2012-02-14

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THE TUFTS DAILY

TUFTSDAILY.COM

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

VOLUME LXIII, NUMBER 13

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

TCU Senate survey response rate down by

Brionna Jimerson

Daily Editorial Board

Approximately 22 percent of the Tufts undergraduate student body responded to the fall 2011 Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate survey, which the Senate will use to understand how to best improve student outreach and knowledge about initiatives on campus, according to TCU President Tomas Garcia, a senior.

The response rate was lower than the fall 2010 survey, TCU Vice President Wyatt Cadley noted. “[The survey is] helpful for students and their various projects,” Cadley, a junior, told the Daily in an email. “The results helped us pull back the shades, and you can see what people think about certain issues.”

According to results released by the Senate, 1,153 students completed the survey in its entirety, with a response rate of 22.6 percent of the undergraduate class.

The class of 2015 had the highest number of participants with 33.5 percent. Of the respondents, 82.4 percent were in the School of Arts and Sciences, and 57.6 percent of the 1,153 student respondents were females.

“While we’re never going to have the perfect survey where everyone responds … having 22 percent of students vote was still good,” Cadley said.

The responses are available on the TCU Senate website, and more detailed demographic breakdowns will become available in the near see SURVEY, page 2

Tufts community gains Concert Board to bring Jumbo access to survey tool Jam back to campus this spring

Daily File Photo

The Jumbo Jam concert will return to the Hill this spring after a year off due to budgeting issues.

by

Melissa Mandelbaum Contributing Writer

The entire university last week gained access to Qualtrics, an online tool that simplifies and streamlines the creation of surveys and that will save money compared to previous services.

The acquisition allows all faculty, staff and undergraduate and graduate students of the university to use the product via tufts.qualtrics.com under a one-year contract, according to Assistant Director for University Information Technology (UIT) Contract and Licensing Services Debbie Nanni.

Faculty and staff received an email last Tuesday announcing access to the program. As of Friday afternoon, 137 people had logged

on to the site and 69 surveys had been created, according to UIT Director of Communications and Organizational Effectiveness Dawn Irish.

The acquisition was intended to improve cost effectiveness across the university.

“All the departments are distributed so you don’t really know who’s paying from what,” Irish said.

The Tufts community can log on to Qualtrics with their Universal Tufts Login Name (UTLN) and password without having to create a new account, Irish said.

Nanni said the purchase should save the university several thousand dollars, and Irish added that UIT had often received requests for such a survey program in the see QUALTRICS, page 2

by

Audrey Michael Daily Staff Writer

Concert Board will again host the annual Jumbo Jam concert this year after having to eliminate the event from its programming schedule last year due to budgetary limitations, according to Concert Board co-Chair Michelle Kennedy.

Office for Campus Life (OCL) Assistant Director David McGraw explained that Concert Board was unable to hold a Jumbo Jam event last year due to a lack of funds resulting from a splurge on the 2010 Cage Rage concert.

“Concert Board overspent their Cage Rage budget by a substantial amount, which caused

them to not have enough funds to do Jumbo Jam,” McGraw said.

“They had to cut money somewhere, and rather than taking it out of Spring Fling they decided to eliminate Jumbo Jam.” Kennedy, a junior, explained that the previous Concert Board co-chairs had left money in the budget for Jumbo Jam this year, although the Concert Board’s budget for Jumbo Jam is smaller than it has been in previous years. “[Last year’s Concert Board] kept the budget the same for this year, and when we planned Cage Rage, we did whatever we could to make sure that we didn’t go over budget,” McGraw said.

Concert Board is currently in

the process of selecting an act to perform at Jumbo Jam, according to Kennedy.

“We’re already talking to different bands to see who’s available,” she said.

“Hopefully we’ll know within the next couple of weeks … We’re hearing back from all of them right now, so it should be soon,” Concert Board co-Chair Nathan Harada said.

Concert Board will announce the act for Spring Fling during Jumbo Jam, Kennedy said.

McGraw said that Concert Board plans for the event to be free.

“I’m hoping that this one will actually be free, because see JAM, page 2

Fraternities award 212 bids during spring rush period

by Stephanie

Haven

Daily Editorial Board

Virginia Bledsoe / Tufts Daily

Fraternity rush lasted from Jan. 22 through Feb. 1, when brothers went to their new members’ dorms to hand out bids. In total, 212 bids were given out this spring.

Inside this issue

Tufts’ fraternities two weeks ago gave out a total of 212 bids during this year’s spring rush period.

Recruitment lasted from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1 and was the first spring fraternity rush held with the assistance of Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Su McGlone, who assumed her position in July. All 10 of Tufts’ fraternities participated.

“I thought that the fraternities took rush week very seriously, and I was glad to see their enthusiasm around it and their effort,” McGlone said. “It is an exciting time for fraternities to be able to grow.”

The number of students who received bids was comparable to years past, according to Interfraternity Council

(IFC) President Tommy Castle.

“The number is pretty constant with years past, but hopefully all fraternities are continuing to recruit for quality and not quantity,” Castle, a junior, told the Daily in an email.

“Recruitment was a great success overall, and I’m very excited to see what types of projects will be planned this semester for Tufts fraternities and non-Greek students.”

For Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi), Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp) and Delta Tau Delta (DTD), changes in housing arrangements presented different circumstances for recruitment of new memebers.

Despite moving into a smaller house at 45 Sawyer Ave., AEPi gave out 27 bids, the second highest number in the fraternity’s history at Tufts. see FRATERNITIES, page 2

Today’s sections

Students in No Labels look to break away from established party lines.

Daniel Radcliffe fails to save “The Woman in Black” from its own weak writing.

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts & Living Classifieds

1 3 5 6

Editorial | Letters Op-Ed Comics Sports

8 9 10 Back

The Tufts Daily

2

News

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Survey results support Education Committee’s case for major SURVEY

continued from page 1

future, according to Cadley.

This year, the Senate hired the Office of Institutional Research and Evaluation (IRE) to help assemble unbiased and clearly worded survey questions. Research Analyst Lauren Conoscenti served as their main IRE contact.

To formulate the questions, each of the five standing committees on the Senate — Services, Student Outreach, Culture, Ethnicity and Community Affairs, Education and Administration and Policy — created 10 to 12 suitable questions that were vetted and reworded for clarity, according to Cadley.

Working in conjunction with the analytical breakdown possibilities, according to Cadley, including the ability to break down information based on race, sexual identification, academic year and other factors.

“These new documents offer a specific breakdown of data, and there are a lot of instances where it’s useful to have this data,” Cadley said. He offered the example of a question asking whether students would be living off campus for their junior or senior year.

“It’s valuable to see the data for juniors and seniors,” he said.

The results indicated that 51.5 percent of students surveyed felt that Tufts has adequately prepared them to handle issues of discrimination and equality pertaining to race and that 59 percent of students surveyed felt that Tufts has adequately prepared them to handle issues of discrimi-

nation and equality pertaining to culture and ethnicity.

When asked about satisfaction with Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney’s announced plan for an academic program dedicated to the study of race, ethnicity and cultures, 46.9 percent of the students surveyed responded, “I am unfamiliar with Dean Berger-Sweeney’s plan.”

“That shocked me a little bit because we have received schoolwide emails from [Berger-Sweeney] on that subject,” Garcia, who is part of the working group for the program assembled by Berger-Sweeney, said. “It was a little disheartening to see the Tufts community wasn’t taking more [of an] active role in the creation of an entirely new program on campus.”

More than 37 percent of respondents reported interest in receiving a monthly newsletter from the Senate regarding initiatives and requesting student feedback, with 40.1 percent indicating willingness to read such a publication even more frequently.

Additionally, there was strong demand for the creation of an education major and for entrepreneurial leadership studies to be a second major, Garcia, a senior, said.

“The Education Committee was interested in learning if the student body would utilize an education major,” he said. “These are things that we have heard from the student body and want to use the survey to find if there’s statistically significant information, and we take that to the administration.”

The comments sections included

Oliver Porter for the Tufts Daily

The annual Senate survey, distributed in the fall, is used to improve student outreach and knowledge of Senate initiatives.

22 responses asserting that “Tufts does not adequately respect and honor all kinds of diversity,” 19 responses arguing that “Foundation/Distribution requirements need to be revised” and 19 stating that “Tufts needs an Africana Studies department.”

In previous years, two surveys were sent out each academic year — one in the spring and another in the fall. Last year, a Senate-wide decision was passed to hold only one survey each year, during the fall semester.

“The decision was made for two

reasons: we could not afford the extra survey, and by the time the second survey’s results were compiled and released, the year is almost over,” Cadley said.

After assessing the data, senators filter it for feedback and information that can inform future initiatives, according to Garcia.

“I expect to see progress on the newsletter and community outreach,” Garcia said. “The Senate spent the first semester researching many projects, and this semester we should see a lot of growth.”

Sophomore Montel Yancy was

not surprised to learn that student involvement in the survey diminishes by class year, with 57 percent more freshmen participating in this year’s study than seniors.

“I think as students advance, they care less because they’re closer to graduation,” Yancy said.

He believes it is important for all students to participate in the survey, regardless of their class year.

“I always think voting is good, especially because I’m a minority and as a minority, I need to have my voice heard, because it’s not that many of us on campus,” Yancy said.

Concert Board hopes for ‘popular, yet underground’ theme for Jumbo Jam JAM

continued from page 1

we are looking for a cheaper artist,” he said.

Recent Jumbo Jam performers have included Ben Folds and Ingrid Michaelson.

Concert Board is considering Hotung Cafe, Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall and Cohen Auditorium as possible venues for Jumbo Jam, according to McGraw.

The Multipurpose Room in Sophia Gordon Hall was previously considered, but its capacity of fewer than 100 students led Concert Board to explore other options.

“We want to make sure that the venue is big enough for people who want to go, but still gives them that small garage feel,” he said. “The students wanted that more small, intimate vibe.”

In the past, Jumbo Jam has

taken place at the Somerville Theater, but this year’s Concert Board is seeking a smaller, oncampus venue to fit the reduced Jumbo Jam budget and still book an artist who will appeal to students, according to Harada, a sophomore.

“We’re trying to get a better artist in exchange for a more limited space,” he said.

One of Concert Board’s goals

AEPi sees near-record recruitment, retains rush-period traditions FRATERNITies

continued from page 1

AEPi President Alex Farmer said he worried their current, smaller house could deter potential new members from pledging at the fraternity.

“On the list of the top five things kids are looking at in a fraternity is the house,” Farmer, a senior, said. “We didn’t know how it would affect us.”

Farmer said that during rush, there were an unusually high number of potential new members, perhaps due to more proactive recruitment by the fraternity.

“This has been a great semester for us despite the move,” Farmer said. “We really felt that didn’t hinder us at all. [The move] actually helped us in a way because we were a little bit more proactive.”

For the first time this year, the IFC hosted a kickoff event for fraternity rush on Jan. 22, providing an opportunity for those interested in rushing to talk to members from each of the fraternities.

The event, held in Hotung Cafe, provided a space for the brothers and potential new members to meet and interact as they ate and watched the day’s football game together, McGlone said. “[It] was a great way for prospective members to meet all of the fraternities,” McGlone said. “After that, each organization had time slots throughout the week to host individual events.”

Although fraternities are allowed to choose which events they host and, for the most part, where they host them, the IFC schedules the time slots when each fraternity can host potential recruits, McGlone said.

“I had the opportunity to stop by some of their events, and they were all extremely well-run and well-attended,” McGlone said.

To register for rush this year, potential new members signed up using an online program. Online registration made it easier to check a student’s eligibility — a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or 2.3, for Arts and Sciences or Engineering, respectively — to join a fraternity.

The online registration also made it simpler to track the number of students who participated in rush, McGlone said.

Farmer said AEPi used the same rush events this year that they have routinely used to attract new members — such as going to a sushi bar, eating pizza and watching college basketball — as well as a more formal interview to get to know each prospective recruit.

Sticking to these traditions despite moving to a new house is part of what it means to be a fraternity brother, Farmer said. “[Rush] is not that contingent on a house,” Farmer said. “We have a pretty set schedule that we just end up repeating every year. It’s worked for us in the past and continues to work for us now.”

Castle said that the fraternities are continuing to work on leaving a positive impact on campus.

“Because much of the fraternity news and accomplishments don’t seem to get out all the time, many chapters are working harder to execute joint projects, fundraisers, and philanthropy with other student groups and Tufts organizations,” he said.

with Jumbo Jam is to create a mellower, more low-key event than Cage Rage and Spring Fling, while retaining its appeal.

“We talked with [McGraw] a little before winter break and decided Jumbo Jam would be a good choice for a concert that’s not as much of a party atmosphere,” Harada said.

“We’re looking for that popular yet underground vibe that we feel

this campus hasn’t seen much of this year,” McGraw said.

Programming Board has yet to decide whether non-Tufts guests will be permitted to attend, as has been allowed at past Jumbo Jams, according to McGraw. The date of the event also has yet to be finalized.

“We want to make it so anyone who wants to come will be able to enjoy the event,” he said.

Qualtrics a sound investment for Tufts QUALTRICS

continued from page 1

past.

According to Nanni, the reactions to Qualtrics thus far have been positive.

“They feel it’s got great functionality [and that] it’s intuitive to use,” she said.

UIT often makes purchases that are only available for use by staff, but Qualtrics is available to students.

“Most of our vendors do not extend their licensing to students,” Nanni said. “They do separate agreements with students, but in this case the vendor was offering this as a bundle, and we are thrilled when we can make things like this available to students.”

Qualtrics has sold close to 160 university-wide licenses, Kevin Todd, of the Academic Sales department at Qualtrics, told the Daily.

Nanni said that UIT began discussing purchasing a university-wide license in October of last year.

Available funds in the UIT budget facilitated the purchase.

“Occasionally, we save money on a project, and we’re able to leverage a vendor and get a discount, so we have a little money left over,” Irish said. “There’s times when we can piece things together and do something that’s wasn’t expected, and this was one of those things.”

Students were first introduced to Qualtrics this December, when 1,577 undergraduate and graduate students responded to the annual Dining Services survey, according to Tufts Nutrition Marketing Specialist Julie Lampie. The survey was conducted by the Office of Institutional Research using Qualtrics software, according to Research Analyst Lauren Conoscenti.

Although Qualtrics is available to the

entire university through UIT, Dining Services will continue to hire the Office of Institutional Research and Evaluation to produce and analyze its annual student surveys.

“There is an art in terms of how you ask questions,” Lampie said. “Just because it’s available online to create your own survey instrument doesn’t mean you have the expertise to write the best format; you have to ask in a certain way in terms of objectivity.”

Associate Professor of Psychology Heather Urry uses Survey Monkey, an alternative online survey tool, for her Experimental Psychology course. Urry said that she currently pays more than 20 dollars per month from the department budget and 360 dollars from her research funds annually for the service. She believes that Qualtrics will not only save her money, but also has features that Survey Monkey does not offer.

“One of the things that Survey Monkey has not been able to do traditionally is to send us an email when somebody has completed a response,” she said. “In my line of work, we might be asking someone about sensitive information having to do with whether they’re having suicidal thoughts. We want to know when someone completes a survey so we can very quickly go in and see [if] we need to take any action here.”

The new tool may also benefit student groups.

“From the perspective of someone in charge of a club, it’s a really good investment because it allows for more uniformity,” Co-President of the Tufts Sustainability Collective Katie Segal, a sophomore, said.

“Students might not be as intimidated; Survey Monkey is kind of random.”

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

In a hyper-partisan political era, No Labels aims to transcend the bickering by

Ben Schwalb | Das Coding

Two is the loneliest number

Kevin Criscione

Daily Staff Writer

If the recent coverage of the political back and forth surrounding the upcoming presidential election is any indication, it seems the United States is neatly and divisively split between Democrats and Republicans.

However, Tufts’ No Labels chapter attempts to provide a breath of fresh air for those students whose political views don’t fall so easily into line.

No Labels, a nonprofit organization started in 2010, seeks to reduce the bickering between political parties that takes a toll on government and to address the way the government goes about solving problems, according to senior Seth Rau, president of Tufts’ No Labels chapter.

“The main goal of No Labels is to focus as a congressional reform organization, to promote twelve main reforms in congress to reduce political partisanship,” Rau said. “[We want] to try to find ways to get Democrats and Republicans to cooperate … and to work together on key issues to move America forward, to make sure that we’re not pretty much having the Congress do nothing.”

The No Labels chapter on campus is only a small part of a nationwide movement.

“Tufts was the first university in the country to establish what’s called a No Labels generation,” Rau said. “I think there are about thirty, forty chapters nationwide, and it’s growing pretty quickly. … College students are only about five percent of the organization, and there’s about two hundred thousand members across the country.”

Rau made it clear that the organization is not only for students with more moderate political sentiments, but for students with any combination of political views that want the American political system to function in a less hostile manner.

“We’re competing for students who are politically active but don’t yet necessarily feel like they need to be in campus Democrats or Republicans,” Rau said. “We’re looking

Jodi Bosin / Tufts Daily

Senior Seth Rau, the president of Tufts’ No Labels chapter, believes the organization can help bridge the gap between the Democratic and Republican parties. for students who are politically active and realize, ‘Hey, something in our system isn’t working. Let’s do something to actively change that.’”

Freshman Alex Dobyan said that he was attracted to the organization because he felt disconnected from the American political party system.

“I definitely feel, politically, that my own personal views on American politics are not really represented by either the Democratic or the Republican parties,” Dobyan said. “I may have some stances that fall in line with one or the other, but there’s not a party platform on either side that I can really get behind.”

Dobyan also explained that, in his opinion, No Labels counteracts a trend of partisan extremism in America.

“Extremism is sort of becoming the way to get yourself on a ticket and get elected, which is something that I personally am pretty strongly opposed to,” he said.

Rau emphasized that the group is not advocating against political parties or any type of ideology, but rather supporting cooperation and communication between different political camps.

“I don’t think we’re really advocating for structural reform of the American political see NO LABELS, page 4

Tufts students challenge themselves to become fluent in multiple languages by

Nadezhda Kazakova Daily Editorial Board

With six mandatory semesters of language and culture classes for Arts and Sciences students, Tufts’ strong foreign language requirement is one of the university’s most prized characteristics and a logical extension of the its emphasis on global citizenship. Although the requirement makes some students anxious, others exceed the expectations by studying multiple foreign languages at once.

Sophomore Maxwell Fathy is one of many international relations majors required to take eight semesters of a foreign language.

He studies both Spanish and Arabic and cited personal interest, career objectives and a desire to further his job prospects as reasons for doing so.

“I hope having a background in two foreign languages will make me a better job applicant in the future,” Fathy said.

Another international relations student, sophomore Michelle Cerna, sees the natural advantages of knowing several languages when she will be looking for jobs in diplomacy or foreign policy analysis. She chose to study high-level German and intermediate Russian for other reasons as well.

“Regardless of the line [of work] I’m considering, I firmly believe that the study of foreign languages is important in the development of any student into a cosmopolitan individual with a global perspective,” Cerna said.

Sophomore Rachael Filer, a biology and Spanish double major, is driven to study French and Spanish by her genuine love for languages.

“If I had the time, I would take as many languages as possible,” Filer said. “If I

Kyra Sturgill / Tufts Daily

Students decide to take on multiple foreign languages for a variety of reasons, and they often find cross-cultural connections between the languages they study. wasn’t limited by my own abilities, I would never stop.”

Age is often considered a determinant in achieving full language fluency. However, Senior Lecturer at the Department of German, Russian, and Asian Languages and Literatures Saskia Stoessel, who researches second language acquisition, doesn’t fully support this claim and says that there are benefits to studying foreign languages later in life.

“You gain so much more in analytical skills and cognitive ability as an adult,” she said. “Clearer and stronger motivation can also be a factor for putting more efforts

and getting out more from your foreign language classes.”

Stoessel explained that interference — data coming in that doesn’t match the already learned language and that disturbs the foreign language acquisition process — is common when one is learning several languages simultaneously. But gaining an increased sensitivity to all languages, including the mother tongue, is an advantage, Stoessel said.

These processes come into play especially when one is studying similar languages, like see LANGUAGE, page 4

S

o we all know that computers only understand 1s and 0s. But what exactly does that mean?

And why only those two numbers? The reason for only using these two numbers is a lot less mysterious than one might think. Those are simply the easiest things to represent using electricity. A “1” equates to the presence of an electrical charge and a “0” equates to, predictably, no charge.

The exact same system is used on your hard drive, except with magnetic charge instead. The cool thing is that some nerds managed to use the values “1” and “0” to represent all the numbers we are familiar with.

Without really even thinking about it, we use a base ten counting system. Some readers may be reminded of the tens place and hundreds place of elementary school yore, and the idea that after you count to nine in the ones place, you have to fill the tens place and change the 9 to a 0, resulting in 10.

Similarly, after working your way up to 99, you have to switch to 100.

The nerds used the binary system, “base two,” for computers. So instead of starting off 0, 1, 2…9 they started 0, 1 and then stopped. So far we have two numbers: 0 and 1. Not that helpful. So we “carry the 1” and end up with 10, pronounced “two” (“tü” using the phonetic alphabet). The same trick applies from here on in, so we get: 0=0, 1=1, 10=2, 11=3, 100=4, 101=5, 110=6, 111=7, 1000=8, etc. If that still sounds complicated to you, try counting like this on your hands to get a feel for it.

A finger down means “0” and a finger up means “1.” You’ll find that you can count up to 31 on one hand.

Ok, so we can count slowly and awkwardly. That puts us at about the end of preschool. How do we read and write?

Don’t worry, that one’s really easy. A=1, B=2, etc. But say I wanted to spell out my name: BEN. I get 2514. Or is that BEAD? (I totally wasn’t expecting that to work, by the way.) Well, that problem is not that difficult either. Since writing the last letter, 26 a.k.a. Z, only requires two digits, we’ll say that every letter is written using two digits, making my name 020514. Of course the system is more complicated, so people can write letters like ¿. But that’s the basic idea. Oh, and of course that’s all using binary numbers inside the computer, so each letter requires eight digits.

The size required for each letter is the reason for the tab button. The people designing this typing system wanted to let computers be as lazy as people. Just like people don’t want to type space four times, the computer doesn’t want to store the number representing space four times, since that would require 32 digits. Instead a computer just stores one tab symbol, eight digits long.

Accidentally setting a digit wrong would just lead to a letter you’ve probably never seen before that probably looks cool. You may have seen something like this before. However, what amazingly almost never happens is messing up the spacing. If the computer were to somehow forget to write one bit of information, that would throw the entire spacing out of whack and could render entire documents and programs useless. Thankfully, computers don’t make mistakes unless people tell them to.

Ben Schwalb is a member of the class of 2012, who majored in computer science.

He can be reached at Benjamin.Schwalb@ tufts.edu.

4

The Tufts Daily

No Budget, No Pay Act among top items of No Labels’ agenda

Variety of courses, engaging professors enhance polyglots’ learning experience

NO LABELS

continued from page 3

system, because if you look at it, the political system in this country, there’s been partisanship since the foundation of American democracy, but it’s only been recently in the last ten to twenty years that it has hindered the ability for anything to get done,” Rau said, adding that No Labels is not trying to abolish the two-party system, but rather trying to create an atmosphere in which the two parties feel comfortable working together.

According to Rau, both the No Labels national movement and the Tufts chapter have been heavily involved in supporting a top-two primary system, in which voters can vote for any candidate of any party during the primary, and the top two candidates are put into the general election.

Many supporters of such a system believe that the current primary system — in which each party has a closed primary that only registered members of that party can vote in — gives too much power to the radical fringes of the Democratic and Republican parties.

Another reform No Labels supports is commonly referred to as the No Budget, No Pay Act. “[No Labels is] trying to pass a bill that says that if Congress doesn’t pass a budget, they don’t get paid,” senior Nathaniel Breg said.

According to Rau, Congress had not passed a budget in 1,014 days as of Feb. 6. Breg added that the alternative to resolving the budget is to pass stopgap measures, which enable the government to continue to be funded at the same rate as before.

“The problem with that is they only last like a month or two months or something, and if you ask anyone who actually ran a business or ran a government they’d say that that is a terrible way to run an organization,” Breg said.

“The budget is essential to this election, and the competing ideas on it are going to be one of the main debates,” Rau added, emphasizing the importance of a resolution that would hopefully motivate the creation of a clear budget for the United States.

Other measures that No Labels supports include mandatory offthe-record bipartisan meetings to increase dialogue across party lines, reforms that would limit the power of filibusters to be used to stall legislation, a mandate that presidential appointments should be confirmed or rejected within 90 days of nomination, congressional seating charts that encourage bipartisan interaction and a law that would prevent incumbent Senators and Congressmen from conducting negative campaigns against incumbents of other districts.

In the near future, Tufts’ No Labels chapter plans to rally its members to support and get the word out about the No Budget, No Pay Act, intending to send students to United States Senator Scott Brown’s (R-Mass.) office to demonstrate their support for the act. Brown, a Tufts alumnus (LA ’81) is one of the 17 members of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which will be reviewing the bill, according to Rau. “This is a chance for [Brown] to put his actions behind his words,” Rau said.

Features

LANGUAGE

continued from page 3

Filer, who is taking two romance languages and has previous experience with Latin.

“Sometimes I go into Spanish class when my mind is in French more, or vice versa,” she said.

“Then I have trouble speaking in the right language.”

Filer said that the transition is easier if she tries to speak to herself and listen to music in the proper languages.

Cerna, who grew up bilingual in Czech and English, said that taking two languages at the same time has given her a greater appreciation of languages in general.

“If nothing else, I’m much better at paying attention [to] the proper use of cases, adjectives and endings and tenses simply because I now have to keep track of them in not one, but two, classes,” she said.

According to Cerna, studying multiple languages at once may seem overwhelming, but it keeps the mind “sharp and focused.”

Fathy added that having different levels of proficiency in two languages could be helpful because of the contrasting types of exercises.

“I’m at a higher level in Spanish and a beginner level in Arabic, so I spend a lot more time on simple grammar and vocabulary exercises in Arabic, while I read more articles and watch movies for Spanish,” he said.

While these students enjoy taking more than one language class, going beyond the foreign language requirement can be stressful and unfeasible. For example, Filer said that she might not be able to continue taking French because of the other classes she has to take for her double major. Cerna, on the

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

other hand, has already run into this problem.

“Sophomore year seems like one continuous scheduling conflict between my German and international relations classes,” she said.

“In the future, I run the risk that courses I will want to take will only be offered once at the same time.”

One of the benefits of taking multiple foreign languages that students mentioned has been the opportunity to experience different teaching styles and classroom environments. Filer praised her professors for their teaching abilities and engaging personalities.

“The professors are all fantastic and you actually get to interact with the people in your classes,” Filer said. “Typically I look forward to my language classes more than any other class.”

While lower-level courses deal primarily with textbooks and workbooks, teachers in higherlevel classes have more freedom in developing curricula that are geared towards studying aspects of the country or culture, Cerna said.

“It almost seems as if the courses are actually about some aspects of Germany and only happen to be conducted in German, thus reinforcing the language knowledge,” Cerna said.

Even though Fathy likes Tufts’ foreign language classes, he said that there is not enough opportunity to practice speaking skills, especially in Spanish.

“Although I have a recitation, it is very difficult to practice speaking skills and achieve oral fluency,” he said.

Jose Mazzoti, the Chair of the Department of Romance Languages, said that many students study multiple languages because of their passion for for-

eign cultures and appetite for knowledge. He added that these students understand that not everything can be communicated through translation and are motivated to experience the real flavor of a foreign culture.

“The more languages you speak, the more people you are,” he said.

This is true for Filer, who sometimes feels braver when she is not speaking English, because she knows that people’s expectations of her are different.

“I don’t have to pretend to be talented or intelligent,” she said. “I can just talk and hope that it’s enough.”

Cerna doesn’t feel like a different person, because she finds her languages to be surprisingly interconnected. For example, while observing the cultural connections between two of her languages, she discovered that the German and Czech words for “faucet” — “Wasserhahn” and “kohoutek,” respectively — both incorporate the word “rooster.”

“The Czech Republic shares a lot of similar history and culture with both Germany and Russia, so the cultural aspects I learn in class tie in really well to who I already am,” she said.

Mazzotti said that, “speaking in English [with a foreigner] is like tourism, rather than real research.”

However, Filer had her favorite foreign language moment while she was traveling in the French Alps during her month in Annecy at a Tufts immersion program.

“I was in the car with my host mother and roommate and we stopped to pick up a hitchhiker,” she said. “His English was limited but he spoke Spanish, so I translated to French for my host mother. The whole thing was pretty surreal.”

Arts & Living

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tuftsdaily.com

James Barasch | Barasch on Books

Film Review

‘The Woman in Black’ thrills but never scares by

Michael Acquafredda Contributing Writer

Any isolated coastal village that is incessantly shrouded in a nebulous fog and bounded by a boggy marsh

The Woman in Black Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Sophie Stuckey, Roger Allam Directed by James Watkins has great potential to be the setting of a horror movie. It comes as no surprise that a village displaying such eerie qualities would be plagued by supernatural phenomena. In “The Woman in Black,” the town of Crythin Gifford sets the stage for paranormal activity in exactly this manner. But this is one scary movie that fails to live up to its full potential.

The film begins with Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), a young single father working for a law firm in London. He is suddenly required to leave his son and travel to the small town of Crythin Gifford to deal with the legal issues created by an old woman’s death. It should come as little surprise that the recently deceased woman inhabited an isolated and decrepit mansion that becomes unreachable during high tide. All locals mysteriously

womaninblack.com/#/gallery

The wild setting helps create a frightening atmosphere for the film. condemn the estate, known as the Eel Marsh House. For unknown reasons, they subtly insist that Kipps leave and abandon this job.

With the only other option being unemployment, Kipps does not heed their warnings. During his first stay at the house, he spots the figure of a woman cloaked in black garments.

When he returns to the town to report his sightings, the children of the village start to perish. After realizing the cause of the tragedies, Kipps sets out to expose the dreadful past of the house. His goal is to put an end to the

TV Review

town’s suffering before his own son arrives and ends up a victim.

The film, directed by James Watkins, is based on a 1983 novel of the same name by Susan Hill. Jane Goldman, of “X-Men: First Class” (2011) and “KickAss” (2010) fame, took the ghost story and adapted it into the screenplay. The duo’s efforts in making this film have resulted in a paradoxical creation.

Though its plot is extremely predictable, the film still manages to keep its audience enthralled in suspense. see WOMAN, page 6

Music Review

Van Halen releases reunion album after 14-year hiatus by

Kate Griffiths

Daily Editorial Board

Van Halen hails from an era when glam rock and heavy metal fused on a regular basis, eventually forming the semi-

A Different Kind of Truth Van Halen Interscope Records

coms encounter this problem eventually — as it becomes harder to create new scenarios for the characters to happen upon without seeming too repetitive or too crazy.

By now, viewers have already seen, or can at least expect, the Griffins’ adventure of the week. Similarly, it is not hard to figure out how the supporting characters will act: Quagmire is going to make some sex joke, there will be a joke about Joe not being able to walk and there will be a joke about Herbert being a pervert. It’s basic “Family Guy” 101.

It is in the nature of sitcoms to be static. All adventures must be wrapped up at the end of the show, and equilibrium must be restored for the start of the next episode. That same formula also leaves many shows feeling stale after being on the air for too long. “Family Guy” has recently fallen victim to this unfortunate trend.

There has been little growth for the characters on the show, making it harder for viewers to invest themselves in the program when it all feels like it has been done before.

The character that all this has taken the biggest toll on is Brian Griffin, who is voiced by the show’s creator, Seth MacFarlane. In

serious moniker “hair metal.” Van Halen was part, if not the leader, of a revolution of hard rock bands that had no qualms about having ridiculously extravagant stage sets and costume designs as part of their live shows. They even have the privilege of being one of the bands to inspire the cult mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap” (1984).

The band originally formed in 1972 but didn’t release their debut album until 1978, after years of playing small shows and inspiring local fans with their music.

The band’s title stems from the last name of the brothers Alex and Eddie Van Halen, the drummer and lead guitarist, respectively. Van Halen was often in the media spotlight due to the interchanging of front men that occurred continuously within the band. The original lead singer, David Lee Roth, left the band in 1985 because of stylistic differences with Eddie Van Halen.

Sammy Hagar followed next, then Gary Cherone, but neither had the flamboyant stage antics of “Diamond Dave” that made Van Halen what they were.

Fourteen years after their last album’s release, the Van Halens have reunited with David Lee Roth and released their 12th album, “A Different Kind of Truth” (2012). The album is a little heavier than prior releases and does not feature a single power ballad, but the technical skill of all band members is still excellent.

The opening song and single, “Tattoo,” is a quintessential Van Halen song. Lee

see FAMILY GUY, page 6

see VAN HALEN, page 6

fox.com

Even the antics of Brian and Stewie can’t save the dying show.

‘Family Guy’ has finally lost its comedic spark

by Joe Stile

Daily Editorial Board

Fox’s “Family Guy” is paradoxically underand over-rated at the same time. Haters accuse the show of being a bunch of random

Family Guy Starring Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mila Kunis Airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on Fox and lazy tangents built around broad and unfunny characters without any real story.

“Family Guy” lovers claim the show is edgy, innovative and politically aware. “Family Guy” isn’t actually as bad as its detractors claim it to be. On the other hand, the show is certainly not as good as its supporters suggest, either.

Currently in its tenth season on the air, “Family Guy” struggles to hit the high notes it used to reach so easily just a few seasons ago. After well over a hundred episodes, the absurd cutaway gags don’t seem as fresh and instead have dulled. Most long-running sit-

New book paints picture of Kennan

F

ollowing last week’s review of “Love and Capital,” a book about Karl Marx, this week’s column crosses to the other side of the ideological ‘iron curtain’ to the life and work of one of the Cold War’s greatest figures, the American strategist and statesman George F. Kennan.

In Yale Professor John Lewis Gaddis’ 700page masterpiece, “George F. Kennan: An American Life,” Kennan emerges as a great thinker, a gifted historian and a visionary, yet one with his own private battles, agonies and conflicts.

Most political science and international relations majors will recognize Kennan as the author of the “Long Telegram,” one of the single most important strategic analyses of Soviet leadership. Furthermore, he helped define the containment doctrine that would dominate U.S. policy for the next half century. Born in 1904 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Kennan lost his mother when he was only an infant and grew up with a profound sense of loneliness and isolation that would stay with him throughout his long life. A graduate of Princeton University, he decided to join the U.S. Foreign Service and gradually built a reputation as the government’s foremost expert on Russian culture and political history. Though Kennan technically retired from the Foreign Service in 1963 to become a historian, his opinions on a wide array of political and social issues were later eagerly sought by presidents, congressmen and policymakers. Through his fair-minded approach and refusal to be caught up in the jingoistic furor against the USSR, he became one of the few statesmen to be highly respected and valued in both Washington and Moscow.

Professor Gaddis was fortunate to become Kennan’s designated biographer.

Consequently, over the course of 30 years, Gaddis interviewed Kennan many times and had unrestricted access to his personal diaries, letters and records. Thus, in his book Gaddis provides not only a chronological accounting of Kennan’s life, but also a deeply personal portrait of it, one that the intensely intellectual and introspective Kennan would no doubt have approved of. Gaddis highlights Kennan’s complex, highly developed and often conflicted inner life and explains how one of the great architects of America’s Cold War strategy could in later years become one of its most vociferous critics. Indeed, Kennan often comes through as a contradictory and supremely lonely character.

Born in a younger, more innocent America, he absorbed the values of the era and, thus, watched despairingly as the country he loved seemingly charted a course of cultural and societal dissipation and decline.

Kennan, the same strategist that was capable of predicting the fall of the Soviet Empire 40 years prior, was equally prone to morbid pessimism about his own country. He eloquently denounced the injustice of the Vietnam War, but saw the angry protests and unthinking opposition of the student left, though founded in legitimate grievance, as lacking in vision and clear objective. Thus, this far-sighted statesman did not fall prey to the politics of passion that became so common in American political life and instead strove to chart the middle course, of emotion tempered by careful thought, consideration and self-examination.

It is fitting that the life of a great American strategist be recorded by America’s leading scholar of strategy and Cold War history. Professor Gaddis writes with a profound analytical skill matched only by the accessibility of his fluid, gripping narrative.

Professor Gaddis’ “An American Life” is one of most well written and informative historical biographies I have ever had the pleasure to read. I believe that everyone would learn much from the life of the accomplished American scholar, thinker and strategist, George Kennan.

James Barasch is a sophomore majoring in history. He can be contacted at James.

Barasch@tufts.edu.

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VAN HALEN

continued from page 5

Roman Dolinsky via Flickr Commons

Van Halen, no stranger to the stage, is back in the limelight after 14 years. metal fusion song. Van Halen has been around for too long to fit neatly into any particular sub-heading, but the glam-metal roots of their music are most evident in this song.

“Honeybabysweetiedoll” is essentially an excuse for David Lee Roth to speak in a seductive manner over sexy guitar riffs, something that comes across well on record but may not do so well in live shows because honestly, David Lee Roth doesn’t look as good as he used to.

The end of the song allows him to prove he’s still got his growl as well, which at age 58 is rather impressive.

The album continues along the rock track until it hits “Stay Frosty,” an odd track that fuses acoustic guitar, Lee Roth’s twanging vocals and backing vocals until about a minute in. At this point, the rest of the

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New Van Halen album inspires joy, nostalgia Roth’s ranging vocals, from a low growl to near-falsetto, make the song great. Van Halen fans can breathe a collective sigh of relief that the band members managed to overcome their differences and come together again.

“She’s the Woman” is another showcase of Lee Roth’s vocal abilities and exhibits the first Van Halen guitar solo to be released in 14 years.

It’s enough to make anyone emotional and somewhat reminiscent.

“China Town” starts with Eddie letting his fingers loose all over his guitar, and it’s the first song on the album where listeners really hear Alex’s fast and intense drumming.

The chorus of “China Town” has Lee Roth singing, “Heroes aren’t born they’re cornered/ and this corner is where we write the story/ Two tribes warring/ Downtown after hours,” constructing an intriguing fantastical narrative.

The next song, “Blood and Fire,” has the average setup of verse-chorus-verse until it degenerates into a tribute to Eddie’s virtuosic skills. Guitar solos like these just don’t happen in songs anymore, and the fact that this exists now is hope that Van Halen hasn’t lost any of their talent in the intervening years.

“As Is” is a fast-paced, heavy rock-

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

band contributes all at once, and suddenly it’s a pleasantly countryinspired, intrepid exploration into a less heavy sound with somewhat cheeky lyrics, “I wandered out West/ to the California coast/ Where the folks who know about frostiness say frostiest the most.”

As the title suggests, “A Different Kind of Truth” has a different sound compared to their last albums, but not in the way one would expect.

This album harks back more to the original albums, when the band was just developing its sound, but feels more polished, like the sound of a band in its mature and sensible years. This thought inspires happiness that such an album exists at all and a bit of nostalgia, because Van Halen just isn’t as ridiculous as they used to be.

Pigeonholed characters can’t revitalize ‘Family Guy’ FAMILY GUY

continuedfrom page 5

earlier seasons, Brian was refreshing for his intellectual — and often pretentious — views of the situations of the episode that nicely balanced out the generally unintelligent ideas of Peter and the rest of the cast.

As the seasons wore on, though, he became less of an actual character and more of a mouthpiece for the writers’ political views, whether it was the strong liberal stance Brian takes on the Iraq War or his many rants against organized religions. The consistently serious moralizing of many recent episodes has greatly taken away from what “Family Guy” used to do best: rapid-fire jokes that were often about the most random of subjects.

While the older episodes were far from perfect, they still made for entertaining television thanks to their quick pace and surplus of jokes, whose sheer volume made up for the occasional dud.

Another reason for the steady decline of “Family Guy” is that there are now numerous shows that are so similar to it in on television and in Fox’s lineup. “The Cleveland Show” and “American

Dad!” share many similar jokes, and even some of the same characters, as “Family Guy”. This leaves the show feeling much less fresh than it did a few years ago.

Most disappointingly of all, “Family Guy” has felt very tame this season. Critics used to complain that the show often went too far and had no limits on what it would make fun of; Prophet Muhammad and JFK’s assassination were just some of the taboo subjects that “Family Guy” would poke fun at. Recently, the show seems content with just making fart jokes and avoiding the kind of controversy that used to make it so interesting. It seems like the show’s writers no longer want to push the envelope, which only serves to make one wonder why the show is even still on the air.

A lot should be said for shows that decide to voluntarily end their run before their quality nosedives; sadly, “Family Guy” isn’t one of those shows. The program has seen better days, and unfortunately — as long as it still has a lot of viewers and keeps making money for Fox — it is unlikely to end anytime soon, despite the diminishing returns of each new episode and season.

10 TH A NNIVERSARY

THE FARES CENTER FOR EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES Invites you to a Roundtable Discussion

“T ALKING ABOUT A R EVOLUTION : T HE U PRISINGS IN N ORTH A FRICA O NE Y EAR L ATER ”

William Lawrence

FARES CENTER ROUNDTABLES

North Africa Director for International Crisis Group

Bill Lawrence (MALD, Ph.D., Fletcher School) helped negotiate and implement the first bilateral agreement with Libya in several decades, later serving at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli. Dr. Lawrence was the 2008-2009 Goldman Sachs Fellow and Visiting Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University and has taught at Georgetown, Tufts, and Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech. He is presently North Africa Director for International Crisis Group.

He has received three Superior and three Meritorious Honor Awards from the State Department, and two medals from the Egyptian government in 2011 for advancing U.S.-Egyptian relations. He is the author of Morocco: Crossroads of Time (Ellipsis Arts, 1995) and A Cultural and Cross-Cultural Guide for Cairo (American University, 1992), as well as several articles, including “Symptom of Crisis or Engine of Development? The Mauritanian Informal Economic Sector” (in Praxis, 1999). For several years Dr. Lawrence has produced and presented “The Mecca Show” at WZBC in Boston, and as an Arab music producer he co-produced fourteen albums of North African music.

Chaired by Prof. Hugh Roberts, Edward Keller Professor of North African and Middle Eastern History, Tufts University

Thursday, February 16, 2012 12:30 - 2:00 pm Mugar, Room 129 Space is limited. Register for your free ticket at:

http://billlawrence.eventbrite.com The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies Cabot Intercultural Center 160 Packard Avenue Medford, Massachusetts 02155 http://farescenter.tufts.edu

womaninblack.com/#/gallery

Daniel Radcliffe is the sole redeeming factor of the movie.

‘The Woman in Black’ rarely ventures beyond suspense to true fear

WOMAN

continued from page 5

Every event in this film occurs rather predictably. After watching the first scene, the viewer is able to deduce the direction the film will take. Every key detail or important scene is made extremely, and almost insultingly, obvious, as if the filmmakers believed that audiences would be too dull to perform any sort of analysis. The conclusion of this movie is also irksome. The only possible explanation for it is an attempt to placate both those people who like happy endings and those people who prefer sad endings. Either way, the finale of “The Woman in Black” is a confusing wave of ambivalence that will leave most viewers unsatisfied.

At its core, the thought of children randomly dying because of a ghoulish woman is clearly frightening. But pure fear is an emotion almost never invoked while watching this movie.

Instead, the main source of fright comes from suspenseful scenes of Kipps walking through the dark mansion while a ghostly presence breathes down his

neck and causes strange events to unfold. For example, a creaking rocking chair moves on its own, candles independently extinguish and flashes of ghostly children are seen emerging from the forest.

The occurrence of sudden and shocking chilling images might even cause some screams. These events are definitely creepy and will keep the audiences’ attention, but “The Woman in Black” rarely ventures beyond simple suspense; this movie won’t give anyone nightmares.

Simply speaking, this film was mediocre. The weak presentation of this movie is likely the direct result of a subpar screenplay. In fact, the only reason that this film will not be easily forgotten is because Daniel Radcliffe was the star, and he actually gave a good performance. He is the major redeeming factor to this run-of-the-mill horror flick.

Good, but not fantastic, this is the type of movie you will see once in theatres, admire Daniel Radcliffe as someone other than Harry Potter, and be satisfied with not seeing it again.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

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Join us at an information session to learn more  Thursday, Feb 16  Wednesday, Feb 22  Friday, Feb 24 All sessions are at noon in Lincoln Filene Hall Be recognized for your civic achievements and network with active Tufts alumni by joining the Honos Civicus Society, the Latin honors network for Tufts citizen alumni. Online applications are due at noon on Monday, March 5, 2012.

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Editorial

Daniel J. Rathman Editorial

Editorial | Letters

Americans have undergone a stunning reversal in their attitudes toward same-sex marriage over the last decade.

Around the turn of the millennium, less than 30 percent of the country believed that gay couples deserved marriage rights equal to those of heterosexual couples, according to public opinion polls at the time. Last year, however, three different polls found for the first time ever that a small majority of Americans now approve of same-sex marriage. So the tide of public opinion is turning — but, as always, our laws lag several years behind.

Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” America’s slow and uneven march toward gay rights is proving him right. Since 2003, seven states and the District of Columbia. have legalized same-sex marriage. In the same period, 26 states amended their constitutions to expressly ban same-sex marriage, and two states — Maine and California — passed but then repealed bills legalizing it.

New Jersey became the latest state to take on the issue yesterday, when the state Senate voted 24-16 to approve a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage.

The state Assembly is expected to pass the measure as well and send it to the governor’s office for approval, at which point it will likely die by the veto of New Jersey’s chief executive, Chris Christie.

To Christie’s credit, he hardly boasts the anti-gay credentials of, say, Rick Santorum, who throughout his career has compared marriage between two men to marriage between siblings, between a man and a dog, between a man and a child and between himself and his mother-in-law. Christie has said he supports New Jersey’s current laws giving gay couples the right to enter into civil unions, which in theory are supposed to provide all the same protections to gay couples that marriage provides to heterosexual couples.

Christie may well want to do right

by New Jersey’s gay community, but for anyone who has studied the Black civil rights movement civil unions should ring an alarmingly familiar bell. “Separate but equal” was the post-Civil War doctrine that permitted the segregation of public facilities (most famously schools) for blacks and whites as long as the accommodations met an amorphous — and, in reality, completely nonexistent — standard of equality. Legal segregation resulted in black schools that were grossly inferior and underfunded compared to white schools and was eventually ruled unconstitutional in the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) decision.

That’s not to say that the struggle for racial equality and the struggle for gay rights are perfect parallels of each other. The histories of the two movements are very different, and it does justice to neither to try to pigeonhole them together. Still, substituting true marriage rights with civil unions is a modern incarnation of the “separate but equal” concept, and history has shown that it won’t work.

As a legislative principle, it doesn’t make any sense. If two things are equal, why do we need to separate them?

Likewise, if marriage and civil unions provide all the same protections, why do we need to create a distinction? By providing gay couples with an alternative to marriage — rather than, simply, marriage — their unions are inherently judged as less valuable.

This is more than a philosophical difference; there are practical issues with civil unions that make them an inferior substitute for marriage. Although the New Jersey civil union law states that couples engaged in civil unions are entitled to the same treatment as married couples, many employers continue to deny gay couples equal health benefits. In Massachusetts and other states where gay couples enjoy full marriage rights, discrimination in health benefits is much less common.

Also, couples that enter into civil unions have no choice but to publicly acknowledge their sexual orientation.

When a gay person fills out a job application and identifies her marital status as “in a civil union,” she opens the door to discrimination by her potential employer. The ability to check off “married” avoids this problem and makes job discrimination much less likely.

In theory, civil unions provide the same medical decision-making benefits as marriage. In practice, doctors and other healthcare personnel are unfamiliar with the law, and gay spouses are constantly asked to provide documentation of their legal status as a couple and even to summarize the legislation that gives them legal power of attorney. They’re asked to do these things while their partner is in the midst of a medical crisis.

A report by the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission found that many professionals are confused by the term “civil union” and are unsure how to treat clients who have entered into them. As a result, the report cites countless anecdotes from couples who have had to navigate bureaucratic nightmares in everything from managing bank accounts to determining end-of-life care. People in the United States are taught to classify adults as either single or married, and carving out a third classification for gay couples has forced them into an awkward, poorly understood middle ground and led to all manner of logistical headaches.

Civil unions are a failure, an experiment gone wrong. Christie has expressed his commitment to upholding the rights of gay couples in New Jersey, but his veto threat is now the only thing standing in the way of a dramatic step forward on that score. If his commitment to gay rights is anything more than political rhetoric, Christie should sign the same-sex marriage bill when it arrives on his desk.

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courtesy omar asfour

On Feb. 14, 2000, Omar Asfour (E ‘00) and Adam Blake (E ’00) hung this banner on the outside of Anderson Hall as a token of their love for Raya Asfour (A ‘00) and Annica Blake (A ‘00). Twelve years later, both couples are happily married with two daughters each.

Correction The Feb. 13 article “Personal records give Jumbos confidence for upcoming NESCAC championships” contains an illegible photo caption. The photo caption should have read, “Sophomore Graham Beutler set a personal best in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22:34.”

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Op-Ed

Off the Hill | University of Virginia

by

Evan Vahouny

Walt Laws-MacDonald | Show Me The Money!

The ballot or the bank

Are we profitable?

Well…

The Cavalier Daily

At the heart of democracy lies the fundamental notion that every citizen has an equal voice in society. This value, which began centuries ago, continues today as the cornerstone of the United States government. But is the democracy that we cherish truly a reality?

Based upon recent research and quantitative analysis, the answer is a clear and resounding no. The primary cause of this democratic deterioration lies in the U.S. campaign process, a tradition that links money and politics and allows incumbents to be reelected in more than 90 percent of congressional races. Private corporations, lobbying organizations and wealthy individuals donate millions to candidates, and studies verify that candidates have been successfully returning the favor.

Through highly organized lobbying “machines,” the most affluent donors restrict their massive contributions to candidates who share their interests and cut off funding to opponents. These corrupt practices undermine the most basic principles of democracy. In the last 40 years, the flow of money from private interests into the hands of public officials has skyrocketed to unacceptable levels.

The biggest growth in private donations has come from corporate lobbying, a trend that greatly expanded in the late 1970s. From 1976 to 1986, the number of labor political action committees (PACs), typically representing low-income workers, increased from 224 to 261. In contrast, the number of corporate and trade PACs grew from 922 to 2,182, reflecting a sudden and widespread mobilization of big business in politics.

During this same 10-year period, average real expenditures by incumbents in the U.S. House of Representatives nearly tripled, a direct response to the increased corporate presence in Washington.

Candidates from both parties have since been forced to curry favor with big business to survive the election process.

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is a notable example. From 1990 to 1998, he raised $2.5 million from securities and investment firms, more than triple the amount of any other senator.

The influence of corporate lobbying is not limited to electoral misrepresentation.

It also manifests itself in the laws being

C

MCT

passed and the drastic effects of those laws.

Perhaps the most disturbing result of this corporate presence has been the sharp growth of income inequality in the United States. Before 1979, the average income growth was nearly the same in each class of society. After 1979, however, the average income of the lower and middle classes rose only 10 to 20 percent, whereas individuals in the top 1 percent experienced an unprecedented income growth of 260 percent.

The rich have been getting exponentially richer while the rest of society, not just the poor, is being left behind. This startling trend of “trickle-up” economics is partially the result of the wealthiest individuals manipulating the electoral process by finding loopholes in campaign laws which allow them to donate money and influence select candidates.

A recent quantitative analysis at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs provides new data to explain why our campaign process must be reformed. According to the study, U.S. senators are significantly more responsive to the opinions of those in the upper income brackets than the middle classes. Moreover, the responsiveness of senators to those in the lowest third of the income distribution is virtually nonexistent. This study controls

for both voter turnout and political knowledge, providing robust evidence that the difference in senatorial responsiveness is a direct result of income disparity.

The political climate has led candidates from both parties to become more conservative in their economic views as of late.

The result has been support for lower taxes for the wealthy and less financial regulation.

One can easily see how Congress has favorably promoted corporate interests. From the 1981 Economic Recovery and Tax Act to the 2001 Bush tax cuts, big business has triumphed at the expense of the majority.

Although opponents of a public finance system have argued it would restrict freedom of speech, the very foundation of democracy is crumbling to pieces under our current system. What is the point of free speech when towers of money drown out the voices of the citizens?

If we do not make changes to our current campaign process and find ways to limit the influence of money in politics, legislation which favors the wealthy will continue to be passed. The growing chasm between the top 1 percent and the rest of society will become even more distant, and the government which we call “democracy” will move even closer to the capitalist oligarchies of Brazil, Mexico and Russia.

Off the Hill | University of Arizona

How not to be that guy on Valentine’s Day

by Jason

Krell

The Arizona Daily Wildcat

I haven’t had a Valentine in three years, and I probably won’t again this year. And you know what? That doesn’t give me, or anyone else in my situation, the right to ruin the special day for anyone else.

I didn’t always think that way, though.

I went through the phases of the beingalone-on-Valentine’s-Day process. First came being cynical about the holiday in general, taking every excuse to put down those who were actually celebrating it.

Second, the faux confidence, accompanied by equally fake boasts about celebrating “singles awareness day.”

The last step was a quiet sadness and self-isolation driven by wallowing in the realization that the past two years were nothing but an emotional front. Then there’s the fourth step: acceptance — that’s this year.

You see, it’s easy to go around belittling everyone else’s romantic day by putting it down. We say it’s a corporate holiday, we say people should always be romantic instead of just on one day. Hell, we say any damn thing we can think of to avoid admitting to people we just didn’t have anyone on Valentine’s Day and we’re not happy with it. The one thing so many people can’t do is just step aside and let the couples have their day.

Yes, corporations do make a killing off of Valentine’s Day. Yes, people should

always make their love known to the significant others in their lives. But come on, being that romantic all the time is flatout hard — plus, it kills the specialness of days like Valentine’s Day. And since when has supporting the economy been bad? It’s really just a great opportunity for people who love each other to express that.

What it all boils down to is there are so many better things people without a Valentine can do instead of raining on everyone else’s parade. Since I’m such a nice guy, here’s a little list of ideas: Give a fellow single person a gift It doesn’t have to be a scene ripped out of “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Flowers, or something less prone to dying, will suffice. But no one really minds being shown some appreciation on Valentine’s Day. It doesn’t even have to be someone you’re romantically interested in. There’s this thing called platonic love too, and there’s no problem with expressing it on V-Day. Help a friendly couple have a nice date Most of my friends are in relationships, and if I had the money to afford it, I’d love nothing more than to pick up the bill for a special night out at some swanky restaurant. Even though I may not be taking someone out, I still love my friends and I love them being together, so why not let them know? It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, and make sure you work it around whatever plans they might already have, but it never hurts to help a friend out this

way. Think of it as being a relationship wing-person.

Get the courage to just tell the person you like how you feel Let’s level here, people. More than half of those who are pouting on Valentine’s Day do so because there’s someone they wish they could have, not because there’s no one worth being interested in.

If there isn’t anyone on your mind during Valentine’s Day, what’s to be upset about?

It’s not like there’s anyone you’d want to spend it with anyway.

So if you find the holiday’s coming to be ominous, maybe it means you should speak up and let that special someone know what they mean to you. If they reciprocate, awesome, your Valentine’s Day just got that much better. If they don’t, oh well, at least you know where you stand.

Just let the couples have their day This is both the easiest and most important way to avoid being a Valentine’s Day Scrooge. Just treat it like another day.

Wish everyone a happy Valentine’s, or don’t. Just don’t go around saying anything bad about it. Just don’t. Not even a joke. No, not one — only encouragement, because sometimes the people celebrating Valentine’s Day really need it, and being negative can kill the mood.

So come Valentine’s Day, wish everyone a day filled with love — and no bad vibes on Facebook, since that’s where they all end up these days.

ontinuing with my roundabout discussion of the Facebook initial public offering (IPO), I’d like to go over some more recent tech IPO history this week. But first — and really, I hate to toot my own horn here — Apple shares broke $500 yesterday morning. Just saying. Back to IPOs. The IPO landscape has drastically shifted over the past few months. Over the summer, public offerings sold like hotcakes as internet radio site Pandora and the business-focused social networking site LinkedIn made news with their extremely well-hyped offerings.

Shares soared and everyone was happy.

And then there were whispers of the b-word.

Whispers quickly turned to rumblings, and before you could say “downgrade,” the market declared that we were in the midst of the dotcom bubble 2.0.

The bubble didn’t exactly pop — deflated, sure, but nothing like the 1999 crash and burn.

Fast-forward to the current season and people are excited again. LinkedIn beat earnings last Friday, and a combination of pent-up investor demand and unknown growth prospects make Facebook sound awfully attractive.

But the big question remains: Can a free website still be profitable?

So far, most results point to no. Pandora went public at $16 in June, before the “bubble” existed. In a bizarre interview on the NYSE floor, CEO Joe Kennedy responded to the profitability question by saying, “We described the long-term opportunity grow our share, and we talked about the economic demands of the visit. We’re not putting any time frame on it.”

You read that correctly. The CEO of a company said on national television that his business is not profitable and that they have no idea how to fix that in the near future.

I was shocked. I would have dumped the stock in an instant. And then I watched, with even greater disbelief, as Pandora shares shot up 50 percent as the interview continued.

Shares have since fallen off a cliff, and currently sit a few dollars below the initial price.

LinkedIn, which priced at $45 over the summer, climbed to over $110 in its first few months before hovering around its current level of $90.

LinkedIn is, in my opinion, the only social networking site to have successfully monetized its business. LinkedIn reported 131 million users in November of last year, and its advertising, or “Market Solutions,” revenue accounted for a modest $49.5 million. Most of its profit, however, comes from what it calls “Hiring Solutions,” a service that matches employers to applicants. The Street responded positively to the shift away from advertising, as shares jumped nearly 20 percent.

Deal site Groupon, which priced at $20 in November, drew speculation from many, with one analyst likening its business model to a Ponzi scheme. Groupon disappointed with a loss in the fourth quarter and now sits a few cents above its initial price.

Twitter — which is still privately owned and has no plans to go public for now — has only just started figuring how to actually make a profit from its rapid growth.

Facebook manages to squeeze out about $1.20 in profit per user, using advertising as its main source of revenue.

Facebook has been the exception, though, not the rule. Advertising cannot be your only source of profit if your user base isn’t as ridiculously huge as Facebook’s. Even then, Facebook’s ads don’t always yield profit for the buyers of ad space. One Bloomberg reporter received one click for 7,000 ads purchased.

Fortunately, Facebook ads cost fractions of a penny, so even then they still might be worth it to larger firms.

Moving forward, I’m sure Facebook will receive more than its fair share of love when it opens. Mark my words, shares will double the first day. But whether it can sustain growth — and profitability — will take much longer to tell.

Walt Laws-MacDonald is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Walt.Laws_MacDonald@tufts. edu.

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

The Tufts Daily

10 Crossword

Comics

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

U of Zoo

Doonesbury

by

Brooke Weber

by

Garry Trudeau

Monday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Finding where broken hearts go

Late Night at the Daily Monday’s Solution

Craig: “So are you a golf star or are you just a middling Tufts golfer?”

Drew: “I’m a star.”

Please recycle this Daily.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Tufts Daily

11

Sports

Mental mistakes plague Jumbos throughout disappointing weekend in blowout losses against Amherst, Hamilton

Alex Prewitt | Live from Mudville

Crossing the Lin(e)

ICE Hockey

continued from back

really came from us getting away from our game,” Edwards said. “Towards the end of the Hamilton game our frustration had really built up, and there were penalties that should not have been taken.”

Sophomore Evan Haney gave Hamilton the lead just three minutes into the contest. Senior Sam Choate played the puck to sophomore Bennett Schneider from the right circle, and Haney got a hold of it, redirecting it past senior tri-captain goalkeeper Scott Barchard. Sophomore Mike DiMare, the NESCAC’s leading scorer, added another first-period tally at 12:33 to push the Continentals’ lead to two.

In the second period, Hamilton extended its lead to 4-0 behind goals from freshman Pat Curtis and junior Anthony Ruberto. Following Ruberto’s score, the Jumbos were whistled for three more penalties in the middle stanza and failed to find the back of the net.

The Jumbos’ woes continued in the third. While Hamilton’s Haney was called for two early penalties, Tufts players were boxed five times in the period, and DiMare and Curtis capitalized, both netting insurance goals with less than five minutes left to play in the game.

“I think a lot of penalties that we took were out of frustration and retaliatory penalties that we can’t afford to take,” freshman forward Tyler Voigt said. “Those hurt us because it was hard to get into an offensive rhythm when we were constantly a man down.”

Tufts finished the game with 43 shots, but Hamilton sophomore keeper Joe Quattrocchi stopped every attempt.

Meanwhile, Barchard’s 31-save effort was not enough to keep the Jumbos close, particularly as their focus broke away in the closing period.

The Jumbos entered their rematch with Amherst on Saturday riding a six-game undefeated streak, but the Lord Jeffs — who are now 15-1-0 against league opponents — erased the momentum the Jumbos had built up in the previous two weeks. Head coach Brian Murphy’s squad struggled to find the back of the net, and they dropped an 8-0 decision to the Lord Jeffs.

“When Amherst was able to get up a

Oliver Porter / Tufts Daily

Freshman defenseman Blake Edwards, like the rest of the men’s hockey team, was unable to slow the charge of Amherst and Hamilton this weekend. few goals, that really hurt us, because with a team as talented as them we didn’t want to get into a scoring battle,” Edwards said. “Our goal was to keep it a low-scoring close game and pull something out at the end, but we weren’t able to do that.”

As was the case all weekend, the Jumbos’ overly physical play dug them into a hole. Amherst was awarded seven power play opportunities in the game and cashed in three of them.

Early in the opening period, Barchard made several crucial saves to deny the Lord Jeffs an early lead. At the end of the period, however, freshman forward George Pantazopoulos was whistled for hitting from behind, and on the power play Amherst sophomore Brian Safstrom received a pass at the near post and flicked it past Barchard to give the hosts their first goal with just 11 seconds remaining.

“Amherst was able to get a power play goal at the end of the first period that hurt us a bit,” Edwards said. “Any time a team can score right before the end of a period it’s a real momentum swinger, and unfortunately they were able to do that.”

In the middle of the second period, the Lord Jeffs tripled their lead on scores from forwards Eddie Effinger and Jamie Hawkrigg around the seven-minute mark, after Edwards was whistled for a game misconduct for

With consecutive victories, Jumbos trending upward at the right time MEN’S SQUASH

continued from back

win in three that kept us confident,” junior Andrew Meleney said of the team’s mindset against BC. “We want to go out and crush it every time.”

That never-say-die attitude was just what the Jumbos needed against the Eagles. Freshman Zach Schweitzer and sophomore Jeremy Ho walked away with 3-0 sweeps, and senior captain Henry Miller won 3-1, but most of the victories did not come so easily.

Freshmen Gordon Silverman, Hugo Meggitt, Elliot Kardon and sophomore Michael Abboud each fell behind before coming out on top, and Meleney triumphed in a five-set thriller over BC’s Danny Gleason in the No. 9 match.

Freshman Alex Nalle’s inability to finish his match due to injury resulted in the Jumbos’ lone loss of the day. The final score was 8-1, but the Jumbos by no means cruised past their opposition.

“All the matches were pretty close,” Silverman said. “Every game was a tough fight, but everyone seemed to pull through in the end.”

Two days earlier, the squad got off to a great start against national No. 31 Northeastern. Meggitt kicked things off by winning in four games while Miller won in three, but a five-game loss for

senior Eli Borek in the No. 9 spot cut the Tufts lead to 2-1. Victories for freshmen Gordon Silverman and Elliot Karden in the No. 5 and No. 8 spots, respectively, gave the Jumbos a commanding 4-1 advantage, but the Huskies came roaring back to win three straight and tie the match at four apiece.

With one match remaining, the Jumbos’ fate rested on the shoulders of freshman No. 1 Zach Schweitzer, who squared off against senior John Ghublikian. Schweitzer fell behind two games to one, but with his back against the wall he won the next two games to give the Jumbos the 5-4 victory and snap their seven-match losing streak.

The pair of victories ended the squad’s regular season with a record of 6-10. This weekend, the team will head to Princeton University for Nine-Man Nationals, the drawing of which will be released later this week. Until then, the Jumbos will have to prepare for all possible matchups — including teams in the NESCAC, against whom the Jumbos are 0-6 this season.

Now seems like as good a time as ever to take on some of the nation’s best competition.

“We are peaking at the right time,” Silverman said. “The team is as close as ever and it’s very exciting with nationals right around the corner.”

checking from behind to give Amherst a five-on-three advantage.

The Lord Jeffs added a fourth tally at the end of the second period and kicked off the final stanza with three more in a seven-minute span.

Freshman defenseman Aaron Deutsch capped off Amherst’s eight-goal effort by lighting the lamp at the 11:53 mark, with an assist from classmate Mike Cashman.

Amherst junior Mike Moher, who was named NESCAC Player of the Week for the second straight week, tallied two assists and a goal in the contest.

With the losses, Tufts dropped from third to fourth, behind Middlebury, in the conference standings.

“The weekend was pretty tiring considering the amount of travel that we had to do,” Voigt said. “We need to focus this week, and we need to win some games this weekend if we want a home playoff game. The most disappointing part of last weekend is that we didn’t gain any points in the standings.”

Tufts will host NESCAC rivals Bowdoin and Colby this weekend to finish their regular season schedule. Last time the Jumbos played the Polar Bears and Mules, Tufts split the series, falling 5-1 and winning 3-1, respectively. A more consistent effort on the offensive end will be key.

Jumbos to welcome Wellesley on Friday for Senior Night WOMEN’S SQUASH continued from back

The number nine match was not played, and the Jumbos left the gym with an 8-0 victory.

“I think [these wins] will boost morale for the team. We’re excited for the wins, and I think everyone is looking forward to the Howe Cup,” Barba said, referring to the national tournament that will be held at Harvard from Feb. 24-26.

“Everyone’s playing well at this point in the season,” Basu said.

With the victories over Vassar and Northeastern, the Jumbos improve to 9-12 overall and have now won consecutive contests for the first time since Dec. 3.

After the Howe Cup, the season will conclude with the CSA Individual Championships at Amherst in the first week of March.

The Jumbos still have one match remaining before the championship season begins. On Friday evening, they will play Wellesley College, ranked 24th nationally, at Belmont Hill for Senior Night and their final home match.

Tufts dominated Wellesley 9-0 in the team’s first match of the season on Nov. 18.

L

ook out, folks. We’re approaching Tim Tebow territory.

Save the fact that my editors will also likely place a permanent ban on Linsanity, to be shelved alongside columns about Tebowmania and clichéd ledes featuring the weather, few other similarities exist between the Asian-American phenomenon and the Christian quarterback who enveloped a nation’s attention in consecutive months.

I refer to Jeremy Lin, the Knicks’ upstart guard, he of the 26.8 points per game over the past five games, as an Asian-American because that’s how he will forever be slotted in the rarely diverse NBA. Of course, if any underdog point guard got cut by two teams and then led a downtrodden franchise to five straight wins, all while outdueling some of the game’s top players, the nation would assuredly take notice. But all of Lin’s success, the 38 points on Friday against the Lakers, the nicknames, the signs, those have been magnified 10-fold by the race factor.

It’s a tricky subject, especially in sports.

Are we attracted to certain players because of their race, because they buck basketball’s normative status as an African-Americandominated sport? Does Lin’s position factor in as much as his race does, especially because most Asian imports have existed in the low post? And, perhaps most importantly, if Lin’s success fades — which it likely will, given the current rate at which he’s obliterating opponents with pinpoint pick-and-rolls — then will the fandom subside as well?

Take a look at the signs littering the stands wherever Lin plays these days. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Point Guard.” “The Yellow Mamba.” “Me Love You Lin Time.” All racially charged, all operating off the same basic principle: Jeremy Lin is the quintessential underdog, and that underdog status derives from equal parts overcoming adversity and his race.

And as Lin crosses into a full-blown national sensation, occupying SportsCenter time the way his media-darling predecessor in the Mile High City once did, we must become increasingly cautious about crossing the line.

FoxSports columnist Jason Whitlock recently figured this out the hard way. In the wake of Lin’s performance against Los Angeles, Whitlock, never the one to shy away from his opinions or off-thecuff remarks, tweeted, “Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight.” Classless? Indeed. The Asian American Journalists Association demanded an apology from Whitlock, and he thankfully obliged. But Whitlock’s case is nonetheless indicative of what can happen when we derail our own racially charged fandom.

Growing up as an Asian-American athlete, you become accustomed to being labeled according to one specific talented Asian at a given time. Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee were popular years ago. Ichiro and Yao Ming took over in the early 21st century. Now, at least for a fleeting moment, it seems Jeremy Lin is the new pinnacle, the Harvard-educated Christian who at once fulfills positive stereotypes and breaks others down.

Grantland’s Jay Caspian Kang pointed out the rare pride minorities often feel when watching one of their own achieve fame in a “forbidden field.” For Asians, this field is the NBA, and the pride is increasingly swelling, proportional to the “Linsanity” references and accompanying puns.

Right now, the world has nothing negative to say about Jeremy Lin. He’s smart, he’s talented and he’s brought a misshapen franchise back to relevancy. The problem, if we indeed intend to look for one, lies in the future. If Lin’s production tapers, interest could wane and he could be known as a cautionary tale, as young, media-loved superstars are wont to become.

The situation is paradoxical in some ways.

Lin undoubtedly embraces his heritage but would rather be seen as a colorless basketball superstar.

Of course, would he have exploded into such national prominence were it not for his stance as the NBA’s only Asian-American?

Alex Prewitt is a senior majoring in English and religion. He can be reached on his blog at http://livefrommudville.blogspot.com or followed on Twitter at @Alex_Prewitt.

Sports

12

tuftsdaily.com

Women’s Squash

Men’s Squash

Jumbos bounce back at Northeastern and Vassar Andy Wong

Contributing Writer

Following an 0-3 showing in the NESCAC tournament, which included a first-round loss to Amherst and consolaWOMEN’S SQUASH (9-12 Overall) at Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Sunday Tufts Vassar

8 1

at Boston, Mass., Thursday Tufts Northeastern

8 0

tion losses to Colby and Conn. College, Tufts women’s squash redeemed itself this past week with two decisive victories, an 8-0 sweep of Northeastern Thursday night and an 8-1 victory over Vassar College on Sunday morning.

On Sunday, the national 23rd-ranked Jumbos traveled to New York to take on No. 27 Vassar. Five of the day’s nine matches lasted four games, with Tufts winning four of them.

Playing in the No. 1 spot, junior Jessica Rubine won the first two games 11-4 and 11-9 before dropping her third game, 9-11. A close fourth game ensued, but Rubine prevailed with a 12-10 victory.

Tufts secured victories in the next four spots on the ladder as well. Senior cocaptain Mercedes Barba and freshmen Paige Dahlman and Ann Bellinger each won in three games, while senior cocaptain Alyse Vinoski cruised past sophomore Lisa Evans, 11-4, 11-2, and 11-5.

The No. 6 matchup featured Tufts junior Hafsa Chaudhry and junior Jill Levine. Chaudhry took the first two games 11-7 and 11-8, but Levine came back to tie it with wins in the third and fourth. An injury to Chaudhry prevented the deciding fifth game from being played, resulting in Vassar’s lone victory by default.

The remaining three matches were won by juniors Ushashi Basu, Caitlin Doherty and Desen Ozkan. Ozkan lost a grueling first game 18-16, but she snagged the next three to capture the ninth-spot victory and cap the 8-1 win for the Jumbos.

“Vassar was an important match for us,” Basu said. “It was a solid win.

Everyone, as a team, played better against Vassar. Everyone’s starting to get on the court and be confident.It was exciting to win after a tough time at the NESCACs,” she added.

Three days earlier, Tufts made the short trip to take on 36th-ranked Northeastern. The Jumbos dominated the entire night, and the only match that was not decided in three games was Rubine’s atop the ladder. She won a close first two games 11-8 and 11-9, but Northeastern’s Jennifer Janeck claimed the third game 11-6 and hung around for a competitive fourth game before finally falling, 13-11.

The next eight matches were all straight-set Jumbos victories. Notable performances included victories by Dahlman against Amanda Georgescu (11-3, 11-2, 11-3), Vinoski against Hoai Tran (11-8, 11-3, 11-3), and Basu against Sarah Ganley (11-0, 11-1, 11-2).

Doherty nearly pitched a perfect game against Sumita Mukund, winning by scores of 11-0, 11-1, and 11-0.

see WOMEN’S SQUASH, page 11

Ice Hockey

Jumbos outscored 14-0 on weekend by

Kate Klots

Daily Editorial Board

The ice hockey team traveled across Massachusetts and then into upstate New MEN’S HOCKEY (11-9-2 Overall, 8-7-1 NESCAC) at Clinton, N.Y., Sunday Tufts Hamilton

0 6

at Amherst, Mass., Saturday Tufts Hamilton

0 8

York this weekend in search of two NESCAC wins and four key points that would bring them closer to their goal of locking up a home berth in the upcoming conference tournament.

By Sunday night, they were left wondering about what went wrong.

The Jumbos fell 8-0 to Amherst on Saturday, perhaps a predictable result against a team that had already defeated the Jumbos 7-1 on Jan. 13 and is currently ranked third in Div.

III. But what is more alarming is the 6-0 defeat they suffered on Sunday at Hamilton, against a Continentals squad that entered the contest at 3-10-2 in conference play.

Following the two losses, the Jumbos are now 8-7-1 in conference play and 11-9-2 overall. With just two regular season NESCAC games remaining, Tufts is clinging to the fourth and final home playoff spot.

“This was an important weekend,” freshman defenseman Blake Edwards said. “We didn’t really show up for it mentally, and it showed on the ice.”

On Sunday, the Jumbos arrived in Clinton, N.Y., after a long bus ride for the second game of the weekend doubleheader. In a tense, penalty-ridden contest, the Jumbos never hit their stride.

Tufts played physically and grew increasingly frustrated as the game wore on, ultimately racking up a number of costly penalties and providing the Continentals with nine powerplay opportunities, three of which the hosts converted.

“The penalties each night see ICE HOCKEY, page 11

Schweitzer lifts Jumbos past Huskies to snap seven-match losing streak

By G.J. Vitale

Contributing Writer

The No. 26 ranked men’s squash team could not have picked a better time to get hot. It has been a MEN’S SQUASH (6-10 Overall) at Belmont Hill, Mass., Saturday Boston College Tufts

1 8

at Boston, Mass., Thursday Tufts Northeastern

5 4

bumpy ride this year for the Jumbos, who entered Thursday’s match at Northeastern having lost seven in a row. But with nationals now less than a week away, the team rediscovered its stroke, pulling off a dramatic 5-4 win on Thursday and an 8-1 thrashing of Boston College on Saturday.

After a day off on Friday, Tufts hosted the No. 35 Eagles at Belmont Hill School on Saturday and earned hardfought wins up and down the ladder. In all but two matches, the Jumbos set the tone by winning the first set, but five Tufts players later found themselves trailing 2-1. The Jumbos refused to say die — all five came back to pull off fiveset victories.

“It was the mentality to go out and see MEN’S SQUASH, page 11

Alex Dennett / Tufts Daily

Senior Christopher Stoj lost a tight four-set match at Northeastern on Thursday, but in the end the Jumbos came away with a 5-4 victory.

Men’s Basketball: Back on the rise 20 18 16

Regular Season Wins

by

Men’s squash ekes past Northeastern, bashes BC

14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

Season

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011-2012

In the 2005-06 season, the men’s basketball team won 19 regular season games and went on to reach the finals of the NESCACs and the third round of the NCAA tournament. But in the four years that followed, it was all downhill — the team won fewer games in each successive season and failed to make the playoffs from 2008 to 2010.

Now, coach Bob Sheldon’s program is back. Despite two tough losses to finish the regular season, the Jumbos went 16-9 overall, and on Saturday, they will host — and try to win — their first playoff game since 2006.

—by Aaron Leibowitz