2012-04-19.pdf

THE TUFTS DAILY

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TUFTSDAILY.COM

Thursday, April 19, 2012

VOLUME LXIII, NUMBER 52

Deval Patrick to visit the Hill Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will visit Tufts on April 30 as the keynote speaker for the 2012 Merrin Distinguished Lecture Series, the Tufts Hillel Moral Voices Committee announced yesterday.

The lecture series, as part of Tufts Hillel’s Moral Voices program, addresses a single issue during each academic year. This year’s focus is immigration.

The event will be at 8:00 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium. Free tickets will be available at the Cohen Box Office on Monday and can be claimed with a valid Tufts ID. Patrick, a member of the Democratic Party, is the current and 71st Governor of Massachusetts and the author of the memoir, “A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life” (2011). Patrick first assumed office in 2007 and was re-elected in 2010. He is the Commonwealth’s first AfricanAmerican governor and is the second African-American to be elected governor of any U.S. state.

Past speakers in the lecture series have included television journalist Lisa Ling and environmental activist Erin Brockovitch.

—by Laina Piera

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Michael Oren discusses significance of United States’ relationship with Israel by

Leah Lazer

Daily Editorial Board

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren yesterday visited the Hill and spoke in Cohen Auditorium on the topic of the U.S.-Israel relationship to an audience of about 200 people.

The lecture was presented by Tufts University and was sponsored by The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, The Office of the Provost and Tufts Hillel.

Oren, an Israeli national who grew up in New Jersey, graduated from Princeton University and Columbia University and has received fellowships from the U.S. Departments of State and Defense and the Canadian and British governments.

He has held appointments at Hebrew University, Tel-Aviv University and the Shalem Center in Israel, as well as at Harvard University, Yale University and Georgetown University.

Upon moving to Israel in the 1970s, he served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces and has been involved with the military in some capacity for most of his 30-year career.

Oren assumed the position of Israeli Ambassador to the United States in July 2009. see OREN, page 2

clarissa sosin / the tufts daily

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren spoke in Cohen Auditorium yesterday about the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Tufts team advances to finals of Microsoft U.S. Imagine Cup

by Jenna

Buckle

Daily Editorial Board

A group of four undergraduate Tufts computer science students, Team Eos, last month reached the final round of the 2012 Microsoft U.S. Imagine

Cup in the Software Design competition.

The team, comprised of seniors Greg Wong, Jason Cheng and Sean Chung and junior Xihan Zhang, developed a mobile service, Medivise, which automates the monitor-

ing process for tuberculosis patients.

“Basically, [Medivise] sends out text message medication reminders to patients every day so that they’ll adhere to their medical treatments,” Cheng said. “A really big problem with

a disease like tuberculosis is that patients are not following their medicine treatments, and that causes problems like resistance to antibiotics and relapses back to tuberculosis.”

The Microsoft U.S. Imagine Cup is a biannual competi-

tion with categories including software design, game design and Internet technology. The first-place team will receive $6,000, a $10,000 donation to its school and the opportunity to compete in the Worldwide Finals in Australia, Wong said.

Team Eos travels to Seattle this week to compete against the nine other finalists in its category, according to Cheng.

“We have to pitch the final version of our software to a panel of judges, and then they decide who’s going to win,” Cheng said. “The finals will be see MEDIVISE, page 2

First TCU presidential debate tonight The first of two TCU presidential debates will be held tonight at 9:00 p.m. in Braker Hall room 101.

The two candidates, juniors Wyatt Cadley and Logan Cotton, will discuss their visions for Tufts and answer questions from the audience.

The second debate will be held at 9:00 p.m. on Monday in Barnum Hall room 008. The election is on Tuesday.

Dilys ong / the tufts daily

A group of four Tufts students has reached the finals of the 2012 Microsoft U.S. Imagine Cup in the Software Design competition for its mobile service, Medivise, that helps tuberculosis patients.

Inside this issue

—by Laina Piera

Today’s sections

Fiorenzo Omenetto discusses his research creating new technologies using the unique properties of silk.

‘The Underpants,’ a fresh take on a classic German farce, opens this weekend at the Balch Arena Theater.

see FEATURES, page 3

see WEEKENDER, page 5

News Features Weekender Arts & Living

1 3 5 7

Editorial | Letters Op-Ed Comics Sports

12 13 14 Back

The Tufts Daily

2

News

Thursday, April 19, 2012

ResLife housing lottery successful; 14 students receive gender-neutral housing This semester marked the second year of online housing selection through The Office of Residential Life and Learning’s (ResLife) housing management portal and was the first year of registration for the new gender-neutral, or open, housing option.

This year’s housing selection process went smoothly, according to ResLife Director Yolanda King.

“Overall, there were no problems with the housing management portal,” King told the Daily in an email. “We did have some situations that involved students not verifying their groups, which resulted in them not getting an appointment time to select.”

Those students were able to select in the final lottery, she added.

This year showed students’ preferences trending toward more private living situations, according to King.

“The theme we observed this year was that more rising sophomores were seeking singles, and we had some triples and smaller apartments left over [that] will also be offered in the catch-all lottery,” King said.

ResLife introduced the online housing management portal last year, following a multi-year process of selecting and constructing the system. The online process allows students to avoid the lines and waiting involved with manual selection. Students who are abroad or away from campus can participate directly, without appointing another student as a proxy, as had been done in the past.

The new open housing policy was designed to ensure that all students could live in a comfortable setting with an appropriate roommate and free from fear of bias or intimidation.

King said that ResLife offered gender-neutral housing to 14 students.

The option was available to continu-

andrew schneer / the tufts daily

Bush Hall, along with a few Latin Way Suites, will be the first dormitory to have gender-neutral housing implemented in the fall. ing freshmen, sophomores and juniors.

Students registered for gender-neutral housing manually, with a one-page mutual request form. Once they completed the application, students were scheduled to pick rooms based on their

lottery numbers.

“We were able to successfully offer gender-neutral housing [open housing] within a couple of the Latin Way Suites and Bush Hall, which resulted in 14 students signing up,” King said.

Oren highlights shared values between the US and Israel OREN

continued from page 1

Oren discussed the historical roots of the U.S.-Israel relationship and described the influence it has had on the countries’ military, humanitarian and economic cooperation, as well as their shared values on issues such as democratic government, free speech and gay rights.

According to Oren, the American connection to a theoretical State of Israel goes back to the time of the Founding Fathers, when early Americans internalized the narrative of gaining freedom in a promised land. This left its cultural mark in surprising ways, including the Hebrew writing on the emblem of Yale University.

Oren said that there is currently record-high support for the State of Israel in the United States due to the prominence of religion in American society.

“Today, support of Israel in this country … is just about at an all-time high … and much of that support is

in fact faith-based,” Oren said.

He highlighted the similarities between the American and Israeli political systems as a reason for the alliance.

“Israel, like the United States, has a representative government, free elections [and] a free press,” Oren said. “In gay rights, we are a leader not just in Middle Eastern terms, but in all terms.”

Oren said that the military alliance between Israel and the United States formed after Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War of 1967, after which the two countries have always voted together in the United Nations General Assembly; shared high-level intelligence, technology and equipment; and conducted joint trainings for special forces soldiers. Oren also mentioned Israeli-American cooperation in humanitarian crises like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the current famine in Somalia.

On the economic front, Oren said that many Israeli companies hire American workers and that Israeli technology is included in

many popular devices, including Intel computer processors.

On the issue of the Iranian nuclear threat, Oren said the United States and Israel both agree that Israel has the right and duty to defend itself against threats in the Middle East.

Approximately forty minutes into the lecture, two rows of students stood up from their seats in the center of the auditorium, all wearing red tape across their mouths. They remained standing for about 30 seconds and then exited silently. The students — most of whom belonged to Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) — had put up posters around campus that said “Dear Michael Oren, Israeli ‘Independence’ = Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” and “Dear Michael Oren, Apologists for Ethnic Cleansing not welcome at Tufts,” with cartoon images of a Palestinian woman and an Israeli woman, respectively.

A member of SJP who participated in the walkout but wished to remain anonymous said it was

“In moving forward for next year, we will be able to expand open housing in more of our halls and apartments for [upperclassman] students.”

—by Leah Lazer

an act of “civil disobedience.”

“A major criticism is that we were walking away from dialogue,” the student said. “But Michael Oren is not genuine dialogue, and walking away from him is certainly not equivalent to walking away from genuine dialogue.”

The student added that while SJP endorses the message of the posters that went up around campus, they were not official SJP posters.

Oren spent the last twenty minutes of his lecture fielding questions from the audience on topics including settlements, the twostate solution, Israel’s internal heterogeneity and how to foster a productive dialogue on campus.

“You come to Tufts, you get protesters, it happens,” Oren said in response to a question about campus dialogue. “You get different receptions on different campuses. Sometimes, the students will not walk out. … [Sometimes they] will stay and ask a difficult question. I wish they hadn’t walked out … I wanted to hear

and respond to their questions. If it is a civil question, I will respond to it ... There is only one proper answer: That is education … understanding the issues in a deep, historical way.”

Oren chose specifically to come speak at Tufts and a small number of other Boston-area universities, according to Andrew Cohen, the program associate for TaglitBirthright Engagement at Tufts Hillel.

“This was an amazing opportunity to really have your voice heard,” Cohen said. “The ambassador stood up and said ‘Please ask me trying questions.’ Very rarely does someone of his position just take open questions from the floor. He did that for almost longer than he actually gave a speech. I think that shows that he was really open for dialogue and really wanted to have a conversation about what’s going on.”

“It’s a true honor that he chose Tufts, and I think that shows the caliber of students that go to Tufts,” Cohen added.

Imagine Cup features Tufts students’ innovative ideas in final round MEDIVISE

continued from page 1

a first start to find any investors or anyone who’s interested in our service.”

Another aspect of the competition is the People’s Choice, where anyone can vote for his or her favorite team through May 19 on the Imagine Cup Facebook page or by texting the team name to 45444, Chung explained. The team with the most votes will also advance to the Worldwide Finals.

“I feel like the important part of this competition is not the monetary award, but the publicity you can get for your service,” Chung said. “Because we’re going to the finals and presenting, people can drop by and check out our project.”

The service aims to supervise patients

in a more cost-effective way that keeps a detailed record of the patient’s treatment history for the medical staff, Cheng explained.

“The medical staff can look to see when the patient missed a treatment,” Cheng said. “From there they can decide what other actions to take to help the patient and cure their tuberculosis.”

Tuberculosis treatment is a process that lasts at least six months, which makes it easy for patients to forget to take their drugs at scheduled intervals, Chung said.

“We’re not researching a new drug, but we’re trying to facilitate something that should happen in the first place,” Chung said. “Because of human factors, like [when] the patient thinks

that he’s better already, there are so many tuberculosis deaths every year.

We’re just trying to eliminate that human factor.”

The theme for this year’s competition is “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems,” according to the Imagine Cup website.

Teams were invited to address one of the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals, one of which is combating major diseases, Wong said.

The team decided to focus on the administration of tuberculosis treatment after they saw statistics stating that 1.4 million people died from the disease in 2010, Wong added.

“When you look at it like that, it’s sort of overwhelming and paralyzing,” Wong said. “You really start to think

about what can you do, and it’s really easy to just start thinking that it’s got nothing to do with me. But the truth is, I think we can do something to help.”

The team members worked for less than two months to finish Medivise by the mid-March deadline. The judges then selected them for the final round based on the team’s submission of a project plan, a working prototype of the Medivise software and a video describing the service, Cheng said.

“The scheduling is really compact,” Cheng said. “It was a lot of stuff to do, to do the design, research tuberculosis and make sure we were getting the statistics right. Also, when we were building it, we had to think in terms of the user so that the medical staff would actually want to use it.”

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Taste of Tufts: Fiorenzo Omenetto by

Jack Webster and Hannah Furgang | A Piece of Advice

Big boned and beautiful

Lily Sieradzki

Daily Editorial Board

At last Friday’s Taste of Tufts lecture, Professor Fiorenzo Omenetto of the Department of Biomedical Engineering discussed his extensive work with silk. In his research, he collaborates with Department Chair and Professor David Kaplan to apply silk’s unique properties to wide-ranging new functions in medical and biological fields.

“It’s a topic that has continued to amaze me,” he said. “We look at a material that has been around for 5,000 years and we try to reinvent it.”

According to Omenetto, silk has huge potential for a large number of new and useful applications. This can be traced back to silk’s structure in its original state. In their glands, silkworms produce liquid silk, a combination of water and fibroin protein.

From this substance, they create silk and spin it into a tough cocoon, which contains “about a kilometer of uninterrupted fiber,” Omenetto said.

Omenetto added that the first step to using silk is breaking it back down into its basic form. Boiling the silk fibers with salt effectively returns silk to its original components of water and protein.

“This is the reverse engineering process, and you literally kind of make pasta. For a good plate of pasta, when you boil your spaghetti, you have to add salt,” he said. “That’s the first step of getting to that solution. And once you have that solution, you have the starting point. This is where we can go in multiple directions, in multiple material directions.”

From here, the silk solution can be turned into a film by pouring the solution on a surface and allowing the water to evaporate. This film has significant technological applications.

Silk can conform very precisely to different structures on a given surface, “down to literally 10 nanometers,” Omenetto said. It can pick up surface relief patterns that encode data, like those on the surface of a DVD or CD and can also be used to make highly

D

ear Hannah and Jack,

I couldn’t help but notice that it’s been pretty warm outside.

With summer approaching, how do I get myself in good enough shape to show off my bod on the Pres Lawn? I somehow doubt this layer of blubber is going to come off as easily as the sweatshirt I’ve been wearing for most of the semester.

Sincerely, Hefty in Hodgdon

misako ono / the Tufts Daily

Professor of Biomedical Engineering Fiorenzo Omenetto uses the unique properties of silk to pioneer innovative technologies. sensitive color shift sensors.

Silk also serves a variety of optical purposes, including “microprism arrays,” which are what make running gear reflective, and it can be utilized

when building three-dimensional holograms, optical fibers and glowing light tattoos. Silk also has significant see OMENETTO, page 4

SPIRIT fund creates opportunities for student-professor interaction by

Caitlin McClure Daily Staff Writer

Among the benefits of a liberal arts education, some may say, is the opportunity for students to build relationships with professors, a feat that can be difficult at larger institutions.

Even at Tufts, with an advertised student-faculty ratio of nine to one, it is not always easy to interact with professors outside of the classroom.

The Students and Professors Integrating Recreation, Intellect and Teaching (SPIRIT) Fund at Tufts was designed to facilitate informal interaction between professors and their students and advisees.

A component of the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Education’s annual budget, the fund supports a wide variety of faculty-student engagement. Two of the larger programs the fund sponsors are “Take Your Professor to Lunch Week,” which offers professors a free lunch when they join a student at Carmichael or Dewick-MacPhie Dining halls, and “Coffee with a Professor,” which covers the cost of beverages when students meet with professors at the Tower Café in Tisch Library or Brown and Brew, according to Dean of Academic Advising and Undergraduate Studies Carmen Lowe.

The fund also helps subsidize a variety of events, such as year-end receptions within departments to celebrate graduating seniors, a pie-eating contest between students and faculty in the Mathematics Department in honor of Pi Day and a Chinese New Year celebration in the Chinese Department.

“The fund gives us the support to organize events [that we would not be able to ordinarily] to bring [together] students and faculty,” Professor of Mathematics Eric Quinto said.

SPIRIT also helps cover professors’ expenses for hosting a class or group of advisees at their home for dinner.

This gives students the opportunity to build a personal relationship with professors and can ease the natural anxiety of interacting with them, sophomore Anika Ades said.

“My advisor was a French professor, and she cooked us a traditional French meal,” Ades said. “She wanted us to feel like we had someone on campus we could talk to who was an adult, and she was welcoming and accommodating.”

History Lecturer David Proctor has used the fund to help defray ticket costs for class trips to the opera, and most recently to see the “A Day in Pompeii” exhibit at the Museum of Science in Boston. In addition to add-

ing value to his classics courses, the trips have helped build community outside of the classroom, according to Proctor.

“It’s a really great use of university resources to encourage faculty and students to interact in an informal setting outside of the classroom,” he said. “These trips help build lasting connections between students and faculty.”

According to Lowe, the major criterion for SPIRIT fund applications is that the event involves studentprofessor interaction. Professors must email Lowe a request, and proposals are granted while funds last. While the total varies from year to year, SPIRIT has funded more than 30 events since September — just about one per week of classes in session — in addition to picking up the bill from Dining Services for coffee at the Tower Cafe and “Take Your Professor to Lunch Week,” Lowe said.

In most cases, professors must take the initiative when applying for funding, Lowe added, but the interactions themselves often hinge upon the willingness of students to engage.

Sophomore Katherine Applegate broke bread with her Spanish professor during “Take Your Professor to see SPIRIT, page 4

Dear Hefty, As the most fit and attractive people on campus, we can say with authority that the solution to your quandary is to simply care less. With shirtless dudes and girls in bikinis already roaming about the grassy areas of campus, the time for you to actually get yourself in shape has already come and gone. Those hours you spent playing Super Smash in your room this winter? Coulda been spent getting swoll in Gantcher. Now all you can do is own your beer-Cheetos-and-video-games lifestyle and chill outside with confidence.

It’s pretty neat when the curvature of your stomach matches that of the Pres Lawn.

Still suffering from self-image woes?

Being bummed about your bod burns your ego, not calories. You also care a lot more about how you look than everyone else. Still not confident? We hear they’re selling Tufts Goggles at a discount price in both the Bookstore and Jumbo Express, so bestow your crush with a pair pronto.

The sad truth is, even if you run a late marathon between now and the end of school, there’s still finals week to contend with. Modest workouts throughout the semester have nothing on that week of totally immodest stress eating and caffeine binges. You’ll soon be graced with a new dent in your physique, and it’s not gonna be in the shape of chiseled abs.

The scowl that is sure to be locked on your face probably won’t help either, by the way. The only benefit of this is that everyone else has been acting the same way as you have! (Well, all of the other humans that is — we can’t speak for athletes and other crazy people.) So don’t be too worried about your appearance; everyone else will have the same insecurities as you.

So go ham on that General Gau’s. In fact, get it to go and binge out on the lawn in minimal attire. It’s really good for you.

Lots of vitamins. And hey, nobody likes clothing anyway (especially the wilderness people, and they seem like a pretty happy bunch). Studies have shown that the most desirable people associate rolls of fat with rolls of cash to be acquired through future earnings. Plus, if you’re at least kind of tan, people assume that you spend time outdoors, and that you are at least capable of getting in shape if you so desire. We know lots about tans.

Also, you can take the lessons you’ve learned this spring and apply them over the summer when you don’t have to take classes. (If you do have to take classes, we are sorry and have nothing more to say.)

Those fine dining establishments that have a habit of nibbling away at any progress you make toward discernible muscle tone (we’re looking at YOU Pizza Days, Helen’s, Greek Fest and Moe’s) won’t be super accessible. So slim down under the sun and work towards a brand new you

by September. That way, you can make a splash when you get back next fall and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be a bit less flabby come Spring Fling Oh Thirteen.

Jack Webster and Hannah Furgang are freshmen who have not yet declared majors.

Jack can be reached at John.Webster@ tufts.edu and Hannah can be reached at Hannah.Furgang@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

4

features

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Silk implants can monitor infections OMENETTO

continued from page 3

medical capabilities; it can be molded into vein replacements and even bones.

“Remember, it starts off as a tissueengineering scaffold, so you can mold and change it, and you have this large space to turn the material into doing these different things,” Omenetto said.

When silk is interfaced with gold or other conducting metals, it can be used as a flexible sensor that transmits information about the conditions of the human body. This is particularly useful in measuring electroencephalographic signals from the brain, Omenetto said, because the flexibility of the film allows it to contact all the folds of the brain. It can also be attached to the skin and monitor basic body functions.

“The idea is, you can mount these things on your skin. You can monitor rates, you can monitor dehydration … you put on your little gold leaf tattoo, and this becomes a monitor on your skin of what is happening,” he said.

Silk is so effective for biomedical applications primarily because of its “biocompatibility” — it is a biodegradable substance that can be integrated easily into human tissue.

This quality makes it better both for the body and for the environment, according to Omenetto.

“The fact that it integrates into the body is great,” he said. “If we can get it cost competitive … it’s certainly better than having plastics in the landfill. Plastic really doesn’t go away, while this will eventually integrate into the environment.”

These silk sensors are also edible.

For this reason, they can be used as antennas with fruit or dairy products, to transmit information from a distance about their state of maturation.

“The point here is that you have a device that requires no power, that

you’re interrogating with an external device, and that is giving you a response as a function of the fruit that it’s sitting on,” Omenetto said.

Another hugely significant medical use of silk is that it can hold biological components such as vaccines, enzymes or antibodies. These substances can be added to the protein and water solution. When the water dissolves, they remain in the protein structure of the film. This renders some of these substances immune to temperature limitations.

“We’ve found you can store vaccines without need of refrigeration.

Penicillin … is devoted to curing very bad diseases and has to be kept in the fridge,” Omenetto said. “We mixed it into silk, we made films and we stored them at 60 degrees Celcius for a couple of months. The penicillin didn’t lose any efficacy.”

One of silk’s unique properties is that its breakdown can be programmed. This gives a high degree of control over how the substance behaves and is especially useful in silk sensors implanted inside the body to monitor infections post-surgery.

“You don’t want an antenna inside you for a variety of reasons,” Omenetto said. “You can program the degradation of these sensors, make them disappear after, say, 10 days, so that everything gets reintegrated.”

According to Omenetto, silk’s abilities make it an extraordinary substance that presents many possibilities for advancement in the biomedical field.

“Programmable degradability and the ability to store just takes this material and gives it a kind of a different life,” he said. “You have the technological attributes on one side, and then you have the ability to tune the way the material behaves. I think that the unique material outcomes come from exactly this overlap of programmable form and programmable function.”

Jodi bosin / the Tufts Daily

SPIRIT funded the Pi Day Event hosted by the mathematics department.

Students break bread with professors SPIRIT

continued from page 3

Lunch Week” this semester.

“It’s hard to form a good relationship with professors, so I thought this would be a good way to get to know a little about her, which is something I was very curious about,” Applegate said. “She was very enthusiastic when I approached her.”

Applegate, who heard of the opportunity, through a friend, knew of few other students who had taken advantage.

“I didn’t hear enough about it before it was too late,” sophomore Alissandra Rocchi said of the event. “If I had heard more, I definitely would have made more of an effort to take advantage.”

Lack of awareness can especially pose a problem for first-year students. Freshman Hayley Kanner said that she was not aware of the opportunity to take her professor to lunch. Approaching a professor can

also be daunting for first-year students, according to freshman Hannah Foley.

“It never really crossed my mind, and to be honest it’s a little intimidating,” Foley said.

Despite challenges on the part of students, professors find SPIRIT funds accessible.

“I think the fund is pretty comprehensive and pretty flexible,” Proctor said.

“The Dean’s office has always been open to considering proposals and has broadened over the years in what it’s willing to cover.”

With support from SPIRIT on the table, students are responsible for taking advantage of the opportunities, Applegate said, with tangible benefits as a result.

“It’s nice that sitting down for one simple lunch was able to improve my relationship with my professor in class,” she said.

TCU PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: Wyatt Cadley and Logan Cotton

TONIGHT! THURS. 4/19, 9:00PM BRAKER 001 )RRG ZLOO EH SURYLGHG

ECOM

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Don’t forget to vote!

TUES 4/24

@ ecom.tufts.edu/vote

Have q Candiduestions for th a e ÀUVW RIt es? Come as TCU Preside k WZR SUH n VLGHQWLDtonight in thetial O IRUXP V

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Weekender Arts & Living

5

tuftsdaily.com

Weekender

Courtesy Ted Simpson

Allison Benko gets her undergarments measured. Hilarity ensues.

Courtesy Ted Simpson

Ted Simpson trained his actors in the art of physical comedy.

Ted Simpson’s ‘The Underpants’ promises laughs, wild antics Steve Martin’s adaptation breathes new life into classic German farce by

Kate Griffiths

Daily Editorial Board

T

he last play the Tufts Drama Department is offering this semester is a change from the graveness of performing previous productions “Oedipus and Antigone” and “Our Class.” In a refreshing contrast, “The Underpants” is a comedic farce that will have the audience tearing up from laughter instead of sadness.

The play, originally written in German in 1910 by Carl Sternheim, has been adapted by funnyman Steve Martin and reinvented as a modernday satire. The plot is concerned with a married couple that includes the loud-mouthed and bureaucratic Theo Maske, who finds out that his wife allowed her underpants to fall down in public during a procession that the King himself was present in. The ensuing scandal is mostly internal as he worries that his job will be in jeopardy and his good name ruined. This, however, is the opposite of what happens, as two men who have become obsessed with his wife, Louise, soon appear at their front door, asking to rent the spare room.

While these men attempt to seduce Louise directly under the nose of her oblivious husband and Louise’s helpful, yet nosy neighbor Gertrude Deuter attempts to aid Louise in her affairs, the inevitable comedic elements of miscommunication and slapstick are prevalent throughout.

“The Underpants” is Ted Simpson’s directorial debut at Tufts University.

Ted Simpson is the Head of Design and Technical Theater in the Drama Department and teaches set design and painting. When asked why he selected this play, Simpson attributed the choice to the production’s lighthearted qualities.

“We always try to do something a

little lighter and funnier in the spring.

This is the end of the season for us, and it fits nicely into that more carefree atmosphere. It’s also a good way for me to get back into directing, since farce is a good way to exercise your directing muscles,” he said.

According to Simpson, there have been many good German, French and English farces but few German plays that have been translated into English.

“Sternheim had a satirical edge to his writing as well as it just being farce.

He belonged to the bourgeoisie class and was a critic of anti-Semitism in Germany at the time, which bleeds through into the play. He even has a little to say about women’s rights as well,” Simpson said.

A farce is described as a sub-genre of comedy that aims to make the audience laugh through various techniques including improbable situations, mistaken identity, miscommunication and hyper-narration.

A farce also utilizes physical comedy, oftentimes embodied in a climactic chase sequence. The audience is encouraged to pay less attention to the plot and instead focus on the purposefully absurd and hyperbolic acting methods utilized by the cast members. The farcical elements of “The Underpants” stem from the physical comedy as well as from the unavoidable and humorous fact that the plot centers on a pair of underpants.

However, it isn’t just the director and actors who put effort into making the show as entertaining as possible. The set for “The Underpants” is an incredibly detailed representation of Theo and Louise’s apartment and reflects them as a couple. Chintzy chairs and brightly painted furniture litter the stage, and Gertrude’s apartment is cleverly represented through the use of a window that is level with the audience.

“For the set, the entire design staff

wanted to create a world that was a little more of a folksy Germany. When we were preparing to do the show we looked up a lot of German folk art, cuckoo clocks and German fashions from the time, and even though the show is set in a city and the King is nearby, we thought it should have a more provincial look than an urban look. So we’ve given it a kind of country cottage feel, just a little bit but not wholly fairytale in design,” Simpson said.

The transformation of the play from a German comedic social commentary to an English farce could have ruined its comedic poignancy, but Steve Martin managed to make it applicable to modern-day audiences while tying it to current politics. The content of the play helps with that. Even though much has changed, the original basis for Sternheim’s political topics still exists in modern day society.

Martin’s application of these issues, to some degree, rings true for women today. Yet in this day and age, a controversy stemming from an accidental public flashing would hardly result in such extreme drama, since this is a common occurrence in music videos or on television.

The cast members all agreed that the production and rehearsal process was incredibly easy and streamlined. The show was cast just after winter break and went into rehearsals at the end of February. The rehearsal period for a typical production is six weeks, but spring break caused a more scattered schedule.

The cast is a mix of people with different levels of experience. This was junior Paul Kim’s first show, though he had taken acting classes before. For seniors Kyle Cherry and Alexa Chryssos, on the other hand, this is the last show of their Tufts career.

Freshman Paul Perrone, who plays the suitor Benjamin Cohen, spoke

highly of the script.

“It’s Steve Martin, so you read it at face value and it’s already funny, but the more you read the funnier it gets and the more jokes you start to notice.

Someone did a monologue from the play, and it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen,” Cherry said.

Freshman Allison Benko, who plays Louise herself, describes the kiss she shares with Perrone with a carefree, fun attitude that seemed to be present during rehearsals.

“The first time we ran the kiss he was supposed to pick me up and lean me back, but we did it for the first time and I think his knees gave out and we did it a second time and I noticed him struggling, and then he dropped me.

We had to change how he kisses me,” Benko said.

“I could barely walk for the rest of the night,” Perrone added, interrupting Benko. “We changed the kiss because it didn’t seem the kind of kiss that Cohen would give.”

“Exactly, it was too suave,” Perrone said.

“Paul’s nickname is idiot. We have named him; he is our pet,” Chryssos added.

One unique aspect of the show is the method of advertisement its participants have chosen. Anyone wandering around campus might have noticed various pairs of underwear scattered over bushes that line the paths and roads. This was Ted Simpson’s idea; he wanted to print the name and details for the play on underwear and use that as the main advertising technique.

“The Underpants” is playing in Balch Arena Theatre at the Aidekman Arts Center from April 19-21 and April 26-28 at 8:00pm. Tickets are $7 with a Tufts ID and $12 for the general public, and they can be picked up at the Balch Arena Box Office or by calling 617-627-3493.

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TV Review

Niki Krieg | Queen of Cibo

Weak characters, laughably dramatic storyline sink ABC’s ‘Scandal’ by

Alex Hanno

M

Daily Editorial Board

Some TV shows try too hard. Through excessively eccentric writing, over acting and forced drama, they push the

Scandal Starring Kerry Washington, Guillermo Diaz, Darby Stanchfield, Columbus Short

Airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on ABC boundaries of authenticity a bit too far, never realizing just how over-thetop they actually are. Shonda Rhimes’ latest ABC production, “Scandal,” happens to fit just such a formula and the result is atrocious.

A slight departure from the hospital dramas “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Private Practice” that Rhimes made her name in, “Scandal” follows a crisis management team led by Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) as they dedicate their lives to solving the problems and protecting the secrets of America’s elite.

While many describe it as a “political thriller,” the series is more or less a nighttime soap drama, resembling one of Rhimes’ past shows in a political, rather than hospital, setting.

The issues plaguing “Scandal” start with its very premise. Even after the first episode, viewers have almost no idea what Olivia’s “crisis management” team really does. Such a team sounds like it would deal with actual crises, such as disasters or wars, not potential political scandals. In reality, they are a collection of quick-tongued

ayes / ABC

Even longtime Rhimes fans might find ‘Scandal’ hard to swallow. lawyers, void of personal lives and dedicated to their jobs, that seeks to help the “client” at any cost. They proclaim to be the “good guys,” but only take cases as far as needed to clear the client’s name, regardless of what’s truly just and right.

Such a plot doesn’t serve up much for the audience to care about, so the show attempts to force drama down the viewer’s throat in an attempt to raise the stakes. This involves absurd plot twists and exaggerated musical interludes that are so common they

Concert Review

Salonen, Josefowicz dazzle audiences with BSO by

Will Myers

Daily Staff Writer

Rarely does one get to witness a performance of a work that resulted from the collaboration between a world-class performer and a conductor/composer.

But that is exactly what attendees of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) this past weekend experienced when violinist Leila Josefowicz performed EsaPekka Salonen’s 2009 Violin Concerto — which won the Grawemeyer Award, perhaps the most prestigious prize a piece of new classical music can win — under the baton of maestro Salonen himself.

The concerto, which was written for Josefowicz, was flanked by Maurice Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin”

(1919), an orchestration of a 1917 piano work, and Igor Stravinsky’s entire score to “The Firebird” (1910).

From the downbeat of the Ravel, it was clear that Salonen’s conducting was something special. Salonen, former longtime music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and current principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, was incredibly respectful of the BSO’s impeccable musicianship, allowing the prominent soloists, such as the principal oboist. to shape the music as he saw fit. He did little more than guide the interpretation through light and contained hand gestures, rarely even beating time with see ORCHESTRA, page 8

Stu rosner / boston symphony orchestra

The BSO met the challenge of Salonen’s distinctly unclassical concerto.

become laughable halfway through the pilot. Couple this with the visually irritating flashes of photography used to splice scenes together, and you have an abysmally directed product.

In any work of fiction, a weak plot can always be overlooked, assuming that character development is present. One might cease to care about what actually happens in a story if the characters seem to come alive. But in “Scandal,” this isn’t the case, and in see SCANDAL, page 8

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

Check out these events!

Boston Comic Con: On April 21 and 22, come to the Hynes Convention Center to explore the largest comic book convention in New England. The Boston comic book festival features a bevy of famous artists as well as vendors selling everything from posters to movies to t-shirts.

Be sure to check out the costume contest for the ultimate cosplay overload. Tickets are $20 for one day, $35 for both days.

Boston Food Truck Tour by Ready To Nosh: Get your taste buds ready for quite the adventure today or tomorrow starting at 11:30 a.m. This tour of the Food Trucks of Boston allows you to explore a cornucopia of culinary possibilities. Everything from ethnic specialties to scrumptious sweets are available for purchase at these new automobile eateries.

Tour begins at City Hall Square. The tour costs $29.

Beer and Chocolate Tour of Beacon Hill and the Back Bay: Take your valentine on a very belated romantic journey this weekend with this beer and chocolate tour through Beacon Hill. Learn delicious facts about one of Boston’s most beautiful neighborhoods! Come on April 20 to The Sevens from 12:30-4:00.

Tickets are $50.

“One is Always Forgotten: Ariel Freiberg and Helena Wurzel”: The two artists examine female gender and sexuality through intimate scenes that challenge the role of the viewer. Are you a voyeur or a passive observer? The exhibit is open until Sunday the 22, from 12:00-4:00 pm at Laconia Gallery.

—compiled by the Daily Arts Department

The marinara makeover

aybe it’s because I’m about to start the next chapter of my life — that being anything and everything post-college, which is really scary to consider — but this semester has brought about a ton of changes.

Firstly, and I’m not out to make my column a shameless plug right now … well, maybe a little bit … I’m currently celebrating the fact that my cooking website has finally been launched for all the cyber world to see. Since November, I’ve been drafting and transcribing recipes to update the homepage; I set up a spicesand-terms glossary; and I’ve been busy blogging about what’s been happening in the worlds of food and nutrition. I can’t believe it’s finally done. QueenOfCibo.

Wordpress.com. Check me out.

On that note, people have been frequently coming to me for cooking advice, which is a welcomed change. Friends have asked me how to make foods have less fat content or low in carbs — which I honestly don’t believe in, because what’s life without a little bit of pasta? Even my mom has been asking for my opinions on food, exchanging and reviewing recipes together.

In other words, I’m really liking that some of my relationships have started to revolve around food.

Ah, relationships. By the way, I got myself a new man. His name’s Erik, and we met on New Year’s Eve — literally half an hour before the ball dropped. He’s into parrots, he works at a group home for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s and, in short, he’s pretty much the best … so great that — get jealous! — he gets a shout-out in my column.

OK, so what do all these things have in common?

On Sunday, I was in-and-out of a midday nap when Erik texted me from work, asking me, much to my content, for culinary advice. He said, “OK, I have leftover sauce with sausage … but one of my residents hates sausage so that can’t be the main component of the meal. I have this brick of beef (and yes, he included a picture of said brick) that got defrosted so I could use it today, and I have string beans. What do I make?”

He couldn’t have asked me a better question.

I told him to tackle the beef first, as it was a thick cut of meat. I suggested creating a dry-rub out of salt, pepper and a touch of garlic powder, drizzling the beef with oil and sitting it on a bed of onions, baking it for a couple of hours.

Then, I told him to cut up the sausage into tiny pieces to make a meat sauce, and that, combined with the string beans, would form a green-bean marinara. Now what is green-bean marinara, you ask? It’s only one of the easiest and best side dishes ever, especially for those picky eaters.

Ingredients: 2 tbsp. olive oil Half of a medium onion, diced 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 pound of string beans 2 cups of tomato sauce Salt and pepper to taste In a frying pan on medium-high heat, heat the oil. Once hot, add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion is goldenbrown — about five minutes.

Add the string beans and the sauce.

Cover the pan, letting the beans simmer in the sauce until they are warmed and tender.

Season as much as you feel necessary.

Erik responded, telling me I should become a celebrity chef, cooking delicious food and giving away free cars on my show.

Wait. Rachael Ray meets … Oprah?

Not so fast. That’s too drastic of a change. I’m good with being the Queen of Cibo for now.

Niki Krieg is a senior who is majoring in Italian studies and history. She can be reached at Nicole.Krieg@tufts.edu.

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Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird’ sets Symphony Hall ablaze ORCHESTRA

continued from page 7

any insistency.

The result was exquisite — one would be hard-pressed to find a more delicate, relaxed, and gentle performance of “Le Tombeau de Couperin.” There was a tendency for the collective tempo of the ensemble to wax and wane, which some listeners might object to, but on the whole, the fluctuations lent a fluid and organic quality to the performance.

Salonen’s concerto followed the Ravel, and there was certainly something of Ravel’s aesthetic evident in the opening movement of the four-movement concerto. Josefowicz’s part rhapsodically unfolded resonant harmonies, with the orchestra occasionally supporting those resonances. The second movement was an introverted and restrained slow movement, with the timpani in the background articulating a heartbeatlike pulse. This restraint was wholly abandoned in the third movement, which warped the gentle pulse of the previous movement into a frenetic, raucous, polyrhythmic beat punctuated by interjections of a rock drum kit.

It’s always a difficult task to blend instruments or tropes from popular music into successful “art” music, but Salonen acquitted himself very well.

Not only did the drum kit not feel gimmicky, but it felt necessary to accomplish what he set out to do musically in the movement. By this point in the concerto, Salonen’s conducting had changed drastically from his relatively laissez-faire approach in the Ravel. He was incredibly clear with his beat, even with the frequent meter changes. But given the fact that he wrote the piece, one would expect him to know what was going to happen.

The orchestra did an impressive job following him, even managing to pull off the distinctly un-classical groove Salonen wrote. Josefowicz was clearly in her element in this movement; her rhythm was spot on and she absolutely captured the flair the music called for.

Stu Rosner/BSO

Leila Josefowicz and Esa-Pekka Salonen bow following the BSO’s performance of Salonen’s Violin Concerto.

This was made all the more impressive by the fact that she looked to be about seven months pregnant, a time at which she could have easily refrained from performing. Instead, she was essentially rocking out on stage to an incredibly difficult concerto, and never missed a beat. The concerto ended with another slow movement, this one chock-full of gorgeous melodic material, which Salonen seemed to have been saving up for optimal effect.

Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” (1910) closed the concert. The entire ballet score is rarely performed these days; it is far more common for orchestras to perform one of the two suites Stravinsky

wrote, which cut out more than half the material he originally wrote. It was a wonderful opportunity for audiences to hear the unfiltered output of the young Stravinsky. Where the later suites try to eliminate or hide the extent to which he was influenced by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, the full score has a lush, Russian Romantic aesthetic.

But there is a certain charm to the full work that the leaner suites diminish.

The BSO’s performance was predictably flawless, and the final section (sometimes known as “The Final Hymn”), which is always stunning, was especially so. Salonen paced it perfectly, and the orchestral sound was exceptionally

resonant in Symphony Hall. The overall effect was spine-tingling and exactly the reason audiences fill up Symphony Hall week after week.

As receptive as the audience had been for the previous two works — and all indications were that the BSO patrons loved Salonen’s concerto — the response to the end of “The Firebird” was overwhelming. Audience members were on their feet almost before the final chord ended, and Salonen and the orchestra were brought out for four ovations. It would be nearly impossible for anyone at the concert to believe for even a second that classical music is dying after such a performance.

Poor acting and a hackneyed script doom new show SCANDAL

continued from page 7

fact the characters do nothing more than detract further from the show.

Headlining the faulty cast is Olivia Pope, a stereotypical “strong woman” type who follows her gut and is depicted as the flawless, perfect heroine.

Despite her cold, harsh attitude and the fact that she doesn’t believe she can be wrong, her co-workers hold her to an almost god-like standard and idolize her in an eerie manner. Olivia is arrogant, stubborn and, worst of all, she’s just plain mean. Viewers can’t connect with a protagonist like her — one that struts around as if she were literally the most important person in America. Seeing as she can get an audience with the president in mere minutes — please, take a moment to chuckle — Rhimes clearly meant to depict her in such a fashion.

The bland Huck (Guillermo Diaz) and horribly over-acted Abby Whelan (Darby Stanchfield) only drag down the cast even more. The latter often resembles a middle-school student shooting out her lines on stage. While Stephen Finch (Henry Ian Cusick) and Harrison Wright (Columbus Short) are bright points amidst this dreary production, they aren’t nearly enough to salvage it.

A legitimate question comes to mind while watching the show: Is the poor acting the result of, well, poor acting,

or is the hackneyed script the real issue? Every character spits out rapidfire lines as if they were in “Gilmore Girls” (2000-2007), which reduces the entire cast to a uniform personality that attempts and fails to achieve wittiness. The writing is incredibly sloppy, and is filled with lame jokes that fall flat, awkwardly repetitive lines and an aggressive anti-Republican slant. The short, snappy lines sound as if they were stripped from a soap opera and are melodramatic in such an obvious way that the viewer can’t help but cringe. While a clear answer doesn’t present itself, it is probable that the acting and script are equally tremendously destructive.

As if “Scandal” didn’t have enough problems, it also couldn’t seem to establish an appropriate tone at any point within the pilot episode.

The show struggles to find a balance between the clever and the serious, and it intermixes them ineffectively throughout the hour. Set in Olivia’s dark, somewhat creepy loft-office, it manages to achieve “uncomfortable,” but that’s probably not what producers were going for.

Usually, shows get a point or two for trying, but in the words of Sydney Fife, “Trying is having the intention to fail.”

Fans might find it hard to get behind her newest melodrama, and at this point, that’s probably a good thing.

misako ono / the tufts daily

The Artsy Jumbo: Kira Patterson Kira Patterson has been performing since she was four years old, but over the course of her freshman year at Tufts she has taken her acting career to the next level, appearing in an impressive five productions. Patterson’s sincere love for the stage led her to declare as a drama major, and she intends to major in psychology as well. Eventually, she hopes to turn this passion into an actual livelihood.

“In a perfect world, this is what I would do for the rest of my life. And that might end up happening,” Patterson said.

As to her preferred genre, Patterson admitted she’s still finding her theatrical niche, since she enjoys classical, contemporary and even musical theater.

Her varying taste is reflected in the numerous productions she has been a part of: “Oedipus and Antigone,” “Hamlet the HipHopera, and the recent outdoor “Romeo and

Juliet,” to name a few. One of her upcoming shows, “Proof,” will actually be taken to Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Patterson shows no sign of slowing down; the more she performs at Tufts, the more she’s come to love it. She hopes to broaden her drama experience even further by directing a play in the future.

After visiting Tufts in high school and seeing the Balch Arena Theater as well as a oneact play, Patterson fell in love with the drama community here, and has now, quite happily, found her own place within it.

“It’s been really nice to have a group of people right off the bat that I was able to turn to that were really accepting, not only of me as a person but also of the art that we were all making,” she said.

—by Alex Hanno

Thursday, April 19, 2012

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SUMMER SESSION 1: MAY 23RD – JUNE 29TH SUMMER SESSION 2: JULY 3RD – AUGUST 10TH

Expand your horizons –Take Chinese or Japanese this summer!

CHINESE 1/2: Intensive Elementary Chinese Offered Summer 1: Monday – Friday 9:10 a.m.-12:00p.m & Japanese 1/2 : Intensive Elementary Japanese Offered Summer 1: Monday – Friday 9:00a.m – 2:00p.m.

Reinvent yourself – take German this summer!

German 1/2: Intensive Beginning German Offered Summer 1 Monday – Thursday 8:45a.m. – 12:30p.m. & German 94B: German For Reading Knowledge Offered Summer 2: Tuesday, Thursday 6:00p.m.-9:30p.m.

Immerse yourself - Take Arabic This Summer!

Arabic 1/2: Intensive Beginning Arabic Offered Summer 1: Monday – Friday 9:00a.m. – 2:30p.m. * & Arabic 3/4: Intensive Intermediate Arabic Offered Summer 2: Monday – Friday 9:00a.m. – 2:30p.m.* *Both courses include a one hour lunch break.

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— SHANNON HOGAN, paralegal; BU certificate awarded 2011

Program in

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725 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 316 Classes start June 4.

To reserve a seat, please scan the code, visit our website, or call.

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Sponsored by the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences (formerly Geology) FRIDAY, APRIL 20 4 PM ROOM 100A LANE HALL

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Friday, April 13th at Noon

Granoff Music Building, Room 271 Light lunch will be provided following the presentation!

TUFTS SUMMER SESSION 2012 PREPARE. EXPAND. DEVELOP.

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THREE SESSIONS: MAY 23–JUNE 29 | JULY 3–AUGUST 10 | MAY 23–AUGUST 10 ase.tufts.edu/summer

Online Courses available: Introduction to Philosophy (PHIL 0001A) Fundamental Epidemiology (CEE 0054A, CH 0054A, ENV 0054A) Human Nutrition (NUTR 0101A) Environmental Planning, Policy & Politics (ENV 0094A, UEP 0094A)

One of Daniel Dennett's ongoing projects is a series of confidential interviews with clergy who no longer believe what their congregations believe. From a pilot program involving half a dozen active clergy in different Protestant denominations, the project has branched out to include many more clergy. Nobody knows how common this phenomenon is, but it is certainly going to be important in coming years, as religious organizations struggle to cope with the explosion in information thanks to the Internet, cell phones, and social media.

Sponsored by the Experimental College with support from the SPIRIT Fund.

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Thursday, April 19, 2012

Editorial

Daniel J. Rathman Editorial

Editorial | Letters

Tuesday night marked the beginning of election season on the Hill, and already our Facebook and Twitter accounts are being bombarded by campaign slogans, biographies and candidate platforms.

While we support the election process and appreciate the effort the presidential hopefuls put in, we also recognize the importance of keeping voters as informed as possible. Every year, candidates come in with full dockets that are either overly ambitious, outside of their control or simply unachievable.

In 2011, both Tomas Garcia and Ben Richards cited the need for a TCU newsletter to increase senate accessibility, a move the Daily supported. Yet here we are, a year later, with no progress made on that front. And this is just one example of a TCU presidential campaign articulating an unclear and overly ambitious agenda that does not come to fruition.

We at the Daily encourage voters to bear in mind the feasibility of the more ambitious aspects of both candidates’ campaign platforms and focus on the pressing issues where the candidates can actually make a difference.

Take, for example, the sparkling new Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center, which will open next semester. Time and

time again, talk of these renovations has come with promises from the administration that they will not only benefit varsity athletes but the rest of the campus population as well. It is important that the opening of the building come with increased access to equipment that will help reduce waiting times. It should also make possible the reinstatement of the winter intramural season, which was cut in December 2010. Intramurals, which promote community, sportsmanship and fitness, barely have a place on the Tufts campus and are exactly the kind of issue the president can realistically impact.

Major campus-wide events are also an area that could use serious improvement.

While our concert events remain strong, Tufts is lacking in those signature events that bring the entire campus community together. In the wake of the Naked Quad Run’s cancellation, then-TCU president Sam Wallis said he was “especially confident that the new event [would] be successful because of the resources available to us for it.” Instead, we got WinterFest.

Clearly this is something partially under the control of Senate, and another year of such abysmal programming would be an affront to the student body.

But perhaps the most challenging and

important issue facing Tufts today is the issue of financial aid. We understand that Senate has passed resolutions on the subject in the past, but the issue requires more than a piece of paper. On matters of financial aid, the administration has to take a great deal of other factors into account, including the size of the endowment, where else money needs to be going and whether donations are earmarked or can be used freely. The president has the ability to meet and discuss these issues with the administration, so we want to hear specific solutions to the financial aid problem in the candidates’ campaigns, not vague statements about the need for something to be done.

This year’s two presidential candidates have a chance to change the trend of candidates offering overly grandiose ideas.

Senate should look to tangibly improve policies on campus, and the student body needs a president who recognizes realistic opportunities to solve real problems. The candidates should start with the issues that directly affect Tufts students, not with the ones they grumble about when complaining that life on the Hill isn’t a fairytale.

And, perhaps more importantly, students should hold candidates accountable for doing so before casting their votes.

their homes by Israel, which has instead opted to enact the Law of Return, exclusively privileging the return of world Jewry, regardless of whether they have actual ties to the land of Israel/ Palestine. This dichotomy of return/ expulsion represents the cornerstone of a colonialist system that privileges one ethno-religious group over and above all others through over 30 laws that discriminate against PalestinianArab citizens and other minority groups.

For these reasons, the notion of “Israeli Independence Week” is little more than an explicit whitewashing of these historic and present realities of oppression.

Michael Oren’s mission is that of whitewashing war crimes and ethnic cleansing. Oren has had quite an illustrious career, first as a paratrooper during the devastating siege of Beirut in 1982, then covering up Israeli war crimes in Lebanon in 2006 and in Gaza in 2008-2009. Officially, he was an “army spokesman” for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the former and a “media relations officer” during the Gaza invasion. He also served as the media spokesperson defending Israel’s

actions when they stopped the 2010 flotilla to Gaza and killed nine Turkish citizens on board. As a spokesperson for these types of violent actions, Oren is responsible for the misrepresentation, sidestepping and legitimization of racist injustices committed daily by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people and their international allies.

Just as the Tufts community would be reluctant to welcome an “academic” presentation by Bashar al-Assad or a member of the Syrian government that is currently engaged in massacring its own people, we firmly believe our fellow students should take a stand against oppression, even if the perpetrator claims to be a “strategic partner” to the United States. Michael Oren represents a state that is responsible for maintaining a system of apartheid and colonialism against the Palestinian people. As students of conscience, we reject his presence on our campus: There can be no “dialogue” with apologists for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, On Wednesday, April 18, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren spoke in Cohen Auditorium on the topic of the “U.S.-Israel relationship” organized by Tufts Hillel and Friends of Israel (FOI) as part of their “Israeli Independence Week.” As Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), we opted to walk out: We refused to legitimize the Ambassador with our presence. Likewise, we refused to normalize the celebration of historic and current ethnic cleansing that is “Israel Independence Week” under the false pretense of “dialogue” and “peace takes two.”

In 1948, the state of Israel was founded through what Israeli New Historians have called a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Zionist militias against the indigenous majority.

Palestinians mourn this “catastrophe” or “Nakba,” in which approximately 75 percent of the indigenous population, over 700,000 people, were expelled from their homeland. These refugees, today numbering about 5,000,000, have been unequivocally denied their United Nations-recognized right of return to

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In solidarity, SJP

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The Tufts Daily

Thursday, April 19, 2012

13

Op-Ed

On Yom Ha’atzmaut: A progressive Zionist’s dilemma by

Eve Lifson

In light of the debacle of Tufts Friends of Israel (FOI) advertising the acclaimed Israeli-Arab writer Sayed Kashua’s lecture on Tuesday as part of FOI’s weeklong celebration of Israeli independence, I have begun reflecting on what it means to observe Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) as a progressive Zionist. This attempt at “brownwashing” the conflict, placing a prominent Palestinian Israeli at the forefront of pro-Israel events without his knowledge or consent, is disgraceful. Deceiving a guest speaker about the circumstances of his lecture would be disturbing in any context, and it is particularly disturbing when the intent is to portray Israel as a tolerant, multicultural nation when in fact the speaker himself writes about an Israel that is anything but.

It is clear to me that I do not want to take part in any celebration of Israel that attempts to manipulate people and facts to portray a false image of the Jewish state. But is it possible to celebrate the successes of Israel without doing a great injustice to the many disenfranchised Palestinian refugees and Palestinian citizens of Israel? Celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut is a microcosm for the many conflicting feelings I have about Israel.

Last September, I flew to Jordan to spend a semester studying abroad in Amman. As the plane neared our destination, we flew over Israel. I gazed out the window seeing Israel from above, a narrow strip of land that stood out from its surroundings because of its greenness. I became filled with an irrational pride. I know that Palestinians lived on and worked this land long before Jewish settlers returned to it, but seeing its stark contrast with the surrounding desert, I couldn’t help but think that my people made this strip of land bloom in the desert.

We were oppressed for so long; without a nation of our own we were viewed as leeches on other peoples. Yet we had the strength to endure, to dream of a brighter future, to fulfill the two millennialong dream of self-determination.

As the plane flew by and began the descent to Amman, I thought of the Palestinians who were forced from their land in order to make this dream possible.

I am so proud of Israel, the mere fact that it exists. I am proud of the drip irrigation systems. I am proud of the rights of the queer community. I am proud of the idealistic kibbutzniks who gave themselves fully to the dream of a Jewish nation, a cultural and religious home for the Jewish people. I am so proud of all of the Israeli activists and educators who work tirelessly today to create an Israel that can live up to Theodor Herzl’s vision of a just and righteous nation based on Jewish values. We are far, far from that dream.

The occupation persists.

Palestinian Israelis are denied equal opportunities in many facets of life. How can I, a Zionist who is committed to human rights, justice and self-determination of Jews and Palestinians, celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut in good faith? Is it possible to celebrate the aspects of Israel that I am proud of without being guilty of pinkwashing or greenwashing the conflict?

It is hard to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut without whitewashing the conflict since the same day is known as al-Nakba, the catastrophe, for Palestinians. Al-Nakba marks the Palestinian loss of land, life and many liberties. The Israeli government denies their pain and suffering, the legitimacy of their narrative. Is it possible for me, a privileged American Jew, to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut when Palestinian Israelis are effectively banned from observing al-Nakba?

The Jewish tradition is full of contradictions and complexities, and I turn to the tradition of the Passover seder to help resolve my inner turmoil. Passover celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from the bondage of slavery. We remember the bitterness of slavery and relish in the comforts of the freedom we enjoy today. We also remember that our own liberation came at a heavy cost for the Egyptians, who suffered through 10 plagues in order to persuade the pharaoh to let our people go. During the seder, we

mct

take a drop of wine from our glasses for each plague the Egyptians suffered to remember that our happiness is not full. It would be wrong to celebrate our freedom without acknowledging the suffering of the Egyptians.

This tradition of acknowledging the cost of our freedom is mirrored by the observance of Yom HaZikaron, Remembrance Day. Yom HaZikaron precedes Yom Ha’atzmaut. It is a day to remember the Israeli soldiers and victims of terrorism whose lives have been the costly price of Jewish self-determination. Yom HaZikaron is an important acknowledgement of the loss of Jewish life. We acknowledge the many Jewish Israelis who have sacrificed their lives, willingly or not, for the Zionist dream. It falls short of acknowledging the huge loss of life and dignity of the Palestinian people. I have never seen an acknowledgement of Palestinian suffering in a Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration.

I know that I am not comfortable celebrating Israel’s indepen-

dence without first spilling some wine from my glass. I cannot celebrate Israel without acknowledging Palestinian suffering. I cannot even think about Israel without thinking about the occupation and the gross inequalities between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. Our fates are intertwined. We, the Jewish people, cannot be free while we are oppressing other people. In celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut, I could find a way to spill some wine from my glass, to symbolically recognize the suffering of the Palestinians at the expense of the state of Israel.

However, such a small measure could feel demeaning to such expansive suffering, and given the current state of the conflict, I am filled with so much disgust and despair that there is little stopping me from chucking the whole glass out the window.

Despite my feelings of despair, I do think it is possible to celebrate Israel without ignoring the suffering of the Palestinians. But this is not a project I wish to undertake. I do not

feel much like celebrating this year.

I am deeply shamed by the Kashua brownwashing scandal. I do not want to be a part of a celebration of Israel that has dishonest intentions. This year I will observe Yom Ha’atzmaut very similarly to how I have lived each day this semester.

I’ll continue thinking and talking about Israel and the conflict. There are some large questions for progressive Zionists to grapple with.

What would a Jewish state that does not infringe on the rights of Palestinians look like? What would make it Jewish? Can there be justice for Palestinians without a Right of Return? I am dedicated to this conflict, to fighting for justice and peace for all inhabitants of the Holy Land. I want to use my time on this campus to help this cause, and if you made it to the end of this article, I am interested in talking to you about how.

Eve Lifson is a junior majoring in peace and justice studies.

Pro-Israel voice silenced? I think not… by

Elliott McCarthy

I write this in response to Jon Danzig’s op-ed in the Daily on Wednesday as well as to the series of events of the past half-year that have created an unhealthy environment at Tufts when it comes to questions about Israel and Palestine. I do not intend to offend anyone, only to discuss the barriers to true discussion that exist on the Tufts campus and elsewhere. Considering why we have the visceral response to the conflict that we have is an important part of creating an environment which is open to free and honest dialogue.

American Jews have an integral part to play in this international drama. The political influence of the pro-Israel American lobbies gives importance to the conversations that Jews have with their friends, family, rabbis and butchers. In my view, there is a commonly accepted view of the conflict that is deemed “acceptable” among mainstream American Jews. That entails the unconditional support of Israel as a Jewish homeland, support of the Israeli Defense Forces and

finding the more optimistic side of all of Israel’s political decisions. If an American Jew disagrees on any of these points, he or she is shunned and pushed out of the religious, cultural and political community. No dialogue occurs and they are treated as the Other.

This has happened time and again to me as well as others I know. I have tried talking to people in order to create a healthy dialogue about these issues. I have confronted people with the facts of Israeli history as well as the criticisms of the status quo. I argue that things need to change and that Israel needs to observe the global standard of human rights. I have asked American Jews to own up to their promise to never let injustice and bigotry happen again and to take a stand against it. Just because Israelis are doing it does not make it right. We as a community say that we advocate for global human rights, and yet daily we support Israeli actions that violate that standard.

The response? I have been called an anti-Semite, a traitor, and an insult to global Jewry. I

have been told that I am not a real Jew. Most Jews have not reacted with this negative intensity, but the response is significant enough to make me feel unwelcome in my own faith. Jewish religious life has become infused with a particular political view.

The message from many Jews is clear: in order to be Jewish, you need to unconditionally support Israel. We are encouraged to question Israel, but not outright disagree with it. The Tufts Jewish community has adopted these principles as well. Nothing shows this view better than the national Hillel policy stating that they will not co-sponsor, host or partner for any events with SJP or its affiliates. This policy is unconditional and non-negotiable. Both my personal experiences and Hillel’s policies illustrate some of the fundamental difficulties facing the Jewish community and those who wish to have open, constructive conversations on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

To be ostracized personally for my point of view displays the powers of unofficial censorship, while Hillel’s policies clearly advocate hearing only one side

of what should be a political, not religious, issue.

The advertisement published

by Friends of Israel a few weeks ago was intended to show Tuftswide support for the AmericanIsrael relationship by getting leaders on campus to sign their statement. However, this ad used the names and titles of leaders in order to legitimize their message.

The fine print says that the leaders featured represented only themselves and not their organizations. Fine! That’s what the ad says and that’s what it means.

But if that is true, then why are their organizations on there at all? If they don’t matter, then why feature them? The answer is that the names on that advertisement meant absolutely nothing to most people until they had their organizations attached to them. It is only because of their organizations that the names gained any sort of legitimacy.

Using their organizations was an intentional move to make the names more important. But on an aggressively pro-Israel campus such as this, there will be no consequences for FOI. In my view, this propagates the status

quo of intolerance, isolation and the suppression of free speech if it speaks up against Israeli policies. Their view is the majority. To call those people out was not an attempt “to intimidate, censure and suppress the free speech of those who disagree with them” as Mr. Danzig alleges. It was an attempt to create an environment conducive to dialogue, understanding, and openness rather than one dominated by a single majority opinion backed up with institutional power and influence.

If you are reading this, think about where you stand on any political issue. Do you isolate and shun those who disagree with you? Are there those in your community who cannot fully participate because of one view that they hold? Is your group affected by an external force that has nothing to do with your group’s mission? If so, talk about the issues constructively and openly and get back to enjoying your community.

Elliott McCarthy is a senior majoring in sociology.

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

14

Comics

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Doonesbury

Crossword

by

Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

by

wednesday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Keeping your musical instrument level as the ship goes from 180 to 90 degrees

Late Night at the Daily

Wednesday’s Solution

Andrew: “Being a Gau conoisseur myself ... ” Want more late-night laughs?

Follow us on Twitter at @LateNiteAtDaily

Please recycle this Daily.

Wiley

Thursday, April 19, 2012

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C ELEBRATING

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FARES CENTER ROUNDTABLES

Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School Leila Ahmed joined the Harvard Divinity School in 1999 as the first professor of women's studies in religion and was appointed Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity in 2003. Prior to her appointment at HDS, she was professor of women’s studies and Near Eastern studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. While at the University of Massachusetts, Ahmed was director of the women’s studies program from 1992 to 1995 and director of the Near Eastern studies program from 1991 to 1992. Her latest book is A Quiet Revolution: The Veil’s Resurgence, from the Middle East to America (Yale University Press, 2011).

Her other publications include A Border Passage (Penguin Books, 2000), Women and Gender in Islam: The Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (Yale University Press, 1993), and Edward William Lane: A Study of His Life and Work and of British Ideas of the Middle East in the Nineteenth Century (Prentice Hall Press, 1978), as well as many articles. Her current research and writing centers on Islam in America and issues of women and gender. Ahmed received a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.

Co-sponsored by the International Relations Program & Women’s Studies Program, Tufts University Chaired by Sonia Hofkosh, Associate Professor of English, Interim Director of Women’s Studies, Tufts University

Thursday, April 19, 2012 12:30 - 2:00 pm Mugar, Room 129 Space is limited. Register for your free ticket at: http://ahmed.eventbrite.com The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies Cabot Intercultural Center 160 Packard Avenue Medford, Massachusetts 02155 http://farescenter.tufts.edu

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Sports

Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Daily wants to hear from YOU. Have a problem with our coverage?

Upset about something happening at Tufts or in the community?

The Daily welcomes thoughts, opinions and complaints from all readers — have your voice heard!

Send op-ed submissions, 600-1,200 words, to oped@tuftsdaily.com.

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Elephants in the Room Pokemon I’d want as a best friend

If our mascot weren’t Jumbo, it would be ____

Eating contest I’d like to enter

Worst actor alive

Natalie Salk Junior Captain Women’s Sailing

Jigglypuff!

A manatee, aka “the Jumbo of warm shallow waters”

Lex Clary Sophomore Men’s Crew

Tyranitar

The octopi

Sophie Schonfeld Freshman Women’s Tennis

Don’t know enough about Pokemon to answer this one

A frog

Pie

Nicolas Cage?

Pidgeotto because of his speed

The dirt squirrels

Lima beans

Vince from “Entourage.”

Kane Delaney

Sophomore Defender

Men’s Lacrosse

Fruit smoothie eating contest

Tom Cruise. He is everywhere!

Pizza

Nicolas Cage.

I know everyone will say that.

all photos courtesy tufts athletics

Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Tufts Daily

19

Sports

Alex Arthur | King Arthur’s Court

Matter of intent

T

kristen collins / the Tufts Daily

The women’s crew team lost races to No. 6 Wellesley and No. 8 Wesleyan on Saturday but saw some of its hard work during the week pay off with reduced final times.

Jumbos build stamina during midweek practices WOMEN’S CREW continued from Back

fitness and ease the transition to more frequent racing.

“This weekend, we only had 40 minutes in between races, and we all felt our stamina and fitness had greatly improved since our Holyoke/Hamilton race weekend,” senior tri-captain Erika Parisi said.

But despite the team’s intensive preparation, the Cardinals proved too much to handle once both teams set out on the water.

Tufts’ first varsity eight rowed a respectable 7:11.6, but Wesleyan’s finished in a solid 6:58.5. Although the Jumbo women raced at a 33-stroke pace, they could not bridge the

13-second gap.

The second varsity eight endured the team’s greatest margin of defeat — 39.8 seconds — in the next race, a difference that was reduced by more than half in the final race against Wesleyan. In the last race against the Cardinals, the Jumbos’ third varsity eight boat posted a time of 7:46.0 to Wesleyan’s 7:30.6.

“After rowing the first race against Wesleyan at a 33-stroke rating, we decided to take it up for the second race,” Parisi said. “It was great that we could identify that and make the change as a boat in the 40 minutes between races.”

Though Tufts was swept once again, this time by Wellesley, the first and second eights both reduced their

times, with the former rowing at a brisk 35-stroke rate and keeping pace with the Blue until the 1,500-meter mark.

The second varsity eight had a bit of a rough day Saturday, seeing its times decline from the team’s race two weeks ago. But the first varsity eight raced more consistently, lowering its average time.

Overall, the team fared well given the circumstances and saw its hard work during the week pay dividends.

This weekend’s action will kick off on the Malden River against Middlebury on Saturday. On Sunday, the women will head to Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass. to take on No. 12 Washington College, No. 15 WPI and unranked RIT.

Women’s sailing builds confidence before this weekend’s New England Championships SAILING

continued from Back

regattas of the year,” Soriano said.

“The competition is always stacked, and it’s just one of the biggest events in the country for co-ed sailing.”

Tufts finished seventh out of the 18-team pool to earn a spot in the national semifinal round. But the final placement hardly begins to describe the intensity of the regatta. After the first day, with each division having sailed 12 races, the Jumbos tentatively sat in second place with 164 points, behind only Boston College, which tallied 160 points.

“It was a roller coaster of a regatta,” Soriano said. “Though we ended the first day in second place, we knew it was a very precarious spot. We were only four points away from first and 17 away from ninth. All the scores could get mixed up after even one race.”

The second day turned out to be more difficult. A string of sub-par showings by the A-division saw the Jumbos’ placement free-fall temporarily out of the top eight. The B-division, led once again by Soriano and Luce, was able to bring back some momentum and return the team to within qualifying range, thanks in part to a first-place finish in the 13th race to go along with runner-up results in the second, ninth and 12th races.

Junior co-captain William Hutchings, who observed the race as an alternate, took notice of the effects that the

venue had on the racers.

“The Charles River is very interesting,” Hutchings said. “It’s very difficult to predict the wind because it’s so dependent on how it shears off buildings and the land. You could still have a great start but end up second-to-last here. We weren’t in a groove Sunday with the rapid wind shifts and puffs, and, to use a sailing term, we were just out of phase.”

The final scores tell the tale — the A-division tallied 158 points over the two days to go along with the B-division’s 114, good for a total of 272. Tufts’ score put the team just ahead of Brown and MIT, which tied for eighth place with 274 each, with the final semifinal qualifier going to Brown following a head-to-head tiebreaker. Rounding out the top six were Harvard, Roger Williams, Yale, Dartmouth, Boston College and Boston University. The top eight overall from the regatta secured national qualifying spots.

“All the teams were extremely competitive,” Soriano said. “Any of the top nine teams had a chance to win it all.

The most important thing for right now is just moving past qualifiers.”

“Doing well isn’t just about having [good] races, it’s about not having bad races,” Hutchings added. “We almost didn’t qualify. It came down to the last race, where Massimo was able to put on points over MIT and Brown to secure seventh place. It’s a testament

to how competitive the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association is.”

While the co-ed fleet team was at Harvard, the women’s sailing team competed back at the coast guard in the Emily Wick Trophy regatta, which did not have national qualifier implications for nationals but was significant for ranking purposes.

Junior captain Natalie Salk teamed up with senior Reeves Bright and sophomore Sara Makaretz to represent the A-division, while junior skipper Mariel Marchand joined the sophomore triplet of Makaretz, Barbara Murray and Margaret Bacon in the B. As in the New England Dinghy Championship, the women faced stiff competition, but managed to land in sixth place in the 17-team event thanks to a 104-point contribution from the A-division over the course of the event’s 17 races. After a rough start in the first four races on Saturday, Salk and Makaretz carried the Jumbos to six consecutive top-five finishes en route to a fourth-place overall finish in the A division.

“The Emily Wick Trophy was important for the team,” Soriano said. “It was good for the B-division, adjusting to higher-level competition and building confidence going into New England nationals.”

This weekend, the women will shoot for national qualifying marks at the New England Championships at Boston College.

he NHL playoffs are in the midst of an image crisis. In a postseason that has been rife with spectacular play, fighting and dirty hits have overshadowed it all. It all started when Nashville Predators star defenseman Shea Weber slammed Detroit Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg’s face into the glass after the final whistle of Nashville’s 3-2 Game 1 victory. Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s dean of discipline, decided against suspending Weber for his antics, choosing rather to fine him $2,500. With the precedent set that overtly dirty plays would go unpunished, all hell broke loose. Eight players have been suspended after just a week of first-round action.

All of this culminated Tuesday night with a hit delivered by Phoenix Coyote Raffi Torres on Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa that hospitalized Hossa.

Shanahan’s suspensions for each respective player have been inconsistent and downright questionable.

Ottawa Senators forward Matt Carkner viciously attacked New York Rangers forward Brian Boyle and received only a one-game suspension. Carkner sucker-punched Boyle in the face twice, knocking Boyle to the ice, and then proceeded to connect with five more punches while Boyle was defenselessly down on the ice. Rangers forward Carl Hagelin was suspended three games for finishing a check with his arms high and connecting an elbow to the head of Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson.

Carkner is a repeat offender, having previously broken the orbital bone of a New York Islander in 2009, while Hagelin, a rookie, has completed about five checks all season. Additionally, Carkner was a scratch in Game 1 and clearly was suited up for Game 2 with the sole purpose of instigating.

I know the “if this happened on the street in real life” phrase is thrown around a lot when watching hockey fights, but Carkner’s savage attack was outside the boundaries of the sport.

Carkner and Boyle were far away from the puck and not involved in any play. I watched the events unfold live, and my first thought was that Carkner would be suspended for the rest of the playoffs. Hagelin was finishing a check, a play done 100 times a hockey game, and did so wrongly and in a dirty fashion. In Shanahan’s explanation video, he notes that Alfredsson was injured and that Boyle was not. I completely support the notion that if a player is injured and is forced to leave a game, then a longer suspension is deserved.

However, on the reverse, just because a player was fortunate enough to not be concussed, doesn’t it lessen the intent of the aggressor and the violence of his actions? Shanahan, in Carkner’s video, essentially told Boyle that he was a lucky son of a gun for not having his face broken. By excusing Carkner for not breaking someone’s orbital bone this time, Shanahan has literally increased the number of Carkner’s opportunities to do it again.

Similarly, Pittsburgh Penguins forward James Neal received a one-game suspension for leveling Philadelphia Flyers forward Sean Couturier off the puck and then 42 seconds later headhunting Claude Giroux. Luckily, Giroux realized Neal’s intent, and turned to the side, limiting the blow to his head.

Giroux tried to skate away and stumbled in a daze. Had Giroux not realized Neal’s intent, he most likely would be out for the rest of the playoffs, as he missed time this season because of a head injury and struggled with post-concussion syndrome. Neal’s manic shift, in which he attempted to behead two players, mirrored the intent seen by Carkner.

Yet, because the victims happened to be lucky rather than unlucky like Hossa, Neal and Carkner walk away with just a slap on the wrist.

Alex Arthur is a sophomore majoring in economics and English. He can be reached at Alexander.Arthur@tufts.edu.

Sports

20

tuftsdaily.com

Women’s Crew

Sailing

Tufts rows through difficult weekend on Malden River

by Sam

Gold

Senior Staff Writer

This past Saturday on the Malden River, the women’s crew team suffered clean sweeps at the hands of two teams ranked in the top 10 nationally: sixth-ranked Wellesley and eighthranked Wesleyan.

It was a tough weekend for Tufts, facing off against a Wellesley squad that placed third at NCAAs in 2011 and a Wesleyan squad that has been in excellent form so far this season, recently moving up from ninth to eighth in Div. III. Also competing at the regatta were the No. 2 Bates Bobcats, who finished second at the 2011 NCAA championships, though the Bobcats did not race head-to-head against the Jumbos.

The races were arranged tournament-style, with Tufts pitted against Wesleyan in the first round and — after falling to the Cardinals — Wellesley in the second round.

After their previous regatta, in which they struggled with the task of racing twice within one grueling hour, the Jumbos entered this past weekend coming off a week of hardcore training to improve stamina and see WOMEN’S CREW, page 19

courtesy adam weisman

The co-ed sailing team eked out a top-eight finish this past weekend at the New England Dinghy Championship at Harvard to earn a spot in the national semifinals.

Co-ed squad qualifies for national semifinals by

Andy Wong

Senior Staff Writer

With a spot in the semifinal round of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Dinghy National Championship on the line this past weekend, all eyes were on the New England Dinghy

Softball

Championship at Harvard.

Manning the A-division for Tufts’ co-ed squad on Saturday and racing in the Harvard fleet was sophomore skipper William Haeger, alongside fellow sophomore crew Paula Grasberger.

Meanwhile, in the MIT fleet, the B-division duo of senior skipper and

co-captain Massimo Soriano and junior crew Madeline Luce held their own against stiff competition and variable westerly breezes.

“The New England Dinghy Championship is one of the toughest see SAILING, page 19

Men’s Lacrosse

Justin McCallum / The Tufts Daily

Sophomore Jo Clair gave the Jumbos some insurance in the sixth inning yesterday with her conference-leading seventh home run of the season.

Fournier flirts with perfection, school strikeout record Another start for Allyson Fournier, another dominant effort. Yesterday against Bridgewater State, the freshman was set to throw her third perfect game of the season before a bunt single by Corrie McCue in the sixth inning broke her streak of 15 straight batters retired.

The bunt hit was the only blemish in Fournier’s final line, as she allowed just one player to reach base while striking out 15 — including the first eight Bears hitters of the game — in a seven-inning shutout. The right-hander improved to 12-0 in the Jumbos’ 4-0 victory at Spicer Field, and her 135 strikeouts this season put her within five of the Jumbos’ single-season record, set 10 years ago by Jodie Moreau (LA ‘02).

Tufts’ bats were quiet for the majority of the game as Bridgewater State pitching held the potent Jumbos’ offense to just four hits. Sophomore right fielder Kayla Holland gave the

Jumbos a 2-0 lead when she belted a two-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. After a pitching change in the sixth, sophomore catcher Jo Clair, the NESCAC leader in long balls, gave the Jumbos some insurance with a two-run homer of her own.

Holland and Clair both finished 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored, while junior second baseman Emily Beinecke crossed the plate twice in the victory.

The Jumbos, who had their 12-game winning streak snapped on Sunday, improved to 24-4 on the season and remain the frontrunners for a top seed in the upcoming NESCAC tournament.

They travel to Lewiston, Maine this weekend to take on the Bates Bobcats in their last NESCAC East series of the regular season.

—by Alex Baudoin

Oliver Porter / The Tufts Daily

Senior Geordie Shafer had three goals and an assist in a 16-11 win at Bates on Tuesday, which propelled the Jumbos into first place in the NESCAC.

Trinity stumbles, Tufts takes over first place On Tuesday, both of the NESCAC’s top two teams found themselves in tight games against hungry conference opponents. The difference was that while Trinity floundered in the final quarter, Tufts finished strong.

The Bantams were outscored 4-1 in the fourth by the Wesleyan Cardinals, suffering a 12-8 loss. The fifth-ranked Jumbos, on the other hand, saved their best for last against the Bates Bobcats, winning the second-half battle 8-4 and taking the game 16-11. With the victory, Tufts improved to 7-1 in the NESCAC to grab sole possession of first place with just two regular-season games remaining.

The Jumbos were led offensively by four goals from senior co-captain midfielder Kevin McCormick, three goals and an assist from senior midfielder Geordie Shafer and two goals and two assists from freshman attackman Cole Bailey. McCormick took

12 shots, more than twice as many as anyone else on the team.

Though the host Bobcats entered the game at just 2-5 in conference play, they hung with the Jumbos for most of the game.

Tufts barely won the ground ball battle, 39-35, and held only a slight edge in shots, 36-31. The Jumbos trailed 4-1 in the first, but climbed back into the game and played stellar defense, allowing two goals apiece in each of the final three quarters. Sophomore goalkeeper Patton Watkins also came up big, making 10 saves to help the Jumbos extend their winning streak to six games.

For complete coverage of the first-place Jumbos’ most recent victory and their upcoming game against the Cardinals, see tomorrow’s Daily.

—by Aaron Leibowitz