2011-12-07

THE TUFTS DAILY

Rain 50/34

VOLUME LXII, NUMBER 58

Where You Read It First Est. 1980 TUFTSDAILY.COM

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Trunk service disruption due to human error Trunk, Tufts’ learning management system, was restored to service yesterday at 1:30 a.m. after being down for approximately 13 hours.

The disruption in service occurred at 11:47 a.m. on Monday when a member of the University Information Technology (UIT) team accidentally deleted a part of the infrastructure that must be present in order for Trunk to work, according to Director of Communications and Organizational Effectiveness Dawn Irish.

The deletion occurred during a routine cleanup after a system update, according to Director of Educational and Scholarly Technology Services Gina Siesing. Trunk did not lose any data in the process, she said.

The university first sent an email to alert the community of the service disruption at approximately 3 p.m. on Monday. The email said service would be restored between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

At approximately 10 p.m., the university stated in another email to the community that service had not been restored, and it was still working to correct the problem.

A third email sent around 9 a.m. yesterday said that Trunk was up and running normally again and apologized for the inconvenience to all those affected.

“Such extended downtime is rare for Tufts, and we are very concerned about this major disruption in service,” the email said.

The process of restoring Trunk took much longer than expected, Siesing said.

“Several files that are key did not actually get copied over to the right place,” she said. “It took a few tries for that process to work.”

UIT met yesterday to debrief the situation and has begun to fill out a service disruption report in order to specify the cause of the incident and consider ways to prevent a similar incident in the future, Irish said.

Members of UIT go through training in how to restore systems quickly if they should have an interruption in service, Irish said.

“Before Trunk was live, they went through all sorts of scenarios where the system could go down and how they would restore it,” she said. “We try to be proactive.”

Some professors postponed tests because students could not use Trunk to study class material.

Associate Professor of Political Science Deborah Schildkraut’s political psychology class was supposed to have an exam yesterday, but she postponed it because Trunk was not available, according to junior Kira Hessekiel.

“My professor emailed the classes saying that our test would be canceled because Trunk was down and we couldn’t use the readings to review,” she said.

—by Corinne Segal

Justin McCallum/Tufts Daily

Somerville aldermen are concerned that local businesses may suffer as a result of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Red Line weekend closures.

MBTA offers ad discount to Somerville businesses by

Minyoung Song

Daily Editorial Board

During a meeting yesterday with the Somerville Chamber of Commerce, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) agreed to offer Somerville businesses significant advertising discounts in order to prevent the Red Line shutdowns from negatively impacting local businesses, according to Chairman of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce Ronald Bonney.

“The MBTA is offering an extremely aggressive advertisement discount to the members of the Greater Somerville business community,” Bonney said.

The Red Line of the T has been closed on weekends between Alewife and Harvard since the beginning of November for repairs that are scheduled

Courtesy Dana Cheriff

The women’s club volleyball team’s request for Tier II club sport recognition will be reconsidered next semester.

Women’s club volleyball denied Tier II status by

Bridget Boyle

Contributing Writer

The women’s club volleyball team’s recent request for Tier II club sport recognition was denied due to constraints on staff and practice space, according to Assistant Director of Athletics Branwen Smith-King.

The Club Sport Oversight Committee, a part of the Athletics

Department, decided to put the team’s application for club recognition on hold and plans to reconsider it next semester, Smith-King, who oversees Tier II club sports, explained.

Status as a Tier II club entitles groups to include Tufts University in their official name and hold the university responsible for liability and see VOLLEYBALL, page 2

Inside this issue

to continue until March 2012. MBTA has operated a free bus shuttle between Alewife and Harvard that makes stops at Davis and Porter Squares in order to accommodate travelers.

The negotiations come on the heels of a Nov. 22 resolution passed by the Somerville Board of Aldermen that MBTA contribute to its “Shop in Somerville” ad campaign.

“The resolution just wanted to make sure that the T isn’t negatively impacting the business and commerce activity in Davis Square,” Alderman at-Large John Connolly told the Daily.

The Chamber of Commerce will meet with the MBTA again in the coming weeks to discuss a proposal to solicit local businesses to advertise on rail see CAMPAIGN, page 2

Cell phone service to extend to Blue, Green Lines this month by

Gabrielle Hernandez Daily Editorial Board

The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA), working with the wireless infrastructure company InSite Wireless Group, will finish extending cell phone service along the Blue and Green Lines of the T by the end of this month.

The Red Line, which already has working cell phone coverage in the downtown area between the Kendall and Andrew stations, will get complete cell phone service sometime in 2012, according to MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

Mobile carriers T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon Wireless currently have con-

tracts with InSite to provide cell phone service in the T in the downtown Boston area and along the Orange Line, according to InSite Vice President of Engineering and Operations Joe Mullin.

AT&T and T-Mobile are slated to provide cell phone service in the Blue and Green Line extensions, with Verizon to follow, he added.

“We’re in negotiations with [Verizon],” Mullin told the Daily. “They’ve said they’re certainly coming, but it’s just a matter of when.”

MBTA officials began pursuit of the project in response to frequent customer requests for cell phone access in see CELL PHONES, page 2

Today’s sections

The Daily takes a look at Boston’s first craft distillery since Prohibition.

The Jumbos have a strong showing in their last meet of the fall semester.

see ARTS, page 5

see SPORTS, page 13

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 8

Op-Ed Comics Sports Classifieds

9 10 11 12

2

The Tufts Daily

News

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Red Line to receive full cell phone coverage by 2012 CELL PHONES

continued from page 1

Courtesy Dana Cheriff

The need for the team to have a consistant practice space was cited as a reason that the Club Sport Oversight Committee decided to put the women’s club volleyball team’s request on hold.

Lack of resources leads committee to reject team’s request VOLLEYBALL

continued from page 1

safety, she said.

Though the group has existed unofficially since 2009, this marks the first year that it has sought recognition, according to team captains senior Dana Cheriff and junior Maria Parinova.

“We looked into it the first year and it looked like you really needed to be a more established team and have everything in order. We decided to build up the team first,” Cheriff said.

The team has grown over the past few years, from 20 students attending the team’s first general interest meeting in 2009, to 40 this fall.

“It was very relaxed in the first stages,” Parinova said.

This year, 17 girls out of approximately 25 who tried out were granted spots on the team. The team consists of eight freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors and three seniors.

The team has over the past three years competed in tournaments and organized scrimmages against local teams.

In its application, the group expressed a desire to compete in the future in additional tournaments held in New England, but had no plans to host tournaments, eliminating host liability for the university. They also wanted practice space twice a week in Chase Gym. A lack of campus athletic facilities forced the committee to refuse the team’s application, Smith-King explained.

“Right now, we need to stop and look at how are we going to move forward and support these programs, especially the indoor sports, when we

don’t have enough facilities,” she said.

“It’s impossible to give them time in the gym because we have so many other priorities.”

Currently, the only approved indoor Tier II clubs are self-defense teams, which are able to practice in Jackson Gym, and men’s ice hockey, which rents facilities off-campus, SmithKing noted.

In previous years, the volleyball team practiced wherever they could find space on campus, Parinova said.

This semester, they have not been practicing regularly due to lack of space, she explained.

A lack of athletics staff also makes it difficult to accept another Tier II club sport, Smith-King explained.

While the demand for Tier II clubs has increased in recent years, the Athletics Department does not have a full-time staff member who can focus primarily on club sports, she said.

The team is currently working to find a coach and considering renting space at a gymnasium at a local high school, such as Medford High School, for next semester, according to Parinova.

If the team can obtain practice space off campus independently, the committee will be more likely to approve their request next semester, Smith-King added.

“I want to make sure that if or when we approve them they have a space to practice,” she said.

Parinova said that the team hopes that their request will be granted in the spring.

“I’m happy that it’s a least a possibility that we will be recognized in the future,” she said.

Somerville businesses fear profit decrease due to T closures CAMPAIGN

continued from page 1

and buses, according to Bonney.

Somerville businesses fear as much as a 20 percent decrease in profits as a result of the closures, Bonney explained. The campaign is designed to draw more customers in order to prevent businesses from having to lay off workers, Bonney said.

President and CEO of the Somerville Chamber of Commerce Stephen Mackey noted that local businesses in the retail and dining sectors have already experienced negative impacts due to the closures.

Somerville’s routine weekend visitors have been most affected by the shutdowns, Connolly explained.

“From talking to most of the local merchants, it really hasn’t been a problem for regular business consumers as it has been more of an inconvenience for people who are used to travel[ing] on Red Lines on weekends,” he said.

Aldermen worry that there will not

be an adequate number of shuttle buses between Harvard and Alewife to accommodate travelers during the colder winter months and that consumers may not want to take the shuttle as the weather worsens, according to Alderman at-Large Bruce Desmond.

“My concern is that people would get discouraged and let go of Davis Square and all that area,” he said.

Bonney also created ShopInSomerville.com, a website designed to encourage the consumption of local services and goods, he said. The website’s search engine helps users locate various businesses in Somerville.

Aldermen expressed hope that the new campaign will continue to benefit local business beyond the T closures.

“It’s a new project and one that the impetus of it was the shutdowns, but I think it will remain as a campaign to keep people shopping in the city,” Bonney said.

the subway, according to Pesaturo.

“It was a common request that we received from many customers who expressed an interest in having cell phone availability while they were underground,” he said. “Over the years, we’ve also heard from some customers who feel more comfortable traveling at night if they can use their phones when they’re traveling in the subway.”

The MBTA submitted two requests for infrastructure proposals in the early 2000s, eventually settling on InSite’s plan in May 2005, according to Mullin.

InSite’s plan capitalizes on the existing fiber optic work in the T system, he said.

It creates cell phone reception by running fiber optic cables through the subway tunnels and stations in order to convert radio waves, provided by cell phone carriers, into signals that travel along the cables. The signals travel through the tunnels and then convert back into radio waves to create reception for cell phones, according to Mullin.

Though the project has been in the works for over six years, InSite has found it difficult to do construction given the T’s operating schedule.

“One of the biggest challenges is that the trains are running all the time except

for overnight, and by the time everything gets done and they shut off power to the lines so we can work on it, we only get two to two-and-a-half hours a night to work,” Mullin said.

Pesaturo has been able to observe the success of bringing cell phone service to the subway from its heavy use in existing reception areas in the downtown area.

“I use the Green Line every day, so when I board at Park Street, where it’s been cell phone ready for a few years now, I look around and I see everyone either talking on their cell phone or looking at their cell phone,” he said.

The eventual extension of cell phone coverage north of the Kendall Square station should come as a welcome change for Tufts students who take the T to and from the Davis Square T station, which doesn’t currently have reception.

Senior Juliana Woodley, who commutes to an internship in Roxbury twice a week, finds it frustrating to hop on the T and not have coverage until she gets downtown.

“I’m usually late for things, and having to wait until I get to Charles MGH to call is a huge pain,” Woodley said.

“Some lines are half-above ground anyway though, so there’s some service there.”

Gabriela Ros/Tufts Daily

Cell phone service will be extended to the Blue and Green Lines of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority by the end of the month and to the entire Red Line next year.

Police briefs Smellin’ the smell Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) at 5:00 p.m. on Dec. 1 arrived at Haskell Hall to investigate a call regarding the smell of marijuana in the residence hall. Two students admitted to smoking, but they said there was no marijuana left. Nothing was confiscated, and a report will be sent to the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs.

Chaos in the dirty Lew A student at 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 3 was transported from Lewis Hall to Somerville Hospital for alcohol poisoning. TUPD Sgt. Robert McCarthy said it was unclear what else the student had

been doing that night, “besides drinking, of course.”

Another student at 12:35 a.m. on Dec. 4 was similarly transported from Lewis Hall to Somerville Hospital for alcohol poisoning.

Greeting from the south A visiting student from the University of Connecticut at 3:45 a.m. on Dec. 3 was transported from Carmichael Hall to Lawrence Memorial Hospital for alcohol poisoning. McCarthy was unsure why the student was on campus at the time.

“He was probably just visiting a friend,” he said.

—compiled by Marie Schow

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Despite NQR nostalgia, students reluctant to face consequences for rebelling against ban

Daily Editorial Board

Although popular opinion across the Hill indicates that students are passionate about asserting their rights to let it all hang loose on the Res Quad, the potential consequences for defying the ban on NQR are discouraging many from enacting forms of protest, nude or otherwise.

“I think they made [the consequences] harsh enough that students wouldn’t do it,” sophomore Trey Lawrence said. He added that he hadn’t heard of any students planning on defying the ban in any way.

Sophomore Annie King agreed.

“Eve r since [ De a n Reitman’s] email about what the consequences are, the majority of people I’ve talked to have said that it’s not worth the consequences.”

Senior Aleta Pierce said that her decision not to participate in NQR was not solely predicated on the threat of suspension, but also on other factors.

“If they banned it and sent out a threatening email and I had a bunch of friends who still wanted to do it, I would, but very few people are doing it, so I wouldn’t do it alone. It’s more like the amount of people who are doing it, not the threat,” Pierce said.

Pierce added that the number of students defying the ban would also affect the university’s ability to enforce it.

“If the whole school did it, then what would they do? They can’t suspend the whole school,” she said.

King said that she was frustrated with the ambiguity of the ban and consequences outlined in Reitman’s email, and thought that this might further discourage students from attempting any protest activity.

“They probably left it by

Margaret Young

open-ended in order to scare people into not doing anything at all, which I think is kind of unfair,” she said.

However, Pierce interpreted the vague nature of the email differently, saying that since the email only referred to NQR, it allowed students to infer that they might not face the same consequences for doing similar activities on different days.

“I’ve heard people saying, ‘What if we ran around naked on the President’s Lawn in the middle of the day?’ because then it’s not technically the same,” Pierce said.

In his Nov. 15 email to the student body, Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman wrote, “It is important that [students] know about the ban and the serious consequences that can result for those who disregard it … University officials and the police will respond to any students who attempt to test the ban.”

Reitman told the Daily that he thought that any ambiguity in his email had been clarified by an open letter to the Daily written

by Director of Public and Environmental Safety Kevin Maguire.

In the letter, Maguire wrote that “students who are determined to violate the ban on the NQR by being intoxicated or engaging in indecent exposure will be processed in one of two ways. If they become violent, he wrote, they are subject to arrest for “disorderly conduct and/or assault and battery … Students who are not disorderly or violent but who are in need of services based on intoxication will be placed into protective custody, identified for further action by the Dean of Students Office in accordance with the new [Committee on Student Life] CSL policy, and transported to the nearest medical facil-

daily file photo

Students are hesitant to defy the new ban on NQR. ity for evaluation.”

Reitman added that the ban also includes a prohibition on high levels of intoxication.

“It would be the same level of dangerous drinking that would result in a transport, and not anything more than that usual standard,” Reitman said.

King said she was disappointed with Reitman’s decision to send an email to the parents of Tufts students about the consequences of participating in NQR. “I think it was really disrespectful to involve parents. [The administration] should realize that we are all responsible for our own decision-making. It doesn’t show me that the administration has a lot of faith in us, which is disconcerting,” King said.

Reitman explained that he wanted to notify parents so that they would not be taken unaware should their son or daughter have disciplinary actions taken against them.

“We need to end this event. The consequences are potentially dramatic, and frankly I think that families should know about that ahead of time because I don’t want them calling with surprise if something happens to their sons or daughters,” Reitman said.

He added that the response from parents has been varied.

“There have been different responses. A few have said that they wish there could be a level of trust between the police and Tufts students and administration in order to continue this event. Overwhelmingly the response has been in the direction of ‘thanks for keeping us informed and ending the event,’” Reitman said.

Pierce agreed that she wished that Tufts could trust students to continue participating in NQR as they had in the past, even before the administration condoned NQR. “I think they’re being a little extreme. [NQR] used to happen with the administration not wanting it to, and then they decided to make it a university event,” she said.

However, King said that for her, come the last day of classes, the bottom line will be that her desire to advocate for the naked run will be outweighed by her desire to remain at Tufts.

“NQR is about school pride, and not being able to come back [during spring semester] is totally not school pride. I love NQR but I wouldn’t want to risk suspension,” she said.

Back it up: how to recover from a hard drive meltdown by

Amelia Quinn

Daily Editorial Board

The stress of finals is enough to drive just about anyone to their limit.

When the woes of technological breakdowns compound that stress — as the campus saw when a Trunk service disruption brought studying to a halt for frazzled students across the Hill — it might be the final straw that turns stress into sheer panic. Possibly the most destructive computer-related disruption is a hard drive crash, as senior Emily Shaw learned in her sophomore year.

“At the end of the fall semester during finals, my hard drive just wouldn’t turn on, my computer wouldn’t open,” senior Emily Shaw remembered. “I lost everything I had done since senior year of high school ... all of my labs, all of my college essays, all of my photos.”

Shaw’s situation is not uncommon

— while it is fairly easy to back up data to either a hard drive or virtual storage area, it’s a step that often doesn’t seem necessary until it’s too late.

Judi Vellucci, team leader for the University Information Technology’s (UIT ) call center and manager of UIT’s support center located at 35 Lower Campus Rd., said that hard drive crashes are a fairly common plague among Jumbos.

“We’ve seen a lot of them this year,” Vellucci said. “In all those cases, the same thing applies — if it’s here, the student doesn’t have their data, and we can back up only so much for them.”

“We can back up their documents and their photos, but we can’t back up their music and videos or anything like this, because of copyright issues.

We’ll give our best effort to retrieve their data for them, it’s not guaranteed — although there’s a high suc-

cess rate, it’s not always successful,” Vellucci continued.

The UIT Support Center offers its services at no additional cost and can complete repairs for both Dell and Apple computers still on warranty.

For computers whose warranties have expired, the center can diagnose the problem and then replace a broken part once the student has ordered it.

While some of the data on a damaged computer can often be recovered, there are times when nothing can be done once a hard drive fails.

“In many cases, the student loses everything,” Vellucci said. “In a lot of situations, we’re able to get the data off the dead drive by mounting it on an alternative operating system.”

“But again,” she said, “it’s not guaranteed.”

The consequences of a hard drive crash go beyond the loss of whatever see CRASH, page 4

Alison Williams and Sarah Gottlieb | Generation Sex

Ho ho ho!

S

o it’s the holiday season. You’re enjoying the various holiday-themed parties across campus and waiting to go home so you can partake in whatever festivities your family and friends have planned. What about your sex life? Are you going to let it die down a bit simply because you won’t be on campus? Hell to the no.

You’re keeping up your latest winning streak even when you’re back home. Even if home means the middle of Oklahoma.

Or the South. Naturally, we’re here to share some of our favorite holiday sex tips so you can keep your break as festive as possible.

Over the break, some of you may be wondering: what do you do with all of this extra food from holiday parties you attend?

Word on the street is that you can make use of all those candy canes lying around ... if you know what we mean. And if you don’t, just walk around during the holidays with a candy cane constantly in your mouth. That’s sexy, right? Girls, if you’re skeptical about adding food or drink to your sex life, sit back and drink a glass of red wine. The wine will raise your testosterone levels and make your sexual reactions more intense. No, we’re not lying this time.

You know how some people have carefully crafted sex playlists? Maybe you could drag some of those leftover holiday songs in your iTunes library over to your sexiest list.

Seducing someone to the sound of “Jingle Bells”? Maybe it’ll make him or her want to take you on your own personal sleigh ride.

And don’t forget the gifts! The holiday season is perfect for hinting to that special someone you’d like to get it on with. Leave your crush a bag of candy canes with some condoms hidden inside. Totally not creepy. Get your girlfriend some of that ridiculously sparkly red lingerie you were drooling over while watching the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Also, don’t be afraid to get some gifts for yourself! Treat yourself to a holiday-themed vibrator or some pine-scented lube. Wait, that exists? You’d be surprised what kinds of holiday-themed sex toys exist. Thanks to the Internet, we’ve found quite a few cheerfully named sex kits. Why don’t you buy your special someone an “Up the Chimney Kit”? Only $39!

However, we must caution you away from some of the more ridiculous holiday accessories and lingerie. We’re talking about the candy cane-shaped thong you were thinking about putting on your penis. It’s a bad idea, buddy.

For those of you who celebrate Christmas, try having sex under your Christmas tree! It’s like a present you can open right away! Just ignore the pine needles that may or may not fall all around you. It’s better than sand, right?

And for our Jewish contingent, you’ve got eight nights of raunchy fun! Start with something a little innocent the first night, maybe just a make-out session, and then let it get naughtier and naughtier as the lights of the menorah are lit! By night eight, you should try something crazy! And if you do, we want to hear about it, obviously. On the plus side, you can be as naughty as you want since you don’t have to worry about Santa bringing you coal.

All jokes aside, we want you to have a joyous and sexy holiday season while you’re away from Tufts. Have a lovely break with your families and friends. Stay away from that creepy ex who still lives in your neighborhood and won’t leave you alone. Remember to always use condoms, no matter what flavor they are. We wish you many fantastic nights fueled by holiday leftovers and spiked eggnog. Happy holidays from your favorite sex columnists!

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

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

UIT: to avoid panic when hard drives crash, ‘redundancy is a good thing’ CRASH

continued from page 3

work its user might be working on at the moment.

“My hard drive crashed the first week of my freshman year, and it was the worst experience of my life, ranked up there with me blowing out a tire on the Mass Pike,” junior Nicholas Adolph said. “I lost everything on my computer, including all the programs that I had, like Microsoft Office and Photoshop, and all of my documents as well,” he said.

So what can students do to ensure that they don’t lose everything when technology inevitably fails them?

For Macs, Vellucci recommended the Apple software Time Machine, which can roll a computer’s system back to a previous version, among other services.

“I’d say be proactive rather than reactive and back your data up,” Vellucci said.

“I’ve been a lot better [since my hard drive crashed],” Adolph said. “Once I got my computer back, I backed up all of my info to an external hard drive, and now I got a new computer, so I back it up onto Time Machine. I back it up every 20 days or so, even though I guess it should be even more often,” Adolph said.

Alternatively, Velucci said, Tufts houses a network drive that gets backed up every night and is accessible using a Tufts username and password.

“It’s not very large, but it’s free,” she said. “Also, Google Docs are good, especially for final papers and senior theses. There’s also Dropbox … or you can get an external hard drive if you have tons of data you want to store,” she said. “Redundancy is a good thing.”

External hard drives, depending on their size, can store even more data than the original laptops themselves.

“Unless you’re extremely unlucky and both your internal and external [hard drives] break at the same time, you’re going to have one working copy,” senior Stephen Gurdo, who has worked on computers at Tufts for two-and-a-

Scott Tingley/Tufts Daily

Students have a number of options, including personal external hard drives, for avoiding disaster if their laptop’s hard drive crashes. half years and is now the senior resident computer consultant with Tufts OnLine, said.

Gurdo said that he sees hard drive crashes on a daily basis, although most of the time he is able to get at least some files off the hard drive that has crashed.

“Once every three weeks or so, some-

one will come in and we just won’t be able to help them at all,” Gurdo said.

Gurdo and Vellucci both said that students are often understandably upset when they come in for computer repairs.

“They become very emotional; they’re in a panic mode,” said Vellucci.

“They’re trying to get their work done

and suddenly this one place that they had everything is not functioning, and they can’t get to anything they need.

Back it up, back it up, back it up — I can’t say it enough. Email us … we’re here, we’re a resource and we can help you through — but, as a savvy user, you should be backing your data up,” she said.

Arts & Living

5

tuftsdaily.com

Album Review

‘El Camino’ is addictive but inconsistent The Black Keys’ latest marks an undesired change by

Kate Griffiths

Senior Staff Writer

A mixed bag of dirty guitar riffs and somewhat ridiculous lyrics, the Black Keys’ latest album is the band’s impres-

The Black Keys Nonesuch

Simon Fernandez Music Photographer via Flickr Creative Commons

The Black Keys’ seventh studio album disappoints. a gritty and groovy debut album, “El Camino” sounds overproduced. Band members Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney recorded their first two albums in Carney’s basement and their third in an abandoned factory, providing a raw, energized sound.

Album opener “Lonely Boy” is, however, incredibly addictive, especially with the added bonus of the music video featuring aspiring actor, musician and part-time security guard Derick T. Tuggle dancing for three minutes in a manner reminiscent of Carlton from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (1990-1996). The song

“Gold on the Ceiling” is to “El Camino” as “Girl Is On My Mind” was to “Rubber Factory” (2004), offering distorted guitar chords and Auerbach’s near-falsetto vocals taking their sound far beyond bluesy.

“Little Black Submarines” is probably the most exciting song on the album, starting with Auerbach’s quiet, melodic vocals over a slow drum rhythm as he sings, “But everybody knows/That a broken heart is blind.” Listeners can’t help but nod along, believing it’s the requisite see BLACK KEYS, page 6

TV Review

‘House’ can’t cure formulaic structure by

Alexander Hanno Daily Staff Writer

Hugh Laurie first graced TV screens as Dr. Gregory House in November 2004, and the good news

House

COURTESY HEATH ROBBINS

The Willis brothers and their Bully Boy distillery make drinking an enjoyable experience.

Bully Boy Distillers move past Prohibition by

Alec Schilling

Daily Staff Writer

Drinking in college is often an unpleasant experience. Hard alcohol, most often vodka, is purchased for the cheapest price available, then mixed with soda, juice or Kool-Aid mix — anything to mask that bite. Some discerning souls appreciate a gin and tonic or particular brand of jungle juice, but most desperate college students are just drinking to get drunk.

Will and Dave Willis of Bully Boy Distillers are looking to change that.

“There’s a lot of opportunity to add flavors of ginger, honey — it’s almost like cooking,” Dave Willis told the Daily.

The distillery makes bottles and distributes vodka, rum (light and dark) and whiskey (new and aged), and all their products are organic and as locally sourced as possible.

The process is more complicated

‘Dragon Tattoo’ smokes Cubans

A

El Camino

sive seventh studio album in nine years.

“El Camino” is the second full album by the Ohio-based duo to be produced by Danger Mouse, the first being “Attack and Release” (2008). Danger Mouse — otherwise known as the creator of the infamous “Grey Album” (2004), a remix of the Beatles’ “White Album” (1968) and Jay-Z’s “Black Album” (2003) — is behind some of the biggest hits of the past decade, including the formation of the groups Gnarls Barkley and Broken Bells. The part he played in “Attack and Release” made it arguably one of The Black Keys’ finest albums; it certainly helped project them into the mainstream.

The outcome of “El Camino” therefore, is slightly disappointing. While there are certainly tracks that stand out as instantly catchy singles, the minimalistic, grungy blues-rock that gave the Black Keys a certain standout style is a thing of the past. Compared to the simplistic and sexy guitar that made “The Big Come Up” (2002) such

Jordan Teicher | The Independent

Starring Hugh Laurie, Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard Airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on FOX

than most consumers imagine. For vodka, it starts with grains sourced from Maine.

The grains are fermented and vaporized through a series of intimidating-looking machines, resulting in a bottle of concentrated, 120-proof alcohol. This is then filtered extensively and diluted.

Rum and whiskey are the fun parts for the Willises.

“Rum is very dear to me,” Will Willis said, “and our white whiskey is the most interesting product we offer.”

Dave is also a rum man, although he said that asking him to choose a favorite drink is like “asking [him] to choose a favorite child!”

Molasses is fermented and distilled in a process similar to the vodka, and both the rum and whiskey come out clear. “Most people think rum or

is that he’s as crude and sarcastic as ever. Unfortunately, this constant is not enough to salvage the “House” audiences have come to know and love as it continues to erode in quality.

In case you are unfamiliar with the show, it chronicles the life of Dr. House, a brilliant, painkilleraddicted doctor who solves mysterious cases of illness with his team of diagnostic physicians at the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey.

Episodes revolve around each new case, while larger story arcs progress in the background.

Through it all, House delivers quips and manipulates patients and team members for one reason or another, tying up the episode with a revelation that solves the case at hand.

Serving as House’s longtime friend is Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), the reasonable, grounded half of the pair and the sly protagonist’s only confidante.

see BULLY BOY, page 6

see HOUSE, page 6

nd, with one of the strangest titles you will ever read, I begin my last column of the semester. This week, we have a film critic controversy. The New Yorker disobeyed an embargo imposed by Sony Pictures that prevented all film reviews for “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” from being published until Dec. 13. The New Yorker film critic David Denby’s review of the movie ran in the magazine’s Dec. 5 issue, and the topic has since generated some Internet buzz after emails were leaked between Denby and Scott Rudin, one of the film’s producers. In the emails, Rudin characterizes The New Yorker’s decision to defy the embargo as “lousy and immoral.” Rudin also prohibits Denby from attending future screenings of his films.

With this type of response, one would expect Denby’s review of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” to be maliciously scathing or at least somewhat damaging to the film’s future. But no. Instead, Denby praised the film, adding another layer to an already puzzling situation. Rudin v. Denby has set off a small storm on Twitter among movie critics.

Most believe Denby is at fault for breaking the embargo, but they also object to Rudin’s opinion that a positive review will negatively impact the film’s public perception. In an odd twist, Rudin’s harsh public stance on the topic may have more of a harmful effect on the film than any bad review ever could.

You may be wondering why film review embargos even exist. What is the point of forcing critics to sit on material for weeks before a movie’s release? Why invite them to such an early screening of a film? If studios are worried about backlash from a bad movie, they have the option of skipping the entire critical review process. If a film is good, early favorable press helps build momentum until the release date. It is unlikely that withholding critical reviews will somehow trick people into seeing a particular film. The logic does not add up.

I recognize that as a film critic, I am not the most impartial judge on the topic, but Denby is still wrong for violating the embargo.

To attend a critics-only screening, he had to RSVP saying he would respect the embargo.

He clearly did not do that.

The whole fiasco has plenty of relevance to my brief film-critiquing career.

Two months ago, I reviewed “Martha Marcy May Marlene” for CriticsNoteBook.com. I attended a public screening of the film at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square. To secure a seat in the theater, my editor put me in contact with the marketing company handling the film’s screenings, and a publicist told me there was a review embargo.

I would have to withhold my article for a few weeks. When I got to Brattle Theatre, however, there was nobody to check in with, and I walked right in — again, for a public screening — and watched the movie.

That same week, “Martha Marcy May Marlene” screened at the New York Film Festival (NYFF). My editor chose to publish my overwhelmingly positive review a few days later in conjunction with our website’s coverage of the NYFF, and when the publicist saw we did not obey the embargo, she had a similar response to Rudin.

Were we at fault? Slightly, but we were not nearly as much to blame as Denby and the New Yorker staff. Public screenings and critics-only screenings are two different beasts.

Additionally, I did not RSVP to attend the screening. Regardless of the blame, movie review embargos are futile conditions that, especially in the “Dragon Tattoo” example, take attention away from the most important entity: the piece of art. Movie reviews should be about movies; any other explanation is lousy and immoral.

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

Teicher@tufts.edu.

6

The Tufts Daily

Arts & Living

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Laurie battles valiantly to keep show afloat in its eighth season HOUSE

continued from page 5

This season, one of House’s past team members, Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps), perhaps the only doctor who tests his mentor’s authority and judgment on a regular basis, was hired as the dean of medicine, ironically serving as his former boss’ superior.

Other long-time regulars include the suave Dr. Robert Chase ( Jesse Spencer) and the trouble-ridden Dr. Chris Taub (Peter Jacobson), both members of House’s team.

It is truly impressive when a show can last eight seasons, especially if said program can last eight seasons and maintain the quality it had at the start.

Unfortunately, “House” is not a rare example success; it has declined steadily over time.

This season not only boasts the lowest ratings the show has ever seen, but may just mark its worst in terms of quality as well.

Much of the show’s recent failing has to do with a lack of former regular cast members.

Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), the past dean of medicine at the hospital and House’s long-time love interest, no longer remains part of the cast.

Providing a strong, authoritative female presence and an enjoyable platform for banter and drama with House, Cuddy’s presence was fundamental to the show.

Furthermore, “House’s” only other regular female character, Thirteen (Olivia Wilde), departed this season as well, leaving audiences with a pair of unfamiliar and seemingly inexperienced actresses to fill the void.

Here lies “House’s” main problem.

Odetta Yustman and Charlyne Yi serve as the two new doctors, and although neither is particularly moving in their performances, Yi is quite possibly one of the worst actors in the business.

Her awkward character is overplayed, and when she isn’t spitting out her dialogue in an inaudible manner,

she is unnecessarily shouting her lines angrily, as if reading a script on a high school stage.

Their foreign presence seems to have an effect on the remainder of the cast, who seem uncomfortable and unable to act well with either of them.

Because of this, the overall energy is quite low compared to past seasons.

Moreover, there simply doesn’t seem to be much at stake for the characters.

There is little to no conflict amongst the doctors and what conflict there is seems trivial.

Luckily, Laurie is still fantastic. After winning two Golden Globes — out of a whopping six nominations — for his role as House, Laurie certainly knows who House is.

Despite the show’s recent decline, House remains the same cantankerous ass audiences grew to love, reinvigorated due to the presence of new doctors to manipulate and rear. He’s clever, ironic and as difficult to deal with as always.

The relationship between House and Wilson has been maintained as well.

The pair’s back and forth retorts and petty competitions are as humorous as ever, providing the show’s muchneeded comic component.

The show’s episode structure is intact, too.

Though some audiences may have become bored with the same old “mystery disease” plot that each episode possesses, “House” has flourished for eight years following this pattern and doesn’t seem to have plans of stopping.

In all, though, as past season regulars have dropped off and have been replaced by new, rushed and altogether inappropriate additions to the cast, “House” has begun to erode from the witty yet intense drama it once was to something far less impressive.

While loyal fans may still be appeased

by House’s antics and his competitive relationship with Wilson, TV’s most sarcastic doctor seems to be on his deathbed.

Scott Garfield/FOX

Though Hugh Laurie still offers an excellent performance, ‘House’ is foundering in its eighth season.

Brothers pursue passion with local flair BULLY BOY

continued from page 5

Julio Enriquez via Flickr Creative Commons

Generic influences plague ‘El Camino.’

The Black Keys’ latest album leaves fans wanting more BLACK KEYS

continued from page 5

ballad on the album, and then, bam — the song degenerates into a bumpy ride into rock and roll, making it the longest track on “El Camino.”

Each song is distinctive enough to stand out on the album, but definitely not to the extent that the aforementioned tracks do.

“Run Right Back” demonstrates the deterioration of their songwriting skills as Auerbach croons, “She’s such a special thing/ She doesn’t read too much/ There is no doubt/ She’s written about/ Finest exterior/ She’s so superior.”

Gone are the much more intriguing stories of psychotic girls and cocaine addicts shooting each other, and it is with some confusion and disillusionment that we can lay some of the blame on Danger Mouse, who was an integral part of the writing process for this album and the one who

insisted on more time in the studio for Auerbach and Carney.

The final song, “Mind Eraser,” piques interest again just as the album draws to a close. Auerbach sings “Oh, don’t let it be over” and there’s a certain level of concurrence on the part of the listener as the song progresses into a pseudojazzy instrumental. The track leaves the listener wondering, too late, where the album could have gone from there.

“El Camino” is by no means a bad album; it is, after all, the product of three talented individuals. However, it’s also yet another example of how bands trying to change their style seem to be too heavily influenced by the generic bands that flood the airwaves. For a band that had such distinctive style, it’s sad to see so much of a progression from the mean, gritty sound that made the Black Keys’ fans love them.

whiskey comes out dark and we do something to make it clear, but in fact it’s the other way around,” Will Willis explained, holding up a clear bottle of rum. “The color comes from the tannins in the aging process.”

Will and Dave Willis bottle about 60 percent of their rum and whiskey, and the rest goes in aging barrels.

The barrels range from new barrels to used wine or bourbon barrels, each of which makes for a distinct flavor. Rum in a used bourbon barrel, for instance, has a distinctly sweet vanilla scent. “We leave the barrels for about eight months,” Will Willis said, gesturing to the barrels stacked against the wall. “These are for our spring sales.”

Across from the distilling machines is the “test kitchen,” a group of minibarrels carefully labeled with their contents and a shelf of culinary curiosities.

“We brought in a great mixologist, and she’s been helping us find new flavors,” Dave Willis said. “Since these are smaller quantities and there’s more surface area of the barrel, we’re able to age them in just a few days.”

He pulled a miniature glass out of one barrel, swirled it and sniffed it expertly. “You can really smell the ginger in this one,” he said, and placed the glass back down on the table. “The one thing that’s a little difficult is coming in here in the morning and being like, ‘I have to drink booze right now?’”

All the alcohol is bottled and labeled in the same facility, and then the batch number is handwritten on the label, a task painstakingly undertaken by their intern, Betsy Stavis, a Boston University student of legal drinking age. From there, the bottles are packed up and distributed through a middleman to restaurants, bars and liquor stores all over Massachusetts.

Bully Boy Distillery, Boston’s first artisan distillery since Prohibition, opened in June and has been growing ever since. “At the beginning, we were distributing ourselves,” Will Willis said. “We’d work here till 1 p.m., then load up our cars and literally go doorto-door delivering. We’d get requests in from, you know, Cape Cod and have to say we couldn’t do it.”

Now, though, Bully Boy is working toward expansion into Rhode Island and New Hampshire. “We definitely want to continue to grow,” Will Willis said, “but without losing that really local brand. Without losing our values.”

“Local” is very important to Will and Dave Willis. The brothers, both tall with shaggy blond hair and open, friendly faces, grew up on a fourthgeneration working farm in western Massachusetts, and they were always producing craft products.

“We did jams, jellies, ciders and more,” said Dave Willis. “We had a little three-gallon stove distiller and it was a natural progression from cider to hard cider and eventually liquor.”

They learned distilling on their own and perfected their understanding of the machinery with a major distillery in Missouri.

Starting a distillery wasn’t an automatic decision, however. After attending University of Richmond in Richmond, Va., and Colby College in Maine, respectively, Will Willis pursued real estate finance and Dave Willis became a lawyer.

“It’s cliche,” Will Willis admitted, “but we both had that moment where we were like, why don’t we start doing something we really love?”

Their passion comes through clearly, both in the process and the product. Bully Boy Distillers has succeeded in making drinking — not just getting drunk — an enjoyable experience.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Tufts Daily

ADVERTISEMENT

7

The Tufts Daily

8

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

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

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

Editorialists

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

Executive Photo Editor Photo Editors

Assistant Photo Editors

Staff Photographers

Editorial | Letters

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Editorial

Production of Tufts statue should include students Last Sunday, the TCU Senate approved 11 out of 12 proposals for surplus grants, with a total of $167,900 distributed to various student groups and causes. The surplus grants came out of unspent Student Activity Fee funds, with the remnants being rolled over into next year’s surplus.

Though it approved requests for vans and materials by organizations including the Crafts Center and Tufts University Television, the Senate rejected only one proposal for the use of surplus grants: the Office for Campus Life’s request for $36,000 to finish renovations in the Mayer Campus Center. They believed that this was not in keeping with the spirit of the activities fund — that is,

it was not a student activity but rather something that should be covered by the administration or by some other source of university funding.

And yet, the TCU Senate approved $25,000 to put toward a fund to create a statue of Charles Tufts.

The statue’s merits can be debated ad nauseum by the Tufts community, and the senate itself debated for 90 minutes over whether or not to fund it. And while it could potentially be seen an inappropriate use of these resources, we believe that it has the potential to bring the community closer together and to serve as a focal point of school pride, as long as it follows the guidelines of Student Activity

Fee expenditures.

For example, instead of commissioning an outside artist to execute the statue, a university-wide competition could be held to select a student design. This venture could involve collaborations between students in the fine arts — both at Tufts and in the combined degree program with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts — and engineering programs. It could even involve a classroom component.

Whatever its final manifestation, we believe that the creation of this statue should involve students in a central way in order to follow the Senate’s stated goal of spending Student Activity Fee funds on student activities.

Editorial

Precautions needed to prevent disruptions in Trunk availability

Beginning at around noon on Monday, students across campus attempted to log onto their courses’ Trunk sites, only to find the entire system inaccessible. They were met with a link that notified students of technical problems and service wasn’t restored until 1:30 a.m. the next day.

Monday’s malfunction occurred during a cleanup after a system upgrade.

During this cleanup, a University Information Technology (UIT) team member accidentally deleted important files from Trunk’s infrastructure.

One of the reasons Monday’s crash was so problematic is because of the number of students who were relying on accessing Trunk for assignments and study resources. During the final week of the classes, many professors cram in their unfinished course material and tests in the hopes of completing their syllabi.

For many students, the final week of classes is even more important than

reading week; thus, Trunk’s failure during this week is just as problematic as one that could have occurred next week.

With only a week having passed since Thanksgiving break and about two weeks until winter recess, surely UIT could have waited to perform maintenance while students weren’t frantically working with materials kept solely on Trunk.

Monday’s problem was also exacerbated by the degree to which Tufts professors and students rely solely on Trunk. This should serve as a wake-up call to some professors: They should keep backup copies of important materials, mailing lists, and assignments.

With students checking their emails constantly throughout the day, surely professors in many subjects could have a system other than Trunk in place to communicate with their students and send them important files like readings

and problem set answers in the event of Trunk downtime. If such systems were in place, perhaps professors would not have had to postpone tests and assignments, and the remaining week of the semester could’ve proceeded more smoothly in some classes.

The Daily appreciates UIT’s apologetic tone in the emails they sent to the Tufts community. UIT team members clearly regret the failure of Trunk, and they understand the effect it had on classes. The Daily would be surprised to learn that UIT was not doing everything in its power to restore Trunk service as quickly as possible, and we appreciate that Trunk was up and running again by Tuesday morning.

But 13 hours during the last week of classes is way too long for Trunk to be down, and we hope steps are taken to ensure such a crippling outage doesn’t happen again during such a crucial academic period.

Ellen Kan Executive New Media Editor

PRODUCTION Jason Huang

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

devon colmer

Audrey Kuan Executive Online Editor Darcy Mann Online Editors Ben Schwalb Ammar Khaku Executive Technical Manager

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

Correction The Dec. 6 article “Tufts students qualify for Irish step dancing world championship” incorectly refered to Belfast as a city in Ireland. The city is in fact in Northern Ireland.

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.

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Tufts Daily

9

Op-Ed

NQR punishment violates students’ rights by

Evan Moulson

I am not against the ban of the Naked Quad Run (NQR). I ran NQR last year and I had a great time, but running this year would be a little like shouting, “I’m Spartacus!” We would all be crucified on the Appian Way. I am appalled, however, by the decision of the Committee on Student Life (CSL) to pass a sweeping, dictatorial and highly punitive amendment to the Student Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct, meant to protect Tufts students, not punish them, now allows for all 746 members of the Facebook event, “If I’m at Tufts in December, I’ll Run NQR Anyway” to be suspended because of the clause “Any student … who claims to have run in defiance of the [NQR] ban, will also be subject to a one semester suspension.”

I agree with Former University President Lawrence Bacow’s assessment that the run had become an alcohol-fueled nightmare for the Tufts University Police Department ( TUPD) and the Tufts administration. I understand the concerns of TUPD in dealing with naked, intoxicated students. But at least we knew where they were: on the Res Quad. Now Tufts Emergency Medical Services, TUPD and residential advisers will have to deal with an entire campus celebrating the end of classes and mourning the loss of NQR in their rooms, in frats and in off-campus apartments, where no one will find them until they need transportation to the hospital. The “solution” to NQR may in fact jeopardize student safety more than NQR itself.

In November 2009, before the ban on the Naked Quad Run was announced, the Trustees of Tufts College approved a Declaration on Freedom of Expression at Tufts University. (I urge you to read all of it for yourself.) The Declaration

identified three basic values common to all members of the community, from the president and the dean of student affairs, to the student who sits in the back of my stats class and the janitors who vacuum your common room: respect for the freedoms of inquiry and expression, the need to exercise those freedoms in ways that respect the human dignity of others, and the importance of a climate at Tufts that is conducive to learning and that allows all to attain their full potential.

The Trustees said, “When community values are not respected, every member of the Tufts community has an obligation to respond. Those who are the target of such speech should not and must not bear the burden of responding alone. An affront against any member of our community is an affront to all of us.”

I believe that our community values have been disrespected. We were not given the freedoms to inquire or express ourselves fully on the matter of punishment for participation in the Naked Quad Run. NQR has been a unique Tufts tradition for years, and while I will not question the validity of banning the run itself, every member of the Tufts community should feel an obligation to question the decision to amend the Student Code of Conduct in an overly punitive way and the decision not to fully publicize the meetings of the CSL where that decision was made.

The CSL maintains that its meetings to discuss the NQR ban were open to all for public comment, but I can’t find any mention of CSL meeting times or locations on TuftsLife or other Tufts calendars. If I may reference “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” (1979), it’s very difficult to comment on plans that were made publicly available “in the bottom of a

Amanda Johnson | Senior Moments

locked file cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’”

The CSL has an obligation to tell the community when it is considering a topic of great importance. The fact that it did not is deeply worrying and raises questions about mutual trust between the Tufts community and those that control it; specifically, does the administration (even the CSL, which I am aware is a joint committee) trust the student body to participate in truly important decisions, or only the decisions that are superficially important, like those involving WinterFest?

A one-semester suspension is unreasonable. Is running NQR — or even claiming you ran NQR — really equivalent to other one-semester suspension offenses listed in the Judicial Process Handbook: assault, theft and sexual misconduct, among others? Even the U.S. Military Academy at West Point doesn’t punish its students so harshly for the Academy’s tradition of “Naked Man,” a cat-and-mouse chase between an overly stressed student and the Officer of the Guard while the rest of West Point watches.

I feel the points I have made stand for themselves. Tufts has made an inconsiderate decision without prior notification or significant student input.

I would like to ask three questions to the members of the Committee for Student Life, Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman and President Monaco: why, why and how? Why did you feel that you needed to threaten students with suspension? Why couldn’t we be part of the decision-making process?

How can we trust you not to breach our trust again?

Evan Moulson is a sophomore who is majoring in economics.

Off the Hill | West Virginia University

MCT

Political issues affect students as well by the Daily Athenaeum Editorial Board

The Daily Athenaeum

It seems common for the average college student to be behind on today’s political issues. Many students are more occupied with going to parties, studying for exams or stalking their friends on Facebook rather than watching a GOP presidential debate on CNN. And it’s no wonder: Politics can be boring — especially when the issues being discussed don’t seem pertinent to students.

Students must realize that the issues of today will, in fact, affect them tomorrow.

Americans of all faiths, ages and income classes are affected by the same issues troubling our economy, which is why these

issues are important and complicated.

For example, the issue of tax reform.

Currently, the hot debate in American politics is whether or not to extend the payroll tax cut, which is set to expire at the end of the year. If the tax cut expires, it will cost middle-class Americans up to $1,500 per year.

Those who oppose the tax cut say it doesn’t do much to stimulate the economy, which is why it was put in place last year in the first place. Another reason some Americans oppose it is because we don’t know how to pay for it — the money lost from the tax cut must be found elsewhere in the federal budget.

College students need to look at debates such as this with more relevant eyes. They may not feel like the issue affects them, but it does.

College doesn’t last forever. In just a few years, the days of partying and latenight cramming for exams will give way to paying more bills, taxes and working 40 hours a week. When college ends, the issues of taxes will directly affect current students.

According to CNBC.com, the average college graduate earns $48,351, putting most college graduates in the middle class, making the payroll tax break issue relevant for current students.

The presidential election is right around the corner, and there are many reasons for students to watch and to become more involved.

Educate yourself on the concerns of average American families; you may be a part of one soon enough.

A final(s) column

I

have a confession to make: I don’t hate finals. In fact, perhaps due to some strange cerebral masochism, I find the dash toward the end of each semester oddly enjoyable.

I feel a bit disingenuous writing this. After all, I spent this past weekend decrying the discipline of political science for burying me in research papers and greeted early December consumed in self-loathing for my convenient disregard of the second half of syllabi.

But much like the dashes to the basement amid tornado sirens that inspired childhood exhilaration, the frenzied crisis-mode of finals arouses a rush of amped adrenaline and excited resilience.

On the one hand, the all-out intensity of finals allow for an enticing escape from our real lives. The various roles and responsibilities we normally take on can meld into one coherent figure, as our identity as “student” takes precedence. It’s strangely liberating to not have to make decisions on how to spend each waking moment. I don’t feel guilty that I’m not crafting a way to empower the women of the developing world, or that I am as of yet unemployed come May. There’s no shame that it’s been weeks since I’ve confronted piles of laundry mounting on the floor of my room.

Finals time, we can all agree, is the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card.

There’s something more, though. It stems from the unique sensation of experiencing wrestling challenges in the company of an entire community. The camaraderie of a shared 4 a.m. race to the 12th page, the hurried breakfast exchanging last-minute questions, the wave of shoulder stiffening upon the first skim of the exam and the communal exhalation after propping down a completed Blue Book — these are the moments I feel the most unity with my fellow Jumbos.

It’s not as though being overwhelmed is exclusive to this time of year. Each of us has our quiet flashes of personal doubt and demoralizing anxiety. There are nights where we feel our breaking point looming imminently, and mornings we awake to alarm clocks screaming of agony and unrealistic to-do lists.

These moments are rarely felt in sync with our peers. Instead, we hear squeals of others’ successes as we contemplate our own inadequacies, our anxieties analyzed against the backdrop of a friend’s internship offer, or suitemate’s mastery of Bio 13.

In these private encounters with stress, we feel compelled to force a smile, to go out when we should be finishing a problem set; to attend a club meeting and make it to dinner and call our grandma and practice good hygiene.

This time of the year, all those other pressures are permitted to melt away. Our raw apprehensions can be unapologetically exposed and even embraced. Suddenly there’s an unspoken bond between the girl sharing your outlet in Carmichael; the line for coffee becomes far more intimate than a cramped crawl toward a keg, and tired eyes connote tacit affinities between strangers with shared sufferings.

Tufts doesn’t have an expansive stadium that trembles with the excitement of thousands on Saturday afternoons, or a moment to bellow the fight song with common passion.

Hell, we don’t even have a night of sanctioned nudity anymore.

But we do have a library brimming with vigorous scholars, tables teeming with heaping books and crumbled equations, calloused fingers and aching necks. We regroup after the automated voice at Tisch announces the close of the third quarter, feverishly scanning the playbook and plotting our final sprint during Late-Night Study.

Our minds ablaze with theories and numbers, contagious energy propelling our extended sleeplessness — it is in these moments that our hearts swell in a concurrent gallop. Even if you don’t admit, you probably enjoy it too. After all, this is truly what it means to be a Jumbo.

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

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

The Tufts Daily

10

Comics

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Crossword

Non Sequitur

by

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Finding a spot in the library

Late Night at the Daily Tuesday’s Solution

Josh: “I’m the official backrub judge.”

Please recycle this Daily.

Wiley

Sports

11

tuftsdaily.com

Women’s Track and Field

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

Fall conditioning pays off at Jay Carisella Invitational

Freshmen showcase talent in collegiate debut

Strong weekend showcases Jumbos gear up for spring meets Jumbos’ potential at Jay Carisella Invitational by

Connor Rose

Senior Staff Writer

In the only meet before Winter break, the women’s track team set some great baselines at the Jay Carisella Invitational this Saturday.

Hosted by Northeastern, the event served as an opportunity for athletes to compete and burn all the energy that has built up over the course of the fall season. The best way to see how the work put in during the offseason paid off was to test it in competition, and the Jumbos started off the season with outstanding energy.

There was no team scoring involved in the meet, so it was purely a chance for individual athletes to measure up against competition from all divisions and show off all the hard work that they have done in the past few months.

Coming off a very successful fall conditioning program and cross country season, the team is well prepared for the challenges ahead.

“From what I’ve seen from both sides of the program, there was a definitely a higher level of intensity this fall,” junior Kelly Allen said. “The throwing program was more involved than the past few years and the results in our strength are substantial. The sprinters are coming into this year in better shape as well. We knew coming into the year that we can do great things if we are willing to do all of the work.”

Junior Lilly Fisher started the meet off with a great performance in the 5,000-meter race, running at 17:58.25 and finishing in third place.

Using her fitness from cross country, Fisher was able to run a personal best in the event.

The event was the only one that Fisher will compete in this season because she will be abroad during the spring semester.

“I think losing the girls going abroad will change the dynamic of the workout groups,”

sophomore Madeline Carey said. “Our pure distance runners will definitely miss having Lilly there to work out with. The smaller workout groups will definitely be different and it will be a challenge for us to adjust.”

Allen picked up where she left off last season, finishing in the top five in both the weight throw and the shot put. She finished third in the shot put, throwing 41 feet, 4.5 inches (12.61 meters) and fifth in the weight throw at 49 feet, 11 inches (15.21 meters). She was the top Div. III finisher in both events. Allen improved greatly toward the end of the season last year as she honed her technique. Working mostly off strength built during the fall, Allen set a solid baseline to begin the year.

One of the highlights of the team last year, the 4x400-meter relay, was also able to notch a top-five finish on Saturday. Juniors Alyssa Corrigan and Samantha Bissonnette were consistent performers on last year’s team. Joining them were two new faces in freshmen Caitlin Pohl and Lauren Gormer. The team’s time of 4:10.13 was good for fifth place overall and tops in Div. III. With a limited amount of raw speed work to this point, the time reflects the athletes’ general fitness and work they have put in.

In an impressive collegiate debut, freshman Christina Harvey notched a sixth-place finish in the long jump with her leap of 5 feet, 11.75 inches. She also earned 13th place in the 55-meter dash.

In addition to her fine 4x400m leg, Gormer was also able to earn a tie for seventh place in the 500-meter event. Her debut time of 1:22.32 is very encouraging.

Senior tri-captain Anya Price, also coming off a strong cross country season, earned a sixth-place finish in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 18:15.57. The event featured many see WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD, page 13

by

Lauren Flament

Daily Editorial Board

The men’s track and field team recorded impressive marks across the board during its season opener Saturday at Northeastern’s Jay Carisella Invitational.

For the Jumbos, the meet served as an opportunity to shake the rust off their running and jumping legs and throwing arms from the outdoor season and to gauge the training they’ve put in this fall. While there was no team scoring, Tufts placed 14 athletes in the top eight of their events among a competitive field with athletes spanning all collegiate divisions.

The highest finish for the Jumbos was delivered by the 4x400-meter relay team, whose time of 3:25.06 was good for second place. Junior Vinnie Lee led off the foursome, joined by sophomores Graham Beutler and Daniel Lange-Vagle and freshman Ptah Osanyande.

Junior Gbola Ajayi was one of three third-place finishers Saturday, launching himself 21 feet, 11.75 inches in the long jump. He was accompanied in the top eight by sophomore Andrew Osborne, who took fifth with a jump of 20 feet, 9.75 inches. Ajayi also earned sixth place in the triple jump with a distance of 45 feet, 1 inch.

The throwers also posted some impressive performances, led by junior Curtis Yancy who threw a distance of 54 feet, 2.5 inches, good for third in the weight throw. Freshman Brian Williamson made a strong collegiate debut with a throw of 48 feet,

3.5 inches for fifth in the shot put.

“I wasn’t expecting [to do as well]. I was just trying to go in and not freak out too much like I normally do. I was still really nervous, but it went well,” Williamson said. “The team support was a lot different than high school.

Everyone at the end came over and was cheering for me and that was really fun. I thought that was a really strong team moment.”

Freshman Franc Goins, whose time of 50.56 earned fourth in the 400meter dash, also enjoyed an impressive debut.

Senior co-captain Connor Rose and sophomore Jamie Norton each earned personal bests in the one mile run, a difficult feat to accomplish in December. Rose crossed the line in 4:18.62 for sixth place — his first time under the 4:20 mark — while Norton was the next runner across in 4:18.95.

“The race went really well; Connor and I are both happy with how things went in the mile,” Norton said. “We got out fast even though we were in the back of the race at the start, so we knew if we stuck with it we’d be able to run a fast time.”

The field in the race was especially impressive this year. In 2010, the race was won in 4:19.05, yet that time would have ranked eighth on Saturday. “[Earning personal bests this early] definitely bodes well for the rest of the season,” Norton added. “A lot of guys who ran on Saturday were running on one or two or three workouts, and so see MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD, page 12

Inside the NFL

In the year of the quarterback, Aaron Rodgers stands apart Records within reach if Rodgers maintains current pace by

Alex Arthur

Senior Staff Writer

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has put together the most impressive individual performance in the history of the National Football League this season through 12 games.

Leading the Packers to a perfect 12-0 record after Week 13, Rodgers is on pace to break major passing records — including yards and completion percentage — and threaten Tom Brady’s single-season record of 50 passing touchdowns.

This year has been the year of the quarterback. Carolina Panthers rookie Cam Newton has broken the single-season quarterback rushing touchdown record of 12.

Tim Tebow has brought the Denver Broncos from last place to first place by winning six of his seven starts, including five straight. And multiple quarterbacks are on pace to break Dan Marino’s record for passing yards.

Yet, Aaron Rodgers has managed to make all of this seem trivial and inconsequential with his otherworldly play.

At a glance, the New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees appears to be having an MVP-type season, leading the league in passing yards with 4,301, and tied for second with 30 touchdowns and a 70.4 completion percentage. Brees, however, has posted a passer rating under 100 in four of 12 games, throwing multiple interceptions in each of them.

Additionally, Brees’ stats were padded in the Saints’ 62-7 beat-

MCT

Aaron Rodgers is the leader of an offense that his wide receiver Donald Driver dubbed “the greatest show on grass.” down of the Indianapolis Colts in Week 7. In that game, Brees threw for five touchdowns and completed 88.6 percent of his passes, a full 13.6 percentage points higher than his second-best effort. While playing the hypothetical game is always fun, it is pretty safe to say that Rodgers would have performed compara-

bly against the inept Indianapolis defense.

Factoring in statistics, performance in the clutch and team record, the gold standard for a quarterback season is Brady’s 2007 campaign.

That year, Brady surpassed Peyton Manning’s single-season

passing touchdown record of 49 by throwing 50 of his own. Additionally, Brady led the league with a 68.9 completion percentage, 4,806 passing yards, 8.3 yards per attempt and a 117.2 passer rating, as the Pats finished a perfect 16-0.

This year, Rodgers tops the league with 37 passing touchdowns, a 70.6 percent completion percentage, 9.4 yards per attempt and — if it holds for the rest of the season — a record-setting 125.3 passer rating.

Rodgers is on pace to surpass Brady in every statistical category except for passing touchdowns, where he projects to fall short by one.

Even with that torrid pace, Rodgers’ and Brady’s statistical seasons are almost interchangeable. However, when factoring in the help Rodgers and Brady both received from their respective defenses, Rodgers pulls away.

The 2007 Patriots defense ranked fourth in the league in both yards allowed per game (288.3) and points allowed per game (17.1).

The 2011 Packers unit ranks 31st in yards allowed per game (397.8) and 16th in points allowed per game (21.8). Brady had nearly five more points of margin to work with than Rodgers currently has.

Given that disparity, it is no surprise that the Packers have played more close games than the Patriots did, thereby putting more pressure on Rodgers to perform.

In three of the Patriots’ four closest games — 24-20 over the Colts, 31-28 over the Eagles and 27-24 over the Ravens — Brady posted passer ratings under 100. Rodgers has not

posted a passer rating under 106.2 in any game this season.

Continuing in the who-is-moreclutch vein, Rodgers has significantly outshined Mr. Clutch himself when it matters this year. In the fourth quarter, with the score within seven points, Brady completed only 58.9 percent of his passes for four TDs, one interception and a passer rating of 108.9. Rodgers, on the other hand, is completing 75 percent of his passes, including five TDs and zero interceptions, with a passer rating of 156.3.

In other words, Rodgers is nearly perfect in the fourth quarter in onepossession games. While there is no comprehensive list for the highest such ratings of all-time, you would be hard-pressed to find a more impressive figure given that the maximum passer rating is 158.3.

Rodgers’ late-game prowess was on full display this past Sunday when he marched the Packers from their own 20 to the New York Giants’ 12-yard line in four plays with just 58 seconds on the clock, setting up the game-winning field goal as time expired.

Looking ahead, Green Bay plays three of its final four games at Lambeau Field and none against any team in the top 10 in pass defense. The only thing seemingly standing in the way of Rodgers and the record books is his own organization; if the Packers clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC during the next two weeks, head coach Mike McCarthy may be tempted to rest Rodgers and his other starters in Weeks 16 and 17.

The Tufts Daily

12 Wanted

Services

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

Convenient Cambridge location.

Apply online: SPERMBANK.com

Admin/Assistant Clerk Needed.

Responsibilities include taking messages, preparing reports. Must be dependable, hard working, and self motivating. Inquiring applicants should reply to rullmanjoboffer@hotmail.com.

Sports

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Events

Events

CHAPLAIN’S TABLE - RELIGION AND POP CULTURE MacPhie Conf. Room/Dewick Dining December 8, 2011 - 5-7 PM Professor Heather Curtis Religion Department ”Religion, Politics, and Popular Culture” NO MEAL POINTS NEEDED

GODDARD CHAPEL FORUM ON RELIGION AND MORAL COURAGE Goddard Chapel December 7, 2011 - 6 PM Dr. Joyce Barsam, J’62, G’89 ”Armenian Genocide” classifieds policy All Tufts students must submit classifieds in person, prepaid with check, money order or exact cash only.

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

Distance runners build off strong cross country season MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD continued from page 11

as a team to post a bunch of fast times, we can only go up from here in January and February.”

In the pole vault, sophomore Trevor Rothaus also earned a top-eight finish, clearing a height of 13 feet, 5.25 inches for fifth place.

The distance crew was led by juniors Matt Rand and Kyle Marks, who were extending their peaks from the cross country season. Rand finished third in the 5,000-meter race, crossing the line in 14:48.51, seven seconds behind the runner-up and 40 seconds behind the top finisher. Marks’ personal best time of 14:56.59 was good for fifth.

While the distance crew is coming off their best cross country season in recent years, the other event groups have been preparing all fall to begin their campaigns. “[The fall track guys] have put in all the work, so it will be exciting to see what they can do. A lot of those are top Div. III and NESCAC guys,” Norton said. “They are starting off in a better place than in recent years based on this meet.”

“Everyone has worked really hard this year, and this meet was just a little hint at what we’ll be able to do with the work we are putting in,” Williamson added.

“From here the only place we

Oliver Porter/Tufts Daily

Junior Luke Maher led all Jumbos in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in 8:58.90.

are going to go is up, and everyone is going to keep improving throughout the season, and it will be a lot of fun to watch.”

Williamson, like many freshmen, came from a high school with no indoor track program, so Saturday was a completely new experience. “[This season is] going to be a lot of fun,” Williamson said. “I’ve never really had an indoor season before, so it’s a really different experience for me, because it is a bit different than outdoor track. All your teammates are crammed into a building, so it’s a lot easier physically to get around and see everybody compete.”

The team now has a month off until their next full squad meet on Jan. 14, when they host the Tufts Invitational I. Some athletes will also return to campus for the Dartmouth Relays on Jan. 6 and 8.

After such a promising season opener, the team is excited to get back to competitive action in January.

“We’re disappointed we won’t race for another month,” Norton said. “We’re really excited, and we’re coming off the momentum of an amazing cross country season with a ninth-place finish at nationals, so hopefully we can ride that through track and step it up even more.”

Elephants in the Room

Madeline Carey Freshman Women’s Track & Field

Evin Koleini Senior Goalie Ice Hockey

Tiffany Kornegay Senior Guard Women’s Basketball

C.J. Moss Freshman Guard Men’s Basketball

Winterfest is...

Favorite Study Spot

A misappropriation of my tuition dollars

My roof

Finding Story face down in the snow at 3 a.m.

In bed

A total mess

Tisch Library

No clue

Tisch Library (For extra face time)

The best prank I’ve ever pulled

The worst thing about Middlebury

It’s still being investigated by the police...

Don’t know. Don’t care.

Pretending to be Dylan Cooper

Resor

Covering the seniors’ cars with sticky notes my freshman year

The gym. I don’t like playing in it.

Building a beach at my high school

It’s in Vermont.

all photos courtesy tufts athletics

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Tufts Daily

13

Sports

MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING

Jumbos earn personal, season records at MIT

Winter-break conditioning will prepare team for spring meets

The men’s swimming and diving team delivered a strong performance at the MIT Invitational on Friday and Saturday, placing fourth out of seven squads. Almost every member of the team swam a personal or season-best, ending the fall semester portion of the season on a high note.

“I thought it was fantastic. It’s a different meet than what we were used to during the year,” senior co-captain Owen Rood said. “Because it’s over three sessions you have to get ready and perform three separate times, and it changes the dynamic. It’s really just a test for us at this point in the season.”

Rood teamed up with freshman Mike Napolitano and sophomores Austin Wood and Kyle Savidge for the 800-yard freestyle relay, finishing with a time of 7:10.11, the fastest in the NESCAC so far this season.

Savidge had an impressive showing in the 1,650-yard freestyle as well, finishing in 16:52.57, while Rood posted the conference’s second-best time in the 100-yard freestyle this season, finishing in 47.56.

Rood also finished fifth at MIT in the 50-yard freestyle in a season-best 21.41 seconds, which puts him second in the NESCAC this year, and touched the wall in 47.56 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, another strong performance.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team started the meet for the Jumbos with freshmen Will Parker and John Devine, as well as Wood and Rood, finishing fourth in 1:25.87.

Savidge finished with a season-best and team-leading 4:54.83 in the 500-yard freestyle, good for ninth place overall.

Sophomore Drew Berman had the best individual performance for the team in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing in an impressive 2:00.70. Right behind him was classmate Christian Jones, sixth-tenths of a second back at 2:01.35.

Jones and senior Lou Tamposi had strong swims in the 400-yard individual medley, finishing in 4:20.59 and 4:24.19, respectively.

Devine and senior E.J. Testa notched fast 100-meter butterfly times, touching nearly by

Nate Bailey

Contributing Writer

Into the Woods

S

Scott Tingley/Tufts Daily

Sophomore Kyle Savidge led the team in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:54.83. simultaneously at 53.86 and 53.88 seconds, respectively.

Wood had the best time on the team in the 200-yard freestyle finishing in 1:47.05, putting him third in the NESCAC to date.

Rood and fellow senior co-captain Joe McLoughlin showed off their versatility with impressive swims in the 100-meter breaststroke. Rood’s 1:00.73 is good for second in the NESCAC this year while McLoughlin’s 1:02.85 is good for ninth in the conference. Savidge finished eighth in the 100 backstroke with a 53.84, placing him fifth in the NESCAC, despite a little hiccup along the way.

“I felt like it was a great ending for the team,” Wood said. “I know that in one of Savidge’s races his goggles came off but he still motored through. To have your goggles come off and stick with it is really impressive.”

In the final event of the meet, Devine, Berman, Wood and Rood teamed up in the

400-yard freestyle relay for an impressive fourth-place finish in 3:12.30, the fastest time in the NESCAC this year. Tufts placed fourth as a team at MIT, accumulating 490.5 points.

Host MIT led the way with 1,397.5 points.

As for their plans going forward, the Jumbos intend to work through the exam period and winter vacation in order to improve further on this weekend’s showing.

“We have optional training through finals so that people can stay on top of their work but still keep up their fitness,” Wood said.

“We’re primarily focused on our training trip and staying in shape over the next two weeks so we can grind out training when we get to Florida, because those are some of the most productive weeks and it’s when our season really kicks into high gear.”

When the Jumbos return home from Florida, their season will pick back up on Jan. 14, as they take on conference foes Williams and Wesleyan in a tri-meet in Middletown, Conn.

Jumbos to host Tufts Invitational after winter break WOMEN’S Track & Field continued from page 11

of the top cross country runners on the squad, including sophomores Carey and Abby Barker. Carey was just behind Price with 18:22.05, while Barker ran 18:35.89 — good for 13th place.

“I think we all wanted to hit as many qualifying times as possible,” Carey said.

“We all wanted to be under 18:44 for the ECAC qualifier. That was the general plan.

Hitting qualifiers so we don’t have to run 5Ks every weekend will help us stay fresh.

“Now we get to take some time off and get healthy. Then we can build up a base and start doing workouts in January. This will help us have a little mellower indoor season and be fresher all the way until outdoors.”

The final top-10 finish for the Jumbos came in the pole vault. Senior tri-captain Katherine Tang finished tied for ninth with a jump of 9 feet, 6.25 inches. As with many of the field events that are so heavily dependent on technique, the effort is a solid start for the senior.

The meet enabled the athletes to set baselines for their respective events in a low-pressure environment, a barometer for where they stand after fall conditioning.

“It was just a chance to get great baseline performances so we can look back later and see how much we have improved,” Allen said. “We have been practicing for months so it was great to get some competition to break up all the training. With another big break of competition coming up, the meet provided us with something to look forward to and now we can look at our results and move forward.”

With their next meet coming after winter break, all of the Jumbos now have the ability to work on the things they struggled with last weekend, while maintaining those that went well.

“There were a lot of strong performances in all of our different training groups,” Allen said. “At this point in the year we aren’t looking for personal bests. We are in the middle of training so we got to see what

Ethan Sturm | Rules of the Game

Virginia Bledsoe/Tufts Daily

Junior Lilly Fisher notched a personal best time in the 5,000-meter race, crossing the finish line third overall. people can do on any given day. The results speak well to what we can do when we are ready to peak.”

That peak will not come for a while though, and the time in between will provide plenty of room for improvement. The Jumbos will return with a full squad on Jan. 14 for the Tufts Invitational, the team’s first home meet of the season.

“We all have a great base and great base to work with,” Carey said. “We are very strong and that will help us a lot going into indoors.

We have a lot of depth pushing us in workouts and we are all very fit. Having qualified for nationals as a team in cross country, our mid distance and distance programs feel that we can compete with top girls on the track as well.”

adly, after a year of writing this column, I will be hanging up the gloves for at least a semester. I know all five of my readers will be crushed (Hi Mom!). But before I go, I’d like to touch on a subject that was one of the first I ever covered for The Tufts Daily: Tiger Woods.

As a naive first-semester freshman, I took on the assignment of writing an article on the end of the 2009 FedEx Cup. Phil Mickelson won the final tournament, while Woods took home the cup. I stated that “for one more year, the rest of the PGA is still looking up at golf ’s biggest names.” I could never have guessed what was lurking just two months later.

Now, I’m a junior, and fond memories of Tiger’s domination are as distant to me as those of the Yankees’ glory years in the late ’90s.

We all know the rest of the story: the Thanksgiving night car crash, the mistress allegations, the apology speech.

Countless columns have been written on the subject, so I won’t go back there.

No, the reason I come back to Tiger is because something strange has started happening over the course of the last month.

Tiger is finding success on the golf course again.

Perhaps because the PGA season is over it hasn’t gotten as much attention, but it’s happening. In November, Woods took to the course for the President’s Cup, a team competition. While his 2-3 record doesn’t show it, there was something different about Tiger. On the opening day he was held back by erratic play from Steve Stricker, but in singles play on Sunday he shot 5-under in 15 holes to defeat Aaron Baddeley in a key late afternoon match.

For any that still doubted his resurgence, Tiger sent a strong message over this past weekend. In a field that included Zach Johnson, Hunter Mahan, Jim Furyk and Rickie Fowler, Woods jumped out to the lead on Thursday and Friday with a 69 and a 67, respectively. But he fell behind with a 73 round on Saturday that included five bogeys and looked much like a story we’d seen told many times over the past two years.

Yet coming out on Sunday, we didn’t see the downtrodden Tiger of recent years, we saw the red-shirted, iceveined Tiger of old. Woods bogeyed just two holes and put together backto-back birdies on the 17th and 18th to win by a stroke, his first victory since that November night.

Despite recent injuries, he remains the most perfect physical specimen golf has ever seen — even if he is graying a bit. But Woods has always been a very mental player, and he has struggled to put together that part of his game.

Maybe it was the team environment two weeks ago that got him on the right path, or maybe he finally came to terms with some demons he was facing. But when he cracked a joke at his Wednesday press conference, joking “I’m swinging the club well enough that you don’t need to walk out there with hockey helmets on,” we may as well have put his name on the winner’s check right then and there. The media has been Woods’ nightmare, but now he has come full circle. He is finally comfortable again in the world he loves.

Perhaps I’m overanalyzing. Maybe this will be a passing phase, and Woods will never achieve his prior greatness.

But in the individually driven sport that is golf, Woods’ worst enemy was himself. And this week, Tiger did not just come out on top on the leaderboard, but in his mind as well.

Ethan Sturm is a junior majoring in biopsychology. He can be reached at ethan. sturm@tufts.edu.

14

The Tufts Daily

ADVERTISEMENT

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Tufts Daily

ADVERTISEMENT

15

16

The Tufts Daily

advertisement

Wednesday, December 7, 2011