2011-09-29

THE TUFTS DAILY

T-Storms 73/59

VOLUME LXII, NUMBER 15

Where You Read It First Est. 1980 TUFTSDAILY.COM

thursday, September 29, 2011

Tufts initiates university re-accreditation process by

Minyoung Song

Daily Editorial Board

Tufts administrators have begun preparations for a rigorous self-study, the first phase in an extensive process to retain the institution’s status as an accredited university.

The school is a member of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), one of the country’s seven regional accrediting associations responsible for upholding the 11 standards of accreditation. The association in turn is affiliated with the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE).

Institutions that are positively assessed by the commission undergo re-accreditation every 10 years, according to President and Director of CIHE Barbara Brittingham.

The process involves the production of a self-study report, which details

The Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center, scheduled for completion next fall, will expand Tufts’ current athletic facilities by 25 percent.

New fitness center on track to open next fall

by Victoria

Leistman

Contributing Writer

Construction of the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center is on track to be completed by its anticipated fall 2012 debut, according to Project Manager Mike Skeldon.

The three-story, 42,000-square-foot building will expand Tufts’ current athletic facilities by 25 percent, Skeldon said.

The complex, which will be nestled between the Gantcher Center and Cousens Gymnasium, will hold over 70 new exercise machines, including 16 new treadmills, 12 ellipticals, 16 traditional bikes and 12 seated bikes, according to Assistant Athletic Director of Fields, Facilities and Games Management Tim Troville.

The building will hold new offices see GYM, page 2

see ACCREDITATION, page 2

Moore to lead new Office of Intercultural and Social Identities by

Virginia Bledsoe/Tufts Daily

goals and policies in accordance with the accreditation standards. This is followed by an on-site evaluation by a NEASC visiting team. The final phase is an official review by a NEASC commission.

Tufts is scheduled for re-accreditation in 2013 when the visiting team’s assessment will take place, according to Associate Provost of Institutional Research and Evaluation Dawn Terkla.

The increase in federal financial aid prompted the establishment of accreditation standards, Brittingham told the Daily.

“The government has an obligation [to make sure] that the schools the students are attending are worthy,” she said.

“All colleges and universities in the United States that receive any form of federal assistance must be accredited,”

Brionna Jimerson

Daily Editorial Board

Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne BergerSweeney in June announced in an email to faculty members the creation of a new Office of Intercultural and Social Identities Programming (ISIP), and named Katrina Moore, who heads the Africana Center, as its first director.

The newly created ISIP aims to improve the Tufts experience for all students and connect them to available resources on campus, according to Moore.

“This new office was created to serve as a gap for students who may not have made a connection to a center, and we want to make sure that all students feel included in everything that is available on this campus and take advantage of all the campus has to offer,” Moore told the Daily.

The office will focus its attention on issues of identity, inclusion and social jus-

tice, according to Moore.

“ISIP will strengthen our ability to address [pertinent identity] issues and will work broadly to ensure the inclusion and equal participation of all students within the Tufts community — particularly those with historically marginalized identities,” she said in a Sept. 8 email to members of the Africana Center.

“Appropriately for Tufts, the new office will engage students through the lens of socialjustice education, recognizing that we all have multiple identities influenced by perceived race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and religion,” she continued in the email.

Berger-Sweeney in her email also announced a restructuring of the Group of Six, a group of culture centers at Tufts. The centers will now report directly to the dean of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies, and the see MOORE, page 2

Maguire to direct Dept. of Public and Environmental Safety by

Lindsey Kellogg

Contributing Writer

Kevin Maguire in May was appointed Tufts’ new director of Public and Environmental Safety.

Maguire assumed his position on June 20 from Vice President of Operations Dick Reynolds, who was serving as acting director while the search for a permanent officeholder was ongoing.

The application process was competitive with over 40 qualified applicants being considered, according to Reynolds. Former University President Lawrence Bacow interviewed the top two applicants extensively.

Maguire was chosen due to his degrees in both criminal justice and public administration, as well as his experience with safety in higher education institutions, Reynolds emphasized.

“Public safety on a college campus is

very, very different and we would not have hired someone who was just a longtime municipal policeman,” he said.

Maguire comes to the Hill following an extensive career in both community and educational public safety, with experience at Northeastern University and Simmons College. He also spent four years in the U.S. Air Force.

“My ultimate professional goal was to be the director of public safety at an institution like Tufts, which is a world-renowned research university and which has a wonderful reputation throughout the country and throughout the world,” he said.

With this new appointment, Maguire is responsible for overseeing three safety-related departments at Tufts.

“His role includes the Tufts University Police Department, the environmental see MAGUIRE, page 2

Inside this issue

Caroline Geiling/Tufts Daily

Kevin Maguire is the new director of public and environmental safety at Tufts.

Today’s sections

A look at the dawn of the golden age of television comedies.

Resale shop, FOUND, replaces Poor Little Rich Girl.

see WEEKENDER, page 5

see WEEKENDER, page 6

News Features Weekender Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 8

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

9 10 11 Back

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The Tufts Daily

News

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Re-accreditation scheduled for 2013 accredation

continued from page 1

Terkla added.

The preparation of the self-study report can take anywhere from oneand-a-half to two years, according to Terkla. She said that about 100 individuals, including administrators, faculty and members of the Board of Trustees, have been asked to serve on the steering committee or one of the 11 working groups — one for each of the standards.

These groups will interview, survey and conduct focus groups with different members of the Tufts community.

The specifics of the self-study, which will propose any necessary changes to the university’s standards, will be finalized by the fall of 2012, according to Terkla.

The visiting team, comprised of individuals from different peer universities, will then visit Tufts in March 2013 to evaluate the accuracy of the self assessment, Brittingham noted.

The team will include an expert on university finance, academic administrators and faculty members, she said. They will hold open meetings with faculty, staff and students in order to gain an understanding of the university and assess its compliance with accreditation standards, she added.

“They are listening to see if students are respected [and] are getting a good value for the education that they are pursuing, which is a very important part of the accreditation process,” Brittingham said.

“The team will write some recommendations, projections of things that we might want to do as an institution,” Terkla said.

Brittingham said that the process of re-accreditation gives educational institutions the opportunity to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses by analyzing their adherence to standards.

“This is a way for Tufts to look at itself against the standards of higher education in New England,” she said.

“The public relies on the accreditation — it has become a part of American fabric.”

Tracy Rusch, special assistant to Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney, pointed out a common misconception about re-accreditation.

“Re-accreditation is not about looking to find faults within the programs and universities,” Rusch, who was hired in January to help facilitate the various re-accreditation initiatives in the College of Arts and Sciences, said.

“It is about looking at all of the things that the university does to try to make the best program possible.”

Rusch is optimistic about the university’s performance in the reaccreditation process. She is also impressed by the level of faculty commitment and the flexibility of the university’s offerings.

“The programs here have an extraordinary amount of flexibility for the students,” she said. “It’s a complicated program to run and Tufts does it very well.”

Moore to head office aimed at promoting inclusion at Tufts MOORE

continued from page 1

position of ISIP director will rotate every two years among the center directors, according to the email. Moore will remain in her position as director of the Africana Center in addition to taking on her new post.

The mission statement of the new office remains unformulated at this point and the specific duties it will discharge remain unclear, but Moore stressed that promoting inclusion will be a central goal. She also expressed confidence that the office would be successful in providing both emotional and academic support to students.

“I want all Tufts students to know that [the deans and faculty] have a real commitment to making sure students feel included,” Moore said. “I’m hopeful students will start to feel like we’re putting action behind our words.”

Moore will work with the next dean of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies — a search is currently underway for a permanent replacement for Paul Stanton, who is serving in the interim — to determine the ISIP’s specific role. Moore hopes this mission-defining process will be completed by the end of the semester.

“The new dean of undergraduate and graduate students will work closely with Katrina to continue this work,” Stanton said.

The title of the office was intentionally kept vague in order to avoid imposing any inferred boundaries, according to Stanton.

“The title… is broad to enhance the quality of life for more students than the constituencies of the six centers,” he said. “Dean Berger-Sweeney and Dean Linda Abriola of the School of Engineering have set a priority on improving the quality of the curricular and co-curricular experience for students in their schools.”

Director of the International Center Jane Etish-Andrews noted the Group of Six’s enthusiasm about the creation of the new office.

“It’s a new opportunity, and we’re all excited to be a part of it,” Etish-Andrews said.

Still, the success of the new office will be determined by the extent to which it is able to reach out to the larger Tufts community, according to senior Amanda Yepez, a peer leader at the Latino Center.

“I feel like just because you make an office or something doesn’t mean it’s going to fix anything,” Yepez said. “They’re just all fancy words to mask the fact that nothing is going to happen. The only people it will help are those who are already experiencing it. The problem is reaching out to those who are not involved and do not want to be involved.

They’re not reaching out to the majority of Tufts students who don’t know and don’t care about issues that affect other students.”

Dilys Ong/Tufts Daily

Director of the Africana Center Katrina Moore will lead the new Office of Intercultural and Social Identities.

Andrew Schneer/Tufts Daily

A visiting team will be on campus in 2013 as part of the university’s re-accreditation process.

Maguire appointed director of public and environmental safety MAGUIRE

continued from page 1

health and safety groups and emergency management,” Reynolds said.

Environmental health and safety groups encompass a wide range of groups, including those that deal with chemical, radiation and lab safety, as well as environmental clean-up and occupational safety for staff, Reynolds explained. The emergency management division primarily deals natural disasters or other crises, such as shootings.

Maguire envisions public safety at Tufts as being based on community policing and participation; he also emphasized being involved in the dayto-day happenings of the campus and always being ready to help. Reynolds shared this view.

Maguire’s main challenge, Reynolds said, will be to “maintain and move forward an already excellent public safety department, and over time become … more skilled at delivering excellent public safety services to the Tufts University community.”

“We want to make the public safety department part of the community and not apart from it,” Reynolds said.

Maguire brings a great deal of public safety experience to the Hill. He started out in the U.S. Air Force, after which he served the Boston Municipal Police Department for 14 years, rising to the rank of captain.

He then joined Northeastern

University’s Department of Public Safety as police captain, a job which he enjoyed for its warm and welcoming academic environment, a contrast to his career in the police force.

Maguire in 2003 become the firstever public safety director for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA), where he was responsible for the safety of hundreds of thousands of convention attendees.

Maguire said that as director, he worked to transition the department from an in-house security staff to a fully trained public safety staff.

Current Chief of Public Safety for the MCCA Robert Noonan praised Maguire’s abilities.

“In my years in public safety and security, there has been no one that has been better prepared and taught me more for my job,” Noonan told the Daily. “Everything that was put into place in terms of public safety procedures and security procedures — he drafted that from scratch.”

Maguire left the MCCA to take up his most recent position as director of public safety and chief of police at Simmons College.

“I missed the academic environment from my days at Northeastern,” Maguire said.

John King was the last permanent holder of the public safety office and left in June 2010 after a 21-year tenure to serve as director of public safety at Boston College.

Fitness Center will house new exercise machines, offices gym

continued from page 1

for the coaches and athletic staff that are currently housed in Halligan Hall, Troville noted. The first level of the complex will contain new men’s and women’s varsity locker rooms and an all new sports medicine area, according to Reynolds.

“Standing on the second floor, you really get a sense of how large the facilities will be,” Skeldon said.

Construction, which began in April, is currently going according to plan, Reynolds said.

“It’s going to start to look like a building within the next week or so,” Troville said.

There are currently 40 construction workers on the site, a number that will increase as construction progresses, Skeldon said.

Troville anticipates that the building will be weather-tight by Dec. 1.

Contractors plan to install a temporary heating system to ensure construction stays on track through the winter, he noted.

Lighting, furniture and equipment will be installed over the summer, Vice President for Operations Dick Reynolds said.

If all goes according to plan, fall ath-

letes will be able to use the new gym for pre-season training starting Aug. 15, he said. The complex will open to the rest of the Tufts community will be Sept. 1, offering limited hours during orientation week and full hours beginning Sept. 4, Troville added.

Contractors have focused on creating an inviting entrance to the complex, designed to present a welcoming facade to students and visitors, Skeldon said.

“I feel confident that we will have a state-of-the-art athletic complex we can be proud of,” Troville said. “It will have a presence.”

“I think the new center is really important for Tufts right now,” Kate Applegate, a women’s lacrosse player and member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, said. “It’s time for our gym to keep up with the way our athletes are performing.”

Troville hopes the new building will entice members of the Tufts community to take an interest in fitness.

“There’s going to be an energy in the building that we currently just don’t have,” Troville said.

Following the completion of the complex, the university is planning to renovate the Hamilton Pool and the Chase Gym, Reynolds said.

Features

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tuftsdaily.com

Two Jumbos lead local ROTC units by

Margaret Young

Daily Editorial Board

Between classes, extracurriculars and all that active citizenship, most Tufts students have enough on their plates to fill 18-hour days and produce the manic, out-of-Tisch-Library-at-4-a.m. glazed look we all know so well. Seniors Brittany Trimble and Patrick Cassidy know it as well, and as students on the Hill, they make the trek uphill and downhill just like your average Jumbo.

Approximately 70 Reserve Army Training Corps (ROTC) cadets at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) branch of the corps, however, know them both as their leaders and superiors.

Trimble and Cassidy make for a truly dynamic duo this year as leaders of two Boston-area ROTC units, each managing everything from buttons to training exercises for upwards of 30 MIT-based Naval and Air Force cadets.

As part of their ROTC training, Tufts cadets take supplementary classes at MIT in leadership, physical training and subjects specific to their service branches.

As Tufts does not have its own ROTC program, Cassidy and Trimble, along with all the other Jumbo ROTC cadets, commute to MIT for their classes. There they meet with — and lead — students from MIT, Harvard University and, in the case of the Air Force ROTC, Wellesley College, Gordon College, Salem State University and Endicott College.

As her unit’s wing commander, Trimble is in charge of all Air Force cadets who are part of the MIT Air Force ROTC program — a group of around 30, according to U.S. Air Force Captain Daniel Sawicki, one of the officers at MIT who was involved with choosing Trimble for the position.

Trimble’s responsibilities in this capacity are many and varied. She juggles tasks that range from monitoring cadets during drills to ensuring that each cadet’s uniform is picture-perfect as they train. In addition to interacting with their fellow cadets, the seniors are getting an education of their own — in leadership.

Senior Brittany Trimble is the wing commander of MIT’s Air Force ROTC chapter.

SARTORIAL SCENE

Street Smarts: Tufts’ Sartorial Scene Tufts’ Sartorial Scene headed off campus for Boston Fashion Week to check out which trends Bostonians are trying on for fall. First up: the Smiling Stilettos Show in Copley Plaza. We found that red is big this season, from bright to burgundy, along with animal print and leather accents. Add some plaid to your wardrobe to get that chic Brit look or mix up patterns and textures such as lady-like tweed and silky floral. compiled by Ashley Wood Photos by Justin McCallum

Don’t want to break the bank with a piece from Rag & Bone’s 2011 collection? U.K.based Karen Millen provides an alternative that still embodies the plaid trend while polishing it up in classic Brit style.

Undiagnosed ADD

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Justin McCallum/Tufts Daily

see ROTC, page 4

Chelsea Stevens | Loud Noises

Fall and spring both hailed the return of the midi skirt, but if you find the long hemline trend a bit too conservative, spice it up with mix-matched patterns and leather accents like this look from Eli Tahari.

Sky-high platforms are still going strong, so why not embrace the towering femme fatale look with some leather and animal print? Karen Millen certainly has.

See Jumbo Slice at blogs.tuftsdaily.com for the full shoot.

et me preface with this: My study habits were not a driving force of my acceptance to this university or any other. To those of you out there who are able to rally the daily cognition to look at and make sense of letters on paper as they form words, sentences and paragraphs that have a purpose, I raise my glass. You are without a doubt more worthy scholars than I. However, in the unlikely event that you have some kind of aspiration to be like me, you’re in luck. I bequeath unto you my fail-safe strategies for academic success.

PSY 1: Every day of my first college semester, my engineer roommate and partner-in-laziness would open the door to our room in Tilton around 3 p.m.

Four times out of five, this was the scene she found: shade closed, “Planet Earth” blasting David Attenborough’s soothing lullaby about seaturtles through the speakers and me passed out on my bed, face down on my open psych book in a semi-congealed puddle of drool.

Studying for the exams went something like this: The hippocampus is a part of the brain associated with memory; I can remember that because hippos are large mammals like elephants, and elephants never forget, hence memory. Repeat for every key term.

EC 5: Rubbing my textbook methodically on my body the night before the exams in a hasty attempt to “absorb” course material and then sleeping with the book under my pillow in hopes that the Econ Fairy would take it away during my slumber and replace it with some form of applicable knowledge.

FR 21/22: Getting the books in English to study before the tests. Best $7 ever spent on Amazon. Professors were astounded by my uncanny comprehension and my ability to participate made me look like a total baller. I highly recommend.

ENG 2: Waking up at 8:15 for an 8:05 class. This was especially problematic because the class revolved around watching movies that started at 8:05 and played in a dark auditorium in the basement of Olin immediately after I was shaken from my REM cycle. Anyone who watched every film in full has only my most sincere admiration.

PHIL 33 (Logic): This class is tricky, but it’s also hilarious. After doing my first problem set, I imagined how funny it would be if I dropped it on my way to class in the morning and someone picked it up. “Cats are fish. Trout are mammals.

Sandals are sneakers.” “‘A cat is not a cat’ is logically false because there is no way a cat could be a cat and also not be a cat.” Better sign up for office hours.

PS 41 (Western Political Thought): Honestly, I felt behind on the first day.

Maybe I’m just an uncultured weenie, but I feel like extensive knowledge of ancient Western geography and Peloponnesian War leaders was some kind of pre-req... that I overlooked. I can dig some parts of the reading but I am convinced that other parts are names and places strung together incoherently as a mean joke.

Agis, Damagetus, Myrtilus, Laphilus?

Rhinoceros? I don’t Giveacrapicus.

There you have it, scholars. My methods may be unconventional, but they haven’t failed me yet. As I said before, to those of you who can perform so much as a simple synapse during homework, I commend and envy you. If I had the attention span to make color-coded flashcards and highlighted outlines for every class, believe me, I would. Alas, I lead a sad life doomed to goofing around and rubbing textbooks on my body. You can’t win them all.

Chelsea Stevens is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at Chelsea.Stevens@tufts.edu.

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The Tufts Daily

Features

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Two seniors sit comfortably near the top of the Boston ROTC heap ROTC

continued from page 3

“We are training everyone, but we are also receiving training by being in this leadership position,” Cassidy said.

That the two leaders are acting as role models for their peers, though, adds to the weight of their respective positions.

“The cadet wing is cadet-run,” Trimble said.

Part of the wing-commander package includes organizing and ensuring that her cadets organize lectures, simulations and classes.

“Where and when they will be, the vision — all of that planning comes back up [to] me.

I delegate out, then it comes back to me, then we bring it to the officers,” she said.

A position of power has its benefits, she added. “A lot of the role as wing commander is planning, and less execution,” Trimble said.

Cassidy’s position, as battalion commander of the Naval ROTC division, entails similar duties. “[There are] 40 midshipmen, and I am basically the number-one guy,” he said. “I oversee all of our training at MIT of Tufts, Harvard and MIT students, which includes planning and executing a number of different events that occur on a weekly basis, as well as semester events. I have a staff who all play their own role in training the other midshipmen.”

Officers who oversee the MIT Naval and Air Force ROTC branches noted that having a leadership position, like those held by Trimble and Cassidy, is a privilege and a unique learning experience. It’s a way to prepare the students to lead during their military service following graduation, Sawicki said.

“The whole core of ROTC is to develop leaders, so we look for someone who has potential to be a leader so they can get some experience in leading a large group of people,” Sawicki said.

Sawicki and Naval ROTC chapter Captain Curtis Stevens said that Trimble and Cassidy were chosen for their motivation, critical thinking and leadership potential.

“We’re obviously looking for someone who is a good leader. The students run it themselves with the staff as the advisers. We give them some guidance, but we try to let them

run things and plan. We want someone that can take charge,” Stevens said.

These student leaders’ Tufts roots are not a coincidence. Cassidy said that his Tufts education, particularly as a mechanical engineering major, has influenced his approach to ROTC training.

“As far as my engineering curriculum is concerned, my critical thinking has been pushed,” he said. “In a leadership role you need to think critically, as well as just being around a whole bunch of different kinds of people.”

Cassidy continued, “Being at Tufts has prepared me for this position and is part of the reason that I was put in that position.”

ROTC, though it has been a defining part of his Tufts career, did not factor into his college decision as heavily as the School of Engineering’s reputation and a position on the Tufts football team.

“I originally looked at the [U.S.] Naval Academy, but I knew that football was something I wanted to do at college. I wanted engineering, football and ROTC.” While Tufts lacked the ROTC aspect, “We do have an affiliation, so that’s how I came upon MIT,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy also praised Trimble’s abilities, claiming that unlike him, she could have excelled to a leadership position regardless of where she went to school.

“I know Brittany pretty well and she’s a pretty impressive girl,” he said.

Trimble agreed that her Tufts education did not necessarily influence her performance in ROTC. “I started so early in ROTC that I didn’t go the Tufts track,” Trimble said. She added, however, that balancing ROTC with her work demands at Tufts has been a lesson in time management that has been useful after adding her new responsibilities.

Both Trimble and Cassidy will enter their respective branches of the U.S. Military services soon after graduation. Trimble has been guaranteed a slot with the U.S. Air Force’s flight school and plans to serve as a pilot for at least 10 years after college, while Cassidy will deploy as a submarine officer and Naval reactors engineer.

Justin McCallum/Tufts Daily

Senior Patrick Cassidy serves as commander of MIT’s Naval ROTC division.

Weekender Arts & Living

THE END

Weekender Feature :

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OF AN ER

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Drama’s golden age paves path for comedy Recent comedy series break taboos for added laughs, greater depth

by Joseph Stile

Daily Editorial Board

D

uring the late 1990s to the mid-2000s, television dramas reached unprecedented levels of creative and dramatic heights that their comedy counterparts could not come close to matching. This creative jump could be attributed to the expansion of cable stations such as HBO and Showtime, which later gave way to original programming on stations such as FX and AMC. These cable stations allowed show writers to develop more subtle characters and storylines because they did not need to get tens of millions of viewers each week to justify the show’s existence.

In addition, these cable stations allowed for darker characters and plots to develop, since they did not have to abide by the same decency standards network stations were forced to follow.

Unlike network shows, cable shows can show heavy drug use, intense violence and nudity — all of which can add depth to the dramatic storylines. These new shows could freely develop without fear of the Federal Communications Commission fining or restricting them.

The changing nature of the American zeitgeist — specifically, the national mood created by Sept. 11 — may also account for the darker and more complex dramas created during this time.

Some critically acclaimed television programs ran during this time period. “The Wire” (2002-2008) received extraordinary praise for both its character depth and its social commentary, which examined the state of the drug war and sordid life in Baltimore. “The Sopranos” (1999-2007) was a groundbreaking show that used extensive metaphors and plot devices to challenge fundamental psychological questions of psychology — for example, whether or not people could actually change.

“Six Feet Under” (2001-2005), “The West Wing” (1999-2006), “24” (20012010), “Lost” (2004-2010), “Damages,” “Dexter” and “Deadwood” (2004-2006) are just a few of the other dramatic programs that challenged the known boundaries of television dramas.

Television comedies during the 1990s through early 2000s mostly relied on standard plotlines and jokes instead of venturing into the daring limits tested by many current comedies. The top television comedies of that time were mostly standard sitcoms, such as “Frasier” (1993-2004), “Friends” (1994-2004) and “Everybody Loves Raymond” (1996-2005). While these programs were widely beloved and garnered praise at the time, as the series progressed, they tended to rely heavily on recycled scenarios. These

types of shows rarely challenged the status quo.

The shift from that type of hackneyed comedy programs to the arguably higher-quality comedies of today was a gradual change brought on by a few bold shows. One of these programs, “Arrested Development” (2003-2006), brought about the rapid-fire dialogue currently being used by shows like “30 Rock” and “Family Guy.” Another, the United Kingdom’s “The Office” (20012003), allowed comedy shows to create fully developed characters and push the limits of awkward humor.

These transformed comedies were not hugely popular at first, but they quickly found dedicated fan bases, and later found more viewers when released on DVD. The immense popularity of “Family Guy’s” DVD sets actually got the show back on the air after it was canceled early in its run. That feat is particularly impressive — very few canceled shows get a second chance on the air. “Family Guy” and its kin proved that there was an audience out there for smart comedies without laugh tracks or studio laughter.

Flexibility in the viewing medium for television shows may have also helped quality comedies gain traction. Viewers who want to watch a quick episode at their convenience might turn to lighter fare, and the more popular comedies become online, the more comedies are likely to be produced. Julie Dobrow, Tufts professor and director of the Communications and Media Studies Program, said, “It seems to me, the interesting thing about television is how we are consuming it now. It’s when we can, not just when it airs. It’s on our computers at a private time. This will start to affect the types of programs produced by Hollywood.”

While critics acknowledge that shows like “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” are still running at a high creativity level, most dramas aren’t as risky or

rewarding as the shows that ran during drama’s golden era. The likely reason?

Even risqué moves by current dramas are no longer innovative or novel; it’s all been done.

While dramas have declined, many high-quality comedy programs have developed in the past few years.

Comedy television seems to be entering a golden age.

One especially groundbreaking comedy is FX’s “Louie.” Louie C.K. writes, produces, edits, stars and directs every single episode of the show. This is an incredible feat, yet somehow, Louie C.K. manages to maintain a high level of quality. The show, which is composed of vignettes spliced with bits of Louie’s stand-up comedy, has an extraordinary range of ideas and themes. The show is unpredictable; it changes stories with every episode and subverts television conventions with each scene, yet it also offers a poignant look at the life of a divorced father with two daughters living in New York, trying to understand the strange world around him.

The freedom HBO offers allows Larry David to push similar comedic boundaries with his show “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” David, who is the former show runner for “Seinfeld” (1989-1998) has found comedic gold in his petty observations and grudges.

Even though “Curb” has been on the air for many years now, the show continues to produce high-quality episodes that blend comedy and substance. This season’s “Palestinian Chicken” episode was given an A+ rating from Meredith Blake, an AV Club television critic. The episode garnered critical praise for combining hilarity with an insightful look at the modern Jewish-American identity.

Sitcoms are not the only ones making an impact in recent years. Variety shows like “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” not only attract huge numbers of view-

ers each night, but also make a social impact by informing viewers on important political topics. These programs elevate themselves beyond mere entertainment: They have become a sort of 21st-century version of muckraking.

While many critics and fans argue that the quality of Fox’s “Glee” is inconsistent, it does not change how revolutionary the show is and how it impacts the entire entertainment industry. Very few, if any, shows boast that they’ve not only attracted an enormous viewership each week but also made money in the realms of live music, recorded music and film.

That a musical comedy can not only make it on the air, but also thrive the way “Glee” has, testifies to how special these past few years have been for TV comedies. Also, despite being a comedy, “Glee” isn’t afraid of tackling larger issues.

In contrast, some shows have been able to explore darker side of comedies. “South Park” is known for its use of vulgarity within its social satire, “Family Guy” regularly tests how far it can take coarse humor during its episodes, and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” incorporates many social taboos into their storylines.

These shows depict things that would be unacceptable to have in a comedy even just a few years ago. They have storylines that include abortions, prostitutes, crack use and other activities that can easily offend viewers.

This golden age of television comedy not only includes shows that push the limits but also shows that have an astonishingly high levels of humor and character development, despite having been on the air for a few years already.

Shows of this kind include “30 Rock,” “How I Met your Mother,” “Parks and Recreation” and “Community,” which consistently land on critics’ “best of” lists and earn nominations for major awards.

This golden age of comedy does not seem to be ending anytime soon, with new shows on the horizon also showing massive potential. Ricky Gervais’ and Stephen Merchant’s new series, “Life’s Too Short,” is coming to BBC later this year. Gervais and Merchant have already created memorable comedies together, such as the original “The Office” and “Extras” (2005 - 2007), so it wouldn’t be surprising if these comic geniuses created yet another hit.

The current state of comedies on television gives viewers something to smile about. These past few years have fostered shows that push boundaries, delve deeper and above all, make people laugh.

ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

The Tufts Daily

6

Weekender

Thursday, September 29, 2011

‘FOUND’: High-end fashion in Davis Square consignment store by

Charissa Ng

Daily Editorial Board

Lost: Poor Little Rich Girl. FOUND: highend fashion in Davis Square. FOUND, which opened in early September, caters to style-savvy Somerville locals with its unique collection of contemporary vintage and designer clothing and accessories. While it has taken the place of the popular store Poor Little Rich Girl — a former staple for trendy Tufts students — FOUND is hoping to fill the resale shop’s shoes with even more varied, high-quality fashion than its predecessor.

Meredith Bennett, co-owner of FOUND along with her husband Fred Bennett, has been in the consignment business for a long time.

“The concept started with my mother and sister years ago,” Bennett said. “Before I had children, I just noticed there was so much waste.”

Bennett successfully capitalized on this “waste” by opening an upscale children’s clothing boutique that she operated until she took time off to focus on her family. Now, with the opening of FOUND, Bennett is hoping to

return once again to the things she loves — people, clothing and giving back to the community.

After debating on a name for the shop, Bennett and store manager, Ri Heller, settled on FOUND. “A family friend suggested that when a woman goes shopping and she calls her girlfriend on the phone, she says, ‘Guess what I found,’” Bennett said. “And I went, ‘That’s it!’”

Normally when customers enter a resale or thrift store, they’re forced to sort through a hot mess of questionably clean flannel shirts mixed in with frighteningly sparkly ’80s numbers. Because these shops receive an overload of “new” inventory every week, sales associates barely have time to put items back on hangers before another customer is rummaging through the disarray of packed clothing racks.

Any true thrift store shopper will argue that half of the fun is digging through piles of mediocre clothes in search of that one-of-akind piece they can nonchalantly brag about finding when people ask them where they bought it. Part of FOUND’s charm, however, is that it is one of the rare resale stores where

ASHLEY SEENAUTH/Tufts Daily

Resale store FOUND offers fashionable clothes, shoes and accessories for Tufts students. the clothing and accessory displays are as aesthetically pleasing as the individual pieces themselves.

Hoping to create a more boutique-style shopping experience, Heller said shopping at FOUND is like “walking into somebody’s really well-organized walk-in closet.”

“It totally runs the gamut,” Heller said.

Weekender Interview | Jonah Hill

Hill dishes on Brad Pitt prank wars, Hollywood hierarchy Chris Poldoian

Daily Staff Writer

After gaining the public’s attention with his comedic role in “Superbad” (2007), Jonah Hill is once again in the spotlight with baseball drama “Moneyball.” With self-deprecating humor and bluntness, Hill spilled to the Daily about everything from golf-cart pranks to typecasting.

Q: How did you and Brad build a relationship and create that chemistry?

‘Community’ kicks off with a bang by

Alex Hanno

Contributing Writer

“We’re gonna finally be fine!” the cast of NBC’s “Community” assured audiences this past

Community Starring Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover Airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on NBC

Question: You once said in an interview, “It’s harder to be funny if you’re handsome than if you’re normallooking. You don’t buy that Brad Pitt’s characters are struggling.” How does that change now?

Answer: Are you saying I look like Brad Pitt? Because if that’s what you’re saying, I’m gonna forget about the stupid question and go celebrate. Well, I came into the public eye at a very young age, so often I eat my idiotic words from when I was 21 or 22 years old.

That quote’s a perfect example.

When I was that young, there was no part of me that could have imagined co-starring with Brad Pitt. And as for Brad, his attractiveness has nothing to do with his character [Billy Beane]. His performance is funny and raw and heartbreaking.

see FOUND, page 7

TV Review

‘Moneyball’ star talks shift to drama by

“We carry everything from basic brands like Banana Republic and J.Crew to high-end Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent.”

And with all of the clothing and accessories impressively arranged by style, color and type, browsing through the store really is

MCt

In an interview with the Daily, Jonah Hill discusses his transition to dramas.

A: Well, we just spent a lot of time together, which for me was awesome and for him was probably just whatever. We rehearsed a lot.

We knew that our characters had to get along, so we bonded and hung

out a lot. Brad and I would throw a football around, which is something the real Billy Beane would do with people in his office.

What’s Up This Weekend Looking to make your weekend artsy?

Check out these events!

Boston En Vogue - 2011 Runway Fashion Event: Sick of seeing people on campus wearing Tufts hoodies? Check out Boston En Vogue, featuring a Bebe Fall Collection Preview Runway Show.

It’s on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Fairmont Battery Wharf Hotel in Boston. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased at bostonenvogue2011.com.

Medford on the Mystic Arts Festival: Coalition of Arts, Culture and a Healthy Economy (CACHE) in Medford presents a month-long program to celebrate Medford’s artists, its history and the Mystic River. This weekend, check out “Wings,” (1927) a silent film starring Clara Bow, accompanied by live organ music — Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Chevalier Theatre in Medford. Tickets are $10 and available at Medford TV & Electronics.

“Look at You, Boston!”: Boston-based

street-style photographer Martini Severin showcases photos from her blog, Beyond Boston Chic, until Oct. 31. The showcase is on Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the 2nd and 8th floor of Boston City Hall. Admission is free.

Harpoon Oktoberfest: Drink up with Harpoon Brewery, which will be hosting its 22nd Oktoberfest this weekend — Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Harpoon Brewery in Boston. Admission is $20 and can be paid at the door.

Boston Local Food Festival: The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Boston presents their local food festival this weekend. Head over for a chance to meet with local farmers and learn about the importance of buying local produce and practicing eco-friendly food habits, on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Fort Point Channel. Admission is free.

—compiled by the Daily Arts Department

see HILL, page 7

Thursday during its season three premiere. Of course, that’s not true at all. Instead, “Community” promises to be as problem-ridden, hectic and outrageous as always. In other words, it will be the same hilarious, touching, lovable sitcom that has amassed a loyal fan-base over the past two years.

Since the series’ beginning, viewers have followed Greendale Community College’s dysfunctional study group, led by Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) through war-like paintball matches, a slew of movie parodies — one of the show’s most common comedic strategies — and a multitude of dramatic, often chaotic dances. Fortunately for fans, the show doesn’t seem like it’s going to be much different this time around.

“Biology 101,” the season opener, began on a high note with an over-the-top musical parody of Fox’s “Glee.” Hilarious in its irony, the scene finds cast members singing about how things will be “calm and normal” this year. Given the scene’s context however, the audience instantly realizes that “calm and normal” could not be further from the truth.

The episode continues by concluding the second season’s cliffhanger, with last season’s primary antagonist, Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase), returning to the study group without much contestation. He claims to be a “more highly evolved Pierce Hawthorne,” and the group’s ready acceptance of this excuse seems rather unrealistic, considering the circumstances in which he had left. Still, considering Pierce’s immense past animosity, it’s interesting to see his character portrayed more positively.

Tensions with Pierce seemingly resolved, the spot of the show’s new “bad guy” is filled by Vice Dean Laybourne (guest star John Goodman), who butts heads with new addition Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) over the school’s finances.

Goodman provided a stellar performance last week, giving fans see COMMUNITY, page 7

Top Ten | Things we don’t want to see in 3D We all got really excited about the recent release of “The Lion King” (1994) in 3D, but our enthusiasm over that particular bit of childhood nostalgia forms the rare exception to the rule. We’re hoping the 3D trend doesn’t catch on any more than it already has; here are 10 good reasons why it shouldn’t.

a spike in Blu-Ray sales at the hands of every teenage boy ever.

10. Everything: Like we said, we really kind of hate 3D. That aside...

4. “Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus” (2010): This low-budget slaughterfest stars Urkel as he’s caught in the crossfire of a megalodonprehistoric crocodile death battle… Wait, on second thought, this would be epic in 3D!

9. “Ordinary People” (1980): Nothing like an acute analysis of family-psychological tensions to make you indifferent as to whether or not Donald Sutherland’s nose is protruding from the screen.

8. Anything with Tyler Perry: God, please no more Tyler Perry.

7. “It’s Complicated” (2009): Actually, it’s not that complicated. It’s just a lot of old people having a lot of old-people-sex. Oldpeople-sex leaping out at you from a screen.

6. “Basic Instinct” (1992): The famous Sharon Stone crotch shot might be too risque in 3D, even for current day standards. Expect

5. “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” (2011): 3D + 3D = 6D? The fabric of time and space can’t handle a sixth dimension of Bieber.

3. John McCain’s concession speech: Whether this would draw more attention to the relief of McCain’s defeat or his face is up for debate.

2. “Grey Gardens” (1975): Losing a family inheritance and all of your hair is bad enough.

Losing it in three dimensions, with a healthy side of fecal matter, is unendurable.

1. “Golden Girls” (1985-1992): Enough said.

—compiled by the Daily Arts Department

Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Tufts Daily

7

Weekender

FOUND introduces chic, high-quality style to Boston FOUND

continued from page 6

like being in Cher’s personal walk-in closet in “Clueless” (1995). But it’s also the shop’s expansive menswear section and witty little touches — like seeing designer track jackets playfully paired with Nike Air Forces and Converse hanging by their shoestrings — that truly set FOUND apart from the crowd.

Thanks to the help of Fern Hammer, whom Bennett affectionately describes as the “gatherer,” the store resells items from clients in Florida, New York, Boston and Washington, and FOUND specifically resells contemporary styles from the last three to five seasons.

The way it works is that clients schedule

an appointment to have their pieces priced for resale depending on the item’s condition.

While places like Buffalo Exchange have a quick turnover in inventory and give consigners only a third of the retail price, Heller explains that FOUND has a more in-depth resale process.

Because FOUND is more selective in choosing to resell higher-quality designer pieces, the store gives clients 40 percent cash and keeps items on the floor for 90 days before they are either returned to the owner or donated.

There’s no question FOUND has an incredible selection, but Bennett admits that some people say the store is still “too pricey.”

She believes, however, that FOUND is fortunate in all of the high-quality designer pieces clients have been willing to resell.

“We’ve just hit the lotto. We’re getting in really high-end pieces of clothing, so you have to be respectful to that,” Bennett said. “My motto is: I’d rather see a person have fewer things, but nicer [things].”

Sure, the store is a bit pricier than what most college students are used to, but like Bennett said, sometimes less is more. And if anyone finds herself lost in a clothing rut of Goodwill sweaters full of holes and nautical striped shirts from Buffalo Exchange, why not spice it up with something FOUND just across the street?

Old favorites and new guest stars in ‘Community’ premiere COMMUNITY

continued from page 6

something to look forward to.

“Community” is no stranger to highprofile guest stars, having boasted the likes of Jack Black, Drew Carey and Hilary Duff.

In that vein, its season premier included a second guest star, Michael K. Williams of “The Wire” (2002-2008) fame, as the group’s biology professor. Per usual, the group decides to take one class, Biology 101, together, ensuring they will see each other throughout the semester.

Williams’ famous “Wire” phrase, “You

feel me” was among the episode’s slew of cultural references. Others included allusions to ABC’s “Cougar Town,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) and the BBC series, “Dr. Who.” The reference to “Cougar Town” is also a reference to a past episode of “Community,” which backs up creator Dan Harmon’s promise that season three will have more “connectivity between… episodes,” instead of a multitude of “big stunt episodes.” Such cohesiveness is a cornerstone of the series; this news can only be received positively.

In many ways, season three’s premiere

sets the stage for the coming year, introducing possible plotlines for future episodes. Such storylines might include Britta Perry’s (Gillian Jacobs) journey to attain a psychology degree, Señor Chang’s (Ken Jeong) rise from a near animalistic figure to one of authority and Jeff and Annie Edison (Alison Brie) eventually sleeping together.

Overall, “Community” may have had the lowest ratings among its NBC companions, which include “Parks and Recreations” and “The Office,” but “Biology 101” was a very funny premiere that is hopefully indicative of episodes to come.

Hill spills about onset experience filming ‘Moneyball’ HILL

continued from page 6

Q: I heard there was an intense prank war between the two of you.

A:It was pretty one-sided, actually. Brad Pitt is the Bobby Fischer of pranks. I mean, I consider myself a funny guy, but I’m not good at pranks. They take a lot of time and effort, especially at his level.

Q: What sort of pranks did he pull?

A:He decided I was obsessed with the band Wham! He decided this for me — I wasn’t too familiar with their music. He put a framed poster of Wham! on my character’s desk.

Then he started messing with my golf cart.

We each had our own golf cart, and we would race each other around the Sony lot and crash into each other.

He knew how much I loved my golf cart.

No one was allowed to use it except for me.

Now Brad, he’s had his fair share of private golf carts in his day, but for me this was a big sign of respect. So I was very proud of my golf cart. So sometimes I would come out and there would be no wheels on it. I walked outside once to find it completely upside down. One time there were fake

genitalia hanging from my golf cart and my actual car. And then he made my golf cart bright pink and put a Photoshopped a picture of me with George Michael on the hood. My car said “Wham!-mobile: Jonah Hill is the #1 Wham! Fan.” And the icing on the cake was… engineered so that every time I turned on the golf cart, it blasted “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” (1984). Whenever I had to go to a meeting on the Sony lot, I felt like I was driving an ice cream truck. But instead of ice cream, it was Wham!

Q: The movie’s characters challenge the notion that baseball is a popularity contest.

Do you think that Hollywood has the same problem?

A: No. I think that the group that I came up with, the Judd Apatow guys, defy that.

The great thing about comedy is that it doesn’t work that way. But at the end of the day, the studios will cast the actors who will sell the most tickets. These studios will look at a receipt and see how much money you’re worth. In that sense, “Moneyball” is lot like Hollywood… unfortunately, it’s about making the most profitable movie for the cheapest price.

It’s like being a mathematician, in a lot of ways.

Q: What directors would you kill to work with?

A: Paul Thomas Anderson. Wes Anderson.

Martin Scorsese. Robert Zemeckis. JJ Abrams.

Q: Do you want to stick to the studio game, or would you prefer independent films?

A: I never think about that. I don’t give a s--t if it’s made for two million dollars or one dollar, as long as it has a shot of being great.

I feel right now the way I felt when “Superbad” came out, because with “Superbad” I was the underdog. I was on a movie poster, and nobody knew who I was.

Now, it’s not unexpected for me to do a comedy. I’m no longer an underdog in the world of comedies. With this film, I’m the underdog again. I was unlikely to be cast in this movie with Brad Pitt and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. This movie’s a chance for me to say, “Hey, I’m Jonah. I’m in this totally different movie. I hope you accept me.” I just wanna make cool movies, whether they’re comedies or dramas.

The Artsy Jumbo

Eclectic guitarist finds fellow jammers Sophomore Axel Olson may be relatively new to the Tufts music scene, but he’s already playing a large part. Olson plays guitar in Tufts Jazz Orchestra, in a Jazz Improv Ensemble led by Scott Aruda and with last year’s Spring Fling opener, Explicit.

Olson is now looking to form an independent band that would fuse elements from rock and hip-hop, giving him an opportunity to perform off campus.

Describing his efforts to break into the Tufts music scene, Olson says he struggled initially to find a network of musicians. “First semester sucked; I didn’t know anyone. But by second semester, I started to meet people through different performances and Battle of the Bands, and now I have a good base to work with,” he said.

Music has been a part of Olson’s life from an early stage: At 13, he was invited, after a concert at his summer camp, to join local jam sessions. Olson started going and performing at these sessions where musicians would form bands on the spot and improvise.

This improvisational collaboration is something Olson hopes to bring to the Tufts scene.

“Improv is more spontaneous,” he said.

“You see with your ears and listen with your eyes, you’re communicating and responding to each other… Everyone should be interacting, it should be fresh every time.”

Sometimes these collaborations work

Ashley Seenauth/Tufts Daily

and sometimes they fall flat, but for Olson that’s a key way to meet people you want to work with.

Olson currently has a few projects in the works. He’s started a Tufts University Musicians group on Facebook to help form connections between people interested in joining the Tufts musical scene,

and he’s currently pulling together the group’s first jam session, set to take place this November in Carmichael. Olson has opened up the event to the whole campus, and has high hopes for a new brand of musical collaboration at Tufts.

—by Anna Majeski

Tai Frater | Chewing the Fat

Soul food Saturday

O

nce I had settled into the dorms, it became apparent that I was sharing a single kitchen with 12 other hungry and active students.

Luckily, nine of them appeared not to use the kitchen to store, cook or eat food, preferring instead to support the local takeaways and university dining facilities. I quickly bonded with a roommate who I shall hereby refer to as “Southern Princess.”

Unlike our other housemates, Southern Princess did like to cook, and was truly horrified to learn that I had never eaten, or even heard of, the culinary wonder that is cornbread.

Follow-up questions further exposed my ignorance. No, I did not even know what cornmeal was, I never have boiled bacon in with my greens and I had never heard of nor envisaged a “fried pie.”

The way her southern vowels lounged over the words “friiiied piiie” sent my male roommate — a laid-back New Zealander we shall refer to as “Banana Slug” — into a state of arousal. Ironic when you consider that any girl who eats fried pies on a regular basis is sure to be 300 pounds by the time she is 30.

Anyway, it was agreed that I would be educated the following Saturday, in a celebration of all things “soul food.”

The final menu consisted of: cornbread (of course), mac and cheese, collard greens boiled with bacon, fried chicken and mashed potatoes — oh, and mojitos, to lend a party atmosphere. Preparing the food was great fun, and it all smelled delicious. Nearly everything was ready — we just had to wait for Banana Slug to return with the two vital ingredients: rum for the mojitos and fried chicken from a store down the road.

We waited … and waited … and waited … I had never tasted cornbread, but by now, the smell was driving me crazy, and the limes and sugar syrup were just begging for a splash of rum to get the party started. I knew Banana Slug was relaxed — a virtue of living in both New Zealand and Santa Cruz, Calif. — but this was ridiculous. I had resorted to stealing scraps of mashed potato from the table.

Eventually, Banana Slug returned with stories of chicken shop queues that would put Soviet Russia in a food shortage to shame. Anyway, mojitos mixed and food served, we sat down to eat.

The soul food was truly a visual feast — a mishmash of brown chicken, yellow mac and cheese, yellow cornbread and whitish potatoes. The meal gave an overall aesthetic impression of, well, beige, although the neutral colors were slightly offset by the collard greens.

Lack of visual variety aside, it all tasted delicious. The cornbread was a particular hit, and some authentic apple pie — well, from a box — rounded off the meal nicely. Yummy.

Southern Princess even presented me with a recipe for cornbread. Along with the list of ingredients, the instructions — in their entirety said, “Mix wet and dry, and then mix together. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.” I still have not deciphered this simple but cryptic message.

All in all, this was a good introduction to Southern Princess’ cuisine. I look forward to barbeque nights and fried pies in the future, although not too often — I fear my plane would not take off when I return to England.

Verdict: 4/5, very tasty for a plate of beige food. Watch the calories, though.

Tai Frater is pursuing a post-graduate degree in occupational therapy. She can be reached at Tai.Frater@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

8

THE TUFTS DAILY

Editorial | Letters

Editorial

The world is flat

Carter W. Rogers Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Niki Krieg Adam Kulewicz Managing Editors Amelie Hecht Executive News Editor Kathryn Olson News Editors Laina Piera Corinne Segal Saumya Vaishampayan Brent Yarnell Bianca Blakesley Assistant News Editors Gabrielle Hernandez Brionna Jimerson Michael Marks Elizabeth McKay Marie Schow Minyoung Song Mahpari Sotoudeh Martha Shanahan Executive Features Editor Jon Cheng Features Editors Maya Kohli Amelia Quinn Falcon Reese Derek Schlom Victoria Rathsmill Assistant Features Editors Margaret Young Rebecca Santiago Executive Arts Editor Zach Drucker Arts Editors Anna Majeski Charissa Ng Joseph Stile Matthew Welch Ashley Wood Melissa MacEwen Assistant Arts Editors David Kellogg Bhushan Deshpande Seth Teleky Devon Colmer Louie Zong Craig Frucht Michael Restiano

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editors Assistant Op-Ed Editors Cartoonists

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Rick Perry doesn’t believe in manmade global warming, and he thinks the federal government should play no part in protecting the environment against it.

So how does he reconcile his own beliefs with the overwhelming consensus in the scientific community that global warming is real?

Well, Perry says, “Galileo got outvoted for a spell.”

Yes, Galileo was challenged by people who clung to religious dogma in the face of incontrovertible evidence that said dogma was nonsense. However, we believe it’s likely that had Perry lived through the 17th century, he, too, would have rejected the inconvenient reality of heliocentrism. Galileo may be a convenient talking point now, but back then Perry probably would have accused Galileo of treason — or rather, heresy, which was the prevailing terminology — and suggested that the church “treat him pretty ugly,” too.

Rick Perry’s denial of global warming reveals a troubling pattern taking hold

among the current crop of Republican presidential candidates: Science, they seem to be telling us, is just a lie perpetrated by scientists.

“I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects,” Perry said.

Evolution, too, is dubious, according to Perry. “It’s a theory that’s out there,” Perry said, just as valid as any other, like creationism. “In Texas, we teach both evolution and creationism in our public schools,” he said.

Actually, they don’t. Only evolution is covered by biology classes in Texas public schools; the mandated curriculum makes no mention of creationism.

Never mind that Perry doesn’t know the content of biology curricula in his own state — which is troubling, to say the least, since the teaching of evolution has been an extremely contentious issue nationwide, particularly in Texas. What’s truly disturbing about Perry’s words is that here again is a scientific consensus

backed by over a century of research conducted by some of the most distinguished minds in history, and here again is the Republican frontrunner disregarding it in favor of right-wing dogma.

And the rest of the Republican field — with the exception of long-shot John Huntsman — has been equally eager to disregard scientific evidence when doing so is politically expedient.

It isn’t surprising though, when one considers that one of the only GOP candidates to accept global warming, John Huntsman, has the support of less than two percent of Republican primary voters, according to most public opinion polls. That the future of education reform in this country could one day lie in the hands of people with such disdain for scientific evidence is a chilling prospect.

Republican officials have invested a tremendous amount of energy and resources on their war on science. We suggest they reinvest those resources in an issue that matters: global warming, for example.

anna christian

Editorialists

Daniel Rathman Executive Sports Editor Matthew Berger Sports Editors Lauren Flament Claire Kemp Ben Kochman Aaron Leibowitz David McIntyre Alex Prewitt Ann Sloan Ethan Sturm Kate Klots Assistant Sports Editors Josh Berlinger Virginia Bledsoe Kristen Collins Alex Dennett Justin McCallum Ashley Seenauth William Butt Lane Florsheim Caroline Geiling Meagan Maher Oliver Porter Scott Tingley Dilys Ong

Executive Photo Editor Photo Editors

Assistant Photo Editors

Staff Photographers

Ellen Kan Executive New Media Editor

PRODUCTION Jason Huang

Production Director Alyssa Kutner Executive Layout Editor Rebecca Alpert Layout Editors Jennifer Betts Shoshanna Kahne Sarah Kester Emily Rourke Elliot Philips Assistant Layout Editors Emma Spero Andrew Paseltiner Executive Copy Editor Ben Considine Copy Editors Patrick Donnelly Sara Eisemann Katrina Knisely Drew Lewis Ashley Cheng Assistant Copy Editors Linh Dang Lauren Greenberg George Le Gregory Witz Audrey Kuan Executive Online Editor Darcy Mann Online Editors Ben Schwalb Will Wong

Off the Hill | The University of Kansas

HPV vaccine is important for both sexes

by Stefanie

Penn

The University Daily Kansan

Ammar Khaku Executive Technical Manager

BUSINESS Laura Moreno Executive Business Director Saanya Gulati Receivables Manager P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

It has been a controversial topic hanging over the 2012 Republican presidential debates this year, and a significant uproar has surrounded false claims about the human papilloma virus (HPV) made

by U.S. Representative and presidential hopeful, Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).

Bachmann has openly criticized fellow presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry over his 2007 executive order to mandate vaccinations to young girls against HPV. And at a recent GOP debate, she criticized the vaccine to prevent cervical cancer by wrongfully deeming it “dangerous.”

Bachmann continued her with her fraudulent criticisms on the Today show by claiming that the HPV vaccine can cause mental retardation in young girls who have been vaccinated. Bachmann said a woman whose daughter had received the HPV vaccine approached her and affirmed that the daughter “suffered from mental retardation thereafter.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a statement later that day

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. EDITORIAL POLICY Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

saying that there is zero scientific validity to Bachmann’s inflammatory remarks.

They recommended that all girls around the age of 11 or 12 receive the vaccine because it is a “life-saving vaccine that can protect girls from cervical cancer.”

Despite Bachmann’s ignorant assertions, the vaccine has a superb safety record after over 35 million administered doses according to the AAP report and should definitely become a state-mandated vaccine.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the vaccine is highly effective in preventing specific HPV types and the most common health problems that stem from HPV. And health officials have consistently assured the public that the vaccine is no more dangerous than the mumps, hepatitis B and measles vaccines that are mandated in most states. The real reason the HPV vaccine has become so heavily scrutinized is because, unlike other less-controversial mandatory vaccines, this one has been politicized due to its association with a sexually transmitted disease. The vaccine is recommended for prepubescent girls in order to protect them hope-

fully well before they become sexually active. This makes parents uneasy, but the facts are clear.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States according to the CDC. More than 25 percent of girls and women ages 14 to 49 have been infected, and 44 percent of those cases occur in women age 20 to 24. Millions of new infections occur each year, and researchers think that at least half of all adults have been infected at some point in their lives.

There are many fears surrounding contraception and familiarizing teens with it, but those who preach abstinence should also pay attention to the numbers. Even if a female remains a virgin until marriage, if she marries a partner who has had sex with just one other person before her, that female is susceptible to HPV. And any kind of intimate genital contact can transmit the virus.

The spreading of the misinformation just means that it’s more important than ever to be educated and know the facts.

Because of HPV’s widespread nature and its public health effect, a mandate of the vaccine should be irrefutable.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must be submitted by 2 p.m. and should be handed into the Daily office or sent to letters@tuftsdaily.com.

All letters must be word processed and include the writer’s name and telephone number. There is a 450-word limit and letters must be verified.

The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length.

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

Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Tufts Daily

9

Op-Ed Angad Bagai | A Whole New World

All the crazy s--t I did tonight...

I

DAILY FILE PHOTO

Our forgetful administration: affecting change as a customer of the university business by

Ben Van Meter

The administration, by virtue of its position and its concern for this institution as a whole, will always prioritize its interests over those of the student body. I describe the administration’s behavior not to demonize administrators, and I honestly believe those in power act in what they consider the best interest of the university in its entirety. This perspective, however, often seems to prioritize concerns of publicity and finance and minimize student concerns. If the administration is to maintain its benign neglect of student concerns, we must be more proactive in changing their minds.

Lacking any formal power to do so, we must affect change by adopting strategies that will put student concerns in the vested interest of the administration. Our past tactics have amounted to glorified pleading, and we must now learn how to bargain.

I believe that despite being the student government, the Tufts Community Union Senate (TCU) is not constitutionally designed to accomplish student aims, much less bargain with administrators.

TCU’s members, while being consistently sincere and energetic, are part of an organization whose primary purpose is to manage clubs, not to effectively advocate for the goals of the student body. Its constitution’s purpose is to establish the function of TCU itself, including its responsibility to Tufts’ clubs. Only in TCU’s mission statement and in its description of the role and responsibilities of the TCU Senate does the constitution mention voicing and representing student needs, but it provides no effective method of implementing solutions to existing needs.

If TCU is to effectively advocate for student concerns, it must depart from its formal constitutional guidelines and publicly separate its goals from those of the administration. Though hardly impossible, such a move is difficult to imagine in an organization that struggles to find a consensus over less drastic issues. Moreover, TCU has in the past been hesitant to break with the administration publicly, regardless of what actual disagreements exist.

It is exactly public disagreement with the administration that the student body needs because the issue of publicity is where the administration’s interests lie. The administration has shown consistent and unwavering interest in its public image. A positive public image encourages more donors, new students, and new parents: in short, more funding. The administration is not at fault for its concern for the business end

of academia but too often lets financial welfare eclipse student welfare. If the administration is to remain fixated upon Tufts’ image to increase funding, the student body must target that image as well. Such targeting is not a smear campaign but the assertion that students have as much right to determine Tufts’ public image as administrators do, especially if our well-being is at stake. Challenging the administration’s image of Tufts may often make that image more accurate since while most students admit serious problems exist at Tufts, few Tufts brochures admit any whatsoever.

To challenge the administration’s marketing, students can use media outlets, both local and national, to publicize problems facing students.

Media interest is obviously present.

When Tufts released the seemingly uncontroversial rule that two people should not have sex while a roommate is present, national news media from SNL to CNN covered the story. Should more important issues, such as Tufts’ alcohol, sexual assault, or diversity policies for example, present themselves, reporters are waiting. Universities are big media targets, especially those with any claim to prestige and status.

Substantial and publicized problems at any university challenge that university’s ability to market itself. To preserve Tufts’ flow of funding, the administration will need to respond to press reports of serious issues on campus. If students can learn how to direct coverage to make the only administrative response meaningful reform, students can stop relying on the beneficent will of their administrators.

In 2008, a similar strategy was adopted to address the quality of dorms on campus, and its success and execution are enlightening. Two students, Chas Morrison (LA ’11) and Shabazz Stuart (LA ’11), spearheaded an effort to renovate dorms on campus because of poor conditions and the reluctance of Facilities to fix health violations. After Morrison and Shabazz’s 12 page report was released and endorsed by TCU, the administration adopted many of their recommendations in a notable success of student advocacy. A few details stand out from the story. Morrison and Shabazz, though TCU members, founded an independent group, Tufts Students for the Improvement of Residential Life, to organize the effort.

Their 12-page report explicitly compared Tufts facilities to other Boston area schools and invoked how low Tufts ranked relative to them. In an interview with the Daily published on Sept. 26, 2008, Morrison noted that better dorms

would also improve alumni relations in the future, which in turn would aid future donations to the school. When the two students first approached the school, they were rebuffed, but when they invoked publicity, Tufts’ prestige, and financial consequence, the result changed drastically.

While writing about student advocacy, my thoughts were drawn to the April Open House (AOH) demonstration of last spring. Rather than the issue itself, I found myself fascinated by the strategy used by students involved. The AOH demonstration was public and it was in front of prospective students and parents, a venue sure to attract the administration’s attention because of how important the event is to image and funding. In particular, race and ethnicity are loaded topics. Universities, especially those publically committed to diversity and tolerance, make large, media-sexy targets for accusations of bigotry. While this explains in part the administration’s vitriolic reaction to the demonstration, it also shows the value of the issue and the tactic employed.

Though the university has publicly done much to try and diffuse accusations of racial bias, programs such as the proposed Africana Studies Major still leave much room for criticism. Some accusations have been against the campus climate and the Tufts University Police Department, while many administrative programs are top-down or academically oriented and cannot address some of the issues AOH demonstrators brought to attention. I draw attention to the AOH demonstration and its attendant issues not to assess the validity of anyone’s position, but only to note that there is obviously room still to criticize Tufts’ administration in an even more public arena, one that may yield more conclusive results.

Direct student advocacy to the media is not limited to issues of diversity and race on campus. Many students I have spoken with have no shortage of pressing and serious problems with the status quo as it exists at Tufts. The more serious the issue, the more traction it will have with the media, public opinion, and in the end, the administration. With President Monaco’s letter early this semester stating his desire to seek continuity between his and his predecessor’s tenure, the status quo shows no sign of moving on its own soon. It is time to remind administrators of their priorities.

Ben Van Meter is a junior who is majoring in Russian and Eastern European Studies.

f you’ve grown up in the last ten years or so, it’s pretty much a given that you’ve watched movies like the “American Pie” series and “Road Trip” (2000). Aside from being generally low budget, raunchy and starring Sean William Scott, these movies all have another aspect in common. They all provide the viewer with an image of what college life is like in the United States. And more often than not, the image ingrained in the viewer is that college will feature a lot of out of control frat parties, complete with a fully stocked bar.

When your high school experience takes place in a country like India or Singapore or even in Europe, what one finds is that today, alcohol is easily accessible. I’m sure most readers have friends who started drinking before they hit their teens and still haven’t slowed down. Parties regularly featured bottles and bottles of beer, usually supplemented with Bacardi Breezers for those who didn’t drink as often. It was common to have to cover up for your friends with their parents, and even more common to have to hold them up as they staggered around, shouting out random inappropriate statements and bursting into fits of laughter. All this was possible because despite the legal drinking age being 18 in most places — and in fact being twenty five in New Delhi — the law is not imposed strictly at all. Cops turn a blind eye provided, the party isn’t creating a disturbance, and clubs and bars don’t look at IDs. To be honest, I don’t think I ever even needed an ID to get in anywhere.

Then you come here for college. And naturally, what one expects, especially because of the movies we’ve watched or the stories we’ve heard, is that alcohol will be as easy to access, if not easier than it was back at home. Whilst it still certainly does play a big part in the college life, it’s not as central as one would have thought. That’s because in the United States, and more specifically in Massachusetts, the legal drinking age is 21, and that law, unlike in various other cities around the world, is very, very strictly enforced. Of course, alcohol is still obtainable. Whether it comes from abroad or through the use of well-created fake IDs, booze is still prevalent on college campuses like ours. But when you come from high school assuming that there will be a much bigger alcohol culture in college, you may actually be mistaken.

Another striking new development is what is known as “pregaming,” which, according to UrbanDictionary.com, is “Drinking several alcoholic beverages or using illegal drugs before going to a larger function in preparation of getting toasted.” Granted, I haven’t been here long enough to really make a learned judgment on the subject, but from what I can make out, it happens a lot at Tufts, simply because there aren’t really the opportunities to get “toasted” at the larger functions. The art of pre-gaming was nonexistent — at least at my high school — merely because in Delhi it’s totally normal to go to a party, get served a ton of alcohol, and drink to your heart’s content without being prosecuted by the Tufts University Police Department. I’m sure it is the same in many other places around the world.

There’s a famous saying — I don’t know where it came from — “I live for the nights I can’t remember, with the people I won’t forget.” It certainly applied for many in high school. The question to be asked though, is will it apply in college as well?

Angad Bagai is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Angad.Bagai@tufts.edu.

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.

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10

Comics

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Doonesbury

Crossword

by

Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

Tuesday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Having no worries for the rest of your days

Late Night at the Daily Wednesday’s Solution

Carter: “I’d look lovely in a dress... that’s all I’m saying.”

Please recycle this Daily.

by

Wiley

The Tufts Daily

Thursday, September 29, 2011 Wanted $$ SPERM DONORS WANTED $$ Earn up to $1,200/month and give the gift of family through California Cryobank’s donor program.

Convenient Cambridge location.

Apply online: SPERMBANK.com

Services Two garage spaces for rent, $100 per month. Tenant at will. Call (617)448-6233.

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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.

Ben Kochman | The Wackness

The greatest sports event

N Alex Dennett/Tufts Daily

Sophomore forward Chelsea Yogerst scored the eventual game-winning goal in Tuesday’s win over Wellesley.

Jumbos gear up for first NESCAC doubleheader FIELD HOCKEY

continued from page 12

of the day, it is still encouraging to get a win, no matter how you think you played,” Dyer said.

Despite Tufts’ inability to convert in the second half, the Jumbos felt much better about their overall efforts, although they also indicated that they hope to improve as the season progresses. Perkins spoke of the Jumbos’ promising and cohesive team dynamic.

“We all gel so well on and off the field; it is a seamless transition,” she said. “That’s something that will play to our advantage as we face tougher opponents.”

This weekend, Tufts will travel to No. 11 Amherst on Saturday, before hosting No. 14 Trinity on Sunday.

The Jumbos, Lady Jeffs and Bantams have one conference loss apiece, and the two NESCAC rivals are comparable threats to Tufts.

Men’s Soccer

Jumbos blank Endicott on first-years’ tallies The men’s soccer team scored a pair of second-half goals on Tuesday en route to a 2-0 victory over visiting Endicott College.

The Jumbos improved to 3-1-1 on the year, while the Gulls remained winless, dropping to 0-6-2 on the season.

Tufts controlled play right from kickoff.

Unable to capitalize on four early corner kick opportunities, however, the Jumbos entered halftime knotted up 0-0. During the break, head coach Josh Shapiro reassured the team and encouraged his players to maintain a high effort level.

“Keep doing what you’re doing and we’re going to make a play,” Shapiro said.

“Don’t get frustrated with the scoreboard; just continue to keep the ball on their side of the field and good things will happen.”

The Jumbos took Shapiro’s message to heart, opening the second half with immediate opportunities to take the lead. Tufts continued to apply the pressure before finally punching one in to get on the board.

The decisive goal came in the 62nd minute, when junior midfielder John Lewis slipped a well-placed through ball between two Gulls defenders to first-year midfielder Kyle Volpe. The freshman took one touch before calmly delivering the ball into the back of the net for his first collegiate goal.

“It was definitely a relief to get that one,” Volpe said. “Not just because it was

the first of my career, but more importantly it seemed like we couldn’t buy a goal all afternoon.”

The goal was all the offense the Jumbos would need, as the Gulls failed to test Tufts senior goalkeeper Zach Cousens, who was not required to make a save in the contest.

Endicott managed only two shots all afternoon, and neither was between the pipes.

The Jumbos tacked on another goal in the 66th minute — taking a 2-0 lead that would stand for the rest of the match — and the insurance tally came in spectacular fashion. Freshman midfielder Gus Santos ripped a shot from just outside the 18-yard box that hit off the crossbar, ricocheted off the post and landed in front of classmate Maxime Hoppenot. After crashing toward the net on the shot, Hoppenot dove forward and headed the ball past the outstretched arms of the keeper for his second goal of the fall.

“It wasn’t easy, but we did what we had to do,” Cousens said. “I give credit to [Endicott]. They did a good job of hanging in there and making us earn it.”

The Jumbos will return to NESCAC action on Saturday when they travel to Amherst to battle the undefeated Lord Jeffs. The team will look to improve on its 1-1-1 mark against conference opponents.

—by Zachey Kliger

Philippe Maman/TUFTS DAILY

Freshman defenseman Peter Lee-Kramer helped to put on the pressure against Endicott.

Perkins, however, expressed the challenges ahead.

“Amherst and Trinity have proven that they will be tough opponents.

Playing on the road one day and at home the next will keep us on our toes,” she said. “This weekend will be a good test and preparation for our ultimate goal of winning Nationals.”

Kate Klots contributed to this article.

Jumbos hope to improve from tough loss VOLLEYBALL continued from page 12 UMass Boston outhit Tufts, finishing at a .237 clip versus the Jumbos’ .091. Tufts finished the game with 41 total kills and 54 total digs. In the second and fourth sets, both of which Tufts lost, the team had just six digs total.

Freshman Hayley Hopper led Tufts with 13 kills, following up her alltournament performance at the MIT Invitational by leading the team in that category. Spieler posted a solid nine kills and 12 digs, while senior tricaptain Audrey Kuan — who is also the executive online editor for the Daily — had 15 digs and served three aces.

The Beacons had an impressive 56 kills and 71 digs. Junior Shannon Thompson shined with 18 kills, 16 digs and five block assists. The Beacons, however, hurt themselves with 15 service errors, compared to just four such miscues for Tufts.

“We can learn a lot from this loss; we know we still have a lot to work on and improve on in our mental game,” Lord said. “I think you can learn a lot more from losing a game than you can from winning a game, so I think this was definitely a learning experience for our team.”

Tufts has important NESCAC matchups to look forward to this weekend. The Jumbos face Bowdoin away on Friday night, followed by two matches on Saturday versus Bates and Colby that will also take place in Brunswick, Maine. The Jumbos are 2-0 in NESCAC play thus far this season, having beaten Hamilton and Williams back to back on Sept. 16-17.

“UMass is one of the toughest teams that we’ll play the entire season,” Lord said. “We had control of that game and we had potential to win it, so going into this weekend we’re really excited and we know can do big things.”

ovak Djokovic is on top of the world, tennis-wise.

A few weeks ago, Djokovic humbled fist-pumping Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the finals of the season’s last grand slam, the U.S Open. Before he did that, the Serb bested former No.1 Roger Federer with a miraculous comeback from two match points down at 3-5 in the fifth and decisive set to win 7-5.

If you’re a tennis diehard like me, you might know some other exciting stuff about the young Serb: He recently discovered that he had a gluten allergy, and he has won three of four Grand Slams en route to a 82-3 singles record in 2011 — one of the greatest single-season tennis performances of all time.

What you probably don’t know is who Djokovic’s first-round opponent was at this year’s Open. Clue: He’s the best tennis player in all of Ireland.

Stumped? I can’t blame you. It’s Conor Niland, the 206th-ranked player in the world, who earned the right to step into Arthur Ashe Court only after beating his three opponents in U.S. Open Qualifying, the greatest sporting event on the planet.

Niland, a 30-year-old who played at UC, Berkeley — where he was Pac-10 Player of the Year once and an All-American twice — bears a striking resemblance to Daniel Craig, but he didn’t last long. His secondever appearance at a major ended at 6-0 5-1 down, after just 44 minutes. He told whatever U.K. media that bothered to ask afterward that he was suffering from food poisoning.

The stage had been set for something out of a sappy movie: handsome hero from the United Kingdom somehow makes it into the main draw after besting Dutch pro Matwe (can’t make these names up) Middelkoop in the final round of qualifying and then gives the best player in the world a scare.

That did not happen, which is fine, because the reality of U.S. Open Qualifying presents so much pure drama, and all of it is unscripted… Which is why it’s the most exciting sporting event in the world.

128 men and women enter. 16 make the main draw and win $19,000 — a lot for players who are often unsponsored and literally playing to keep their careers alive. These are not the players who wear Babolat shirts, Nike shoes and use a Head racquet. Once in the main draw, the pay scale jumps to $31,000 for the second round, $55,000 for the third round and $110,000 for the Round of 16.

There’s never a question of whether these guys are expending all of their effort on the court. The players here are still some of the best in the world, though you probably haven’t heard of Ricardas Bernankis, the best player in Lithuania, or Blake Strode, who started a website to help fund his tennis career and who, for the second straight year, won another qualifying tournament just to get into this one.

All of the drama takes place on the outer courts of the Open’s complex in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., and is free to attend. As a fan you can see the beauty of the modern game up close, feel the speed and spin and stand next to Conor Niland’s family as they cheer him on.

And you get to watch as Niland’s knees crumple after match point, out here with the late afternoon sun beating down on Court 6, his hands pressed to his face, faint tears leaking through.

Ben Kochman is a junior majoring in English. He can be reached at bkoch.tufts@ gmail.com or on Twitter @benkochman.

Sports

12

INSIDE Men’s Soccer 11

tuftsdaily.com

Women’s Volleyball

Jumbos fall to No. 18 UMass Boston in close five-set match by

Ann Sloan

Daily Editorial Board

The women’s volleyball team lost a hardfought five-set match versus No. 18 UMass Boston on Tuesday night. The Jumbos held VOLLEYBALL (9-2, 2-0 NESCAC) Cousens Gym, Tuesday UMass Boston 16 25 20 25 15 — 3 Tufts 25 15 25 14 12 — 2

a 2-1 advantage over the Beacons after winning the first and third sets, 25-16 and 25-20 respectively, but they could not manage to pull out the victory, falling to 9-2.

“We knew [UMass Boston] was going to be a challenging match, but we had every intention of winning,” junior setter Kendall Lord said. “We have played them before and beaten them before. Especially with this new squad, the sky’s the limit, but it just didn’t work out for us in the end.”

The Jumbos played UMass Boston twice last season, and although they lost the first match 3-0, they showed their perseverance a month later by returning

the favor with a shutout.

“We’ll definitely see teams this season just as good as UMass,” senior tri-captain Cara Spieler said. “We’d love to be able to see them again to have a chance to play and beat them.”

On Tuesday, the Jumbos took an early lead in the fourth set, but the Beacons kept battling back, keeping themselves no more than two points behind. The Beacons finally gained the lead at 12-11, and the Jumbos were unable to rally back.

UMass Boston won the set 25-14, forcing the match into a decisive fifth set, where the Beacons never trailed and eventually won 15-12.

“When we were up 2-1, we really should have come into that fourth set and taken care of business,” Spieler said.

“Unfortunately it went to five sets, and one of our team goals is [to not] go to five, finish it before that. To improve, we need to work on not having so many ups and downs and being more consistent. Part of it was also that we got a little bit too comfortable, and you can’t do that. Volleyball can change quickly.”

The loss proved to the team that it needs to work on coming back strong after its opponent takes the lead.

Alex Dennett/Tufts Daily

Senior tri-captain Cara Spieler goes up for one of her nine kills in Friday’s loss to UMass Boston.

“The thing we struggled with this match was stopping their runs,” Lord said. “So when we were playing well, we were playing really well, but we had a tough time getting out of the times when we were playing

poorly. They got a couple of leads, and it was just too little, too late when we decided to play tough again.” see VOLLEYBALL, page 11

Field Hockey

Early goals propel Jumbos to victory over Wellesley by

Bryn Kass

Daily Staff Writer

On Tuesday evening, the No. 9 field hockey team traveled to Wellesley, beating the host FIELD HOCKEY (5-1, 2-1 NESCAC) at Wellesley, Mass., Tuesday Tufts Wellesley

2 0 — 2 1 0 — 1

Blue 2-1. The result marked the Jumbos’ second straight victory on the road and their fifth consecutive win this season.

Tufts junior Kelsey Perkins kicked off the scoring early, and all three goals were scored

in the first 24 minutes of the game. In just the sixth minute, a shot deflected off senior Lindsay Griffith, and Perkins corralled the ball into the back of the cage to give the Jumbos a 1-0 advantage.

“We were working together to bring the game back to basics, to focus on possession,” Perkins said. “Our aim was to receive passes, look for openings and let the goals come as a result.”

In the 22nd minute, sophomore Chelsea Yogerst extended the Jumbos’ lead to 2-0, capitalizing on a poorly executed Wellesley clearance and catching the Blue defenders offguard.

The two-goal margin would

not last long, however. Just two minutes later, Wellesley forward Emily Lewis took advantage of a momentary defensive breakdown on Tufts’ end. The junior snuck a self-start pass to senior midfielder Whitney Reid, who tapped it in for the Blue’s first and only goal in the contest.

Wellesley, which was unable to capitalize on the only corner opportunity of the period, went into the intermission trailing the visiting Jumbos 2-1 despite an even 4-4 shot ratio.

The Jumbos, however, were unsatisfied with their own performance, one that they felt lacked intensity and did not demonstrate their true ability.

“Although we started off

strong against Wellesley, with two early goals, [we were not putting on the kind of ] pressure that we are used to,” senior co-captain Taylor Dyer said.

In the second half, the Jumbos turned up the heat, and although their heightened intensity was not evident on the scoreboard, they outshot the Blue seven to one and were awarded 10 penalty corners, while Wellesley took just two in the final 35 minutes.

“All layers of our team, from the defense up, put pressure on the Wellesley defenders, and we were successful in controlling and possessing the ball,” Perkins said.

Midway through the second half, the Jumbos saw six con-

secutive corner opportunities, but they were unable to score on any of them. The Wellesley defense resisted Tufts’ scoring assault, and sophomore goalkeeper Brit Mscisz played her part, posting four saves in the contest.

The Jumbos also limited the number of looks Wellesley attackers got in the second period, and compared to the barrage they sent at Mscisz, the Blue forced Jumbos senior goalkeeper Marianna Zak to make just two saves in her efforts to preserve a slim onegoal margin.

“The game could have been executed better, but at the end see FIELD HOCKEY, page 11

Editors' Challenge | Week 4 Tuck in your bibs, America. For Week 4, former Daily Sports Editor David “The Sauce” Heck is here to bring his special blend of herbs and spices to the Eds Challenge Iron Chef arena. Heck joins an already saucy mix of editors for one challenge so flavorful it will give the ladies Becham-hell.

Our first course is David “Cheese Wiz” McIntyre, who has spread his way to first place after a brilliant 13-3 showing last week, which raised suspicions that he might be chemically enhanced.

In second place is our sauce boss, Daniel “Alfredo” Rathman, who has filled up the standings week after week with his creamy selections. He hasn’t slowed down yet, but with him at the helm the section has gotten a bit “phatter.” Third up is Lauren “Hot” Flament, who is blazing her way up the leaderboard after going 13-3 last week. It comes as no surprise that Flament, the sports section’s semi-official person who runs places fast, has serious kick in her picks.

Aaron “Pat Bena Tartar” Leibowitz is swimming comfortably in a tie for fourth place with Ethan “Polyjuice Potion” Sturm, but Sturm has clearly spent too much time playing Quidditch and dressing up as Neville Longbottom while searching for his Sauce-erers Stone.

OVERALL RECORD LAST WEEK

David 37-11 13-3

Chicago Cleveland St. Louis Philadelphia Dallas Houston Kansas City Cincinnati New Orleans Atlanta Atlanta at Seattle NY Giants NY Giants at Arizona New England at Oakland New England San Diego Miami at San Diego Green Bay Denver at Green Bay Baltimore NY Jets at Baltimore Indianapolis at Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Carolina at Chicago Tennessee at Cleveland Washington at St. Louis San Francisco at Philadelphia Detroit at Dallas Pittsburgh at Houston Minnesota at Kansas City Buffalo at Cincinnati New Orleans at Jacksonville

Daniel 35-13 10-6

Lauren 33-15 12-4

Aaron 32-16 11-5

Ethan 32-16 9-7

Ben “Horseradish” Kochman is just a win behind in sixth place, after overcoming his bitter tendency to horse around. Next up is Alex “Teriyaki” Prewitt, who at a lowly seventh place sure won’t be making an appearance in any Bento Boxes this weekend.

Seriously, the guy just can’t get it up... his Eds Challenge standing, we mean. “Teriyaki’s” flavor profile would go well oiled-up with resident sports department ginger Annie Sloan, but we will have to find out how that relationship pans out. More on Sloan later.

After Prewitt, it’s a two-way tie between Claire “Vodka” Kemp and Matt “Bro-colate” Berger. That’s right, Bro-colate: the sororities’ favorite ice cream topping two years running. Kemp’s favorite ice cream topping is shots. On Berger’s tail, as usual, is the Bonnie to his Clyde, Kate “Worcestershire” Klots. The duo make quite the savory combination while pressed together, but Klots needs to shine on her own to get out of the Eds Challenge cellar.

But even Klots isn’t doing as badly as Annie “Weak” Sloan, who went 7-9 last week and is only four games over .500. Sloan’s like that ginger dressing that comes with salads at Japanese restaurants, except that you can’t taste anything. It’s a performance so watered down that it recalls Kochman’s historic last-place showing last season. Disgusting.

Get sauced, y’all!

Ben 31-17 9-7

Chicago Chicago Chicago Chicago Chicago Tennessee Tennessee Cleveland Tennessee Cleveland St. Louis Washington Washington Washington Washington Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia Detroit Dallas Detroit Detroit Detroit Houston Houston Houston Houston Houston Kansas City Minnesota Minnesota Minnesota Minnesota Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Cincinnati New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta NY Giants NY Giants NY Giants NY Giants NY Giants New England New England New England New England New England San Diego San Diego San Diego San Diego San Diego Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay Baltimore NY Jets NY Jets Baltimore NY Jets Tampa Bay Indianapolis Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Tampa Bay

Alex 30-18 10-6

Claire 28-20 9-7

Chicago Cleveland Washington Philadelphia Detroit Houston Minnesota Buffalo New Orleans Atlanta NY Giants New England San Diego Green Bay Baltimore Tampa Bay

Chicago Tennessee Washington Philadelphia Dallas Pittsburgh Minnesota Buffalo New Orleans Atlanta NY Giants New England San Diego Green Bay NY Jets Tampa Bay

Matt 28-20 10-6

Kate 27-21 7-9

Annie 26-22 7-9

GUEST David Heck

Chicago Chicago Chicago Carolina Cleveland Tennessee Tennessee Cleveland Washington Washington Washington Washington Philadelphia San Francisco Philadelphia Philadelphia Dallas Detroit Detroit Dallas Houston Pittsburgh Houston Pittsburgh Kansas City Minnesota Minnesota Kansas City Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta NY Giants Arizona NY Giants NY Giants New England New England New England New England San Diego San Diego San Diego San Diego Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Indianapolis Tampa Bay