from parents, who have complained that the addition of these drugs to the existing regimen of childhood vaccinations has cornered them into discussing sex with their children earlier than they would prefer. Some have expressed concern that administering the shot encourages young girls to experiment with sexual behavior prematurely.

“It’s ... highly politically and culturally charged,” Tufts University’s Medical Director of Health Services Margaret Higham said of the ongoing debate.

Community Health Lecturer Alissa Spielberg explained that while targeting gay boys raises issues for many people, it is often helpful to focus on the group of patients that will be most affected by a procedure of medication.

“If you’re going to recommend something, you like to recommend it to the right group of people,” she said.

Many, however, see ethical problems in targeting the drug’s use.

Junior Ryan Rifkin, an active member of Tufts’ Lesbian Gay Transgender Bisexual (LGBT) community, said that he thinks universal vaccination is the best way to reap the most medical benefits while remaining unbiased.

“The big concern with HPV is cervical cancer. Given this, I don’t think it should be encouraged particularly within the Lesbian

Gay Bisexual Transgender community,” Rifkin said. “I think just vaccinating as many people as possible is the goal at this point — focusing of course on straight women, those with the greatest risk.”

But universal vaccination is not straightforward either. While various states have attempted, and some succeeded, to pass legislation requiring girls of a certain age to receive the HPV vaccine before they enter school, issues of compliance and funding still remain, especially when controversial topics like sex, gender and homosexuality are brought into the mix.

Freshman Sascha Strand, who is not related to this reporter, said that his family’s health insurance does not cover many standard sexual health procedures, so he empathizes with people with similar plans would not be in favor of a costly vaccine that might not be necessary.

“Insurance companies can be challenging on issues of LGBT health. Some are more reasonable than others, I’m sure, but my small health insurance company back home, for example, doesn’t even cover STD testing,” Strand said. “And it’s difficult to justify preventative medicine when you’re paying for it out of pocket.”

Targeting particular preteen boys proves problematic on a practical level as well; often, little can be gleaned about a boy’s sexual preference before he becomes sexually active.

“To single out certain kinds of boys is difficult,” Spielberg said.

“And probably ridiculous.”

Still, the HPV vaccination has been proven to yield significant health benefits, and whether or not its use in males is recommended by the CDC, Tufts’ Health Service is in favor of students becoming inoculated, according to Higham. The drug, taken as a shot and administered in a series of three doses, reduces the risk of contracting, transmitting and exhibiting the symptoms of HPV. In addition to keeping genital warts at bay, studies have shown the inoculation protects against cervical as well as penile and anal cancers. “[Health Service is] very keen on the HPV vaccine. We think it’s great,” Higham said. “75 to 95 percent of young adults who have more than three partners will contract HPV, but some will show no symptoms.”

Want the most current campus news?

Follow us on Twitter! To stay in the know, follow @TuftsDaily and @TuftsDailySport

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Bush’s recent book release has won him much public attention — his popularity rate is up four points.

Bush is the 13th to build a presidential library BUSH continued from page 5

Presidential Library, for which ground broke recently for its permanent location on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

“The purpose of the presidential library is first and foremost to preserve archival material and give the public access to that material,” Rachel Day, director of communications for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Dorchester, told the Daily. “We strive to make President Kennedy’s legacy accessible to new generations, to remind them of his ideals, why his work as a president continues to matter and resonate and why learning this history is so important.”

George Bush is only the 13th president to have his own library. While many chose to have their libraries in or near the cities of their birth, Bush, his father and Ronald Reagan

before him chose to build their libraries in their adopted states, Texas, Texas and California respectively. These were the communities that they chose to serve as politicians, and have chosen to serve with their libraries.

“President Kennedy talked about how the library has become an important part of community and part of the fabric of community,” Day said.

“There are economic factors involved to hosting this material, as to why you would want a library in the city of their birth or the city of their choosing versus one universal place, like Washington, D.C.” As the George W. Bush Presidential Center, where the library will be housed, grows, the former president’s role in the American conversation is sure to evolve, Hawley said.

“I think we’ve already seen that he doesn’t intend to be a partisan figure,” Hawley said.

“His book aside, he’s deliberately remained out of the media spotlight on the grounds that he doesn’t want to make [his] successor’s job any harder than it is.”

Levine looks to the postpresidential careers of former presidents Bill Clinton and especially Jimmy Carter for clues as to what Bush’s next few years could look like.

“He’s relatively young,” Levine said. “He models Carter and Clinton, in that sense, whereas [George H. W. Bush] is pretty old — the basic story of his life after the White House is that he retired. Carter and Clinton have had real careers after the White House. You’d expect that [George W. Bush] could do that; he has the time to do it. Carter is unique in modern history because he was a president who left pretty much a failure and had an amazing career after he was president. Bush has got a lot of years ahead of him.”

Arts & Living

7

tuftsdaily.com

SECOND CHANCES

ASHLEY WOOD | FASHION CONTRACEPTIVE

The Mile High myth

I

NBC.COM

NBC’s ‘Community’ presents an ideal fusion of pop culture witticisms, character development and easy laughs.

‘Community’ is a study group worth joining NBC’s underdog is the best comedy on TV — at the moment BY

BEN PHELPS

Daily Editorial Board

This article is the latest edition of “Second Chances,” a recurring feature looking at TV shows that deserve a sec-

Community Starring Joel McHale, Chevy Chase, Alison Brie, Donald Glover Airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on NBC ond chance from viewers. Their ratings may be low, but the quality is high, so if you tuned out early on, here’s our case for why you should give each show another try. This time: “Community.”

“The Office” is past its prime, and Steve Carell’s impending departure has yet to inject a renewed sense of life into

the show. “30 Rock” has been on a roll this year, but it’s unlikely to ever hit the highs of its first two seasons. “Parks and Recreation” is off the air until January.

“Outsourced” ... well, the less said about it, the better.

So if you’re looking for a half hour of comedy on Thursday nights, “Community” is really your only viable option — we’ll just forget about “The Big Bang Theory” and “$#*! My Dad Says” over on CBS. Luckily, since it’s the best comedy currently on the air, it’s more than worth the investment of your time.

What began last year as a good-butnot-great sitcom has quietly morphed into one of the funniest shows on TV. (Look for “Parks and Rec” to reclaim that crown, though, once it returns.) Now, people just need to start watching it.

Created by Dan Harmon, “Community” focuses on a group of Greendale Community College students who met while organizing a study group for their Spanish class. Originally, the study group was their only reason to interact, but now they have become such an interdependent group of friends that they take classes together, just so they won’t have to break up the group.

The ostensible leader of the pack is Jeff Winger (Joel McHale), a former lawyer who had to return to school after it was discovered that his degree was from Colombia — the country, not Columbia Law School. He started out arrogant and self-centered, and while those facets of his personality haven’t disappeared, he has become a deeper character over see COMMUNITY, page 8

GALLERY REVIEW

ALBUM REVIEW

Weisfield Collection boasts diverse array of lithographs at MIT’s Dean’s Gallery

Rihanna ‘Loud’ and satisfying

BY

WILLIAM OWEN

Contributing Writer

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Dean’s Gallery through Jan. 7 is featuring artwork loaned by

Works from the Weisfield Collection At the Dean’s Gallery, through Jan. 7 MIT List Visual Arts Center 20 Ames Street Building E15, Atrium Level, Cambridge 617-253-4680 the Weisfield family. The collection of 14 pieces created between the 1840s and 1990s is eclectic in subject matter due to its artists’ varying nationalities.

The majority of works are of the lithograph medium, but there are also several etchings and newspaper prints.

American artist Richard Florsheim has an untitled lithograph exhibited that was created between 1968 and 1970. The piece is entirely in gray and black tones, demonstrating excellent use of value. It shows a solemn, lonely industrial cityscape; the sun peeks out

from behind the buildings to provide a sense of hope for the depressed city.

Florsheim has another untitled piece depicting a similar mood and subject displayed at the gallery.

Marc Chagall, a well-renowned Belarusian figurative artist of the 20th century, has the most eye-catching piece in the collection. His lithograph, titled “Woman Juggler” (1961-1964), is highly reminiscent of a Matisse cutout.

He uses a vibrant mix of reds, greens, purples and blues, which provide high contrast with the white background.

The woman is depicted abstractly with disproportionate features. The objects she juggles are colorful faces, leaves and flowers.

“Leonardo da Vinci” (1969), by American artist Thomas Cornell, is the most intricate and realistic of the lithographs in the Weisfield Collection. Da Vinci’s eyes, as well as his nose and mouth, iare extremely detailed; his other features melt into the background, creating the impression that the work is still in progress. Cornell uses unblended sketching, adding to the beautiful, unfinished quality of the lithograph. see WEISFIELD, page 8

BY

NASH SIMPSON

Daily Staff Writer

Five years ago, hip hop boss Jay-Z was so fixed on signing Rihanna, his newest discovery,

Loud Rihanna

Def Jam that he refused to let her leave his office until she signed with his Def Jam label. Jay-Z deserves to be commended for his incredible foresight, as Rihanna has become one of the premier pop stars of our time.

Only a year after the release of her previous album, “Rated R,” which displayed her stunning melodious versatility, Rihanna is yet again satisfying music lovers with her vocal prowess. “Loud” is a short, nostalgic flashback to Rihanna’s true style, putting see RIHANNA, page 8

t’s 1 o’clock in the afternoon, and I’m currently sitting in a Dunkin’ Donuts in Logan Airport. My flight doesn’t leave until 6 p.m., but unfortunately, I have an unhealthy obsession with arriving early. I follow a very strict pattern whenever I go to the airport: I always fly Jetblue, I always arrive at least three hours early, I always carry both my driver’s license and my passport, and I always dress in comfortable clothing.

There’s not much to say about the ritual, but I probably should mention what I’m wearing for the sake of this column. I’ve donned cream harem pants, an off-white trapeze top, two necklaces with a skull and a dagger pendant, respectively, and a largeblack-chunky-knit sweater. Not only is my outfit comfortable, it’s also Vogue approved. I am currently the essence of airport fashion. And by this, I really mean that I am currently the essence of a cold shower.

Dressing so appallingly has its upsides though. As I sit waiting in a public place for more than two hours, no one comes up and tries to talk to me. Furthermore, no one will talk to me on my six-hour flight to Los Angeles. Actually, there’s really only one upside: No one talks to me.

Now don’t get me wrong, I like the way I look. In fact, I’m wearing some of my favorite pieces of clothing, though fashion may have made my self-perception a little warped. However, as I look around me, it is clear that I’m not the only one in lust-less clothing.

Airports are possibly the only places in the world that have more sweatpantdonning people than an 8 a.m. college classroom. Everyone in this Dunkin’ Donuts is wearing sweats or Uggs or both. Their faces are void of makeup ,and their hair is hanging dully around their cheeks. They look exhausted.

A question occurs to me: Who the hell wants to have sex on an airplane? The Mile High Club has been a term used for years to refer to individuals who have had sex in the middle of a flight.

But with everyone dressed down, how do people even find the motivation?

Add in the fact that an airplane bathroom is about the size of a shoebox, and I think you have just about the least-sexy situation ever. Well, with the exception of a runway show, of course.

Therefore, I’m here to offer a humble suggestion: If your chance of getting hit on is already minimal, due to your ratty high-school sweatpants and furry footwear, why not use your next flight as an opportunity to indulge in a few recent fashion trends? You’ve got nothing to lose.

When you contemplate what to wear to an airport, I suggest trying to channel a mixture of the Olsen twins and your neighborhood bag lady. This involves covering up as much skin as possible with an eclectic assortment of over-sized sweaters and maxi skirts.

Full-facial coverage is an added plus, so pair your outfit with sunglasses the size of your grandpa’s cataract shades and a hat worthy of Zorro.

If everything works according to plan, not only will you look like you “made an effort,” but people will have no way of noticing whether or not you’re attractive. Don’t want to wear makeup? Don’t want to do your hair? No problem. With the added comfort of being swathed in layers of fabric, you’ll be able to enjoy a cozy, uninterrupted flight home — much like I will. Bon voyage!

Ashley Wood is a junior majoring in English. She can be reached at Ashley.

Wood@tufts.edu.

8

THE TUFTS DAILY

ARTS & LIVING

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Rihanna’s latest album is as catchy and as magnetic as her last RIHANNA continued from page 7

together lovable tracks that remind listeners of her good old pop and R&B days.

The fundamental difference between “Rated R” and “Loud” is that the former is a wholesome album. It is an artistically icy and imaginative piece of work. The album is interconnected and in a way has its own personality. “Loud,” on the other hand, contains evidence of Rihanna merely stringing together completely unrelated tracks; one of the advantages of being Rihanna is that you can do that and get away with it. After all, there’s not a single bad song on the album, perhaps due to her robust and powerful voice.

Stargate, the production team who produced hits “Take a Bow” and “Don’t Stop The Music,” struck again to deliver several of the album’s best tracks. The album starts off with “S&M,” a catchy dance track that would make anyone smile as they hear traces of her 2006 hit single “SOS.” It sets an energetic tone for the rest of the album.

Following that is the hit single, “What’s My Name,” which, although severely weakened by Drake’s miserable rapping, still manages to hold the qualities of a hit single thanks to a solid beat and an even

better vocal delivery from Rihanna.

The next song on the album, “Cheers (Drink to That),” features Avril Lavigne of all people, but it surprisingly turns out to be one the many highlights of the album with a unique and unexpected sound.

A track from the middle of the album, “Man Down,” is simply interesting; musically, it’s a simple island tune, but the “Rated R”-style edge to the work gives it an unexpected power.

The songs “Only Girl (In the World)” and “Love the Way You Lie (Part II)” are undoubtedly the best tracks on the album and will both spend a significant amount of time on Billboard’s Top 40 list.

According to Rihanna, though this album is seemingly a culmination of 11 unrelated tracks, each one stands alone as a display of both her pop and West Indian roots.

“Loud,”as whole, is a strong pop record, though not a truly exceptional one due to its lack of cohesiveness. Still, it epitomizes the magnetism of Rihanna as a top-level pop star, topping sales charts with a disconnected piece of work that features a singer bizarrely moving from one single to another. Rihanna is on the right track and remains a cut above the mediocre masses.

MYSPACE.COM

In her new album, ‘Loud,’ Rihanna gets back in touch with both her pop and West Indian roots.

Dynamic characters make ‘Community’ worth a second look COMMUNITY continued from page 7

LISTART.MIT.EDU

Marc Chagall’s ‘Woman Juggler’ (1961-1964) is one of the 14 pieces in the Weisfield Collection, now on display at MIT’s Dean’s Gallery.

Weisfields’ personal collection given an appealing setting at MIT WEISFIELD continued from page 7

The Weisfields collected Asian art in addition to pieces from Europe and the United States, and Chinese artist Jem Hom has an untitled, esoteric ink drawing on paper featured in the gallery.

The drawing is colorless and depicts a crowd of ghost-like people huddled together, watching a man ride on horseback. The figures are very nondescript, including the horseman, who is only emphasized due to his separation from the crowd. The drawing is eerie, but undeniably intriguing.

A second Asian artist whose work is included is Vietnamese Lebadang. His piece is also an untitled lithograph — an evident trend — made in 1970.

The lithograph is easily the most erotic of the artworks, with a subtle etching of two mating horses on a background of visible sea green brushstrokes. The horses’ faces — jaws dropped in pleasure — are most emphasized, while their bodies are drowned in the background.

“Rape of the Sabine Women” (ca.

1966-1968), an etching created by Jack Levine, is the most provocative and violent of the collection.

Upon first glance, its figures are difficult to decipher: All are the same golden-brown color, and none are clearly defined. Greater concentration, however, reveals what is going on: Two uniformed men with towering horses are violently grabbing two women by their hair. The only developed facial expression is that of one of the victims, whose mouth forms a desperate cry for help.

The atmosphere of the Dean’s Gallery is initially intimidating. It shares space with administrative offices, so MIT administrators work diligently at their computers as you wander observing the art on display.

The workers are friendly and don’t seem bothered by ones presence, and festive fall decor adds hominess to the office setting. As one studies the different pieces, the hum of keyboard typing and the seductive aroma of coffee become more therapeutic than offputting.

The Weisfield Collection is well worth a visit. In just four stops on the T, art of an international scope and varied media is available for observation in a comfortable environment.

time, giving us a more identifiable and sympathetic lead.

Vying for Jeff’s affections at various points are Britta (Gillian Jacobs) and Annie (Alison Brie), who have both become valuable comedic characters in their own rights. Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) and Pierce (Chevy Chase) represent the older, returning-to-school crowd, and they bring warmth and offensive eccentricity, respectively, to the show.

The show rightfully earns a lot of attention for its meta humor and pop culture references. Abed (Danny Pudi), whose friendship with Troy (Donald Glover) is one of the funniest parts of the show, also functions as “Community’s” meta commentator, constantly telling the others how their situation is just like a classic TV show or movie.

Last season’s “Modern Warfare” episode was essentially a half-hour long parody of action movies. Because of a contest sponsored by the dean, the campus devolves into a large-scale paintball war and in the process, the series pays homage to films such as “Die Hard” (1988), “The Matrix” (1999) and “Terminator 2” (1991). It’s a skillfully crafted episode that manages to contain some important character development amid the firestorm of paintballs.

“Contemporary American Poultry,” also from last season, was a long pastiche of “Goodfellas” (1990), revolving around chicken tenders, and this season’s “Basic Rocket Science” was a take on astronaut films like “Apollo 13” (1995) and “The Right Stuff” (1983). All of these reference episodes have proven that “Community” knows how to tell its

own story, even while good-naturedly spoofing others’.

What really makes the show work, though, is that there’s more to it than reference humor. Yes, “Modern Warfare” is arguably the best episode the show has ever done, but all-pop-culture-all-thetime would eventually get old. Smartly, “Community” mixes in episodes that focus solely on the characters, delving deeper into their personalities and their relationships with one another.

“Cooperative Calligraphy” was one of this season’s best episodes, even though it took place entirely in the library study room and basically only featured the main characters in the study group. Guest stars and elaborate set pieces aren’t always necessary to create interesting, funny stories.

The show is lucky to have assembled this cast. Everyone is wonderful in his or her role — it’s a highlight any time Glover’s Troy tries to talk while crying — but a real credit to the writing and acting is that any combination of characters works while still bringing a different dynamic.

Abed can be a “mean girl” with Britta, Annie and Shirley, but she can also be one-half of “Alien v. Predator” (2004) with Troy, and both scenarios prove equally entertaining.

Unfortunately, “Community” is something of an underdog in the ratings. It has always struggled but to add to its problems, this year it’s gone head-to-head with ratings powerhouse “The Big Bang Theory” on CBS and will starting in January face perennial juggernaut “American Idol” on Fox. So if you like good TV or if you just want a good laugh on Thursdays, tune in at 8 p.m. on NBC and watch “Community.”

NBC.COM

Chevy Chase hams it up as tycoon Pierce Hawthorne in this underappreciated comedy show.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

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EDITORIAL

Monaco is up to the challenge

BENJAMIN D. GITTLESON Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL Managing Editors

Ellen Kan Carter Rogers Matt Repka Executive News Editor Alexandra Bogus News Editors Michael Del Moro Nina Ford Amelie Hecht Corinne Segal Martha Shanahan Brent Yarnell Jenny White Daphne Kolios Assistant News Editors Kathryn Olson Romy Oltuski Executive Features Editor Sarah Korones Features Editors Alison Lisnow Emilia Luna Alexa Sasanow Derek Schlom Jon Cheng Assistant Features Editors Maya Kohli Amelia Quinn Emma Bushnell Executive Arts Editor Zach Drucker Arts Editors Mitchell Geller Rebecca Goldberg Ben Phelps Anna Majeski Assistant Arts Editors Rebecca Santiago Matthew Welch Rachel Oldfield Bhushan Deshpande Larissa Gibbs Dave Kellog Kevin Luo Jeremy Ravinsky Daniel Stock Elaine Sun Devon Colmer Erin Marshall Lorrayne Shen Louie Zong Craig Frucht Rebekah Liebermann Ashish Malhotra Josh Molofsky Michael Restiano Alexandra Siegel

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

EDITORIAL | LETTERS

The search is over. Tufts announced yesterday that Anthony Monaco, pro-vicechancellor for planning and resources at the University of Oxford, will replace beloved University President Lawrence Bacow next summer. Monaco’s noteworthy accomplishments as a teacher, pioneering geneticist and biomedical researcher make him a highly qualified presidential pick.

Monaco comes to Tufts after two decades at the University of Oxford, with a celebrated career in the fields of genetics and neuroscience in tow. With an impressive research background, he may play an important role in reinvigorating the university’s graduate programs, particularly those at the medical, dental and veterinary schools, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences.

Enhancing the quality of Tufts’ graduate schools will allow the university to attract top science professors with highly qualified students to assist with their research.

Bringing more experienced science professors to the university would benefit undergraduate and graduate students alike.

In a decade under Bacow’s leadership, Tufts gained serious momentum and

stature as a major research university, and the university is poised to climb higher. Monaco’s skill set and background are a strong choice to steer Tufts at this juncture.

As Bacow has taught us, having a university president who is involved in campus life and committed to students is vital. While Monaco will have a tough time living up to the current president — who has performed in Tufts Dance Collective performances and even has his own drink at the REZquad Café — he is willing to try.

Monaco has stated that he will work hard to “understand the culture” at Tufts and hopes to improve needblind admissions, diversity and other important issues that directly impact students. That being said, Monaco is coming to the Hill after two decades at Oxford and may be more accustomed to the English style of university education, in which campus life is less of a priority. It will be very important for Monaco to work hard to get to know students and establish a presence on campus as he moves into Gifford House this summer.

Monaco’s international perspective and commitment to active citizenship will also be an asset to Tufts’ dedication to globalism and civic engagement. At a school with a substantial focus on education in language, culture and world civilizations, a president who could share his extensive experience and ties abroad could prove very beneficial. His stated commitment to active citizenship is heartening, considering its significance to undergraduate education at Tufts and to the mission of the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service in particular.

Although Bacow will be sorely missed, Monaco seems to be a strong replacement. His impressive background in science places him in a unique position to improve the competitiveness of Tufts’ graduate programs; he has stated his commitment to becoming involved in student life; and his global perspective and promotion of active citizenship are in line with the Tufts values.

He certainly has large shoes to fill, but Monaco seems to be up to the challenge.

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BUSINESS Benjamin Hubbell-Engler Executive Business Director

EDITORIAL

HPV vaccine for all boys The HPV vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix have received their fair share of controversy since their approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2006 and 2009, respectively. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are now discussing whether or not the vaccine should be used by boys in addition to girls.

The vaccine was originally designed to protect young women aged nine to 26 against the two types of HPV that are responsible for about 75 percent of cervical cancer cases and two more types that cause 90 percent of genital warts cases. However, it also has been found that the vaccine helps protect against 90 percent of genital warts cases in young men aged nine to 26, in addition to anal and penile cancers.

The main argument against the vaccine for girls is that it encourages early sexual behavior and promiscuity, as some girls may falsely believe that they are protected from all sexually transmitted diseases after receiving the vac-

cine. In addition, most opponents of using the vaccine for boys claim that it is unnecessary for heterosexual males, as gay men are 17 times more likely to develop anal cancer than straight men.

The Daily, however, believes that both of these arguments are flawed.

It is not reasonable to assume that choosing to vaccinate one’s daughter with Gardasil or Cervarix will cause her to become sexually active at a young age. The vaccine is recommended to be administered at age 11 and would be received by a child just like many other vaccines — without much accompanying explanation.

There is no reason to assume that 11-year-old girls would start being sexually active as a result of a vaccine, especially when they are not presented with the details about its function.

There is no reason to assume that because the vaccine mitigates some of the effects of risky behavior, girls will therefore be encouraged to pursue those risky behaviors to a greater

extent. To a great degree, whether this vaccine is taken as a free pass or a precautionary measure by girls depends largely on how it is presented to them.

It also makes little sense to recommend the vaccine only for homosexual men. Just because homosexual men are more at risk to contract anal cancer, that does not mean that heterosexual men have no risk at all. It remains possible for straight men to contract the diseases Gardasil protects against, and the vaccine should thus be recommended for them as well.

Nobody is forcing this vaccine on anyone. A recommendation by the CDC or FDA does not require every single child to get vaccinated. Parents retain the right to decide what they want their children to be protected against, for whatever ethical or cultural reasons they deem appropriate.

However, that does not mean that the vaccine should not be made available to those who choose to take advantage of its protection.

Laura Moreno Advertising Director Dwijo Goswami Receivables Manager The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community.

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

Correction Monday’s article “’Fever Chart’ addresses Middle East tensions with poignant execution” misspelled the name of the actor who played Ali. The actor’s name is actually spelled Ibrahim Miari.

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.

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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

THE TUFTS DAILY

OP-ED

11

Plaid is the new black

BY JOE

GRAFTON

Last week, communities across Boston and New England were introduced to a new concept for the day after Thanksgiving.

Presenting an alternative to the big box retail-driven “Black Friday,” locally owned and independent businesses joined 14 local business networks, including Somerville Local First (SLF), in promoting Plaid Friday on Nov. 26.

With few resources, especially compared to the well-resourced Small Business Saturday, we were able to create significant media coverage and buzz, which saw “#plaidfriday” trend on Twitter in Boston.

To me, that’s further proof of a coming tipping point. So, as I describe the current conditions in the local movement, know that at the end of this piece I’ll be asking you to take action this holiday season.

“Local,” it seems to me, is becoming more and more a part of the conversation.

From events like Harvest Fest and the Boston Local Food Festival to the adoption of the localization message from alternative media outlets like the Weekly Dig and the growth of local business networks across the region, the local movement is starting to take hold.

Over the past three years, SLF has built a network of over 200 locally owned businesses, community-based nonprofits, artists and community members. We create and distribute publications, deliver education and messaging through our blog and social media streams, hold two annual events, and lend daily support to the small-business entrepreneurs of Somerville. If you’re not familiar with us or what “local first” networks are about, here’s our mission statement: Somerville

Local First works to build a sustainable community and an economy that is local, green and fair.

We believe the fastest way to accomplish those goals is through collective purchasing action by all community stakeholders.

Consumer spending represents nearly 70 percent of the national economy. Studies show that shopping at a locally owned and independent business generates up to three times the economic impact in our communities. The primary reason is because local businesses shop local themselves.

Local business owners are far more likely to use local farmers, local graphic designers, local web designers and so on.

And those business owners are also part of our communities and tend to shop locally as well. The resulting local multiplier effect shows that for every $100 that we spend at local businesses, $68 stays within our respective communities. Non-local businesses typically do not follow this model, so when we choose to shop there, the dollars are whisked away to corporate headquarters, which are most likely not located in the state where you made the purchase. Purchases at non-local businesses keep about $43 in the community.

Net result: For every $100 that you spend, $25 more stays in your community, wherever that may be.

Now, back to Plaid Friday. As I kept a real-time watch of social media and web stats throughout the week, it became clear that Plaid Friday was resonating with more people than any other message we’ve sent at SLF. What I think it says about the movement is that the tipping point for “local” is getting ever closer.

It shows me that the work of our 140 sister networks across the country is

JODI BOSIN/TUFTS DAILY

paying off. It shows me that our readers, followers, advocates and evangelists are talking to their friends and redefining social and cultural norms. It shows me that cultural values are starting to shift in our communities, that we, the people, do have power left in our communities, and that exercising it can both be fun and feel good. Two great matches for the holiday season.

This quote is from a Boston Globe op-ed written by two of my partners in the local movement. The piece was about the launch of the Plaid Friday idea in New England and was published the Monday before Thanksgiving: “With its endless variety of colors and combina-

tions, plaid is a fitting symbol of the diversity of New England’s cities and towns and the local entrepreneurs who give them life.”

This is true far beyond New England and most likely applies to wherever you may be from. So, wherever you find yourself during your holiday break, I hope you’ll purchase with purpose and support locally owned and independent businesses. Regardless of the amount of money you have to spend this holiday season, I encourage you to embrace Plaid.

Joe Grafton is the founding executive director of Somerville Local First.

Greater than the sum of our parts BY

BEN PERLSTEIN AND TAARIKA SRIDHAR

If all goes according to plan, on Friday, Dec. 3, over 40 student groups, vendors and local nongovernmental organizations will gather in the Mayer Campus Center for the second annual OneWorld Global Crafts Bazaar. They will sell fairly traded goods made by artisans from all over the developing world, educate the community about issues facing various impoverished communities, and promote innovative and sustainable solutions to poverty and ways for students to get involved.

So what is this all about? What is OneWorld? When it started almost two years ago, OneWorld’s vision was simple: Gather the many student organizations on campus together in one place at one time to champion the work being done to make the world a better place.

The idea was to channel the energy that the Tufts community devotes to making positive change into one collaborative event that would showcase and give a jolt to the commitment to active, global citizenship that is at the core of the Tufts brand.

Slowly OneWorld turned into an ini-

tiative to promote action for poverty alleviation. Why? We try to promote as many different answers to this question as possible, but this year we’re focusing on one in particular: because we are young. Our generation is the largest in American history, and we are slowly inheriting this world. The rising cohort of youth is by definition going to take this world to places it has never been before. The youth are the cutting edge of humanity, and right now hundreds of millions of us are living in extreme poverty. By virtue of little else other than where they are born, for every college student in America who may be pulling an all-nighter, there are 2,000 children between the ages of five and 14 laboring around the clock in hazardous mines, fields and factories around the world.

While we at Tufts are often reminded of and, frankly, anxious about our impending assumption of leadership in the world, many youth live with no hope, encouragement, preparation or means to shape a vision of the future. We cannot necessarily solve these problems of the poor, nor are we necessarily to blame for the problems’ persistence, but surely we

can take responsibility for doing what we can to pursue a hopeful future, and we can commit ourselves in some small way to the unfolding process of human progress and improvement.

Of course, the number of student groups at Tufts that are already engaged in fighting poverty and inequality of all kinds locally and around the world is inspiring, if not a little overwhelming. In this way, Tufts stands to model the fact that poverty is an issue as complex as the world that bears witness to it. We hope that the bazaar can serve as an opportunity to embrace and celebrate that complexity, which is inherent in both global issues and our own community.

That being said, having the luxury to live on a campus where battles for social justice, equality and world consciousness have become mainstream means that we have to work extra hard not to take these concerns for granted.

It is our hope that by bringing all of these groups together, the bazaar can be as much about appreciating the work already being done as it is about promoting further action.

In the end, the bazaar is about both recognizing that there is no one single

way to contribute to the improvement of the world as well as insisting that different people and organizations need not act in isolation in those pursuits.

Ultimately, OneWorld’s mission is to address the fact that while Tufts is an altogether socially conscious and globally sensitive campus, the groups concerned with these issues act largely in isolation from one another.

In order to do justice to the amount of commitment on this campus to address the world’s most challenging issues — that is, in order to take full advantage of all the potential for Tufts students to make a mark on the world — we must act together. We hope that through programming like the OneWorld bazaar and other collaborative events in the future, we can create an environment in which we can all explore how we can be greater than the sum of our parts.

We hope to see you there.

Ben Perlstein is a sophomore majoring in International Relations. Taarika Sridhar is a sophomore majoring in political science. They are both members of OneWorld.

OFF THE HILL | BOSTON UNIVERSITY

Plugging the leaks BY

THE DAILY FREE PRESS EDITORIAL BOARD The Daily Free Press

Infamous Wikileaks founder Julian Assange struck yet another blow to federal intelligence on Saturday with the website’s latest major release of classified documents. This time, instead of exposing secrets about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 250,000 documents gave insight into the United States’ diplomatic relations with other countries, revealing details about backroom deals and the U.S.’s assessments of foreign leaders and security threats.

Although Assange’s earlier releases could be seen as almost noble in

their efforts to bring the truth to the American public, this latest deluge of information comes across as unnecessary and vindictive. While reports about the goings on in Iraq and Afghanistan contained information that the public had a right to know, the new releases feature out-of-context details about the U.S.’s complex relationships with various countries that mean little to the general public without serious interpretation.

Therein lies the great problem with Wikileaks. Instead of examining documents closely and providing context to news consumers, Assange and company simply disseminate a huge amount of information into the public sphere

for people to browse without any of the context necessary to understand how these documents fit into the larger scheme of things. While The New York Times took the time to analyze the information, Wikileaks made no such effort and instead released classified and potentially dangerous documents with no stipulations and no regard for the consequences.

This sort of reckless release of classified information can only be bad for the U.S. in the long run. Although freedom of information is undoubtedly an essential factor in a functioning democracy, some information does not need to be released, as the risk it poses does not justify the potential benefits. The truth

about what is happening in Afghanistan is one thing that is necessary for the public to make informed decisions about the war. What our leaders say behind closed doors is entirely another, and does not need to be public knowledge.

Assange is one of the most powerful men in the world right now. He has the resources and the influence to bring the government’s deepest secrets to life simply by publishing these documents. The question is whether he will use that power for the greater good or simply to stir the pot and discredit the U.S. government. Although Assange may not care about the consequences of Wikileaks’ actions, the rest of the world can’t afford to take them lightly.

OP-ED POLICY The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length. Op-Ed cartoons are also welcomed for the Campus Canvas feature. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. All material should be submitted to oped@tuftsdaily.com no later than noon on the day prior to the desired day of publication; authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. Submissions may not be published elsewhere prior to their appearance in the Daily, including but not limited to other on- and off-campus newspapers, magazines, blogs and online news websites, as well as Facebook. Republishing of the same piece in a different source is permissible as long as the Daily is credited with originally running the article.

THE TUFTS DAILY

12 CROSSWORD

COMICS

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

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SUDOKU Level: Finding a manger in which to be born in this day and age

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Tuesday’s Solution

Carter: “Is Features a male or a female?”

Please recycle this Daily.

THE TUFTS DAILY

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SPORTS

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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 $15 per week or $4 per day with Tufts ID or $30 per week or $8 per day without. The Tufts Daily is not liable for any damages due to typographical errors or misprintings except the cost of the insertion, which is fully refundable. We reserve the right to refuse to print any classifieds which contain obscenity, are of an overly sexual nature or are used expressly to denigrate a person or group. Questions? Email business@tuftsdaily.com.

San Antonio, Dallas and New Orleans have a combined 39-11 record NBA continued from page 16

the team giving up 98.9 points per game, but San Antonio can still conjure up stops when it needs them the most.

Much of the quick start can be attributed to the reinsertion of Manu Ginobili into the starting lineup, a place he hasn’t consistently inhabited since 2005-06. The move has paid off for coach Gregg Popovich, as the Argentine has averaged career highs in points, assists, field goal percentage, threepoint percentage, free throw percentage and minutes.

Also contributing to the lofty start has been Richard Jefferson, who is executing like the player the Spurs thought he was when they traded for him before last season, when he averaged a paltry 12.3 points per game.

Jefferson is shooting the lights out — 51 percent from the field and 44 percent from three, both career highs — and appears much more comfortable than a year ago, when he struggled to settle into his role.

Speaking of role-playing, Tim Duncan’s minutes are at a new low, while Tony Parker’s are at a career high. Parker, averaging over seven assists a game, has managed to steady his point guard play despite off-the-court distractions.

If the Spurs have sped up to an uncharacteristic pace, it’s the Mavericks and the Hornets who have managed to copy the blueprint that led to San Antonio’s championship success: slowing down the tempo (both teams rank in the bottom third of the league in pace), locking down defensively (both teams rank in the top five in opponents’ points per game and field goal percentage) and running an efficient half-court offense (both teams rank in the top half in field goal percentage and turnovers).

While the system has been put in place, it has been the help of some new arrivals that have put both these teams over the top.

For the Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki is enjoying one of

MCT

Dallas Mavericks center Tyson Chandler, who holds the NBA’s highest true shooting percentage, is playing the perfect complimentary role to Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd.

his most efficient seasons ever and merits MVP consideration, but it has been the presence of Tyson Chandler that has provided a much-needed anchor to the Dallas defense. Chandler has proved to be a huge step up from the notoriously lack-luster Erick Dampier and provides the Mavericks with an athletic shot-blocker and rebounder, as well as a dynamic pick-androll option for Jason Kidd. The 7-foot-1-inch center runs the floor well and has the league’s highest true shooting percentage, which incorporates the respective values of 2s, 3s and free throws.

On paper, the Hornets has by far the least talent of the three teams. Although Chris Paul has re-established himself as a top-flight point guard — and is shooting 47 percent on 3s, to boot — and David West has continued to be a high-level low-post and mid-range scorer, the rest of the roster fills out like a ragtag team of misfits. No one epitomizes that better than Marco Belinelli, an underused backup in Golden State and Toronto, who has responded to his first starting role by nearly doubling his career scoring average and shooting a red-hot 43 percent from 3-point range.

The Hornets have clearly bought in to whatever firstyear coach Monty Williams is preaching, and the system he has put in place has worked wonders to jumpstart a team many thought was in line for a rebuilding year.

In a season where the Spurs, the decade’s foremost proponents of slow-paced basketball, have picked up the speed to great success, two division rivals, the Hornets and Mavericks, have copied San Antonio’s championship blueprint to near-equal results.

The Southwestern Division is as strong as it’s ever been, and with the experience gained from regular season battles these three teams will have within their own division, each of them should be ready to make a deep playoff run.

Read, Prunier lead hopeful track and field squad into first meet MEN’S TRACK continued from page 16

said. “[For the freshmen, it’s] basically just coming out really positive. It’s the first time they’ll be running in a college meet, and the strategy is a little different, and the competition is definitely different. I just want everyone to come out feeling like they had a strong race.”

According to Prunier, this fall’s training has really paid off, with each event group looking stronger and fitter than ever.

“The field events are all really looking forward to this meet,” Prunier said. “They’re a pretty young team, and they’ve really worked hard in the weight room this season to put on a lot of muscle, and people have already

PR’ed in practice, so they’re really excited to really capitalize on that in the first meet.”

He added that some key athletes to watch would be junior Adam Aronson and sophomore Curtis Yancy in the throws, sophomore Gbola Ajayi in the jumps and Read in the pole vault, all of whom seem to have made big improvements this fall.

The Jumbos are optimistic about Saturday and ready to see what their young squad is capable of.

“The team’s been coming together really well and forming a great attitude and character, which I think is putting us in a great position going into Husky,” Prunier said. “Everyone feels really prepared to go into Husky and show what they’ve been working for.”

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THE TUFTS DAILY

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The Daily wants to hear from YOU. Have a problem with our coverage? Upset about something happening at Tufts or in the community?

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

Send op-ed submissions, 600-1,200 words, to oped@tuftsdaily.com. Send letters to the editor to letters@tuftsdaily.com. For full policy, see pages 10-11.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

THE TUFTS DAILY

15

SPORTS

Jumbos excited at prospect of early season litmus test WOMEN’S TRACK continued from page 16

“Usually, we approach this meet as a way to see where people are,” senior quad-captain Amy Wilfert said.

“Especially for the sprinters coming out of fall track who haven’t had any opportunities to compete yet, it is a great way to see what people are capable of. After that, we can move forward knowing what we need to improve as a team and individually.”

The timing of the meet leaves many of the athletes excited about the opportunity.

“We have all been putting in a lot of hard work during our respective seasons, and this is our first chance to see where that work has brought us,” junior Nicole Priscal said.

For some athletes like Wilfert, their fitness from the cross country season leaves them capable of putting out quality performances right off the bat.

“I’m coming out of a cross country peak right now, and I just want to try and run a good time if I can,” Wilfert, who will be competing in the 5k, said.

“It’s a good opportunity to try and go for a qualifying time for some of the later meets at the end of February.

If I can get one of those qualifying marks out of the way, then I can focus on other events for the remainder of the season individually and put more emphasis on running the events the team needs me to in certain meets.”

For the cross country runners going abroad for the spring semester, this is their only opportunity to race for the season.

continued from page 16

Now, I understand that Johnson is 6-foot-3-inches and 225 pounds and Innegan — hereafter referred to as such — is 5-foot-10-inches and 190 pounds, so this hardly seems like a fair fight.

However, Johnson is widely known around the league as an extremely soft-spoken player who rarely, if at all, stirs up any kind of trouble.

Furthermore, Innegan reportedly warned the Texans’ sideline that fireworks were coming before he shoved Johnson in the facemask off the snap, provoking punches.

So the facts, coupled with Innegan’s already-lengthy list of fines from Goodell, leave the lasting image that Innegan might have deserved his beatdown.

Fighting is hardly the best way to resolve problems, but for a sport in which violence is prevalent on every down, what Johnson did is by no means

QUINT KAPPEL | FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Three yards and a cloud of bull

S

JOSH BERLINGER/TUFTS DAILY

The women’s track and field team hopes to use this weekend’s Husky Invitational, the first meet of the season, to gauge its fitness and figure out how to prepare over winter break in anticipation of the more important spring meets.

“Most distance runners are taking the meet off,” Wilfert said. “After cross country, most will be building up their base in preparation for the beginning of the year. While most sprinters like to get out and compete at this meet, only seniors and runners going abroad are running in this meet, from the distance side.”

Those who will be competing later in the spring see this more as a starting point than anything else.

“The meet really is just an opportunity to give a hard effort and see

where we are at,” Priscal said. “Any result can be turned into a positive if the proper steps are made to right any wrongs. The break will give all of us time to work out the kinks.”

After this meet, the Jumbos will have a long time off before the rest of their meets begin in January. The break will be used to build off showings at the Husky Invitational. With a solid core of athletes returning from a very successful team last year, the indoor season begins with much promise.

Dirtiness, part of Tennessee Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan’s play, results in fines NFL

ETHAN FRIGON | THE BEARD ABIDES

excessive. The two players scuffled briefly, with Johnson connecting on two big right-hands, and the fight was then broken up.

Johnson’s intentions were no different from every ball-hawking free safety who flies over the middle of the field, helmet-first, attempting to decapitate receivers whose eyes are elsewhere.

These kinds of vicious hits have been accounted for with rule changes and an increasing fine scale, but never do they result in direct suspensions.

In the past few seasons — especially this one — the image of the league has taken precedence over the appropriateness of the punishment itself, which has resulted in fans, players and sportswriters calling for Goodell to be consistent in his decisions.

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison was fined $75,000 for a hit earlier this year on Cleveland Browns wideout Mohamed Massaquoi. The fine on its own wasn’t the issue; it

was the fact that Harrison was being punished for violating a rule that was established after his hit on Massaquoi took place. Goodell’s desires to retroactively clean up helmet-to-helmet hits superseded the justness of Harrison’s fine as the league made an example out of him.

Innegan proved to the commissioner that being fined wasn’t going to stop him from playing dirty. In September, he was fined $5,000 for violently throwing New York Giants receiver Steve Smith to the ground by his helmet, and in October, he was fined $10,000 for hitting a helmet-less Denver Broncos player, with a warning from the NFL that stricter punishments may ensue.

As a first-time violator who was provoked, Johnson’s fine was reasonable.

But if Goodell is going to threaten suspensions, Innegan’s third offense in three months ought to warrant the harsher penalty.

o I spent Thanksgiving week with a horde of Penn State college football homers — my mom’s from Pennsylvania — and it reinforced a truth I’ve always known, but whose importance seems to have slipped my mind: No sports fans are more narrow-mindedly provincial than college football fans.

The chief characteristic of the college football homer is a ceaseless belief that the style of play chiefly used by his or her favorite team or favorite team’s conference is not just the best employed nationwide, but is somehow fundamentally and morally superior to those of other conferences. Especially if that other conference is the Pac-10 or a non-BCS conference — or maybe even the SEC if you’re in Big Ten country.

All the lame stereotypes about the uninformed college football diehard are sadly true. In my specific case, the worst offenders were my uncle and my cousin, a Penn State alumnus and current student, respectively. Both propagated the silly and lame idea that the “Woody Hayes three yards and a cloud of dust” style of football played in the Big Ten is, for some reason, the best football being played anywhere in the nation. Never mind that almost none of the current Big Ten teams actually play this style — Wisconsin, one of the three co-winners of the conference and currently Rose Bowl-bound, is the one obvious exception.

But the effectiveness of the style of play wasn’t what was up for debate here.

Instead, it was the mentality or purity of the style that mattered. It was as if the Big Ten had (in its mind) discovered the one right way to play the game, and the rest of the world needed to open its eyes, even though “three yards and a cloud of dust” was played out decades ago.

My uncle also responded to my claim that Oregon was clearly the best team in the country with a derisive, “Yeah, if you believe in the BCS.” While my BCS faith is up for debate, I think he might be right.

Yep, that godforsaken set of polls and computer rankings is the ONLY reason Oregon beat the fourth- or fifth-best team in the country, Stanford, by three touchdowns back in October. It’s all one sinister conspiracy theory out to get the Big Ten! In all fairness though, it’s not just my uncle and it’s not just Big Ten fans who are insanely overprotective of their conference. In particular, Auburn fans, remembering their exclusion from the 2004 National Championship, have lashed out with vitriol at those who would exclude them from this year’s championship.

For most of the season, this venom was directed at Boise State and Texas Christian, whose schedules Auburn homers have constantly derided, never mind the fact that there is no way an undefeated Auburn team would be left out of the national championship game in favor of a non-BCS conference school.

But this perverse logic is what resides at the back of every college football homer’s mind. For these fans, the more they insist on the superiority of their home team and conference, the more true the superiority becomes. And in a weird way, they’re kind of right. If you tell the world the same thing over and over again in a loud voice, eventually people are going to start to believe it, whether it’s true or not. Which means poll voters are more likely to vote for your team. Which means they’re more likely to play in the national championship game.

And so the only conclusion to this problem, like seemingly every other one in college football: Eliminate the poll voters’ influence by eliminating BCS and going to a playoff.

Yeah, I know I argued exactly the opposite two months ago. Shhh.

Ethan Frigon is a senior majoring in economics. He can be reached at Ethan.

Frigon@tufts.edu.

Sports

16

INSIDE For Your Consideration 15

tuftsdaily.com

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

Track and field opens season with Saturday’s Husky Invite Jumbos look to showcase their fall training at their season opener BY

LAUREN FLAMENT

Daily Editorial Board

The men’s indoor track and field team this Saturday opens its season at the Husky Invitational hosted by Northeastern at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center.

After training all fall, the squad will finally hit the track, using this meet as a jumping-off point to see where their training has brought them thus far.

For most of the athletes, Saturday also marks the first meet since the end of the outdoor season last spring, so the Jumbos will use it as a chance to brush the dust off their racing legs — or jumping legs or throwing arms.

“It’s definitely exciting to see how everybody will do individually,” junior co-captain Jeff Prunier said. “Everyone looks strong and is in really good shape in practice, so it will be really exciting to see everyone run 100 percent for the first time, especially the freshmen.”

The squad has been gearing up for the season since September by attending captains’ practices, while most long- and middle-distance runners were competing in cross country.

“I thought fall training went fantastically,” coach Ethan Barron said. “Our captains [senior] Sam Read and Jeff Prunier did an amazing job leading the group and keeping them energized and focused. The team came in incredibly fit this year.”

Saturday’s meet will be a good

opportunity for the freshmen to showcase their talent in their first collegiate meet. The young squad will look to the depth of the underclassmen this year to successfully rebound from the graduation of a very talented senior class.

“The younger guys have shown great energy going into the season, and I think that will definitely carry through,” Prunier said. “It’s always really exciting to hear the freshmen talk about the first meet and how excited they are, and to see how that energy moves through the rest of the team. They’re all in great shape. I think the freshman and sophomore classes will definitely be a crucial part of the team.”

The team will not necessarily be focusing on hitting personal bests on Saturday, but instead will try to start the season off on a good foot before the bulk of meets between January and March.

“I’d like to see the returners have a little better starting-off point than last year,” Barron said. “We’re not looking for the best performance in someone’s life, we’re looking for the best starting point in someone’s life. I’d like to just see the freshmen showing some comfort in their first collegiate track meet.”

“For this meet, the most important thing is coming out feeling like you ran the best race you could, and the times will come later in the season,” Prunier see MEN’S TRACK, page 13

JOSH BERLINGER/TUFTS DAILY

The men’s track and field team will start its season this weekend at the Husky Invitational hosted by Northeastern.

INSIDE THE NFL

Playground justice for Andre Johnson in weekend fight Exchange of blows with Cortland Finnegan draws minimal penalties from league BY

ALEX ARTHUR

MCT

tary school, there was always that kid who provoked and attacked the other kids during recess. Yet no matter how many times he picked on other children, he always ended up with just a slap on the wrist and no real repercussions.

All of that changed when one brave kid finally stood up and fought back, freeing his classmates from the bully’s tyrannical reign. Or at least that’s how the movies tell it.

Well, on a warm afternoon in Houston, Texas, Johnson did what no one else would: He changed Cortland Finnegan’s name to Cortland Innegan after beating the “F” out of him.

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson, far left, and Tennessee Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan, far right, were each fined $25,000 for their fistfight on Sunday.

see NFL, page 15

Contributing Writer

Each week it seems that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has a new fine to dispense, and throughout the whole season, the players have lashed back.

So when Tennessee Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan and Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson turned to fisticuffs Sunday afternoon, everyone waited to see the severity of the punishment that Finnegan and Johnson would inevitably face. While most predicted suspensions for both players, it turned out that each only had to ante up $25,000.

Consider the common playground bully. At every elemen-

INSIDE THE NBA

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

Spurs, Hornets and Mavericks Jumbos to use Husky to gauge off to impressive starts fitness, prepare for spring BY

ALEX LACH

Daily Editorial Board

A month into the 2010-11 season, heat is being emitted from a place far from the beaches of Miami: the Southwest Division. Heading into Tuesday’s action, the San Antonio Spurs (14-2), Dallas Mavericks (13-4) and New Orleans Hornets (12-5) have opened the season with a combined 39-11 record. To top it off, five of those losses have come at the hands of each other, showing just how dominant these three teams have been against the rest of the league.

The number of analysts who predicted this start by the Spurs is the same as the number of men who would cheat on Eva Longoria: zero. Many experts

expected success from San Antonio this season, but no one foresaw the Spurs, known for trudging through the regular season and then finding a new gear come playoff time, coming out of the gates with such gusto.

The early season outburst has a distinct un-Spur-like feel to it, as San Antonio has pushed the tempo and has averaged 107.2 points per game, good for third in the league. The Spurs also have the league’s eighth-highest Pace Factor — an estimate of possessions per 48 minutes — the first time they’ve played at an above-average pace in the Tim Duncan era. The normally robust San Antonio defensive style has slackened a bit, with see NBA, page 13

BY

CONNOR ROSE

Senior Staff Writer

The women’s track and field team will open its season this weekend with the Husky Invitational at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. The meet hosted by Northeastern is the only meet that the Jumbos will be competing in before January.

The meet will be used as a litmus test for the Jumbos, showing them where their fitness currently stands.

In addition, it will provide coaches with information on what the team needs to work on heading into winter break. Several cross country runners, coming off a successful season on the trails and various terrains, will be

looking to see how their fitness translates to the track.

From a team perspective, because the meet is three months before the most important meets in the early spring, it will mostly be used as a jumping-off point. As the meet is well before most athletes are in peak form, it will almost certainly not be a good indicator of the way they will perform in a few months time.

As the full team finally reunites after being split into cross country and fall track captains’ practices, the goal of this meet has historically been to give the athletes a chance to test the waters. see WOMEN’S TRACK, page 15