2011-4-12

THE TUFTS DAILY

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Tufts to implement cluster-hiring program next fall by

Minyoung Song

Daily Editorial Board

The School of Arts and Sciences last month decided to begin using a new hiring practice, known as cluster hiring, next semester, with the hopes of enhancing and forging interdisciplinary connections between departments.

Cluster hiring is the practice of simultaneously taking on multiple tenure-stream professors whose areas of expertise are complementary. The university will pilot this initiative in conjunction with the interdisciplinary Environmental Studies program, according to Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney.

“We will hire three tenure-stream professors who will be full, participating members in home departments and have courses cross-listed with Environmental Studies,” BergerSweeney said.

The new hires will begin teaching in fall 2012, according to Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences Andrew McClellan. The process will address the need to forge interdisciplinary connections by employing faculty to teach outside of their home departments, McClellan said.

He explained that the three new faculty members would ideally be drawn from distinct distribution areas — the natural sciences, the social sciences and either the humanities or the arts.

The new hires are expected not only

Couric discusses new media in journalism by

Ellen Kan

Daily Editorial Board

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric at yesterday’s sixth-annual Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism said that the expansion of social media has greatly increased the reach and impact of her work.

“Things live on in perpetuity on the Internet … A lot of the interviews I’ve done are online; that’s allowed people to share it and view it, repeatedly in some cases — certainly that added to the impact of the interview had it just run alone on the CBS Evening News,” Couric said, referring to her interviews with then-Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, which were widely believed to have changed the 2008 electoral landscape.

The forum was jointly sponsored by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, the Communications and Media Studies (CMS) Program and the Edward R. Murrow Center for the Study of Public Diplomacy.

Couric, who also spent 15 years as coanchor of NBC’s “Today” show, also cautioned the audience at the packed Cabot Auditorium not to let the time pressures of social media compromise reporting standards.

“I think there are dangers. It’s a relatively new instrument, it’s incredible — I marvel at what you can do with this new technology — but I think that sometimes, our values don’t keep pace with this immediacy,” she said. “We have to be respectful of this incredibly powerful tool and learn how best to use it, and in some ways we still have our training

alexandra goldman/tufts daily

see COURIC, page 2

CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric signs books in the campus bookstore before speaking at the Edward R. Murrow Forum yesterday afternoon.

see HIRING, page 2

Student group donates idle computer time to facilitate global research

by Sarah

Tralins

Contributing Writer

A group of students has put their computers’ idle time to work curing cancer and saving the environment.

Students that join the initiative started last month by freshman Brian Pilchik can download a program that allows scientists

TUFTSDAILY.COM

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

VOLUME LXI, NUMBER 46

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

to remotely harness energy from their computers and use it to power computations for research in a wide variety of fields.

While the idle time can benefit scientists doing research in anything from possible cures for muscular dystrophy to finding new sources of clean energy, Pilchik is aiming his effort, called “Tufts 4 the Cure,” specifically at labora-

Danai Macridi/Tufts Daily

Freshman Brian Pilchik is leading an initiative encouraging students to download a program that donates their laptops’ idle time to calculations which benefit cancer research.

tory research to cure cancer.

“We are using cancer specifically to advertise it, but it does a lot of research on different topics,” Pilchik said.

The software, Berkley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC), supports a worldwide grid that connects any computer running the program to a database of scientific research.

BOINC, developed six years ago at the University of California at Berkeley, allows personal computers to receive data associated with a research project indicated by the user’s choice.

The computers, once joined to a global network, process the data, completing calculations that simulate processes like protein folding or chemical reactions. Once the calculations are complete, the computer sends the solutions back to the labs from where they originated. The program saves the researchers time and allows them to complete their research faster.

According to Pilchik, members of the Tufts community using the program have collectively provided the processing time to save researchers across the world

Inside this issue

see CURE, page 2

2011-2012 TCU Senate seats go uncontested; 17 students walk on Seats for next year’s senior, junior and sophomore classes on the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate were last week finalized in an uncontested election, according to Tufts Election Commission (ECOM).

Seven rising seniors, five rising juniors and five rising sophomores qualified for spots on the Senate next year after submitting the required paperwork.

The Senate reserves seven seats for each class. ECOM chair Katherine McManus, a sophomore, said the two empty seats in next year’s junior and sophomore classes will next fall be offered to senior and junior candidates. If no candidates claim the spots, ECOM will arrange a special election to fill them, according to McManus.

Elections for incoming freshmen will be held in the fall as well, McManus said.

Juniors Jonathan Danzig, Tomas Garcia, John Peter Kaytrosh, Timothy Lesinski, Nunu Luo, Benjamin Richards and Matthew Schuman will

be the representatives for the class of 2012 on next year’s Senate.

The class of 2013 will be represented by Ard Ardalan, Wyatt Cadley, Yulia Korovikov, Shawyoun Shaidani and Jeremy Zelinger.

Joe Donenfeld, Christopher Ghadban, Christie Maciejewski, Joe Thibodeau and Lia Weintraub will represent the class of 2014.

Empty seats on the TCU Judiciary and the Committee on Student Life will be filled during a special election in the fall, according to McManus.

Members of the LGBT and Latino communities at last night’s candidates meeting submitted uncontested applications for positions as community representatives to the Senate.

Candidates for the Senate presidential election will be nominated at a Senate meeting later this month, at which point they may begin their campaigns, McManus said.

Students will vote for next year’s TCU president in an election on April 26.

—by Martha Shanahan and Kathryn Olson

Today’s sections

Senior theses allow for experiential learning.

“Source Code” soars high but falls flat.

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 7

News Features Arts | Living Editorial | Letters

1 3 7 10

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

11 12 13 Back

The Tufts Daily

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News

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Couric recounts ‘frightening’ experience covering Tahrir Square protests in Egypt COURIC

continued from page 1

wheels on.”

Jonathan Tisch (A ’76), benefactor of the namesake Tisch College and current co-chairman of the Board of the Loews Corporation, participated in the forum as Couric’s interviewer.

The forum, now in its sixth year, brings together panelists to discuss the legacy of renowned broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow in relation to contemporary journalism.

Murrow set the standards for pioneering reporting and is credited for his role in exposing the questionable practices of then-Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

Past speakers at the forum have included former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw and MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews.

Couric said that social media have enabled her to connect with her audience in a more interactive process.

“I like being connected to viewers, to the people who are watching and who are engaged in the world around them,” she said. “Things like Facebook and Twitter have given me space to have conversations — find out the things people care about, their concerns.”

Couric earlier in the day also participated in a book signing at the bookstore for her new book, which was officially released today. “The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives” is a compilation of insight from prominent figures she has interviewed.

The idea for the book was born out of Couric’s experience speaking to university students

— she has spoken at about 10 commencement ceremonies, she said. The book compiles 116 contributions, including one from Michelle Kwan, who was in the audience. Proceeds from the book will go toward Scholarship America.

“There’s so much snarkiness and cynicism out there, it’s nice to read something that’s just sincere and honest,” Couric said.

“There’s some very consistent themes in the lives of successful people, like being able to deal with failure … [and] the importance of making an imprint on the wider world.”

Tisch asked Couric to provide the audience with the best advice that she had ever been given. “‘To thine own self be true’ is something I tell people and something I remind myself,” she responded. “There’s a lot of noise out there passing judgment, telling you what to do … I try to encourage people to listen to their inner heart.”

Tisch noted that Couric’s reporting has brought her to the heart of many difficult situations and asked how she balances personal safety with quality reporting.

“I take my responsibility very seriously and try to be on the scene because I think being a first-hand witness to history is irreplaceable,” she said, citing her decision to report live from the scene during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the February protests in Egypt.

“At the same time, because I am a single parent, I try to be careful about the decisions that I make … I don’t want my daughters to be orphans.”

Justin McCallum /Tufts Daily

CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric spoke about her career yesterday at the sixth annual Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism.

Couric cited reporting in Egypt during the February revolution — especially when thenPresident Hosni Mubarak made a public announcement refusing to step down — as a time when she has been most fearful.

“Tahrir Square just turned on a dime into a very frightening scene; check points were set up,” Couric said. “That drive from the hotel to the airport was one of the scariest drives of my life. You

just didn’t know what was going to happen. A lot of reporters were being abused, photographers were getting roughed up.

This mob mentality was a very frightening thing to experience; we didn’t know what to expect.”

In light of recent speculation about what Couric will do when her contract with CBS ends in June, Tisch asked Couric about her future career plans. Several media outlets have speculated

New hires expected to diversify Environmental Studies HIRING

continued from page 1

to enhance the current environmental studies curriculum, but also to generate new programming and pedagogical ideas, Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences James Glaser said.

Glaser emphasized the value of studying the environment from diverse perspectives, noting that scholars from different disciplines employ different research methodologies.

“Based on different departments, we will create a synergy that will be very beneficial to the school, the students, and the creation of knowledge with regards to research,” he said.

Berger-Sweeney said that the Environmental Studies program is the appropriate forum to pilot this initiative because of its broad nature, enabling virtually all departments to participate. The program also enjoys popularity at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, she added.

“We wanted to choose something within Environmental Studies and Arts and Sciences in which we could leverage the strengths in other parts of the universities,” she said.

The university’s launch of a cluster-hiring program reflects a national trend, according to McClellan.

“As knowledge moves into [this] century, it is increasingly happening at the connective points at different fields of knowledge, so what we want to do is build into the structure of the university, people, projects and initiatives that happen at departments and programs … ”McClellan said.

Faculty members will be able to provide input on the selection of future candidates for cluster hiring, according to a letter sent by Berger-Sweeney to School of Arts and Sciences faculty. She also noted that the university will conduct an external review of all interdisciplinary programs within the School of Arts and Sciences next year.

Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Program Director Colin Orians supports the idea

of debuting the cluster hiring practice in the Environmental Studies program.

“The Environmental Studies program is at its critical juncture right now,” he said. “I think this is one more positive sign for the program and a good time to see the program in new and exciting ways.”

McClellan likewise believes that the new initiative represents a big step for-

ward for hiring practices at Tufts.

“I think hiring new faculty is among the most important things that we do,” he said. “It’s the way we create new energy and excitement at the university, so I think this is a very exciting initiative with promises to bring a new level of interdisciplinary energy to Tufts’ campus.”

Meredith klein/tufts daily

Dean Carol Berger-Sweeney is spearheading the implementation of a cluster-hiring pilot program.

that she will be parting ways with the network, possibly to start her own syndicated talk show with the “Today” show’s current co-anchor, Matt Lauer.

“I honestly don’t know; I’m figuring out what I’m doing, looking at my options,” Couric said. “Matt and I are very good friends … The speculation is interesting … but he’s got a job, and I’m going to figure out what I’m going to do.”

Students’ computers linked to global research network CURE

continued from page 1

nearly eight years of work. Roughly 60 students are currently running the program on their computers, he said.

Pilchik added that he was involved in encouraging his peers to use the program before coming to Tufts.

“I started using it myself back in high school,” he said. “I thought it was a pretty cool thing, and I tried to get my friends to use it.”

Any computer that has downloaded BOINC software automatically runs the program once it is idle, according to Pilchik.

Pilchik said Tufts was an ideal setting to promote the use of the technology to effect change.

“When I came here [to Tufts], I thought it would be cool to spread it,” he said. “I guess I figured that since we have a community of young people here who are interested in technology that could help make a difference in the world, a college campus would be the perfect place to promote interest.

We’re all about community action and social change, and we can make a difference using this program.”

Freshman Melissa MacEwen, who has been using the program since last month, said she was inspired by the impact her computer could have when connected to the network.

“I think it’s really great and it’s a creative way to address relevant and pressing scientific needs,” she said.

Freshmen Sydney Post and MayaBea Schechner have both been donating their laptops’ idle time to the network after Pilchick told them about the program.

“I think that it’s a really cool idea that you can use your computer to help process bits of research,” Post said.

Schechner agreed, adding that she checks her statistics and totals on the website from time to time.

“I’m always impressed by how much runtime I’ve accumulated, or how many different projects I’ve been a part of,” she said.

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Not your run-of-the-mill senior thesis

Tufts seniors undertake unique endeavors for research projects by

Megan Kono

Contributing Writer

Senior Lumay Wang sat across from Murat Salim Esenli, the Turkish ambassador to China, on August 11, 2010, as she explained the message behind the display that Turkey had chosen to exhibit at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. She was at the Expo researching how nations brand themselves to the Chinese public through visual representation, and her research led her to an interview with the ambassador himself, as well as the Turkish Consulate General and the pavilion director in charge of the entire Turkish exhibit. Wang’s thesis, not unlike many chosen by Tufts students from the class of 2011, is not your run-ofthe-mill research project.

Tufts seniors have the option of writing a year-long senior thesis in order to fulfill class requirements for graduation. Unlike other classes at Tufts, theses are often independent

studies in which the student identifies a topic of interest, forms a plan of action with his or her adviser and individually carries out the research and explication of the chosen subject.

This year, many of the theses subjects have exemplified the diversity of interests on campus as well as the ingenuity of those undertaking the projects. This is a small sampling of a few such theses.

Lumay Wang “Generally, I am interested in the politics of visual culture — how things are represented, how we view the world, nations especially,” Wang said of her thesis topic for both her art history and international relations majors. “I am specifically looking at the representation of nations, how they represent themselves. It’s called nation branding.”

With the help of the Tufts Summer Scholars Program, Wang traveled to Shanghai in August for the 2010

Shanghai World Expo, a world fair in which nations put forth exhibits about their countries for the general public to view. She looked specifically at the visual images shown by each country for the general consumption of the Chinese populace.

“When you think about national identity, it’s a very complex idea, but at the Expo it’s very simplified,” Wang said. “It has to be, because they are creating a nation brand to attract more Chinese consumers. Because of China’s growing economy, and the rest of the world’s financial crisis, these countries are trying to attract business at the Expo.”

From her specific experience at the Shanghai World Expo, Wang gained knowledge not only of the specific countries she researched, but also of visual culture as a whole.

“Anyone can manipulate visual culture,” Wang said. “The Expo is just one example. It’s significant because, for instance, most of the visitors to the Expo were Chinese. For the most part they have little knowledge of the countries [there], so what they see presented by different countries influences their perception of the world.”

Wang is currently making final adjustments to her thesis and preparing for her thesis defense in front of members of the Department of Art History and International Relations Program. She will also be speaking tomorrow at the Tufts Idea Exchange about the larger ideas of her thesis.

Christopher Vorlicek, Ryan Nelson and Justin Watanasiri Seniors Chris Vorlicek, Ryan Nelson and Justin Watanasiri wanted to do something different for their senior design project in mechanical engineering, which is similar to the senior thesis at the College of Arts and Sciences. Instead of developing a research topic, however, students in the semester-long design class must design, create and present an original

courtesy LUMAY WANG

Senior Lumay Wang traveled to the Shanghai World Expo to conduct research for her thesis.

see THESES, page 4

Alumna founds creative blog Morning Glory Melissa Unger dedicates herself to helping people find their artistic path by

Amelia Quinn

Daily Editorial Board

Melissa Unger (LA ’89) is one Tufts alumna who has been there and done that. From music video production manager to personal assistant of Robert De Niro to vice president of Media Outreach for The Advertising Council (Ad Council), Unger has covered a lot of ground in the entertainment industry and the arts. Now, the former Jumbo has taken up a new calling: helping others to find their own creative calling.

“For me, it’s always been about change and newness — I need a constant learning curve,” Unger said.

“There’s a joy in the discovery and the learning.”

In order to project this message on a large scale, Unger in January founded Seymour, Inc., an online-based company designed to spark interest in more creative careers.

One way in which her fledgling company showcases potential career paths into the arts is through its subdivision, the blog Morning Glory, which features “successful creators,” asking them four short questions about how they start their day.

These questions, which range from “What time do you wake up?” to “What gets your juices flowing?” might seem brief and impersonal, but they offer a surprisingly deep look into what fuels

CoURTESY morning glory, melissa unger

Alumna Melissa Unger’s blog Morning Glory asks both famous and unknown artists about their morning routines. some of today’s top creative minds.

“People ask me ‘Why are the questions so basic?’” Unger said. “Because I do them by sending an email so that they can send them quickly. They’re intimate without being invasive.”

A look into artists’ lives, even a small

part of them, will motivate users to follow in their footsteps, she hopes.

“It’s about inspiring people to be more creative in their lives, period. I want more creativity in peoples’ lives, see UNGER, page 4

Romy Oltuski | The Dilettante

Living above your means

Y

ou know that song by Vampire Weekend about getting out of Cape Cod? I never got what they were talking about until spring break.

I grew up the daughter of German immigrants in New York and attended Yeshiva grades K-12. Obviously, I had never vacationed on the Cape. And yet those words, “the Cape,” always managed to evoke a kind of American enchantment I had encountered only in books and movies. The sound of those words alone seemed to carry in them the implication of beautiful people, more specifically, of Nate Archibald from “Gossip Girl.” And so I was fully expecting to meet Nate Archibald from “Gossip Girl” or at least someone with equally beautiful green eyes and cashmere sweaters when four friends and I vacationed there over spring break.

A note: Nate Archibald from “Gossip Girl” does not spend spring break on “the Cape.” Neither does anyone else. Spring break on Cape Cod is cold — which shouldn’t have necessarily come as a shock in seaside Massachusetts at the end of a relentless winter — and people don’t like to be there. I can probably count, with fingers, the people other than us five with whom we interacted, and it doesn’t amount to many: the construction workers who built an entire hotel next door in one week and, I think, said ‘Hi’ to us once; the cute lesbian couple that gave us directions in P-town; our various waiters and bartenders; one college-aged couple that seemed equally as confused by their surroundings as we were. Yep, I think that’s it. There was also an old man sitting by the pool while we were there. He didn’t actually talk to us, but when human proximity is rare, it counts. No one, other than the above-mentioned people, goes to Cape Cod in the spring. Including Nate Archibald from “Gossip Girl.”

Don’t get me wrong — time off from school spent with friends would have been enjoyable in a cave. But our itinerary was a little off. We went to the beach … in coats; we sat in the hot tub … while it snowed. So there wasn’t really much of an option but to forget about the faintest idea of spring and spoil ourselves rotten.

The key, we decided, to exercising temporary hedonism would be to spend money on one thing and one thing only and spend a hell of a lot of it on that. It wasn’t too hard because we weren’t traveling far enough to have to pay airfare, and, luckily, we got to crash at a friend’s parents’ timeshare for free. There was no sun, no nightlife, no shops open, no people. So we ate. A lot.

My daily diet at Tufts generally consists of a muffin or cereal during the day and a burrito or another bowl of cereal for dinner.

On Cape Cod, a normal day looked something more like this: Mornings commenced with an outing to the nicest brunch place we could find and plates full of French toast, pancakes, waffles, etc. Lunch, more than once, consisted of more than one course. And every evening, we’d get dressed up as though there were actually people to impress on the godforsaken peninsula and book reservations at the nicest restaurants in town, noses up, heels on, where we sipped on expensive cocktails and tried bizarre, experimental dishes like sashimi in cones (not so awesome) and truffle-oil pizza (AWESOME). And there’s just something about cold, post-drinking-games pizza that is so much better when there’s truffle oil on it.

Our attempt to tan through the glass walls surrounding the indoor pool was somewhat hindered by several storms.

But where are your tans now, all of you who recently returned from Puerto Rico?

Meanwhile, we’ve got a good five pounds, at least, as souvenirs.

Romy Oltuski is a senior majoring in English. She can be reached at Romy.

Oltuski@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

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Features

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Theses provide hands-on, experiential learning outside of the classroom THESES

continued from page 3

machine. Projects have ranged from the concept for an electronic book for the blind to an adjustable high heel to this trio’s project: an electric car. “I was just thinking about design projects over the summer ‌ and electric vehicles was something I looked into,â€?

Vorlicek said. “I just needed to find a team as willing as I was.�

The project involved converting a gas-operated Volkswagen Beetle into an electric car. “We took out the engine and designed and built an electric motor,� Nelson said. “Most of

the project of the design was trying to interface the electric motor with the transmission of the car.�

While creating the design and working on the project, Vorlicek, Nelson and Watanasiri faced unforeseen setbacks. Since they didn’t have any previous experience with cars, the scope of the project was at times overwhelming, Vorlicek said. But ultimately, the satisfaction of creating the vehicle and watching it work was worth the initial frustration and allowed the trio to explore their interests in engineering in a way that classroom lecture study could not.

courtesy chris vorlicek

Christopher Vorlicek, Ryan Nelson and Justin Watanasiri transformed a gas-operated car into an electric car for their senior design project.

“I know now from this project that my ideal job would be at a smaller company where I would be able to deal with all aspects that go into designing and building in engineering,�

Watanasiri said.

Elinor Cannon Studying abroad in Alexandria, Egypt, and Seville, Spain, during her junior year, senior Elinor Cannon witnessed the distinct perspectives of two very different cultures firsthand and, perhaps more importantly, the mixing of these cultures through immigration from North Africa to the southern coast of Spain.

Coming back to Tufts in September with an interest in the two regions and a firm grasp of both Arabic and Spanish, Cannon decided to combine her interests into a thesis. This thesis involved translating the book “Diario de un ilegal,� or “Diary of an Illegal Immigrant,� into English. The 200-page memoir was written by Rachid Nini, a Moroccan immigrant who lived for two years illegally in Spain. The book was originally written in Arabic in 2001 and later translated into Spanish. “[It] is one of the only books that I found that has an interesting interaction between the two cultures,� Cannon said. “The author gives commentary on the way Spain and the Arab world view each other and how they interact in social settings.�

Translating the book also gave Cannon a perspective on illegal immigration from the immigrant’s point of view. The utopian ideas that immigrants have in their minds are often

courtesy Elinor Cannon

Elinor Cannon, inspired by her study abroad experiences, translated a book into English for her senior thesis. not the reality, Cannon said.

Cannon hopes that her translation, along with the preface she is writing for the book, will help English-speaking students to better understand the two cultures as well as illegal immigration. “I want students to gain a broader perspective of immigrations in terms of being ‘the Other.’� Cannon said. “The book challenges stereotypes of

immigrants and how the media has distorted their image.�

Cannon hopes that even after her thesis is complete, her project will continue. “Personally, I’m really grateful that it’s a project that I can continue doing after the thesis is done,� Cannon said. “Translation is a continuing process, something that you get better at with time and practice.�

Among numerous exploits, Unger helps others find careers in the arts UNGER

continued from page 3

and I also want young people to believe that any passion, no matter how weird it may be, can be translated into a job,� she said.

The website features people as wellknown as Stacy London from TLC’s show “What Not To Wear� and Tufts alumna Nina Gordon (LA ’89) of the band Veruca Salt. But Unger also made an effort to feature people who are hardly known at all. “I was so drawn to the concept of seeing all of these people with the lives that I wanted, really laid-back and doing all sorts of really ‘weird’ things, like this woman who makes little pins and buttons out of bark — and she makes a living out of that,� Unger said.

Coincidentally, Morning Glory also stemmed from Unger’s own morning routine. Before going to work, she would sort through her emails and look at the 20 or so messages she received each day from college-aged students looking for a way to start out in the arts. Unger looked at her piles of emails and realized she wanted to provide guidance. “My ex-intern called me last week and asked for help. In four hours, she had three interviews set up for her,�

Unger said. “I enjoy making a difference in peoples’ lives. I want young people to see all the different paths in the arts. I’ve been working on it for so long that it’s my making cufflinks out of twigs.�

Originally from New York, Unger’s creative streak has taken some unconventional turns of its own, starting as early as her days on the Hill. At Tufts, she started in the five-year combined degree program at Tufts and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. She later left the program and opted to pursue an English major and focus on photography. “I ended up just graduating with

English and taking extra photo classes — I was really just interested in photo and nothing else,� she said.

Post-graduation, she returned to England, where she had studied her junior year, a move that introduced her to the music-video scene, after which she spent a decade in the movie business.

In 1999, she began working at the U.S.-based Ad Council, a nonprofit that helps to promote public service campaigns through icons and slogans, including “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk� and Smokey Bear’s forest fire campaign. The job, Unger said, was interesting, but left something to be desired.� “It was a very rewarding job, but at some point you want more than just the work and high heels,� she said.

To explore her creativity further, Unger returned to her European roots, a decision which launched her on an unexpected journey. “My mom is French, so I quit my job, sold my furniture and left for France for three months. It was August of 2004, and I said I’d be home for Christmas.

I’m still here,� she said. “I was just moving around, searching — but it wasn’t restless moving. It was like being on an unreligious pilgrimage, looking for something but not exactly knowing what it was.�

Unger found a job in France at a contemporary art gallery, a job which introduced her to art a step further from film, she said. This was a turning point for Unger, as she began to gain exposure to new creative masters.

And her new home base, she said, offered another perk — a shift in thinking from the American concept of work to France’s more laid-back attitude. “In France, it’s more about work to live than live to work,� Unger said. “That whole paradigm shift let me step away more and more from high-paying, high-profile jobs.�

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

T h e

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F a r e s C e n t e r f o r E a s t e r n M e d i t e r r a n e a n S t u d i e s P r e s e n t s

“Leadership Succession & Political Change in Egypt”

Michele Dunne

Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and editor of the online journal the Arab Reform Bulletin Michele Dunne is a former specialist on Middle East affairs at the U.S. Department of State and at the White House. She has served on the National Security Council staff and the Secretary of State‟s Policy Planning Staff, and at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, and the Department of State‟s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Her research interests include Arab politics, political and economic reform, and U.S. policies in the Middle East.

Dunne‟s recent publications include, “The Baby, the Bathwater, and the Freedom Agenda in the Middle East” (Washington Quarterly, 2009); “Incumbent Regimes and the „King‟s Dilemma‟ in the Arab World: Promise and Threat of Managed Reform” (with Marina Ottaway, in Getting to Pluralism, Carnegie Endowment, 2009); “A Post-Pharaonic Egypt?” (American Interest, 2008); “The Ups and Downs of Political Reform in Egypt” (with Amr Hamzawy, in Beyond the Façade: Political Reform in the Arab World, 2008); “Integrating Democracy into the U.S. Policy Agenda” (in Uncharted Journey: Promoting Democracy in the Middle East, 2005); Democracy in Contemporary Egyptian Political Discourse (John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2003). Dunne holds a Ph.D. in Arabic language and literature from Georgetown University, where she is an adjunct professor of Arab Studies.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 5:30 pm Cabot 7th Floor - Tufts University Open to the Public Cabot Intercultural Center 160 Packard Avenue Medford, Massachusetts 02155

http://farescenter.tufts.edu For more information contact: Chris Zymaris @ 617.627.6560

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Support Japan by having some fun!

CHARITY AUCTION

EVENT Enjoy performances by: Tufts Ballroom La Salsa Blackout Sarabande Jackson Jills.

Tuesday

Auctioned gifts: Red Sox tickets Tea with the Bacows & much much more!

4/12

8:15pm

Hillel Catered Food will also be available

Hillel basement

Presented by Asian American Alliance together with Japanese Culture Club

For more information contact Yin.Lin@tufts.edu or Sho.Igawa@gmail.com

Looking to volunteer?

April 12-15: Blood Drive in Carmichael Lounge Sign up today on TuftsLife!

April 13-14: Bone Marrow Registration Drive Campus Center 11am-1pm co-sponsored by Tufts Chabad April 16: Volunteer for Kid’s Day Contact lcs.kidsday@gmail.com

Leap into spring For more information contact Yin.Lin@tufts.edu or Sho.Igawa@gmail.com with LCS! Kick off the season with a week of volunteer opportunities April 11th-15th!

April 15-16: Relay for Life Join the fight against cancer 6pm – 6am at Gantcher Volunteer with Elderly Outreach!

Contact lcs.elderlyoutreach@gmail.com to get involved!

Help plan AIDS Day! April 13 at 9pm Campus Center Room 208 For more volunteer opportunities visit

ase.tufts.edu/lcs

Aliquam erat volutpat

Aliquam erat volutpat

Tufts Leonard Carmichael Society: Serving Today, Changing Tomorrow

Arts & Living

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tuftsdaily.com

Theater Preview

Contemporary spin put on ‘Arabian Nights’ Cast tells darkly funny tale of a bitter king and courageous woman

A gaggle of students clothed in bright, silky garments huddled together onstage, clasping hands and hopping up and down on bare feet. The energy was palpable. Director Luke Jorgensen seemed swept up in the buzz of excitement, too, as he called out to the cast of Mary Zimmerman’s “Arabian Nights,” “This is a giant theme party, and you’re about to rock the audience’s world. They don’t even know what they’re getting into.”

Jorgensen’s right: Though the atmospheric set for the Tufts Department of Drama and Dance’s performance hints to audience members of an otherworldly experience, there’s really no way to know that a few short moments of watching this performance of “Arabian Nights” will transport them from Massachusetts to the Middle East.

Romantic glass lanterns and the rich red-and-gold canopy stretching across weathered stone arches may indicate the show’s sensuality, but they do not fully indicate the show’s lasciviousness and refreshing hilarity.

Though “Arabian Nights” tells many tales, all are framed within the story of Shahryar (freshman Ju-Hyun Matthew Park), a king cuckolded by his first wife.

His bitterness inspires him to take a new bride every night, only to execute her in the morning. The story opens when all the eligible women in the land have either died at his hand or fled — all but the daughters of the king’s vizier: Scheherezade (senior Eliana Sigel-Epstein) and Dunyazade (senior Julia Izumi).

Shahryar decides to wed Scheherezade, unaware that the young

Courtesy Margo Caddell/Department of Drama and Dance

see ARABIAN, page 8

Scheherezade (senior Eliana Sigel-Epstein) doesn’t look terribly afraid to be at the mercy of Shahryar (freshman Ju-Hyun Matthew Park).

by

Rebecca Santiago

Daily Editorial Board

Movie Review

‘Source Code’ begins promisingly but loses steam

by John-Michael Sequeira

Daily Staff Writer

All right, there’s officially a conspiracy.

Big-name studios are ensnaring talented, indie-minded directors and using them

Source Code Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga Directed by Duncan Jones

to churn out shoddy films. First came the catastrophic blunder of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009), then last year’s critical misfire “The Tourist” and now this. OK, in all fairness, “Source Code” isn’t actually shoddy. But as a disappointing followup from Duncan Jones, the man who brought us “Moon” (2009), it can’t help but be a heartbreaker for his fans, in spite of its relative decency.

The writing shows incredible promise at the outset. With a dynamite hook see SOURCE, page 8

Courtesy Jonathan Wenk/Summit Entertainment

Despite its clever beginning, ‘Source Code’ fails to maintain originality as the plot thickens (or thins).

Album Review

‘Tron: Legacy Reconfigured’ offers hit-or-miss remixes by

Emily Balk

Senior Staff Writer

Whether at a house party, in a club, at a concert or at the movies, when Daft Punk is spinning, listen-

Tron: Legacy Reconfigured Daft Punk Remixes by Various Artists Walt Disney Records ers are guaranteed to get their bleepbloop on. But the lukewarm critical response to the “Tron: Legacy” (2010) soundtrack, composed by the French electro-robot kings, reflects what can happen when creativity is bent to a purpose other than creating music for its own sake. The soundtrack was just that — a soundtrack, complete with easy to remember musical motifs, plenty of melodrama and not much of the dynamic ebullience that the duo is known for.

Perhaps in anticipation of the grumbling response, Disney allowed some of the new and old guard of electronic music to take their digital scissors to the soundtrack and create something entirely different in nature with “Tron: Legacy Reconfigured.”

It’s not the first time that Daft Punk’s work has been remixed, nor see TRON, page 8

Madeline Hall | The Tasteful and the Tasteless

A token act

W

ith the graduation of our current horde of all-knowing seniors fast approaching, it only feels right to warn the enlightened class of some impending challenges of navigating the next great hot mess: the working world.

Lamentations of the unemployed quickly turn into lamentations of the over-employed.

Those who work too hard, too long and for jobs that deprive them of a soul often find themselves doing things they would otherwise not do had their sanity been preserved.

Among these abhorrent activities is schmoozing, or the artful act of employing untruthful flattery to attain a business contact.

Thrilling in its ability to reduce one’s level of self-love to zero, schmoozing is admittedly advantageous to those looking for alternative jobs. At the end of a schmoozing interaction, an important exchange is made, namely that of business cards. This allows each individual to know the professional details of their schmoozing partner and facilitates a profound relationship of future favor-asking and string-pulling. It’s better than love.

All these social and cultural norms of the working world are being aggressively challenged by an adorable technology, however! Behold the Poken, a Swiss innovation intending to destroy the few enjoyable aspects of schmoozing. Labeled as “your social business card” by the product’s website, the Poken uses Near Field Communication to transmit the social networking details of two Poken owners.

Poken users conduct “high-fours” by passing their keychain-looking tokens over each other’s, an act that exchanges the social network links and professional details of each user to be accessed later on the Poken website.

“Hello” has gone high-tech with the Poken, which is good, because I was getting bored of greeting other humans with words.

The cultural phenomenon of Pokens has been brewing in the professional world for quite some time. Receiving considerable media buzz back in 2009, these cutely-designed tools have proliferated in certain professional circles. They haven’t quite filtered down to the academic world yet, but the technology is widely heralded for its innovation in social networking. The Poken can seem appealing at first glance, if one can ignore the tackiness of doing something called a “high-four” — the benefits of electronic organization are undeniable, as are the paperless environmental advantages. The precious USB designs are also compelling; they’re just little critters! On key chains!

But where’s the romance in bumping Pokens? Aside from the slightly sexual suggestion of the phrase “bumping Pokens,” this interaction promises no personal connection, no soulful understanding of two individuals who desperately want to kiss the other’s ass in order to advance themselves in the professional world. It makes business cards obsolete — and with them the business card book that true schmoozers use to organize their treasured slips. You think they don’t exist?

Look again; it’s appalling but true. They are normally bought in conjunction with a fancy pen and a hell of a lot of pretension.

I’m formulating your skeptical response so as to protect my vulnerable heart. You say, “Why does this girl hate technology so much?”

Between last week’s column and this one, I understand the image being promoted. But I have to defend myself, because I love technology! I use my Walkman every day. My concern is not for technological advancement, but for the cheapening of social exchange. If every interaction becomes a bump, an upload or some other weird, contrived phrase, do we really emote or connect on a sincere level? We increase our quantitative exposure to others, but what of the quality? I want to feel your hand as you pass me your business card, feel the comfort of cardstock and raised type against my palm. Is that so much to ask?

Madeline Hall is a sophomore majoring in international relations. She can be reached at Madeline.Hall@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

8

Arts & Living

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Seasoned performances from Gyllenhaal, Monaghan can’t save ‘Source Code’

Courtesy Jonathan Wenk/Summit Entertainment

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan share an intimate moment amid the action of ‘Source Code.’ that somehow fuses together elements of “Groundhog Day” (1993) and “12 Monkeys” (1995), thought-provoking and original science-fiction seems just around the bend. Captain Colter Stevens’ (Jake Gyllenhaal) reliving the same eight-minute experience through a “Matrix” (1999, 2003)like program of being jacked into the recent past is the stuff of which high-concept dreams are made.

It seems a no-brainer, then, that

the “Source Code” script ended up on Hollywood’s Black List of most impressive unproduced screenplays in 2007. Parallel universes, time travel and philosophical touchstones like the nature of free will — Ben Ripley’s first-time theatrical screenwriting effort hits all the right notes.

And then, it all just flatlines.

Every hint at an unorthodox direction is unmasked as a feint, and the crushing familiarity of

unambitious storytelling takes hold. Lazy characterization, hackneyed plotting and a comprehensive aversion to risk-taking emerge from beneath the surface of a sharp, polished thriller.

Ultimately it’s this troubling balance that hamstrings the film, keeping it free from the echelons of anything but the ordinary.

Jones’ second directorial effort cracks under thematic scrutiny, and the minimalistic story twists

away from its promising premise and exposes a film that is all surface and no depth.

Still, there’s no denying that the surface’s glossy sheen manages to be quite impressive — even distractingly so.

From the handsome costuming to Gyllenhaal’s workmanlike acting and co-star Michelle Monaghan’s ever-present charm, bright spots do indeed present themselves. Jones even offers up a handful of compelling images, particularly when gifted with free rein to depict the isolated confines of Captain Stevens’ containment chamber, a hard sci-fi construction that’s as close as he comes to tapping the creative well so evident in “Moon.”

But just about everything else manages to be pleasant and functional yet wholly unremarkable.

The production design serves as a perfect example: The major locations and environs are so sanitized they’re almost clinical. In fact, the only quality worth mentioning is that they’re entirely forgettable — a quality that begins to bleed into the film itself.

Characters that take shape as antagonists fall into precisely the same trap. Rather than operate with any measure of subtlety or nuance as complex individuals, they’re illustrated as faint sketches of villainy — more game pieces on the story’s map than anything else. By following this pre-set path of conventionally accepted progression rather than charting its

own unique course, “Source Code” sticks out as a case of exhausted ambition, in which the dynamism of its opening salvo just can’t be sustained.

Despite the charisma brought by its lead actors and occasional flashes of talent from its director — who nonetheless deserves criticism for such a toothless conceptual vision — a fair measure of blame rests on screenwriter Ripley’s shoulders. Any script that hinges on “everything is going to be all right” as a key line just isn’t exercising its creative muscles, and the ultimate narrative arc can only be as interesting as it is consistent. Ripley manages several brilliant moments of the former but few of the latter, and the rapid transition from originality to orthodoxy is crippling.

Within one of the film’s many marketing blurbs, the phrase “pulse-pounding” was brought to the forefront, taken from a review by The Chicago SunTimes’ Richard Roeper. At first glance, it seemed an odd attribution — a familiar turn of phrase rendered strange by its application to a film that systematically fails to generate surprise or anything unexpected in its later stages. But perhaps it’s the perfect description, because, like the “tour de force” plastered over every single awards-season drama, the words no longer have meaning. They’re a hollow recommendation for a film that seems to lack any true desire to

Updated Daft Punk hits in ‘Tron: Legacy Reconfigured’ a mixed bag TRON

continued from page 7

will it be the last. Their live album, “Alive 2007” (2007), was an explosive and fresh retrospective of past hits mashed together. The long-popular hooks, recast with epic build-ups and frenetic beats, proved that Daft Punk was capable of producing what amounts to a fully functional Frankenstein’s monster of their own music.

When Daft Punk’s music is put into the hands of those other than its creators, though, the cohesiveness of the album and quality of each individual song are at risk. Given the range of talent on “Reconfigured,” it is thus no surprise that the results of the “collaborations” are a mixed bag.

Moby’s take on “The Son of Flynn,” an unsurprisingly down-tempo affair, feels more like a six-minute introduction to a song than a track in and of itself. The snail-like pace and repetitive orchestral themes not only feel too much like a soundtrack but make for a yawn of a song. The M83 VS Big Black Delta remix of “Fall” is another disappointment. The vacillating twee-pop falsetto of the vocal loop sits uncomfortably atop a dismal, gravelly background. The combination verges on grating.

In spite of the duds, and in spite of the diversity represented by the artists invited to remix Daft Punk’s work, the album flows remarkably well and ends up sounding more like a single musical entity than

the disjointed compilation it could have easy become. One of the biggest standout tracks of the album is the Paul Oakenfold remix of “C.L.U.” A familiar and successful figure in the trance scene, Oakenfold once again proves his ability to generate dance-worthy songs. “C.L.U.” begins with a creepy digital cackle, gradually melding layers of strings and accelerating beats that lead into a triumphant synth refrain.

It is a song that both evokes and encourages movement. It is a song that belongs in your party playlist, stat.

Already popular in its original form from the “Tron: Legacy” soundtrack, “Derezzed” appears twice in “Reconfigured,” remixed once by The Glitch Mob and once by Swedish DJ Avicii. The former brings their distinct style to the track in a not so subtle way, peppering Daft Punk’s bright, distinctive melody with heavy bass and some stalling, glitchy bits. Avicci takes “Derezzed” in an entirely different direction, lifting it up with saccharine staccato piping rather than weighing it down. Undoubtedly, some will not be satisfied with either version given how substantially different each is from Daft Punk’s stellar original, which perfectly captured the atmosphere of the film and remained true to DP’s own musical viewpoint.

“Tron: Legacy Recofigured” may be Disney’s attempt to appease the unsatisfied Daft Punk enthusiasts, but ultimately, that is a job best left to Daft Punk and not to a convoy of their peers.

amazon.com

Nothing says ‘remix album’ like replacing letters with numbers.

Tufts production of ‘Arabian Nights’ reflects on current problems in Middle East ARABIAN

continued from page 7

maiden has a plan. Determined to save her life, and the lives of the other girls in the kingdom, Scheherezade uses her gift for storytelling to keep the king in suspense, hoping that her marvelous yarns will eventually melt his hardened heart — and pry the knife from his hand.

The talented actors assume several different roles throughout the play, portraying Scheherezade’s sweeping stories in a fittingly hyperbolic fashion. The anecdotes range from serious to uproarious: one narrates the grief a woman experiences when her beloved fails to recognize her ardor and rejects her for another woman; another uses a clarinet

and crude, mouth-made sound effects to depict a truly unforgettable fart. (“Shouldn’t have eaten those chickpeas,” the actors cluck.)

Love, betrayal, orgies, belly dancing, know-it-alls, wedding dances: Clearly, this is good stuff, and the cast is well aware of that fact.

The actors evoke everything they can from the material; Izumi is a laugh riot, not only in the role of Dunyazade, but also as a licentious wife, taking several lovers into her marital bed and feigning innocence (with a hysterically funny “don’t look at me” face and mumbled asides). Contrasting with Izumi’s crackup performance, but equally impressive, is Park’s touching depiction of a

man blinded by his passions and punished by karma.

There is no mistaking that “Arabian Nights” is trying to channel an era long past, but Jorgensen said that the cast intended to put a contemporary spin on this performance. “It evokes what’s going on in Egypt right now … We thought about what happens when there is communication,” Jorgensen said. “The actors have done a lot of adding to the show. If you looked at the script, you’d see how they’ve been doing all this stuff creatively.”

That present-day political interpretation takes on a heavy meaning when coupled with the idea that these characters’ destinies are “written” — “it is

written” and similar variations spring up throughout the play, alluding to destiny.

The idea of “writing a destiny” couples with the play’s emphasis on communication in this version of “Arabian Nights,” questioning our ability — or maybe challenging us — to effect change. The idea is summarized in an exchange that takes place in one of Scheherezade’s stories: To the question, “What can destroy empires?” a brilliantly learned girl replies, “Words.”

“Arabian Nights” opens tonight in Balch Arena Theater at 8 p.m. and is running at the same time every night through April 16. Tickets are $7 with a Tufts ID at the Aidekman Box Office; on April 14, tickets are $1.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

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THE TUFTS DAILY Alexandra W. Bogus

Editorial

Editorial | Letters

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Safety alerts more noise than substance

Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Mick Brinkman Krever Saumya Vaishampayan Managing Editors Martha Shanahan Executive News Editor Michael Del Moro News Editors Nina Ford Ben Gittleson Amelie Hecht Ellen Kan Daphne Kolios Kathryn Olson Matt Repka Corinne Segal Jenny White Brent Yarnell Elizabeth McKay Assistant News Editors Laina Piera Rachel Rampino Minyoung Song Derek Schlom Executive Features Editor Jon Cheng Features Editors Sarah Korones Emilia Luna Romy Oltuski Alexa Sasanow Falcon Reese Assistant Features Editors Angelina Rotman Sarah Strand Amelia Quinn Ben Phelps Executive Arts Editor Emma Bushnell Arts Editors Mitchell Geller Rebecca Santiago Matthew Welch Allison Dempsey Assistant Arts Editors Andrew Padgett Joseph Stile Ashley Wood Rebekah Liebermann Bhushan Deshpande Larissa Gibbs David Kellogg Rachel Oldfield Jeremy Ravinsky Daniel Stock Devon Colmer Erin Marshall Alex Miller Louie Zong Craig Frucht Kerianne Okie Michael Restiano Joshua Youner

In the past two weeks, the Tufts community has received two reports from Tufts University Police Department regarding vague, and in one case unsubstantiated, reports of wrongdoing. The first, on April 1, occurred when a student reported that a male peer may have poisoned a female student’s contact lens solution with peanut oil in an attempt to trigger an allergic reaction; neither the male nor the intended victim were known to the police. TUPD later concluded that there was no credible threat. The second, on April 10, reported that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) police had detained a suspect at the Davis Square T station for allegedly stealing an iPhone or iPod from an unidentified victim.

Both of these cases reflect a frivolous and excessive use of the campuswide email alert system, a case of too much noise and too little substance.

TUPD safety alerts should be reserved for cases in which there is a substantiated and imminent threat to the Tufts community. Neither one of these cases met those criteria. To the university’s credit, the MBTA email was not labeled as a safety alert, but the effect was

nonetheless on par with one. Repeated safety alerts on matters this frivolous dilute their power and encourage students not to take them seriously.

Seeing the subject “Safety Alert” in one’s inbox should convey the idea that crucial security information is contained. When the university sends out too many of these emails, the potency of each one is diminished.

In the case of the peanut oil threat, TUPD sent out a safety alert about something that was likely nothing more than an offhand comment taken out of context or an April Fool’s Day joke directed at TUPD. A vague report of an implausible, unsubstantiated scheme does not foster vigilance. Students are likely to dismiss emails that don’t refer to a clear threat, and when the time comes for the police to warn of a substantiated threat, they will be more likely to dismiss these messages as well.

The email about the theft occurring at the Davis Square T station was similarly unclear yet highlights a different problem with the alerts: jurisdiction.

Students do not need to be informed of every incident of petty theft that occurs in the surrounding areas outside of campus, and this one occurred

more than half a mile away. The fact that TUPD reports such incidents only creates an illusion that students are in more danger than they actually are.

Robberies that occur on campus or on streets directly adjacent to it are worth reporting, because their perpetrators could pose a threat to the Tufts community. But incidents that occur away from campus are not worth reporting to the community.

If schools located in urban centers reported every crime that occurred near campus, their students’ inboxes would be inundated with safety alerts on a regular basis. Likewise, if Tufts reported to its students every crime that occurred in Davis Square and surrounding neighborhoods, safety alerts would become a daily occurrence, and most students would delete them without a second thought.

Occasional robberies are a reality of living in a city. Students should know to be vigilant without having to read an email from TUPD every time it learns of a mugging. TUPD should limit its reports to crimes that occur on or directly adjacent to campus and to those that pose a credible and imminent threat.

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Off the Hill | Indiana University

Planned Parenthood safe (for now) by

IDS Editorial Staff Indiana Daily Student

All of last week, the nation’s attention was on federal budget negotiations going on in our nation’s capital. After passing a temporary extension, Congress had still failed to pass an ongoing budget. As of early Friday evening, it seemed Uncle Sam was indeed going to shut his doors at midnight.

And then, almost out of nowhere, there was a deal. The ongoing talks, held up by policy riders such as the one to cut funding for Planned Parenthood and other health organizations that provide abortions, had finally reached a conclusion.

But make no mistake: The budget was not held up by abortion.

Rather, lawmakers failed to reach a deal earlier due to inaccuracies and closed-mindedness about the mission of Planned Parenthood, which is the largest provider of family planning services

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.

in the country.

The fact that our elected officials came so close to striking a likely fatal blow to millions of women’s lifeline to health services should be worrisome to people on all ends of the political spectrum.

Of course, Planned Parenthood is also well-known for offering abortions and other (legal) family planning methods that many on the right (and left, for that matter) find distasteful. If the federal government were in any way directly funding abortions, perhaps this would be a reasonable point of contention.

But the federal grants in question do not fund abortions at Planned Parenthood or any other provider of such services.

An interesting point brought up by ABC News and other media outlets is that relatively few women participated in the budget negotiation process. When a target constituency representing about half of the country is hardly present during such an important debate, how can

their views be represented?

That’s not to say that all women are fans of Planned Parenthood and its pro-choice views. But again, the budget debate wasn’t (and isn’t) about abortion — it’s about preserving funding for an important nonprofit that provides a vast array of services to women who may or may not be able to afford them otherwise.

It comes down to choice — not about abortion, but about the — priorities of our federal government. While Congress seems to have reached a deal for now, few doubt that more painful cuts are on their way; this recent battle is, unfortunately, probably indicative of more political arguments to come.

Fortunately, for the time being, funding for women’s heath organizations is intact, but this might change Wednesday when an up-or-down vote will be taken in Congress on Planned Parenthood funding.

Here’s hoping that it goes nowhere.

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Tufts Daily

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Op-Ed

Proposed financial aid cuts would hurt the Tufts community and the country

Elisha Sum | InQueery

Language and its limits

By Josh Friedmann and Sam Wallis Late Friday night, the U.S. House leadership fought to cut financial aid for some nine million college students, including almost 700 of our peers at Tufts. As a small group of legislators and aides met on the fourth floor of the Capitol to negotiate a final budget proposal for this year, the fate of financial aid hung in the balance.

As one of many cuts to next year’s budget, the House proposed slashing need-based Pell grants by 15 percent. The proposal would also have completely eliminated the Federal Supplementary Educational Opportunity Grant program, which provides additional assistance to many students at Tufts and nationwide.

Financial aid and other education programs were largely preserved in those negotiations, but another fight is brewing. Last week, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) introduced his budget proposal for 2012.

Ryan’s plan would reduce every Pell recipient’s maximum award by over $800 annually, and many would lose their eligibility all together. Even those who remain eligible might be forced to drop out if they can’t afford the $3,200 cut in their total financial aid.

In addition to hurting current students, this policy would hinder the collegiate dreams of the recently admitted class of 2015, as well as other future students who would follow them into the halls of higher education.

Our nation is firmly invested in the notion of universal access to primary and secondary education, but a high school diploma does not carry the weight it once did. Access to higher education should also be available to all who are willing to work for it, regardless of financial background.

American higher education is a model for the world. But our economy cannot thrive if deserving students cannot enroll.

Investments in education strengthen our economy in the long run and help us compete in a global market. In order to secure our economic recovery, the United States must ensure that college education is accessible to those demonstrating intelligence

F

MCT

and effort, not merely to those born to privileged households.

Congress does need to work toward reducing the deficit. But Ryan’s dramatic reductions in financial aid would attempt to balance the budget on the backs of young Americans, even while reducing taxes for the wealthy. Congress should not pay for tax cuts by hurting our competiveness or by downsizing programs that help working students and families.

There are other options for cutting spending while promoting better education. Forprofit colleges land about a quarter of all Pell grants, even with substantially lower graduation rates than their nonprofit peers. Those companies shouldn’t be allowed to pocket taxpayer money without doing more to help their students earn a diploma. Tying grants to student progress toward graduation is a solid proposal.

In a March 24 letter, University President Lawrence Bacow urged U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.) to fight for both of these vital programs. We

hope the student body will follow his lead by imploring their representatives in Congress to seriously consider the tragic impact of the proposed cuts.

Senators Kerry and Brown have both shown leadership in the budget debate. Most notably, Brown admirably rejected his party’s call to defund Planned Parenthood. We implore both our senators to continue that leadership by vigorously working to preserve financial aid programs.

A society is measured not only by the quality of its education system, but by the accessibility of that education to students of all backgrounds. The House’s proposed cuts would make higher learning a privilege restricted to the affluent. Such a system is fundamentally undemocratic.

Josh Friedmann is a senior majoring in political science and environmental studies. Sam Wallis is a senior majoring in political science. He is the president of the Tufts Community Union.

Off the Hill | Vassar College

Sexting scandal illustrates dangers of technology

by John

Kenney

The Miscellany News

The fad of sexting among minors can be destructive for young lives. For Margarite, a young girl from Washington, a naked picture she sent to her boyfriend Isaiah would come to have massive consequences. After the two broke up, Isaiah sent the picture to a former friend of Margarite. That friend disseminated the photo to as many students as possible.

The former friend and another girl who helped in distributing the photo were charged with the dissemination of child pornography — a Class C Felony — and ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of telephone harassment for their crimes. This event raises serious questions about the implications of technology on social lives.

The actual act of sexting is not illegal, nor would I argue that it should be. For the more prudish among us, the idea of people sending naked pictures to each other over cell phones may seem disgusting; nevertheless, at the end of the day we live in a country that respects the rights of consenting adults to send sexually provocative photos to each other.

The issue, however, becomes more complicated when the question of sexting by minors is brought up. That is especially true in a case such as Margarite’s, where the picture ended up being used as a way to disparage and defame her. The three teens that sent out the picture deserved to be punished for what they did, as the picture still continues to haunt Margarite a year later. She tried transferring schools,

but the story of the picture was soon discovered by students there. She decided to transfer back to her original school, where she still had friends. Due to the mass distribution of the photo coupled with the media storm that erupted following the arrests, the event is still known among Margarite’s peers.

In the media storm that erupted, the question was raised as to whether Margarite should have also faced legal repercussions for taking the picture in the first place. The local prosecutor decided not to press charges, and I fully agree with that decision. In some cases, the underage minor who took the photo of him or herself has been charged with distribution of child pornography. This seems unnecessarily cruel. Possession and distribution of child pornography has been criminalized so as to protect minors from those who would exploit them. Underage sexting may be stupid, but it seems to be taking matters too far if the child who took the photo of themselves ended up being charged; minors who are the victims of sexting scandals in no way intended to distribute child pornography in the way actual child pornographers do.

In Margarite’s case, she has already had to face social exclusion and cruelty from fellow students. That already is an undeserved punishment for one impulsive decision made in the midst of a relationship.

Underage students should of course think twice before sending a nude picture of themselves to anyone with whom they are in a relationship. That being said, the practice probably will not stop. Only the

most idealistic amongst us could hope that adequate education — such as, for example, the public service advertisements the three guilty teens were ordered to make as part of their plea agreement for distributing Margarite’s photo — would bring about the end of underage sexting.

The technological age we live in has completely redefined social relationships in ways that we are only now beginning to understand and address. Sexting is just one of many facets that we have to consider when we consider the behavior of youth in the age of cell phones and Facebook. There are also, for example, pictures from parties that get posted on Facebook that could come back to haunt one if a future employer or college admissions staff member runs a Google search on one’s name.

It is a scary fact to consider that our social lives and actions are now available for others to see in a way that would not have even been imaginable 20 years ago.

A simple status update about marijuana is there forever. A tagged photo on Facebook of a wild night of debauchery can be seen by anyone if the proper precautions are not taken. A naked picture sent to a romantic interest can end up tearing your entire life apart.

Cases such as Margarite’s will not stop irresponsible behavior in the new technological era in which we have found ourselves. They do however serve as a grim reminder of what can happen when we make one silly decision. Our lives are now under a microscope and any decision that is made digitally can serve to haunt our real selves for years to come.

erdinand de Saussure developed the field of semiology, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “the branch of science concerned with the study of [...] signs and symbols.” The field looks at how signs work and how we use them. A sign is the sum of the signifier, which is the form of the sign, and the signified, which is the concept of the meaning or the actual thing itself (i.e. “cat” versus the actual animal). To clarify, here’s an example: The word “open,” in the context of it being hung on a shop door, is a signifier signifying that the store is operating business at this time. It is deceivingly simple and has theoretical potency.

But what does semiotics have to do with InQueery? Just as I try to question varying aspects of society from a queer perspective in my column, semiotics lends itself to destabilizing what is assumed and accepted as natural because it looks at language, communication and representation as a coherent whole. This allows us to understand that certain values become entrenched in a culture over time through their accepted usage and meanings and that they can and do differ cross-culturally. For example, smiling does not translate into the same signification in different cultures. Our norms, standards and perspectives then lose the legitimating power of a connection to biology and notions of naturalness. We cannot deny the role of social constructs involved in the creation of realities.

Along the same lines, since we understand the outside world though language or signs, semiotics points markedly to the illusion of an objective reality, for what we know derives significance from its mediation through signs. Our system of signs shapes and informs what we know and see.

What we understand as reality cannot then be objective but is subject to our interpretations. Though this assertion may seem obvious in this context, the common, accepted and widely used signification of reality includes objectivity, yet applying semiotics denaturalizes such a meaning.

Semiology offers us an approach that cultivates a consciousness of the powers that function to characterize sign systems as natural. Conventional usages and conventional responses to signs create a feedback system that transmits from generation to generation intelligible forms of communication. Because we can communicate thanks to social conventions, we often take them for granted and forget the constructed nature of the relationships between the signifiers and the signified. And because of their ability to escape scrutiny, sign systems can easily work within the dominant forces to frame reality in a certain way, while reinforcing such a reality as absolute and natural. We cannot sift the ideology out, for it permeates our very sign systems that reify and reinforce it. Thus, as much as sign systems allow us to communicate and create discourses, even transgressive and radical ones, they also entrap us in a closed system that reinforces itself as legitimate and natural.

We must be aware of what versions of reality the “texts” presented to us through various media naturalize and privilege. The perspective and ideology pervading the cultural product determines what subjective reality gains mainstream acceptance and application. As always, we cannot ignore who are the producers and disseminators of these signs.

Within a queer context, we can think about the pernicious, simplistic adherence to biological determinism, the problematic conflations of sex and gender and the resultant significations of an individual’s morality, humanity and sexuality based on the ways in which an outsider reads that person’s queer body and self-presentation.

Lastly, to expand to feminism, the issues surrounding the signifier “woman” in relation to transwomanhood and ciswomanhood also are just as applicable.

Elisha Sum is a senior majoring in English and French. He can be reached at Elisha.

Sum@tufts.edu.

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

The Tufts Daily

12

Comics

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

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Allie B.: “You would’ve really enjoyed looking at her legs. ... I looked at her legs.”

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Brandeis’ Ducinski pitches four-hit shutout in second game of doubleheader SOFTBALL

continued from page 16

Heading into the later game, the Jumbos’ bats were sizzling. However, Brandeis sophomore Casey Ducinski was able to quickly cool down Tufts’ offense, tossing an impressive complete-game four-hit shutout in which she allowed only two Tufts batters to reach second base. Ducinski kept the Tufts hitters honest all game long, inducing 14 groundball outs, while improving to 7-2 on the year.

In game two, the Judges once again jumped in front early, this time scoring three in the top of the first on a home run by senior first baseman Courtney Keller. Tufts’ pitching recovered quickly, as sophomores Aly Moskowitz and Rebecca DiBiase combined to allow just four hits and four runs. But unlike the early game, the Judges shut the door with a dominant effort from Ducinski, never letting the Jumbos recover from their early hole.

“I think Brandeis deserves a lot of credit for the way they played in the second game,” Cantone said. “I don’t think we took the second game lightly; we just didn’t play as well.”

While there is no shame in splitting a doubleheader, Sunday certainly was disappointing for the Jumbos, especially given the fact that the Judges entered Sunday’s action with a 13-14 record. The Jumbos feel they must defeat the sub-.500 teams if they are going to top the NESCAC standings come season’s end.

“We have to take care of business in the games that we should win,” coach Cheryl Milligan, who is now in her eighth season with the program, said. “With that being said, [Ducinski] tossed a great game against us, and she deserves all the credit in the world.”

Joltin’ Jo

Freshman catcher Jo Clair is tearing her way through the pitchers of New England. After a two home run afternoon in a doubleheader yesterday against Babson, she has slammed 13 home runs in just 24 games, while accumulating a slugging percentage of 1.015. Both numbers are tops in the NESCAC, while her slugging percentage was fourth in the nation as of April 4. Her pace continues to increase, and she now has homered in seven of her last eight games.

But how does she stack up historically? Clair is now just one shy of the Tufts’ single-season record and 11 short of the national record with nearly half of her season to go. Below, the Daily projects her home run total for the full regular season and compares it to past records.

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24 20 14

Tufts Career Record (Liz Drake) 2000-2003

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continued from page 16

Katz and her doubles partner, freshman Eliza Flynn, won both of their matches at No. 2 doubles this weekend by a score of 8-4. Both the No. 1 doubles team of Browne and Bowman and the No. 3 doubles team of Gann and sophomore Janice Lam also were unbeaten this weekend.

“Our doubles [teams] have come so far,” senior tri-captain Edwina Stewart said. “I am so proud of how our team has done. Bowdoin is always a strong team. A lot of the singles went to three [sets], so it was very impressive that we were able to keep our intensity and focus up throughout.”

“I think our doubles is the best in the country right now,” freshman Samantha Gann added. “Bowdoin is a great team to play; they have good talent and are feisty. They are good prep

for the top-10 teams.”

The two wins this weekend gives the team a four-match winning streak. The team attributes its strong showing to the hard work the players put in during their spring break trip in late March, where the team knocked off two top10 teams at the Fab 10 Tournament at Emory College.

“Spring Break was very motivating for us,” Stewart said. “It brought us a lot closer. Mental toughness has always been a strong point for our team, and I continue to be impressed with the mental toughness of our underclassmen.”

The Jumbos will take on Conn.

College tomorrow, and will continue to work toward their goal of a national championship.

“We look to take this momentum into our next week of matches and contjkinue to remain confident,” Browne said.

Historic season ends for equestrian team EQUESTRIAN

continued from page 15

extend their season, senior co-captain Katie Christiansen applauded her team’s performance against some of the top collegiate riders in the country.

“I thought that everyone rode really well,” Christiansen said. “This weekend was definitely a challenge for us because the competition was really tough, but I thought that everyone was really impressive in how much effort they put in. Even though we came in fourth, I feel like we gave the other teams a run for their money.”

All four Tufts riders who qualified for individual events had strong showings.

Sophomore David Eder finished third in the walk-trot, while fellow sophomore Risa Meyers recorded a sixth-place finish in the intermediate fences.

In the open flat, Christiansen and freshman Audrey Carlson finished fifth

and seventh, respectively. Yet the cocaptain insisted that the team’s overall performance trumps any individual success and has become a larger part of each rider’s mindset.

“The team was more individual-minded when I was a freshman,” Christiansen said. “My junior year, we started doing more team bonding outside of the barn, and because of that, people [began] to realize that it was a team sport.”

If the team continues to embrace this collective attitude, Christiansen believes that it can continue to reach even higher levels of success.

“I think the team has a really exciting future,” she said. “We have a lot of underclassmen who are incredibly talented. This year in particular has motivated people to work really hard because they have seen that hard work pays off.”

The Tufts Daily

14

Sports

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Crew

Jumbos face optimal weather, tough competition at regatta Women’s eight boat edges out Wesleyan in final stretch, but doesn’t make it past Wellesley by

Nash Simpson

Senior Staff Writer

The women’s varsity eight crew team edged out Wesleyan at the finish line this past Saturday, defeating the team on the 2,000-meter course in what became the highlight of an exciting, daylong regatta.

The girls were up against top competition this weekend, including Bates and Wellesley, which each sent boats to the NCAA tournament last spring.

“We never stopped believing that we had the potential to be competitive,” senior tri-captain Rachel Steward said.

Though the team lost to Wellesley, its defeat of Wesleyan was an exhilarating race, with the Jumbos finishing in 6:59.1 and the Cardinals just behind in 7:04.0.

“In the first varsity boat, our goal was to put it on all the line, but the Wellesley crew was just too fast,” Steward said. “[Before] starting the second race against Wesleyan — which was coming off a loss to Bates — we talked about the [previous] race and our coxswain Gillian Hodes gave us feedback, which really paid off. … It was a really exhilarating and powerful feeling to see the other crew falling behind.”

Coming down the final stretch in their bout against Wesleyan, the girls widened their margin of victory with a 30-stroke move toward the finish.

“Our stroke ratings and speeds didn’t jump around or slide down as much as they did in the first race,” said Steward, pointing out that the major difference between the two races was technical consistency.

The team hopes to build on

Courtesy Kaylee Maykranz

The women’s crew, here at a regatta early this season, bested Wesleyan this weekend in the varsity eight. this weekend’s results, and it is optimistic about the remainder of the season.

The men’s varsity crew team struggled this weekend, as it hosted a total of 12 races at the Shoemaker Boathouse Saturday, a day which offered “optimal conditions” for good rowing, according to junior Chris Park.

“Water conditions were great with almost no head or tail wind, and the water was still,” Park said.

The racing day for the varsity eight was designed tournamentstyle, starting off with a total of four teams. While New Hampshire raced Wesleyan, Tufts took on Bates. Unfortunately for Tufts, the Jumbos time of 6:32.4 was not quick

enough to stick with the Bobcats, who posted a time of 6:12.1.

Next up, Tufts faced the UNH team, which was coming off a loss to Wesleyan. As a tired Tufts squad rowed a time of 6:40.1, a surprisingly aggressive UNH team rowed a fast 6:04.2. Tufts ended its day with two losses, while Wesleyan won both of its races. The other two schools broke even.

The squad was faster in its first run, Park said, but the feel of the boat was better in the second, keeping a steady balance and avoiding any drag to one side. In future weeks, the team looks to combine this balance with the speed it showed in its first race of the day.

Saturday was a challenge from the beginning, but the losses were somewhat expected. The team knows that it must improve before the ECAC National Invitational Championships on May 8.

“We faced some tough crews with a lot of talent and some serious depth,” senior captain Eugene Kim said. “We have a lot of water time between now and ECACs and a lot of progress ahead of us” While the relatively small varsity team engaged in its minitournament, the larger novice crew team showed promise in its own races. The men’s four boat defeated New Hampshire by an impressive 21 seconds, posting up a time of 7:23.2. The eight boat

finished the race in 6:48.0, defeating New Hampshire, which was disqualified for cutting a turn in an attempt at catching the Tufts boat.

“We were successful because we kept our cool … went back up to the locker room … and really focused during the second race which definitely paid off,” freshman Ian McConnell said. “The boat felt lighter [throughout the race].”

Though this past weekend was extremely busy, rest is unheard of for the Tufts crew teams. Both the men’s and women’s teams are vigorously preparing to host NESCAC foe Middlebury on April 16 on the Malden River Resort, in what should be a memorable showdown.

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The Tufts Daily

15

Sports

Sailing

Top-10 finishes propel team to New Englands

Upcoming contests signal toughest stretch of season for the Jumbos by

Nick Woolf

Alex Prewitt | Live from Mudville

Trusting Tiger

Daily Staff Writer

A second-place finish at the Central Series 4 at Harvard this past weekend was the highlight for the No. 12 co-ed sailing team, as the squad competed in a total of four regattas with the April 16 New England Dinghy Championships looming on the horizon.

Led by the B-Division boat of freshmen Ben Weigel and Kathleen Kwasniak, the Jumbos finished in second out of 12, barely losing to No. 5 Roger Williams.

The Jumbos also sent a second team to compete in the fleet race, which finished not far behind, in fourth place.

In addition to the Central Series, the team sent boats to the Greater New York Dinghy Fleet Race at Columbia University, the Admiral Alymer’s Trophy at Mass. Maritime and the Marchiando & Friis Trophies Team Race, which Tufts co-hosted with MIT. Despite their success the past few weekends, the Jumbos remained at No. 12 in the most recent Sailing World release on April 7, over 70 points away from the top 10. The women’s sailing team climbed two spots to No. 9, cracking the top 10 for the first time this spring.

“The rankings fluctuate, and we just try and sail our best no matter what,” senior tri-captain Meghan Pesch said.

“Obviously, we want to be No. 1, and if we can knock off another team that’s ranked higher than us it’s always good, but I don’t think we consciously try and perform better because of the rankings.”

The Jumbos placed 11th at the Greater New York Dinghy Fleet Race, the only regatta all weekend at which the team failed to produce a top-10 finish. The A-Division boat of sophomores John Meleney and Mackenzie Loy finished 12th in their division, while the B boat of freshman Willem Sandberg and sophomore Amelia Quinn came in ninth in their division. Loy is a layout editor and Quinn is a features editor for the Daily.

The team had slightly more success at the Admiral Alymer’s Trophy, finishing fourth out of the field of 14. The A-Division boat of sophomore William Hutchings, senior James Altreuter and juniors Reeves Bright and Elizabeth Lynch paved the way with a third-place finish in their division, just behind No. 16 Dartmouth and No. 7 Brown.

The Jumbos then co-hosted the 29th Marchiando & 51st Friis Trophies Team Race with MIT. According to junior tricaptain Massimo Soriano, the field of 16 was split into two equally competitive groups. Tufts’ group, which included seven other schools, raced Saturday on the Mystic Lakes while the other eight

Courtesy Adam Weisman

The co-ed sailing team remains just out of the national top 10 after competing at four regattas this weekend. teams raced at MIT. On Sunday, the top eight teams overall competed at MIT for the championship.

The Jumbos sent three boats to the team race: the pairs of freshman skipper Will Haeger with senior crew Sally Levinson, Soriano with senior crew Margaret Rew and junior skipper Nicolas Russo-Larsson with senior crew Roisin Magee. After finishing first in their group on Saturday with a record of 10-2, the team qualified for Sunday’s final at MIT. “In general, we were pretty confident with the way we sailed, and it was fun to have a team race regatta at home against some pretty good teams,” Soriano said.

“In many ways, the home advantage worked for us, and we sailed very smart.

We were in the right mindset to do well on the lake at home.”

After Sunday, against a highly competitive field including No. 2 Charlestown, Tufts finished in a tie with No. 7 Brown and No. 8 Yale for fourth place at 7-7, but dropped to sixth due to a tiebreaker.

“We could be disappointed about it or happy about it,” Soriano said. “It tells us we are where we need to be, but there’s clearly still a tiny bit of work that needs to be done. ... There’s three spots from the New England Championships that qualify for nationals, and being tied for that third spot at this regatta means that we are right on track.”

The No. 9 women’s sailing team also competed this past weekend at the Women’s President’s Trophy at

Boston University, finishing fifth out of 16 schools. The A-Division boat of sophomore Natalie Salk, junior Marina Miaoulis and seniors Sara Carnahan and Meghan Pesch looked strong once again for the Jumbos, placing fourth in their division.

“It was a really good chance for people to gain some experience before New Englands,” Pesch said. “Everyone’s getting ready for the qualifiers, so it was a nice transition into what’s going to be much more competitive racing.”

“The wind was really shifty even more so than it normally is on our home lake,” Pesch continued. “There were a lot of races that we were doing well in, but it was frustrating that all it took was one wind-shift that we didn’t catch to set us back four or five boats.”

This week the Jumbos will be gearing up for the toughest and most important stretch of their season, beginning this weekend with the New England Dinghy Championships on April 16 at Rhode Island and followed by the women’s New England Championships the next weekend. If they perform well, the teams’ seasons should continue well past final exams and the end of the school year.

“The season is really peaking now,” Soriano said. “New Englands is, in many ways, the tougher elimination round for us on the road to nationals because it is so competitive. We’re really just trying to focus on getting back into fleet racing mode and see how well we can do.”

Equestrian

Jumbos’ breakthrough season ends at Zones by

Matt Berger

Despite strong team and individual performances from the Jumbos’ eight riders, the equestrian team fell to its heavily-favored opponents, finishing in fourth place overall at the Zone One Finals at the Mt. Holyoke College Equestrian Center in South Hadley, Mass.

Hoping to further an already historically successful season — the team qualified for Zones for the first time since 2000 — the Jumbos traveled to the Mt. Holyoke College Equestrian Center in South Hadley, Mass., for the tournament against Brown, University of New Hampshire and host Mt. Holyoke, also regional minners.

Their 28 points landed them a fourth-place finish. Mt. Holyoke and New Hampshire, by finishing first and second, respectively, in the team competition, qualified for the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Nationals, which will be held May 5-8 in Lexington, Ky. Although the Jumbos were unable to Daily Editorial Board

see EQUESTRIAN, page 13

Courtesy Katie Christiansen

Sophomore David Eder finished third in the walk-trot at Zones this weekend.

W

here will you be when the drought ends? How will you feel when the floodgates open and the rain finally falls? The world will invariably take notice when Tiger finally escapes the zoo, releasing himself from the self-imposed cage at the circus that’s become his life. Few, however, will agree on a common emotion.

As he passionately pumps his fists one more time, people will stand up and applaud.

Others will boo. Some won’t even take notice.

They’re in church, far too engrossed in sermons on the sanctity of marriage to recognize the world-famous adulterer celebrating on the 18th green.

The fourth-place finish at the 2011 Masters may very well serve as a starting pistol for Tiger Woods’s Race to Redemption.

It’s been two years since Tiger’s famed Thanksgiving car crash in 2009 and three since his last major title at the U.S. Open in 2008. Mistresses came and went, just like his career.

Sunday at Augusta felt like a different scene, the set change seemingly completed for the final act of the Tiger Woods Story. The fall from grace in Act Two would serve as the impetus for revitalization in Act Three. The waters parted so Tiger Woods could recapture our hearts and charge into the history books.

He started the final day 7 strokes behind, roared into a tie for the lead, and eventually fell into a tie for fourth at 10-under. In a career with 14 major victories, falling short of the bronze is a disappointment.

But climbing out of a mine shaft takes time; it cannot be accomplished in a single bound.

Regaining the public’s favor and sympathy necessitates baby steps and, most importantly, time. Criticism will still come from all ends of the earth, from the monogamous couples upset at his infidelity to the golfing analysts aggravated at his 3-putt on 12.

Tiger disappeared into purgatory, and now he’s returned. But what will happen when the journey is completed, when Woods finally lifts the Wanamaker Trophy, the Claret Jug or the Open Championship Cup trophy?

How will we feel when Tiger escapes the moral red and dons the green jacket?

Redemption in sports is an intricate matter. Athletes come back from injury and disease, from slumps and droughts. They rejuvenate their image and rise back into the public’s favor. Social and athletic redemption make up two sides of the comeback coin, and athletes consciously navigate both paths to complete the journey.

Think Michael Vick’s work with PETA and his simultaneous success with the Philadelphia Eagles. Both on-the-field success and socially upstanding behavior are necessary to facilitate forgiveness.

Tiger seems to be headed in this direction, but when he arrives at his destination, will there be demonstrations to go along with the cheers? Tomatoes thrown beside confetti?

This is difficult to predict because there’s no normalized hierarchy for moral actions. Is adultery worse than murder? What if you murdered a dog instead of a human? What if you were charged with DUI and second-degree manslaughter but only spent 24 days in jail?

Tiger Woods has no historical precedent.

Even when he retreated into the shadows, Tiger was in the spotlight and will forever remain there so long as he chases Jack Nicklaus’ 18 career majors and challenges for the title of “Greatest Ever.” Woods is undeniably golf’s most alluring figure, and it isn’t even close. He single-handedly caused a young, hip generation to pay attention to a sport socially associated with the elderly and the rich. And then everything was blown. In more ways than one.

When Tiger Woods’ name sits atop the leaderboard at a major — it could be this year or it could be in 2020 — it will be difficult to come to a consensus. He wasn’t accused of cheating on the course, like so many of his baseball counterparts have been, but cheating on his wife, so how will this affect his legacy, if at all?

Alex Prewitt is a junior majoring in English and religion. He can be reached at Alexander.Prewitt@tufts.edu. His blog is livefrommudville.blogspot.com.

Sports

16

INSIDE Sailing 15 Equestrian 15 Crew 14

tuftsdaily.com

softball

Jumbos split double-header against nonconference, losing-record rival Judges by

In one stretch, Santone did not allow a hit for 10-straight batters. Santone walked just one in the process and improved to 7-2 on the season.

“I felt a little squeezed by the umpires early,” Santone said. “But once I started focusing on just making my pitches, I really got into a rhythm and started to hit my stride.” see SOFTBALL, page 13

—by Ethan Sturm

For the softball team, Sunday was a tale of two games.

In the first contest, the Jumbos handled a struggling Brandeis squad with ease, poundSOFTBALL (13-12, 3-0 NESCAC) Spicer Field, Sunday Brandeis 4 Tufts 0 2 8

ing out nine hits to take an 8-2 victory. The Jumbos’ good fortune was short-lived, however, as they were blanked in the second game, 4-0. The loss marked the first shutout tossed by an opposing pitcher against the Jumbos since April 2010 and only the second home defeat for the team this year.

Spicer Field has been a welcoming sight for the Jumbos all season, and they entered Sunday’s action looking to improve on a 4-1 mark at home. The afternoon got off to a rocky start for the Jumbos and senior starter Izzie Santone, who surrendered two quick runs to Brandeis in the top of the first inning.

But the team swiftly responded, plating three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single by junior co-

Andrew Morgenthaler/Tufts Daily

Freshman catcher Jo Clair, with 13 home runs this season, is on pace to break the Tufts’ alltime single-season record of 14 dingers. captain first baseman Lena Cantone and a two-run homer off the bat of freshman catcher Jo Clair.

While the Jumbos tacked on some insurance runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings, the three-spot in the first was all the offense the Jumbos would need in game one, as Santone settled down, mowing through the Judges’ lineup en route to a complete game, five-strikeout performance.

Quick turnaround needed for Jumbos Playing in a doubleheader for the second consecutive day, the softball team could not go hit for hit with Babson, losing both ends of the doubleheader. The first game was a dominant showing by the Beavers’ offense, which exploded for 12 runs in the first four innings against freshman starting pitcher Lauren Giglio. Senior Izzie Santone looked good in three innings of mop-up work, but the damage was already done. Tufts put six runs on the board, but it was not nearly enough.

A short break between games did little to slow down the Beavers.

Sophomore starter Rebecca DiBiase was the next victim, giving up two runs in the first and another two in the third to put the Jumbos in an early 4-0 hole. Tufts got two back on a two-run blast from freshman catcher Jo Clair in the fourth, and another in the fifth when junior shortstop Mira Lieman-Sifry walked and then worked her way around the bases. The Jumbos put the trying run on base in both the sixth and seventh innings, but Babson sophomore Megan Brain shut the door, preserving Babson’s second victory of the day.

The Jumbos are now on a threegame losing streak, their longest since losing the first four games of the season. They will need to turn things around quickly as they travel to Bowdoin this weekend for a threegame set that holds major implications for the NESCAC East standings.

Zachey Kliger

Senior Staff Writer

Brandeis Tufts

Softball

Women’s tennis

Women’s Tennis

Coach balances tennis Tufts dominates in weekend with pregnancy matches against Bowdoin, Trinity by

Ann Sloan

Daily Editorial Board

Kate Bayard has coached No. 5 Tufts to its highest ranking in her six years at the helm. And this year she’s doing it all while awaiting the birth of her first child.

Bayard is 37 weeks pregnant, due May 2. But she clearly has managed to balance her hectic life as a mother-to-be with her coaching career and has led Tufts to a 9-2 record so far this season.

“I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve felt great the whole time. In the last period of time here, I now have to see the doctor once a week and I’m working that into the schedule,” Bayard said. “But really I’ve been doing everything coaching-wise that I was doing before.”

With the Jumbos’ last regularseason match on April 27 and NESCACs and NCAAs to follow, Bayard realizes that it is not likely that she will be able to continue coaching through the end of the season.

“If I could’ve picked the exact date maybe it would’ve been early June,” Bayard said jokingly. “But first of all, I’m happy that I’ve been able to do everything so far, and I’m planning on working right up until I go into labor, assuming I continue to feel as well as I’ve felt.”

“Regarding the end of the season, I’m obviously going to play it by ear. … I’ll have to see how I feel,” she continued. “Of course I love my job, and I’d like to be there for everything, but this is going to be a priority.”

The team’s determination to do their best in the NESCAC and NCAA championships will not

be affected by Bayard’s potential absence. If anything, the team will feel an even stronger purpose to come away on top.

“We haven’t explicitly talked about it with Coach, but it’s kind of inferred that she’s going to miss as much as necessary,” senior tricaptain Julia Browne said. “We’re going to do our very best to bring back the national championship for her, regardless of whether she can physically be there or not.”

After a season of constant baby talk, the team is looking forward to Bayard’s daughter’s birth. Bayard says that the team has even been helpful in giving name suggestions.

“Everyone’s excited to see her in another way because we see her as our coach and a parental figure to us in a way, so it’ll be really interesting to see her as a mother,” sophomore Lauren Hollender said.

Bayard is determined to keep up with recruiting and coaching even while on maternity leave this summer.

“I love my job and what I do,” Bayard said. “The summer is a crucial time for recruiting. I’ll be on maternity leave, but knowing myself I’m still going to probably want to do emails and talk to recruits and things. And then come fall, I’ll be ready to come back with the team.”

The possibility of a baby Bayard gracing a tennis court of her own in a few years is up in the air.

“We’ll expose her to a lot of different activities. … If she’s interested in sports, then I like the idea of team sports a little better for when she’s young,” Bayard said. “And if she shows an interest in tennis, we’ll obviously support that too.”

by

Kendall Lord

Contributing Writer

The national No. 5 women’s tennis team (9-2, 3-0 NESCAC) continued its stellar performance this weekend, pummeling a pair of NESCAC opponents to keep its perfect conference record intact. The Jumbos beat No. 12 Bowdoin 8-1 at home Friday before crushing Trinity 9-0 on the road Saturday in Hartford, Conn.

“It is testament to our focus and hard work to be able to beat both Bowdoin and Trinity so handily,” senior tri-captain Julia Browne said. “Everyone fought to take care of business on the court and did not let up even if the match got tight.”

Browne, the reigning Div. III national champion in singles and current national No. 1, won both of her matches in straight sets this weekend, beating Trinity’s Hillary Hoyt 6-1 6-1 on Saturday and Bowdoin’s Kellen Alberstone on Friday by the same score.

In fact, the Jumbos only dropped one singles match the entire weekend — the tilt on Friday at the No. 3 spot in the ladder between freshman Shelci Bowman and Bowdoin’s Emma Lewis, which the Polar Bears won, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. Meanwhile, Tufts was undefeated in all six doubles matches.

On Saturday, Tufts swept the Bantams, dropping only one set the entire day, at No.

Caroline Geiling/Tufts Daily

Senior tri-captain Julia Browne was in top form this weekend, winning both of her singles matches in straight sets.

5 singles, in which freshman Samantha Gann prevailed 10-3 in the deciding tiebreaker after losing the second set to Trinity’s Kelsey Semrod 4-6.

Friday’s matchup against nationally ranked Bowdoin was the toughest of the weekend. Last year the Jumbos beat the Polar Bears 6-3, but on Friday the team showed

even more mental toughness by prevailing 8-1, including four singles matches that were won in the third set “Friday’s match was a good win for us,” sophomore Lindsay Katz said. “To beat a team 8-1 shows what a strong team we are and how deep our lineup is.” see WOMEN’S TENNIS, page 13