2011-10-05

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THE TUFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXII, NUMBER 19

Tufts Health Service will offer flu vaccinations to all graduate and undergraduate students during three clinics this season.

The clinics will be held today from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., Oct. 6 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Oct. 12 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., according to Health Service Business Supervisor Mary Daley.

All 3,000 vaccinations that Health Service ordered last semester were used by students who attended the clinics, according to Health Service Medical Director Margaret Higham.

Side effects associated with the vaccination are generally minor, according to Higham, and sometimes include a sore arm, pneumonia, sinus infections and the worsening of asthma.

“It’s a remarkably well-tolerated immunization,” she said.

Daley urged all students to get the vaccine in order to stay healthy.

“It is recommended that everyone six

months of age or older get the flu vaccine once a year in the U.S.,” Higham said.

The flu, in addition to being an unpleasant experience for its victims, she noted, often causes students to miss class.

“It’s a nasty illness,” Higham said. “People usually have a fever from anywhere from three to seven days.” She added that the flu spreads particularly easily in a college community.

She noted that it is impossible to predict when or if an outbreak of the flu on campus will hit.

“Some years it hits at Thanksgiving, some years it doesn’t hit until the end of February,” said Higham. It’s extremely unpredictable.”

Although the Health Service flu clinics are only available to students, Human Resources is organizing a vaccine program for Tufts employees, according to Daley.

Patrick McGrath

Contributing Writer

The Sustainable Action Squad (SAS), a new branch of the Tufts Sustainability Collective (TSC), will today host its firstever Sustainability Roundtable, which will serve as a forum for members of the Tufts community to advocate for future environmental campaigns.

TSC launched SAS this semester to encourage dialogue within the community about sustainability and the means of promoting it on campus, according to co-Founder of SAS and co-Director of TSC Jibade Sandiford, a senior. “[SAS has] also evolved to incorporate Sustainability Roundtables in which we try to flesh out the vision of what the campus wants to see,” Sandiford said.

“So SAS has now transformed into the fusion of the organizing with tangible action things that we want to be seen on campus.”

Although SAS has not yet met formally, the directors of SAS explained that some potential goals for the group discussed among TSC members included promoting increased compost usage on campus, getting rid of all plastic bags on campus and encouraging participation in Community Supported Agriculture groups in the area, according to co-Founder of SAS and coDirector of TSC Kathleen Kidwell.

The primary mission of SAS is to find out what the campus wants in terms of sustainability and to then act upon the student demand, Kidwell, a junior said.

The Roundtables will serve as an open platform for discussion and constructive conversation among students, faculty, staff and administrators who are passionate about these causes, according to Sandiford.

The Roundtables will include between 20 and 25 student groups, and each term Roundtable participants will select a particular campaign to pursue for the semester, Sandiford said. Kidwell noted that SAS hopes to lead two different campus campaigns each year.

“We try to see where different groups can collaborate, and we are collective.

We try to foster synergy among all those groups,” Sandiford said. “That’s our goal at the end of the day — always just to work together toward one goal, which is always

Look both ways: Six pedestrian accidents in Sept. add up to ‘anomaly’ Falcon Reese

Take it as a warning to look twice before crossing the street — with October just beginning, Tufts Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) has just wrapped up the busiest month in recent history for pedestrian accidents. Over the course of September, TEMS responded to six pedestrian or cyclist accidents — five of which involved Tufts students being hit by a car. by

Daily Editorial Board

On Sept. 20, junior Sara Honickman was biking home after class in the middle of a rainy day. She was traveling away from campus, down Packard Avenue toward her house on Ossipee Road.

Honickman came to the intersection of Packard and Powderhouse Boulevard and, after waiting for a break in the traffic, began to cross the street. Before she got across however, a car that had been waiting on Packard to make a left onto see SAFETY, page 4

—by Bianca Blakesley

Sustainable Action Squad to host roundtable discussion by

TUFTSDAILY.COM

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Health Service to hold three flu clinics

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Oliver Porter/Tufts Daily

Tufts Emergency Medical Services successfully renewed its state ambulance license last week.

TEMS renews state license on first inspection by

Minyoung Song

Daily Editorial Board

Tufts Emergency Medical Services ( TEMS) renewed its ambulance license with the Office of Emergency Medical Services of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health last week, according to Director of Emergency Management Geoffrey Bartlett.

The inspection entailed a thorough checkup of TEMS’ response vehicle, equipment, record-keeping system, office space and training records, Director of Public and Environmental Safety Kevin Maguire said.

“The state comes to determine

whether the organization has administrative and record-keeping procedures that are appropriate, and all of the personnel that provide care are trained and have proper documentation of having been trained,” Bartlett said.

TEMS’ current license, which it received in 2009, expires at the end the month, Bartlett noted.

The student-run organization must apply to renew its license every two years, according to Maguire.

The application for a renewed license took about two weeks to complete, according to TEMS Executive see TEMS, page 2

Injured squirrel treated for spinal injury Meagan Maher/Tufts Daily

The Sustainable Action Squad will today host its first roundtable discussion, designed to plan new environmental campaigns. sustainability on campus and generally in the greater Tufts community.”

SAS aims to collaborate with the rest of the Tufts community and other likeminded students and organizations.

“One of the biggest reasons why we became TSC was that we saw that there were so many segments of the Tufts population who cared about sustainability, but we weren’t necessarily working together,” Sandiford said, adding that the groups sometimes even essentially worked against each other.

SAS looks to continue promoting sustainability on campus both in the short and long-term. “The short-term goal of SAS is always going to be the campaign.

[The] long-term goal of SAS is that we organize SAS to be a sustainable way to have action happen on campus continusee SUSTAINABILITY, page 2

Inside this issue

An injured squirrel found outside the Japanese House yesterday afternoon was transferred to a rehabilitation home after receiving treatment at Woburn Animal Hospital, according to hospital receptionist Anne Boudreau.

X-ray tests at the hospital revealed that the squirrel had sustained a spinal injury, though not a break.

Veterinary doctors gave the squirrel a steroid injection, Boudreau said.

“They’re not positive that it’s going to do the trick, so we’ll know more in a couple of days,” she said.

Juniors Dan Fortunato and Zach Himes spotted the squirrel around 4 p.m. yesterday limping into a pack of bushes outside the Japanese House near Hillsides Apartments. Fortunato and Himes then peered into the bush to see the squirrel lying on its back, legs still, with its arms clinging to a branch.

It was unclear to Himes and Fortunato how the squirrel sustained its injuries.

As Fortunato and Himes called for medical assistance — including to the

City of Medford Animal Control and Tufts Emergency Medical Services — one Japanese House resident put the squirrel in a cardboard box and sophomore Sophia Panuthos brought the injured squirrel to her Hillsides apartment, where she fed it Cheerios.

“It looked like it was starving, it was really skinny and obviously it couldn’t walk,” Panuthos said. “It seemed to like Cheerios and it was eating them.”

At 4:40 p.m., Woburn Animal Hospital agreed to treat the squirrel. To ensure a comfortable car ride, Himes gave the squirrel one of his T-shirts for a blanket, which the squirrel nibbled before taking a nap.

Doctors originally suspected the squirrel might have a broken back, but X-ray tests did not reveal any breaks. The squirrel was taken to the home of Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator Joanne Sequeira for further care, Boudreau said.

—by Brent Yarnell

Today’s sections

Student activists act on lessons learned in the classroom.

A unique Tufts exhibit takes a look at Ken Gonzales-Day’s photos of sculptures.

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts & Living Captured Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 8 10

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

11 12 15 Back

The Tufts Daily

2

News

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Virginia Bledsoe/Tufts Daily

Theta Delta Chi is one of the fraternities that has in the past led the pack in its move toward being more environmentally conscious. The fraternity, like other Greek houses, is participating in the Interfraternity Council’s new Greeks Go Green initiative.

IFC leaders seek to make Greek life greener by

Audrey Michael

Contributing Writer

A new initiative by the Interfraternity Council (IFC) called Greeks Go Green aims to improve fraternities and sororities’ environmental impact this year, according to IFC Public Relations Chair Christopher Blackett, a junior.

The campaign seeks to encourage the use of reusable water bottles by members of the Greek community and promote recycling in fraternity and sorority houses.

The IFC ordered about 500 water bottles from company Klean Kanteen to distribute to members of the Greek community to discourage the use of plastic water bottles, according to IFC President and Delta Upsilon president Tommy Castle.

The Klean Kanteen water bottles are free of Bisphenol A, a chemical that has been linked to adverse health affects, Castle, a junior, said.

The IFC also plans to place recycling bins at each Greek house within the next two

weeks, Blackett said.

Once fraternities receive the recycling bins, they are free to decide how to spend the money saved by recycling, though Blackett hopes most will choose to donate the money to their national charities or to oncampus service organizations.

Sophomore Victoria Powell, a member of Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) noted that fraternities currently generate large amounts of unnecessary waste.

“We’ve been thinking of ways for the frats to be more environmentally friendly, because a lot of cans and cups are wasted,” Powell said. “We think it’s unfortunate that so much is wasted and not getting recycled.”

The IFC, which has not funded many major projects recently, has excess money to devote to the project, Powell noted.

“None of us realized until recently that we did have this budget to use, and we wanted to put it towards something productive that would have a positive effect on the school,” she said.

Blackett noted that Greek houses generally currently do very little to promote sustainability, though Theta Delta Chi (123) has in recent semesters taken steps toward decreasing its environmental impact, he said. The fraternity established a Green Chair position within their fraternity last semester, according to Vice President senior Aaron Tartakovsky.

Tartakovsky hopes the campaign will lead the rest of the Greek community will take up the cause of environmental awareness.

“We want to get the word out, and we think that it should be something that spreads to the wider Greek community,” he said.

The Greeks Go Green initiative primarily works toward promoting environmental friendliness among fraternity houses, but Blackett and Powell hope to expand the program to the entire Greek system eventually.

“Right now it’s in the initial stages and we are focusing on the fraternities as IFC, but we’d really like to get the

Sustainable Action Squad plans green campaigns SUSTAINABILITY

continued from page 1

ally,” Kidwell said.

SAS developed from the group Tufts Against Plastic (TAP), which last semester led the campaign to eliminate plastic water bottles from Hodgdon Good-toGo, according to Kidwell. TAP was spun off from last year’s Experimental College class “Environmental Action: Shifting from Saying to Doing,” in which students learned how to actively develop and carry out environmental campaigns on campus.

TAP recently took on the name SAS after accomplishing its goal, allowing the students to expand the potential of the organization, Kidwell said.

Five former students from

the ExCollege class will design a series of workshops this semester, intended to teach participants about the logistics of organizing an environmental campaign.

The workshops will include instruction on developing a mission and researching, surveying the community, generating support from the community, working with administrators and faculty and launching a campaign, according to Sandiford.

SAS will need strong and passionate leaders to continue its goals in the future, Office of Sustainability Program Director Tina Woolston, who taught the ExCollege class, noted.

“A lot of it’s going to depend on leadership and how many

people step up to help out with it, because just having a few executive committee members, they can’t run a whole organization, and so I know they’re going to need other students to kind of take the lead on different initiatives that they’re doing,” she said.

The leaders of SAS are very excited to see the increase in interest in sustainability around Tufts.

“On such a huge level beyond TSC, sustainability on this campus has exploded this year,” Kidwell said. “There’s really been a shift on this campus. It’s really exciting, and I feel like TSC is only going to grow as it becomes more of a norm on campus to be environmentally sustainable.”

entire Greek system involved,” Powell said.

Blackett hopes that the initiative will help change the negative image of fraternities that some members of the community hold.

“We’re trying to change the role of fraternities to have a more positive impact and to break the stereotypes that most fraternities are placed into,” Blackett said.

He added that the recent appointment of a permanent Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Su McGlone will help create an environment in which new Greek initiatives can thrive.

“We’ve gone through Greek directors so quickly there hasn’t been the chance to have a stable environment,” Blackett said.

Since she assumed her new position over the summer, McGlone has outlined positive goals for the future of the Greek community.

“I think she really has a good vision for where she wants the Greek community to go,” Blackett said.

“Su is really motivated; she’s really excited about getting projects started and getting things done, so she’s been a really positive influence on getting things in motion,” Powell said.

TEMS passes state inspection TEMS

continued from page 1

Director Kevin McKay, a senior.

The process, which includes a one-time inspection, costs about $600, Maguire said.

All aspects of TEMS’ services must pass the inspection, according to Maguire.

“It requires us to take apart our whole organization and put it back together,” McKay said.

TEMS passed its test on first inspection, according to Bartlett — a feat that is uncommon for most emergency medical service organizations, Maguire said.

“The fact that we passed on first inspection is a testament to the professionalism of the student organization that runs TEMS,” Maguire said.

TEMS employees were responsible for preparing for the inspection and answering the inspector’s questions while he was on campus, Bartlett said.

TEMS Technical Director Robert Kaufman, a junior, and Director of Operations Natalie Sullivan, a senior, helped lead the effort for a renewed license, McKay said.

TEMS regularly inspects its vehicle throughout the

academic year, according to McKay. “We maintain all of the aspects of TEMS so it is ready for inspection at any time,” Maguire said.

An independent inspector from the state department who was unaffiliated with Tufts and TEMS conducted the inspection, Maguire said.

TEMS, which was created in 1985, was not always governed by the state’s standards of emergency care, according to Bartlett.

“We used to be a simple volunteer service,” McKay said.

Ambulance services in Massachusetts, as well as other states, operated without ambulance licenses for many years, Maguire noted.

“Most, if not all states, probably back in the mid-1980s or early 1990s, realized that ambulance services needed to be licensed and be able to meet certain standards to provide competent, compassionate, and confidential services,” Maguire said.

TEMS earned its first stateissued ambulance license in 2008, enabling it to offer a wider variety of services to the community, McKay noted.

Features

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tuftsdaily.com

Student activists bring what they learn in the classroom into campus policy

by Victoria

Rathsmill

Daily Editorial Board

“Active citizenship.” It’s a buzzword that can be found in every nook and cranny of public life on campus, from TuftsLife postings to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions’ library of brochures. It’s not surprising, given the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service is right on campus.

While a concrete definition of “active citizenship” can get lost in the jumble of life on the Hill, speaking up on controversial issues is serious business for a good number of Jumbos. For the most part, however, it exists in a separate realm from their academic classes — something you can participate in once you finish your homework.

For those who register for academic classes that encourage social engagement as part of the curriculum, though, activism is even part of making the grade.

In the fall of 2010, students in the Experimental College class “Environmental Action: Shifting from Saying to Doing,” spearheaded the campaign to remove plastic water bottles from Hodgdon Good-to-Go. The ExCollege has offered the class, taught by the Office of Sustainability’s Sustainability Program Director Tina Woolston, for three semesters. Each class has focused on a specific campaign to improve sustainability. In the fall of 2009, students in the class started the eventually successful process of getting trays out of circulation at the campus’ dining halls. The next fall, the class’s students worked to encourage the university to switch the printers in the libraries and Eaton Hall to be default double-sided printers.

Sophomore Daniel Markowitz took the class last fall and found it empowering. “[It’s] based on the premise of doing your own environmental action campaign at Tufts. As a class, you decide something that Tufts is lacking and how you can make a change to improve it,” he said.

His classmates chose the plastic water bottles available in Hodgdon as their target. They made headway on raising awareness about the environmental detriments of plastic bottles while class was in session. Once the semester ended, feeling that there was more to be done, members of the class came together under their own initiative to form the group Tufts Against Plastic (TAP) with the aim of ridding Hodgdon of the bottles once and for all.

“Going into the class, I knew that environmental issues were around and I should do something myself but I didn’t try to alter my life,” Markowitz said.

“However, after taking the class, I’m trying to move towards being an environmentalist, and changing my daily routines. The class teaches you a different way of looking at your role in society, and encourages you to take action. It was one of the most life-changing classes I’ve taken at Tufts.”

Members of Woolston’s class and TAP worked with another ExCollege class, “Environmental Justice and U.S. Literature,” as well as Dining Services, to eliminate both the bottles and plastic bags from Hodgdon this semester.

“It seemed to me that all of them were attracted to the class because they didn’t want to just talk about theory, they wanted to actually accomplish together,” Woolston said.

Jessica Madding (LA ’11) took the class the first semester it was offered, in the fall of 2009. She said it was different from any other class she had taken before.

“It kind of filled a void I felt existed within the environmental classes at Tufts.

There’s a lot changing now, but there wasn’t a class that addressed how to be an environmental activist that combined scientific knowledge and behavior,” Madding said.

Madding stayed involved with envi-

Lane Florsheim/Tufts Daily

Students enrolled in classes that encourage participation in campus policy include members of an ExCollege class that pushed for, among other things, the elimination of plastic water bottles from Hodgdon Good-To-Go. ronmental activism after taking the class.

She continued to advocate for the trayless initiative in the dining halls, and in her senior year she helped coordinate the Eco-Reps program through the Office of Sustainability. She currently holds a temporary position of Program Associate at the Office of Sustainability.

“I want to impress upon people how important this class really is,” Madding said. “There is no other class like it.”

Senior Katherine Sawyer, who is now an intern at the Office of Sustainability, took the class in the spring of 2010.

“The reason the class was so important and made such a difference in my Tufts experience and the experiences of my classmates is [that] it showed we could really make a difference and get something done on campus that we really wanted to see happen,” she said.

Environmentalism is not the only area at Tufts where academics and activism meet. Attendees at last semester’s April Open House program encountered approximately 40 students congregated on the academic quad, wearing T-shirts saying, “Ask me about white privilege at Tufts” or “Ask me about being a student of color at Tufts.” They also gave flyers to prospective students describing their personal experiences relating to race at Tufts. A number of these students were taking Race in America, a foundation course for the American Studies major.

According to the department website, the students in Race in America examine “the meanings of race in modern America, analyze the root causes and consequences of racist ideologies, and discuss current and future activist approaches to the issues raised by racist theories and practices.”

Junior Alexandra Lis-Perlis, an American Studies major who took Race in America last spring, participated in the April Open House event.

Lis-Perlis explained that what she learned in Race in America influenced her decision to voice her opinion on the class’s topics outside the classroom.

“The knowledge that I gained in classes like Race in America … helped me conceptualize difficult topics like institutional racism and has helped me concretely acknowledge them in my own university,” said Lis-Perlis. “I firmly believe that students at Tufts are active about things they know about, and from knowledge comes action.”

Hearing in class about issues that LisPerlis knew were affecting students on her own campus, she said, prompted her and her classmates to act. “We were learning a tremendous amount, and the seed was planted. For me it had already been growing, but for some students it was growing for the first time, and it was exciting to see white students get excited about the issue of race on campus.”

The April protest put the participating Race in America students among the chorus of students calling for an overhaul of the university’s approach to incorporating the study of race and ethnicity in its academic structure. Hearing this chorus, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney last month announced the creation of a new, comprehensive academic program incorporating those areas of study.

Sawyer agreed that classroom experiences can often be the final push that gets would-be activists to take the next step into the realm of real-world action.

“I think oftentimes students have a great idea of what they want to see happen, but don’t know how to do it, or don’t think they have the power to make a big change.

I think that this class brought students together and showed we really could make things happen if we worked hard and kept pushing,” she said.

Alison Williams and Sarah Gottlieb | Generation SEX

Sweet Revenge

S

o your significant other — how’s that for PC, Tufts? — is being a dick.

He forgot your birthday. She made a joke about you being whipped in front of your bros. What are you going to do about it? Perhaps it’s what you’re not going to do that is more significant.

Withholding sex has been used as punishment for thousands of years. You heard us.

The Greek play “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes — originally performed in Athens in 411 B.C. — tells the tale of one woman who urges the wives of Greek soldiers to withhold sex from them until they negotiate peace. Clearly people have been perfecting the art of withholding sexual gratification for years. If these ancient Greek women can succeed in the art of refusing their husbands sex, so can we. For many people, it sounds easy: withhold sex and wait for said significant other to whine, grovel and beg for you and for sex. Simple, right?

Maybe not.

There are many opinions on the subject of withholding sex as a form of punishment, so we interviewed some people to see what the Tufts community thinks. One girl said, “Why would I stop sleeping with a guy? If I’m pissed at him and in a bad mood, I deserve sex even more. I don’t want to punish myself.” This is a valid point, especially for those who don’t believe in taking emotional frustrations out on a physical relationship with the person.

This could be damaging, especially if your partner takes offense to your declaration of no playtime and leaves you regretting your decision. Also, have you ever been in a room alone with someone with whom you’ve been hooking up only to restrain yourself from even getting close to the person? Come on. We’re college students. All we think about is sex most of the time. If you’re desperately looking for a bed warmer on the weekend, chances are you won’t want to blow it once you’ve found a steady hookup or relationship.

Along a different line, one girl said, “I feel like using sex is manipulative and a bad idea.

Sex can be an important part of any relationship, and it is detrimental to associate it with negative feelings.” Some of you may scoff at this, but here’s a shocker — there are plenty of people at Tufts who are in steady relationships. In fact, these people are probably getting more than you if you’re one who only hooks up occasionally.

Emotions are especially tricky in relationships, because they’re more difficult to maintain than hookups. I, for one (Alison), can vouch for this, as I’ve never withheld sex from my boyfriend as punishment. You cry, you yell, you explain in detail all the bad things that your boyfriend has done to you in the past 17 days, then he brings you a sandwich from Dave’s later and it’s all over. Don’t force yourself not to have sex. You love sex. Enjoy it while you can.

One of our favorite answers was “Douchebags don’t get sex. My mother taught me that when I was young. It’s a lesson everyone should learn eventually.” Here’s a tip: don’t have sex with douchebags. Don’t date them.

There are plenty of nice people around with whom you could have sex. Then you won’t encounter this problem.

The bottom line is that withholding sex is a personal choice. If you feel like it’ll actually improve your relationship — physically, emotionally or both — with the other person involved, go for it. However, we can’t promise that this will end well. You might find yourself sitting in your dorm room late at night watching a Lifetime movie while crying to your friends over a bowl of Ben & Jerry’s, regretting your valiant attempt to stage your own modern production of “Lysistrata.” If you’ve found someone you really care about, toss your anger aside for a bit after an argument and think about how lucky you are. You know everyone else is jealous that you’re having sex on a Tuesday evening while they’re desperately waiting for the weekend.

Alison Williams and Sarah Gottlieb are both sophomores who have not yet declared their majors. Williams can be reached at Alison.

Williams@tufts.edu and Gottlieb can be reached at Sarah.Gottlieb@tufts.edu.

4

The Tufts Daily

Features

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Kyra Sturgill/Tufts Daily

A record number of pedestrian accidents at major intersections has prompted campus safety authorities to rethink their approach to traffic safety.

TEMS saw record pedestrian accidents in September SAFETY

continued from page 1

Powderhouse made its turn and hit Honickman.

“I think the scariest part was I saw this car in my peripheral vision, and she was turning and not going straight,” Honickman said. She added that when she noticed the car was not stopping, the sudden realization that she was going to be hit was unnerving.

TEMS responded to the call and transported Honickman to the hospital, where she was treated in the emergency room.

“In the ER, I got a couple of X-rays and was released with bruises and scrapes,” she said.

However, Honickman’s was neither the first nor the most severe pedestrian accident that TEMS responded to over the course of September. Cars hit five students: three on bicycles and two walking.

Two of those accidents took place at the same Packard and Powderhouse intersection where Honickman was hit, and both incidents put students in the hospital — one in Boston and one in Cambridge.

Being called to this many pedestrian accidents in the course of a month — or even in a year — is unheard of, according to the TEMS Executive Director Kevin McKay. “We are concerned about the number there have been, because it definitely is abnormal,” McKay, a senior, said. Director of Emergency Management Geoffrey Bartlett added that TEMS has not had to respond

to any calls of this nature within the past two-and-a-half years.

“TEMS did not respond to a pedestrian accident in that timeframe,” Bartlett said.

Director of Public and Environmental Safety Kevin Maguire said that his department considers the high number of accidents an anomaly.

“We think it’s a coincidence,” he said.

He stressed, however, that this does not mean the issue is being ignored.

“All of these accidents remain under investigation,” Maguire said, and he added that they will continue to be investigated so as “to address behaviors so that folks stay as safe as they can be.”

As for possible explanations for the cause of the high number of pedestrian accidents, Bartlett attributes its location between two cities as a possible contributing factor.

“It’s important to remember that the Tufts University campus is in some places intersected by city streets,” he said, emphasizing that both motorists and pedestrians need to be mindful of that.

As a student, Honickman has the sense that many passing cars are unaware of the high amounts of foot traffic these streets receive due to their proximity to a largely pedestrian campus.

“I think that’s probably the issue with this intersection,” she said. “Cars treat it like a main road and aren’t cognizant of how many pedestrians there are.”

The flip side of driver ignorance, Honickman said, is that students don’t do their part either. They don’t think too much about the amount of traf-

fic these streets receive because they feel as though they’re still on campus where they feel safe and insulated, she said.

McKay agreed that students often don’t pay attention to where they’re going as they walk around campus.

“When you drive on campus, it’s funny watching people walk — they don’t look,” he said.

Students’ habits of listening to music and texting as they walk contribute to the danger, he said, as does the fact that Powderhouse Boulevard is in fact a major Somerville thoroughfare that merits a heightened sense of awareness.

McKay cautioned that both of the accidents at the intersection of Powderhouse and Packard Avenue, while severe, could have been much worse. Given the speed at which drivers take on the major streets around Tufts, a fatal collision is not out of the question. “[ With] one of these accidents, I was surprised we weren’t dealing with something more serious,” he said.

“That’s the quickest way in under five seconds we can lose a student,” McKay added.

Honickman does a double take when venturing off the sidewalk these days, she said.

“It still makes me pretty nervous to cross that intersection…[and] hearing about other accidents has made me more cautious,” Honickman said.

While pedestrians can do their part by keeping their heads up, Maguire said that his department, along with

the Tufts University Police Department ( TUPD), is taking steps toward a safer campus in the wake of September’s accidents.

“The three E’s of [pedestrian] safety are education, engineering and enforcement,” he said.

On the education front, Maguire is making an effort to raise awareness of the dangers present on campus. In this vein, TUPD Officer Linda D’Andrea has compiled a PowerPoint on pedestrian and motor safety that TUPD will distribute online. To “engineer” a safer campus, Maguire said, TUPD will also place traffic cones along the campus’ busiest intersections.

Maguire added that enforcement is occasionally a necessary part of pedestrian safety — TUPD officers are currently positioned at key intersections in order to observe and report on traffic patterns, and they have asked the Somerville Police Department to do the same.

“They’ve said they will ask their traffic vehicles to spend time observing intersections,” Maguire said.

Although the Department of Public and Environmental Safety and TUPD are making a concerted effort to address the safety issues that have arisen after September’s accidents, Maguire pointed out that achieving a safer campus also relies a good deal on personal responsibility.

“Not only do motorists need to be careful, but pedestrians as well,” he said. “Although motorists have more responsibility, pedestrians have more at stake.”

Arts & Living

5

tuftsdaily.com

Interview | Rachel Childers

Childers is BSO’s first female brass player Panharith Chhum

Contributing Writer

French horn player Rachel Childers recently won the second horn chair on the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). She will be the first woman ever in the brass section of the BSO. The Daily’s own Panharith Chhum had a chance to sit and talk to Childers about her musical background, new position and upcoming season. by

Panharith Chhum: Would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself — how you grew up in terms of music?

Rachel Childers: I grew up outside of Detroit, Mich., in Farmington Hills suburbs. My family, my parents are not professional musicians; they’re both amateurs. They sing in a choir, and my dad plays piano. In my extended family, I have a cousin who plays viola… and her parents are both pianists. So I had musical people working professionally in the extended part of my family, but not in my immediate family.

PC: How is this period in terms of the transition between BSO music director James Levine to the assistant conductor, Sean Newhouse?

RC: Actually I know Sean. I played for him in L.A. He conducted — it was called the Debut Orchestra — it was really like college-age students in L.A. In Denver, I had a similar situation: Their music director had left the year before last, and so we ended up playing a whole year under guest conductors which is, I think, pretty cool. It’s the same group of musicians, but you get different leadership each time and you get… to see how different the orchestra can sound under different people.

PC: Was it drastic?

RC: For some, it is. It depends on the effect the conductor has on the orchestra because… the orchestra somehow collectively decides as a whole to just retreat back to our own instincts. So the orchestra kind of narrows itself down under a guest conductor, but sometimes the guest conductor is really good and inspires musicians, and then it ends up sounding totally different.

PC: How was the audition process? I hear it’s quite arduous.

RC: Yeah, it was. I had to first send a CD of about five or six excerpts. I had to record and send it a couple months in advance of the audition. I think I sent my resume first and… then I sent a CD and I got invited to the audition. The audition was over two days, and the first day was preliminary — so everyone who had been invited gets to play their five minutes on stage, and at the end of the day they take a vote. I got moved on to the next round. Then the next day there was a semi-final round, and a final round, and a round beyond that playing with the section!

PC: So let’s talk about the 2011-2012 season. How do you feel about this program as a whole?

RC: Well, I’m excited. One of the cool things about having a season of guest conductors is you end up doing a really good rep. You know, all the big guns, like [Gustav] Mahler, [Pyotr Ilyich] Tchaikovsky, [Jean] Sibelius.

PC: So, who are some of your favorite composers?

TV Review

RC: OK. Well, I’m a horn player so I like [Richard] Strauss. I really like his chamber music and also his two horn concertos.

They’re pretty great. And the tone poem.

We’re doing [Ein] Heldenleben this year, which is exciting. I’ve never actually played it — I’ve only worked on it and heard it many times.

PC: So what’s on your iPod that’s non-classical? This information will be published!

RC: [Laughs] Well, I have a lot of jazz and big band and a lot of Latin jazz. I love jazz — I don’t understand it all. I like listening to it because I can have it on and it doesn’t take all my brainpower listening to it because I’m not also analyzing it, so it’s a nice break. And I like Beck and Mötley [Crüe].

PC: If you were a musical chord, what would you be?

RC: Well I’m a horn player, so probably a major triad. It’s not really that interesting, but when I was at the Colburn School — I did my artist diploma there, which is a postgrad degree — I started, and I was at least four years out of ear-training class. We had to do an ear-training test for my grad school.

The teachers played an interval. No hesitation: “That was a major triad.” They kind of look at each other: “OK. Listen again.” I was sure that was a major triad. “What am I missing?” They played it a third time and that was all I was hearing. So they go, “What instrument do you play?” I was like, “French horn,” and they go, “OK, that makes a lot of sense.” They’re like, “We were just playing a perfect fifth, and you were hearing the resulting tone. You’re so used to hearing it.”

It was highly embarrassing!

Gallery Review

‘Profiled’ creates poignant dialogue on race relations by

William Owen

Contributing Writer

The Tufts University Art Gallery is currently showcasing Ken Gonzales-Day’s photography exhib-

Ken Gonzales-Day: Profiled

Brian Bowen Smith/FOX

‘Glee’ keeps viewers entertained in its third season on Fox.

Third season of ‘Glee’ worth singing about by

Alex Kaufman

Daily Staff Writer

“Glee,” the underdog’s favorite TV show, aired for the first time two-anda-half years ago. Since the series’ pre-

Glee Starring Lea Michele, Jane Lynch, Matthew Morrison Airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on FOX miere, it has earned a host of accolades including Emmys and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The show was once something of an underdog itself, but it now holds its own on the primetime line-up. “Gleeks” have come to expect more from co-creator Ryan Murphy than peppy musical numbers and the same old plots reused again and again.

The pressure on “Glee’s” third

At the Tufts University Art Gallery, through Nov. 20 Aidekman Arts Center 617-627-3518

season premiere, therefore, came not from its competition with other shows, but from its own hype. This summer’s smash reality series, “The Glee Project,” let viewers watch auditions for “Glee” itself. After seeing how funny, dramatic and truthful the contestants were, fans expect nothing less from the main series.

This season’s premiere, “The Purple Piano Project,” reoriented us with McKinley High’s irrational and pervasive attitude toward the Glee club. Viewers were also saddened by the news that Sam Evans (Chord Overstreet) would not be returning, though his character’s role has always been uncertain.

With “The Purple Piano Project,” Murphy and writer/co-creator Brad Falchuk sent a loud and clear message: “Glee” was going back to its basics. The episode included the show’s typical self-referential voiceovers and unabashedly dramatic and

it, “Profiled,” which seeks to examine contemporary racial profiling.

The Los Angeles artist’s work has been displayed in galleries all over the world, from The Field Museum in Chicago to the Bode Museum in Berlin. Here, he photographically juxtaposes Western and non-Western portraits to provide alternative perspectives on race relations.

A particularly striking photograph is “Untitled” (Henry Weeks, “Bust of an African Woman” and Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, “Bust of Mm. Adélaide Julie Mirleau de Neuville, née Garnier d’Isle,” 2011). GonzalesDay specializes in photographing busts and sculptures. This particular lightjet print shows the profiles of two white stone sculptures staring straight at one another.

Although the figure to the left is an African woman looking at her white counterpart, there is a definite likeness in their appearances. With curled coils of hair and protruding chins, the two women look very similar despite their differing racial backgrounds. Both have an understanding gaze, raising the question

see GLEE, page 6

see PROFILED, page 6

Jordan Teicher | The Independent

Thank you, Mary-Kate and Ashley

F

our words you should know: Martha, Marcy, May and Marlene. This may look like a list of names for Jewish grandmothers, but it is actually the title of an independent film coming out in limited release on Oct. 21. Yes, that’s the real name of the movie, “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” not to be confused with… all other movies with more coherent titles.

Despite the confusing name, it is the best film I have seen since the Academy Awards season ended eight months ago.

I attended an advanced screening of “Martha” last week at the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square. The movie is about a young woman named Martha who escapes from a cult and struggles to integrate back into conventional society. She moves into her older sister’s summer house to try to lead a normal life but is haunted by the memories of what happened to her in the cult. The narrative weaves in flashback sequences of Martha’s life before she escapes. The title comes from the three identities Martha is referred to at different points in the film: Marcy, May and Marlene.

I could write entire columns on the power of the plot, or the skill of rookie director Sean Durkin, but the most outstanding aspect of “Martha Marcy May Marlene” is its lead actress, Elizabeth Olsen. She is not only talented enough to play Martha, but Marcy, May and Marlene as well — although I doubt she got paid to play three different roles.

It is incredibly unfair that someone who graduated last year from New York Univerity’s Tisch School of the Arts is capable of such a layered performance. Not unfair to me or to the movie-going public, but to the herd of young actresses under 35 looking for juicy parts who should be very, very worried. Olsen is the perfect combination of wholesome and daring.

She reminds me of a better-looking version of Michelle Williams. If the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has any good sense left, it will give Olsen a hard look when selecting the nominees for Best Actress. She is that good in this role. Plus, she is really cute, and Meryl Streep is a little too old for my taste.

I suppose I have to thank two actresses who we all know and haven’t really thought about lately. Elizabeth Olsen is the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, aka “the Olsen Twins,” the dynamic duo who used to inspire tween girls around the country. The Olsen Twins haven’t been in anything remotely relevant since their television show “So Little Time” (20012002) was canceled after one season on ABC Family. Their lack of relevance likely stems from the fact that adorable twin girls with no acting talent lose their charm post-puberty.

Nepotism, nonetheless, counts for a lot in our world. And as the saying goes, when famous twin girls past their prime have a younger sister, she is probably a good actress. OK, I just made that up. But in this instance, it works. So, I would formally like to express my gratitude to Mary-Kate and Ashley for being famous and making it easier for their younger sister to become an actress. Who knows, without their influence, maybe Elizabeth would have become a very cute dental hygienist.

Make sure you see Elizabeth when “Martha Marcy May Marlene” comes out in a few weeks. It will likely be playing at the Kendall Square Cinema I wrote about in last week’s column. And if you are inspired by curiosity to see more of Elizabeth Olsen, be sure to check out her other two indie films, “Silent House” and “Peace, Love & Misunderstanding,” set to release in the coming months.

Jordan Teicher is a senior majoring in English. He can be reached at Jordan.

Teicher@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

6

Arts & Living

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

courtesy The Tufts University Art Gallery

Ken Gonzales-Day’s photography exhibit, ‘Profiled,’ is on display at the Tufts University Art Gallery through Nov. 20.

Time-transcending ‘Profiled’ critiques race relations throughout history PROFILED

continued from page 5

of whether these two women can really relate to one another.

A second thought-provoking work, “Untitled” (Malvina Hoffman Collection, “Ubangi Woman,” and Unknown, “Head of a Woman,” 2011), is a lightjet mounted on aluminum.

In this photograph, the African sculpture to the left is crafted out of black wood, with the woman’s lips protruding tremendously like a giant, flat duck’s bill. With her lips wide open, she seems to be spilling secrets to the white stone sculpture on the right.

Because the mouth is completely broken off on the sculpture of the white woman, she is unable to speak — and forced to listen to the African woman,

finally given a voice of her own. Thus, Gonzales-Day challenges the notion of white female privilege over marginalized women of color in contemporary society.

Perhaps the most notable piece in the exhibit is “Untitled” (Malvina Hoffman Collection, “Blackfoot Man” at The Field Museum, Chicago, and JacquesFrançois-Joseph Saly, “Faun Holding a Goat,” The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2011).

This work is a lightjet print mounted on Durabond that depicts a statue of a Native American on the left and a white adolescent boy on the right. Wearing only a loincloth, the Native American stands strong and upright. GonzalesDay beautifully employs light in this photograph to emphasize his chiseled

muscular physique.

The statue of the white adolescent is also scantily clad; he is only wearing a leaf. The shadows on his body, however, are less harsh, revealing his much softer build. The young adolescent is slightly lurched back in his stance, as though he is prudently listening to the bold, assertive man standing opposite of him. The Blackfoot Man’s hands are interlocked in a gesture that implies he is giving the boy an order. GonzalesDay shows how the tables have turned — now it is the white man who is being directed and guided.

Another gem in the museum is a lightjet photograph of Voltaire mounted on aluminum, “Untitled” (“Voltaire,” École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 2011).

The stone statue is highly detailed.

Voltaire has a dreamy look in his eyes as he happily gazes downward, his cloak gently resting over his shoulders. Someone has drawn lipstick and a funny moustache on him, and there are scratches all over his forehead.

Through this photograph, GonzalesDay reveals the modern disrespect of the famous thinker. However, Voltaire is seemingly amused by the vandalism, which gives the sense that he’s laughing at our society.

“Profiled” displays Gonzales-Day’s incredible creativity. By using existing works of art, Gonzales-Day meticulously creates both opposition and dialogue that transcend time and space.

“Profiled” will be on display at the Tufts University Art Gallery in the Koppelman Gallery until Nov. 20.

Mike Yarish/FOX

The talented cast of ‘Glee’ sings its way into the third season.

‘Gleeks’ rejoice as show embraces its roots during its third season GLEE

continued from page 5

cheeky dialogue. There’s a healthy dose of genuine drama and love, as well as a few charming songs.

Part of “Glee’s” journey back to its roots includes embracing what originally pushed the show into the limelight and its viewers’ hearts: its characters.

The show’s core focus on the characters in the first half of season one allowed viewers to empathize with Kurt’s (Chris Colfer) coming out and Rachel’s (Lea Michele) unbridled ambition. Centering on unique and sincere personalities is what made “Glee” interesting and set it

apart from other cheesy comedies.

The season premiere offered a mix of hits and misses. One miss included the show’s introduction of a new character, Sugar Motta ( Vanessa Lengies), who claims to have Asperger’s syndrome.

Though “Glee” has previously tackled controversial topics with sensitivity, this might have been one of the most offensive moments in the show’s threeseason tenure. Though the show tries to make jokes about all types of people, caricaturing everyone, this joke comes off as distasteful and lacks the sophistication expected from Murphy and his creative team.

“Glee” should also learn that, with Barbra Streisand, sometimes less is more. Though Streisand is certainly an icon and a source of inspiration for many, not every actor on “Glee” can do justice to her music, nor should every episode feature a Babs number.

Viewers love Michele belting out some Broadway hits like the 1964 tune “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” but it’s ridiculous to run through every song in the “Funny Girl” (1968) repertoire that catapulted Streisand to fame. There is a long list of other, non-Streisand Broadway showtunes that viewers would love to hear Michele perform — not even she can

beat the original.

All in all, the “Glee” showrunners have planted the seeds for a successful third season. Mercedes (Amber Riley) comes back with a bang, as indicated by her new boy-toy and her outstanding vocals in “You Can’t Stop the Beat.” Quinn’s (Dianna Agron) plotline, though shortlived, provides some intriguing drama that sustains the first two episodes and could come back at any time. Finally, Will (Matthew Morrison) and Emma ( Jayma Mays) are together at last, leaving that ridiculously long-lasting tension aside. “Glee” is most certainly back, and this time, with a backbone.

The Tufts Daily

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

7

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Editorial | Letters

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

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Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, In an op-ed column published on Oct. 4, Daily columnist Walt Laws-MacDonald’s criticism of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests points toward a fairly widespread frustration over the movement’s disorganization. Because the movement is, in effect, criticizing the failure of our current economic system, the desire for an organized, talking-point friendly set of demands expects the protesters to compromise their outrage in exchange for a few simple policy tweaks. Fixing the

economic system, however, will never be so easy. I cannot claim to speak for any of the individual protesters, but judging by the words they choose to describe themselves, their demands are straightforward: They want the “other 99 percent” to, quite literally, occupy Wall Street — to have more influence on the inner workings of our economy. Wall Street will never, of course, let this occupation succeed in anything beyond the symbolic manner of the protests. I like to believe, however, that these protests make us

all a bit more aware of how absurd it is that such a small fraction of the population controls so much of our economic and national well-being. In this regard, the protest likely aims to spark smaller, more localized conversations about the economy’s negative effects and might be partly understood within a broad activist tradition of consciousness-raising.

Sincerely, Matthew Nelson Ph.D. student in English

Off the Hill | Northwestern University

Upcoming election too crucial to support third-party candidates

by Steven

Monacelli

Daily Northwestern

Last week I touched on Rick Perry’s chances compared to the rest of the Republican candidates. If you didn’t read the column, I’ll summarize: As much as I despise the guy, I believe that he will win the Republican candidacy. This may be unsettling to many of you, understandably so. After all, his persona and record scream George W. Bush redux, but this time with better hair and more polished public speaking skills.

I’m sure I speak for most if not all Northwestern liberals when I say this, but the last thing we want is another George W. Bush. Even if [Mitt] Romney ends up as the candidate, we’ll still have much to be concerned about.

Regardless of which candidate wins, the problem is that politics in this country have already been and are still being driven further to the right. If the GOP takes the White House, our government will take two large steps to the right. More than likely, it will also take three steps backward in terms of policy reform.

Say goodbye to health care reform. Say goodbye to financial reform. Say goodbye to tax reform. So the only alternative

appears to be President Obama, right?

That may not be the case. Third-party candidates always run. And recently, Ralph Nader, of ruining-Al Gore’s-chances-atpresident fame, called for liberals to support him in challenging Obama in the Democratic primary.

Let me first say that as a liberal with progressive tendencies, I do like Ralph Nader.

He may not be able to win a high school popularity contest, but his record speaks for itself. Although his runs at political office have been horribly unsuccessful, his advocacy and non-profit efforts have produced meaningful change.

The reason for Nader’s failures as a Green Party candidate is quite clear. It is common knowledge that third-party candidates get no love because it is practically impossible for them to succeed on the presidential level in our current electoral system.

Recently I’ve spoken to several friends that have expressed desire to vote third party in the coming election. My gut reaction is, are you serious? Do you understand that you have no chance at getting a third party candidate elected? Do you understand how important the 2012 presidential election will be? Do you understand that there are a bunch of crazies up for election and we

need every vote we can get to stop them? I do sympathize, though, because I too have been itching to find a time to vote for the Green Party.

But now is not the time to scratch. I would vote for a third-party candidate if the stakes weren’t so high or if we had a preferential voting system, but that is not the case.

Yet Nader isn’t just running third party this time around. This incumbency challenge is a different sort of beast, and probably of even greater concern. It is historical fact that when an incumbent is seriously challenged in the primary, he loses the presidential election. In the modern era, an incumbent has been challenged on five occasions and has lost every time. I may have some bones to pick with Obama, particularly with regard to his handling of the Bush-era tax cuts, the debt-ceiling debacle and much of his foreign policy, but I still understand that he is the only nationally viable candidate. If you’re a progressive liberal or an independent disappointed with Obama, now is not the time to express your dissatisfaction. We must rebuff any challengers and unite behind our best bet if we don’t wish to see the see the clock of progress turned back four years.

Corrections The Oct. 4 review “ABC’s ‘Pan Am’ unable to take off” incorrectly stated that a character appeared on the cover of Time magazine in the show. In fact, she appeared on the cover of Life magazine.

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Op-Ed

Amanda Johnson | Senior Moments

Off the Hill | Boston College

Free-market capitalism for green energy by

Tufts and ‘Townies’

Katya Rucker The Heights

The recent collapse of solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra is an example of why politics and business don’t mix. The company’s loss of over $500 million in federal loans came as no surprise to auditors or analysts who had been over its financials within the past two years. The White House staff was blinded by lobbyists, and this failure comes as a slap in the face.

In theory, investing in renewable energy manufactured by an American company was getting at the root of two of our biggest problems: energy independence and job outsourcing. With China dominating the global market for solar panels, here was an American company that could both create jobs and turn a profit. And as conflict over foreign oil remains a matter of national security, the harnessing of solar energy on our own turf holds plenty of appeal. Good intentions could only carry the Obama Administration so far, however.

Government intervention in green energy falls under the controversial category of “industrial policy.” According to an August 2010 article in The Economist, industrial policy is the attempt by [the] government to promote the growth of particular industrial sectors and companies. President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package set aside billions of dollars to accomplish this in the field of green energy. The $535 million loan to Solyndra was one example of this massive industrial policy effort. But like any investment into a new, fast-growing and competitive field, there was a high degree of risk involved. It’s one thing for a venture capital firm to make no return on a big investment, but it’s quite another for the government to do the same with taxpayer money.

So what really went so wrong for Solyndra?

In a nutshell, the company’s innovative solar panels had only one major competitive advantage: They didn’t require silicone as a raw material. The majority of solar-energy components in the global market require silicone, and in recent years, the price of high-

I MCT

grade silicone has been as high as $1,000 a pound. But in 2009, silicone prices dropped drastically to less than $100 a pound, and combining this change with cutthroat competition from heavily subsidized Chinese solar panel manufacturers was a death sentence for Solyndra. The company never broke even.

On a fundamental level, our government isn’t structurally equipped to make business gambles. Its bureaucratic nature of laborious decision-making and lethargic reaction time is no match for rapidly changing industrial markets. In the case of Solyndra, the Obama Administration was fully aware that for the company to be profitable, the price of silicone would have to remain high.

But, according to an article in The New York Times, “industry experts outside the federal government, going back to 2008, were predicting silicon prices were headed for a steep fall.” It is no secret that industries built upon new technologies and ideas are bound to be the riskiest and most volatile.

Now, let me be clear: I don’t believe the government was wrong in wanting to help a U.S.-based solar energy company. In this case, they just went about it the wrong way. Instead of making a business loan, the Obama Administration could have provided subsidies around the cost of goods to encourage initial growth. It could have grant-

ed tax relief in the event of profits earned in Solyndra’s manufacture of solar solutions.

It could have been a primary buyer of the product. By taking on the role of a supportive observer, the government could have greatly minimized its own risk. The private sector should remain the primary source of funding for innovative but uncertain business ventures.

It’s important to remember that the renewable energy industry is alive and growing. I believe that the free market system can do more for this field than any government initiative. Of course, globalized free-market capitalism as it stands today certainly can’t be called a friend of the environment.

Resource exploitation in developing countries and a “race to the bottom” mentality gives a history of evidence to the contrary.

Nevertheless, the market adapts to changes in demand and technology, and renewable energy is taking off in both respects.

Governments have an important role to play, but they should be more preoccupied with regulating unsustainable industries than with making risky investments. In the case of Solyndra, the Obama Administration missed the blatant warning signs of trouble and is now paying for this mishap in severe public criticism. “High risk, high reward” investments are for thrill-seekers in the private sector, not idealistic politicians.

Off the Hill | Dartmouth College

Microfinance myths

by Johnathan

Pedde

The Dartmouth

Microfinance — the provision of small, group loans to poor people in poor countries — is, depending on whom you ask, either the latest way for western capitalists to exploit third world laborers or the miracle cure that will allow the world’s poorest citizens to successfully run their own business and thereby work their way out of poverty. The government of Andhra Pradesh, the Indian state where I spent the better part of last summer, clearly agrees with the former view. In 2007, after a spate of farmer suicides, the government nearly wiped out the state’s entire microfinance industry by making repayment of microfinance loans illegal. Many of the development organizations that support microfinance, on the other hand, clearly believe that microfinance has significant potential. I met many people who sincerely believed that their microfinance efforts represented their best contribution in the fight against global poverty. However, by overselling the benefits of microfinance, these organizations risk leaving other important problems unaddressed.

I tend to be more skeptical — while microfinance is clearly beneficial to poor countries, these benefits are neither as large nor of the form that many of microfinance’s proponents claim.

First, I do not accept the implicit premise that small businesses represent the way out of deprivation for the majority of the world’s poorest citizens. Second, microfinance lending is structured in a way that is of little use to people who wish to start new and

innovative businesses.

In Andhra Pradesh, small, familyowned shops are a dime a dozen: Drive down any major road, and you’ll probably see at least one every hundred yards. During my time in India, none of the small-business owners whom I met earned an income significantly higher than comparable daily laborers. Economic studies done in this part of India have shown that the average owner-operator of one of these businesses earns less than the minimum wage. Most of these small business owners are running small businesses because they have no alternatives, not because they are somehow more entrepreneurial than the citizens of developed countries.

If given the choice, many small business owners would rather be working in a stable, wage-paying job than running their own business. The owner-operator of a small business bears a tremendous amount of risk — a wage-earning employee, on the other hand, has significantly greater security in regards to future income and employment. There is considerable empirical evidence that this greater stability improves the lives not only of the workers themselves but also of their children. For instance, one study in Mexico showed that women who moved from running a small business to working in a sweatshop began to better feed their children, thereby largely eliminating the height difference between those children and healthy children. Like it or not, the soulless multinationals who established sweatshops in Singapore and call centers in India are doing something that most poor small business owners can never do

for themselves — create consistent employment that is the first step on the ladder out of poverty. Research by [Dartmouth] Tuck School of Business professor Rafael La Porta has shown that more developed economies have a smaller proportion of the population who are self-employed or work for small businesses.

Even if small businesses were a feasible route out of poverty, microfinance is unsuited to properly support these endeavors. Traditional loans to the poor — uncollateralized, with flexible repayment schedules — are very risky and time-consuming from the lender’s perspective.

Microfinance loans, in contrast, are completely inflexible — the repayment dates are fixed, and defaults are rare because an entire group of borrowers is usually responsible for the repayment of every individual’s loan. This rigidity is not well suited to entrepreneurship, which, by definition, is risky and uncertain. One cannot reasonably start a new business with loans that demand quick and complete repayment.

That being said, there is considerable evidence that microfinance loans help poor families ride out hard times without falling into destitution — economists call this “consumption smoothing.” In this regard, microfinance is often invaluable. But it is wrong to think that microfinance is a panacea for eliminating global poverty. This simplistic kind of thinking obfuscates other immense economic problems that poor countries face. Given how fortunate all of us at Dartmouth are, we owe the world’s poorest citizens more than sloppy thinking.

n the weeks before returning to Tufts, the town neighboring my rural Illinois hometown became swarmed with commotion. As the home of a university with nearly 25,000 kids, I’ve grown up accustomed to the chaos accompanying the return of college students mid-August: sudden lines at Target, the abrupt influx of North Face-clad youth carrying MacBooks and our own meager version of “traffic.”

Growing up, it always seemed natural to separate myself from these students. The younger you are, the more rigid the barriers that age seems to construct. The kids at “the University” were compartmentalized as “college kids,” a foreign and intimidating category with whom I felt little in common. This summer, however, I had the unsettling realization that I was at least as old as most of these students. These kids, I realized, are living a version of my own current life, in a separate time zone and with different professors, but with the same general shape and structure.

The night before I left for Tufts, I went for the first time to a local bar to say goodbye to some friends from home.

“So, do you live on campus or off?” a girl standing nearby asked. When I replied that I was actually from the next town over, the student snickered. “Oh,” she said, while scanning the crowd for an easy escape. “You’re a townie.”

As she scampered off to a group of peers, I was unsettled by a situation that felt so familiar, and yet my role so very foreign. The incident did not sting as it might have under different circumstances — with half my bags packed for my senior year at an academic powerhouse, it seemed laughable to entertain the girl’s assumptions that I was a hillbilly or uneducated, or that our proximity to corn and soybeans somehow rendered my table of friends inferior to her own. It did, however, aggravate my already developed frustration with a term that is widely used and shockingly, rarely criticized.

I have never been a fan of strict political correctness. I am annoyed when friends from outside the Tufts bubble are met with judgment and scolding for some of their — admittedly distasteful — vocabulary choices, and I think there is a balance between respectfulness and excessive sensitivity.

What I do find galling, however, is the real dissonance between our self-righteous liberal claims of tolerance in theory and our practices that are speckled by exceptions.

It is not so much the actual word, but rather the condescension with which it is usually said, and the context in which it is generally brought up. It is the implication that the pub wasn’t as fun, that the party was sketchier or the group lost their appeal, simply due to the presence of individuals from the surrounding area.

You would be hard-pressed to find a Tufts student that would claim their relative superiority because of socioeconomic upbringing or educational prowess. We claim solidarity with the women in villages in Africa and with the immigrants fighting for equality in border states. And yet, while it is easy to proclaim our tolerance for groups in far-flung regions, the same sort of philosophy doesn’t come into play with our own neighbors. It is hard to deny that Tufts students are in a place of relative privilege, and consciously or not, we invoke this status as a stark boundary line between “us” and “them.”

Our current “townie” attitude is contributing to an unfavorable perception of our student body, and fueling an animosity that is translated into noise complaints, bitterness and most regrettably, crimes targeted at our students. If we want to realize our proclaimed goals of active citizenship and social responsibility, there is no better place to start than in our own backyard.

Amanda Johnson is a senior majoring in international relations. She can be reached at Amanda.Johnson@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.

The Tufts Daily

12

Comics

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Doonesbury

Crossword

by

Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

Tuesday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Pitching on three days’ rest

Late Night at the Daily Tuesday’s Solution

Alyssa: “In fact, when was the last time you’ve seen me wear pants?”

Please recycle this Daily.

by

Wiley

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The Tufts Daily

13

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Center for the Humanities at Tufts Deborah Baker Acclaimed Pulitzer Prize Nominated Biographer and Essayist

Deborah Baker, is the author of In Extremis: The Life of Laura Riding, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and A Blue Hand: The Beats in India, a non-fiction narrative exploring the idea of India in the American imagination.

She will read from and discuss her new book, The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism published this past May.

Thursday, October 6, 2011 5pm Fung House- 48 Professors Row Q&A and Reception to follow

14

The Tufts Daily

SPORTS

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Though not an easy feat, presidents felt obligation to bring Hamilton in INSIDE THE NESCAC continued from page 14

“We lost a few games in overtime last year, so we knew that fitness was going to be a focus in improving this year,” men’s soccer midfielder Scott Blumenthal, a sophomore, said. “Our assistant coach, Bobby Thompson, put together a really rigorous training program for us, and that definitely helped us get through this weekend.”

“More than anything, it’s a mental battle,” senior women’s soccer midfielder Lauren O’Connor, a co-captain, said. “We wanted to look at Sunday as a completely different day, but we also didn’t want to forget the feeling that we left Amherst with. We really wanted to channel that and make it an advantage.”

One key factor for the Jumbos was remembering that the Bantams, too, were in the midst of a back-to-back weekend, having hosted and defeated the Colby Mules in all three sports the previous day.

Having gone through the experience once already, the Jumbos are now better prepared for future doubleheaders. There is one more left during the fall season: on Homecoming weekend, most teams will host Williams on Oct. 15, before traveling to Bates on Oct. 16.

“We played hard on Saturday, but I think we could have fought a little harder knowing that Amherst and Trinity were going through the same thing,” O’Connor said. “I think knowing that we had another game to get through Sunday may have played a role in that. Next time, we really need to leave it all out on the field Saturday, and still be ready to go out there the next day.”

Ensuring competitive equality was a top priority for NESCAC coaches and administrators when Hamilton College became a full-time member of the conference, necessitating schedule changes.

The weekend doubleheader format could not be avoided, because midweek road trips would have resulted in excessive missed class time for student-athletes.

“One other issue has to do with how far away we are from each other,” Gehling said. “[ Tufts is] fortunate to have the central location that we have, because we’re able to get to most schools within a couple of hours. That’s not the case for Hamilton (Clinton, N.Y.) and Colby ( Waterville, Maine).

It’s unfair competitively to have some teams play back-to-back games and not others.

“Clearly, adding Hamilton was not an easy thing to do. It took a conference with an even number of schools and made it an odd number. Now, every Saturday, somebody has a Saturday off.”

But Gehling noted that the presidents and trustees of the existing NESCAC schools believed the benefits of adding Hamilton — a charter member of the conference — outweighed the physical and logistical challenges that would ensue.

The Continentals already had several teams involved in NESCAC competition, including football, softball and baseball, although the Jumbos rarely faced them in the latter two sports because they are in different divisions.

In addition to the fall slate, Hamilton will also become a regular foe for Tufts’ basketball and lacrosse teams.

“I saw positives and negatives to [adding Hamilton], but at the end of the day, it was the presidents’ call,” Gehling said. “Once they made that call, it was my job to do it in the best possible way. Hamilton has some great teams, and it’s great to add them to the competitive mix in the NESCAC. And while I’m not crazy about the Saturday-Sunday schedule, it worked out great this weekend — we turned a negative weekend into a positive one.”

Millions of indignados have been taking to the streets worldwide and on Wall Street, fed up with fat cats looting national treasuries and the politicians in their pockets who leave the powerless to face the consequences.

WHAT ARE THE ROOT CAUSES??

The American Democracy in Crisis series* at Tufts in Medford offers answers:

Prof. Costas Panayotakis City University of New York, will discuss:

The Global Capitalist Crisis and the Promise of Economic Democracy 4 PM Friday, October 7th, Robinson 253

Jack Beatty Contributing editor, Atlantic Monthly, will discuss:

The Gilded Age(s): The Inverted Constitution and the Politics of Distraction 7 PM Tuesday, October 11th, Pearson 104 *Arranged by Tufts Faculty Progressive Caucus

The Tufts Daily

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

15

Sports

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 classifieds policy All Tufts students must submit classifieds in person, prepaid with check, money order or exact cash only.

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

Inside NFL

Quarterbacks struggle in Sunday Night showdown by

Alex Arthur

Daily Staff Writer

NBC showed its promos for Sunday night’s Baltimore Ravens versus New York Jets football game throughout the previous week. The ads featured the two quarterbacks — the bushybrowed Joe Flacco of the Ravens and the smug-faced Mark Sanchez of the Jets throwing a variety of passes, followed by a few fist-pumps and chest-bumps with their respective offensive linemen. The buildup could not have been more deceiving.

Sunday’s “Football Night In America” was one of the worst displays of quarterbacking in the past few seasons. Flacco remarkably managed to post a passer rating of just 37.4. Not to be outdone, Sanchez logged an even lower 30.5 quarterback rating.

On the night, Flacco completed 10 of 31 throws for 163 yards, one interception and one fumble lost, while Sanchez went 10-for-35 on passes — totaling 119 yards — and one interception and three fumbles lost.

That comes out to a combined 20-for-66 for 282 yards and six turnovers. Two teams that are traditionally run-oriented were forced to throw a combined 66 times. Not surprisingly, the results were ugly.

The Jets were reluctantly forced to try to attack through the air after falling behind 27-7 in the second quarter, in part because of a turnover-turnedtouchdown on their first offensive play. While Sanchez’s mis-

MCT

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is stripped by Jets linebacker Aaron Maybin for one of the six turnovers in Sunday night’s game. takes were the reason they were behind, they had no choice but to keep attempting pass after pass to chase the Ravens on the scoreboard. The Jets’ QB coughed up two fumbles in the first half, both of which were taken back for touchdowns.

New York’s running game was also stifled as running back Shonn Greene could not find any holes behind a challenged offensive line that was missing

All-Pro center Nick Mangold.

To replace Mangold, the Jets tried using both Matt Slauson and Colin Baxter at center.

Unfortunately, both were vastly overmatched against the behemoth Ravens’ interior front line of Terrence Cody and Haloti Ngata. Cody and Ngata wreaked havoc up the middle all night, as the Jets could not muster any push against their strength and combined 690

pounds of bulk.

The Ravens, on the other hand, had no such excuse, as their stubborn play-calling actually allowed the Jets to keep the score closer than it should have been.

There were multiple occasions where Baltimore should have leaned on Ray Rice but instead elected to pass, including three consecutive possessions in the second quarter. Their lead

Elephants in the Room My Patronus is...

I ___ my ___

Alter-ego

Scott Blumenthal Sophomore midfielder Men’s Soccer

A Blue Zone. It might not save me from dementors, but at least I could eat it

I miss my dog

Backup dancer for Cali Swag District

Whichever one doesn’t get in the way of NQR

Ralph Faia Junior offensive line Football

Very heavy

I love my teammates (Ed’s note: AWWWW)

Charlie Sheen

The blond one

Dolphin

I love my dog

Hermione Granger

My black lab puppy Briggs

I’m on my grind

Laneworth and Katy PerrySiegner

Lindsay Katz Junior Women’s Tennis

Laney Siegner Senior defender Women’s Soccer

Favorite TUPD Officer

dwindled, largely because the three drives took just 2:58 off the clock, and one of them ended with an interception that the Jets took back for six points.

For a game that featured 51 points, 36 of which were scored by the defense or special teams, there was a sequence of plays that exemplified perfectly how the night unfolded.

With 11 minutes left in the third quarter, the Ravens were up 27-17, needing a score to seemingly put the game out of reach, when Flacco fumbled on his own 27-yard line and the Jets recovered. The Jets, already in field-goal range, trotted onto the field, and Sanchez, on the very next play, threw an interception that was returned 73 yards for a touchdown

by Lardarius Webb. Suddenly, the scoreboard read 34-17, and the game was essentially over.

For two quarterbacks who have been labeled “game managers,” whose teams rely heavily on their defenses to win games and who are historically inaccurate — Sanchez has a 54.5 percent career completion rate, while Flacco is at 60.9 percent — their coaches have given them a long leash so far this season.

The Jets and the Ravens ran the ball 50.4 percent and 49.8 percent of the time in 2010, while in 2011, those figures have dropped to 38 percent and 43 percent, respectively. If these two teams expect to return to the playoffs and challenge for a Super Bowl, they seriously need to go back to the runfirst game plan with which they achieved success in the past.

Hollender defeats Trinity’s top player, falls in next round WOMEN’S TENNIS

The guy who gave me a ride home once

Don’t have one, but Jimmy is my favorite security officer at the gym

all photos courtesy tufts athletics

continued from page 14

6-1. She followed this victory with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Springfield’s Samantha Carney. Next up, she faced Williams’ Kristin Alotta, the No. 6 seed in the singles bracket. Katz fell short in her upset bid against Williams’ No. 1 player and was eliminated from the singles tournament, 6-2, 6-0.

“I did how I was expected to do so it wasn’t a bad weekend for me,” Katz said. “At the same time though, I definitely think I could have played better. I don’t think I showed my capabilities completely.”

Also in singles play, junior Lauren Hollender won her opening match, defeating Trinity’s No. 1 player Hillary Hoyt, 7-6, 6-1. She was knocked out of the tournament in the next round though, losing to Bowdoin’s Kellen Alberstone, the No. 2-overall seed, 6-2, 6-4. Gann, too, was dismissed by a Polar Bear in the second round; the sophomore fell to senior Emily Lombardi 6-3, 6-1. Lam and Bowman each lost their first-round matches.

“I felt like I could have definitely done a better job in my second singles match, but that being said, I know exactly what I need to work on to get where I want to be,” Gann said. “It wasn’t my best day but I am still proud of how I played and proud of the fight I had.”

The Jumbos have two weeks off before heading to Amherst and Mount Holyoke for the New England Women’s Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament on Homecoming weekend, the team’s final event of the fall.

Sports

16

INSIDE Inside NFL 15

tuftsdaily.com

Inside the NESCAC

Ethan Sturm | Rules of the Game

Addition of Hamilton College means Continental drift in NESCAC schedules

The Bear (Bryant) Necessities

F

our weeks of NFL football are in the books, and parity abounds. Tom Brady was outdueled by a Hahvahd quarterback, the Bills and Lions are a combined 7-1 and the Eagles and Steelers are a combined 3-5.

But we here at Rules of the Game are finally getting over the euphoria of actually having a season, and settling back into our usual rule-mongering, nitpicking nature.

While Commissioner Roger Goodell and the owners were hungrily grabbing even more of the NFL revenue pie from the league’s players, they still found time to make more of a mess of the rules. Today, we will break down some of the new changes, see how their implementation has affected the game over the first four weeks and rank them with the always simile-rich “Necessity Factor.”

KYRA STURGILL/Tufts Daily

The men’s soccer team recovered from a shutout loss against Amherst to earn a physical victory over Trinity on Sunday. by

Daniel Rathman

Daily Editorial Board

On Saturday, the men’s soccer, women’s soccer and field hockey teams all traveled to Amherst, Mass., for NESCAC showdowns with the Lord Jeffs. All three teams lost.

In past years, the Jumbos would have had the rest of their weekend to recover and regroup upon returning from the trip. But because of the confer-

ence’s new scheduling format — which includes two Saturday-Sunday doubleheaders per team — each Tufts squad had another conference tilt with Trinity looming less than 24 hours later.

“Obviously, it’s not ideal during the season to have to play on back to back days,” Director of Athletics Bill Gehling said. “Especially with soccer and field hockey — those are some of the more physical games — and especially with the muddy conditions this

weekend, they certainly place more of a focus on physical fitness.”

The Jumbos were up to the challenge in each of their Sunday games, earning weekend splits across the board by defeating the Bantams.

That was attributed to the teams’ offseason conditioning, and their ability to turn adversity into a competitive edge. see INSIDE THE NESCAC, page 12

Women’s Tennis

Katz, Bowman beat Bowdoin, Bates and reach ITA doubles quarterfinal by

Automatic Challenges on Scoring Plays I’ve always worried that coaches didn’t quite have enough challenges. But I also understood that giving them more could lead to red-flag abuse. The NFL seems to have found the perfect compromise, mandating challenges that don’t cost the coaches on any scoring play.

So far, the rule has been enforced without much controversy. It has helped to make the game more accurately officiated and has had an effect on big plays in multiple games in the early weeks. Sure, it slows things down a bit, but NFL games are already quite long and taking a few extra minutes to make sure everything is in order is more than worth it.

Necessity Factor: A full-time police patrol for Ben Roethlisberger. We are all better off.

Ann Sloan

Junior captain Lindsay Katz and sophomore Shelci Bowman led the women’s tennis team to reaching the doubles quarterfinals this past weekend at the ITA New England Championships hosted

by Bates. Unlike most of Tufts’ matches, the focus at ITAs is on individual success, not team success.

“It’s a chance for individuals to shine and get the opportunity to play other people,” Katz said. “People get to play different players at different spots, which is exciting.”

Even though the format is an individual tournament, the Jumbos still rallied around their teammates and aimed for team success.

“Obviously it’s a little different because you’re not playing for your team, but we approached it very similarly to a team match,” sophomore Sam Gann said. “We were always cheering each other on and so it still felt like a team match in that sense because we were still all in it together.”

Katz and Bowman beat Bowdoin’s Chantalle Lavertu and Emma Lewis in the round of 32, 8-4. They won again in the round of 16 against Elena Mandzhukova and Meg Anderson of Bates in a dominant 8-1 victory. The Jumbos ran into trouble, though, in the quarterfinals, where they faced Amherst’s Jordan Brewer and Laura Danzig. After a hard-fought match, Katz and Bowman fell 8-5 to the eventual ITA champions.

Daily Editorial Board

Daily File Photo

Sophomore Shelci Bowman teamed up with junior Lindsay Katz to reach the doubles quarterfinals at the ITA New England Championships.

“In doubles, we played pretty well,” Katz said. “We got off to a pretty slow start in the last match. We were down 7-4, and we had the longest game to make it 7-5 but then couldn’t finish it out. But we were right there with them the whole time.”

Gann and junior Janice Lam also played doubles for the Jumbos in the tournament.

Moving Kickoffs Up The ruling that led some to declare the end of football as we know it has had less of an effect than many feared. Devin Hester was quoted early this year as saying that the fiveyard change in the kickoff spot is “taking the whole return game out of the picture.”

But a quick look at the numbers from the first four weeks of the season shows that that isn’t the case. So far there have been four kick return touchdowns, averaging out to exactly one per week. In 2010, the league averaged 1.35 per week.

Meanwhile, no player averaged more than 30 yards per return the past season. But four players are above 30 yards per return this year, with three of them averaging above 34 yards.

The other concern was an increase in touchbacks. While only 16.4 percent of kickoffs in 2010 were touchbacks, in the first two weeks of the season 49.5 percent of kickoffs were. But if we have already shown that the big plays are still there, what was happening on the 33.1 percent of kicks? Well, kick returners were bringing them to about the 20-yard line and getting tackled, amounting to little more than a glorified touchback.

Ironically enough, out of the 31 players that through three weeks have enough returns to be ranked, Hester is in the middle of the pack at No. 14. Perhaps if he did a little less whining and a little more practicing, he’d still be having success, even after the change.

Necessity Factor: Another Peyton Manning commercial. It’s not hurting anyone, but could have been done without.

After beating Wellesley in the first round, they lost to Bowdoin 8-5 in the following round of play.

Katz was successful in singles play as well. She faced off against Colby’s Sarah Wiener in the opening match, winning 6-2, see WOMEN’S TENNIS, page 13

Penalties for Coaches Challenging Plays Yep, that’s right; the league is now punishing coaches for being on top of things. If the coach accidently throws the flag, even if the refs choose not to review, it’s a 15-yard penalty.

The Raiders were the first to be hit with this new rule in Week 2.

But outside of simple coach mishaps, it also restricts coaches from challenging calls not looked at. That almost cost the Chiefs this weekend, when the Vikings were given a touchdown on which Michael Jenkins didn’t get two feet down.

Necessity Factor: A pet dog for Michael Vick. Just say no.

Ethan Sturm is a junior majoring in biopsychology. He can be reached at Ethan.

Sturm@tufts.edu.