2011-11-03

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THE TUFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXII, NUMBER 39

Where You Read It First Est. 1980 TUFTSDAILY.COM

Thursday, November 3, 2011

University restricts availability of winter break housing by

Corinne Segal

Daily Editorial Board

Tufts administrators have this year decided that only international students who are either freshmen or on financial aid will be able to live in university housing during winter break, according to International Center Director Jane Etish-Andrews.

The International House and the Commuter (Hillside) House will house any eligible students, with 26 spaces available, according to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman.

This marks the first time the university has restricted winter break housing to those two groups, Etish-Andrews said.

Before 2009, any student could opt to remain on campus during winter break and move into another student’s room in Metcalf, Stratton and Richardson Halls, according to Reitman. The system has since been abandoned due to a number of problems and concerns that arose.

Etish-Andrews explained that since there was now limited space available, it was essential to prioritize the students, especially those who do not have the option of returning home due to financial reasons.

“We first need to take care of the kids who don’t have the money to go home,” Etish-Andrews said.

Freshmen should also receive priority because they may not understand their options for winter housing, Office

of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) Director Yolanda King said.

“They’re still beginning to learn the area; they’re developing new friendships,” she said.

“They don’t have the connections, they don’t have the friends,” Etish-Andrews added. “They don’t know as many people here. They’re very new to campus.”

As of now, no upperclassmen have approached ResLife to request housing for this year’s winter break, according to King.

The International Center notified students of the new policy twice by email, Etish-Andrews said. She noted that students who wish to stay during winter break but are ineligible for university housing have the option of subletting an upperclassman’s off-campus apartment.

The center will serve as a resource for such students, including helping subletters locate an apartment on TuftsLife, according to Etish-Andrews, who added that it has also placed announcements in the Tufts alumni newsletter asking for local volunteer host families.

“We’re asking local host families to give us a response by early December,” she said.

Reitman explained that the previous system of having students move into other students’ rooms in designated halls over winter break was problematic and led to see HOUSING, page 2

Takuma Koide/Tufts Daily

Members of Task Force Somalia used this semester’s Cause Dinner as an opportunity to raise funds for and awareness about the famine in the Horn of Africa.

Task Force Somalia raises awareness about ongoing famine by

Nina Goldman

Contributing Writer

A group of students in the Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) class last month formed a task force in response to the current famine in Somalia and other countries located in the Horn of Africa.

The Horn of Africa includes the countries of Eritrea, Djibouti and Ethiopia, in

addition to Somalia. Task Force Co-Chair Agree Ahmed, a freshman, said that the group aims to increase awareness of the famine in the area and to raise money to support relief efforts.

“We felt that the Somalia issue was being under-covered at the Tufts campus, and so we wanted to both increase awareness of it on campus and possibly help see SOMALIA, page 2

Inside this issue

justin mccallum/Tufts Daily

Negotiations are being conducted between current janitorial services provider UGL Unicco and the Service Employees International Union following the recent change in janitorial service providers.

Janitors’ union files grievance against UGL Unicco by

Bianca Blakesley

Daily Editorial Board

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has filed a grievance with UGL Unicco, Tufts’ campus-cleaning contractor, for neglecting to post job vacancies created during the recent transition from American Building Maintenance (ABM) Industries to UGL Unicco.

The SEIU and UGL Unicco met on Oct. 25 to discuss the grievance, according to an email from Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell. The email was sent to individuals who signed a petition submitted to University President Anthony Monaco addressing the issue.

The two parties could not accurately determine how many employees worked for ABM before the switch and therefore have not reached an agreement about the exact number of vacancies, Campbell said. She added that the administration has asked for evidence from both parties about the number of temporary workers rehired, a matter that was also of dispute between the two.

UGL Unicco was required to first offer jobs back to all of the eligible janitors working under ABM before the switch and to then offer the remaining jobs to part-time janitors who want to assume full-time positions, according to Matt Gulish, deputy director of Higher Education for SEIU. “There are, by our count, roughly 60 positions that have been left vacant,” Gulish said.

“Our contract says [UGL Unicco] needs to post any vacant full-time positions for existing employees to apply for.”

UGL Unicco could not be reached for comment.

Jumbo Janitor Alliance (JJA) co-Chair Liam Walsh-Mellett explained that the approximately 60 vacancies were created by the departure of 50 full-time and 12 part-time janitors, some of whom were not rehired after the contract switch because of documentation issues.

However, UGL Unicco has not offered the vacant positions to part-time janitorial workers currently employed by UGL see JANITORS, page 2

Somerville commission to promote growth of developing industries by

Philippe Maman

Contributing Writer

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone has decided to form a Future Economies Commission (FEC) with the goal of attracting growing industries to the City of Somerville, according to Somerville’s former Director of Communications Michael Meehan.

The commission will serve as an advisory board to both the mayor and the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (OSPCD). It will be comprised of local business owners and entrepreneurs, as well as several of the mayor’s chief advisors, capitalizing on the area’s highly educated and diverse community, Meehan said.

“This is a fairly out-of-the-box idea for a municipality to engage in the business community at this level,” he told the Daily.

The FEC’s role is to identify industries

that would be suitable to enter into a symbiotic relationship with the city, according to Meehan.

“The commission, thus far, has been doing mostly high-level brainstorming about industries that the City of Somerville should be courting,” Larry Slotnick, a core member of the FEC and co-founder of Taza Chocolate, told the Daily.

The commission aims to address the economic and demographic transition that is taking place in the city, according to Slotnick.

“The problem is that Somerville is currently in the process of a long-term transition,” he said. “It is moving from a fairly blue-collar community with a manufacturing base to an intermediate state, where those manufacturing facilities have not yet been replaced by offices or research and development centers.” see SOMERVILLE, page 2

Today’s sections

The Daily takes a look at the Fringe art collective in Somerville.

The women’s soccer team reflects on their season after a heartbreaking loss to Wesleyan.

see WEEKENDER, page 5

see SPORTS, page 11

News Features Weekender Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 8

Op-Ed Comics Sports Classifieds

9 10 11 14

The Tufts Daily

2

News

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Winter break housing restricted to international freshmen, students on financial aid

Dilys Ong/Tufts Daily

The International House will house some of the students who are eligible to stay on campus over winter break.

HOUSING

continued from page 1

complaints.

“No one was comfortable leaving their stuff for someone else to have access to,” he said.

Furthermore, parents as well as university administrators in 2009 were concerned that the system of moving students into other stu-

dents’ rooms would help spread the H1N1 flu virus, Reitman said.

That same year, the university allowed students to remain in their own rooms during winter break, but there were concerns that some students would be alone in their dorms, he added.

This system was also inconvenient for students because the heat in the

dorms would often be turned down during the break, Reitman said.

“The problems were different,” he said. “There wasn’t the issue of people abusing or not taking good care of other people’s property … but it was an issue of energy usage.”

The university decided last year to offer winter break housing in the International and Commuter

SEIU raises concerns over janitorial staff vacancies

JANITORS

continued from page 1

Unicco, he said.

“If a lot of people are part-time workers and want to move to full-time, they are supposed to be allowed to do that, and UGL Unicco is not complying,” Walsh-Mellett, a sophomore, said. “Janitors who are below 29 hours a week don’t get benefits and don’t get healthcare, and that’s a huge thing in Massachusetts because it’s required.”

UGL Unicco’s contract with SEIU currently requires that 75 percent of its janitors be full-time employees, with that percentage increasing to 90 percent by Jan. 1, 2013, according to Walsh-Mellett.

He said that the percentage of full-time janitors is presently 60 percent.

Walsh-Mellett indicated that a verbal agreement was made by UGL Unicco at the meeting to post the vacant positions.

“Overall, it was a pretty positive meeting,” Gulish said. “They at least indicated some willingness to post these positions once we can verify the exact number of positions that need to be posted.”

Campbell’s email promised that the Tufts administration will continue to monitor the situation and will require UGL Unicco to uphold the requirement of offering jobs to all previously employed, eligible workers.

“We expect that any UGL Unicco employee who works at Tufts will be treated in a fair and respectful manner in accordance with the terms of the union contract,” Campbell said.

Walsh-Mellett explained that the understaffing caused by the vacancies has led to an increased workload for the janitorial staff and that pressure is being put on workers to do more work.

“We don’t have a full picture, but we’ve heard some cases of people being pushed to do an amount of work that’s just not reasonable for the time that they have,” Gulish said.

A janitor who preferred to remain anonymous believes that there was a lack of understanding among the staff when the new contractor explained the changes in workload.

“Some people don’t understand what they said,” the janitor said.

According to the worker, the janitors were advised by SEIU not to refuse work, but instead to attempt to cover the extra work assigned to them.

But he explained that UGL Unicco has helped at least one worker cover her work by placing another janitor in the building to help her with her duties and decrease her added responsibilities. He also noted that not all janitors have increased workloads.

Houses, limiting the amount of space available for students to stay but addressing concerns about student isolation and safety.

Etish-Andrews noted that usually there is not a great demand for housing, and approximately 20 students stayed on campus last winter break.

“Typically we don’t use all the beds,” she said. “Even when we left it open for everyone, all those beds were never used.”

Last year also marked the first time students were charged a $100 fee to stay on campus. The university expects this year’s fee to be higher but does not know the exact figure yet, Etish-Andrews said.

The International Center will pay the fee for students on “significant” financial aid, Etish-Andrews said.

The fee reflects the weekly cost of university housing, according to Reitman.

Sophie Savelkouls, a sophomore from the Netherlands, plans to return home for winter break but has friends who are unable to because it is too expensive.

She feels that the university should be capable of offering housing to any international student who requests it.

“I feel if they can offer housing to some students, they can offer it to more. I am not in favor of the decision they made,” Savelkouls said.

She noted that the university has

not explained the reason for the change to international students.

“They didn’t explain to us why this change was made,” she said.

Frida Lundgren, a sophomore from Sweden, also has international friends who cannot afford to go home and do not have the option of staying at Tufts.

“Some of my friends are going to relatives in Canada because they can’t afford to go back home and they can’t afford to stay at a hotel in Boston,” she said.

Lundgren herself plans to return home for winter break. “I’m staying home for a longer time than I wanted to because I can’t stay on campus,” she said.

Tufts is not obligated to offer any winter break housing but wants to accommodate the needs of some students in need, Reitman said.

“There’s no easy or good answer to this. It’s a compromise no matter how you look at it,” he said.

“What we’re trying to do is still make it possible for people who have no choice.”

Etish-Andrews emphasized the administration’s commitment to providing students with assistance.

“It’s a hard issue, and it requires everyone to work together on it,” Etish-Andrews said. “My message to students is to let us know what they’re thinking and we’ll work with them on it.”

FEC to attract businesses to Somerville SOMERVILLE

continued from page 1

Slotnick believes that Somerville has a lot to offer developing industries that choose to relocate to the city, and that it would also be advantageous to Somerville if these businesses called the city home.

“Somerville feels that areas like Assembly Square, the Inner Belt or Boynton Yards are prime locations where this new wave of employers could decide to relocate,” he said.

Meehan added that the large population of highly educated people in the city would also serve as a suitable supply of workers for the industries Curtatone hopes to attract.

Both Meehan and Slotnick noted that currently many Somerville residents commute to work — either to an office park far outside the city or into Boston itself — instead of staying in the city, and this is one of the city’s biggest problems.

“Mayor Curtatone looks at the daily commuting behavior of Somerville residents, and that is what is driving all this,” Slotnick said. “A large number of the roughly 80,000 people who live in Somerville currently travel elsewhere for work, and we want to change this.”

Meehan pointed out that there are notable benefits to being based in Somerville.

“One of the problems with a business being located farther away from the city is that a lot of the creative minds don’t want to be locked into a cubicle in an office park,”

he said. “They want to be somewhere where they can go out and experience life outside the office. Somerville is able to offer all of that.

It’s just a matter of getting the larger business community to understand the advantages of our location.”

Slotnick said that the FEC also aims to convince businesses to stay in Somerville even as they grow in size.

“Somerville’s population of businesses today is incredibly weighted toward very small operations of one to four people,” he said. “A lot of these businesses decide to leave Somerville when they reach a larger size or when they get an infusion of funding. The mayor wants to reverse this trend.”

A crucial element of the plan to make Somerville an attractive place to do business is improving public transportation, a goal that will be helped significantly by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s plan to extend both the Orange and Green Lines, according to City of Somerville’s Director of Communications Tom Champion.

“What you’re going to see over the next few years is not only the construction of an additional Orange Line stop at Assembly Square but also the gradual expansion of the Green Line out towards Tufts and the Medford line,” Champion said.

This expansion will make it easier for businesses and employees to take advantage of everything Somerville has to offer, he added.

Task Force hopes to raise awareness about famine in Horn of Africa SOMALIA

continued from page 1

mobilize so that we could actually raise some funds to support the famine relief efforts,” Ahmed said.

The task force has already raised funds through this semester’s Cause Dinner, which took place last week.

The Cause Dinner is a charity event that Tufts University Dining Services hosts every semester, in which $2.50 from every meal swiped that night is donated to a designated group selected by the Tufts Community Union Senate Services Committee.

The task force, the recipient of this year’s funds, raised an estimated two to three times the largest amount of money a Cause Dinner has ever raised, according to Institute for Global Leadership Director Sherman Teichman, who teaches the EPIIC class.

“I challenged the class to coalesce and think about how they could become constructively engaged in thinking about these issues and to conceptualize how they might

do that,” Teichman said.

Based on advice from experts on situations in the Horn of Africa, task force members chose to donate all funds raised directly to United Nations Children’s Fund Somalia, according to Co-Chair Amy Calfas, a junior.

“They’re the organization with the most access to Somalia,” Ahmed said.

Co-Chair Rebecca Dewey emphasized, however, that fundraising was not the task force’s primary goal.

“I don’t want the education piece of this to get lost because I think that’s really key for us,” Dewey, a freshman, said.

Task Force Somalia members chose to feature maps of the region on the flyers handed out at the Cause Dinner instead of pictures of starving Somalis, which Dewey explained would have emphasized sentimentalism over understanding.

“We want it to be emotional, we want people to have compassion, but we also want them to know that it’s part of a greater narrative,” Calfas said.

As part of its educational goals, the group

hopes to host “power-hour” lunch discussions about the root issues underlying the famine.

“The social structures in Somalia have compounded the problem, and I think that’s really what we want the focal point of these next months to be with Task Force Somalia,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed also explained the group’s plans for an event in the spring, where students would walk a distance comparable to that Somalis must walk each day to get water.

A Somali food festival might accompany the walk as a means of showing students that the country is not just in need of saving, but worth saving, Calfas said.

“Instead of just showing the weaknesses in this failed state of Somalia, what we have to look at is actually what’s working now,” she said, citing the country’s powerful financial system and advanced cell phone networks as tools that aid workers can use to help the people of Somalia.

Calfas explained that inspiration for the task force came from Dan and Ayan Holmberg, two international humanitarian aid workers

who spoke at EPIIC’s Outward Bound trip.

Ahmed added that Teichman has played a big role in assisting the students with Task Force Somalia. In particular, Teichman said that he introduced the co-chairs to experts in the field who could help them better understand the issue.

“They’ve educated themselves, working with Alex De Waal, who’s head of the World Peace Foundation which is here right now at [The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy], and working with the Feinstein [International] Famine Center experts,” he said.

The task force currently consists solely of EPIIC class members, Calfas said. The fourth co-chair is Amy Ouellette, a senior.

Still, Calfas added that the group hopes to open participation up to the rest of the Tufts community.

“We’re really excited to get the rest of the Tufts campus involved,” Calfas said. “We really want to be conscious about making this a Tufts-wide effort, and hopefully even … expand to other schools within Boston, and make it like a student movement.”

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Studying away, not abroad

Alison Williams and Sarah Gottlieb | Generation Sex

Jumbos follow their passions off the Hill within the United States by

Kevin Criscione

Contributing Writer

When junior year rolls around, plenty of Jumbos pack a suitcase and board a plane to Paris or Accra. Some though, keep their passport in the dresser drawer and choose to jet to a U.S. school to explore a passion or take advantage of a unique program.

According to Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Jeanne Dillon, applying to spend a semester at another institution within the United States is very similar to applying to take part in a regular study abroad program.

“If students wish to, for whatever reason, study within the United States, they just need to know that they have to choose a four-year bachelor’s degreegranting program,” Dillon said.

Senior Eliza Earl spent the fall of her junior year at the National Theater Institute (NTI), an intensive theater program at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Conn.

The Institute is a prestigious handson experience that deals with almost every aspect of theater, including acting, directing, playwriting, design, dance and voice.

“It’s basically just a really rigorous conservatory-based approach to theater training,” Earl said.

Rigorous may be an understatement.

The 20 or so students accepted into the program work around the clock developing their theatrical talents and do not have a day off between the beginning of September and Thanksgiving, according to Earl.

“You work seven days a week, basically from sunup to sundown. Classes start at 7:30 a.m., and they go until 10 p.m. every single day,” she said. “You really just don’t get a break.”

Earl’s lifelong passion for theater led her to apply to the Institute rather than a typical study-abroad program.

“When I went to NTI, I was going

Courtesy Katherine Mcmanus

Some students, like junior Katherine McManus, choose to study off the Hill but not abroad at American University through the Tufts-in-Washington program. with the hopes that by the time I graduate from college, I will have gotten a really well-rounded liberal arts education, but I would have also been able to attend some great conservatory programs to really just sort of work on my craft and work on my skill as an actor,” she said.

Earl said that in addition to providing her with the opportunity to refine her craft, the program broadened her horizons in regard to theater.

“I definitely honed my craft, really got better as an actor, but also emerged with more knowledge of the other creative aspects of theater. I’m really into playwriting now. I wasn’t before,” she said.

Not only has Earl gained a wealth of theater experience from this program, but she also made a number of con-

nections through the Institute’s strong alumni network. Earl plans to move to Los Angeles next fall after she graduates from Tufts.

Junior Maya Grodman is another student currently spending the fall semester at the NTI. Since Grodman lived most of her life in Geneva, Switzerland, the NTI program appealed to her more than the traditional route of spending a semester abroad.

“The reason I chose NTI specifically is because there’s really no other program like it anywhere in the world, and I think if this program were anywhere, I would still be at it, regardless of whether it was in the U.S. or not,” Grodman said. “The fact that the program is in Connecticut is neither a plus see DOMESTIC, page 4

Street Smarts: Tufts’ Sartorial Scene With an unexpectedly early snow this past weekend, students had to scramble for their winter gear to stay warm in the dropping degrees.

While accessories like mittens and hats were popular, Jumbos also included a playful mix of patterns in their wardrobes. We sought out the most weather-adapted Jumbos around and asked them for tips on how to stay both warm and presentable.

Compiled by Ashley Suarez Photos by Justin McCallum

“Sweaters and mittens. I wear these mittens regardless of whatever I’m wearing. I also have a spirit hood in the mail.”

“I like to wear a lot of hats and gloves, especially with a pop of color. I also like bows a lot too. The head accessories are important, with hats, earmuffs and scarves.”

—Lizz Card, sophomore

—Hannah Freedlund, senior

“I’ve always had to dress up. I went to a high school where I had to wear a shirt and tie. But in the winter, I sport the tweed.”

—Joe Dickson, secondyear graduate student in economics

“I do like the fall and winter because you get to layer up and express your fashion sense more than in the summer when you wear as few clothes as possible.”

—Janet Lau, second-year graduate student in urban and environmental policy and planning

Myth busting

S

o you’re sitting in Dewick talking to your friend — you know, that one girl that never stops talking about her sex life. She’s telling you all about her steamy Halloween weekend and claims that she had the best orgasm of her entire life during sex with this hot junior. The way this girl is talking makes it seem like this mind-blowing orgasm was longer and more intense than Kim Kardashian’s marriage.

Excuse me? Girls can climax during sex? Why has this never happened to you? What the hell is going on? Let’s explore some myths around the female orgasm.

Myth #1: Women orgasm just as often as men do.

Wrong. In fact, a higher percentage of women have difficulty reaching orgasm than men. Up to 15 percent of women can almost never climax, while up to 10 percent of men struggle to reach orgasm. If you find that you can’t reach orgasm easily — if at all — don’t stress out. It’s not your fault, and it’s totally normal. One reason that women can’t climax as easily as men may be biological. If men don’t reach orgasm, they aren’t able to produce children. The female orgasm isn’t linked to fertility or reproduction, which may be one reason that it occurs less often. If you’re still frustrated, don’t blame your partner — it’s probably not his or her fault. There are tons of resources online for people who have trouble climaxing. Check them out!

Myth #2: Women can easily orgasm during vaginal intercourse.

Nope. While 90 percent of men can reach orgasm through intercourse pretty much all of the time, only 25 percent of women are able to reach orgasm from intercourse alone. Is your mind blown yet? While many women blame themselves or their partners for not being able to climax during intercourse, it’s totally normal. If you’re getting frustrated while getting it on, try some other kind of stimulation with your partner. Usually, most women can only reach orgasm through clitoral stimulation rather than vaginal intercourse. Ohmygod, did they just say clitoris? Yes. Embrace it. Your clitoris will love you back.

Myth #3: Women can orgasm as quickly as men can.

Definitely not. While men typically orgasm in three to 13 minutes (refer to our first column), women take on average 14 minutes to climax. In many cases, women don’t reach orgasm because their partners aren’t aware that it takes longer for women to climax. If you’re not climaxing often, ask your partner to spend some more time on you. You know your body better than your partner does, so help him or her out and explain what you like. You’re in control of making any kind of sexual activity more satisfying.

Myth #4: There’s only one type of female orgasm.

Yes! Just kidding, no. There are actually multiple types. The most common is the clitoral orgasm, which is the result of constant clitoral stimulation for a certain amount of time. This type is the one that most women are able to achieve. The second is the vaginal orgasm, which results from direct stimulation of the G-spot, a small area behind the female pubic bone. Vaginal orgasms usually result from intercourse, hence the term “vaginal.” There is tons of other research out there about different types of orgasms.

You should probably ask that friend of yours what kind of orgasm she supposedly had.

Chances are she might have no idea.

We hope we’ve expanded your knowledge and cleared up some of the myths around the female orgasm. Although the concept of the female orgasm may still remain a mystery to most, these facts will hopefully help you out. We also hope that this knowledge might make your weekend just a little more climactic … eh?

Alison Williams is a sophomore majoring in English, and Sarah Gottlieb is a sophomore majoring in psychology. Williams can be reached at Alison.Williams@tufts. edu and Gottlieb can be reached at Sarah.

Gottlieb@tufts.edu.

4

The Tufts Daily

Features

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Studying ‘abroad’ in the United States proves a win-win for some Jumbos DOMESTIC

continued from page 3

nor minus,” she said.

A double major in drama and peace and justice studies, Grodman hopes to use her training at the NTI to eventually merge her loves of theater and social justice into a career. She already feels that the program is affecting her path in life.

“It’s changing my life. I’m learning an incredible amount about theater in general,” Grodman said.

On the opposite coast, two Jumbos are experiencing Hollywood firsthand through the Boston University Los Angeles Internship Program. Junior Austin Bening and senior Jasmien Vancollie are both taking classes and working on internships in the Los Angeles area.

“In terms of making my connections and deciding what I want to do, it took getting outside of the theoretical, leaving Medford and getting to the place

where everything happens. It’s made me realize that this is what I want to do,” Bening said. “I think that this has been one of the single most influential moments in my college experience.”

Although he is taking filmmaking classes, Bening is also working two internships, one with Radar Pictures, the company behind films such as “The Invention of Lying” (2009) and “Jumanji” (1995) and another as a personal assistant to Randal Kleiser, who directed “Grease” (1978).

Vancollie, the other Jumbo currently on the West Coast, does not feel that she is missing out on much by not studying abroad.

“I felt that, because I went to high school in Belgium and because my family is Belgian, I had the abroad experience,” she said. “I wanted something that was going to help me in the future, and I know that I want to move to L.A. after college, so I thought I could scope it out and get experience.”

Opportunities for Tufts students within the United States are not limited to those interested in arts and entertainment. Some students also take advantage of the Tufts-in-Washington program, which partners with American University to set up students with special classes and an internship in the nation’s capital. Junior Katherine McManus is studying through the program and working as an intern for the publishing company Congressional Quarterly.

“Writing for Congressional Quarterly … is probably the highlight of my semester. I’m treated just like any other reporter at the organization and I’m in Congress with my press pass. I kind of get free reign,” McManus said.

McManus’ passion for American politics and her desire to have a career in a related field drew her to the program.

“Unlike most people that I’ve encountered at Tufts, I’m interested in domestic policy much more than international

relations, and I wanted to really expand that area of interest,” she said.

McManus spent this past summer in Washington as well as a part of the Tisch Active Citizenship Summer Fellowship Program. She said that she does not mind not having a traditional studyabroad experience.

“I’ve been abroad other times independently ... so I didn’t feel like I was missing too much of an experience,” she said.

Despite having found exceptional opportunities outside of Tufts, these students do not seem to be straying away from their Jumbo pride. Many have said that their fulfilling experience only make appreciate their education at Tufts even more.

“It does make me miss Tufts a lot … being here, and also talking to other students who go to other schools, just makes me appreciate the opportunities and the great experiences I’ve had so far,” McManus said.

Weekender tuftsdaily.com

Arts & Living

Weekender Feature

5

Living

on the Fringe

A window into Somerville’s unconventional art collective

by

Melissa MacEwen Daily Editorial Board

“The distractions are OK. They’re enrihcing distractions,” Mike Dacey of Repeat Press said with a laugh when asked about the social atmosphere of his work.

If only everyone could say so much.

Dacey runs his one-man business out of a warehouse owned by Fringe, a far-fromconventional design and arts collective based in Somerville’s Union Square. How many people can say something so positive about distractions, much less mean it? More importantly, who depends on distractions for their livelihoods? The answer: the men and women of Fringe.

In the summer of 2009, Dacey, painter Autumn Ahn and a small collection of creative folk learned about and started renting the empty 4,400-square-foot floor of a building that had been used as a woodworking shop. With the help of other like-minded people, including filmmaker Steven “Stebs” Schinnerer, they cleaned the space, put up some walls and began attracting the people who would comprise the first incarnation of Fringe.

After months of backbreaking work, Fringe transformed from a “disturbingly gross” place, in Schinnerer’s words, to an eclectic host for a collective of small businesses.

Fringe is proving itself to be a powerhouse of more than a dozen artists and businesses. Currently, its areas of expertise include beer brewing, creating green roofs, printmaking, bicycle building and web design. Even without a storefront, Fringe’s online presence, combined with word of mouth, has brought the collective no shortage of customers or publicity.

“There’s momentum. We keep getting really good people, talented people,” Dacey said. “We’re getting stronger and stronger.”

Fringe exuded energy and creativ-

ity even on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The warehouse building is only loosely partitioned into offices and workspaces, which leaves the inner workings of businesses accessible and open. Paintings and prints adorn most of the walls.

Fringe’s so-called conference room is little more than a raw wood table surrounded by chairs. The building’s past life as a woodshop is easy to imagine given the pipes snaking along the ceiling. The place practically oozes inspiration, and that’s even before people come into the picture.

Schinnerer, 25, is one of Fringe’s original members. He was homeless and broke when he found the collective and has now been in professional film work for the past year and a half under the name Paper Fortress.

“I just hit the ground running when I had this place. I started getting a lot of attention just from stuff on the web,” Schinnerer said.

Like many other Fringe members, he credits Fringe’s atmosphere as influential in impressive productivity and success.

“This is a place you can come to and just be incredibly inspired. Anybody who is ever in here is working their asses off, building something that they want to build,” Schinnerer said.

Furthermore, Schinnerer believes that Fringe is unique as a business arrangement.

“People come here and say, ‘this is so New York, this is so Brooklyn,’ but I actually think it’s something completely original,” he said.

Dacey — also a Fringe member from the very beginning — owns Repeat Press, a full-scale printing press studio that can accommodate a huge variety of printing needs with its combination of photopolymer platemaking capabilities and vast collection of vintage wood type.

He said that, unlike many studio spaces, people don’t use Fringe as comple-

ments to their primary jobs. “[Fringe] isn’t an extracurricular,” he said. “It’s a place for people who [are] looking for something longer term, and who have more of a budget for it.”

In addition, Dacey said that Fringe is business-friendly to artists, which sets it apart from many other artist collectives.

“I’ve tried to put spaces together before, but Fringe really worked because it was business-focused, rather than artistfocused,” Dacey said.

He believes that Fringe’s loose business structure helps foster cooperation and support among Fringe’s members.

“Other places are based off a business model because you’re a client of a space.

There’s a certain level of expectation.

Here, we’re all just kind of in it together,” he said.

Fringe members often share contacts with and garner clients for one another, realizing the favor will eventually be returned. Members also help each other with the economic and financial aspects of their businesses. This “web” of knowledgesharing has created a sense of strength and unity at Fringe.

“We [Fringe’s founders] started out part-time, but within six months or so, we were able to transition to full-time. We can directly attribute that to the networking and the people this put us in touch with,” Dacey said.

Mark Winterer, director of operations and one of the two co-founders of Recover Green Roofs, LLC, echoed this view of Fringe.

“You meet people who will expand your network; you never know who you could meet who could be a springboard for something else,” Winterer said.

In fact, one of Recover’s current projects exists solely because of a serendipitous meeting with the owner of Casa B, a soonto-open Somerville tapas joint.

“The owner was doing business with

someone else in Fringe, and then she saw us,” Winterer said. “She said she really wanted a green wall for her restaurant.”

Winterer also mentioned how helpful it is to have other creative minds around him to collaborate with. Recover has undertaken 15 vastly different projects to date, and he emphasized the importance of input from others in Fringe. “[The other people] definitely make it fun to come to work every day. It’s easy to spend a lot of time here,” he said.

One of Fringe’s newest additions is Natalya Zahn, an illustrator and designer who has worked with clients including National Geographic, the Harvard Museum of Natural History and McSweeney’s under the moniker studio/animaux.

Zahn has been commissioned for a wide range of projects, but she said her passion for animals is pushing her to “try to shift her career into more of a natural science illustrator.”

She discovered the collective when she was participating in a nation wide experimental publication, Longshot Magazine.

When she saw that Fringe — one of the magazine’s satellite offices — had an opening, she applied immediately and got the spot.

“I had been working out of a home office for three years; I realized I was a bit starved for creative influence and community,” Zahn said.

Fringe had both the community, and the atmosphere she was looking for.

“Everybody’s so passionate about what they’re doing. I felt that energy the moment I walked in and started checking things out,” she said.

Zahn added that working for herself — like everyone does at Fringe — is both more time-consuming and more rewarding than working for a conventional boss.

Despite her recent arrival, Zahn never felt like an outsider at the collective.

Instead, Fringe’s supportive members and personalized spaces quickly had her feeling at home.

“I just got plugged in. There was no getting to know people slowly. That’s just the feel of the place, and the kind of people it attracts,” she said. “All the spaces are so customized; it’s whatever you want it to be. You really have control over your own square footage,” she said.

In addition to its unique environment, Zahn also appreciates the fact that Fringe consciously makes itself more marketable to clients by hosting as wide a distribution of professionals at the collective as possible.

“We try not to have a whole lot of overlap with the people who are here. We look for people who complement each other — that way, there is more to appeal to each client,” she said.

It is this lack of overlap that leads to situations like Winterer’s, where chance encounters end up benefitting both clients and designers.

So, save becoming an intensely selfmotivated designer or a client looking for some creativity, how could one go about getting involved in Fringe?

Fringe hosts a “co-working” day every Tuesday, where anyone can spend $10 and hang out at Fringe all day — plus, they’ll get free coffee and Wi-Fi. The collective also has a monthly cocktail night at Atwood’s Tavern in Cambridge, where distractions would, no doubt, be welcomed.

Courtesy Fringe

The Fringe arts collective in Somerville is home to a wide range of activities from beer brewing to printmaking. art courtesy marc smith via flickr creative commons

The Tufts Daily

6

WEEKENDER

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Gallery Review

‘Europe at Midnight’ examines abstraction, lithography

by Julia

Richieri

Contributing Writer

“Europe at Midcentury: Dubuffet, Giacometti, Picasso,” an exhibit running at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston through Jan. 22, is like an art history course sped up and condensed. The gallery examines how the portrayal of the human figure changed in the years after World War I in Europe as abstract artists switched from naturalistic to exaggerated depictions.

The colorful works of the exhibit create an interesting and engaging collage, and the more-or-less chronological order leads the viewer around the hallway in a way that explicitly shows the radicalism of the shift in human portrayal. The styles range from cubism to outright abstraction and vary in media with a focus on the lithograph.

The exhibit also explores other themes of mass production and the creation of art. To demonstrate how artists worked within their media to get the perfect print, the gallery has four variations of the same work, “Witches’ Sabbath” (1958), by the English artist Stanley William Hayter. This grouping spells out the process of creation for viewers.

Even somebody who knows nothing about art can appreciate the clearly depicted development of a piece.

Like many artists of his time, Hayter used a mixed-media approach to create his works and then displayed multiple versions of his images together to allow the viewer to appreciate all of the changes made. First, there is the copper plate that Hayter used to print this series. Next, there are two proofs of the same work that differ subtly.

Last but not least, there is the final version, which is a confusing and complex colorscape of blues and greens topped with abstract black and white lines.

With this grouping, viewers are able to understand how these pieces were

made and get a small view into the mind of the artist.

For me, the most intriguing series was Pablo Picasso’s “Large Female Nude” (1962). The three works hang together where the hallway meets the staircase, and they make an intriguing hook for passersby. The style is so obviously Picasso’s that one almost feels obligated to stop and take a look.

The curators were lucky enough to get three versions of the same painting from different parts of the run, and the contrast between each is striking.

All done in the same brown and black palette and printed within a week of each other, the pieces raise an interesting question about massproduced art. Should each of these three pieces be considered independent works of art? If I had seen them hanging separately in somebody’s living room, I might not have been able to distinguish one from another. The lines are the same, but the colors are almost imperceptibly different.

Bearing this in mind, one of the best things about art is that every individual piece is new and exciting; even a copy of an old master’s work will feature some differences from the original. If I am standing in front of a painting at a museum, I am practically guaranteed a unique experience.

With the revival of lithography, artists began to make many prints from a single image. This concept seems normal to us thanks to the work of artists such as Andy Warhol and his silkscreens, but, in the long continuum of art history, that idea has not been around for a long time at all.

These serial runs changed the way art was looked at and marketed. It was no longer a singular work created for one person, but a sequence of images with the slightest variations — perhaps unnoticeable until gathered together in a single exhibit, as they are here.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Lee M. Friedman Fund, Sophie M. Friedman Fund, and Museum purchase with funds from the Print and Drawing Club and donated by the Aaron Foundation, Ruth V. S. Lauer in memory of Julia Wheaton Saines, and Virginia Herrick Deknatel © 2011 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Pablo Picasso’s ‘Large Female Nude’ (1962) is part of the MFA’s ‘Europe at Midcentury’ exhibit, which explores the portrayal of the human figure after World War I in Europe.

Movie Review

Boozy ‘Rum Diary,’ though entertaining, lacks punch by

David Gittess

Daily Staff Writer

“The Rum Diary” is Johnny Depp’s movie. Before the first line, before the first real object appears,

The Rum Diary Starring Johnny Depp, Giovanni Ribisi, Aaron Eckhart Directed by Bruce Robinson and even before the title shows up, Depp’s name is presented in strong, block letters, welcoming the viewer to the Johnny Depp show and setting the tone for the story that follows.

Comparisons with Terry Gilliam’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (1998) are unavoidable, not only because both films are based on books by Hunter S. Thompson, but also because they share an almost identical story structure. In this sense, it is immediately clear that writer and director Bruce Robinson wants to capture the same mania that made Gilliam’s film such a lasting cult success.

The result is respectable and entertaining, but it is ultimately less engaging and memorable.

It’s difficult to believe that this is Robinson’s fault, however. Many rejected the novel version of “The Rum Diary” (1999) for publication until Thompson’s career was

already well-established.

In many ways, the book serves as a prequel for the madness that would eventually give Thompson his literary personality in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (1972). While it’s always entertaining to watch a madman going from drug binge to drug binge in Las Vegas on a “savage journey” through the American Dream, the same can’t be said of a boozy drive around Puerto Rico.

Depp reprises his role as one of Thompson’s alter egos, journalist Paul Kemp. Soon after moving to Puerto Rico, Kemp begins writing for a dingy newspaper, and, through a scattered series of events, he becomes friends with a local American real estate

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

Check out these events!

Gallery Film Series: Check out Tufts University Art Gallery’s screening of “Walkabout” (1971). The film tells the story of two white children who are lost in the Australian Outback, where they meet an Aboriginal boy on a “walkabout” — a ritual separation from his tribe. There will be a short introduction by Chris McAuliffe, visiting professor of Australian Studies at Harvard. Tonight at 8 p.m. in Barnum Hall 008. Admission is free.

“Oedipus and Antigone”: This is the final weekend to see the Department of Drama and Dance’s production of “Oedipus and Antigone.” Tonight through Saturday at 8 p.m. in Balch Arena Theatre. Tickets are $7 with a Tufts ID, and can be purchased at the Cohen Auditorium Box Office.

Make a family scrapbook: Bring your favorite family mementos to work into a scrapbook at this Boston workshop.

Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the

Children’s Reading Room at the South End Branch Library in Boston. Admission is free.

Anjelah Johnson: Anjelah Johnson, better known as Internet sensation Bon Qui Qui, will be performing a stand-up comedy show on campus tonight. Tonight at 9 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased with a Tufts ID at the Cohen Auditorium Box Office.

Boston Christmas Festival: Though November’s just begun, it’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas. Check out the Boston Christmas Festival, at which over 350 exhibitors will feature an array of holiday gifts, art, food and activities.

Friday from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston. Tickets range from $9 to $10 and can be purchased at BostonChristmasFestival.com.

—compiled by the Daily Arts Department

agent, Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart).

Sanderson immediately charges Kemp to write about the beauty of Puerto Rico in order to earn American investment for a giant real estate scam. One wild trophy wife, some Adolf Hitler speech recordings and a drunken arrest later, Kemp finds himself seeking retribution against those who tried to fool him.

But almost none of this is important. True to the successful Thompson and Gilliam form, Kemp mostly bounces between drunken events, becoming the unlikely emotional anchor for the various alcoholics and free spirits surrounding him.

In any other movie, this wouldn’t be a problem: The characters are likeable, the surreal events just barely

maintain plausibility and the tropical paradise is absolutely dreamy.

Unfortunately, those familiar with “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” — either the book or the film — will be mostly unsatisfied with the sobriety of the entire affair.

Kemp is neither as sharp nor as fascinating as Raoul Duke of “Fear and Loathing,” and those familiar with Hunter S. Thompson will be left wanting more.

“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” ends with an aggressive drug binge on adrenochrome, an absurd hallucinogen purportedly made from a living donor’s adrenaline gland.

“The Rum Diary,” meanwhile, ends see RUM, page 7

Top Ten | Celebrities we don’t want to see topless First, there was Miley Cyrus in the shower. Then, there was Vanesssa Hudgens in her birthday suit. Then the iPhone Blake Lively photos. And now, surprise — a topless photo of supposedly good-girl Taylor Swift has been leaked onto the Internet. Clearly, these girls have taken “sharing is caring” to heart. And while the Arts section always enjoys a good nude — get your minds out of the gutter, we’re talking about Edgar Degas! — there are some celebrities we just prefer with their tops on.

10. Kristen Stewart: Maybe if we were turned on by printer paper, snow and Apple products. (We’re trying to say she’s really pale.)

9. Julian Assange: We hear he’s not a regular bather...

8. Mark Wahlberg: Go watch “Boogie Nights” (1997) again. Dude has a third nipple. That’s some circus-freak s--t.

7. Paula Deen: All the butter and spray

tan’s got to go somewhere.

6. Danny DeVito: This guy looks like a member of the Lollipop Guild crossed with a pregnant Santa Claus. Shirts on, please!

5. Hillary Clinton: Her necklines are that high for a reason, folks.

4. Winnie-the-Pooh: There’s nothing under the pants; we don’t want to risk anything under the shirt.

3. Vladimir Putin: Although it’s been a few years since Putin circulated his iconic bareback-horse-riding-campaign photos, we think it’s safe to say that few of us are ready for another round. Pray that for next year’s race he finds a new PR guy.

2. Betty White: Her show might be called “Hot in Cleveland,” but we’re not so sure gravity would agree.

1. The Human Centipede: Which top?

—compiled by the Daily Arts Department

The Tufts Daily

Thursday, November 3, 2011

7

WEEKENDER

Weekender Interview | Cody Hochheiser

Mike and Cody get going with ‘Let’s Go!’ by

Christopher Ghanny Contributing Writer

Boston’s new party-rock band Mike and Cody is excited to announce the release of their debut EP, “Let’s Go!” The Daily sat down with one half of the duo, Tufts senior Cody Hochheiser, to discuss their EP, their influences and the power of music. “Let’s Go” dropped on Oct. 25 and can be downloaded at MikeAndCody.BandCamp.com.

Christopher Ghanny: How did Mike and Cody get together?

Cody Hochheiser: In high school, I was part of the Blues Alley Youth Orchestra in [Washington] D.C. One summer, I asked the assistant director, “Who’s the best person to ever play in this band?” and he was like, “There’s this kid, Mike something …

As a high schooler, this kid is the best I’ve ever played with.” And then, one time, we’re just jamming, and this guy comes in, and he’s playing upright bass, and it’s Mike [Okusami]! I didn’t know it at that time. But we played some song, and he was soloing, and everyone in the band just kind of dropped it because he was so good.

We got together after that. We used to play in front of this Häagen-Dazs in Bethesda [Md.] with a couple friends. And then, my junior year at Tufts, I was taking Music 64 and we had to do a final project … and Mike and I had been talking for a little while about making modern pop kind of music, with little synths and stuff … So I did that for my final project, and Mike helped me out. And then we were like, “Hmm, that’s pretty good!”

CG: Who does what within the group?

CH: I’d say Mike does pretty much all the production. He just graduated from Berklee [College of Music]. His major was Music Production and Engineering, and he’s been doing that since he was a little kid. He’s a master with Pro Tools and has tons of equipment, so he’s that guy.

It’s more 50-50 in terms of melodies.

We’ll work on melodies together and play them on the piano. Or with lyrics, sometimes he’ll sing a melody and it’ll sound like gibberish, but then I’ll write lyrics around it. I was doing all the singing for a while, but I’ve convinced him to do some.

Courtesy Cody Hochheiser

Mike Okusami, left, and Tufts senior Cody Hochheiser, right, compose this new party-rock duo.

CG: Mike and Cody is listed as “Grime/ Pop” music on MySpace. What would you say is the sound or genre of the music you’re making?

CH: I wrote “Grime” as a joke … I don’t even know what grime music is! But Mike always tells me I have grime in my voice.

I don’t know what that means, so I just wrote grime. For some of these tracks, we tried to make something that sounds like [music] you’d hear on the radio. We’re really obsessed with this guy Dr. Luke. He’s really mysterious, but produces like all these catchy pop songs, and we like his sound.

CG: What kinds of sounds should we expect from Mike and Cody’s debut EP? CH: A few songs sound kind of electronicdance-y, a few are more rock-y. Then there are two songs Mike put on that are more low-key — sad, kind of Radiohead-y. The whole EP is a little ’80s, a little Dr. Luke, a little Phoenix.

CG: Who are your biggest influences?

CH: Lots of different stuff. Ever heard of David Bazan? We like him. If you listen to his stuff, you wouldn’t hear any relation between his stuff and our stuff, but we really like some of his chord changes and melodies, little synth things … We’ll just be like, “Let’s make something Bazan-y.” Also, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes is the man.

CG: What albums have been on heavy rotation for you recently?

CH: I’ve been listening to Phantom Planet’s “Raise the Dead” (2008) a lot … and “Fantasies” (2009) by Metric. My favorite of all time is probably Stevie Wonder, “Songs in the Key of Life” (1976) or “Innervisions” (1973).

CG: What do you love about music?

CH: I think there are two different ways I listen to music. Sometimes it just makes me groove — you just feel it when a song rocks or makes you happy. On the other side, I think I have an insane emotional connection to music. There are songs that make my heart feel like it’s about to explode.

CG: Describe your dream gig.

CH: I’d want Phoenix to open up for me.

They’re one of my favorite bands who can play a large venue and just rock out. I want to be in a ginormous stadium where everyone would have to stand. Or maybe a warehouse rave with, like, 1,500 people?

Just people partying and getting into it.

CG: What do you think about Tufts’ musical community?

CH: I think there’s a lot of different kinds of stuff going on. I’m head of the Musicians Collective at Tufts and you’d be surprised by how many awesome Tufts bands are around.

Depp shines in disappointing ‘Rum Diary’ RUM

continued from page 6

on a mild hallucinogenic sedative at night, followed by some walking around. The film’s muted ending demonstrates exactly where the “The Rum Diary” loses its footing: The same second-by-second storytelling that kick-started “Fear and Loathing” simply does not work for something as relaxed as “The Rum Diary.”

This is not to say that the movie is bad — taken on its own merits, it serves as a fun and interesting prequel for the wave of hysteria Thompson is about to break. The two sec-

ondary characters of mention are very real and appropriate foils to Kemp’s coming-ofage, with Michael Rispoli as a bored cynic and Giovanni Ribisi as an alcoholic ex-Nazi who finishes people’s drinks and smokes their cigarette butts.

Depp’s artistic integrity has been hurt lately by a series of films, including “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (2011) and “Alice in Wonderland” (2010), so his return to one of his older character types may reflect an attempt to restore his image.

At first, Kemp’s passivity is off-putting, but Depp wisely focuses on Kemp’s internaliza-

tion of the influences around him, which eventually leads to a determined, climactic and appropriate departure from Puerto Rico as the film draws to a close.

All in all, Puerto Rico is a beautiful island, and Robinson’s 1960s re-imagining — while questionable in its authenticity — gives appropriate justice to the natural paradise. As a prequel to the life of Hunter S. Thompson, the movie functions superbly. Although it is burdened by narrative problems, “The Rum Diary” is a consistently quaint and jumpy romp through the worst and the best of people in the Caribbean and the United States.

The Artsy Jumbo

Senior Fricchione balances bio and beats If you ever thought music and lac operons were incompatible, Tufts senior Jonathan Fricchione is here to prove you wrong. Both a musician and a biology major, Jon has made his mark on the Tufts community as a frequent performer and a young scientist.

Music has always been a fixture in Fricchione’s life, despite the immense time commitment his studies require.

“I’ve been writing and recording music since I’ve really had the means to, I guess even since before I had the means to,” he said.

Producing music is mostly a pastime for Fricchione, but the music he has posted to his website, OctoberSurpriseMusic.com, has garnered him some fame. Once, a Swedish blog reviewed an album he posted and gave an amusingly colorful review.

“It was very descriptive,” he said, laughing.

“They said it was as if Radiohead and Devendra Banhart grew up together in a drafty shed near Boston.”

Though Fricchione primarily associates with October Surprise, a band he formed with his friend Conor Garrison in high school, he also produces some experimental electronic music a under the moniker Intranational.

“That’s just me making beats I put out every once in a while,” Fricchione

ashley seenauth/tufts daily

said about the side project.

October Surprise isn’t very active right now, so Fricchione has instead been doing some music-making on his own. He played a solo set in the Tufts Songwriters Night, presented by the Tufts Musicians collective on

Oct. 21, and played a set with the Dirty River String Band at the Crafts House on Oct. 28.

Shame on those who thought fieldwork and indie rock had nothing in common.

—by Melissa MacEwen

Tai Frater | Chewing the Fat

Philly (no cheese) steak

S

o this week saw me leave the warm, comforting embrace of my beloved Boston to explore the state of Pennsylvania. Now when I say “warm, comforting embrace,” I mean, of course, the flipping cold squeeze of Boston — I was told there would be snow, but was rather under the impression that it usually turned up later than October. The trees are still green, for goodness sake. I am not sure what is happening with the weather, but I do suspect that global warming has a hand in all freaky weather occurrences. I shall be telephoning Al Gore forthwith.

Anyway, rather fortuitously, I have recently become reacquainted with the American branch of my family, which splits its time between Boston and Philly. Whilst my family was visiting from the United Kingdom, we were invited to Pennsylvania to meet the rest of the family and sample the local delights. So I packed up my belongings, including one husband and two parents, and set out like a pioneer exploring a new realm.

For logistical reasons, we were to be collected from a New Jersey train station by my second cousin, who I shall refer to as D-Man. Although we hadn’t met, I felt I could not miss a tall Chinese-American man who, I had been told, enjoys a spot of bocking on the weekend — get your minds out of the gutter; bocking is the perfectly respectable activity of jumping around on spring-loaded stilts. Unfortunately, it turns out that D-Man does not wear his bocks while driving, and was therefore slightly less noticeable than expected.

Regardless, we successfully managed to rendezvous, and the holiday began.

Unfortunately, it appeared that Philly had also missed the memo about the fall weather, so most of our sightseeing was carried out from the comfort of a warm vehicle. The Liberty Bell and the steps from “Rocky” (1976) done — sorry, Philadelphia Museum of Art — we then decided to eschew the city’s famous cheese steak in favor of a home-cooked variety.

Here, I was to learn the many subdivisions of the United States’ meat.

Luckily for us, the filet mignon marinating at home was of the “prime” variety. Although the technicalities of marbling are beyond me, I think it’s fair to say that prime basically means the beef is awesome.

D-Man’s Dad, “K,” is something of a genius in the kitchen. With absolutely zero fuss, he whipped up a feast for kings with roasted peppers, asparagus, baked potato, sweet potato, salad and rice to complement the steak, along with a deliciously roasted rack of lamb.

He also included a variety of local wines from a vineyard visit the day before. All this was rounded off with an apple pie and a pumpkin pie. Luckily, they forgot to put out the butternut squash — I fear I would have popped.

The feast taught me three important lessons: 1. Quality ingredients are crucial, 2. Good home-cooked food beats restaurant fare hands down and 3. I should really stop after the third glass of wine. Still, we all had a wonderful time and the food was out of this world.

The following day we ventured to Amish country. Since it was Sunday, the Amish were mostly in church, but my mother was pleased that she managed to take a few drive-by shots of the Amish people going about their daily business — i.e. staring curiously at strange folk like my mother. We followed this with an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord consisting of multiple appetizers and entrees, rounded off by two Philly cheesecakes, just because we could.

All in all, it was a delectable weekend with wonderful company, and I returned from Philadelphia full in body and soul. Next week: diet tips.

Tai Frater is a graduate student studying occupational therapy. She can be reached at Tai.Frater@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

8

THE TUFTS DAILY Carter W. Rogers Editor-in-Chief

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Editorial | Letters

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Editorial

UGL, SEIU need to get their facts straight

Show of hands: Who enjoys walking into dorm bathrooms on Monday morning and cleaning up a mess created by inebriated weekend warriors? For janitors at Tufts, this is their job, and it’s a hard one that’s essential to the university. However, in the university’s recent switch of janitorial service providers from American Building Maintenance (ABM) to UGL Unicco, there has been much controversy as to whether UGL Unicco is upholding its contractual obligation to provide jobs to all eligible former ABM employees.

After an Oct. 25 meeting between Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and UGL Unicco, it has come to light that the organizations cannot come to an agreement about how well obligations are being followed.

Specifically, SEIU and UGL Unicco are reporting wildly different numbers about

how much of the custodial staff employed before the switch has remained employed

by UGL Unicco. According to the contractor’s claims, 33 ABM employees failed to provide required documentation or did not reapply to work for UGL Unicco during the switch. Thirty-two of those slots were filled by the company with temporary hires, according to UGL Unicco.

SEIU says that only six or seven workers have been hired, resulting in the overworking of the current janitorial staff.

Furthermore, SEIU claims that there are about 60 former ABM employees who are no longer at Tufts, not 33.

So who’s right? It’s not clear. Tufts Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell, in an email to the signers of a petition delivered to University President Anthony Monaco concerning the hiring practices of UGL Unicco,

said that “at this time neither party can accurately determine just how many employees on the ABM roster were working at Tufts when the change in contractors was made.”

As it appears that the parties involved have been surprisingly poor record-keepers, one has to wonder how they will be able to present consistent numbers to the university, and what action the university will take when these numbers are presented.

It’s ironic that in requiring workers to display papers to retain their jobs, someone forgot to retain the papers that listed how many workers there were last spring. Once both parties get their collective act together and agree on numbers, Tufts should stick to its stated priority of ensuring that ABM employees are able to retain their jobs at UGL Unicco. Tufts owes that much to some of the hardest workers on campus.

Editorial

Winter housing for all international students Tufts’ Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) announced to international students at the beginning of the semester that only freshman international students and international students on financial aid will be allowed to remain on campus over winter break. Their decision promises to leave some students scrambling for a place to stay once the semester ends.

If that doesn’t sound familiar, it should: Last November, ResLife first announced a $100 fee for international students who remained on campus over winter break. It was OK to announce the fee so late in the semester, administrators reasoned, because the International Center would be subsidizing it for international students on financial aid. They mistakenly reasoned this year, however, that any international student not on financial aid can afford either to fly home or to sublet an off-campus apartment.

Some full-paying international students

have wealthy benefactors that fund their tuition but don’t necessarily fund anything else. This leaves them to pay for their own personal expenses, such as housing and travel to and from the United States, on a limited budget that their financial aid award doesn’t necessarily reflect. A 10,000-mile flight across the world could stretch that budget to the breaking point.

We commend ResLife for making its winter housing policies clear so early in the semester this year — the first email went out to international students on Sept. 2 — thus giving students more time to make alternative arrangements, if need be, and arrange flights home at a cheaper rate.

Even so, we don’t support ResLife’s decision to exclude upperclassmen international students and those who aren’t on financial aid from winter housing. If the university is going to charge a fee to remain on campus over the break, then it should certainly be able to accom-

modate any international students who are willing to pay the fee. We empathize with ResLife’s need to pay for heating and staffing on campus residences for an extra few weeks, but presumably the fee exists to do just that.

Some international students indicated to the Daily that they — or other international students they knew — had to make less-than-ideal off-campus arrangements over the break because of the new policy. International Center Director Jane Etish-Andrews told the Daily that she encourages international students “to let us know what they’re thinking and we’ll work with them on it.”

We encourage those international students who are excluded from housing under the new policy — but would like to remain on campus — to speak up and request some sort of compromise. Surely the university can find a way to accommodate them.

anna christian

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Off the Hill | Mills College

Oakland police dept. tries its hand at writing fiction by

Lauren Soldano The Campanil

Oakland became the media’s focal point of the Occupy Wall Street movement after the police took brutal actions against the mostly peaceful protestors last week.

The Oakland Police Department (OPD) has since released several messages to the community barely hinting at an apology for their actions. In fact, their press release last Wednesday morning denied that they used rubber bullets and flash grenades — “non-lethal” weapons that were, indeed, used by police the night before as seen in videos circulating 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.

through the Internet.

As has also been widely publicized, the use of these weapons may be lethal in the case of one protestor, Iraq veteran Scott Olsen, who is still hospitalized.

“The City of Oakland Police Department will continue to place the highest value on policing in a manner that is both constitutional and ethical in its mission to provide a safe place to live, work, and play, free of crime and the fear of crime,” said Chief Howard Jordan in a closing remark of Friday’s press release.

We find that Jordan’s flowery language paints a pretty rosy picture in contrast with the actuality of his leadership and

the OPD’s actions. The diction of these releases seem like they are inspired by the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” anthologies.

Its tone is inappropriate, to say the least, because there was nothing constitutional or ethical about Tuesday’s police response.

In fact, it was just the opposite.

The Campanil supports the right to free speech and most of us are disgusted by the behavior of the OPD and their disingenuous press releases.

Our staff is divided on the larger OWS movement, but most of us agree that the incident Tuesday night made us feel a stronger sense of solidarity with the protestors than ever before.

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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, November 3, 2011

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Op-Ed

Off the Hill | Iowa State University

Society unsustainable with seven billion people

by Jacob

Witte

Iowa State Daily

As of Oct. 31, there are seven billion people on the planet. That is the date, according to the United Nations (U.N.), at which Earth was to see the birth of its seven billionth inhabitant. We may already have seven billion already, or we may not.

The U.N. made Oct. 31 the date mainly for symbolic reasons to celebrate this monumental feat.

Whether you want to admit it or not, our lovely planet is quickly reaching its carrying capacity, which is the population that Earth can sustain in a responsible manner.

We may have already reached the carrying capacity, but even so, the fact that 24,000 people around the world die each day due to starvation, and that billions more live in dire poverty with scarce supplies of drinking water and food, should tell us that something is wrong here.

And with an overpopulation of a planet comes, first and foremost, the problem of natural resources. Petroleum, by all accounts, will be depleted within the next century across the planet, and with that comes an unspeakable problem.

Everything that we come into contact with in our lives came into contact with some form of petroleum throughout its produc-

tion process. There is no escaping that.

The most important of which is food.

Food that we eat, especially in industrialized countries, cannot be produced without extensive use of petroleum. We have come to a point where, if all the oil dried up tomorrow, food that is produced in America could not be made to feed even ourselves, let alone the vast amounts that go to other countries.

We have reached a point of entropy in which we have become disconnected with the natural processes in which food is produced. When oil becomes as important, or more so, than water and sunlight to grow food, we have to take a step back and look at what we are doing.

Something that never comes up when the issue of overpopulation of the earth comes up, especially in the mainstream media, is the global economic system. We are told not to question the powers that be when it comes to an economic system that demands one thing and one thing only: more.

The economic system of neoliberalism has created a system of dependence in which the Third World has become enslaved by industrialized countries, either producing food or being raped for its natural resources, in which the former countries see none, or hardly any, of the profits.

And this is what we celebrate, being in one of these industrialized nations, of course, as living in a ‘globalized’ world.

The system of corporate capitalism, which has produced corporations that are supranational, has been able to effectively take control over natural resources in all parts of the world and see to it that the most money for the least input is taken from them. And while these entities are responsible solely to their shareholders, and not to anyone else, the problem of natural resource exhaustion is an immense problem for the seven billion people on Earth.

The highly evolved state of capitalism in which we find ourselves today will not save the planet from itself. It will continue to consume all resources this planet has to offer until capitalism finally collapses on itself like a dying star. And all the people of Earth will have to suffer the consequences for the actions of a few.

Something must change before we as a planet are pushed over the brink in terms of resource depletion. A population cannot survive without basic resources such as food, water, and shelter. The juggernaut of neoliberalism, which consumes without regard, must be altered in order to sustain a global population of seven billion and counting.

Off the Hill | Harvard University

The Gilad Shalit debacle by

Eric T. Justin

Harvard Crimson

Very rarely in Israel’s history could its political actions be described as truly, absolutely and blindly self-destructive. When one prisoner is exchanged for more than a thousand prisoners, of almost infinite greater political and economic value, any objective bystander with two brain cells and a synapse should recognize such a society. But even worse than prior Israeli blunders, somehow this exchange occurred under the watch, and even the broad support, of Israeli civil society.

One thousand and twenty seven. The number is almost so large that it loses its meaning, but it was the number of Palestinian prisoners exchanged for Gilad Shalit. Hamas selected 479 of the prisoners and Israel selected the remainder. Of Hamas’s 479, 315 were serving life sentences and most were serving sentences longer than 20 years. One can assume that the remainder selected by Israel committed lesser crimes and are not expected to threaten Israel.

Four hundred and seventy nine. Still, the number is too large to grasp its full scope.

The mass majority of the 479 either planned or participated directly in attacks against Israel or indirectly through leadership in a violent organization. To be exact, 569 Israelis were killed by those being released and many more were injured. Of course, as is the case anywhere, dozens of the 479 were probably victims of circumstances beyond their control. The point remains that Israel released many hundreds who have intended and continue to intend the deaths of Israelis.

Even those who bemoan the likely loss of future lives — almost always within a justification for the prisoner exchange —still do not comprehend the full cost of the 1027. The operations of gathering intelligence, capturing, interrogating and keeping in prison a high-profile prisoner carry very high economic and political costs, not to mention the deaths and injuries of soldiers and intelligence operators. No doubt the repetition of these operations is already underway for many of the 479.

One. That is a number anybody can grasp and, more importantly, it is a number that anyone can humanize. In Israel, posters of Gilad Shalit decorated city streets, his picture hung from taxi mirrors, and his image stalked television programs. In a state with mandatory military service, every soldier is a symbol for a loved one. Gilad Shalit’s family impressively energized Israeli society to their cause. They protested outside [Israeli

MCT

Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s house and when they made pilgrimage to Jerusalem, over 200,000 joined them. Of course, the hysteria of Israel’s civil society could not have served Hamas’ interests more if it was orchestrating the Gilad Shalit events itself.

Every state needs its symbols and every civil society needs its heroes. Gilad Shalit united a deeply diverse and politically fragmented state. However, the danger with symbols mirrors the danger of a civil society strong enough to bully political leadership — they are not rational. Seventy-nine percent of Israelis supported the prisoner exchange. Functioning democracy requires not only checks and balances between branches of the government, but also between civil society and political leadership. Netanyahu and his administration failed to protect Israel’s people and interests. Netanyahu is as responsible for this debacle as much as an irrational and emotional civil society.

Moreover, the precedent set by the prisoner exchange has created at least two moral hazards. First of all, now that the going rate between Israeli and Palestinian prisoners is established at 1000:1, Hamas and other anti-Israeli groups are incentivized to capture more Israeli soldiers or civilians. According to an Associated Press report, thousands in Gaza chanted, “The people want a new Gilad Shalit” and some of Hamas’ leadership has already hinted at fresh plans. The second moral hazard is the risk that Israeli families of victims will exploit the gullibility of Israel’s civil society

to rescue their loved ones to detriment of countless others.

Even worse than the shocking shortsightedness of Israeli civil society were domestic and international analysts’ gullible somersaults to dig their heads deeper in the ground with more desperate and contrived justifications for the exchange. Haaretz laughably lauded Israel’s “stubbornness and steadfastness,” saving their highest plaudits for Netanyahu for “know[ing] how to draw lines in the sand.” The typically conservative Jerusalem Post shrugged off the steep cost and moral hazards because “right now an [Israeli Defense Force] IDF soldier’s life is being saved.”

Some, including Gilad Shalit, hope that the prisoner exchange will precipitate future talks, possibly with Egypt in a mediating role once again. Unless those future talks are also about prisoner exchanges, those talks are very difficult to imagine.

Hamas and others who wish Israel to disappear have now had their violence rewarded and they will only view Israel as a weaker target, rather than as a future peace partner. The exchange may have set many precedents, but peace negotiations are not among them.

Israel does not make small decisions.

It is one of the world’s few states whose existence is not accepted by many of its neighbors. Israel’s flourishing civil society is the foundation of its strength. It is also a potential Achilles Heel. Proponents of Israel should hope the country rediscovers its backbone and foresight.

Angad Bagai | A Whole New World

It’s the eye of the tiger

O

ct. 28 of this year was a special day here in the United States, and not just because it was three days before Halloween.

Last Friday marked the seventh and final game of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers.

Watched by an astounding 25 million people, the St. Louis Cardinals won their 11th World Series title in the sport that has been dubbed “America’s pastime.” It was a wonderful day for Cardinal fans, who witnessed a great series, and for baseball itself. However, how many people would say that Oct. 28 was the best day of their year, that it would stand out when they looked back at 2011?

The reason I pose this question is because if you were to ask a number of Indians which day stood out most for them this year, a lot of people would answer, “April 2.” Not because it was the day after April Fool’s, no, but because it was on April 2, 2011 that India lifted the Cricket World Cup for the first time since 1983. I was at home in Delhi at the time of the victory, and everywhere you turned you could hear fireworks going off and people cheering and partying in the streets.

The importance of cricket in India is something that has to be seen to be believed and understood. Cricket is more than just a game in India. Ironically, it’s not even our national sport — field hockey takes that honor — but it’s far more widely followed, and matters much more in the hearts of the public.

In India, cricket is often compared to religion; there are so many diehard fans of the sport who follow it day in and day out. The World Cup Final itself between India and Sri Lanka was watched by well over 135 million people in India alone. After the finals, celebrations went on for at least a week all across the country. Various prizes were given to the players from their own state governments as well as from the national government, and India’s (arguably) greatest player ever, Sachin Tendulkar, was recommended for the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, for his lifetime of service to the nation through cricket.

In the United States, more sports are followed seriously, and perhaps that is why, despite baseball being the nation’s “pastime” and American football being what is most watched on Monday nights, no one sport holds the heart of the nation the way cricket does in India. There are the “Big Four” sports: baseball, football, basketball and ice hockey — although hockey is followed to a lesser extent.

Along with these, there are various other sports, like golf and tennis, that are followed on a much greater scale here than they are in India. This is true with soccer as well, which has experienced a recent spike in popularity in the United States.

Here the sports-watching public is far more diverse. You have people who eagerly await the end of the NBA lockout and those who are enjoying St. Louis’ triumph. You could be someone who follows four of the sports listed above, or somebody who follows just one.

In the last few years, there’s actually been an attempt to rouse interest in cricket in the United States, especially given the influx of so many people from the Indian subcontinent and other such areas. There was even a triangular series last year in May that took place in Florida between the New Zealand, Sri Lankan and U.S. teams. Hopefully this week’s column elucidates the “cricketmania” in India and shows why during the two months of the World Cup, “One billion hearts. One wish.” was the slogan that resonated around India.

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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Comics

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Doonesbury

Crossword

by

Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

Tuesday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Winning a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children

Late Night at the Daily Wednesday’s Solution

Amsie: “Thoughts on snuggling?”

Niki: “Right now?”

Please recycle this Daily.

by

Wiley

Sports

11

tuftsdaily.com

Women’s Soccer

Strong season ends in heartbreak against Wesleyan by

Kate Klots

Daily Editorial Board

The women’s soccer season ended in heartbreak for the Jumbos, who on Saturday were eliminated by Wesleyan in penalty kicks in the NESCAC quarterfinals.

Tufts finished the fall with a 7-4-4 record, including five strong conference wins, two tough conference draws and a pair of heartbreaking 1-0 defeats. This marks the third time in four years that the team has lost in a penalty shootout in the conference quarters.

Despite the Jumbos’ disappointment, the team improved significantly throughout the season and consistently challenged opponents in overtime or one-goal decisions.

“I don’t think our record shows how good our team was, and I don’t think we ever quite reached our full potential,” senior forward Jamie Love-Nichols said. “I think our close losses and ties this season show that.”

“Mostly that’s just soccer,” junior midfielder Alyssa Von Puttkammer added. “It’s rare to have a huge win or loss. Especially in the NESCAC when there aren’t any games you can take lightly.”

It was fitting, then, that the Jumbos went out fighting and took Wesleyan to penalties after 110 minutes of play. Tufts held a massive advantage in shots, leading the Cardinals 31 to 10, but — as was the case several times this season — the Jumbos struggled to convert these looks into goals.

The final score did not reflect the balance of play, as Tufts dominated possession for much of the second period and both halves of overtime. Although the result was a bitter pill to swallow, the squad’s perseverance and the leadership of the six seniors were obvious, as was the case throughout the season.

Tufts kicked off fall play on Sept. 10 with a 2-2 draw against No. 17 Middlebury, the No. 2 seed in this year’s NESCAC tournament.

From there, the Jumbos went 3-0-1 before

suffering their first loss on Oct. 1, when they dropped a hard-fought 2-0 decision to Amherst, now ranked No. 8 nationally and the NESCAC’s No. 1 seed.

The Jumbos rebounded, however, winning three of their next four decisions, including decisive, two-goal victories over conference foes Trinity and Conn. College.

Tufts also battled back to tie then-No. 23 Wheaton, 2-2, in another double-overtime matchup. The Jumbos dropped a disappointing 2-0 contest to non-conference opponent Endicott, though, in a game that foreshadowed some of their most glaring weaknesses.

“Throughout the season, one of our biggest struggles was consistency. In Wheaton, we were up 1-0 and then let them come back and get two goals,” Love-Nichols said.

“Against Endicott, we didn’t show up mentally and I would say that was the overall low point of the season. This was definitely a set back. We knew we had to win our outof-season games if we wanted a chance at an at-large bid, and we didn’t get it done in either of those games.”

In the second of two doubleheader weekends, Williams and Bates exploited these weaknesses, handing the Jumbos consecutive NESCAC losses that brought their record to 6-4-2. Both matchups ended 1-0, and the frustrating results only served to further fire up head coach Martha Whiting’s squad.

“Losing on Senior Day to Williams, and never beating them in my collegiate career was heartbreaking,” Love-Nichols said. “Losing to Bates just added salt to the wound, especially after last year’s quarterfinal match.”

The following week, the Jumbos prepared for their final regular-season games, invigorated with a new sense of urgency and a desire to win. On Oct. 22, the Jumbos fought the Hamilton Continentals, the newest members of the conference, to a 0-0 draw in double overtime.

Alex Dennett/Tufts Daily

Sophomore forward Maeve Stewart tied for the team lead with four goals despite missing part of the season with an injury.

“The overall feeling after the losses was disappointment, but we used that to fuel us going into the Hamilton game,” Von Puttkammer said. “We needed to redefine ourselves, and the game against Hamilton was the first time we put together a solid 90-plus minutes of focused soccer.”

Four days later, Tufts traveled to Bowdoin and earned a much-needed NESCAC win, beating the Polar Bears 3-1 after a barrage of late shots and offensive pieces led to two Jumbos tallies in the last 13 minutes of play.

“I think Bowdoin gave us a lot of confidence,” Love-Nichols said. “I was so proud of our team that we could come out of half time 1-1 and put them away 3-1 like it was nothing.”

Over the course of the season, senior cocaptains Lauren O’Connor and Olivia Rowse molded a youthful team into a corps of veteran players. The Jumbos fought through

Men’s Soccer

Jumbos take big leap forward by

Matt Berger

Daily Editorial Board

You can’t deny that this fall was a giant step in the right direction for the Tufts men’s soccer program.

How bad had the Jumbos been?

The team hadn’t finished in the top half of the conference since 2003, hadn’t gone undefeated in non-conference matches since 2002 and hadn’t had a regular season with a winning conference record since 2001.

Just two seasons ago, the Jumbos went 0-8-1 in the NESCAC and 2-102 overall. They were outscored 25-11 and outshot 205-133. Against lowly Suffolk, a team that the 2011 Jumbos crushed 6-1 on Oct. 19, the 2009 Jumbos needed a golden goal from then-senior forward Dan Schoening to squeak out a 2-1 overtime win.

This season, Tufts finished fifth in the NESCAC, posted a 9-4-2 overall record, including a perfect 4-0-0 mark against non-conference opponents, and reached No. 5 in the Oct. 18 National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s New England rankings.

In other words, the Jumbos appear to be back, and unless 2011 was a fluke, they now need to be taken seriously as one of the top programs in the NESCAC and throughout New England.

“The team made a lot of progress this season, earning the highest win total since 2001,” sophomore defender Luke Booth said. “We finished in the top half of the league and were barely edged out of a home playoff game.”

“My first season with the new coach was incredible,” added junior midfielder Rafael Ramos-Meyer, who did not play last fall. “I had

Kyra Sturgill/Tufts Daily

Freshman midfielder Gus Santos was the face of a terrific Class of 2015, netting seven goals, including four game-winners. very few expectations and was completely blown away at the organization and competence of our coaching staff. I was also extremely impressed with the quality of play and the incoming players.”

Tufts’ improved skill and confidence were evident from its first match of the season. After surrendering a goal in the 72nd minute to visiting Middlebury, the team rallied back in electrifying fashion, as sophomore forward Jono Edelman scored the equalizer just seven minutes later. The Jumbos dominated the final half hour of play, which included 20 minutes of sudden death overtime, but could not score a game-winning goal.

Still, thanks to the hard-fought 1-1 draw, Tufts recorded its first point against the Panthers since 2002 and, more importantly, made a strong statement to the rest of the NESCAC of its intentions to com-

pete with the conference’s powerhouses. It’s hard to imagine a recent Jumbos team having the skill and toughness to come back late in a game against a traditionally stout Middlebury defense.

“That match proved that we can compete with top teams,” Booth said. “It gave us confidence early on in the season.”

Riding this wave of momentum, the Jumbos cemented their place in the middle of the NESCAC table by going 4-2-1 in their next seven matches. Tufts took care of business with dominant wins over non-conference foes Plymouth State and Endicott, but the Jumbos fell to Amherst and Wesleyan, who ultimately finished first and second in the NESCAC. These four matches, however, weren’t a great indication of things see MEN’S SOCCER, page 14

injuries to starting sophomores Maeve Stewart and Sophia Wojtasinski, among others, and learned how to win regardless of which players Whiting put on the field.

Sophomore keeper Kristin Wright finished the season with 46 stops, good enough for an .868 save percentage. Her fellow goalie, junior Phoebe Hanley, who often saw action in the second half, finished with 19 saves.

Both will return next fall. “[Wright, Hanley and sophomore Rachel Chazin-Gray] are phenomenal keepers,” Von Puttkammer said. “It has to get past all 11 of us to get to them, and we definitely gave them some tough plays to handle.”

Three of the squad’s five leading pointscorers should also be back next year, though seniors O’Connor and leading scorer Jamie Love-Nichols, who had four goals and two see WOMEN’S SOCCER, page 14

Inside NFL

All the wrong choices by

Alex Arthur

Senior Staff Writer

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has received an inordinate amount of praise over the past decade for his draft strategy of uncovering gems in late rounds and finding value players in the early ones.

From 2000 to 2005, Belichick loaded his roster with players who would establish themselves not only as consistent starters but also perennial Pro Bowlers. The Pats are still enjoying successful seasons because of Belichick’s incredible drafting in the first five years of the past decade. However, at a closer look, Belichick’s selections in the draft from 2006 through 2011 have hamstrung a Pats team that has not won a Super Bowl since 2004 — the year before their rookie classes began going sour.

In the 2000 draft, with the 33rd selection of the sixth round, Belichick took a flyer on a quarterback out of the University of Michigan named Tom Brady.

This selection may have singlehandedly delivered New England three Super Bowls and perhaps has placed an aura of infallibility around the coach.

But sports fans’ memories are as short as the last game of the last season, and if your team does not continue to win, heads will roll.

Just ask Terry Francona.

For every Patriot who is still around, such as left tackle Matt Light — the 48th overall selection in 2001; center Dan Koppen — the 164th overall selection in 2003 draft; or Vince Wilfork — the 21st overall selection in 2004, there are more players from the

past five seasons who are no longer in New England.

While hindsight is always 20-20, there comes a point when someone needs to be called out for missed opportunities, especially when that someone is held in such high regard. Here’s a recap of Belichick’s last five drafts.

2006: The Pats selected running back Laurence Maroney with the 21st pick in the first round.

Maroney never topped 1,000 yards in a season and was subsequently traded in 2010.

However, the Maroney pick pales in comparison to New England’s misfire in the second round. Belichick swapped the 52nd overall pick with the Green Bay Packers for the 36th to select wide receiver Chad Jackson out of Florida. Not even Tom Brady could make Jackson look serviceable, as he amassed 14 catches, 171 yards and three touchdowns in his entire NFL career. That’s not even the worst of it: The Packers used that same 52nd pick to select Pro Bowl receiver Greg Jennings.

The only Patriot on the roster from their remaining eight selections is kicker Stephen Gostkowski.

2007: The Pats began by trading receiver Deion Branch for a firstround pick. Armed with two firstrounders, Belichick elected to trade one away for a fourth-rounder and future first. The Pats chose safety Brandon Meriweather with their only pick in the first three rounds.

Meriweather, the last remaining player on the roster from the draft, was cut this past offseason.

If you are keeping count at see INSIDE NFL, page 14

12

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Sports

Football

Ben Kochman | The Wackness

Q and A with the Quidditch Commish

N Alex Dennett/Tufts Daily

The Jumbos defense tripled its season sack total in Saturday’s loss to Amherst.

Jumbos defense holds it down by

Alex Prewitt

Daily Editorial Board

The football team might still be winless, but encouragement for the future exists, especially with the effort the defense has put forth through Tufts’ most brutal three-game stretch.

Against Trinity, Williams and Amherst, three NESCAC juggernauts with a combined 16-2 record this season, the Jumbos defense has held up its end of the bargain — especially in the second half, where Tufts limited the Bantams, Ephs and Lord Jeffs to an average of seven points in the final 30 minutes.

Compare that to 2010, when those same teams outscored the Jumbos 77-21 during that same span, and the marked improvements on defense become clear.

Before this season, according to junior defensive back Sam Diss, the Jumbos instilled some different coverages and revamped their base defense, working at the basics before adding more advanced concepts along the way.

“I think they’re playing better team defense as a whole, guys are being a lot more conscientious and responsible of their gap assignments,” head coach Jay Civetti said.

“When you look at those three teams, they’re top three in the league in rushing [ed’s note: Williams is fifth in the NESCAC in rushing, though Trinity and Amherst are No. 1 and No. 2] and you look at the results and you see the conscious effort, it’s encouraging.”

Indeed, Tufts has struggled against the run this season. The Jumbos are secondto-last in the NESCAC in that category, allowing 194.2 rushing yards per game, a statistic that’s still better than the 221.4 per game they coughed up in 2010.

On the flip side, Tufts tops the NESCAC this season with just 132.7 passing yards allowed per game, though opponents’ play selection is partly behind their success.

Teams have attempted only 121 passes against the Jumbos, the fewest any NESCAC squad has faced, while running the ball 283 times — more than they have against all other defenses in the conference. Opposing teams, despite limiting their pass attempts, are still completing 68.6 percent of them, the highest rate in the conference.

“I think a lot of it probably has to do with the situations of the games,” Civetti said. “Offensively, we’re not exactly holding up our end of the bargain as far as allowing us to be in the game from a points standpoint. Once it’s the second half and they’re up 14, they’re probably not going to be throwing the ball anyway, especially when they know that our offense isn’t as productive as it should be.”

Despite the 0-6 record, defensive highlights exist across the board. Senior linebacker Zack Skarzynski tops the league with 13.0 tackles per game. In a 30-0 loss to Amherst on Saturday, senior Kyle Leggott and sophomore Ryan Eggar each had sacks on an injury-depleted defensive line, tri-

pling Tufts’ previous season total of one.

The Jumbos also lost to Trinity 9-0 but held the Bantams to their lowest point total since 2005.

“That was what we were looking for: playing consistent,” said Diss of the Trinity game. “The touchdown came on one mental breakdown, but it was a solid effort.

That’s what we’re trying to do every week.”

In five of seven losses last season, the Jumbos led at halftime but were outscored 130-47 after the break. In 2011, Tufts has allowed just 56 combined points in the second half.

“But you have to put the full package together to put yourselves in a position to actually execute and win in the fourth quarter,” Civetti said. “But when you look at the steady improvements of the team as a whole, certainly the defense’s influence and ability to put us in those situations is a positive one.”

Now, it’s just a matter of executing, a running theme throughout the season that’s yet to materialize fully come game time.

“We can talk about improvements and we can talk about the positives, which is great because it’s where we want to be as a program, but there has to be a point where we finally say, ‘We know what we can do, so let’s do it,’” Civetti said. “If you look at the top teams, they lead the takeaway category and in defensive statistics. You have to have a stout, strong consistent defense that can control the line of scrimmage.”

DAILY DIGITS

2 Sacks for the Tufts football in its 30-0 loss to Amherst this past Saturday, tripling the team’s season total. Senior defensive lineman Kyle Leggott and sophomore defensive lineman Ryan Egger tallied sacks, bringing the Jumbos’ season total to three. Senior defensive lineman Nick Croteau, who has been sidelined for the past three weeks with an arm injury, had the team’s only other sack earlier in the season. The Jumbos defense will look to lead the team to its first victory of the season on Saturday at Colby.

3 Times in the last four years that the Tufts women’s soccer team has been ousted in the NESCAC tournament quarterfinals on penalty kicks. Last year, Tufts lost a heartbreaker to Bates, and three years ago, the Jumbos lost on penalties to Bowdoin after a scoreless draw. On Saturday, Tufts added another skyscraper to heartbreak city, losing 5-3 on penalty kicks to Wesleyan, who will now play Amherst on Saturday in the semifinals.

109 Approximate dollar value of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are up for sale after owner Frank McCourt announced yesterday he will sell the team, its stadium and the surrounding real estate. McCourt finally gave in after a six-month saga that began when MLB Commissioner Bud Selig took control of team operations in April. In June, McCourt filed for bankruptcy in the midst of what would become the most expensive divorce in California history. When McCourt bought the Dodgers in 2004, the team was valued at $420 million.

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Meetings between the AP No. 1 and No. 2 college football teams in non-bowl, nonchampionship scenarios since 2000, counting this Saturday’s upcoming matchup between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama.

The last regular season one-versus-two showdown was Michigan-Ohio State in ‘06. The hype for this Saturday’s contest is enormous, and for good reason: The winner will have the upper hand in the quest for both the SEC and national titles. Expect Bama’s Denny-Bryant stadium to be filled to its 101,000-seat capacity.

Wins in a 33-year coaching career for manager Tony La Russa, who retired from his post as St. Louis Cardinals manager on Monday.

La Russa’s decision to leave the game came after a storybook ending to a season in which St. Louis overcame a 10.5-game late-August deficit in the Wild Card standings to make the playoffs on the last day of the season before winning the World Series. The championship was La Russa’s third; his 1989 A’s won it all, and he took the Cards to the top in 2006. La Russa ranks third all-time in managerial wins behind Connie Mack and John McGraw.

Combined wins for the Tufts men’s and women’s soccer teams this season, matching their highest combined total since 2008. The men finished at 9-4-2, while the women went 7-4-4. Unfortunately, both teams’ campaigns ended in agonizing fashion this past Saturday in the NESCAC Quarterfinals. Wesleyan beat the Tufts women on Kraft Field in penalty kicks, and Williams came back from a 1-0 hole to oust the men. Neither team is expected to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament.

ext weekend, “The Wackness” will take a magical field trip to one of the wackiest competitions in the world: the Fifth Annual Quidditch World Cup. Yes, Quidditch. Based on the flyingbroom sport from the “Harry Potter” series, muggle Quidditch involves two teams competing to throw a deflated volleyball — or “Quaffle” — into one of three goals, while each team’s seeker pursues a human “Snitch,” usually a cross country runner or wrestler dressed in yellow tights with a sock-and-ball tucked inside.

Around 100 teams from as near as the Tufts Res Quad — the practice area of the Hufflepuffs, who shocked the Quidditch world with a run to the finals last season — and as far away as Finland will put brooms between their legs and flock to the two-day Cup, held Nov. 12-13 at Randall’s Island, N.Y. In anticipation of the historic event, I spoke with International Quidditch Association Commissioner Alex Benepe last week. Here are some excerpts from our interview: Ben Kochman: Why do people play Quidditch?

Alex Benepe: I’d say that it’s around 50 percent who play it for the sake of trying something new that looks fun, and then it’s 25 percent who are really hardcore “Harry Potter” fans and want to relive the books, and then another 25 percent are super-awesome athletes who burned out on regular sports and want to try something new.

BK: Is Quidditch a legitimate sport?

AB: To me, the term legitimate sport is hard to define. It’s a relative term. I think it will definitely be a sustainable sport.

I think that it’s actually more exciting to watch than most sports when it’s played at a high level, mostly because most sports have only one ball, and when you watch a championship Quidditch match played with two teams of serious athletes, and they’re dealing with four balls instead of one, it’s a lot more action.

BK: I’ve heard you’re not a die-hard HP fan. Are these allegations true?

AB: It’s true. I’ve read the books, watched the movies and definitely like the series a lot, but I’m not like a crazy fan about it. I would probably suck hard at Harry Potter trivia.

BK: Middlebury has won the Cup every year. Is this the year in which they are finally dethroned?

AB: There are a lot of teams this year that stand a very good chance of winning. I know for a fact that Middlebury’s top players all graduated last year and won’t be coming back, so we’ll see what happens.

BK: You have a signature look, with a suit, scepter and top hat. What are the origins of your persona?

AB: If you have a sport where people are running around on brooms, I feel like naturally people might feel a little silly about that. So I think that it’s important for the person who’s at the head of it, the leader of it, to be willing to dress up a little bit too.

BK: As the HP books and movies keep getting older, how can Quidditch keep growing?

AB: We went to an elementary school this past fall, and every single one of the kids there had read or seen “Harry Potter.” So I think if elementary schools are still into it, I don’t think you’re going to see knowledge of “Harry Potter” dying down.

BK: You’re single, right? [Right.] What kind of response do you get from the ladies when they find out about your job?

AB: It’s a wide variety. Some people are really into it. If they haven’t read “Harry Potter” than they really don’t know what it’s about. One thing I’ve learned is to never assume who is or is not a “Harry Potter” fan. Sometimes the last person based on your initial impression will end up being a “Harry Potter” fan and sometimes people who seem like they obviously would be are not actually fans.

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

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Shallow secondary could derail 2011 Patriots

Team to withstand loss of seniors

INSIDE NFL

continued from page 11

home, the kicker is the only player currently on the Patriots from the 2006 and 2007 drafts.

2008: Having forfeited their 31st pick in the first round due to “Spygate,” Belichick made three draft-day trades to accumulate picks.

The net result of the draft was linebacker Jerod Mayo, who is one of their stronger defensive players to date, and an extra second rounder the following year. Even though their secondand third-round picks were busts, the draft was mildly successful.

2009: This was the year everyone thought Belichick’s strategy of hoarding picks would pay off. Coming off a year in which they missed the playoffs, the Pats should have been looking to reload. Instead of attempting to package their multiple picks to move up into the early first round, they inexplicably traded entirely out of the first round and ended up with four second-rounders and two thirds.

The Packers again took advantage of Belichick’s draft miscues and selected linebacker Clay Matthews with the 26th overall pick that they received from New England. For all the Belichick believers out there, Jennings and Matthews are two of the most integral pieces of a team that currently holds the Lombardi Trophy.

As for the Pats’ picks, wide receiver Brandon Tate, who was cut this past offseason, was selected in the third round one pick ahead of Steelers receiver Mike Wallace, who is currently the best deep threat in the entire league — in other words, what Tate was supposed to become.

2010: Loaded with a plethora of draft picks, Belichick opted to, yet again, move further back in the draft and accumulate selections rather than packaging them for a higher pick.

The Pats’ strategy seemed to have paid off early, as they struck gold with not one but two star tight ends in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron

Women’s Soccer continued from page 11

MCT

The Patriots passed on wide receiver Greg Jennings (85) in the 2006 draft, only to watch him win the Super Bowl with the Packers in 2010.

Hernandez. Their biggest prize, however, was cornerback Devin McCourty. Their first-round pick finished his rookie campaign with seven interceptions, en route to a Pro Bowl appearance. McCourty has struggled in his sophomore season, however, failing to record an interception to date.

2011: A blueprint has been established for beating this year’s Patriots team. The Pats rank dead-last in the NFL in passing yards allowed. Their secondary was exposed this past weekend as Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger attempted 50 passes, completing 36, including two touchdown strikes.

In the 2011 draft, Belichick had the opportunity to upgrade his defense but instead elected to draft two running backs in the first three rounds, along with a quarterback in the fourth. Neither rusher has received significant playing time this season as BenJarvus GreenEllis, Danny Woodhead and Kevin Faulk

shoulder the backfield load. Cornerback Ras-I Dowling, whom New England snagged in the second round, was placed on injured reserve this past week after playing in only the first two games of the year.

The Patriots are now ravaged in the secondary, after releasing Meriweather and corners Leigh Bodden and Darius Butler during the first eight weeks.

For an elite regular-season team and a perennial contender, it is terrifying to consider what could have been had just half of the Patriots’ draft selections played out like they did in the early 2000s. The truth is: The Pats have no pass rush and a porous secondary, ranking near the bottom of the league in two categories that are vital for success.

In the era of great quarterbacks and passing stats, New England is a step behind.

That’s why the Patriots haven’t won a Super Bowl since 2004.

assists on the season, will be lost to graduation. Whiting and the Jumbos will count on Von Puttkammer, the second leading scorer and a team player who posted six assists. Von Puttkammer served as the spark plug in countless offensive pieces and played an integral role in corner opportunities, unsettled attacks and consistent play on both ends of the field.

“Our seniors are irreplaceable,” she said. “They are all extremely talented players and teammates. We had exceptional leadership this year, and they did a great job of bringing the team together.

We have big shoes to fill.”

Stewart, who finished the season with four goals and an assist despite missing the first few games, will lead the way for the class of 2014, while six freshmen will return for their sophomore fall, led by midfielder Alina Okamoto, who played in 14 of 15 games. The Jumbos’ depth was one of their greatest strengths this fall, and Tufts’ experienced players will return hungrier and smarter than ever.

The penalty kick loss was a hard one to swallow — but if the Jumbos can learn to maintain their intensity and convert on goal-scoring opportunities, they will come back next fall ready to succeed.

“Our team is lucky to be returning 19 great players next season,” LoveNichols said. “While I think that my senior class is extremely talented and has done a great job leading our team this season, I have no doubt that the junior and sophomore classes will step up even more next season and lead our team to greatness.”

Talented freshmen should lift Jumbos to new heights in 2012 MEN’S SOCCER

continued from page 11

to come because the results were predictable. Few thought that Tufts could upset the Lord Jeffs or would not beat Plymouth State or Endicott.

The Jumbos’ other three NESCAC matches during this span — against Colby, Trinity and Conn. College — better exemplified the success that this team could have if it became more efficient on offense.

Besides a 3-0 road loss to the Lord Jeffs, the Jumbos only allowed five goals in the six matches after Middlebury, showing their clear improvement technically and athletically along the back line. Head coach Josh Shapiro utilized a slew of defenders in critical situations this season, including senior Jesse Poon, juniors Pat Bauer and Michael Walker, sophomores Ben Ewing and Booth and freshmen Sam Williams and Peter Lee-Kramer. Senior tricaptain Alan Bernstein was also steady as the team’s goalkeeper, allowing just over one goal per game and averaging 4.75 saves — the highest mark in the conference.

It was important that the defense played well in the first half of the season because the offense struggled mightily: The Jumbos only scored four goals in their first six conference matches. Considering the inexperience of their attacking players, however, growing pains were probably to be expected.

“We got more confident as the season went along and converted on more of our chances,” Booth said. “Since we have so many freshmen, we needed to get used to playing together, develop a playing style and improve as team.”

Sitting at 4-2-2, the Jumbos

faced UMass Dartmouth on Oct. 11 in the team’s most difficult non-conference test of the season.

After conceding two early tallies to the visiting Corsairs, Tufts’ attack kicked it into gear at exactly the right moment, exploding for three goals, including a game-winner from opportunistic freshman midfielder Gus Santos in the 102nd minute. It was the first time in almost a month that the Jumbos had scored three goals in a game and marked the awakening of what became a dynamic offensive unit.

This group helped lead the Jumbos to three wins in five days in midOctober. In those matches, seven Tufts players, including three freshmen, scored a combined 11 goals to elevate the Jumbos to third place in the conference standings and a No. 5 ranking in New England.

The most critical victory during this three-match span came on Homecoming, when forward Maxime Hoppenot, who finished his rookie campaign with six goals, struck in the 24th and 41st minutes to give Tufts a 2-0 first half lead over Williams. For the first time in years, an overflowing, energetic Kraft Field crowd had plenty to cheer about as the Jumbos held on to best the Ephs, 2-1, for just their second win over Williams in the teams’ last 13 meetings.

“The crowd was great all match,” said sophomore midfielder Scott Blumenthal in an interview immediately after the win. “We really feed off of them, and they helped us hold on for a crucial win.”

The Jumbos entered their Oct. 22 match at Hamilton unbeaten in their previous six matches, the program’s longest streak since 1999.

After Santos netted the match’s first tally in the 27th minute, it appeared likely that Tufts would finish off Hamilton, which scored only six total goals in 10 conference matches.

But the Jumbos’ defenders suffered a momentary lapse, and the Continentals came to life late in the match. Freshman forward Griffin Abbot scored twice — the latter a golden goal in the 102nd minute — to shock the Jumbos and send them home in fifth place in the conference. It was the first overtime loss of the season for Tufts, and the first time that they were unable to hold on to a lead late in the match.

“We have not done anything specific in practice about playing with a lead. I think there is nothing you really can do except to continue to play the way we were playing,” Ramos-Meyer said. “Coach Shapiro had definitely stressed to maintain composure and focus, multiple times, as we had been in that situation before.”

On the final day of the regular season, Tufts needed a win at Bowdoin and a loss from either Trinity or Williams to secure its first home playoff match since 2001.

While the Jumbos took care of business with a 2-1 overtime win over the Polar Bears, Trinity blanked Wesleyan, 2-0, and Williams held on for a scoreless draw with Middlebury, leaving Tufts in fifth place entering the conference tournament. Had the Jumbos just held on for a draw against lowly Hamilton, they would have finished fourth and hosted the Ephs in the NESCAC quarterfinals.

However, Tufts was forced to travel to face Williamstown, Mass., on Saturday in heavy snow and

freezing rain. The Jumbos took an early 1-0 lead after freshman defenseman Peter Lee-Kramer found the back of the net with a header in the 21st minute.

But once again, the Jumbos’ defense, likely hindered by the extreme weather conditions, unraveled in the second half. The Ephs, after outplaying Tufts for the entire match, finally equalized in the 81st minute. Less than two minutes later, Williams junior Doug Weinrib scored what would be the gamewinning goal to bring the Jumbos’ encouraging 2011 season to a devastating end.

“It was a good season and we accomplished a lot, but the way it ended was pretty disappointing,” Edelman said. “I think everyone thought we could make a run in the tournament.”

One of the keys for Tufts’ success in 2011 was the play of its tremendously talented freshman class.

Over the course of the season, six freshmen started at least once for the Jumbos, and the team’s top three point scorers — Santos, Hoppenot and midfielder Kyle Volpe — were all first-years. Overall, the freshman class scored 18 of the team’s 26 goals and contributed 10 of the Jumbos’ 21 assists. According to Edelman, the class’s maturation was quicker than expected.

“They’re obviously very talented, and you could see them get used to the college game,” he said. “In the NESCAC, it’s a really physical game and there’s a lot of long balls and bigger players. They adjusted pretty quickly, and they should be very confident going into next year.”

“The freshman class was stellar.

No other way to put it,” Ramos-

Meyer added. “From day one, I knew these kids had come to play.

This paved the way for a successful season with a bright future.”

With the loss of only five seniors, including just one that started against Williams, Tufts should return loads of talent at every position next season. In addition, Shapiro plans to bring in another talented freshman class that should push current starters for playing time.

While this season proved that the Jumbos can compete with the best teams in the conference, the team will work toward beating those teams next season and qualifying for the NCAA tournament.

The squad knows how good it was this year but also expects to be even better in 2012.

“We have extremely high expectations because I think we are capable of being the best team in the NESCAC,” Ramos-Meyer said. “It is hard to put a number on a specific record, but I believe we could realistically win every game.”

Next season, the Jumbos will need to score more consistently and suffer fewer defensive lapses, especially late in matches.

Specifically, the Jumbos need their backup goalkeepers — sophomore Wyatt Zeller and firstNick Woolf — to fill the void left by Bernstein and must find another scorer, possibly in the center of the midfield, to complement Santos and Hoppenot. If this happens, expect Tufts to make even more noise in 2012.

Regardless, after the 2011 season, the program can take comfort in knowing that its worst days — the days of a 2-10-2 finish in 2009 — seem to be firmly in the past.

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