2012-5-20

THE TUFTS DAILY VOLUME LXIII, NUMBER 60

cOMMENCEMENT 2012

Where You Read It First Est. 1980 TUFTSDAILY.COM

COMMENCEMENT 2012 “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” —Milton Berle

The Tufts Daily

2

Commencement 2012

News

A survey conducted earlier this spring will help the Department The new student information of UEP to address transportasystem is set to go online by the tion safety and efficiency on 2012-2014 academic year. campus. see SIS page 4 see TRANSPORTATION page 4 A new facility at 200 Boston Ave. will house nine faculty offices and provide the Department of Biology with modern lab space. see LABORATORIES page 4

Professor of Chemistry Robert Dewald has retired after teaching and conducting research at Tufts for 47 years. see DEWALD page 5

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences may soon encourage applicants to submit a PPI Evaluation Report. see PPI page 4

Tufts School of Dental Medicine has launched a dual-degree program that will allow students to obtain a MPH. see DENTAL SCHOOL page 5

Arts | Living

The Daily previews the best This summer promises the Summer 2012 music festivals. return of long-awaited televiLeslie Fry’s sculpture see FESTIVALS page 17 sion shows.

“Colossal AcornHead” is on see SHOWS page 19 loan to Tufts for a year and Before you leave the Boston is on display outside Tisch area, be sure to grab a lobster The Daily previews the best Library. roll at one of these restaurants. action movies set to premieresee ACORNHEAD page 17 see LOBSTER page 18 this summer, including “The Dark Knight Rises” and “The Amazing Spiderman.” see MOVIES pages 22-23

highlights

Sports Rising sophomore pitcher Allyson Fournier teamed with an experienced lineup to lead the Jumbos to the College World Series. see SOFTBALL page 46 After a slow start to the season, the men’s lacrosse team can advance to the national champion game with a win over Cortland State today. see MEN’S LACROSSE page 46

The Daily examines the top 10 moments in Tufts athletics over the past year. see TOP 10 page 40 The Class of 2012 leaves behind a legacy of tremendous achievement; the Daily takes a look at some seniors whose impact has been particularly significant. see SENIORS pages 36-37

After an exciting spring, the Daily takes a look back at the Jumbos’ fall and winter season accomplishments, highlighted by the women’s basketball team’s trip to the Sweet 16. see FALL AND WINTER page 46

Latino students discuss the ups and downs of integrating into the Tufts community and reflect on the crucial role the Latino Center plays in their lives on the Hill. see LATINO page 11 The Daily looks at the college careers and future plans of six outstanding graduating seniors: Allister Chang, Marian Swain, Doreen Ndishabandi, Jane Jihae Yoon, Luke Pyenson and Natasha Jessen-Petersen. see SENIOR PROFILES pages 12-13 An in depth look at the process for introducing new courses in the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering reveals how faculty research interests guide the curriculum. see COURSES page 15 Graduating senior Zach Daniels will spend the next four years at Tufts School of Dental Medicine — and then he’s off to the army. see DANIELS page 16

Photographs from this year’s Spring Fling, which brought Lupe Fiasco, White Panda and Guster to the President’s Lawn. see pages 26-27

From 2008 to 2012, graduating seniors have seen a lot happen on the Hill, and the Daily has a recap of it all. see pages 24-25

Op-ed

Incoming TCU President Wyatt Cadley outlines his future plans.

Graduating senior Matthew see TUFTS page 31 Nazarian reflects on the decision to suspend — and then reinstate Master’s degree candidate Brooks — the men’s crew team.

Shaffer encourages Apple, Inc. to see DIVERSITY page 30 become a model for sustainability. see MAC page 31 Graduating senior Steven Cohen discusses obstacles to construc- Rising junior Stephanie Farber cautive dialogue on Tufts’ campus. tions against cell phone dependency. see SUPPRESSION page 30 see HEAR page 32

Stay informed. Stay connected. Stay tuned.

tuftsdaily.com/register

Blogs, videos and other interactive features.

Features

Photos: Front cover by Andrew schneer / the tufts daily, back cover by josh berlinger / the tufts daily, Inside Back by William Butt / the tufts daily

Today’s sections News 3 Features 11 Arts | Living 17 Four Years in Review 24

Captured Editorial | Letters Op-Ed Sports

26 28 30 46

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

Nancy Bauer to assume position of Dean of Academic Affairs

by Shana

3

News

Africana, Asian American studies to begin this fall

Friedman

Daily Editorial Board

Associate Professor of Philosophy and former Chair of the Department of Philosophy Nancy Bauer on July 1 will assume the position of Dean of Academic Affairs for the School of Arts and Sciences.

Bauer will join Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences James Glaser and will replace Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences Andrew McClellan, who is returning to the art history department faculty after serving as dean for six years, according to Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler.

Bauer has been a member of the philosophy department faculty at Tufts since 1998. She holds three degrees from Harvard University, including a Ph.D. in philosophy, and has authored three books about feminism and women’s issues.

Bauer believes that both her background in the humanities and her reputation as a feminist will influence her tenure in the deanship.

“I think I’m well known on the campus for having taught a number of courses in women’s studies, and I think I stand as a representative along with [Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney] of the power of women on campus,” she said.

Bauer joined the Department

justin mccallum / the tufts daily

Associate Professor of Philosophy and former Chair of the Department of Philosophy Nancy Bauer this summer will assume the position of Dean of Academic Affairs in the School of Arts and Sciences. of Philosophy in 1998 as a visiting assistant professor and was placed on the tenure track the following year. She served as director of graduate studies from 2001 to 2008 and as chair of the Department of Philosophy from

2008 until last year.

Bauer’s academic focus is on feminism, gender in philosophy and film.

“I think it means something see BAUER, page 8

by

Lizz Grainger

Daily Editorial Board

The faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences voted this month on the addition of a new major and minor in Africana studies as well as a new minor in Asian American studies, both to be implemented this fall.

The Liberal Arts and Jackson (LA&J) Committee on Curricula, which consisted of faculty from various departments and a student representative from each class, submitted a proposal for the implementation of the major and minors to the faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences, who approved it on May 9.

The Africana studies major and minor and the Asian American studies minor will be housed under the under-discussion Program in Critical Studies in Disparities and Diasporas (C2D), according to the LA&J Committee on Curricula’s recently passed request for approval of the new major and minors.

The C2D program is still in its basic planning stages and is meant to serve as an umbrella program for Africana studies, Asian American studies, Latino studies and American studies majors and minors, as well as potentially Women’s studies and Queer studies, according to Marcy Regalado, a rising sophomore who served as a student

representative on the Race and Ethnicity Working Group. The program is planned for completion by fall 2013, she said.

According to Regalado, the C2D program will focus on the academic aspects of various cultures. She said that there is high demand for programs such as Africana studies and Asian American studies, along with other culturally diverse programs that will expose students to the academic elements of minority cultures.

“I’ve heard from a lot of minority students especially.

I’ve heard demand because, for example, I’m Latina; I think it’d be really cool to take a course where I see my culture academically,” Regalado said. “Not just about the music, not just about the food, but really looking into economics in South American countries, the politics of it, the business aspects of it. And you know for cultures like that, that’s not exposed — at least not on our campus it isn’t. This program could definitely help someone find that understanding.”

According to the LA&J Committee on Curricula proposal, Tufts is behind its peer institutions in the curriculum area of race and ethnicity issues.

“As Asian American Studies is a cutting edge interdisciplin see C2D, page 5

TCU Senate emphasizes broad initiatives, student involvement by

Nina Goldman

Daily Editorial Board

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate this year worked to address a broad scope of issues, completing a wide range of tasks over the course of the year that included increased student outreach, involvement in the creation of an Africana studies program and an updated budgeting process.

Tomas Garcia, this year’s TCU president, characterized past Senate groups as focusing on a single initiative, such as the alcohol policy or the Naked Quad Run (NQR), but said this year’s Senate was able to approach problems concerning all facets of student life at Tufts.

“It’s something that I’m actually really pleased with,” Garcia, a graduating senior, said. “This year we were able to break free of that tradition.”

Wyatt Cadley, who served as TCU vice president this year and was elected president for the 2012-2013 academic year, identified the distinct efforts of all of the Senate’s five committees that contributed to the accomplishment of the body’s goals. From phasing Engineering Science 2 out of the chemical engineering curriculum to allowing students abroad to sign into a Tufts network to proposing the creation of an entrepreneur incubator, Senate committees pursued independent projects that they believed would directly affect students, he explained.

“Obviously each committee has very specific work and initiatives,” Cadley, a rising senior, said.

One Senate group whose efforts had a notable impact this year was the Culture, Ethnicity, and Community Affairs (CECA) Committee, according to Cadley.

“CECA has historically been one of those committees that lacked initiative,” he said. “This year that hasn’t been the case.”

Beyond discussing concerns such as handicap accessibility on the Hill and financial aid options, CECA members were involved in the push toward the creation of an Africana studies major and minor and an Asian American studies minor, which will be implemented

in the fall, according to Garcia. Having served as a student representative to the Committee for Race and Ethnicity studies, Garcia said he was excited to see progress on the new major and minors, as well as on the overall Program in Critical Studies in Disparities and Diasporas (C2D), during his time on the Senate.

“It was great to see that get done in my time,” Garcia said.

The Student Outreach Committee was also particularly active this year, according to Cadley. Beyond the yearly Senate survey and the creation of a Senate newsletter, the committee also implemented other new techniques aimed at increasing student involvement, according to this year’s TCU Treasurer, Christie Maciejewski.

“A lot of people liked the ice cream truck we did for student outreach,” Maciejewski, a rising junior, said.

Students were asked to fill out a card with a suggestion for the Senate before receiving free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream at an event in April, a strategy that generated 1,000 responses, according to Maciejewski. She said there was a wide range of suggestions, including a surprising number of respondents asking for more flowers on campus, all of which will be useful to next year’s Senate.

“All those index cards now are in the Senate office,” Cadley said. “Moving into next year, all the committee chairs will have all this feedback.”

Beyond reaching out to the students, Senate members worked to establish a connection with the administration, Garcia said.

“It’s a connection I’ve seen fray and decay the past couple of years,” he said.

Garcia and Cadley typically met with University President Anthony Monaco every other week, Garcia explained, after writing Monaco an introductory letter last summer.

“We wanted to be involved in an open dialogue through the course of the year,” he said. “The students were always at the forefront of the administration’s mind see SENATE, page 6

justin mccallum / the tufts daily

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick delivered the Merrin Distinguished Lecture on April 30.

The theme for this year’s event, part of Tufts Hillel’s Moral Voices program, was immigration reform, and Patrick criticized recent legislation in Arizona and Alabama as “self-defeating.”

The Tufts Daily

4

News

Commencement 2012

Department of Biology prepares new lab spaces

Project to create new Student Information System underway

by Jenna

Buckle

University Information Technology (UIT) and Student Services staff in February completed the first phase of the three-year project to design and implement a new Student Information System (SIS) that will replace the current system by the beginning of the 20132014 academic year.

The SIS Project Team, comprised of UIT staff and several university representatives, has now entered the second phase of the project, entitled “Development, Testing, Training and Go-Lives,” in which the team will gradually unveil the new system. The final phase, “Stabilization,” will begin in October 2013 and will allow the team to make further adjustments to the system.

The project aims to join the three Tufts campuses under one new technological platform for purposes such as class registration, transcript requests and billing, Executive Director of Planning and Administration Martha Pokras told the Daily in an email.

“The new SIS will integrate data across all Tufts schools and will serve as the system of record for student information at Tufts,” she said.

New features will include a simplified sign-on process, a tool for enhanced academic advising and a self-service planner that will help students map out their class schedules multiple semesters in advance, Pokras said.

Daily Editorial Board

She noted that requesting transcripts will become easier and that students will be able to receive refunds electronically once the new system is introduced.

“The new SIS will look and feel very different,” Pokras said.

“Because of the complexity of this process, we will continue to make changes — new developments, upgrades and improvements — throughout the project and over the years following the system implementation.”

The current information system contains modules that are 25 years old and no longer supported by the system’s original vendor, Pokras explained.

“SIS underpins student services on all Tufts campuses and affects almost every aspect of student life at Tufts,” she said. “By replacing the antiquated system that we use today, our goal is to improve how students access and manage their courses, grades, bills and more.”

The team selected PeopleSoft Campus Solutions as the system’s new vendor, according to Bryan Lagasse, UIT associate director of enterprise resource planning services.

PeopleSoft offers a variety of services that will ensure the stability and security of the new system and should reduce the frequency of system downtime for maintenance, Lagasse told the Daily in an email.

“By the end of this project, we will have a reliable system that we expect to be more available to students and faculty than the current system,” he said.

The team recently began car-

rying out testing procedures, which will be done in waves and identify problems before the new system completely replaces the old system, Pokras said.

“As of [now], we are heavily involved in migrating student information and course information from Legacy SIS to PeopleSoft and testing technical customizations as they are developed,” she said.

“As the SIS Project progresses, the testing audience will expand to include a representative sample of end-users,” JoAnn Jack, registrar for Arts, Sciences & Engineering and Student Services desk manager, told the Daily in an email. “To accomplish this, we will need to reach out to students, faculty and staff at the appropriate time.”

Jack explained that the team plans to communicate heavily with students about system testing and the progress of the project starting next academic year.

“The first major rollout for students will be March 2013, when undergraduates will use the new SIS to register for the fall of 2013 term,” she said.

During this phase, the team will also teach students, faculty and staff how to use the new system in order to facilitate the transition, Pokras said. Training methods will include instructorled classes, large group demonstrations, self-paced online tutorials and printed job-aids.

“The timing of training will be coordinated and will occur in the same sequence as test-

by

Brionna Jimerson

Daily Editorial Board

The beginning of the 20122013 school year will mark the inaugural use of laboratories for the Collaborative Cluster on Genome Structure and Developmental Patterning in Health and Disease located at 200 Boston Ave. by faculty members in the Department of Biology.

The new area will accommodate nine of the department’s 23 faculty members and will include additional laboratory space, collaboration-inspiring facilities and office space, according to Associate Professor of Biology Juliet Fuhrman, chair of the department. The change is an effort to increase inter-faculty collaboration and research possibilities for students.

Fuhrman says that she has worked closely on behalf of the department faculty to oversee and plan the renovation of the building complex’s fourth floor, which will house the Collaborative Cluster and is expected to be ready for movein this June.

The biology department will continue to function in Barnum Hall and the Dana Laboratory as well as in the Boston Avenue location, Fuhrman said.

“The reason for all of this is that we ran out of room [in Barnum and Dana,]” Fuhrman said. “There was little lab space to offer new [faculty members].”

The space will boast several conference areas, along with large seminar rooms for teaching and presentations and com-

see SIS, page 9

puter lab areas for independent work, Fuhrman said.

The labs in Barnum and Dana that perform animal research will remain in Barnum, except for aquatic animal research, according to Fuhrman. Greenhouse and plant research will also continue at the Barnum location, to utilize the greenhouse space available at the top of Barnum, according to Fuhrman.

The labs in the Collaborative Cluster, Barnum and Dana Lab will not act independently of one another, according to Fuhrman, as plans to keep faculty and students connected both academically and physically are underway.

“The space is meant to be a wonderful congregation for collaborative work. It’s a wonderful area to meet with faculty,” she said. “There will be nine faculty members using the lab spaces, in addition to faculty offices, graduate student offices and spaces to allow richer undergraduate research.”

“We’re going to be sure that faculty [in Barnum and on Boston Avenue] get together throughout the week,” Fuhrman said. “It’s important to maintain an integrative site.”

To aid this effort, Fuhrman expressed plans to develop a shuttle service to travel between the Boston Avenue location and Barnum to make the flow of students and faculty between the locations easier, adding that such a shuttle would also benesee LABORATORIES, page 7

GSAS considers ETS Personal Transportation survey offers Potential Index for applicants planning improvements

Daily Editorial Board

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) is considering encouraging prospective students to submit the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Personal Potential Index (PPI) as an application supplement.

ETS, a non-profit organization that also created the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), in July 2009 launched PPI as a Webbased tool for admissions counselors to assess an applicant’s noncognitive or personal attributes, ETS Manager of External Relations Christine Betaneli told the Daily.

Applicants who have taken the GRE can choose up to five people as evaluators — usually faculty members or supervisors — to rate them on six categories: Knowledge and Creativity, Resilience, Communication Skills, Planning and Organization, Teamwork and Ethics and Integrity.

Each PPI evaluation has 24 multiplechoice questions, four for each category, in addition to a space for comments. ETS creates a PPI Evaluation Report based on the evaluators’ ratings of the student and sends it to up to four institutions for no additional cost.

“It was a process that took us about 10 years from the individual conception to actually creating the ETS PPI,” Betaneli said. “It was quite a long-term period of research and development, sorting out exactly what attributes were going to be of interest to faculty and admissions officers and then creating an assessment that really accurately told the story of applicants.”

Don Martin, consultant for the ETS PPI, presented PPI at Tufts for the first time a year ago and recently spoke again at the GSAS faculty meeting in April on the progress of the tool’s implementation.

According to Dean of the GSAS Lynne Pepall, many of the graduate programs responded favorably to Martin’s presentation and expressed interest in further

by Victoria

Leistman

exploring what the ETS PPI has to offer.

“There are a lot of personal qualities that go into being successful in a doctoral program that grades and test scores don’t predict very well,” Roger Tobin, professor and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, said. “If there were something that would give us a good measure of those sorts of attributes, I do think that would be valuable.”

“We are often looking for a few categories against which we can evaluate [our candidates] in a more consistent way,” Lecturer of Education and co-Director of the GSAS School Psychology Program Laura Rogers said.

Since each evaluator will use the ETS PPI grading scale differently, the PPI would not allow admissions counselors to rank candidates on their reports, but it would provide more consistent information about each applicant, Rogers said.

While ETS PPI has the potential to be useful in assessing the personal attributes of candidates, Rogers said she does not think PPI reports should replace recommendation letters.

“One nice thing about letters of recommendation is they reflect both the writer and the applicant, and that makes them uniquely interesting and provides us with a sense of the diversity of our candidates and their experiences and so forth,” she said.

Pepall believes, nevertheless, that recommendation letters can become generic and often fail to reveal more about a potential student than what is already on their transcript.

“They can feel very kind of standardized, and so this PPI index would help us understand more about the applicants,” she said.

Many of the questions on the ETS PPI are analogous to the questions asked on recommendation forms, which supplement letters when applying to many of Tufts’ graduate programs, Tobin said.

see PPI, page 8

by

Leah Lazer

Daily Editorial Board

The Tufts Department of University Space Management and Planning and the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) in late February conducted a survey to assess the safety, efficiency and sustainability of campus transportation, and the results of that survey are now available.

The survey, which was available online from Feb. 14 to March 1, asked students to identify transportationrelated locations on and off campus using a map. The locations included vehicle parking, bicycle parking, unsafe crossings, on- and off-campus destinations, open spaces and their current and desired travel routes by foot, on bicycle, by car and by public transportation, according to Lois Stanley, director of university space management and planning.

Of the 782 respondents to the survey, 50 percent were students — 73 percent of whom were undergraduates. Staff accounted for 40 percent of the responses, faculty represented 7 percent, and 3 percent identified themselves as “Other,” which can include neighbors to Tufts’ campus, Stanley said.

The idea for the survey developed in response to an alarming increase in collisions between cars and pedestrians or cyclists in the area surrounding Tufts campus. At the same time, representatives from UEP contacted Space Management and Planning about collaborating on a spring field project.

Planning firm Sasaki Associates also approached Tufts to demonstrate their MyCampus tool, an instrument for conducting online surveys aimed at campus planning, according to Stanley.

“All I had to do was connect the dots between an obvious need to study

transportation safety from a campus planning perspective [such as] looking at mobility patterns across the Tufts community, the opportunity for student involvement and a cool planning tool,” Stanley told the Daily in an email.

Stanley, together with UEP Lecturer Robert Russell, wrote an assignment called “Transportation Planning for a Safer and Greener Campus” to be used as a spring field project for graduate students in UEP. The survey also included a section for comments, where respondents could identify specific problems or offer suggestions. The survey included a questionnaire regarding respondents’ commutes, the easy and difficult aspects of campus transportation and their responses to proposed changes, according to the online survey results.

The pedestrian crossings perceived as most unsafe were the intersection of Boston Avenue with College Avenue and the intersection of Packard Avenue with Powderhouse Boulevard. Some respondents also marked the intersection of Packard Avenue and Professors Row, the crest of Curtis Street behind Carmichael Hall and the stretch of College Avenue between Anderson Hall and Gantcher Center, according to the online survey results.

Popular off-campus destinations centered on Davis Square and Boston Avenue. The open spaces most cited on the map were the President’s Lawn and Res Quad, according to the online survey results.

The recommendations to implement solutions based on these results focused on three main areas: transit, parking and pedestrians and cyclists, Stanley said.

Initial proposed changes for improving conditions for pedestrians and cyclists see TRANSPORTATION, page 9

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

5

News

Professor of Chemistry Robert Dewald retires after 47 years on the Hill by

Patrick McGrath

Daily Editorial Board

Professor of Chemistry Robert Dewald has retired after spending 47 years at Tufts.

Dewald first came to Tufts in 1965 and is particularly well-known for his role as an instructor for introductory chemistry, which he began teaching in 1972.

“He’s been teaching our introductor y chemistr y courses for years, and I think that he has pushed students to work hard and succeed, but he’s also been willing to spend the time with them and help them be successful as well,” Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Chemistry Department Arthur Utz said.

Dewald received his bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan College and received his Ph.D in chemistry from Michigan State University, where he also accompanied a professor on a sabbatical trip to Germany. Dewald did his Ph.D research in Germany at the Max Planck Institute for Physical Chemistry as a guest of Manfred Eigen, who several years later won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. After earning his Ph.D, Dewald served in the army before coming to Tufts.

Dewald said the chemistry department has improved significantly during his time on the Hill.

“The chemistry department in my opinion has become a much stronger department in the last 20 years especially,” Dewald said.

Although the school has changed, colleagues commended Dewald for his steadfast attention to his work and to his students.

“I think he’s continued to have high expectations and he’s continued to be supportive of students,” Utz said. “I think that students have changed over the years, and so in some ways that’s been the bigger change, but he’s continued to try to work closer with students, get to know them well and help them out.”

In recognition of Dewald’s service at Tufts, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Tufts Medical Center Mark Latina (LA ’76), who took a number of Dewald’s classes, started the Robert R. Dewald Scholarship Fund to support student research over the summer.

“He helped students understand how to communicate with the rest of the scientific community, even outside the university, so that was a very important learning point,” Latina said. “So I thought that we should try to give him some recognition for all the students and all the work that he’s done for us, and the best way, in my opinion, was to start this student summer fellowship in his name.”

Tufts Chemistry Department

Professor of Chemistry Robert Dewald has retired after teaching at Tufts for 47 years.

Students compete for the Professor of Chemistry Albert scholarship through an appli- Robbat Jr.. cation process. Two under- Latina said that $50,000 has graduates were selected to already been donated to the receive the award at Dewald’s scholarship fund, but he is retirement event earlier this week, according to Associate see DEWALD, page 6

School of Dental Medicine launches new combined-degree program

Daily Editorial Board

Tufts’ School of Dental Medicine earlier this year launched a Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) and Master of Public Health (MPH) dualby Stephanie

Haven

degree program in an effort to create a course of study for dentists interested in community-based oral health, according to Mark Nehring, professor and chair of the Department of Public Health and Community Service.

“The goal of the proposed combined DMD/MPH program is to recruit and retain a diverse and competent dental public health workforce,” Nehring told the Daily in an see DENTIST, page 7

Ashley Seenauth / The Tufts Daily

Tufts’ School of Dental Medicine has launched a dual-degree program to support dentists interested in community-based oral health.

Tufts posts perfect pass rate on AICP exam by

Melissa Wang

Daily Editorial Board

Tufts graduate students in the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) who elected to take the annual American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) exam from 2004 to 2011 have accrued a 100 percent pass rate, according to recently released data by the American Planning Association (APA).

As a result, all of the students have been inducted into AICP, the APA’s institute that certifies professionals in urban and regional planning.

“After two years of graduation [from a school with an accredited degree for urban planning], students can sit for the AICP exam, which is the professional accreditation,” UEP Professor and Chair Julian Agyeman said.

“It’s based around planning processes and ethics and is basically what certifies you to become a professional planner.”

Ann Urosevich, a UEP department administrator, said that 18 Tufts students have taken the exam over the past eight years. “[In the statistics] we were lumped together with universities that had between 18 and 42 attempts, and we were the only university among that group that had a 100 percent pass rate,” she said.

According to an April 27 press release from the Department of see UEP, page 6

Umbrella program still under discussion C2D

continued from page 3

ary field of growing interest and importance, the establishment of a Minor in Asian American Studies would reinforce Tufts’ leadership role among institutions of higher education, and it would strengthen Tufts’ mission and reputation as an incubation of active citizens and global leaders addressing social problems in the wider world,” the proposal said.

The proposal also noted that the 1997 report of the Tufts University Task Force on Race recognized the need for more programs that acknowledge the importance of race and ethnicity issues and meet the academic interests and demands of a diverse student body.

“A more extensive examination of Tufts history, however, reveals that students and faculty have advocated for curricular offerings relevant to Africana Studies and an appropriate major since the early 1970s after the 1969 founding of the African American Cultural Center at Tufts (later renamed the Africana Center),” the proposal said.

The student body’s desire for these programs is clearly demonstrated, according to Regalado.

“The demand is there. For example, Race in America is one of the most popular classes that is offered on campus, and there will be a lot of courses like that within this program for all those different settings, for all those different majors,” she said. “With that one course, you can see there’s really high demand for dissecting race, dissecting gender, sex, power, social justice, and that’s definitely something I hope to see happen and students take on for the future.”

The C2D program was initially suggested as a secondary major or co-major, similar to the structure of the Community Health program, Regalado said.

“From the faculty’s point of view, they were talking about how that could help really concentrate on a subject matter and really help them become well rounded academically if it was a co-major,” she said.

Since the program is still in its initial planning stages, the “Critical Studies in Disparities and Diasporas” title has not been confirmed and is still under discussion within the LA&J Committee on Curricula, according to Regalado.

“The faculty are debating what would students want to take because Race in America has the word ‘race’ in it as a course, and that’s really appealing,” she said. “So a lot of the faculty agree maybe we should say it right out — specifically race, specifically society. One of the titles that came up for the critical studies major was Critical Studies: Race, Sex, Social Justice and Power.”

The proposed C2D program would allow students to take existing courses, as well as to select from new ones specifically designed for the major.

“I really hope the students, when this is offered, consider taking a course or two, even if they’re not majoring in it, just to take something to open their eyes and look at the world differently and in a more positive light,” Regalado said.

Faculty on the LA&J Committee on Curricula declined to comment on the Program in Critical Studies in Disparities and Diasporas, which is pending discussion at the May 22 School of Arts and Sciences faculty retreat.

The Tufts Daily

6

News

Commencement 2012

Chemistry department faculty praise Dewald’s contributions to university DEWALD

continued from page 5

hoping to continue raising funds for the scholarship to support students on an annual basis and perhaps include an award for a graduate student.

Latina also worked with Dewald in the lab during his summers as an undergraduate, an experience that he said is a beneficial summer research opportunity for students.

“It was always a great experience and we always learned so much,” Latina said. “He let you do everything in the lab, and I learned how to blow glass and make flasks and everything. The training was really hands-on training, which is really important in chemistry.”

Dewald believes in the importance of summer research and devoted to helping students receive grants to do such research, according to Latina.

Latina also said Dewald was sincerely committed to students and was actively involved in their work.

“If there’s anybody on that campus that interacted at the level that was almost like being part of the family, it was him,” Latina said. “He would have us over to his house, and all of those types of experiences are really what makes your college experience something special.”

“I think he was very approachable for students,” Senior Lecturer in Chemistry Sergiy Kryatov said. “For example, he put his home phone number on the door, and he welcomed students actually calling him at home with questions.

He was always ready to come and meet with students on weekends.”

Robbat noted Dewald’s significant impact on students in teaching introductory chemistry as well as a number of upper level physical chemistry courses.

“In the emails we’re getting back in respect to the party that will be held in his honor, many students have said that he had a profound impact on their lives, and, in fact, a couple said that he actually changed their lives,” he said. “He had a real influence on students.”

“I think that he’s done a great job for the university and many students,” Latina said. “He’s contributed to their success by being so dedicated.”

“He contributed to the department and to the university as a whole in many fronts. He has accomplished a lot in chemical research,” Kryatov said.

Utz said that Dewald’s commitment to working with his students is an example of what makes Tufts special.

“You have people who are knowledgeable but are just so committed to students and are really willing to give their all to support students in a very close one-

on-one working relationship,” he said. “I used to be in Saturdays and Sundays, and he’d be here, middle of the day on the weekends, having office hours or study sessions with small groups of students via talking to them, asking them questions, helping them work through things.”

Dewald explained that he did not originally intend to be a chemistry professor.

“When I assisted in the course at Michigan State, the students in my section all got the high grades in the course, and I was recognized then as an excellent TA,” Dewald said. “I enjoyed doing it, and I could see that I could do it for a living and enjoy it, so that’s why I did switch from going into industrial chemistry into teaching.”

“So you do, I feel, what you do the best in and you enjoy doing — that’s how I think you should choose your career,” he said.

All Tufts students who take annual UEP accreditation exam enjoy success UEP

continued from page 5

UEP, almost 4,500 students take the test every year, with a mean pass rate of 72 percent. Agyeman said Tufts had the highest success rate among Massachusetts schools, topping universities such as Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

“These are people who have a burning desire to become effective change agents in their communities, and clearly this

is an indication that what UEP is doing is working by producing not only technically good planners, but also visionaries who can operate in a professional and ethical framework,” Agyeman said.

Urban planning news website Planetizen last year ranked Tufts UEP as second nationally among Master’s-only programs in terms of overall program quality, according to the April 27 press release.

“If you combine these two facts, that we were ranked second nationally and that we have a 100

percent success rate [for the AICP exam], you can see that UEP is a force to be reckoned with in urban planning,” Agyeman said.

UEP Lecturer Jon Witten, one of the faculty members who taught a preparatory course for the exam, was not surprised by the students’ achievements.

“The program’s success is a result of a very broad and inclusive curriculum with great opportunities for students to get real world experience in the planning field,” Witten said.

“It’s no surprise that students

have done so well because the program has prepared students for the exam both historically and, we think, for the future. We have every belief that this success will continue.”

Agyeman notes that matriculated students have consistently found success as members of AICP over the years.

“Our students go on to a wide range of jobs, mainly the public sector, which could be planning in local, state or federal governments,” he said. “[Some also] work at not-for-profits, and there

are one or two every year who go into private sector planning firms.”

Witten believes that UEP has come a long way over the years since its creation and certification.

“It’s a very successful outcome for us, because while we’ve been a department for 40 years, we’ve only been a certified planning program for about ten, so having this kind of success rate as a program that has only recently been certified is a testimony to the strength of the department,” Witten said.

TCU Senators seek realistic, precise budgets to benefit current students SENATE

continued from page 3

because of those meetings.”

The Senate also updated its budgeting process, because it was operating with a large surplus, according to Maciejewski. Senators allocated an extra $65,000 toward the Spring Fling budget and provided surplus grants for most groups that put in requests, she said.

“Senate should vote [on surplus grants], and sometimes they should say no, but we really did fulfill everything,” Maciejewski said.

Budgeting for next year was important for this year’s Senate because it wanted to change the way groups make budgets, Maciejewski explained. She characterized student groups as being “scared” to submit a realistic budget because they don’t know if extra expenses will come up, an issue that results in many “padded” budgets. She said this leads to significant surpluses that roll over into following year.

“After seeing hundreds of thousands [of dollars] just sitting unused, I think it’s important that budgets are a lot more precise,” Maciejewski said.

A goal for the Senate is to use the leftover Student Activities Fund money in a way that benefits current students so that a senior will always see those funds used while he or she is still on the Hill, she said.

“We’re not saving for retirement,” Maciejewski said. “We charge people a fee to provide a service, and we allocate the money.”

Garcia agreed that this was an important part of the Senate’s efforts this year because it affects all Tufts students.

“We strove to essentially budget more responsibly,” he said. “That money that’s being allocated is coming out of each and every student’s pocket.”

Some students took issue with grants Senate gave, such as the $25,000 allocated from the surplus to create a statue of Charles Tufts, who donated the land for Tufts University. Other conflicts between the Senate and members of the student body throughout the year included strongly contested resolutions, such as a rejected resolution recommending that the University interpret its nondiscrimination policy to allow religious groups on campus to choose leaders who reflect their views. However, Senate members cited increased student inter-

action with the body as a success rather than a problem.

“There were a lot more groups coordinating with Senate to try and push an agenda and get something done,” Cadley said. “This [re-established] Senate as a place where students can both address some of their smaller concerns but also [as] a place where they can bring up their big concerns.”

“Senate has established itself as an organization that people can go to and want to be a part of,” he added.

Involvement also increased in this year’s Senate elections, according to Garcia. Almost all of the elections for Senate seats last year were uncontested, resulting in many walk-on senators, he explained.

“Now that’s entirely changed,” Garcia said. “There’s an active interest from the student body now.”

Elections for next year’s sophomore and junior Senate seats were hotly contested, with 21 current freshmen vying for seven seats next year and 12 current sophomores running for nine open seats. Garcia said the increase in candidates and student involvement with the Senate showed that students were feeling a greater connection with the organization.

“That’s what I’m most proud of,” he said. “I’m thrilled.”

Although the Senate accomplished many of its goals this year, it was unable to meet all of them. Maciejewski cited freshman Senator Harish Gupta’s project to implement a key card system in dorms as one that would have to be continued next year.

“We’re always hoping to finish projects,” she said. “There’s definitely been a lot of work done.”

Cadley emphasized the importance of continuity between this year’s Senate and next year’s, especially since many incumbents were re-elected.

“There’s still a lot of work that needs to be continued,” he said.

Although Garcia did not complete projects related to the role of Resident Assistants and improving Tufts dorms, he said he was content with the work he accomplished during his year as TCU president.

“You want changes, but change can’t happen that quickly. But at least you can start the conversation,” he said.

“I’m proud to say that we’ve started that conversation.”

Scott Tingley / The Tufts Daily

Incoming Tufts Community Union President Wyatt Cadley (left), a rising senior who was elected in April, will follow in the footsteps of outgoing President Tomas Garcia, a graduating senior, and hopes to continue Garcia’s policy of broadening the group’s focus on campus.

Commencement 2012

The Tufts Daily

7

News

New program enables focus on public health DENTIST

continued from page 5

Scott Tingley / The Tufts Daily

The new biology facility at 200 Boston Ave. will house nine faculty offices and feature ample lab space for studies and projects.

Department of Biology proposes shuttle transportation service between biology buildings, both new and old LABORATORIES

continued from page 4

fit students and faculty at the 196 Boston Ave. location where computer science research labs are housed.

“It’s like a little technology park,” Fuhrman said. “It’s a part of campus.”

Constructing the facility The site is still undergoing the final phases of construction and assembly, as the bulk of the work has been completed, according to Elliott Miller, manager of maintenance planning and engagement in the Department of Facilities Services.

He added that the space is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Designcertified, which means that measurable “green” differences are made in the building, including intricate heating and cooling alternatives.

“The hard part is done; it’s just lots of coordination to put together,” he said.

According to Fuhrman, Professors of Biology Barry Trimmer and Michael Levin have operated laboratories on the second floor of the complex as part of the Advanced Technology Laboratory (ATL), which is operated by Trimmer.

Trimmer already established a collaborative area with engineering in the ATL, according to Fuhrman.

Fuhrman said that the 200 Boston Ave. location will keep several available lab spaces unoccupied, in preparation for future research initiatives or hires.

According to Fuhrman, preparations for a new space have been in the works since 2009, when Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney took the place of her predecessor Robert Sternberg.

“It’s a reaction to us waving our fists [since 2009] and saying people are retiring. We have more majors, and we can’t help them,” she said. “We have 50 to 60 students doing individual research every semester, and you can’t do that with 10 labs, so we really needed new lab space in order to make it all work, and for new hires.”

According to Executive Administrative Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Leah Rosovsky, administrators have considered increasing availability of space since 2008.

“Barnum is a historic building but not ideally suited to modern science,” Rosovsky said. “We think of projects over a long period of time, and it’s been a concern of the school for a long time. As we thought about possibilities, one was using

some of the space at 200 Boston Ave.” Fuhrman said that Cannon Design and Columbia Construction are undertaking the project and that the property is owned by Cummings Properties, which is operated by Trustee Emeritus William Cummings (A ’58), for whom the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine is named.

“We’re renting that space,” Fuhrman said. “Cummings is a good friend of the university.”

She added that several other offices lease office space on the bottom three floors of the commercial space, including the Tufts Human Resources department.

Tufts, namely the School of Arts and Sciences, has paid for the project through the use of available fund reserves, according to Rosovsky. An exact price tag for the project was unavailable at the time of interview.

Tufts received a grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and National Institutes of Health (NIH) for $10 million, according to Berger-Sweeney. The grant supports scientific research advancement but, according to Rosovsky, was not implemented for the 200 Boston Ave. construction project.

“There were some complications, so it didn’t end up getting used for the construction. We found some weaknesses in our application and with how we were coordinating,” Rosovsky said, noting that the grant will be administered in another way at a later date. “We’re in the middle of conversation with NIH about that right now.”

Researchers’ optimistic responses Faith Blake, a research assistant in Assistant Professor of Biology Stephen Fuchs’ lab, is excited for the impending change.

“We as a lab have been excited about moving down there for quite some time, considering our lab space now is one of the semi-empty teaching labs in Barnum.

We’re really just camping for now, and a lot of our equipment is either borrowed or not in a centralized location,” Blake, a rising senior, said. “From what I hear, the spaces in 200 Boston [Ave.] will be organized a lot more intuitively. Most of our equipment will be in our own personal space in the building, and everything else that we’re sharing with other labs will be just down the hall.”

Blake is one of two undergraduate students and two Ph.D. students working with Fuchs, who began his tenure at Tufts this academic year. Blake mentioned that current research and initiative collaboration between faculty members varies and that the new location will probably enhance these interactions.

Both Fuchs and Assistant Professor of Biology Eric Tytell, a new hire in the Department of Biology who will begin teaching at Tufts in the fall, will have lab space at the 200 Boston Ave. location, Fuhrman confirmed.

She is optimistic that the shared space and open floor plan will encourage and incite collaboration, especially with other disciplines housed nearby.

“Dr. Fuchs is new to Tufts, and Professor Eric Tytell is from Johns Hopkins [University],” Fuhrman said, noting the potential for collaboration with other biology and engineering disciplines such as biochemistry and biomechanics, as much of Tytell’s research considers the biomechanics of swimming.

In preparing for the move and the planning of the new center, Fuhrman maintains that there are several inconveniences to keep in perspective, such as the large introduction-level biology courses taught in Cohen Auditorium and the distance between the Boston Ave. location and lower campus. Professors and students will have to plan their time accordingly in traveling from the Hill to 200 Boston Ave., she noted.

“That’s why we’ll have a shuttle,” she added.

Fuhrman mentioned previous planning and execution attempts to create more available space on campus, which eventually went uncompleted because of financial issues.

Rosovsky discussed the historic significance of the new laboratory and work spaces, as well as the future of the life sciences at Tufts.

“The shared facilities in the labs are a great way for lots of people to use the space and make sure communication goes back and forth,” she said.

“We see this as a wonderful nucleus — there’s more room for students and projects,” Fuhrman said. “It allowed us to hire new faculty and take on new faculty without moving anyone out; it helps our curriculum. We just think it’s going to be the sort of place where undergraduate students feel their jaws dropping.”

email. “[This] can help to reduce oral health disparities and improve understanding of the healthcare needs of disadvantaged populations.”

According to Wanda Wright, assistant professor of public health and community service at the Dental School, 13 other schools. including the University of Pennsylvania and the Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, currently offer the same dual-degree program.

“The DMD/MPH curriculum will prepare students to assume leadership roles at the interface of dentistry, medicine and the healthcare system,” Wright told the Daily in an email. “The next generation of public-health dentists, researchers, clinicians and policy leaders in oral health need to be well-trained in how to draw upon and integrate skills, perspectives and expertise provided by all of these disciplines.”

This fall, five students will begin the program, which typically lasts five years. Without the option for the dual degree, the DMD and MPH would require six years of education in total, Wright said.

“The current training model requires students, upon graduation from dental school, to enroll in another degree program (MPH) thus incurring additional tuition costs,” Wright said. “Often, students have to relocate after graduation from dental school as they pursue their MPH training and may not return at the conclusion of their degree program.”

Approximately eight to 10 students will be in the program at a time, which will most likely admit two new students per year. While applicants to the Dental School will be able to indicate their interest in the dual-degree program, they cannot apply for the DMD/ MPH program until they are accepted to Tufts, Wright said.

“Many reasons can be cited for why this new program is necessary now, including the need to do more to eliminate oral health disparities, the oral health-systemic connection, an inadequate source of dentists with public health training, the changing demographics of the United States and student demand,” Wright said.

Once enrolled at Tufts, students can start the MPH aspect of their education in their first or third year of dental school. To be admitted to the DMD/ MPH program, applicants must demonstrate their dedication to and interest in public health, according to Wright.

“This program will develop leaders with the comprehensive vision and philosophy needed to address a broad spectrum of public health needs not only in Massachusetts but nationally and internationally,” Wright said.

The dual-degree program was initially conceptualized as a response to the “National Call for Action to Promote Oral Health” report from the Surgeon General in 2003, which emphasized the need for individuals in the medical field to better understand affordability and accessibility of oral healthcare for disadvantaged populations, Nehring said.

The Dental School will combine its mission — providing dental education — with that of Tufts School of Medicine in order to provide public health training, according to Aviva Must, dean of public health and professional degree programs at the School of Medicine.

“Tufts University, its dental school and its medical school all have mission statements which demonstrate a strong commitment to public health and community service,” Nehring said. “As public-health dentists, our graduates will be trained to assess the oral health needs of communities, develop and implement oral health policy and provide programs and services that address oral health issues across populations.”

8

The Tufts Daily

News

Commencement 2012

MCT

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is considering including the Educational Testing Services’s Personal Potential Index as part of the admission application.

GSAS responds favorably to presentation on Personal Potential Index PPI

continued from page 4

“Those [recommendation forms] tend to be pretty uninformative,” he said.

The ETS PPI’s focus as an evaluation tool that is separate from academics may make it more useful, Tobin added.

“Because it’s separated from the academic recommendation process, maybe people who are filling it out will take those pieces more seriously and give more meaningful results,” he said.

Rogers said that although many ETS PPI categories overlap with the criteria the GSAS School Psychology Program looks for in applicants, the Knowledge and Creativity section is not as applicable to the program.

“I can’t say that all the categories and all

the questions perfectly align with how we think about or how we evaluate candidates [for] our graduate program,” she said.

Many GSAS faculty members are concerned that imposing a requirement that their peer programs do not will negatively affect the number of applicants they receive, Pepall said.

According to Pepall, ETS has begun to collect data on the results of PPI implementation by recruiting schools to participate in validity studies.

“The validity studies are when they look at schools who require the PPI, and then they see whether or not those programs who require it had better success rates, like in terms of degree completion, than those programs that didn’t,” Pepall said.

The Council of Graduate Schools,

Bauer to join Glaser as Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences BAUER

continued from page 3

to the women and the feminists on campus and women’s groups on campus that someone who is very identifiable on campus as someone who’s committed to feminist issues and to women’s academic and intellectual health is in a relatively visible position,” she said.

She currently serves as a member of the International Relations Executive Committee, the Communications and Media Studies University Advisory Board and the women’s studies board and as a supplemental faculty member in the Department of Drama and Dance. She has received numerous awards, including the Tufts University Professor of the Year distinction in 2002, the Undergraduate Initiative in Teaching Award in 2002 and the Joseph A. and Lillian Leibner Award for Distinguished Advising and Teaching in 2005.

Bauer explained the importance of maintaining humanities departments at the university level and humanities courses as requirements within a liberal arts degree, despite the growing demand for graduates with degrees in science and technology.

“I think [Berger-Sweeney] hired me because she knows that ... [I am] somebody who’s really committed to the humanities at a time when the humanities are kind of having to fight for their lives,” she said, noting that the humanities do not typically involve information that can be used in technological or scientific fields.

Bauer added that her emphasis on the importance of the humanities does not mean that she will downplay the social sciences and natural sciences departments at Tufts. She deemed a shortage of lab space for natural science classes a “nobrainer” issue that the university should commit money to fix.

“We’ve really got to focus on getting more money over [to the science labs],” Bauer said.

Glaser said that he is looking forward to working with Bauer in the upcoming year.

“She brings energy, integrity, collegiality, charisma and a sharpness of thinking to the position,” Glaser told the Daily in an email. “As chair of the Department of Philosophy, she was a major contributor to the school and did a superb job leading her colleagues. Anyone who knows her knows that she has strong and well-reasoned views and is willing to voice them. We’re better as an administration when we have spirited debate and many perspectives to weigh and balance.”

Bauer, who was a journalist before she became an academic, echoed the sentiment that the administration should take a variety of opinions into account when making decisions. She believes that institutions should strive to achieve transparency and should communicate their reasoning to ensure healthy debates on relevant issues.

“I was in a job [as a journalist] for a long time where I really had to listen to what other people were saying, make sure I understood them, and that the gist of what they said was reflected in my description of what they were doing and saying,” Bauer said. “I think that’s going to be really important to the job that I have now.”

Glaser said that he believes Bauer will play an important role as an advocate for the student body in the university administration.

“Students should rest assured that incoming Dean Bauer has a very deep commitment to education, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and I know that she will be a vigorous advocate for high quality teaching, advising, and mentoring,” Glaser said.

Bauer said that her highest priority is to serve the student body.

“I absolutely love teaching, and the hardest thing for me to do is [to give that up],” she said. “I’ve been hoping that I can do some good at a different level for my students.”

a nationwide organization of schools of which Tufts is a member, is encouraging ETS to engage in these studies and provide important evidence about the tool’s effectiveness, Pepall said.

“It will take quite a while to get those data in doctoral programs in particular because they’re long programs,” Tobin said. “It takes five or six or seven years to complete.”

Both the psychology and physics programs have yet to receive a single PPI report from a student, according to Rogers and Tobin, who were just introduced to the ETS PPI this spring during Martin’s presentation.

“I think it’s really just too early an initiative for most people to be particularly aware of it,” Rogers said.

Tufts may make the first move to require the ETS PPI if the GSAS arrives at the con-

sensus that it will help match students to a program that they will successfully complete, Pepall said.

“I think that as a graduate school we value those characteristics that the PPI is trying to capture,” Pepall said. “I think they’re hard to measure, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try our best to understand whether a person has the characteristics that are important to a program.”

She explained that Tufts will likely wait to require the ETS PPI until results of the validity reports are available, other institutions have begun to utilize the evaluation or a collective, nationwide decision about the tool’s implementation has been reached.

For now, each program will discuss whether the PPI will be recommended to applicants in September, Pepall said.

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

9

News

Students and staff identify problematic intersections on campus TRANSPORTATION continued from page 4

include adding sidewalks and bicycle lanes on all campus streets, building a bicycle repair and storage facility on campus, making Professors Row and Talbot Avenue car-free with access only for pedestrians, bicycle and the Joey, adding wheel gutters to help move bicycles uphill and moving or repainting crosswalks, according to the report compiled based on the survey findings by UEP graduate students Natalia Collarte, Emily Mailloux, Laura Smead and Amos Wright. These students could not be reached for comment.

Recommendations for transit improvements include placing physical traffic-calming measures on intersections designated unsafe, changing the Joey route or increasing the Joey’s frequency and making streets oneway, according to the report.

Suggestions for parking improve-

ments include moving parking away from the center of campus, raising the price of parking and incentivizing alternatives to driving. According to the report, the existing parking spaces on campus are consistently underutilized, allowing parking areas to be consolidated with few problems.

While there is not yet a time frame or budget to implement the recommendations, the process will move forward over the coming months, according to Stanley.

“Over the summer and into next fall, I will be able to share the UEP report with university leadership and discuss how some portion might be implemented,” Stanley said. “Many of the recommendations impacted city streets, which will need to be discussed with our host cities as well.

Implementation will take time, but the survey and the UEP report have been very useful first steps toward informing a discussion about campus mobility.”

scott tingley for the tufts daily

The Tufts Department of University Space Management and Planning and the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) in late February conducted a survey to assess the safety, efficiency and sustainability of campus transportation.

Students to use new SIS for registration starting next March SIS

continued from page 4

ing,” she said. “Training will be offered to all [Tufts] schools and will occur on all three campuses.”

Pokras highlighted that after implementation, the project’s third and final phase will consist of further tailoring the system to fit the needs of the Tufts community.

“When the new system rolls out, it will not be perfect, but it will have a flexible technical architecture that will allow us to continue to make it better,” she said.

Lagasse believes that the SIS Project Team and the central administration of the university have put forth an enormous amount of effort towards constructing the new SIS. “There is a tremendous sense of community on the project team, whose collective goal is to build a system that will work well for all of Tufts’ students and faculty,” he said.

andrew schneer / the tufts daily

University Information Technology and Student Services staff are in the midst of the three-year project to design and implement a new Student Information System, which will be ready by the 2013-2014 academic year.

The Tufts Student Fund says

Thank You

to the 700 students who donated $7,408 to Tufts this year.

A generous friend of Tufts has matched our gifts with $50,000 to fund financial aid for a student in the fall.

Congratulations to the Class of 2012!

Members of these organizations and houses supported the Student Fund in 2012:

Alpha Epsilon Pi Alpha Omicron Pi

Latin Way Apartments Leonard Carmichael Society

Tufts Cape Verdean Student Society Tufts Community Union Senate

Alpha Phi

Lewis Hall Men's Basketball Team

Tufts Dance Coalition

Alpha Tau Omega

Men’s Soccer Metcalf Hall

Tufts Debate Society Tufts Mock Trial Tufts Mountain Club

One World

Tufts Opera

President's Marathon Challenge

Tufts Order of Omega

Richardson Hall

Tufts Programming Board

Rez Café

Tufts Sailing

Sigma Nu

Tufts Taekwondo

Sigma Phi Epsilon

Tufts Ultimate Frisbee

Chi Omega

Society of Women Engineers

Women's Crew Team

Delta Upsilon Engineers Without Borders

South Hall

Women’s Rugby

Spirit of Color

Women’s Squash

EPIIC

sQ!

Women's Tennis Team

Haskell Hall

Swimming and Diving Team

Wren Hall

Hill Hall

Synaptic Scholars

Zeta Beta Tau

Hillel

Telefund

Zeta Psi

Hodgdon Hall Houston Hall Inter Fraternity Council

Tilton Hall

Alpine Ski Team American Society of Civil Engineers American Society of Mechanical Engineers Association of Latin American Students (ALAS) Baha’i Association at Tufts Bush Hall Carmichael Hall Carpenter House

Tisch Scholars Track and Field

The Tufts Daily

10

Captured

Commencement 2012

Captured: Tuftonia’s Day

Andrew Schneer / The Tufts Daily

Ashley Seenauth / The Tufts Daily

Ashley Seenauth / The Tufts Daily

Caroline Geiling / The Tufts Daily

Caroline Geiling / The Tufts Daily

Andrew Schneer / The Tufts Daily

Features

11

tuftsdaily.com

Alyson Yee | Odd Jobs

From Macchiatos to mycology

I

Courtesy Ruben Stern

Tufts’ Latino Center hosts regular events for Latino students to meet and share experiences.

Latino students look to integrate on campus by

Nadezhda Kazakova Daily Editorial Board

Given that they were the exclusive subject of the 2010 documentary “Latinos on Campus,” one might assume that Tufts’ Latino students receive a good amount of visibility at the university. Overcoming challenges foreign to the majority of the students, individual Latinos have taken on leadership roles in many academic and extracurricular settings. However, the community as a whole still struggles with challenging misconceptions about itself, accommodating the unique needs of all its diverse members, and amplifying its voice as part of the broader discussion about diversity and inclusion at Tufts.

Comprising only 6.5 percent of the campus population, Latino students come from a variety of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. While students with heritage from Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico seem like the strongest groups in the community, other Central and South American countries have the most representatives on campus, according to Director of the Latino Center Rub謠Salinas Stern.

“These numbers are on paper and don’t mean that all the students who checked off Hispanic identify with it,” he said.

“We’re lucky if even half of them actually come to us.”

Building a united Latino community The Latino Center was established in 1993 with the mission to build a strong Latino community on the Hill and help Latino students develop a sense of belonging at Tufts.

“We want to create a place where students are accepted without having to explain themselves over and over again and without people minimizing their experiences,” Stern said.

He explained that the doors of the Latino Center are open to everyone, but the students who take advantage of the resources it provides often tend to be on substantial financial aid and the first in their families to attend college.

The Latino Peer Leaders (LPLs) Program is a crucial part of the center’s goal to assist freshmen with their transition to Tufts. LPLs contact incoming students during the summer before they arrive on campus, and those students spend the first month partaking in a variety of social programming, culminating in a retreat at the end of September. In many cases, freshmen stay friends with their LPLs and return to the Latino Center throughout the rest of the year.

“My LPL has been phenomenal,” freshman Marcy Regalado said. “In the beginning of the school year, she was my first resource and introduced me to the Tufts culture, but we still try to meet up a couple of times per

week to check in with each other.”

After attending schools and living in areas with a scarce Latino presence, Regalado made it a priority to get to know fellow Latino students at Tufts. She was elected as the Latino community representative to the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate for the upcoming academic year.

“Participating in the Latino community is a very important part of me, but I also like the idea of branching out and bringing together my different worlds,” Regalado said.

During his first year at Tufts, sophomore Luriel Ocampo, an LPL and secretary of the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), admits that he initially went to the Latino Center several times a week when he felt homesick and wanted to reminisce about certain aspects of Latino culture with peers from similar backgrounds. This year, he has also made a conscious effort to expand his circle of friends.

“The Latino Center gave me a little push, but the transition all depends on the person and if they want to stay all four years with the same group of people, which wasn’t my case,” Ocampo said.

ALAS Vice President Lisnerva Nuez, a senior, initially had a genuine desire to meet non-Latino students, because she came from a background where “the minority was the majority.” She was soon confronted with a different treatment from what she was used to — her name was pronounced differently in Spanish class, where she was expected to know off-hand about Mexican holidays even though she is Dominican and felt like she was used as a “token Latina.” When things started adding up, Nuez realized that she belonged in the Latino community.

“Even though I have a light skin color, I knew that I can’t blend in and will always be singled out,” Nuez said. “That’s why I decided to be part of the Latino community, where I found the needed acceptance and empathy.”

Latino students face unique challenges Beginning on their first day at Tufts, Latino students face specific challenges related to their academic background and socioeconomic position. According to Stern, a large segment of Latino students come from poor urban schools, where they were excellent students but still didn’t acquire the same skills as their classmates from more academically rigorous schools. Senior Justin Pequeno sees some Latino students who perform well, but believes that the majority doesn’t because of this initial gap in academic backgrounds.

“I feel like a lot of Latino students are the buffer so that other students can get the high grades and we get the low grades,” Pequeno said.

The issue of affirmative action can also come up when Latino students feel as

though it puts pressure on them to perform better and prove that they were admitted because of merit, not to fill a quota, according to Nuez.

“A lot of us feel like we have to put in the extra mile, so that we aren’t told ‘Oh, it’s because you’re a Latino,’” he said.

Affirmative action has consequences for the students and professors they meet on a day-to-day basis, according to Pequeno. He added that he believes his intellectual abilities have been questioned more often than those of white students and that affirmative action is to blame for this discrepancy. “[During group projects], people always wonder if I’ll be a deficit or an asset to the group,” Pequeno said. Many of the interviewed students agreed they have had to deal with subtle accusatory comments related to affirmative action.

Another issue concerning Latino students is that many are part of the first generation of their families to go to college. Because of this, sophomore Abdiel Garcia feels as though many Latino students can’t always rely on their parents for help with choices related to classes and internships, unlike other students whose parents are actively involved in monitoring their college progress. Garcia added that if he chose not to share details with his parents, they would never be able to keep track of everything on their own.

“When it comes to making payments or choosing classes, I have to take the initiative and make many of the decisions on my own,” he said.

Regardless of the level of their parents’ involvement in their college experience, Latino students on campus are still expected to stay connected to their home communities, Pequeno said. He added that when he left his home in Texas to come to college on the East Coast, his absence had a negative impact on both him and his family. He considers it important for more Latinos to get a college education and reach important positions in society from which they can give voices to their communities.

“In the small scale, I’m [pursuing a degree] for myself and my family, but in the long run, I’m doing it for my people as well,” Pequeno said.

Stern explained that many Latinos have to stay away from home as their college and professional paths progress because of a lack of opportunities. These students are forced to make “the unfair choice between family and their career,” he said. As students climb up the social ladder, they become more disconnected from their home communities.

“The more educated we become, the more difficult it is to communicate with people at home,” Garcia said. “For my extended family, I will always be the sucsee LATINO, page 14

guess I’d hoped that by Commencement I’d have a job lined up and an answer to the “Where are you going next?” question. This semester, however, I spent a lot of time doing research about jobs I’ll never have instead of a more practical kind of job search. Whoops. Not sorry — it’s been fun, and some of the careers I’ve uncovered have been pretty good conversation-starters.

Instead of telling you about a career I don’t have, however, I thought I’d take the time to reflect on some of the odd jobs I’ve held.

I think my penchant for weird jobs might be genetic. My mom spent her teenage years working as a telephone operator on rollerblades, and she has horror stories from her time in a tube factory, screwing the caps onto toothpaste and paint containers. Meanwhile, I spent a summer doing the classic barista shtick, except in a gourmet espresso and gelato shop that encouraged me to sample generously. The co-owners had such polar personalities that they’d alternately deem Slayer or Lady Gaga appropriate coffeeshop music. For a while, I helped out my hometown’s public school system as an aide for kids with special needs during summer camp at the career and vocational school. I don’t spin it like this on my resume, but that involved my cleaning snake cages and feeding goats in the animal science lab in the mornings, and supervising fourth-graders with power tools in the woodworking shop after lunch.

This semester, I worked in a microbiology lab at Harvard studying cheese. I know.

CHEESE! Jealousy was pretty much the universal reaction, particularly once I revealed that I got to taste-test tons of varieties from Formaggio Kitchen (which has been my Mecca since I got back from junior year abroad in France).

My lab director, Rachel Dutton, is a fulltime cheese microbiologist. She’s interested in the interactions between different species of yeasts and bacteria that grow on the surface of cheese, which contribute to a cheese’s flavor and texture. Beyond the obvious food safety applications of her work, she can take an ecological perspective and treat a wheel of cheese as an ecosystem. Since microbes dominate the world around us (the microbes in your intestinal tract alone outnumber the cells in your body by 10 times, so you’re really more microbe than human), it’s important to understand how bacteria interact with their environment and with other species.

Classical microbiology looks at bacterial and yeast species in isolation, but just as a college student behaves differently among peers versus parents versus professors, this gives an incomplete picture. Cheese happens to be a particularly tasty, model ecosystem. By way of contrast, the lab right next door to ours studies the dynamics of the human intestinal tract, so their specimens are fecal.

The point of all these microbial ecology studies is to understand how microbes interact, which has applications for human health. We hope to be able to tease apart why infections take hold and persist, and how microbes can adapt to their environments. For instance, bacterial species found on cheese are often similar to those found on skin or soil, but they’ve developed unique ways to use particular nutrients and OK, end geek-out session. What I mean to say is that there are some nontraditional subjects you can study and become intensely passionate about. These could engage your head, with intellectual or academic pursuits, your heart, with outreach and socially conscious work or your stomach.

Seniors, congratulations on graduating!

My hope is that over the course of your sureto-be-illustrious career, you find something fulfilling and inspiring, that you live to work rather than work to live. I hope your path challenges you and excites you and includes a job or two that could be considered “odd.”

Alyson Yee graduates today with degrees in biology and French.

The Tufts Daily

12

Features

Commencement 2012

Spotlight on the Class Marian Swain

Doreen Ndishabandi

Allister Chang

jodi bosin / the tufts daily

kristen collins / the tufts daily

Sitting across from Allister Chang, a well-spoken young man with a friendly smile, it’s hard to believe he once planned on being an athlete instead of a college graduate.

“As a kid, when I blew out my birthday candles, ever since I was six years old I would wish to go to the Olympics,” Chang said.

Until he was 16, Chang worked hard to realize this dream, passing all U.S. Figure Skating Association tests, competing at the U.S. Junior Championships and even performing at Madison Square Garden.

But then he got an infection in his leg that threatened not only his skating career but the leg itself.

“I started to realize that if I hurt myself, I wouldn’t have anything,” he said. “That’s when I started looking at colleges.”

Although he no longer skates competitively, the mindset he honed will stay with him forever.

“Skating is the way that I see the world; you prepare for a year for two-and-a-half minutes to prove yourself — the two-and-a-half-minute program as a whole is exhausting,” he said. “If you take it in pieces, though, one jump and one spin at a time, it’s a lot less daunting.”

Judging by his accomplishments so far, this worldview has been successful for Chang, this year’s Wendell B. Phillips Commencement speaker. He served as the treasurer of the Tufts Mountain Club and the Tufts Elections Commission, and as an assistant at the Office of the Vice Provost.

Perhaps most poignant to Chang was his role as the co-president of the Tufts Queer Straight Alliance (QSA).

“I had never come out in high school, and I came out to my Wilderness group for the first time,” Chang said. “I walked back and forth in front of the LGBT Center for about 10 minutes, until I finally walked inside. My sophomore year I was the president of QSA.” Chang’s dedication to changing the world is evident in his future plans, as he plans on going into public policy. Recently accepted into the Harvard Kennedy School, he interned in the Massachusetts State House and the New York Civil Liberties Union.

He worked in Paris for an NGO in the summer of 2010 and with the Taiwanese government in 2011. He plans to go back to Taiwan for a year after graduation to care for his aging grandmother, but his fast-paced career will hardly slow.

“I’m deferring for a year for personal reasons,” Chang said. “I knew beforehand that this was a possibility, so I also applied for a grant from the Taiwanese government, and they’ve provided me with a scholarship to study at NTU [National Taiwan University].”

In the long term, Chang plans on making a serious impact on the world through policy, focusing on LGBT issues.

“Would anyone understand what I’m trying to say if I said that I want to be the first gay, Asian, Chineseimmigrant President?” Chang said, smiling wryly. “I want to aim high, but I recognize that there are constraints on what I can do in public policy because of who I am, and that’s what I want to get rid of. Those are the chains that I want to get rid of. Those are the chains that are holding down our meritocracy.”

Being from Massachusetts, Marian Swain was unsure whether she wanted to attend college close to home.

“My mom was the one who encouraged me to visit Tufts,” Swain said. After a promising tour, she applied and decided to attend Tufts — a decision she does not regret.

“I’ve had a lot of great opportunities here,” she said.

Among those opportunities was the chance to be the managing director of Tufts Burlesque Troupe, the Hill’s second-largest dance group.

However, when Swain started with the troupe during her second semester at Tufts, it was much more quaint.

“It was still the founders of Burlesque who were running it,” Marian said. “It was just this group of girls from different dance backgrounds who wanted to do something at Tufts that they felt wasn’t represented by the dance groups that already existed.”

Seeing the troupe become more popular has been exciting for Swain.

“It’s been fun to see this group grow and go in different directions,” she said.

When not sweating in Jackson Gym’s dance studios, Swain dedicated herself to her studies in international relations (IR) and German. She explained that her German studies have influenced her IR concentration in environmental economics.

“Germany is very progressive on environmental and energy policy. Even in German language classes they talk about environmental issues because that’s so important in the German political climate,” Swain said about the connection between her two areas of study.

Her decision to study abroad also was influenced by her linguistic pursuits.

“The German department encourages students to study abroad through Tufts-in-Tn because it is such a great program,” she said. “Going to Tubingen for a year was the best decision I made at Tufts.”

Initially, Swain was apprehensive about studying abroad in a small town. However, that fear faded when she discovered the unique opportunities Tubingen presented.

“Tubingen is small and it’s almost all students,” Swain said. “You’re more likely to see people you know when walking around, rather than in a bigger city where you might feel a little more isolated.” Consequently, being in Tubingen allowed her to develop stronger relationships with her German peers.

After returning from Germany, Swain continued her endeavors in environmental policy and German affairs through an internship with the German Consulate General in Boston. One of the more exciting opportunities through her internship has been the chance to work with one of the consulate’s programs, the Transatlantic Climate Bridge.

“It focuses on exchanging the best information on policy and projects between people in Germany and the Boston area,” she said, explaining that it was very informative for her given her concentration in environmental economics.

Despite spending only a year back in the States, Swain will be returning to Germany through connections she made from her internship.

“I’ve been offered a six-month paid internship with a sustainable energy and environmental consulting firms called IFOK in Berlin,” Swain said.

“As long as I get my visa sorted out, I will be there in September.”

Not many seniors can say they’ve interned at the Rwandan Supreme Court or plan to return to Africa for the indefinite future. Doreen Ndishabandi can, and she has done much more throughout her four years at Tufts.

Ndishabandi, who is originally from Uganda, has a strong interest in Africa and the many issues related to the continent. She majored in international relations with a concentration in Africa, and has been actively involved in the Tufts Collaborative on Africa as well as Tufts Against Genocide.

Ndishabandi also volunteered for a Bostonbased nonprofit called Youth Action Africa, which promotes educational initiatives in an effort to encourage technological advances that will reduce African poverty and poor health conditions.

“I was pretty much designing an intercollegiate debate series that focused specifically on Africa and issues pertaining to the African continent,” she said. “That required me to woo people from different organizations and different schools.”

During her junior year, Ndishabandi studied abroad in Rwanda and Uganda.

The Inspector General of the Rwandan Supreme Court served as the adviser for her work-study project, where she worked with government institutions and genocide perpetrators. He offered her the internship, and she decided to take him up on his offer the following summer.

Ndishabandi attended the weeklong Tufts service program at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda.

“I was a bit skeptical about going on the trip because I’m generally very skeptical about shortterm volunteer projects. I always fear that it turns into a form of tourism,” she said. “But it turned out to be a really amazing experience, and I think I connected really strongly with some of the students at the village, who I’m still in communication with.”

After the trip ended, Ndishabandi stayed in Rwanda for her internship at the inspectorate general of the Supreme Court, whose role is to examine the other bodies of the court and report on them to the President of the Supreme Court.

“I was their research intern, so I researched comparative case studies, then came up with recommendations for their new strategic plans,” she said. “Then I worked with the legal advisors, drafting reports.”

The internship has broadened Ndishabandi’s options for the future. She is unsure about whether she wants to attend law school, but is sure that she plans on returning to live permanently in Rwanda or another country in Africa.

“I’m originally from Uganda, but I want to see if I can live in a country where I don’t really have any friends, or anyone close to me, and live comfortably alone as a female,” she said. “So I was test-driving that experience. And it turned out to be amazing.”

After graduation, Ndishabandi will return to Rwanda in to work with a foundation called WE-ACTx. WE-ACTx works with Rwandan youth and women living with HIV and AIDS to increase their access to healthcare. After that, her possibilities include a long-term position at the AgahozoShalom Youth Village, or the Peace Corps.

Although the future remains uncertain, one thing will always be certain for Ndishabandi — her desire to return to the African continent.

“Right from the beginning, I was sure I wanted to go back,” she said “I never had any doubts about that.”

—by Amelia Quinn

—by Jacob Passy

—by Lily Sieradzki

jodi bosin / the tufts daily

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

Features

13

of 2012: Senior profiles Jane Jihae Yoon

Luke Pyenson Natasha Jessen-Petersen

courtesy jane jihae yoon

jodi bosin / the tufts daily

A deep commitment to and passion for children informs all that graduating senior Jane Jihae Yoon does.

Although she is matriculating at Columbia University’s Teachers College this fall, Yoon’s work with children has been as extensive outside the classroom as it has been within it.

During her junior year, Yoon founded the Tufts chapter of Love146, an international non-governmental organization dedicated to abolishing child sex trafficking. Her passion “to stand up against a horrible humanitarian injustice” was sparked by the experiences of women she knew at Tufts.

“What bothered me the most about college life while at Tufts was the prevalence of sexual assault on campus,” Yoon said. “Too many times had I heard of and seen my female friends on campus being mistreated and even sexually exploited by men.”

After hearing about the work that Love146 does and knowing how tragic it can be for college women to experience rape, Yoon found it difficult to stomach the idea of the same thing happening to a child.

“I felt like I couldn’t just stand there and be a bystander any longer,” she said. “I realized that I have the power to do something about it on campus.”

Yoon contacted several friends, suggesting that they host a benefit concert to raise money for Love146. The effort was a huge success.

“We raised $4,000, starting from scratch,” she said.

Yoon added that the money that the concert — and her chapter’s subsequent fundraising efforts — raised goes directly to rehabilitation for child survivors.

Yet Yoon is most proud of the response from the Tufts campus — not just the fundraising that the response has enabled, but also the many emails she receives from female students who are survivors of sexual assault telling her how Love146 has enabled them to begin their healing process.

“Once I started receiving all those emails full of heartbreaking, yet empowering stories, I knew all the work our group had done was well worth it,” she said.

Yoon’s work with children has extended into the classroom, too.

“I’ve actually been on this fast track for the past two years to get a teaching license at the same time that I graduate,” she said. “It’s been absolutely crazy, but totally amazing. I’ve been teaching in the Boston public schools and done three different student-teacher positions.”

She explained that the program entails her teaching full-time — 25 hours per week, she said — with the same responsibilities as a regular public school teacher. Last semester, Yoon taught both first and second grade students.

Her next teaching experience, though, will be a far cry from the Boston public school system.

“This summer, I decided to go to Uganda to teach at an orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS,” she said.

Yoon became interested in teaching in Uganda after one of her students lost his entire family last semester, leaving him orphaned.

“It was unbelievably hard for me to see that because as his teacher, I’d been pouring my heart and soul into him for the past three months,” she said. “I couldn’t stop crying for two weeks.”

She told her church about her student’s situation, and like with Love146, the response was entirely overwhelming and unexpected, with two families expressing interest in adopting Yoon’s student.

“I was just so blown away [and] it inspired me to work at the orphanage this summer.”

Possessed by a fervent desire to work with and help kids, Yoon’s eventual goal is to teach special needs children.

“I’ve found that my love for teaching and my love for kids seeps into every other area of my life,” she said.

Graduating senior Luke Pyenson has two main passions: cooking and music.

An International Literary and Visual Studies (ILVS) major from Newton, Mass., Pyenson has been interested in cooking since he was a child, and he started apprenticing for restaurants when he was 13.

“I started cooking when I had to stand on a stool in my kitchen, and I have been watching cooking shows on PBS since I was a little kid,” he said. “It’s something that has always been important to me.”

Pyenson met a fellow student who shared his interest in cooking his sophomore year, and they began to make elaborate dinners in his friend’s off-campus house every week. Soon after, they had the idea to start a supper club.

“We did a pilot run in January 2010 for some friends with five courses for 20 dollars,” Pyenson said. “It grew as people began to tell their friends, which is exactly what we wanted to happen.”

The supper club continued through Pyenson’s sophomore year, and he did Sunday brunches every week in the same vein as a junior. Although he has been busy with academics this year, he has done a dinner roughly every month.

“We used whatever was in season, letting the month dictate what we cooked,” Pyenson said. “In October we made ravioli that had chocolate in the pasta dough and made Snickers pasta which actually worked out.”

Pyenson said that throwing dinner parties for his friends and the friends of his friends has been tremendously fun for him.

“Wherever I am, I’d like to continue something like this because it gives me the chance to be creative with food and cook for other people, and that’s what I like doing most in the world, besides music,” he said. “I love getting people to try new foods and introducing people to flavor combinations and spices that they may not use themselves.”

Pyenson also enjoys writing about food. In addition to writing food-related articles for the Tufts Observer, Pyenson has been writing food travel articles for The Boston Globe since high school, writing about food from Boston to Denmark to Puerto Rico.

He has also managed to combine his love for cooking with academics. For his thesis, Pyenson cooked a 12-course dinner, which he served for his thesis committee at his parents’ house in Newton.

“The dinner explored socio-cultural relationships between France and North Africa, mainly through food,” Pyenson said. “Each of the courses references something important to me while I studied at Tufts and had a visual or cultural reference point. The finished product was an 80-page cookbook, with a history of French and Arab cooking.”

In addition to his cooking, Pyenson has also cultivated his passion for music at Tufts. He has been playing the drums since he was eight years old, and has been involved with B.E.A.T.s. since his freshman year and was president of the group as a sophomore. Since the spring of 2010, he has also co-run Midnight at Tufts, which is the alternative student-booking group that brings local and independent music to Tufts. Pyenson also plays the drums for two bands, Gulls and Krill, with Krill planning to tour this fall.

After he graduates, Pyenson hopes to continue cooking and playing music.

“I want to try to find some way to keep both music and food in my life,” he said.

Halfway into a conversation with Natasha JessenPetersen about the many activities she has been involved in at Tufts, she laughed and realized she’d forgotten one.

“Oh, I just realized I’m also a tour guide!” she said.

“I know. It’s ridiculous. I’m also in six classes, so it’s not feasible.”

But this dual-degree student has proven that what seems almost impossible is in fact feasible. Jessen-Petersen also started the Amnesty International chapter at Tufts, was the lead artist for the Tufts Observer, a head writing fellow, played club soccer and choreographed for Tufts Dance Collective (TDC) — while jumping between the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) and Tufts campuses.

Amnesty International has been always been part of Jessen-Petersen’s life, and when she arrived at Tufts and saw there was no chapter, she decided to do something about it.

“I and another student went through all the bureaucratic nonsense and difficulties and actually started the club on campus,” she said.

With over 400 people now on the Amnesty mailing list and the club now part of the Institute of Global Leadership (IGL), Jessen-Petersen explained why she thinks this club has been so popular.

“There’s such a huge emphasis on international relations and human rights at Tufts that I think for a lot of people it feels like a natural fit,” she said.

And this is only one aspect of Jessen-Petersen’s varied life at Tufts. Keeping up with the Observer, being a writing fellow and always taking five or more classes kept this senior busy.

“There were a lot of moments where I felt completely overwhelmed,” she said.

Still, not all of these activities added to her stress levels.

“TDC and soccer were a really good balance for me.

Soccer is a huge stress-reliever, and a lot of my closest friends are people I met from TDC.” Being involved in this many activities meant that JessenPetersen felt missed out on certain, more social aspects of Tufts life.

“I definitely made sacrifices in terms of going out every Tuesday night,” she said.

But this is a girl with no regrets.

“I felt that because there are these opportunities available, it would be foolish of me not to take advantage of them,” she said.

Jessen-Petersen added that a bonus to everything she’s been involved with is the people she’s met.

“It’s a really great way of meeting people,” JessenPetersen said. “These are your friends and your connections for life.”

As Jessen-Petersen is part of the five-year dual-degree plan, she is not actually graduating this year. Instead, she plans on moving to Jamaica Plain in Boston and taking SMFA classes while also working on her senior honors thesis.

“My thesis is about the relation and dialogue between art and human rights, and how art is a natural communicative tool,” she said.

Given this background, it is hardly surprising that Jessen-Petersen approached Senior Week events with the same vigor and motivation as she has throughout her Tufts’ career.

“I will be engaging in every single senior event,” she said.

—by Falcon Reese

—by Victoria Rathsmill

—by Emily Bartlett

jodi bosin / the tufts daily

The Tufts Daily

14 Ben Schwalb | Das Coding

Advice

T

here has been much complaining in the news about the lack of American engineers. CEOs, economists and countless parents have bemoaned our devolution into a “spoiled” country, where everyone chooses a major that appeals to them, and not one that makes money. I half-heartedly agree.

It’s important to have a plan in life, but it’s important to allow that plan to change. In my opinion, that’s half of what a college education is about.

At some point in your college career, you’ve doubtless hit a turning point where you simply had to give up and try another route, regardless of whether you were writing a paper or a program. Plans are supposed to change.

Be flexible.

But being flexible isn’t just about the right attitude; it’s about the right skills. Treat whatever you end up doing as a science, regardless of what it is.

If you’re an English major, don’t just write; learn about grammar and syntax, or the psychology behind being persuasive. Developing these “hard” skills will make you more employable in your own field and more qualified should you want to switch fields.

As a computer scientist, I would of course suggest you develop skills in computers. I’m not talking about learning computer science, but computer skills. Develop a knowledge and appreciation for what computers can do.

For example, computers can analyze a scanned document and copy the text. You should never be copying something from a typed document into Word. This functionality is called optical character recognition.

The thing computers are best for is repetition. Unlike humans, computers don’t get tired or grumpy. Once they learn how to do a task once, they can continue to do it for as long as needed. If you encounter a task that involves repetition, either the entire task or just some part of it, let your computer help you.

A corollary to this rule of thumb is if you use a tool or program regularly, learn all it’s features. Oftentimes, it already comes with a way to speed common tasks up for so-called “power users.”

Microsoft Excel is the best example of this. In addition to countless keyboard shortcuts, Excel has a tool called the “fill handle,” which appears in the bottom-right corner of any highlighted cell. When you click and drag it to highlight more cells, it anticipates how it should fill those cells. For example, if the first few cells in a column contain 1, 2 and 3, you can click and drag down the column to fill in 4, 5, 6, etc. Or if you set one cell to the sum of the column above it, you can click and drag to the right or left so that the other cells contain sums for their respective columns. Considering the amount of people who use Excel on a day-to-day basis, this is probably the most useful wisdom I can impart.

To learn tips like these, it’s important to get in touch with people in similar situations. Get on Internet forums and, ideally, find people in your area who use the same tools. Talk to them about what you’ve been doing, and someone is bound to have a suggestion for how you could do it better. One network of sites that people like is www.stackexchange.com/sites (and its quirky brother area51.stackexchange.com).

In summary, my advice to the class of 2012 is to approach whatever you do in a technical fashion — at least sometimes. Keep up with new developments in the things you work with and the things you just love. Find people with similar interests and reach out to them. Be flexible. And, most importantly, remember to “wear sunscreen.”

Ben Schwalb graduates today with a degree in computer science.

Features

Commencement 2012

Latino students reflect on experience at Tufts LATINO

continued from page 11

cessful icon and there is limited depth to what I can share with them. There is definitely an underlying assumption that I’ll come back and help them.”

Finding a balance between family responsibility and success outside of the environment in which they were raised is a struggle that Stern says Latino students from humbler roots must face.

“The question of where I fit in, where I belong, never goes away, and you have to be very strong to land on your feet,” Stern said.

Because of their family situations, many Latinos have fewer opportunities for professional experiences before graduation. Garcia believes that it is unfair to criticize affirmative action and point the finger at the Latino students, forgetting that they can often be at a disadvantage when looking for internships.

“For a lot of other parents, it’s easy to make a call and secure a placement for their student, but my parents don’t have these connections,” Garcia said. “Every single connection I have made, I’ve built on my own using my own networking skills.”

Freshman Gabriel Lara, who will be a peer leader during the next academic year, admits that when one comes from an underprivileged background, the bar is raised much higher and one has to work harder to be successful in an academic setting.

“We don’t have the safety net of other students, so we try to create it on our own,” Lara said. “But the truth is that we have only one shot.”

According to Stern, Latino students typically come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and often encounter unseen amounts of wealth and privilege when they first come to Tufts. He added that an example of these class differences is that Latino students may face more financial challenges — they might not be able to afford meal plans, might choose classes based on the price of textbooks or might hustle around for health care.

The difference between being able to pay for tuition and being able to cover that and the additional costs of living is an especially salient one for Latino students, Pequeno said. He noted that while he was able to come study at Tufts, he was unable to cover the costs in order to live comfortably. As a result, he had to work 20 hours per week during his first years on the Hill to cover his living expenses and collect money for his plane tickets to Texas. Pequeno admitted that his grades suffered because he had to work so much.

“I got left out of a lot of social activities, because my friends could afford it and I felt uncomfortable talking about it,” he said. “I felt like I shouldn’t have come all the way here because I couldn’t afford to be here.”

Regalado recognizes that financial problems are a recurring and prominent theme among many Latino students, especially among those who take advantage of the support programs offered by the Latino Center.

Misconceptions about the Latino community Many Latinos realize that from the outside they might be perceived as self-segregated. However, they disagree about the exact reasons and the truthfulness of that assumption. According to Pequeno, the outside majority sees only part of the problem and doesn’t understand that, although the Latino minority has made attempts to integrate itself into the larger Tufts community, it hasn’t found the same level of acceptance as other groups.

“Of course I wouldn’t want to associate myself with people who put me down — I wouldn’t go to places where I’m not readily welcomed,” Pequeno said. “I’m not here to prove myself to anyone.”

President of the ALAS Gabriela GuchoOliva, a senior, understands why the Latino community is perceived as selfsegregated and admits that her best friends are in the ALAS. “I knew I wanted to come to a Latino community, and when I’m around ALAS people, I don’t feel like a minority and don’t have differences unnecessarily pointed out to me,” Gucho-Oliva said.

She emphasized that the doors of the Latino Center are always open to anyone who wants to learn about Latino culture.

ALAS purposefully makes all of its events as neutral as possible and focuses on teaching. As a result, this year at least five nonLatino students have consistently attended ALAS meetings and even run for its executive board.

Courtesy Ruben Stern

Members of other cultural houses are often seen at Latino Center events.

To demonstrate that the Latino community isn’t exclusive, Pequeno points to its positive relationship with other minority groups that might experience similar issues of marginalization on campus.

“Take the people who go to the barbecues of the Africana Center and the Latino Center and to the ice cream social of the Asian American Center — it’s all the same people,” Pequeno said. “We support each other, and I wish the other 70 percent of campus would support us.”

Garcia doesn’t view the Latino community as isolating itself and considers his participation in it a natural extension of his social networks at Tufts.

“I know that I’ll have a place to identify with based on common background, but I also acknowledge that we’re all over campus and have our own experiences,” Garcia said.

Ocampo said that people immediately assume that he’s Latino based on his appearance, but that they don’t care as much.

“It was more of a conversation starter and it didn’t prohibit me from interacting with non-Latinos,” he said. “I’ve never had a problem with being included.”

When students from diverse groups come together for classes, minorities are especially visible. According to Gucho-Oliva, it gets particularly uncomfortable when the topic of Latinos or minorities comes up in class and the teachers expect her to be an expert. She shared one particularly disturbing story that exemplifies the level of ignorance that exists at times.

“You’d be talking about teen pregnancy, the professor would look at you, assuming that you would have some inside information,” Gucho-Oliva said.

Pequeno said he has experienced various forms of hostility — from students staring and staying away from him to the police pulling him over at night numerous times because he “apparently [doesn’t] fit the stereotype of what a Tufts student should look like.”

“Being at Tufts is like being in a war zone, and going to the Latino Center is like a safe haven where I can relax and not be so uptight,” Pequeno said.

Visibility of the Latino community on campus Despite all of the disadvantages and prejudices, Latino students don’t feel like victims, are grateful to their parents and the financial aid and try to direct all of their efforts toward academics, according to Stern.

“Things don’t come so easy to our students as for many others, but you don’t hear Latino students complain — we’re not the community that rocks the boat,” he said. “In fact, you see the opposite. All these years, I haven’t seen [Latino students] in the front.”

According to Nuez, the relative invisibility of the Latino community compared to other communities of color is reflective of the situation in the United States, where Latinos aren’t as politically active, she says. Typically, ALAS organizes a number of cultural events, including the Culture Show and Latinos Take Over Hotung.

According to Gucho-Oliva, ALAS meetings used to focus on pop culture and didn’t have time to take on political activities, but this year the executive board has made a commitment to bringing more political issues to campus.

One example of this new initiative was hosting the eighth annual conference of the Boston Intercollegiate Latin American Network (BILAN) at the end of March. The panel featured a Massachusetts state senator and state representative, who talked about

democracy and the future of the government. Considering the upcoming elections and the usually low turnout of Latino voters, Gucho-Oliva believes this event was a good opportunity to educate the public about issues related to voting.

Regalado noted that, so far, fun events and parties have brought the community together, but there is a desire to bring more serious events to the Hill.

“Tufts has been exposed mostly to the fun aspect of being a Latino, but there is more to it than music, culture and rice and beans,” Regalado said. “I’d like us to see more academic, political and economic conversations happening.”

The Latino Studies minor One way to gain an academic experience related to Latinos is through the Latino Studies minor, which was established to serve students who are interested in the Latino experience from a U.S. context. Previously, those students could potentially pursue such scholarly inquiries either through the American Studies or Latin American Studies programs.

Associate Professor Adriana Zavala, director of the Latino Studies Program, noted that the minor attracts a diverse group of students.

“The minor is both a window for those who aren’t Latino to understand this community and a mirror for those who are Latino to reflect upon their identity formation,” she said.

She said that it is still a relatively small minor, which works with limited resources to make Latino issues part of the conversation on campus and put up extracurricular programming, including Latino Heritage Month in October. Another Latino Studies core faculty member, Professor of Anthropology Deborah Pacini, commented that the minor could look more attractive if it had a full complement of interdisciplinary courses.

This would make the program more vibrant and create a big enough group of faculty and students to sustain an ongoing conversation about Latino issues.

According to both Zavala and Pacini, there are constant talks about the “Latino electorate” in light of the upcoming elections and the fact that Latinos are the largest minority in the United States, but there is little understanding of the Latino community in mainstream politics and media. They believe that looking at Latinos from a scholarly perspective would greatly contribute to intellectual life at Tufts.

Diversity and inclusion at Tufts Putting the issues of Latino students into a broader conversation about diversity, their opinions of their experiences on the Hill differ widely. Pequeno is not particularly satisfied with his experience because he wasn’t given an opportunity to explore his identity academically due to the scarcity of classes related to Latinos, had to depend on himself financially and felt that Latino students were not taken seriously by most white students.

Both Gucho-Oliva and Nuez agreed that discussions about diversity at Tufts are excessively focused on race and just recently have opened up to LGBT issues. Nuez suggested that diversity is viewed in a tokenized way, where the administration tries to fill predetermined boxes with minority students but doesn’t actually follow through on its stated commitment to diversity.

“We need to have a support system for these differences, so that they can thrive,” Nuez said. “It’s not enough to bring different students here, but it’s about keeping them and making sure they feel included.”

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

15

Features

From ideas to implementation, new courses provide fresh perspectives at Tufts by

Hannah Fingerhut

Daily Editorial Board

Students mull over the course catalog well in advance of the start of each semester, but the efforts that go into the creation, development and approval of the offered courses — those both listed and not included in the Tufts Bulletin — are not typically acknowledged.

The process of introducing a new course begins with an individual faculty member and the inception of an idea. Often, faculty members want to offer courses that reflect their specialties. As research is a crucial component of the responsibilities that faculty members take on at Tufts, courses are often be constructed based on the studies of faculty themselves.

For the past year and a half, Associate Professor of Political Science Pearl Robinson has been involved in the project “Preventing Electoral Violence in Africa,” an initiative by the Center for International Policy and Innovation (CIPI) at the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the Ghana Center for Democratic Development.

According to Robinson, about 25 percent of the 52 elections scheduled to take place in Africa throughout 2011 and 2012 lead to deadly violence.

The collaboration of the two centers at both an American and an African university to work with African governments that were planning elections, their national electoral boards, African regional organizations and African representation has been to try and see what could be done to mitigate electoral violence.

Robinson, who participated in the project’s two conferences in Ghana and Liberia, grew a foundation for her seminar “Mitigating Electoral Violence in Africa,” which is being offered this fall semester, in this project’s development.

“We have a lot of student interest in these issues and mobilization around them,” she said. “I thought a course that will actually enable [students] to understand the larger context and also learn more about what people in Africa are trying to do to address some of these issues, would be a good way of both getting you into political science, enabling you to know more about Africa, and for people who want to be activists, identifying partners you could work with in Africa.”

After a discussion with Jendayi Frazer, the director of CIPI who teaches her own course on the subject at CMU, Robinson brought the concept to the Department of Political Science at Tufts.

“Since we’re always sharing syllabi and talking about things, I decided that I’d like to try to introduce this course at Tufts,” Robinson said. “My goal is to try to introduce it in a way that students are engaged in following elections that will be taking place while we’re taking the course, and we’ll be able to relate material to what’s going on on the ground.”

Assistant Professor of Drama Noe Montez, who just finished his first year at Tufts, also offers courses in his areas of expertise. Latin American and contemporary American theater are topics on which other faculty members in the Department of Drama and Dance do not concentrate. Montez will instruct two courses just approved this coming fall: “Latino Theatre and Film,” which was offered for the first time last fall, and “Contemporary American Theatre,” a brand new course.

The professor’s forte is not the only factor, though, that is taken into consideration in the development of a new course idea. A gap found in the departmental curriculum is also a significant issue that faculty members look to address.

Montez saw that this was true for his new course on contemporary American theater.

“For years, drama department students have asked the department to teach a course that only specializes

in very recent American theater, so that students leaving the department and going out into the real world could have a sense of what some of the major plays and productions that people were working on at the time were,” he said. “So I proposed that course to Downing Cless, our department chair, in December or January and we decided to get the ball running with that course.”

The Department of Religion has also added several courses to its curriculum, including Lecturer Elizabeth Lemons’ new classes “Religion and Film” and “Re-Imagining God.”

“Latino Theatre and Film came about because that is very strongly aligned with my specialty, and after talking to my department and Adriana Zavala, director of Latino Studies, there was a consensus that is was a course that students would have interest in,” Adriana Zavala Director of Latino Studies

According to Lemons, there hasn’t been a course in the department focused on Christian thought since she first came to Tufts — almost 13 years ago — and was hired to teach “Major Religious Doctrines,” a course few signed up for, “not surprisingly given the title,” she said.

“I actually created that course in response to a need that we’ve seen in the department for a while,” Lemons said. “On and off, I have done reading courses on Christian thought with students, and we knew that there was a need for it. So we decided that now would be a good time.”

Course ideas are very much in the hands of faculty members, but undergraduate student opinions and interests are often taken into account. Lemons, for example, discusses with students their interests and expectations, and their feedback influences the development and revision of her courses.

Student desire also played a role in the development of Montez’s course in Latino theater and film.

“Latino Theatre and Film came about because that is very strongly aligned with my specialty, and after talking to my department and Adriana Zavala, director of Latino Studies, there was a consensus that is was a course that students would have interest in,” he said.

Moreover, the Department of Drama and Dance incorporates student opinions into their decisions regarding the introduction of new course topics.

“The Department of Drama put out a survey amongst all its majors and several minors, I believe, to determine what they thought the strengths and weaknesses of the program were,” Montez said. “Students responded with classes that they’d be interested in that we don’t currently offer, and then the department considered them — that’s very much how the Contemporary American course came to be.”

According to Associate Professor of Computer Science and Chair of the School of Engineering Curriculum Committee (SOECC) Alva Couch, ideas for courses within the School of Engineering (SOE) are constructed from various data taking many forms.

“A typical course starts its life due to data. There is the data that departments get from the course surveys [or] from students who just talk to us.

Then there are more organized channels,” Couch said. “[Departments] actually look at student work to find out whether there are problems [and]

do indicator tests as to whether the students are getting things that they need to get, and we have the senior survey to help us as well.”

Most courses are developed first within the department, initiated by a professor and then evaluated with the rest of the faculty.

“It starts at a departmental level,” Montez said. “We had a couple of departmental meetings where we discussed the written course proposal and talked about how a new course would fit into the curriculum just between my various colleagues in the Department of Drama.”

Often, the newer classes are offered as Special Topics courses or seminars as a trial run before being presented to the Curricula Committee for approval as an official course within a department’s curriculum, according to Professor of Mathematics and Chair of the Arts & Sciences Curricula Committee Montserrat Teixidor i Bigas.

“Most courses are taught first as special topics,” Bigas told the Daily in an email. “This allows faculty to test the syllabus and adapt it to the audience if necessary before the permanent course is submitted to the committee. After a course has been taught for a couple of years, it is recommended that it get a permanent number.”

Significant preparation is needed before a course proposal is given to the Curricula Committee for the School of Arts and Sciences, and the same is true for the School of Engineering.

The first part of the proposals is a course description that will be used for the University Bulletin.

According to Francie Chew, professor of Biology and past chair of the committee, the language used is a compromise between that specific enough for experts to understand what the course offers but also common enough for students not well versed in the field’s terminology to get a sense of the topic. The second part of the proposal, though, is more extensive.

“It contains a rationale, which does not go into the Bulletin, but provides some reasoning for things like what audience the course is expected to address or what issues within the department the course is expected to cover,” Chew said. “It often contains information on what requirements will be filled by that course, how it will be staffed, what extra resources that do not now exist might be needed for that course.”

Faculty and Curricula Committee members also commented on the importance of doing the legwork to check that the course fits within and complements the university’s existing courses.

“You’re also asked to consider any potential overlap with other courses in the university as it exists already,” Lemons said. “For example, the different programs offered in Media Studies, it would have made sense for me to talk to them about my film course if I hadn’t already consulted them.”

According to Chew, the process of approval on behalf of the Curricula Committee is one of negotiation with the department and the faculty instructor in particular. Typically, though, following negotiation, the committee will approve a course that meets the outlined criteria.

“It’s usually a lack of information or a lack of clarity that results in a course being sent back to the department for renegotiation,” she said. “There’s no sense that courses are sent back because they’re ‘inappropriate’ or we don’t think it should be taught. The Curricula Committee would not make any decision on that basis. That would be a department level basis.”

After the Curricula Committee approves the proposed course, it is added to the agenda of the Arts and Sciences faculty meeting and, there, the voting faculty determines whether see COURSES, page 16

Jasmin Sadegh | Engin-nerd

HAGS

I

spent my first day of summer in a graveyard. It was a fancy cemetery called the Mount Auburn cemetery. Imagine a typical and large cemetery, but then imagine it in Narnia. In the spirit of a graveyard, I reflected on my semester. My friend Leanna was happy that I had reached this milestone — finishing my third year of Tufts Engineering. Now that period of studying is temporarily over. Buried and survived by six letter grades on my transcript.

The end of four years in college will be a much more dramatic change for the lovely civil engineering seniors. Their occupation of the CAD lab in Anderson Hall ended with an unplanned but anticlimactic gathering in the lab, towards the end of finals week.

It’s weird that this awkward lovable sort-of family for me and the other juniors is going off to start 9-to-5 work at civil engineering firms and other real-life tasks.

I guess Tufts wants students to stay inspired, achieve great things and earn money to pay our debt after the end of college so that the school gets a decent commencement speaker. For this ancient ceremony of commencement, colleges love to choose someone with an inspiring story — or at least with an important name.

I looked up some of Tufts’ commencement speakers since 1916, and they were all pretty accomplished. Over the years, Tufts has hosted people like Lance Armstrong, Bill Cosby and Henry Chauncey, who started standardized testing — thank you very much Henry.

I guess schools try to get a powerful name to come speak to impress the students, parents and alumni. So I guess that’s why Tufts hasn’t called me up yet to tell my inspiring story of passing Steel Design entirely in the confinement of 200 College Avenue. But they still have time.

Since I am not going to wait too long for them to call me, and Justin Bieber isn’t a likely option, I would like to offer the profile of an ideal commencement day speaker for the future.

The speaker should qualify in three aspects: be familiar with the Tufts/Boston area, have been an interdisciplinary problem solver and be hipster. For example, I could nominate a geotechnical engineer of the Central Artery Project — more commonly known as the Big Dig. A geotechnical engineering firm had to figure out how to replace Interstate 93 with a long tunnel through the difficult clay-like soil that exists under Boston. They froze the soil through methods such as circulating refrigerant through tubes surrounding soil and injecting the coolant-like liquid nitrogen into the soil. This method prevented the soil from caving in during construction. It also prevented groundwater that exists in clay and soils from seeping into construction.

Through this tunnel development, the geotechnical engineer is more familiar than most with the Boston area, and even Tufts.

Who else knows exactly the water content of Boston’s soil? The geotech likely has a personal relationship with Tufts because many Tufts engineering professors contributed either research, consultation or legal advice for the Big Dig. The geotech also qualifies as someone with interdisciplinary problem-solving skills. Not only would she have stories about practical problems with structures below ground, but also stories about the continued relationship between engineering and the public. For example, South Station and Gillette Stadium gave the geotechnical engineers substantial problems.

Not to mention, the engineers are harshly blamed for Massachusetts’ infamous reputation due to the cost overrun. Politicians across the country hesitate for future infrastructure projects for fear it will be “another big dig.”

The geotech would be a great model for all the hipsters on campus. The geotech has to build a tunnel because the highway is just too mainstream.

Does that sound like a speaker that would be welcome at Tufts?

Jasmin Sadegh is a rising senior who is majoring in civil engineering. She can be reached at Jasmin.Sadegh@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

16 Jack Webster and Hannah Furgang | A Piece of Advice

Goodbyes

Committees debate, vote on new courses

Features

Commencement 2012

courses

continued from page 15

D

ear Jack and Hannah, I’ve been reading your column all semester, and I’ve actually tried to take all of your advice seriously.

Why has nothing worked out?

Sincerely, Graduating and Grumpy in Gantcher* *(finding housing for after graduation was a little difficult) Dear Graduating, We are truly sorry to have disappointed you. We didn’t want to let you down with our advice, but in all honesty we don’t even listen to ourselves. The sage wisdom we have imparted each week on page three of the Daily probably shouldn’t be followed by anyone, let alone a senior with (hopefully) bigger plans than we have.

But, hey, you must have done something right, cuz you’re graduating! Woot woot!

Break out the confetti and beverage of your choice and get ready to partaaaaaaaaaay!

We can see why it would be hard to leave a place like this. The prospect of subsisting entirely off of food you buy yourself since there will be no freshmen to trick turn you Davis Squares on white must be daunting.

But just think, soon you’ll be brandishing your degree at potential employers and trumpeting, “I just graduated from Tufts!” from the rooftops.

What we’re trying to say is, congratulations! Graduation should be the happiest of days, despite any Senior Week regrets. (You Only Graduate Once??? Sorry.

Unnecessary.) While the freshmen have completed two measly sets of finals, you have undergone the full set of eight weeks of studying hell and getting at least marginally good grades. That’s freakin’ admirable.

And unless you’re subjecting yourself to the misery of grad school, you’re done with school for, like, forever. There’s no more homework. No more labs and lectures.

No more recitations. No more academicsinduced all-nighters.

The biggest benefit, though, is that no matter what you choose to do with your life, it’s going to mean something. Finding the mass of a cart without weighing it in physics class? Probably not gonna change the world. Same with that paper you wrote about the intricacies of 19thcentury dress hems. What you do with the knowledge you acquired performing these somewhat menial tasks, however, DOES mean something. It means you can be a competent engineer, contextualize current events, navigate stifling bureaucracies or write a proposal to your boss. And most importantly, your education probably endowed you with a sense of just how you’re going shake up this world.

But leaving school can be difficult. We’ve all been in the educational system since we were in preschool, stacking blocks and learning to read. We’ve all been institutionalized in this system that says homework is due the class after it was assigned, that points will be taken off for late submissions, that the final draft is due a week after the first. Leaving that structure behind is kind of a big deal (but we’re all secretly a little jealous).

So maybe you had trouble finding a significant other, decorating your room and developing a positive body image. Maybe you STILL don’t know how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop. But you’re young! 22 years old, 25 max. And if you have access to good health care, you can expect to have a long life ahead of you.

Seniors, we’ll miss you. We’ll miss guesting you in to meals. We’ll miss seeing you on test days in big lecture classes. We’ll miss the captains of our sports teams. We’ll miss the most attractive members of the Tufts community. And with that, we say bon voyage, bon appetit, and Bon Iver. Blast the Elgar and make us proud.

Jack Webster and Hannah Furgang are rising sophomores 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.

or not the course is added as an official part of the particular department’s curriculum.

A fundamental difference between the committees in the School of Arts and Sciences and School of Engineering is their size.

“The case loads in the two committees are very different, and what they discuss is very different,” Couch said. “We had a very low caseload this year — we had a few program changes, a few course changes.”

Moreover, despite a fairly similar process in terms of approving requests in the committee and then taking the proposal to a faculty vote, the discussion within the SOECC is rather distinct.

“Our primary, overarching mission is those eight programs, and honestly, there are times when we look the other way when there are things overlapping between the programs because we realize that actually combining those things would disrupt both programs,” Couch said.

“Discussions in the committee concern more about keeping the programs running efficiently and less about disciplinary boundaries.”

In both schools, however, the importance of this process — both creating and voting on courses — is an essential aspect of faculty responsibility.

“The voting of new curriculum and the changing, the evolution, of existing curriculum is one of the very core faculty responsibilities, if you will,” Chew said. “So it’s one of the key forms of faculty governance in the university courses are [fundamentally] faculty initiatives.”

Congratulations Community Health Program Class of 2012!

Daphne Amir Emily Anderson Annye Anderson Erik Antokal Brianna Atkinson Lauren Augustine Carl Bellin Sarah Bleiberg Kaitlyn Bowles Erika Brown Mary Bruynell Stephanie Calnan Mairghread Casey Anna Christian Ellie Crutcher Alexis Daniels Sarah Danly Daniella Dominguez

Rebecca Edelberg Sally Ehrlich Brooke Evans Rachel Figaro Gregory Fisk Julia Fleekop Adriana Flores Julia Gerber Nina Grossman Sarah Gutkind Kelly Hyland Anna Johnson Susan Johnson Bryn Kass Laura Kroart Aditya Kulkarni Jordana Laks Amy Li

Sara Maldonado LoriBeth Manzolillo Emma Oppenheim Marianna Papageorge Kayley Pettoruto Aaron Ratoff Shelby Schulz Monica Shah Nitin Shrivastava Sarah Soffer Andrea Stewart Emily Uland Eleanor Unsworth Andrew Vidikan Jie Yi (Amy) Wei Lauren Weiner Safiyah West Lisa Zingman

Leaving Tufts — but only for a little while by

Falcon Reese

Daily Editorial Board

Although today’s graduates are leaving campus, not all of them are leaving Tufts just yet. Zachary Daniels is one of the seniors who will be studying at the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM), and in 2016, after another graduation, he will serve as an officer and a dentist in the U.S. Army.

“One of the reasons I chose Tufts for undergrad is because it has [the] connection with the dental school,” Daniels said. “It’s one of the best dental schools in the country, so it’s one of the easiest shots to get from high school to dental.”

Daniels has known that he wants to be a dentist since high school, and he chose Tufts in part for the early acceptance track that undergraduates can take to get into the TUSDM. As a sophomore, he applied for and received a guaranteed position in the dental school’s class of 2016.

Yet tuition posed a new challenge for Daniels as the TUSDM is one of the most expensive dental schools in the country with a cost of attendance that hovers around $95,000 per year. Using his time in and knowledge gained as an officer of Tufts’ Pre-Dental Society, Daniels discovered the U.S. Army’s Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP). He applied and received a full ride to the TUSDM. According to Daniels, the program requires a one-for-one exchange, meaning that for each year of dental school that the Army pays for — four in total — Daniels must serve one year as an army dentist — a position that he looks forward to with enthusiasm.

“Usually you’ll start off on some army base somewhere stateside and learn how to use their systems and start doing screenings on soldiers — regular dental care,” Daniels said. He added that he will have at least one six-month deployment to an army field hospital somewhere in the world where a dentist is needed.

“It could be in a war zone, or it could be [like] after the Haitian earthquake, they sent some army dentists down there. So it could be a humanitarian thing,” he said.

Upon receipt of his scholarship, Daniels

was officially commissioned as a second lieutenant and is now technically in the Army Reserve. When he graduates dental school in 2016, he will be on active duty, although he will not serve as a soldier on the front lines.

Daniels first realized that he wanted to be a dentist after a mandatory career shadowing in high school.

“I shadowed some different professions, and dentistry seemed like the best lifestyle,” he said. “My dentist got to work four days a week and got to go home and have lunch with his wife and kids every single day. He got to own his own business, he was a doctor helping people, and he had all that family time.”

Although the lifestyle appeals to him, what drove Daniels to serve as an army dentist — besides the scholarship — was his

desire to help people.

“I feel like a lot of the times when you go for a dental interview and they ask you, ‘Why do you want to be a dentist?’ and everyone says, ‘I want to help people, I want to make people’s lives better,’ and I feel like a lot of the time, that’s secondary to, ‘I want an easy job with a lot of money,’” he said.

“I think being an army dentist — helping people is priority one.”

Daniels added that a lot of his enthusiasm for serving as a dentist in the army also stems from the unique opportunity it presents him to see the world.

“It’s probably one of the only ways to see the world, travel, while you still don’t have kids,” he said. “To be able to help people in that kind of capacity is pretty special. It’s kind of a once in lifetime thing.”

Jodi Bosin / the tufts daily

Daniels will serve in the U.S. Army after earning a degree from Tufts’ dental school.

Arts & Living

17

tuftsdaily.com

Sculpture Feature

Leslie Fry’s ‘Colossal AcornHead’ finds temporary home near Tisch Library

For many Tufts students, the walk to the library is a familiar one, a routine journey that most make multiple times a week. However, as packs of students made the traditional trek to Tisch over the past few weeks, they probably noticed a change in scenery.

Now, underneath a sprawling tree in the center of the path lies a massive bronze sculpture entitled “Colossal AcornHead.”

The piece, which was installed Friday, May 4, was created by artist Leslie Fry and is currently on loan to Tufts for just one year. Fry, a graduate of the University of Vermont, who received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College, has been professionally exhibiting her art since 1977. The sculpture, an enormous acorn with a human face carved into its facade, was originally part of an earby

Caroline Welch Daily Staff Writer

lier installation by Fry called “Quercus Emancipation.” In 2003, Fry was commissioned by Wave Hill, a renowned public garden in the Bronx, to create a site-specific sculpture for its Glyndor Gallery. Initially molded in plaster, “Colossal AcornHead” was inspired by the oak trees outside the gallery, as well as by architectural details of the building itself: The oak leaf pattern on the sides of its cheeks comes from the ornate border around the room’s fireplace, and the center of the statue’s eyes is formed from actual acorns. Fry described her work as a fusion of the natural and man-made worlds.

“For me, this sculpture is about human consciousness rooted in nature — that our ‘heads’ and the earth are inseparable and symbiotic,” she said.

“Our heads have done great damage to our earth, and I think ‘Colossal AcornHead’ is a good reminder of our essential connectedness.”

“Colossal AcornHead” is a pilot project for a new public art initiative

sponsored by the Tufts University Art Gallery. “[We wanted] more public art on campus and wanted to start with a really engaging, accessible work,” Amy Schlegel, the Director of Galleries and Collection, said.

The gallery had been considering a number of potential sites for an installation, but Schlegel said everything really came together after seeing the sculpture.

She and Fry have known each other since 1996. When she spoke with her about the possibility of using her sculpture from “Quercus Emancipation,” Schlegel said, “It crystallized in that moment: We had the right site [for] the right sculpture. The site is really perfect, not only because of the form of the sculpture, but because it is so heavily trafficked and visible.”

Indeed, this ensures that “Colossal AcornHead” will be seen not only by see ACORNHEAD, page 23

Alterna2 via Flickr Creative Commons

Radiohead promises to be one of this summer’s most incendiary live acts.

From Baltimore to Montreal, summer festivals run the gamut from jazz to thrash

Daily Editorial Board

With the end of school comes free time, and with free time inevitably comes music festivals. Whether you want to revive the Grateful Dead or throw on your Kandi and dance until dawn, there’s plenty to choose from with the dozens of music festivals taking over the East Coast this summer. We’ve narrowed it down to the top five festivals you shouldn’t miss if you want to have something to brag about in September.

Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival may be one of the best-known festivals in the country, and it continues to deserve the hype. From June 7-10, over 80,000 campby

Melissa MacEwen

ers will descend on a 700-acre Tennessee farm for four days of chilled-out camping, art and music. Now in its 11th year, Bonnaroo will have over ten stages chock full of 150 performances ranging from headliners Radiohead, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Phish to Black Star and Maynard Keenan’s Puscifer. More than other festivals, Bonnaroo is above all an experience and even merits a Bonnaroovian Code. Just make sure to bring a steady tent and to drink a lakefull of water.

The 14th annual Starscape event will roll in to Baltimore on June 9 at 2 pm — and keep going strong until 6 a.m. the next morning. Watch the Maryland sun set, and then rise, with Shpongle,

Flux Pavilion, Wolfgang Gartner, Beats Antique and myriad other electronic and dance acts. Ultraworld and Steez Promo promise to “immerse you in the Garden of Eden” for the entire 16-hour event with their 40-plus acts and five stages and would surely be pleased to witness the fall of man.

After two weeks of Starscape recovery, trek up to Randall’s Island of New York City for Governor’s Ball, which will take place June 23 and 24. Governor’s Ball has a bulletproof line-up that includes Beck, Passion Pit, Kid Cudi, Modest Mouse, Fiona Apple, Chromeo, Duck Sauce and Atmosphere. The event does technically see FESTIVALS, page 19

Niki Krieg | Queen of Cibo

The cherry (strawberry?) on top

A

h, Commencement: It’s that 12-letter word that seems to encapsulate every senior’s final year on the Hill. Besides rushing to finish our majors and theses, we had the Welcome Back gala, the “100 Days” extravaganza, pub nights and Senior Week ­— lots of celebrations, in other words, to celebrate a whole bunch of lasts.

It seems kind of crazy that at age 22 (or 21, or 23 or somewhere around there) that everything seems so ... final. It was weird turning in that last exam, and it was also strange dancing and gallivanting across the President’s Lawn for our very last Spring Fling a few weeks ago. Some of my friends are experiencing quarter-life crises as they scramble for some job that they’re honestly only going to keep for at most a few years, and others are looking forward to law school, med school or that big move across the country, or even the world.

No matter what the future brings to each of us, the college chapter is closing as quickly as it started, and today we are celebrating the intense efforts we’ve put forth these past four years.

The Daily is one place in particular where I put forth so much time and dedication.

That being said, writing my last column is really bittersweet. It was sometimes a struggle, but the Daily was the one thing I looked forward to every day. The cave became my second home, and my colleagues became my family. Sure, I’m excited for the next chapter of my life to begin, but there are no words for how to say goodbye to these people who made my time at Tufts so worthwhile — hence, bittersweet.

So how does cooking come into this last column? Throughout the semester, I’ve introduced you to chili, curry and chicken soup — all such savory things that I can only hope that you’ve given a try. But where was the “sweet” all semester? Where’s that figurative “cherry on top” to end my column with a bang?

I figured that I would end my reign as the Queen of Cibo with possibly the most delicious recipe, which especially marks the bittersweet atmosphere that we seniors find ourselves immersed in. Bittersweet chocolate strawberries are that ultimate aphrodisiac, that ultimate guilty pleasure — that ultimate way to end every moment on the Hill.

The process of making chocolate strawberries can get messy, because it involves a double-boiler, which is basically an apparatus of two nested pans where the food cooks (or the chocolate melts) slowly in the upper pan, heated by the boiling water in the lower pan. You could, however, use a microwavesafe bowl instead, and besides — the ingredients can’t be simpler: There are no bells and whistles or crazy adornments — the strawberries and chocolate speak for themselves.

Ingredients: 5 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, chopped 1 pint of fresh strawberries, with their leaves Fill three-quarters of a pot with water, and place a microwave-safe bowl on top of the pot.

Add the chocolate to the bowl, and on a medium heat setting, let the water boil and melt the chocolate. Stir the chocolate occasionally to make it smooth.

Holding the strawberries by the stem, dip each one into the chocolate so that it’s thoroughly covered, and place on a cooking sheet lined with parchment paper to harden. These are best chilled in the fridge overnight.

And that’s it. I’ve given you a taste of what I know, and what you can use to wow your friends and family in the kitchen.

I’ve got to take off the crown now: It’s time for that cap and gown.

Niki Krieg graduates today with degrees in Italian studies and history.

The Tufts Daily

18

Arts & Living

Commencement 2012

Restaurant Review

Boston’s best lobster rolls by

Chris Poldoian

Daily Editorial Board

AMCTV.com

Cranston’s bold performance in ‘Breaking Bad’ has earned him numerous awards.

Summer hails return of long-awaited TV shows

Less than a decade ago, summer television consisted of nothing more than reruns, edited-for-TV films and reality by

Alex Hanno

Daily Editorial Board

shows. While you can still surely find a bevy of such material on the tube today, things have thankfully changed. Due to the popularity surge in basic and presee SHOWS, page 23

While Jumbo the elephant is the mascot of Tufts University, the lobster is the unofficial symbol of Boston. In gift shops, anthropomorphic plush lobsters line the shelves, waving their hulking claws at tourists.

The American lobster (Homarus americanus, for all of you receiving Latin honors today) has an unusual history. Given its insectoid appearance and tough-to-crack exoskeleton, lobster was intensely disliked by New England settlers. Lobsters were so plentiful that nor’easters often left the shoreline littered with them. Considered a pauper’s meal, cooked lobster was often forced upon slaves, and indentured servants would request a contractual maximum of two lobster meals a week. It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that lobster consumption increased. Now the king of crustaceans, lobster is synonymous with luxury and commands high prices or a prix-fixe supplement at swanky restaurants.

In spite of this ostentation, lobster is arguably best served in the form of a roll. A radical act of culinary subterfuge, the placement of lobster meat in hot dog buns belies the wealthy connotations of lobster. Think of it like a rich man’s po’boy. The lobster roll is the perfect summer snack, and below is a list of delicious places to try Boston’s go-to sandwich.

Neptune Oyster This North End restaurant has established itself as the premier seafood spot in Boston — and for good reason. So good is its seafood that Neptune himself would raise his trident in satisfaction.

The perennial favorite, Neptune Oyster’s lobster roll comes two different ways. The first is the traditional cold lobster meat dressed in mayonnaise. While certainly tasty, this cold sandwich is overshadowed by the alternative, which is served hot. Known as “Connecticut-style,” this roll’s generous hunks of lobster meat come slathered in clarified butter. The dish has won numerous accolades for its ability to integrate the hot, buttery appeal of whole lobster with the structure of a lobster roll.

B & G Oysters Barbara Lynch is perhaps Boston’s most influential chef and restauranteur.

This South Boston native has gone on to win a James Beard Award — the gastronomic equivalent of an Oscar — as well as open a variety of Boston restaurants, including No. 9 Park and Menton.

B & G Oysters is Lynch’s seafoodfocused restaurant. There are three lobster options on the menu. First, you can order the lobster beignets, which come with a refreshing celery root puree and tangy bit of pickled fennel. Then, there is the lobster BLT (or BLLT, technically).

If that sounds too busy (it is, with the see LOBSTER, page 22

Album Preview

Pop, R&B releases promise to light up summer The Daily previews summer’s most anticipated releases

by Joseph Stile

Daily Editorial Board

The summer months are always marked by the release of highly anticipated albums.

The Daily previews some of the titles to listen for this summer season.

Justin Bieber’s third studio album, “Believe,” drops at the end of June. “Believe” features beats from some of pop’s top producers, including The Neptunes, Dr. Luke, will.i.am and Timbaland. The album also plans to showcase verses from some of rap’s best, including Lil

Wayne, Drake and Kanye West.

The lead single, “Boyfriend,” and other leaks suggest that Bieber is going for a more adult and contemporary sound that will likely please his current fans while also winning over some new ones.

Rick Ross will be releasing his fifth studio album, “God Forgives, I Don’t” at the end of July. After a string of successful mixtapes and features, Rick Ross is currently on a career high, and this album might be his masterpiece. Lex Lugar and Dr. Dre assisted with the album’s production, which will

Wikimedia Commons

Justin Bieber’s ‘Believe’ is sure to be one of the year’s highest-selling albums.

likely lead to some elaborate and strong beats for Ross’s bassheavy sound.

2 Chainz’s studio debut, “Based on a T.R.U. Story,” is likely to make him the breakout rap star of the year. He has already gained attention for an impressive verse on Nicki Minaj’s “Beez in the Trap” (2012) and an endorsement by rap superstar Kanye West. His first album will likely earn him even more acclaim as he demonstrates his quick rhyming speed and clever lines.

When he was only 20 years old, Nas released “Illmatic” (1994), one of rap’s most beloved records. While he has not been able to reach that artistic peak again, his newest release, “Life is Good,” is still likely to be one of the year’s best. Coming out in July, the album is Nas’ 10th and will feature some memorable verses from this rap legend. It has been four years since Nas’ last album, “Untitled” (2008), so fans are ready for some more hardcore sound and deep verses.

While in recent years Fiona Apple has laid low in the music scene, performances at the South by Southwest music festival have created some chatter about Apple’s strong return.

Her newest album, “The Idler Wheel is Wiser Than...,” is due out in June and features more of her trademark confessional lyrics. Apple’s seamless mixture of pop, jazz and lyrical poetry make all her releases a treat for music fans.

Usher’s latest single, “Climax,” is a hugely popular song of the moment for its minimalist electronic production and Usher’s smooth falsetto. In June, “Looking 4 Myself” comes out, and it features “Climax” as well as more of Usher’s R&B/ pop fusion ballads. Usher has claimed the album will mix electronic and soul music in a “revolutionary” way. If Usher’s other albums are any indicator

Wikimedia Commons

Rick Ross is releasing his highly anticipated new album this summer. for this one, it will likely be a huge chart-topper and great dance album.

Chris Brown returns to the R&B sound that made him famous in the first place with his newest release, “Fortune.”

Coming out at the end of June, the album is Brown’s follow-up to his Grammy-winning record, “F.A.M.E.” (2011), and features productions by David Guetta.

This album’s sales will likely test whether or not the public has forgiven Brown for his past misdeeds and determine the status of his comeback.

Rick Ross’ protege, Meek Mill, will release his debut studio album, “Dreams and Nightmares,” in August. After a much-acclaimed mixtape and some strong features, this Maybach music member is likely to turn some heads with his quick-witted lines and verses.

Passion Pit is an electro-pop band that drew attention with their extremely catchy and very danceable debut, “Manners” (2009). They hope to find that perfect balance again with their follow up album, “Gossamer.”

“Gossamer” comes out in late July and is likely to be a great album to listen to on the beach or to blast in your car.

The pop-rock band Maroon 5 has had a string of irresistible pop songs, and they look to continue their streak in June with “Overexposed.” The lead single, “Payphone,” has been a radio favorite and shows the band still knows how to create catchy hooks along with solid production.

This summer is likely to give listeners some of the best rap and pop albums of the year, just in time to enjoy that special campfire or backyard barbeque.

Commencement 2012

The Tufts Daily

19

Arts & Living Chris Poldoian | The Gourmand

Food trending

H

ello dear eaters! I wanted to talk to you all about a couple of food trends that I have seen emerge over the past year that are here to stay.

IGN.com

Christian Bale reprises his role as Bruce Wayne in ‘The Dark Knight Rises.’

Summer of 2012 heralds game-changing action movies by

Kate Griffiths

Daily Editorial Board

Summer is the most lucrative time for movie studios to be releasing high-budget action films. What better way to celebrate the beautiful weather than to see some stuff getting blown up? The summer of 2012 is going to see, alongside various indie films and touching rom-coms, the release of highly anticipated superhero movies and pleasantly absurd action films. Mindless blockbusters are generally a summer favorite, so here is the definitive list of the best up-and-coming action movies of the summer.

“The Dark Knight Rises,” July 20 Since “The Dark Knight” hit theaters

back in 2008 and blew the minds of every Batman fan, the sequel has been whispered about and speculated upon ceaselessly. When it was finally announced that Bane (Tom Hardy) was, upon his return from South America, going to be the villain Batman faced, excitement only intensified — especially among those who have any knowledge of what happens on Batman’s ultimate battle with Bane.

Christopher Nolan has proven himself as a savvy and masterful director in the previously acclaimed “Batman Begins” (2005) and “The Dark Knight,” showing a side of Gotham that was never apparent in the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher productions. Nolan exposes the seedy underbelly of Gotham and imbues it with roughness, not just the wacky architecture of Burton’s

fantasyland. “The Dark Knight Rises” is guaranteed to be one of the best films of the year and can’t come out soon enough.

“The Amazing Spiderman,” July 3 This reboot of the Spiderman franchise was never supposed to be a dig at Sam Raimi’s Spiderman trilogy starring Tobey Maguire. It’s probably just the studio attempting to make as much money as possible, but they’re going about it in the right way. Andrew Garfield’s re-invention of Peter Parker looks to be sassier, faster and generally all around a little more angst-ridden than Maguire’s — and Garfield himself is a massive Spiderman fanboy, as proven see ACTION, page 22

Host of summer music festivals will shake up North America FESTIVALS

continued from page 17

take place at the same time as the Orion Music + More festival in New Jersey, but it doesn’t seem like much of a competition. Governor’s Ball has been a New York mainstay for years, but this is the first year that it will be a two-day event. It’s sure to be a roaring success, especially when you factor in the Ben & Jerry’s truck that will be selling the company’s new Greek Frozen Yogurt.

Though the Montreal International Jazz Festival occurs beyond the American border, it nonetheless merits inclusion on this list for its incredibly consistent quality and quantity. Spanning from June 28 through July 7, the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal has dominated the global scene since the 1980s and has held a record since 2004 in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the world’s largest jazz festival. Over 3,000 artists from more than 30 countries, along with 2.5 million visitors, are expected to flock to the event as jazz consumes Montreal for the festival’s ten-day run. Stanley Clarke, Ziggy Marley and Tore Brunborg will be the main attractions for the show this year, but musical mobs need not worry about finding a good performance among the 10 free outdoor stages and 10 indoor performance halls. As if that wasn’t enough, the jazz festival will coincide with the 2012 Montreal International Fireworks Competition running from June 30 to August 3. The competition is the largest pyrotechnics competition in the world and frequently involves fireworks shows that are synchronized with music. Best of all, it’s easy to attend both these festivals for free.

Beer This is technically a two-parter. The first part deals with the number of microbreweries popping up across the country. Many people are intimidated by wine, with its myriad varietals and its delicate storage conditions. Besides, it’s hard to talk about wine and not sound like a snob. Believe me, I’m still trying to regain my street cred after having vocalized my love for soft tannins and lightbodied Pinots.

With barriers to entry decreasing, small companies like Teele Square’s Slumbrew are able to rent out space at established breweries. Should you find yourself at Ball Square Fine Wines and Liquors after graduation, pick up a bottle of their Porter Square porter, which features Somerville’s Taza Chocolate.

Indeed, this influx of microbreweries also means more adventurous flavors produced.

This has of course influenced the bigger breweries as well. Sam Adams, for instance, now produces a kriek.

The second part of this stage is beer cocktails. One of the most popular drinks in Spain blends beer with Lemon Fanta. Called a “clara” or “clara con lim,” this light, refreshing beer is the drink Bud Light Lime wishes it were. Micheladas may be a staple of Mexican restaurants, but they’re already crossing the gastronomic border. Don’t believe me? Head over to Coppa in the South End for a Taxman, a lively blend of Meletti Amaro, prosecco, ginger ale and stout. Guess it’s time to stop drinking Natty Light.

Foraging I’m sure you’ve all heard about locavorism — the importance of eating locally produced food. Foraging takes this a step further by utilizing ingredients that are found, not purchased. In many ways a rejection of the synthesized work of molecular gastronomy, foraging tries to serve the most natural ingredients possible. The perfect example of this is the Cophenhagen restaurant Noma, where chef Rene Redzepi uses twigs, mushrooms, and literally every part of an elk to serve his meals. Redzepi trained under Thomas Keller at the French Laundry and Ferran Adria at Elbulli and has used his culinary skills to redefine Scandanavian cuisine. The ascension of Noma to the top spot on the Best Restaurants in the World list proves that foraging is here to stay. Start looking for foraging restaurants — as well as Scandanavianinspired cuisine — to hit the States this year.

Savory Desserts While combination of salty and sweet has been around for years — just check the snack aisle for chocolate-covered pretzels — the incorporation of savory ingredients in dessert has recently gained traction in the gastronomic world. A very basic example is the use of balsamic vinegar with strawberries or ice cream. However, restaurants are taking things a step further.

Recently, I had the pleasure of trying a shiitake mushroom pot de creme at Strip T’s.

Chef Tim Maslow steeps powderized shiitake in the cream, lending a satisfyingly earthy flavor to the custard, which is topped off with a thyme butterscotch sauce. I’ve had celery root ganache and bacon ice cream. While in Barcelona, I had the opportunity to eat at the haute dessert bar Espai Sucre. One course in the tasting menu featured tobacco in an oak and chocolate dessert. If that sounds farfetched, then head over to Craigie on Main for a tobacco-chocolate cake. Think of it as the Pillsbury doughboy’s sexy older sibling.

Of course, the reverse is true as well. While the Vietnamese have long used caramelized sugar to flavor their fish dishes, Americans are just now discovering this new wrinkle to sweetness. Spices like cinnamon, ingredients like chocolate, and preparation techniques like ice creams will break free of their dessert typecasting and will start invading your appetizers and entrees.

Georgia Kral via Flickr Creative Commons

Passion Pit is taking advantage of its popularity surge with a string of live dates.

Chris Poldoian graduates today with degrees in Spanish and economics.

20

The Tufts Daily

captured

Commencement 2012

Captured:

Arts on the Hill All photos courtesy Justin McCallum

Commencement 2012

The Tufts Daily

captured

21

The Tufts Daily

22 Elizabeth Landers | Campus Chic Report

Magnificent milliners

O

ne of my fondest childhood memories is running around my godfather’s hat factory in Long Island City, N.Y., grabbing fistfuls of sequins, beads, silk flowers, rhinestone clusters — anything scintillating and sparkly. My godfather packed up little clear plastic bags of these beautiful hat trimmings, letting me trot back to Florida with enough creative material to last for years of collage-making and friendship bracelets.

He would also pack up a hat or two: a lilac crushed-velvet tea hat and a limegreen, white-striped sunhat. As most 6-year-olds would, I took these from my dress-up box for tea parties and friends’ birthdays, losing my real identity in the wide sweeping brim of a hat each time I put one on and taking on a new personality that only dress-up allows you to.

As I’ve aged, my love affair with hats has grown deeper. Florida sunshine for eight months of the year called for a multitude of sunhats for dock parties and beach days. Ski trips allowed me to bust out over-the-top fox-fur trapper hats. If the clothes make the man, then the hat is the finishing touch, exhibiting true style and a penchant for the dramatic. The profession of millinery is an oft-overlooked subsection of the fashion industry; most men no longer wear top hats on a daily basis, and women reserve hats for special occasions. The favorite American pastime of baseball led to the all-American hat: the casual baseball cap.

Just as I was beginning to completely lose faith in the future of a wellcrafted hat, Kate Middleton came along (and Pippa too). The royals, who, let it be known, will only work with British designers on any of their clothes, and the fairytale wedding last year certainly brought attention to the sort of decorative head arrangements that some call heinous, others genius. The Daphne Guinness collection at the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum last fall was curated with Daphne’s zany, sensational style in mind and a few Alexander McQueen contraptions to boot. And then Marc Jacobs showed those massive, furry pimp hats in his pilgrim-themed fall 2012 show in February. Recently, “60 Minutes” aired a rather peculiarly out-of-place segment on polo matches, the sport practically more famous for its fashion than its athleticism. If you lead a horse to water there will be fancy hats as well.

The Derby (that’s the Kentucky one, y’all) passed a few weeks ago, and with spring weather finally in the air, women’s sunhats are coming into their prime season. I’ve always been adventurous with my fashion, so I can say that I have experimented with my fair share of millinery over the past 15 or so years.

I hate hearing wishy-washy, down-inthe-doldrums comments from people who say, “Oh I can’t pull off hats. They don’t look good on my face.” Darling, hats are like sunglasses: You have to try on a lot of shapes and sizes, and make sure the color does not over- or underwhelm your skin tone. When you find the perfect fit, it hides bad hair days, performs an instant facelift and lends itself toward a hint of mystery. If form follows function (let us be clear: This is not always the case in fashion), then wide-brim hats offer more protection from the sun, keeping your skin at bay from rays.

Of course, since hats are an occasional wardrobe piece for a lot of women, graduation and Memorial Day weekend festivities are the ideal moment to work a white straw fedora or metallic gold sunhat into the mix. Anything too royalesque might not work with the classic, conservative New England vibe. But with that said, no one ever had any fun in fashion playing it safe, especially not the Mad Hatter.

Elizabeth Landers is a rising senior majoring in political science. She can be reached at Elizabeth.Landers@tufts.edu.

Arts & Living

Commencement 2012

Five local spots specialize in lobster rolls LOBSTER

continued from page 18

pork overpowering the delicate lobster flavor), then go ahead and order the traditional lobster roll. Either way, you’ll be happy with the disproportionate amount of lobster meat, which demands the use of a fork.

Alive and Kicking Lobsters This Cambridge establishment isn’t really a restaurant. Primarily a fish market, Alive and Kicking Lobsters has very little in terms of prepared food, focusing instead on local fresh fish.

But don’t write off this fishmonger just yet, because the lobster sandwich is worth the walk from Central Square.

Served on white bread — no, not a hot dog bun — this lobster sandwich is for the purist. There’s no celery or lettuce or any other sort of filler. Clocking in at only 14 dollars, it’s also one of the cheapest lobster dishes in Boston.

Make sure to pick up a house-brand soda to wash it down. Afterward, take a walk along the nearby Charles River.

Legal Sea Foods Before you even exit your terminal in Logan Airport, it is clear that Legal Sea Foods reigns supreme. With 19 locations in Massachusetts, Legal Sea Foods is the most accessible option on this list. Despite its ubiquity, Legal does a great job serving quality food.

If you decide to go, visit one of their “test kitchens.” At Legal Test Kitchen and Bar, the menu changes once every six weeks, allowing for a more exciting, less institutionalized experience. Most recently, LTK featured a lobster wrap

Arnold Gatilao via Flickr Creative Commons

The lobster roll at Neptune comes two ways: hot with butter or cold with mayonnaise. that paired freshly shucked native lobster with avocado, bacon and chipotle mayo on grilled flatbread.

O Ya This sushi shop technically features “rolls,” so I figured that they deserved a shout-out. Named Best New U.S. Restaurant by former New York Times Food Critic Frank Bruni in 2008, O Ya features a variety of whimsical reinterpretations of Japanese classics. Effortlessly blending esoteric ingredients like

Atlantic cod sperm sacs with familiar techniques like tempura explains chef Tim Cushman’s recent James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast.

One of the highlights here is the chilled Maine lobster salad. Cushman takes the typical lobster salad and gives it a Japanese, modernist makeover by swapping out the mayo with avocado and a creamy yuzu dressing. Instead of celery, he uses a cucumber gelee. Just don’t ask for the salad to be served on a Pepperidge Farm hot dog bun.

Coming months have much to offer moviegoers ACTION

continued from page 19

by his speech at Comic-Con last summer. The biggest change this movie sees is the switching of love interests; Mary Jane Watson is replaced by Gwen Stacy, played by Emma Stone. Hopefully this will change up the progression from lovelorn, high-school Peter Parker to the confident Spiderman, as otherwise the storyline could become a little formulaic.

“The Bourne Legacy,” Aug. 3 “The Bourne Legacy” is a surprising addition to the tightly produced trilogy that already exists. Although the movies have hinted that Jason Bourne was not the only man in his unit, it shocked many fans when the trailer for the fourth installment was released and Matt Damon was not featured in it at all. Instead, the film will revolve around Aaron Cross, played

by Jeremy Renner. With a new cast, a new director and a completely new storyline, “The Bourne Legacy” is probably going to be more of a new breed of action movie, rather than a continuation of the Bourne plotline. After all, Jason Bourne was just the beginning.

“Total Recall,” Aug. 3 This remake of the 1990 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger replaces the Governator with Colin Farrell in a high-budget remake. Hardcore fans may be annoyed that “Total Recall” now joins the ranks of the many films being remade with better effects and less storyline, but the trailer makes the remake look incredibly awesome. Farrell jumping into flying cars, John Cho with dubiously bleached hair, explosions and a futuristic dystopia add up to the formula for an enjoyable action movie. Add to that the mystery of whether or not Farrell’s character really is a spy or whether it’s all in his head, and this is an action movie which might even make you think a little bit — just a tiny bit.

“Men in Black 3,” May 25 It’s technically not an “action” movie in the conventional sense, but Will Smith jumps off of a skyscraper in the trailer, which definitely qualifies as action.

Those of us who grew up on the first two installments of “Men in Black” seem to be torn between incredibly excited or grudgingly dubious as to whether this is going to be any good. Essentially, the film

Collider.com

Andrew Garfield is set to bring a fresh take to the role of Peter Parker. is Smith’s escapades through time travel and alien invasions, and if the humor is as snarky as in the first two films, then this is definitely going to be worth watching although that should already be clear from the fact that Josh Brolin plays the younger Agent K who is usually depicted

by Tommy Lee Jones.

These are just a personal five highly

anticipated films, alongside the various other action films being released this summer — ranging from the absolutely absurd, like “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” to the ones that are completely out of this world, such as “Prometheus.” With the summer of 2012 heralding such a great selection of movies, it won’t even matter if the sun never comes out.

Commencement 2012

The Tufts Daily

23

Arts & Living

‘AcornHead’ melds natural and manmade worlds

Alex Kaufman and Jacob Passy | Sassy Cinema

All things must end

ACORNHEAD

continued from page 17

Tufts students, but also by the 43,000 people who visit the univer sity each year for tours of the campus. Because of the sculpture’s prime placement, the gallery, as well as the sculpture, may gain more exposure. According to Hannah Swartz, administrative associate at the Tufts Art Gallery, some people are unaware that Tufts even has an art gallery due to its downhill and somewhat remote location.

“This is another way of getting people’s attention. It gives the art gallery visibility,” she said.

In order for “Colossal AcornHead” to withstand the outdoor elements, its original plaster material had to be changed, so Fry recently had it cast in bronze. Working with bronze is an elaborate and expensive process.

Due to the high costs, Fry fundraised for the project through United States Artists, an organization that offers financial support to artists to increase art production across America. Bronze was chosen not only for its aesthetic qualities but also for its durability, something that Schlegel said is a huge factor in public art everywhere.

She cited the previous Shepard Fairey paper-paneled mural as an example of a work made from a “very ephemeral material.” Fairey’s mural underwent three separate restorations, but the bronze composition of “Colossal AcornHead” will require significantly less maintenance.

A

s we say farewell and good luck to the Class of 2012, we in our stylish way want to wish them off well. How do we at Sassy Cinema do this? By talking about movie graduation speeches of course! (You thought we were going to write our own?) It’s too hard to choose just one speech, however, so we decided to discuss our favorites.

Ashley Seenauth / the tufts daily

Leslie Fry’s ‘Colossal Acornhead’ is on loan to Tufts for one year.

“Colossal AcornHead” is essentially an experiment for the art gallery, the first trial run for what will possibly become a series of public art installations at Tufts. The gallery is hoping to receive positive feedback from the student body about the sculpture, and

there have already been some encouraging reactions.

Rising junior Sara Hanneman was definitely excited about the artistic venture.

“I think we need more art at Tufts,” she said. “It adds a little bit of life to the campus.”

Summer 2012 promises more great TV SHOWS

continued from page 18

mium cable over the years, some of the most innovative and intriguing shows now come from these networks, released specifically for the summer months. This summer looks more promising than ever, so the Daily has compiled a list of five shows to keep an eye out for over the vacation.

AMC’s “Breaking Bad” has swept the critical field every year since its creation with a combined four Emmy awards in acting from leads Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. This fifth season promises to be their last, and expectations are high for the show that many, if not most, have deemed the best program on television. Whether it’s cooking meth or evading murder, “Breaking Bad” thrills, and though it might keep you on edge while watching, it’s well worth it. Make sure to catch up before the July premiere; otherwise you’re making a huge mistake.

USA’s “White Collar” may not be as dark or understated as some of the best AMC shows out there, but this witty take on the procedural cop-drama is sure to please.

With swift-moving scripts and a brilliant performance from the sleek Matt Bomer as white-collar art thief Neal Caffrey, each episode maintains viewer interest with ease. After a season finale that left the show’s future up in the air, there is much thieving, scheming, humor and heart to look forward to in the series’ fourth season, which arrives on TV screens July 10.

FX’s “Wilfred” came to us from overseas after the original series of the same name

FallingSkies.com

Noah Wyle leads a militia as the fight alien invades in TNT’s ‘Falling Skies.’ finished up in Australia. While we all know how shows born of such a process can spiral downward in quality (cough, cough, “The Office”), “Wilfred” promises to be a witty, heartwarming series that holds just enough intrigue to please all types of viewers. The eponymous Wilfred, played by Australian Jason Gann in both versions, steals the show as the drug-addicted, alcoholic dog that Ryan Newman (Elijah Wood) sees as a human.

Despite his odd methods, Wilfred aims to teach Ryan how to live a fulfilling life and the balance between humor and moral learning is the perfect blend. Season two begins on June 28.

TNT’s “Falling Skies” may seem to be

WEBN-TV via Flickr Creative Commons

Noted writer and producer Aaron Sorkin is behind HBO’s ‘The Newsroom.’

just another alien/sci-fi program a la “The War of the Worlds” (2005), but critics and audiences would disagree as this program has been one of TNT’s biggest successes in years. “ER” (1994-2009) veteran Noah Wyle leads a group of survivors in a quest to fend off an alien invasion that threatens to bring Earth’s human population to an end. Throw in a slew of U.S. history references, a production credit from Steven Spielberg and some fantastic TV graphics, and you have a scifi series worth watching. The show starts back up with its second season on June 17.

HBO’s “The Newsroom” is the only new series on this list, as it appears to be one of the most promising summer releases of 2012. Created by none other than Aaron Sorkin of “The Social Network” (2010) fame, this series focuses on fictional cable news anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) as he and his network set out to tell the public the truth for once.

With neat writing and what seem to be powerful performances from a diverse yet tremendous cast -- Sam Waterston, Olivia Munn and Dev Patel -- among them, “The Newsroom” deserves quite a bit of hype. To see if it lives up to expectations, catch the series premiere on June 24.

While you could certainly catch another mindless season of “Big Brother” or “Wipeout,” why not forget the reality television for a moment and look to cable for a show actually worth watching. Drama, humor, intrigue, action, fantasy this summer seems to boast almost everything. In fact, all it’s missing now is your attention.

Alex: Honestly, the best movie commencement speech must be Elle Woods’ from “Legally Blonde” (2001). It’s short (just under 30 seconds of actual speaking), succinct and delivered with the perfect balance of perk and circumstance.

Jacob: This is so true. I remember watching this for the first time, feeling like it was my actual farewell with Elle (and the other characters seen throughout those 30 seconds). Unfortunately, the ill-fated 2003 sequel had to come along.

A: I still think that pivotal moment remains untouched for moviegoers like me who didn’t dare see the sequel, and based on your description, I’m glad I didn’t. Another film does come to mind, however. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

J: I’m thinking “Billy Madison” (1995).

A: How did you do that?!

J: Sassy minds think alike. I honestly love “Billy Madison’s” graduation speech because it really reflects what was so great about Adam Sandler’s films back then. It’s the spoken equivalent of slapstick. The jokes may be obvious, but they really make you laugh. After all, shouldn’t these speeches leave us smiling?

A: Well, if all graduation speeches ended with, “Peace! I’m outta here!” I’m certain everyone would be grinning. What I love about that speech is the comic incongruity. No one ever said college was easy, and no character Sandler ever played has been an intellectual.

J: And not every graduation speech supplies the answers or acts as the ending. Take Winona Ryder’s graduation speech in “Reality Bites” (1994). Ryder lays out her contrarian views by trying to point out all of the flaws within the society her fellow graduates were being thrown into after college. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have the solutions.

A: That’s because she didn’t have the notecard with the remainder of her speech on it, Jacob.

J: True, but that’s a telling metaphor about graduation. For many of us looking to a post-Tufts life, the future isn’t clear.

Just like the handheld camera aesthetic of that opening sequence in “Reality Bites,” nothing is ever as perfect as the movies.

Life doesn’t come with quips, and that’s what I love about that opening scene.

A: That’s a great way to word it. We, unlike life, do come with quips. But like you said, life after college, and many moments during college, doesn’t come with a prescribed script or stepby-step instructions. We hope that the lessons taught to us in college and those we learn on our own will guide us afterward. The life-altering decisions we face as we mature are portrayed to us in film time and again to prepare us for what lies ahead.

J: I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. Like Diane Court said in her graduation speech from “Say Anything” (1989), “When I think about the future ...

I am really scared.” It’s hard to know what lies beyond the Hill. But when I need guidance, or maybe a release, there will always be a film there to lead me.

A: Or a song from a movie like, “You’ve Got A Friend in Me” (1995).

J: Either way, the real world isn’t so bad as long as we have sassy cinematic treasures awaiting us beyond the Memorial Steps.

And with this, dear friends, family, graduates, faculty and honored guests, we bid you adieu. So long, farewell, for now. (We did it!)

Jacob Passy is a rising senior majoring in international relations. He can be reached at Jacob.Passy@tufts.edu. Alex Kaufman is a rising junior majoring in sociology. He can be reached at Alexander.Kaufman@ tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

24

AAlok kanani/tufts Daily

daily file photo

Four Years in Review

Commencement 2012

Four Years

2008-2009

Courtesy Robert Biswanger

Dilys ong/Tufts Daily

The Class of 2012 matriculated amid great economic turmoil, both on the Hill and throughout the nation. The Great Recession peaked during the 2008-09 academic year, and Tufts suffered a 35 percent drop in endowment. As a result, the university delayed capital projects, laid off staff and implemented across-the-board budget cuts that totaled $36 million.

The same year, Tufts’ financial situation was dealt another blow when news broke about Bernard Madoff’s historically devastating Ponzi scheme. Tufts lost $20 million through 2005 investments made in the hedge fund Ascot Partners.

In spite of the dwindling endowment, the university remained positive. Tufts upheld its commitment to meeting the financial needs of enrolled students, and the financial aid office’s budget saw a 12 percent bump in anticipation of increased need among Tufts families. But the unofficial need-blind admissions policy, which the administration had implemented only two years earlier, was suspended. It has not been reinstated since.

Students received some positive financial news when the recovered funds from an embezzlement scandal were made available to the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate for allocation at the start of the academic year.

The Senate received $902,338 as compensation for the theft of student activity funds between 2001 and 2007 by former Director of the Office of Student Activities Jodie Nealley and former Office of Student Activities Budget and Fiscal Coordinator Ray Rodriguez.

After a great deal of deliberation during the fall semester, the Senate decided to allocate $87,780 to student groups, place $300,000 in a savings account and use the rest to repay debts. Controversy erupted, however, over the disbursal of the recovered funds. Tufts’ student-run radio and television stations, WMFO and TUTV, respectively, received funds without a hitch, but the Senate faced heavy criticism when it voted to allocate $230,000 to the Tufts Mountain Club for the construction of a new Trips Cabin near the Loj in New Hampshire. Student protests against the project specifically pointed to the Trip’s Cabin’s

2009-2010

Daily File PHoto

Daily File PHoto

Daily File PHoto

off-campus location and limited usefulness to the majority of the Tufts community.

Students did have good reason to flock to New Hampshire, as it turns out, because of the heavy canvassing that led up to the Nov. 4 presidential election. Jumbos of every political persuasion traveled to the neighboring swing state to campaign for their respective candidates, and political organizations such as Tufts Democrats and Tufts Republicans -- as well as nonpartisan groups Tufts Hillel and Tufts Votes -- all sponsored initiatives to increase student turnout on Election Day. When the results finally poured in and thenSenator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was officially declared president, students flooded the Res Quad and Davis Square to celebrate his victory over Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.).

That year’s Spring Fling saw a much less patriotic kind of celebration. Though the concert featured performances by Ludacris, the Decembrists and Asher Roth, the biggest news story to emerge from the day was the “mass casualty incident” resulting mainly from widespread binge drinking on

This year saw a number of changes to social life on campus. Students returned to campus in September to discover that the administration had implemented a more stringent alcohol policy: Underage students caught drinking would no longer receive a warning but would be immediately placed on level-one disciplinary probation. The new policy was met with a great deal of derision from the student body and was reversed the following year.

The three largest school-sponsored social events -- Fall Ball, Winter Bash and Spring Fling -- all underwent major changes. Fall Ball was made a ticketed event, and attendance was capped at 2,500.

Winter Bash was moved off campus, and students were charged $10 to attend in an attempt to reduce what the administration perceived as reckless alcohol consumption in previous years. Also in response to alcohol-related concerns and the previous year’s “mass casualty incident,” students were for the first time barred from bringing alcohol to Spring Fling; OK Go and Drake performed at the concert.

In October, the I-Cruise organized by the International Club was cut short when overly intoxicated students led the boat captain to refuse to leave the mooring. In the wake of inappropriate conduct by intoxicated students at the first Senior Pub Night in September, the administration canceled Pub Nights for the remainder of the semester. Pub Nights returned in the spring without any major incidents.

Tufts made national headlines --

dilys ong/Tufts Daily

the morning of the concert. The number of students requiring medical attention overwhelmed the medical staff on duty and later forced administrators to examine the alcohol policies governing the concert.

Student conduct again made headlines when an intoxicated freshman harassed members of the Korean Students Association, uttering racial slurs, making threats and ultimately initiating a physical altercation. The student’s actions led to a wider discussion about race on campus, peaking in an antibias rally on the Tisch Library patio.

The Hill attracted a variety of notable speakers, including Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), conservative activist David Horowitz and culinary aficionado Anthony Bourdain.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave the Issam M. Fares Lecture, in which he focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and “Hardball” host Chris Matthews spoke at the annual Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick addressed graduates at the commencement ceremony.

and late-night monologues -- when the Daily reported in September that a new university guest policy for on-campus housing explicitly barred students from engaging in any sexual act while their roommates were present. Outlets ranging from CNN and The New Yorker to Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno picked up the story.

But changes were not limited to the social realm. Then-University President Lawrence Bacow on Feb. 8 announced his decision to step down from his post at the end of the 2010-11 academic year after completing a 10-year tenure. A 13-member presidential search committee was subsequently formed and spent the semester consulting members of all campus communities in their search for Bacow’s replacement. In addition, Dean of Arts and Sciences Robert Sternberg left the university at the end of the academic year.

In November, the Board of Trustees adopted a Declaration on Freedom of Expression. The declaration came about largely as a result of a controversy that occurred on the Hill during the 2006-07 school year, when the administration officially censured The Primary Source, Tufts’ journal of conservative thought, for publishing two highly controversial articles. The document emphasized the importance of free expression and inquiry on campus but said that those rights “are not absolute.”

Mother Nature made her mark on the year as well. Tufts was not spared by the H1N1 flu epidemic; scores of students came down with

the strain and were quarantined or sent home by the university in an attempt to stem the spread of the illness. In the face of unanticipated demand for the H1N1 vaccine across the country, Health Service struggled to maintain sufficient supply.

In the spring, abnormally heavy rains caused rampant flooding in residential and academic buildings across campus. A water main break on May 1 -- the day of Spring Fling -- made tap water on both the Medford/Somerville and Boston campuses undrinkable. A power outage in October left much of the Medford/Somerville campus in the dark for nearly an entire day; another blackout in January lasted nearly three hours.

International tragedies also impacted the campus. January and February earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, respectively, spared members of the Tufts community working and studying abroad in those nations. Several student groups rallied to raise money and awareness for the two tragedies. A group of students from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy used crisis mapping to aid rescue and relief efforts in Haiti.

In stark contrast to the previous school year, the university fared quite well financially, and Bacow expressed optimism about Tufts’ recovery from the financial crisis.

His hallmark capital campaign, Beyond Boundaries, reached a key milestone of $1.05 billion, and the School of Engineering received $40 million from Trustee Emeritus Bernard Gordon (H ‘92).

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

25

Four Years in Review

In Review

—by Daniel Rathman, Craig Frucht and Ethan Sturm

virginia bledsoe/tufts daily

courtesy carolina ramirez

2010-2011 When the Class of 2011 departed the Hill, a number of university administrators left, too. In November, the Daily reported that University of Oxford geneticist and then-Pro-Vice-Chancellor Anthony Monaco would Lawrence Bacow as Tufts University president.

Several other administrators announced their intention to leave along with Bacow. Among them was thenProvost and Senior Vice President Jamshed Bharucha, who in February announced that he would assume the position of president at The Cooper Union in New York City starting in July. Also leaving were Dean Robert Hollister of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, Dean Eileen Kennedy of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Dean Lonnie Norris of the School of Dental Medicine and Ellen Zane, president and CEO of Tufts Medical Center.

The campus also saw a number of policy changes enacted. At the start of the academic years, the university implemented a revised alcohol policy, scaling back the previous year’s measures, which were denounced as overly punitive. After receiving input from several student groups on campus, the administration also debuted a revised and far more detailed sexual assault judicial policy.

The Daily learned in March that the university would no longer sanction the Naked Quad Run (NQR), the decades-old tradition in which students partook in a large-scale, clothing-free sprint around the Res Quad to celebrate the end of fall semester classes. The decision was motivated in part by concerns that the event, which had been characterized by overconsumption of alcohol in recent years, could eventually lead to a student’s death. In an op-ed in the Daily, Bacow wrote, “Even if I did not act now, NQR would end some day. The only question is whether a student has to die first.” Reaction to the decision was divided, with some students seeing it as a prudent choice and others as an overreaction.

Following the passage of a Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate resolution in support of the creation of an Africana studies department, Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney in February launched a task force to consider integrat The 2011-12 school year was marked by a major change in leadership. In July, Anthony Monaco took over the position of university president from Lawrence Bacow. Shortly after taking office, Monaco established a flurry of councils and committees to improve the university in areas like sustainability, diversity and interdisciplinary research.

In September, Monaco resisted calls to end the university’s relationship with Keith Ablow, an assistant clinical professor at Tufts School of Medicine who published an editorial for FoxNews.com that was widely regarded as discriminatory against transgender individuals. While affirming the university’s commitment to making Tufts a “safe and welcoming environment for LGBT students, faculty, and staff,” Monaco wrote in a message to the Tufts community that “Tufts supports the freedom to express and test ideas through vigorous debate and criticism.” On May 3, Monaco again emphasized the need for free expression on campus when he reinstated members of the men’s crew team after they were suspended by coaches for wearing shirts at Spring Fling bearing the phrase, “Check out our cox” (a play on the

ing Africana studies into the Tufts curriculum. Later in the spring, roughly 40 students gathered on the Academic Quad during April Open House in support of the department and to inform prospective freshmen about the racial climate on campus. Many of them wore t-shirts reading either “Ask me about white privilege at Tufts” or “Ask me about being a student of color at Tufts,” a move the Office of Undergraduate Admissions considered inappropriate for the event.

An earlier incident had raised similar discussions.

In December, an African-American male was carrying a ratchet wrench on campus that was mistaken from afar as a handgun by a caller to the Tufts University Police Department. The incident prompted a poster campaign and conversations between students and administrators regarding race on campus.

Dining Services also enacted changes, eliminating trays from the dining halls following a months-long effort by members of an environmentally focused class the previous year. A new student group brought another environmentally friendly initiative to campus: a bike-share program.

Discussions surrounding a change to the community representative positions on the TCU Senate came to a head in September, when Referendum 3, which offered community representatives the ability to vote on fiscal matters, passed by a single vote against its competitor referendum. Despite the changes, only two of the four cultural houses put forth a candidate in April.

The month of April brought three particularly noteworthy speakers to campus: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visited the Hill for the inaugural Alan D. Solomont Lecture, television journalist Katie Couric spoke at the Murrow Forum, and Bob Woodward of Watergate fame headlined the Richard E. Snyder Presidential Lecture.

The 2011 admissions cycle also saw the largest-ever applicant pool and the lowest admissions acceptance rate in Tufts history. (That latter record would be broken the following year.) An 11-percent rise in applications dropped acceptance rates from 24.5 percent to 22 percent for the Class of 2015.

crew-related phrase “coxswain”).

The question of free speech arose on campus once again in March when Tufts Friends of Israel published a full-page advertisement in the Daily that read, “As a student leader at Tufts, I support the U.S.-Israel Relationship”; the statement was followed by the names of 40 student leaders along with the organizations they belonged to and their titles. The controversy centered on the inclusion of seven TCU senators’ names and positions in the ad. Three members of Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine filed a complaint with the TCU Judiciary alleging that the senators had violated a Senate bylaw that prohibits the use of the Senate’s name to advocate any cause the Senate has not officially endorsed. The Judiciary ruled 4-2 that the senators had not violated the bylaw because they never claimed to represent the Senate’s position as a whole.

After decades of student and faculty campaigning, the Race and Ethnicity Working Group established last year by Berger-Sweeney announced in September that Tufts would launch an Africana studies major in the fall of 2013. The major will be housed under the umbrella of the

Aalok Kanani/Tufts Daily

Meredith Klein/Tufts Daily

Meredith Klein/Tufts Daily

new Critical Studies in Disparities and Diasporas (CD2) program. In November, a group of students marched to Ballou Hall to present Berger-Sweeney, Monaco and interim Provost and Senior Vice President Peggy Newell with a list of demands concerning the new program. The students and administrators negotiated for two hours before reaching and signing agreement providing for, among other assurances, the hiring of three tenure-track faculty members for the CD2 program and the inclusion of student input throughout the program’s formation.

Throughout the year, Jumbos continued to excel in athletics, reaching heights unseen on the Hill in recent memory.

The women’s basketball team advanced to the Sweet 16 of the Div. III NCAA Championship for the second time in program history by defeating Johns Hopkins in a thrilling Second Round game at Cousens Gym. Rising junior Johann Schmidt captured the men’s swimming and diving team’s first national title in 30 years, topping the field in the one-meter dive at the NCAA championships. And the softball team -- on the back of rising sophomore pitcher Allyson Fournier -- reached the

NCAA Finals, winning the NESCAC and Regional tournaments along the way.

Several distinguished speakers addressed the Tufts community during the month of April. NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams highlighted the importance of this year’s elections as the keynote speaker at the Murrow Forum.

Michael Oren, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, discussed the state of relations between those two countries.

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove detailed his experiences under the George W. Bush administration. Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus explained how business and finance could serve as tools for tackling social problems in the Dean’s Lecture. And Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick visited the Hill for the Merrin Distinguished Lecture, which this year focused on immigration reform.

The incoming Class of 2016 survived the most selective admissions season in Tufts history. Despite a decrease in the overall applicant pool -- from the all-time high of 17,130 set in 2010-11 to 16,378 this year -- the Office of Undergraduate Admissions offered places to a record-low 21 percent of applicants.

2011-2012

Justin McCallum / The Tufts Daily

Josh Berlinger / The Tufts Daily

Justin McCallum / The Tufts Daily

The Tufts Daily

26

Justin McCallum / The Tufts Daily

Captured

Commencement 2011

Captured:

Spring Fling!

Oliver Porter / The Tufts Daily

Scott Tingley / The Tufts Daily

Justin McCallum / The Tufts Daily

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2011

Captured

Scott Tingley / The Tufts Daily

27

Scott Tingley / The Tufts Daily

Andrew Schneer / The Tufts Daily

Andrew Schneer / The Tufts Daily

Andrew Schneer / The Tufts Daily

The Tufts Daily

28

THE TUFTS DAILY

A culture of censorship

Editor-in-Chief

Managing Editors Laina Piera Executive News Editor Brionna Jimerson News Editors Elizabeth McKay Mahpari Sotoudeh Jenna Buckle Assistant News Editors Shana Friedman Nina Goldman Lizz Grainger Stephanie Haven Leah Lazer Victoria Leistman Patrick McGrath Melissa Wang Falcon Reese Executive Features Editor Amelia Quinn Features Editors Victoria Rathsmill Derek Schlom Hannah Fingerhut Assistant Features Editors Nadezhda Kazakova Lily Sieradzki Mathhew Welch Executive Arts Editor Zach Drucker Arts Editors Adam Kulewicz Melissa MacEwan Anna Majeski Joseph Stile Kate Griffiths Assistant Arts Editors Alexander Hanno Chris Poldoian Bhushan Deshpande David Kellogg Seth Teleky Ard Ardalan Yiota Kastritis Elayne Stecker Devon Colmer Wes Engel Louie Zong Jonathan Green Elliot Philips Michael Restiano Carter Rogers Jyot Singh

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editors

Cartoonists Editorialists

Aaron Leibowitz Executive Sports Editor Matthew Berger Sports Editors Lauren Flament Claire Kemp Kate Klots Alex Prewitt Alex Baudoin Assistant Sports Editors Zachey Kliger Connor Rose Justin McCallum Jodi Bosin William Butt Ashley Seenauth Scott Tingley Caroline Geiling Takuma Koide Misako Ono Oliver Poter Andrew Schneer Kyra Sturgill Kristen Collins Alex Dennett Dilys Ong

Executive Photo Editor Photo Editors

Assistant Photo Editors

Staff Photographers

Ellen Kan New Media Multimedia Editor Saumya Vaishampayan New Media Blog Editor Josh Berlinger New Media Photo Editor

PRODUCTION Adam Gardner Production Director Jen Betts Executive Layout Editor Jason Huang Layout Editors Shoshanna Kahne Sarah Kester Elliot Philips Emily Rourke Matthew Cardarelli Assistant Layout Editors Gabrielle Cella Sarah Kee Adrian Lo Danny MacDonald Nancy Pritzker Reid Spagna

Commencement 2012

Editorial

Daniel J. Rathman Editorial Craig Frucht Ethan Sturm

Editorial | Letters

This March, Tufts was recognized on an ignoble list: The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) list of the “Twelve Worst Colleges for Free Speech.”

In an editorial written at the time, the Daily argued that the university’s behavior in recent years did not justify Tufts’ placement on such a list. In light of events that occurred after this year’s Spring Fling, though, perhaps we were too hasty to defend the university.

In an incident that took the campus by storm, it came to light during reading week that several members of the novice and varsity men’s crew teams had been suspended from partaking in the New England Championships, and both teams’ co-captains were stripped of their hardearned status. Their offense? Wearing shirts to Spring Fling that featured the text “check out our cox” above the silhouette of a boat. “Cox” is a common abbreviation for a “coxswain.”

The disciplinary actions were taken after a bias incident was filed through the Bias Incident Reporting system on Tufts WebCenter that claimed the shirts were sexist and promoted sexual aggression.

Students on campus and free speech advocates, including FIRE, were quick to criticize the decision to suspend the rowers. It soon became clear that the teams’ coaches and not the Tufts administration carried out the suspension.

Still, shortly after the controversy erupted, University President Anthony Monaco sent an open letter to the team, saying that at his urging, the rowers would no longer be suspended and would be able to compete at the New England Championships.

While the controversy died down after Monaco’s letter, the saga dealt Tufts a black eye, and it is the view of the Daily that the university needs to seriously reconsider how it handles free speech issues in the future.

It is largely irrelevant that the decision to discipline the team members was made by the coaches and not the Tufts administration. Regardless of who decided to issue the suspension and strip the captains of their positions, students were still punished for expressing themselves by Tufts employees who were in a position of authority.

Monaco’s letter stated that the team members were disciplined for making shirts in direct conflict with team policy and explicit instructions from coaches ordering them not to do so. However, graduating senior team members Chris Park and Michael Bai said that the team was never made aware of any such policy, nor that it was explicitly or clearly communicated to the team prior to Spring

Fling. While they acknowledge that coaches gave broad instructions regarding team behavior and that the shirts could have been perceived as offensive, they felt that the design of the shirts didn’t conflict with any team directions they were given.

If this is the case, the crew team is owed an apology and an explanation from its coaches and from the Tufts administration, which apparently turned a blind eye to the situation until the university’s reputation was at stake.

While Monaco made the right decision in overturning the suspension, his actions do not erase or excuse the outrage perpetrated against crew team members prior to his intervention.

First, it is not certain that Monaco would have intervened had the situation not been rapidly snowballing into a public relations disaster for Tufts.

More important, however, is the fact that Tufts students should not have to count on the protection of the individual at the very top of the Tufts administration to intercede and protect their right to free speech.

Tufts must strive to protect free expression on all levels, whether the expression consists of political protests or penis jokes.

For expression to be truly free, both must have the same level of protection, and all unpopular opinions must be protected.

As a private institution, Tufts is not bound by constitutional guarantees of free speech, but Tufts is a weaker institution if it does not have an environment where open discussion can flourish.

As the 2009 “Declaration on Freedom of Expression at Tufts University” says, certain limits can be imposed on free expression to ensure that community members, “regardless of background, are free from behavior that interferes with their ability to study, grow, and attain their full potential.”

However, the men’s crew team members, by wearing the shirts, did not interfere with anybody’s Tufts experience.

It is the belief of the Daily that not only should the members of the team not have been punished for wearing their shirts, but the shirts themselves in no way constituted bias. If the shirts were racist, sexist or homophobic, the punishment handed out might have been justified. But the shirts were anything but.

To avoid beating around the bush, it’s true that the shirts, using the coxswain pun, intended to bring attention to the fact that the team members have penises. The shirts in no way, though, could sensibly be construed as being biased against women or promoting sexual aggression. The shirts were sexual in nature and possibly could

have offended some people’s sensibilities, but sexual does not equal sexist.

This saga is an example of why the university needs to strongly reconsider revising its current bias incident reporting system, where incidents are reported via Tufts WebCenter and are possibly acted on by the Tufts administration through means like mediation and disciplinary action.

The intention of the current system is noble: Students won’t feel there is a high barrier to reporting acts of bias. However, in execution, the system is highly flawed.

It encourages students to deal with all perceived bias through official university channels, even if the bias was completely unintentional.

Occasionally, students say or do things that inadvertently offend, but these occurrences should not be grouped with incidents where emotional harm was clearly directed at a certain group. However, given the current system for reporting bias incidents at Tufts, all situations are essentially lumped into the same group.

When frivolous incidents like “cox” T-shirts are associated with the bias incident reporting system, there is a “boy who cried wolf” effect, as some might take incidents of true bias and hate much less seriously.

Just as importantly, the current bias incident reporting system has a chilling effect on expression at Tufts.

Currently, Tufts students who are afraid of expressing themselves and occasionally pushing boundaries for fear that they may be dealt with through administrative action could simply decide not to express their unpopular views.

Certainly the administration does not pursue disciplinary action on all reported bias incidents — or even list all of them on the reported bias incidents page on Tufts WebCenter — but the self-censoring fear of administrative action is still there for individuals who may push boundaries in their speech.

This is especially problematic because, at least for the Class of 2012, the term “bias incident” is commonly associated with the spring 2009 incident in which a student spat at, threatened and shouted racial slurs at several members of the Korean Students Association. The current bias incident system lumps that into the same category as the crew shirt, with the implication being that using mildly risque humor or holding unpopular beliefs is simply wrong. Tufts needs to make an effort to more clearly delineate incidents of bias, hate and unintentional offense if the reporting system is to be taken seriously and serve its purpose.

devon colmer

Sara Eisemann Executive Copy Editor Drew Lewis Ashley Cheng Copy Editors Benjamin Considine Patrick Donnelly Nina Goldman Katrina Knisely Niki Krieg George Le Andrew Paseltiner Olivia DelloStritto Assistant Copy Editors Joshua Dower Adrienne Lange Patrick McGrath Lauren Schonberger Gregory Witz Audrey Kuan Executive Online Editor George Brown Online Editors Andrew Braren Stephanie Haven Quan Lin Darcy Mann Justin Reingold Ben Schwalb Webmaster Daniel Kotin Technical Manager

BUSINESS Laura Moreno Executive Business Director Simmone Seymour Advertising Director Saanya Gulati Receivables Manager Rhys Evans Sales Director P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. EDITORIAL POLICY Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

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

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

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

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

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

29

Editorial | Letters

editorial

Congress must act on student debt crisis The importance of earning a college degree is at unprecedented levels in the United States, and enrollment in American colleges is at an all-time high. The astounding necessity of a college education is accompanied by the astounding cost of one; today, a college education, whether public or private, costs significantly more than it ever has before. In the midst of the economic downturn, student loans have become increasingly essential tools to allow all but the wealthiest of students to pay for their educations.

Families can take three distinct types of loans out to help pay for college: federally guaranteed loans from lenders like banks, federal direct loans made by the government and private loans. The interest rate students must pay on the first two types of loans is fixed and set by Congress. In 2007, Democrats, in an effort to help low- and middle-income students gain equal academic footing with their wealthy counterparts, passed legislation that reduced the rate to 3.4

percent for these loans. The reduction had an end date, though, and without Congressional intervention, the interest rate will revert back to 6.8 percent this July.

Paying off student loans is already an arduous task for most recent college graduates, and if Congress fails to extend the current interest rate, the challenge is sure to become near impossible. That’s why Democrats, led

by President Barack Obama, have been pressing the issue; they submitted legislation that prevents the doubling of the loans’interest rates for one more year. Two weeks ago, however, Republicans blocked consideration of the legislation.

Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress claim, in an election cycle where the student vote is sure to be crucial, to want to prevent the increase in the interest rate, but it seems, unsurprisingly, that only the Democrats are willing to work toward making this desire a reality. Although lawmakers on both sides of the aisle claim to agree that the

goal is preventing the rate’s spike, they disagree on how to pay for it. Republicans have proposed draining money from one of Obama’s health care programs, while Democrats want to use increased taxes on oil companies and the super-wealthy.

Congress’ failure to intervene in the rate’s doubling, which is becoming ever-more imminent, particularly threatens the affordability of elite private colleges and universities like Tufts. Nearly half of the members of the Class of 2010 ended their Tufts careers with debt, and the average debtor owed more than $27,000, an all-time high for Jumbos.

These statistics are not unique to Tufts; other elite private schools, including our competitors in the NESCAC, suffer from similar student loan numbers.

Since Tufts still has not reached its goal of implementing a need-blind admissions program, diversity here is already threatened by the outrageous cost of tuition and the limited resources of the financial aid office.Young Tufts

alumni, like alumni of other American universities, have tremendous hurdles to overcome to pay back their rising debt, hurdles that are exacerbated by the challenging job market for recent college graduates. If Congress fails to prevent the doubling of student loan interest rates, the problems Tufts and its students suffer from will be intensified across the country.

All smart and driven students, regardless of their socioeconomic status, deserve an affordable college education. Once these students graduate and enter the job market, they deserve to have their hard work pay off and to be able to keep the money they earn, rather than having to pay back significantly more than they borrowed. Making these ideals a reality is a goal contingent on bipartisan support for a reasonable extension of the current interest rate. If Congress wishes to ensure a future in which college is affordable to all qualified students, lawmakers must begin by considering legislation that prevents the doubling of student loan interest rates.

louie zong

wes engel

editorial

The cost of Senior Week Senior Week is the last chance for graduating students to have some Tufts-related fun before real life kicks in. From a Red Sox Game to barbecues, from Senior Gala to Pub Nights, the university has made an effort to ensure that the seniors’ last week on campus will be a blast. However, as entertaining as all of these events can be, the Daily thinks that there’s one thing that’s problematic about Senior Week: It’s covered with price tags. Not all Senior Week events are free, and after four years of paying steep tuition costs, this seems to be a slap in the face for graduating students.

And while one would assume that high prices equal high quality, not all Senior Week events have been handled as well as they could have. Regarding the Senior Gala, while it cost over three times more than Winter Bash, it was arguably far from three times

as enjoyable. Students were subject to patdowns prior to entering the function, supposedly to prevent them from transporting alcohol. These students were not underclassmen attempting to sneak water bottles of cheap vodka into Winter Bash; they were seniors — all but a handful legally of age to drink — on the cusp of being considered adults by the world. Adults are not patted down for alcohol before entering formal events. This treatment transformed the tone of the event from classy to condescending.

It is no secret that attending Tufts is incredibly costly, but to impress more fees upon a group of students that have already paid their enormous dues adds insult to injury.

We understand certain ethical considerations likely prevent Tufts from fully subsidizing the cost of certain events like Pub Night, as Tufts should not necessarily

financially support an event where alcohol consumption is encouraged.

However, not all events are pub nights, and things like the Senior Gala, billed in the Senior Week calendar as “THE big event of Senior Week,” should be open to students who would encounter financial hardship by paying the steep $35 ticket cost.

We at the Daily also understand that money does not grow on trees. In order to remove or more extensively subsidize the costs of Senior Week, the university will have to reallocate funds from another source, but this is a goal Tufts should strive to accomplish. We believe Senior Week should be just as financially accessible to all students as Undergraduate Orientation was when they first arrived on campus.

It could be argued that Senior Week events are not mandatory and therefore

students should pay for exactly the events they attend out-of-pocket. However, all seniors must wear a gown to graduation, and at a steep cost of $55 at the Tufts bookstore, the gowns serve as a sour final reminder of the hidden costs of attending an illustrious institution.

Every senior at Tufts looks forward to that last hurrah with their friends before four of the best years of their lives come to an end. It’s a time to celebrate completing a long academic journey, one that was not cheap and did not come easily. Attaching extra fees to Senior Week takes away from the emotional quality of the events, not to mention students' already heavily taxed wallets. The Daily strongly believes that no senior should be unnecessarily nickel-and-dimed for their last week of fun at Tufts.

The Tufts Daily

30

Op-Ed

Commencement 2012

Diversity means allowing ourselves to be offended by

Matthew Nazarian

Among the students wearing hundreds of group shirts to Spring Fling this year, the men’s crew team donned tanktops that read, “Check out our cox” with a silhouette of people rowing. “Cox” is a reference to the coxswain, or the person in the crew boat who faces the rowers and directs them. The crew coaches had apparently asked the team to not wear this shirt, but many members wore it anyway. This “punny” tank was then reported as a bias incident for promoting rape and violence. In response, the team’s director then suspended the crew team from its New England Championships for wearing this shirt. President Monaco made the decision on Thursday, May 3 to reinstate the team in the interest of maintaining “an environment that supports free expression.”

I do not accuse the crew coaches of being against free speech. They have a right to control how their players presents themselves, and if they believed that the shirts portrayed them in a negative light, it is their prerogative to ask they not be worn. Moreover, it is their right to discipline their team for disobeying their instructions. Once the shirts were worn and a bias incident was filed, however, this became an issue of free speech on campus, and it was essential Monaco intervene. I applaud him for defending free

courtesy michael bai

expression on a campus where our First Amendment liberties too often take a backseat to a fictional “right to never feel offended.”

Though I still cannot quite understand what is offensive about this tank-top, I will accept for the sake of argu-

ment that this shirt could legitimately be considered as offensive to some, with the brief note that I could write a separate op-ed about how I find that problematic in and of itself. What I would like to dispel is the idea that the mere fact that something may be

courtesy michael bai

offensive is automatic grounds for its censorship. The offended group in this case is an unclear demographic, but the number or identity of people offended is not relevant.

Whether it is a minority or a majority of students, by reprimanding the Tufts crew team, we would be endorsing the notion that there is an opinion on the controversy that the university deems correct.

One argument for reprimanding the team could be that, being a private university, Tufts has the right to effectively take sides on the issue.

For instance, one might argue that if the shirts were offensive to one student, they may have been offensive to many students, and the school cannot rightly back something that may marginalize any person or group. While I believe this is a valuable concern, it inevitably runs into the question of where we draw the line. We reach confusion over how we distinguish a legitimate accusation of bias from a frivolous one. Ultimately the person or group deciding will have its own biases and will be unreliable, and we will be forced to give credence to any claim of bias and silence any action that could be construed as offensive — an assault on free speech we cannot afford.

With few exceptions, diversity of racial backgrounds, socioeconomic backgrounds and political views is treated as an intrinsic good; when we hear the word “diversity,” we are apt to accept that it is beneficial to society without much scrutiny, but let us reexamine why it is

so valuable. In valuing diversity, we are operating under the assumption that our own life experiences cannot tell us everything. People who have been given fewer or simply different advantages from those you have been given will view the world differently, and the educational process is in many ways based on this exploration of opposing viewpoints.

Sometimes, when confronted with views that counter your own, your opinions will change.

Other times, you will remain in disagreement. In both situations, education takes place: You either learn to defend a new opinion, or you deepen your understanding of why you held your original stance.

The value of diversity is contingent on this difference of opinion. If all races, creeds, and backgrounds shared their beliefs, diversity would be a non-issue. It follows that if one values diversity, one must also reject the notion that one opinion is superior to another.

This does not mean that we cannot argue for our own judgments. You can still get offended by what people say. You can still argue for what you stand for. You can still call people racist or sexist if that’s what you truly believe. But what you cannot do is ask to never be offended. If this university values diversity, what it cannot afford is censorship. In order for our words and actions to mean anything at all, we must allow people to get it wrong.

Matthew Nazarian graduates today with a degree in biology.

A culture of suppression

by Steven

Cohen

It would be a bit melodramatic to say that the views expressed in “Pledging not to rush: A criticism of Greek life at Tufts” (Op-Ed, April 25), and “Fallout of bias incident still relevant on the Hill three years later” (Features, April 25) embody what is most wrong with Tufts culture, but only a bit. The former was a misinformed, inflammatory op-ed using highly charged and academic-sounding language to mask

a disjointed attack on Greek Life. The latter was a one-sided feature bemoaning the marginalization of the Asian community by invoking the ugly ghost of a controversial and polarizing incident that occurred three years ago.

Both were long, both lacked in factual support, and both revealed how utterly out of touch their respective plaintiff parties are with what it means to be politically correct, and what it means to live in a diverse campus in which actual dialogue can occur. For if there

is an issue plaguing Tufts, it is not rampant sexism and dehumanization in the Greek system or the mistreatment of Tufts’ sizeable Asian population, but a student body that is highly stratified, hyper-sensitive and too invested in their own didactic worldviews to have anything resembling a meaningful conversation about the issues pertaining to our campus.

Among a great many uncorroborated claims, ethical inconsistencies, and blanket characterizations, the most

ridiculous assertion Lauren Border lobs at the Greek system is that it is “inherently anti-feminist” because it treats men and women as “biologically and emotionally different.” Just so, perhaps. But then so too is the current housing system, which separates penis-possessing persons from those with vaginas. So too are our restroom facilities, which make me urinate alongside other “males,” as opposed See GREEK LIFE, page 32

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

31

Op-Ed

A Tufts experience by

Walt Laws-Macdonald | Show me the money

All things must end

Wyatt Cadley

Over the past few months, I’ve wandered this campus asking Jumbos one critical question: What do you want to change about Tufts? I talked with dozens of students who genuinely explained to me that they wouldn’t change a thing about their Tufts experience; I listened as students explained their grievances on issues ranging from broken showers to inadequate lab spaces; I even met with a few students who explicitly spelled out why they were transferring from Tufts. Now that the campaign and finals period have come to a close, I’ve finally had the time to seriously reflect on all of these interactions, and, as is often the case in life, I’ve found myself asking an entirely new question: What makes Tufts great?

Thankfully, when I’m back in my small hometown of Katonah, N.Y., most people don’t need me to explain that Tufts is an elite university located on a beautiful hill between Medford and Somerville. Tufts’ reputation precedes itself. However, my 30-second elevator-pitch answer will never sufficiently explain Tufts’ greatness. Tufts is more than a physical space, Tufts is more than a word at the top of your diploma, and Tufts is more than any one individual. Tufts is a collection of people, memories and ideas; Tufts is a shared experience.

To the Class of 2012, Tufts is so lucky that you have been a part of this shared experience. Congratulations on making it through the past few years, and I look forward to hearing about your future endeavors and successes. But if I have any one message to you all, let it be this: thank you. Thank you to for being mentors, thank you for helping me grow, and thank you for teaching me lessons that I could never learn in a classroom.

Perhaps the most important lesson that I learned from the Class of 2012 is that anyone can be an agent of change at Tufts. You don’t have to be a student of color to be part of a 40-year-old movement calling for Africana studies, you don’t have to be an athlete to support Fan the Fire, and you don’t have to be on the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate to change this campus for the better.

However, I want to send a clear message: Any student who wants to partner with the TCU Senate should feel comfortable reaching out to me. Tomas Garcia taught me that serving as TCU president is a 24/7 job, and the work is not going to slow down just because it’s summer. I look forward to working alongside administrators, alumni, faculty, university employees and students to address some of our campus’ greatest challenges.

My personal vision for Tufts throughout the campaign was twotiered: We need to think of big ways to unite our campus, but we also need to address many of the smaller daily

I find myself explaining complex financial or economic concepts in most of my columns, but the biggest news out of Wall Street recently needs very little explaining.

So Class of 2012, I — in all my freshmanly wisdom — leave you with some simple advice I first heard from my mother as you enter the world.

Scott Tingley / The Tufts Daily

inconveniences that hinder our Tufts experience. I proposed the creation of a new university holiday called Jumbo Day, which would be a spontaneous day off from classes to celebrate Tufts.

I also want to better connect Jumbos, whether they are alumni, graduate students or undergraduates. In particular, I want to extend the Summer Scholars program so that undergraduates can have the opportunity to research alongside and receive mentorship from graduate students.

On the academic front, we have a lot of work to do. Africana and Asian American studies are finally coming to Tufts next year, and a sincere congratulation is to be extended to all the students who fought to make this collective dream a reality. However, we still need to ensure that Tufts is committed to establishing a robust and academically elite program to house these (and other) majors and minors. I am also in favor of increased academic opportunities to students pursuing entrepreneurial leadership studies, American Sign Language and much more. Finally, I put forward a Students Bill of Rights during the campaign and, given that we have a new Provost coming to the Hill next year, I hope that we can all take the opportunity to critically examine how we can make life easier for students without compromising the academic rigor of our coursework.

All of these ideas represent just the tip of the iceberg. The ideas that I heard during the campaign encompass everything from long-term facility planning to TCU budgeting. But just because the campaign is over doesn’t mean that we as Jumbos should stop coming up with ideas to make Tufts a better place. It doesn’t matter if you “Believe” or “Think Big,” it doesn’t matter if you wore a blue or purple shirt for the seven-day campaign, and it doesn’t matter if you voted for Logan or me.

What matters is that you keep trying to make Tufts a better place.

Since the moment they sat on the Hill for that first candle lighting ceremony, the Class of 2012 has been working to make Tufts a better place. It’s hard to imagine that the leaders, visionaries and mentors that I have grown to admire were once nervous freshmen sitting on that same Hill. While next year that Hill will at times feel empty without the Class of 2012, I know that somewhere the more than 1,200 Jumbos graduating this week will continue making a difference, will continue making us proud and will continue being a part of our shared experience.

Wyatt Cadley is a rising senior majoring in political science and economics. He is the TCU president for the 2012-2013 academic year.

A Green Apple: Mac as a sustainability driver by

Brooks Shaffer

Apple Inc. is a brand name company that charges a premium for its products. It is like the Patagonia of computing, outselling competitors despite having an oftentimes significantly higher price tag. Customers accept the deeper hit to their wallets based on recognized product quality and aesthetics, and everyone is buying. Yet while Patagonia has been a model corporate citizen, using its significant profit margins to improve its sustainability and offset the social and environmental impacts of its production, Apple has gotten away with doing little to nothing. Meanwhile, cash from years of profits has accumulated into a stockpile of over $100 billion that is sitting unused in Apple’s bank account.

Apple’s practices have been as hidden as its products before launch, and those practices that have recently come to light have been resoundingly negative.

Young people, many of whom would

rather purchase environmentally and socially progressive products, have yet to react. This must change. Apple is in a unique position to become a leader on sustainability issues, and it should be pushed to do so.

As the largest and most successful company in the world, with profit margins well above that of its competitors, Apple can afford to spend additional money to reduce the social and environmental externalities of producing its products. Apple recently surpassed Exxon Mobile to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in terms of market capitalization. And instead of slowing profit growth as it expands, Apple’s profits have been huge and continue to grow. Apple is finally acknowledging that it has more money than it needs, and it agreed to reward shareholders with a dividend for the first time in 17 years. It can certainly also take pressure off suppliers so that they can treat workers like people. If consumers are to continue to reward

Apple with their business, the company must ensure that workers are paid fair wages and that the materials used in its products are safe and sustainably sourced.

Apple has been at the vanguard of the experimental. It would be an ideal sustainability leader because the concept of innovation, taking risks and looking beyond the business-as-usual perspective of pursuing profits resonates with Apple’s corporate ethos.

This is perhaps best exemplified in its famous 1997 “Think Different” advertising campaign, dedicated to those innovators and change makers that went against the grain and changed the world for the better. Likewise, Apple has a history of being an innovative company more dedicated to the service of individuals and the progress of society than to the mindless pursuit of profits. A vision and strategy for corporate social responsibility (CSR) would be a natural fit.

See MAC, page 32

1. Don’t lie on your resume. And don’t lie about lying on your resume.

Yahoo! has seen three of its CEOs step down since both its share price and market share peaked in the early 2000s.

Though each was pushed out by Yahoo’s board for one reason or another, the most recent ousting was because now-former CEO Scott Thompson lied on his resume.

In his public biography, Thompson wrote that he held degrees in both accounting and computer science from Stonehill College. Daniel Loeb, manager of hedge fund Third Point Capital — which owns 5.8 percent of Yahoo!’s stock — discovered that the computer science part was bogus — Stonehill didn’t even offer a computer science major until four years after Thompson graduated.

Loeb demanded Thompson’s resignation, and Thompson backtracked, saying that he had never reviewed his own biography. Later he said that a hiring agency had written the biography for him — and then it was revealed that he had sent the biography to the hiring agency. Thompson stepped down and Third claimed three board seats in the process.

So if you have that degree, great! If not, also great! You’ll be fine. You went to Tufts.

2. Don’t be afraid to try something new!

With Facebook officially trading on the NASDAQ exchange, we have officially entered a new phase of tech startups. Website IPOs like that of Facebook have seen ups and downs in the past year. Groupon, the popular neighborhood deal site, rejected a $6 billion offer from Google in 2010 only to watch its share price plummet over its first year on the public market. LinkedIn, sometimes referred to as Facebook for professionals, has enjoyed modest growth since it went public in May of 2011.

Many bemoan the startup community as being too volatile to start a career in.

Projects can be huge hits — like Facebook — or fail terribly — like Cuil (Never heard of it? Exactly.) — or be a huge hit and then fail terribly — like MySpace!

But what they might lack in steady jobs, they make up for in entrepreneurial and innovative environments. Ever seen YouTube’s offices? They have a slide. A slide! Google and Amazon both fund thousands of startups with web services and consulting. Plus, working at a small company may entitle you to stock options and other early-employee perks.

3. Please, for God’s sake, stop trading in credit default swaps. It’s not worth it.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO — and Tufts alum — Jamie Dimon (A ’78) announced that the firm had lost over $2 billion in the past two months, partially a result of a London trader’s bad bets on always-risky credit derivatives over the last quarter.

Credit default swaps as a whole deserve an exorcism. One would think that after seeing MF Global go under in October, credit default swaps would be off limits. Yet with the JPMorgan traders’ position rumored to be worth more than $100 billion, it seems that the hint of profit is worth the enormous risk. But you already have student loans and that JumboCash bill to pay off, so why don’t you just stick to treasuries for now?

Though Wall Street gets a reputation for being complex and confusing, most of the biggest issues boil down to simple morals: honesty, ingenuity, and trust. You don’t have to be the next Jamie Dimon or Pierre Omidyar (LA ’88). Just make sure you let your mother check over your resume before you apply for that job. And maybe your cover letter too.

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

The Tufts Daily

32

Op-Ed

Commencement 2012

Can you hear me now?

by Stephanie

Farber

“Are you listening? Hello? Can you hear me?”

I’m sure you have all had this conversation. You’re on the phone with a friend and the line starts to break up.

The connection becomes fuzzy until you’re yelling at no one, and the line goes dead. That’s not at all what was happening to me. There was a phone involved, but no calls were made.

Nope. I was yelling to get the attention of my friend who was incessantly texting her boyfriend.

Now, please do not pin me down as a technology-hater reminiscing on the days of handwritten letters and rotary phones. The cell phone is one of the greatest inventions of our time: safety, convenience, constant communication all in the palm of our hands. However, it’s the constant communication that I find troubling. More times than not, cell phones are extensions of our hands rather than accessories. Texting in class, while doing homework, at work, dur-

ing water breaks at practice, under the table at dinner — you name it and it’s been done. I admit that I, too, have frequently fallen victim to the rush of sending a text before a professor turns back around from the blackboard. Why is it that this is so thrilling? Have the tools meant to enhance communication become a hindrance to socialization?

I have played sports all my life, and competition is part of my nature, but competing with a phone for a friend’s attention is a battle I do not enjoy fighting. If our attention is split between radioactive waves and live friends, someone is getting the short end of the wire.

It’s not called a “CrackBerry” for nothing, after all. I am frequently insulted when I find myself saying the same thing three times before getting a response. Furtive glances toward a phone during a friendly conversation retract from the authenticity of interactions.

Our parents’ generation didn’t get its first cell phones until their 30s and 40s.

Now, if children wait until 10, they have most likely already become a social out-

cast. Naturally, the ease of parent-child communications is a major benefit of cell phone use, but the detrimental factors nearly outweigh the gains.

When typing a message, it is very easy to forget about the person on the receiving end. We have seen the growth of cyberbullying and active efforts to quell the next generation of taunting. Cell phones create a portable medium through which kids can continue to antagonize peers without recognizing the consequences or full effects of their words. A New York Times article suggests other harmful effects that teens are not aware of. The desire to text late at night can lead to sleep deprivation, the addiction can lead to anxiety, and the distraction in school can lead to falling grades.

Additionally, kids are losing the ability to value being alone. Constantly being connected to the world makes it nearly impossible to ever fully relax and break free. Not to mention, texting brings muscle cramping to a whole new level as many teenagers complain of sore

thumbs. Cell phones were not designed to destroy the world, and they certainly have many positive attributes.

It’s comforting to know that in the click of a button help could be on the way in an emergency. It’s easy to shoot a quick text when running late for a meeting or simply to keep in touch with an old friend. In college, cell phones facilitate communication with parents.

Making plans could not require less energy than sending someone a text.

Like other technological innovations, for all the good they bring, cell phones pose their flaws.

As we recognize these issues will we do anything to stop them? Admittedly, my phone was on my desk through the entirety of writing this op-ed. And tomorrow, I will still compete with the toy box for friends’ attention. Even if you can hear me now, are you really listening? Are any of us?

Stephanie Farber is a rising junior majoring in English.

Consumers should push Apple to serve as model for other tech companies MAC

continued from page 31

It is clearly within Apple’s interests. With the recent passing of Apple CEO and visionary Steve Jobs, and future product innovations remaining uncertain, a serious CSR strategy and commitment to the greater public good could be what continues to differentiate Apple from its competitors and rewards Apple financially in the long term.

The time for change could not be more opportune. Harsh working conditions leading to suicides at some of its suppliers’ factories have made Apple the target of international crit-

icism. Apple needs to act. It has taken a few steps, but not nearly enough. After allegations that certain of its contract manufacturers in China are sweatshops, Apple began yearly audits of all its suppliers and has slowly started raising standards and pruning suppliers that do not comply.

However, raising standards without raising pay merely makes suppliers cut other corners. The pressure from Apple to do more with less may be rationalized in terms of efficiency, but it has human and environmental costs — costs that have been repeatedly highlighted by the media,

most poignantly by Charles Duhigg and David Barboza in their article on the human costs built into an iPad, [which ran in The New York Times on Jan. 25].

The suicides at China’s now infamous manufacturing behemoth, Foxconn, have created the uncomfortable impression that “cool” products like the iPad are being produced by what amounts to economic slave labor. This is decidedly “uncool” and not the image that Apple wants to portray. It should respond by using its accumulated profits to help revolutionize the tech industry once again and turn

sustainable development and production (from both a social and environmental perspective) into business as usual. As one of the most admired corporations in the world, other companies — especially those in the tech industry — would likely follow Apple’s lead.

The only way this will happen is if Apple faces pressure in the marketplace. The question is whether there will be increased pressure on Apple or whether buyers enamored of their products will continue to buy them regardless of the human and environmental costs. I believe it is our responsibility as consumers to push

Apple to become a more sustainable company and serve as an example to others.

For many students, a computer is the most expensive thing we own. Something that we invest so much in should align with our values. If we care about such things, we must make ourselves heard, think twice and vote with our wallets before purchasing that next Apple product. Just make sure we let them know why.

Brooks Shaffer is a master’s degree candidate in international business and environmental policy at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

For constructive dialogue, Tufts needs more than knee-jerk indignation Greek Life

continued from page 30

to giving me free choice regarding the company I wish to keep while emptying my bowels and bladder. So too are varsity sports, several of the Tufts a capella groups, and the clothing section of the university bookstore. Border accuses the Greek System of dividing men and women, but she proceeds to do exactly that by admonishing the women of Tufts for needlessly trading their souls for sorority bids but tacitly acknowledging the legitimacy of men wishing to join fraternities.

The same hypocritical narrow-mindedness that dictates much of Border’s argument is possibly even more prevalent in the sentiments expressed by William Huang, Alex Chan and various Asian-American groups across campus, especially, though not exclusively, the Korean Students Association (KSA).

For a minority-group that suffers from such highly-flaunted discrimination to actively complain about another minority achieving its goals (I am referring to the new Africana Studies Program, the inception of which was apparently met with disappointment

by Chan) is to dramatically misinterpret the Civil Rights struggle, which revolves around the principles that inequality for some is inequality for all, and progress for some serves the betterment of everyone. I do not mean to say that Asian American groups are the only ones guilty of focusing on their tree and missing the forest. Indeed, I think that for all its supposedly liberal and progressive tendencies, this campus is deeply hostile toward the open discussion of beliefs, unless of course those beliefs come in neat wrapping paper and a bow tie or have the support of a vocal enough contingency.

When people are informed — and you would expect that to be more of the time at such an elite scholarly

institution — they adopt one view and accumulate academic language around it to the detriment of other perspectives. As in the case of a clogged artery, everything that passes through the minds of this campus’ most motivated activists is filtered through the plaque of committed intellectual bias. Often there is simply no room for other ways of understanding the world to pass through. There is an important difference between talking at someone and talking with someone, a difference that is lost on too many of our school’s more outspoken individuals. The KSA’s feverish response to the foreverinfamous bias incident was a prime example of precisely the wrong way to initiate a purposeful conversation at Tufts. It certainly did a far better job of marginalizing the Asian community than whatever occurred in the Lewis Hall lobby during spring semester 2009 (and, as I trust the Daily readership noted, there was no one quoted in the article who was actually there to witness what happened, and, between the people who were, there is not, and has never been, a clear consensus on that subject). I know that voicing a less than 200-percent politically correct opinion at this school is like pogo-sticking across a minefield, so I wouldn’t dare suggest in any way that rallying militantly behind hot-button topics is poor practice for anyone genuinely trying to improve interpersonal relationships at this school. I wouldn’t say that overblown reactions make for good political and media fodder — and can win you a new, fully-staffed academic studies department perfectly fit to (and I’m sure Lauren Border would agree here) perpetuate the categorization of the world into terms of “us versus them” — but will do absolutely nothing to unite the people who comprise the Tufts community.

The collective Greek Life community

wrote a long op-ed defending its honor against Lauren Border’s antagonistic op-ed. Her words managed to set the Facebook world ablaze with backlash, and she, accordingly, backpedaled as quickly as possible, writing another op-ed that appeared beneath the Greek Life piece, apologizing for the most contentious arguments she put forth in her first one. More recently, the men’s crew team was suspended for “promot[ing] aggression and rape” with t-shirts displaying a shockingly “phallic” depiction of a 4-person rowboat and an equally perverted pun on the word “coxswain.” Of course, the drawing was a faithful representation of what a manned crew boat actually looks like, and the caption accompanying it has all the rape implications of a “that’s what she said” punchline, but that’s beside the point. The point is, someone felt a twinge of self-righteous anger when they saw the shirts, reported it to an administration that would rather do somersaults over shards of glass than risk a politically uncomfortable situation, and now a host of students who positively contribute to this school will be reprimanded for having the audacity to use free speech.

The crew team’s punishment was eventually mitigated by University President Anthony Monaco, largely, I suspect, due to student unrest with regard to the issue. But the brothers of Delta Upsilon were punished without reprieve for pulling a similar stunt. They were also accused of homophobia for electing not to hang a Gay Pride flag on the front of their chapter house. Personally, I fly one such flag outside of my window. That doesn’t mean I think someone who chooses not to is homophobic. I think most seniors will recognize that this is par for the course on a campus where silence is called indifference and dissent is punishable by public stoning. It is why we have a fairly diverse student body that is very much segregated, a

fairly educated populous that prefers shouting matches to constructive dialogue. Dialogue is impossible if everyone censors their thoughts for fear of angry mobs of energized young people armed with too much emotion, too much compromised rhetoric and the profound desire to mend the many heinous evils of the great, wide, privileged Northeast bubble we call Tufts. There is enough line-tiptoeing and mediafueled outrage in this country without the added contributions of 6,000 worldleaders-in-training. There is also more than enough ignorance, bigotry and truly disgusting evil in this world to get worked-up over. Next time you become aware of someone expressing a stupid and questionably offensive ideas take a deep breath, consider it within a larger perspective, jump off your gleaming white stallion and take the time to educate them. Or ignore it. Or let it bother you for a moment, before you go back to worrying about the many pressing concerns of everyday life instead.

The choice is entirely yours. Just don’t start spewing the same unproductive, recycled, pseudo-worldly manure you picked up in your first sociology textbook on the rest of us, pretending that it doesn’t stink and that you are making a positive difference by spewing it.

Don’t complain about a lack of discussion and progress when the corpses of the last people you smothered for their insolence haven’t even begun decomposing. You can have a campus that is quiet, polite and stagnantly divided or one that is loud and messy and capable of change. Again, the choice is yours.

Decide which you prefer, and don’t begrudge the rest of us if we oblige you. Thanks.

Steven Cohen graduates today with degrees in international literary and visual studies and Spanish.

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

33

Sports

Men’s Track and Field

Fourth-place regionals finish highlights spring season by

Lauren Flament

Daily Editorial Board

The men’s track and field team will wrap up what has already been an incredibly successful season this weekend at the national championships in California.

After earning second at the NESCACChampionships,thesquad went on to take fourth at the Div. III New England Championships at MIT on May 3-5.

The Jumbos notched 68 points to finish among the top five in a field of 27 scoring teams, while the host Engineers won the meet with 113 points, distancing themselves from the runner-up Williams Ephs, who amassed 97.5.

“The team did really well considering we were not at full strength,” rising senior Jeff Marvel said. “We had some guys battling injuries and it was the middle of finals week, so we didn’t have the full squad at the meet. But despite that, we ended up fourth, which I think was a great showing, and we had some great individual performances.”

Marvel led the Jumbos to their lone victory of the day, clocking an impressive 1:50.82 in the 800meter dash and capturing the win by less than two-tenths of a second. The time broke the 44-yearold school record of 1:51.54, set by Chris Kutteruf (LA ’68) in 1968, and ranks in the top 10 nationally.

“Marvel continued to improve as he has for all of 2012,” assistant coach Nick Welch said. “He PR’ed, winning the 800 and setting a new school record, which is impressive on its own, but he did it leading wire to wire and he did it evensplitting, 55-55, which is even more impressive. It was a great race, and it will be awesome to see what that leads to at nationals.”

Rising senior Gbola Ajayi was another big contributor to the Jumbos’ cause, taking second in the triple jump by launching himself 45-8 and third in the long jump at 21-9.

Classmates Mike Blair and Brad Nakanishi also earned third-place finishes — Blair in the decathlon with 6,057 points and Nakanishi in the pole vault, clearing 15-5.

Meanwhile, the throwers continued to show their strength. In the hammer throw, rising senior Curtis Yancy took fourth with a heave of 165-10, with graduating senior tri-captain Adam Aronson close behind in sixth at 163-4. Rising sophomore Brian Williamson also earned a fourth-place finish, launching the shot put 49-10 1/2.

Yancy added a sixth-place result in the discus.

Rising junior Ben Wallis notched a top-five finish on the track, crossing the finish line of the steeplechase with a season-best time of 9:16.60.

“Ben took a big step forward in the steeple that weekend, and he has been moving forward every week,” Marvel said. “I think that this was his first breakout race of the season, where he is starting to feel confident and do really well.”

After posting several impressive marks at the Div. III championships, the squad returned to MIT on May 10-12 for the Open New England Championships, where it took 13th among 37 scoring squads spanning all three NCAA divisions.

Tufts accumulated 21 points, while Rhode Island won the meet with 169 points. Among Div. III schools, the Jumbos were second only to the Bates Bobcats — also the only team that finished ahead of them at the NESCAC Championships.

A similar crew led the Jumbos at the meet, and Nakanishi, Ajayi and Wallis each made improvements, moving up the list for nationals.

Nakanishi cleared a season-best height of 16-0 3/4 for third in the pole vault, the highest finish for Tufts and a mark that will likely send him to NCAAs. Ajayi also posted an impressive performance, leaping 48-4 3/4 in the triple jump for a fourth-place finish that ranks among the top 10 nationally. Ajayi also earned seventh in the long jump.

Wallis improved his steeplechase time to 9:14.69, which was good for fourth. The personal-best time puts him in the top 25 nationally, but he will need to improve on it to earn a trip to NCAAS. “The biggest things coming out of the meet were Gbola and Brad

hitting marks that pretty much guarantee them spots at nationals,” Welch said. “Even more important in my mind is the consistent improvement that they have shown in this year and in the last three years that they’ve been here.

In the throws, Yancy again delivered a strong performance, taking sixth in the discus by heaving it a distance of 151-8.

Meanwhile, the rising senior pair of Marvel and Tyler Andrews faced high-level competition at the IC4A Championships at Princeton on May 11-12.

“It was sort of a magical meet,” Welch said. “It was a great opportunity to run against the best distance runners on the whole east coast in all divisions, and Tyler and Jeff really made the most of it.”

On May 11, Andrews clocked a time of 30:22.82 in the 10,000meter run, a 35-second personal best and enough to take eighth among a field of 30 runners that spanned all divisions. The time also ranks 20th nationally.

“It puts him 20th on the nationals list in what is without a doubt the deepest 10k field ever,” Welch said. “At this point, he is on the bubble for nationals, and we all have our fingers crossed that he will get it ... but if he does not, it won’t take away from the work he put in this year.”

The next day, Marvel raced a personal-best time of 3:52.75 in the 1,500-meter run, a top-25 effort nationally.

“It was hard to complain with a two-second PR, but it was a little off the school record, which was a goal coming into the race, and I was hoping to run a national qualifying time, which I didn’t do,” Marvel said.

“It’s pretty cool that Marvel can run the second-fastest time in school history and a two-second PR and come away from the race disappointed,” Welch added. “I think that says a lot about his character as a miler.”

The Jumbos traveled to RPI for the ECAC Championships on May 17, as several of them looked to lock up national qualifiers while others simply tried to finish the season

Jumbos’ stellar season to conclude at nationals in California WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD continued from page 45

event victory in the discus with a meet-record throw of 163-6. She also finished in the top seven in the shot put with a toss of 42-6 and in the hammer throw with a mark of 167-8. Rising senior Sabienne Brutus notched fifth in the hammer throw with a hit of 170-1, enough to qualify for a trip to NCAAs. “We did awesome for a Div. III school,” Allen said. “Competing against Div. I schools is no joke and you can’t really compare. With the Open New Englands, it’s hard just to qualify for, let alone place high, so coming in was awesome. We had a great all-around effort and our performance really says a lot about what we have in the program and where we’re going.”

Overall, the team finished ninth in a field of 35 teams with a final tally of 36 points, the highest total of any Div. III squad. Rhode Island won the event with 106 points, and New Hampshire and Vermont rounded out the top three with 73 and 59 points, respectively.

Time and time again, the Jumbos have proven that they can compete with anyone in the country.

“This past season, we have seen some very strong improvements not only from last year, but from indoor,” Price said. “We’ve competed with a strong team mentality that led us to our runner-up finish at NESCACs and

to our third-place finish at the Div. III [New England] Championships.

While we’ll be graduating a lot of strong seniors, there have been some breakthrough performances by the upperclassmen, and I’m sure their momentum will only continue to build in the coming years.”

The ECAC Championships, held on May 17 at RPI, marked the final opportunity for the Jumbos to improve their qualifying marks against teams from around the region.

Heading into ECACs, Tufts boasted six athletes ranked in the top 20 in the nation in their respective events: Hieber in the 400-meter hurdles, Theiss in the pole vault, Jones in the triple jump, Brutus in the hammer throw, Allen in the discus and hammer and Price in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

If their marks remain in the top 22, they will travel to Claremont-MuddScripps in California for nationals on May 24.

“This semester we really came together and battled,” Allen said.

“We realized we were a more-thancapable team and brought it when it really mattered. I’m really happy with how the season is going, and we have a chance to do some real damage in the coming weeks. It’ll be fun to compete and see what happens, and hopefully we’ll bring back home some hardware.”

Josh Berlinger / The Tufts Daily

Rising senior Gbola Ajayi placed second in the triple jump at the Div. III New England Championships at MIT and will compete in the event at nationals in Claremont, Calif. on May 24-26. strong. The results were not available at press time.

Up next are the NCAA Championships, which will be held on May 24-26 in at ClaremontMudd-Scripps in Claremont, Calif.

Currently, Marvel and Ajayi have secured spots for NCAAs in the 800-meter run and the triple jump, respectively, by ranking among the top 20 nationally. Both also earned All-American honors in their events indoors. After Div. III New Englands, Nakanishi stood in solid position to earn his first trip to nationals in the pole vault, but still had room to better his clearance at ECACs. Meanwhile, Wallis and Blair looked to improve their marks at ECACs to earn NCAA berths in the steeplechase and the decathlon, respectively. Andrews stands in a promising position for the 10,000meter run, but will have to wait for

the final list to be released.

With six athletes potentially representing the squad at nationals and a second-place finish at the NESCAC Championships, the Jumbos have many reasons to be proud of their spring season.

“I think it’s the most successful outdoor campaign that I have been a part of at Tufts,” Marvel said.

“Not only did we race well at the championship meets, we continue to race well into the postseason.”

“The season is not even over and we’re already bringing some heavy-hitters to nationals,” Welch added. “About five minutes after the [Distance Medley Relay team] finished at NESCACs, we were already talking about what this team can do in 2013. We return a lot of our guys and bring some injured guys back, so there is certainly no letting up at this point. It is all just excitement.”

Novice crew flashes positive signs of what’s to come next season MEN’S CREW

continued from page 43

an effort to bring its time under 1:40.

The crew accomplished that feat on April 14 on the Malden River, during its 11th annual regatta with Bates, Wesleyan and the University of New Hampshire.

“Overall, we saw a lot of growth this year,” rising junior Lex Clary said. “It was a hard season, certainly, but we’ve gotten mentally tougher as a group. I am especially proud of our younger guys stepping up.”

The novice crew started the year hot, winning all six of its head-to-head races -success that bodes extremely well for the future of the program and was not surprising to the members of the varsity squad.

“Most of these guys are very experienced from rowing in high school and have the talent to compete with the best,” Clary told the Daily earlier in the season.

“They are adjusting very well to the program and have been able to gel as a racing unit rather quickly.”

This season also saw the Jumbos put an end to 5 a.m. practices. The tradition had lasted until this year for reasons of both practicality and pride — there are no conflicts with class or extracurricular activities at five in the morning, and the mental toughness evoked from the commitment to wake up at such an early hour encourages team chemistry. However, the Jumbos decided that it simply wasn’t worth the consequences.

“We realized that we were sacrificing

athletes’ sleep to an extent that made it hard for them to keep up with academics and performance,” graduating senior Chris Park said in April. “We made the decision to change our program to accommodate two afternoon practices a week.”

The change may not have brought positive results on the water, but the rowers see no correlation between the new practice regimen and the winless campaign.

“The in-season workouts were really intense, and the team worked six days a week to get better,” Clary said. “It is fair to say now that this year we were rebuilding the program. It has been a hard road, but our work ethic was never in question.”

In late April, the team’s season was interrupted by a scandal. The rowers’ Spring Fling shirts, sporting the double entendre “Check out our cox” — a reference to the coxswain in crew — were flagged as a bias incident, and the rowers were initially suspended by their coaches for the New England Championships. However, the decision was overturned in time for them to compete.

As they have all season, the rowers kept their cool.

“Crew is really a race against yourself, a sport in which your biggest competitor is the voice inside your head telling you that you’re tired, you’re sore and that you can’t possibly pull another clean stroke,” Clary said earlier in the year. “As far as that competition goes, our boys have proven that they have as much guts as any other crew, if not more.”

The Tufts Daily

34

Sports

Commencement 2012

Team mentality helps women’s crew finish spring season strong WOMEN’S CREW

continued from page 43

Parisi of her first varsity eight boat. “We had a difficult time rowing together and refocusing in the middle of the race.”

Just as they have all year, though, the Jumbos recovered from their less-thanstellar performance against the Blue and hit their stride a week later at the New England Championships, where they finished 11th overall out of 27 teams.

“At New Englands, we had a great second half of our heat,” Parisi said. “We were able to take our race to the next level, have a very fast sprint and pass Smith in order to make it to the petite finals in the afternoon.”

Of the three varsity boats racing at New Englands, the first eight was the only boat to earn a trip to the petite finals — the intermediate level. The second eight notched a fourth-place finish in its final heat, while the second four only raced in a final heat because there was no preliminary round.

The Jumbos wrapped up their season on May 11 at the ECAC Championships, where they placed 14th with a final time of 7:10.76.

Overall, it was a fitting conclusion to a season in which rebuilding and cohesion were paramount. The Jumbos improved throughout despite numerous obstacles and setbacks.

The spring season began with a win over Tulane, a loss against Hamilton, a win against Mt. Holyoke and a loss against Wesleyan. This oscillation characterized the Jumbos’ path to the New England Championships.

But now, there is more of a nostalgic air about the season for the team members — especially for graduating seniors — than there is concern over times and results.

“Overall, we have had a really great season,” graduating senior tri-captain Kathleen Holec said. “The team came together and was much more united than we have been in the past, [and] hopefully this team mentality will be maintained in the future and Tufts can continue to keep becoming a faster and faster crew.”

courtesy michael bai

The women’s crew team placed 11th out of 27 squads at the New England Rowing Championships on Lake Quinsigamond on May 5.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL 2012 GRADUATES! FROM THE OFFICE OF THE UNIVERSITY CHAPLAIN REVEREND PATRICIA BUDD KEPLER UNIVERSITY CHAPLAIN ad INTERIM NAILA BALOCH MUSLIM CHAPLAIN LYNN COOPER ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN RACHAEL PETTENGILL PROTESTANT CHAPLAIN RABBI JEFFREY SUMMIT JEWISH CHAPLAIN

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

35

Sports

Senior leaders have kept men’s lacrosse team on top MEN’S LACROSSE

Continued from page 46

Wood buried a blistering shot to win it.

Since then, Tufts, which MEN’S LACROSSE POSTSEASON AWARDS M Nick Rhoads (’12) First Team All-NESCAC M Kevin McCormick (’12) First Team All-NESCAC NEILA Player of the Year First Team All-New England D Matt Callahan (’13) First Team All-NESCAC First Team All-New England A Beau Wood (’14) First Team All-NESCAC First Team All-New England A Cole Bailey (’15) Second Team All-NESCAC NESCAC Rookie of the Year NEILA Rookie of the Year Second Team All-New England M Peter Bowers (’14) Second Team All-New England D Dan Alles (’14) Second Team All-New England

received a first-round bye, made quick work of Trinity in a second-round game, avenging the March loss with a 17-8 defeat of the Bantams, this time on Bello Field.

The Jumbos stand at 18-2 overall after their NCAA quarterfinal victory against the Tigers, and with a win today they will play for a second national championship title in three years.

“Every team has their strengths and weaknesses, but we know that if we play solid as a team, it’s going to end well for us,” Diss said. “We haven’t reached our potential yet. We haven’t played a complete game at the level that we can play.”

Tufts boasts six All-Region selections, including New England Intercollegiate

Lacrosse Association Player of the Year graduating senior co-captain Kevin McCormick and NESCAC Rookie of the Year Cole Bailey, who was tied with Wood for the conference lead in points heading into Wednesday’s game. Over the course of the season, the Jumbos developed one of the most well-balanced, powerful rosters in recent memory, filling the gaps of last year’s graduated seniors and more.

In particular, McCormick and graduating senior cocaptain Sean Kirwan have been sensational. McCormick, never afraid to shoot, has filled the role left by former quadcaptain Matt Witko (LA ’11) and then some, finishing with greater accuracy and proving that he can handle pressure from poles.

Meanwhile, after missing the first half of the season due to injury, Kirwan has rebounded with a 26-goal campaign that includes 13 points in the last four games alone, and he remains the Jumbos’ most reliable crease man.

“Sean’s a phenomenal player,” Bailey said. “He just draws so much attention, and it allows other guys to step up.

For me as a feeder, it helps a lot. You feel like he’s always open no matter what, even if there’s a guy on him.”

Graduating senior Geordie Shafer has also been a reliable scoring threat and workhorse at midfield, working to push the ball in transition and posting 22 goals and 12 assists through Wednesday night.

Midfielder Nick Rhoads has also enjoyed a sensational senior campaign, leading the NESCAC in groundballs on his way to a .596 faceoff percentage, good for second in the conference. Rhoads’ faceoff success combined with excellent wing play, particularly from graduating senior Mark Findaro, has helped the Jumbos become nearly unstoppable at midfield, securing countless possessions that have allowed

Courtesy Salvatore Ruggiero

Rising junior Beau Wood scored the game-winner in double overtime of the NESCAC Championship game against Bowdoin on May 6, sending Bello Field into a frenzy. them to set the pace and close out games.

Rounding out the team’s 10-man graduating class are keeper Steven Foglietta, attackman Jordan Korinis and midfielders Ben Saperstein, Will Duryea and Lucas Durst, all of whom have stepped up in significantly larger roles this season.

All spring, the Jumbos have drawn from the experience

Cohesion remains major asset for Jumbos WOMEN’S LACROSSE continued from page 44

half, so I think they will try to continue our goal of trying to play really hard for a full 60 minutes.”

Tufts rebounded, rattling off three straight wins, including one against Williams, before finishing the regular season at 5-5 in the NESCAC after a heartbreaking overtime loss to Bowdoin.

“The really close games this season, like Hamilton, Bowdoin and the second Middlebury game, will be forever remembered,” Lotz said.

“During those games our team really came together and came back from behind, having complete trust and believing that we could win.”

That resilience was on display all season, as games in which the Jumbos were in danger of getting blown out often turned into nailbiters. Although the Jumbos failed to defeat a NESCAC team with a winning record, they gave every team in the conference a tough battle, a testament to their spirit and mentality.

“To see the determination in your teammates’ faces and knowing that you are all going to do everything you can to win the game is such an inspiring part of being on a team,” Lotz said. “Over the season our team grew a lot, as we had to overcome losing some players to injuries and changing up positions of some people. But we all remained close throughout it all and kept working as hard as we could, and I think that’s why we were able to stay competitive.”

The playoff game against

Middlebury was a demonstration of that philosophy and almost a microcosm of the season, as the team came out much tougher against an opponent that had defeated Tufts 16-5 early in the season. Rising senior attackman and leading scorer Kerry Eaton scored four goals, and Tufts’ defense put forth another strong effort against one of the NESCAC’s toughest offenses. While the Jumbos lost 12-8, the game was an impressive display of their grit.

“The second half [against] Middlebury marked the best half of team lacrosse we played all season,” graduating senior attackman Kelly Hyland said. “We’d just dug ourselves into too deep a hole in the first half to pull off the comeback.”

Eaton, along with graduating senior tri-captains attackman Lara Kozin and midfielder Kelly Cakert, was selected to the All-NESCAC Second Team. The selections of Cakert and Kozin belied the massive contribution of the team’s eight seniors, who were as much leaders and contributors as friends, using their bonds off the field to improve their play on it.

“The bond made by playing on a team with the other seniors for the past four years is something that I will always treasure, and I’m so happy I’ve become such good friends with my fellow seniors,” Lotz said. “Four years is a long time, a lot of off-season practices, lift sessions, bus rides, in-season games, practices and tailgates, and to have been together through it all, the good times and the bad times,

and skills of these seniors to turn a talented young group of underclassmen into a group of impact players. Each win has seen goals, groundballs and big hits from freshmen and seniors, attackmen and defenders alike, and Tufts has thrived as a result of their depth and unselfish play.

“The seniors mean so much to the team,” Bailey said. “At this point, we just want to keep

has given us so many memories that none of us would give up for anything. Knowing that we all worked our hardest for each other for so long is something I can never thank them enough for.”

“I can honestly say that these girls are my best friends on and off the field,” Hyland added. “Not only are my classmates unbelievable lacrosse players, but they are incredible people who have made my time at Tufts unforgettable. We have had some great successes on the field, including two NCAA runs and four appearances in the NESCAC tournament, and all of my best lacrosse memories involve accomplishing goals with them.”

Although the loss of the graduating seniors will leave a void in the team, the future still looks bright, with numerous talented underclassmen that will look to uphold Tufts’ reputation as one of the top teams in the Northeast.

“We made some adjustments and learned a new play that really sparked our attack, and I think that will be a great motivator for the underclassmen going into next season,” Hyland said. “With eight starting seniors graduating, the team next year will be young, but we are returning some great players, and I have no doubt that other girls will step up and produce.

“We always talk about how what our team has is really special,” she added, “because it’s not very often you find a team of 25 girls that genuinely like each other.”

winning and have them around for longer, because they’re running out of time.”

Throughout the season, the Jumbos have stayed true to one of the program’s core philosophies: With each new challenge, they have looked their opponent in the eye and punched it in the chest — something that will stay the same long after this year’s seniors have said their goodbyes and the Bello lights go out.

Tufts will return heart of singles lineup MEN’S TENNIS

continued from page 43

tions where they hadn’t competed before.

“Most people had to move up from where they were last year, and even though we didn’t end up [ranked] where we were, it was a confidence booster,” Pataro said.

Now, the Jumbos can look back positively on what turned into a rebuilding year, proud of the fight shown by their sophomoreand junior-heavy roster.

“I think it was successful in that we came together as a group,” Bossen said.

“It could’ve turned into a trainwreck, and it didn’t. It was very impressive.”

Bossen is one of two graduating seniors, along with co-captain Sam Laber.

Both have started for the Jumbos for four years, and they worked hard this season to keep the young team together and focused.

“The biggest thing we’ll miss is their leadership,” Pataro said. “They really kept the team pumped up and never got down on anybody else. That will be tough to fill, but I think we can do it.”

While it may be losing its two strongest leaders, the core of the roster will remain largely intact next season, with five of six singles players returning, including rising seniors Ben Barad and Andrew Lutz.

“You’re going to see some of these guys that were playing a role this year having to play that same role next year, and they’ll be used to it,” Bossen said.

Bossen referred to the end of the transition period for players such as rising sophomore Brian Tan, who will return with a year of experience under his belt.

In addition, Pataro will go from being somewhat of an uncertainty at the start of this year to a strong and consistent piece of the Jumbos’ puzzle.

With such a strong returning corps, the team is looking forward to the fall.

“We’ve got a couple of really good freshman recruits,” Pataro said. “We just have to continue the momentum that we have and relay that to the new freshmen. If that all works out, I think next season is going to be incredibly successful.

The Tufts Daily

36

by

Commencement 2012

Saluting the seniors: Superstar-filled

Claire Kemp and Alex Prewitt Daily Editorial Board

Sports

Last year, on these pages, the Class of 2011 was presented as arguably the greatest collection of athletes to matriculate as Jumbos. There were national champions, record-setters and all-time greats. The class helped take Tufts to new heights, both in Div. III prominence and Director’s Cup standings.

The same could very well be said about the Class of 2012.

In that article, baseball coach John Casey told the Daily that success breeds more success, that the Class of 2011 left

behind a tradition of national achievement, one that would motivate future classes. Perhaps this is the byproduct.

Perhaps the Class of 2011 blazed its own trail.

The following seven graduating seniors are featured here as the pinnacle of greatness that this graduating class embodies: ice hockey’s Scott Barchard, softball’s Lena Cantone, field hockey’s Taylor Dyler, Nakeisha Jones of women’s track and field, men’s lacrosse’s Sean Kirwan and Kevin McCormick, Tiffany Kornegay of women’s basketball, Owen Rood of men’s swimming and baseball’s Sam Sager.

Sam Sager The Tufts baseball way. Mythic in speech yet concrete in execution, it is the method to which all Jumbos ascribe. Hold yourself accountable. Step up and perform.

Become a team.

And to coach John Casey, no player better exemplifies the program’s mantras than Sam Sager.

“Sam’s the best player in this league, bar none, I don’t care,” Casey said in mid-April.

“No one plays better than him. Drops the ball down, flies around, there’s no one better than him. Not even close.”

Sager, a graduating senior, will depart Huskins Field as one of the program’s most prolific hitters, a beacon of leadership in his four seasons starting for the Jumbos and two as captain. He finished his collegiate career atop the list of most, if not all, program offensive records: Tied for second in single-season hits (60 in 2010), second all-time in hits (195); fourth all-time in runs (139), sixth in career RBIs (109), first in single-season doubles (18 in 2010) and first in career doubles (50).

Sager will remember losses. He will remember specific games. But more than anything else, he’ll remember the way it felt to run out onto Huskins Field, surrounded by his teammates.

“To run out onto a field, to know that the guys by your side would do anything for you and all just want the same thing, I think that’s really a special feeling,” Sager said. “Developing that is one of the hardest things, where you’re at the point where you can look to your left and to your right and know they have your back.”

A Cranston, R.I. product, Sager picked up a starting job shortly into his freshmen season and spent three years at third base, migrating to shortstop once Dave Leresche (A ’11) graduated. He’s a twotime All-NESCAC selection and a twotime NESCAC champion, and he appeared in the Cape Cod League this past summer, holding his own against 90-plus milesper-hour pitching from Div. I stars.

The tangibles aside, everything Sager accomplished on the field pales in comparison to the relationship the Jumbos developed with Adrian Misic, a young boy with brain cancer whom they adopted in 2008. Adrian died on Sept. 21, 2010 — but not before he got to hoist the NESCAC trophy with Sager and his teammates on Huskins. Before the games, with other teams stressed out, the Jumbos were on the sidelines, wrestling with Adrian.

“We were really blessed, as young men, to have the opportunity to hang out with a kid who just went about everything and faced everything with the most amazing strength and courage,” Sager said. “To realize what we’re going through really isn’t that important and isn’t that difficult compared to what he was going through. I always say, anything we did for him couldn’t possibly have matched what he did for us. He was that fundamental part of us.”

On Halloween, Sager and his teammates went to Adrian’s house and took him trickor-treating in the neighborhood, a roving entourage of referees, M&Ms, babies and barrels of monkeys. Adrian was Wolverine.

Sager was a football player.

Alex Dennett / The Tufts Daily

Scott Barchard The ice hockey team had its most successful season of the NESCAC era this past winter, posting a 9-8-1 record en route to fourth place in the NESCAC and a first-ever home playoff berth. Quite simply, the Jumbos couldn’t have done it without Scott Barchard.

A two-time All-NESCAC selection and four-time Player of the Week, the graduating senior tri-captain has put together the most prolific campaign for a goalie in Tufts history. This year, Barchard made his 2,167th career stop to break the program record, while his 817 saves led Div. III and his 92.2 save percentage was 16th nationwide. Barchard now has a firm grip on the Tufts record with 2,781 career saves, a mark that puts him among the all-time top 20 in NCAA history — despite missing all but four games his junior year due to injury — along with a career .930 save percentage.

615

Career saves differential between alltime leader Scott Barchard and James Kalec (LA ‘08), who is second with 2,166 career saves. Barchard also appeared in just four games his junior season, and broke the record seven games into his senior season. This differential would rank fifth all-time on the Jumbos’ single-season saves list as well.

“I made it my goal freshman year to work every day to prove the coaches at Tufts that taking a chance on me was a good decision, and I never looked back,” Barchard said. “Wearing the Tufts jersey was an honor and a privilege that will always mean the world to me.”

The moment he put on the brown and blue, Barchard made it clear that the coaches had made one of their best decisions ever — Barchard made 49 saves in his first collegiate start, a mark that stands as one of Tufts’ 25 best single-game totals. That season, he led the NESCAC with 862 stops and had a No. 9 national rank in save percentage at .927.

As a sophomore, he led the country with 986 saves and a .939 percentage on his way to the program’s first-ever AllAmerican nod.

“Clearly, his stats show his leadership in the cage and ability to defend our team sometimes when we really needed, like after long road trips when we had to get off the bus and play,” classmate Evan Story said. “As far as practice and off-ice lifts, Scotty was never late.

He was encouraging and would often give helpful instruction for our players on how to score. When he was injured he would still make the road trips, even when academic workload was almost unbearable.”

Barchard owns 12 of the team’s top 25 single-game saves totals, including the Jumbo record of 63 saves set at Saint Anselm on Dec. 5, 2009.

Nine times, he had 50 or more saves.

Though he is arguably the most dominant athlete at his position graduating this year, Barchard is perpetually humble.

“Each record is truly an honor, but they were only accomplished because of the hard work and determination of my teammates,” he said. “They made my job easy each and every game, and without them I would have never accomplished anything.”

Looking past graduation, Barchard hopes to take his skill, work ethic and mental toughness to the professional level.

Owen Rood

william butt / The Tufts Daily

This is the first time since the season ended that Owen Rood has actually thought about his career at Tufts.

Then again, there’s plenty to think about.

Ten career honorable-mention All-American honors. A four-year All-NESCAC selection.

This past winter, he won the 50- and 100yard freestyle at NESCACs. But what comes to mind most is the growth.

“My time at Tufts has opened up the world to me,” said Rood, a graduating senior co-captain. “I didn’t picture that looking to happen when I came here. It seems like the world is so much more open to me basically than when I was when I was 17 and showed up on campus.”

There were the trips to NCAAs all four seasons, in cities he’d never seen before.

His freshmen and sophomore year, the team went to Minneapolis, visited the Mall of America and traipsed through the city’s above-ground Skyway system. Junior year was Knoxville. Senior year was Indianapolis.

There, they went to the NCAA Hall of Fame and the accompanying museum. On the wall was a picture of Kendall Swett (LA ’07), a NESCAC champion diver for Tufts on the women’s team.

Rood defines his time at Tufts by consistency, helping lead the Jumbos to two run-

17

Total All-American individual honors between women’s track and field star Nakeisha Jones (seven) and swimmer Owen Rood (10). ner-up finishes and two third-place finishes at the NESCAC meet.

When he was being recruited out of Branford, Conn., Rood was given a packet of emails from coach Adam Hoyt. They contained emails from parents of opposing teams, congratulating the Jumbos for their second-place finish at NESCACs in 2007-08.

The messages praised Tufts for its class and enthusiasm and were a big reason why Rood came to the Hill.

“I think the group of guys, over four years, you can’t put a value on it, and you can’t put it into words -- so many experiences rolled into one, it’s hard to wrap it into one perspective,” said Rood, who will work for Teach for America in Milwaukee next year. “I loved the team. It was the biggest aspect of my life here at Tufts. That’s a really impressive thing to say. I’m just happy that I was given the opportunity to pursue my goals.”

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

37

Sports

Class of 2012 leaves lasting legacy Tiffany Kornegay

At 5’6”, graduating senior guard Tiffany Kornegay might not appear to have the makings of a shutdown defender. However, her 8.7 rebounds, NESCAC-leading 6.63 defensive boards and 2.59 steals per game

46.3

Points per game allowed by a stifling women’s basketball defense this season.

Led by Tiffany Kornegay, the fifth straight Jumbo to earn NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year awards, Tufts reached the Sweet 16 before falling by three points to St. Thomas (Minn.).

this past winter tell the story. Kornegay’s defense and rebounding — combined with her explosive speed and elite athleticism — allowed her to also average 7.8 points and 2.8 assists per game, making her one of the most versatile players Tufts women’s basketball has ever seen.

The 2011-12 NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year and a D3Hoops.com All-Region selection helped bring the Jumbos to the NCAA Sweet 16 this season. In Tufts’ NESCAC quarterfinal matchup against Conn. College, Kornegay posted 16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals. In the team’s NCAA-opening 61-57 win against Misericordia, she dominated the stat sheet with 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals. Kornegay knew how to turn it on in the clutch.

Taylor Dyer The field hockey team will say goodbye to one of the best defenders in program history in graduating senior Taylor Dyer. A two-time All-American, three-time All-NESCAC First Team selection and three-time All-New England back, Dyer has put together a standout career from the Jumbos’ back line. Though the team failed to make the NCAA tournament this spring for the first time in five years and made a disappointing NESCAC quarterfinal exit against Trinity in double

74

Consecutive starts made over her career by Taylor Dyer, who never missed a game for the Jumbos.

The four-year defensive anchor earned two all-American honors and helped guide Tufts to consecutive Final Four appearances during her first two seasons. overtime, Dyer was a dominant force in the conference.

This season, Dyer led a Tufts unit that held all opponents to just .95 goals per game and six shutouts -- good for 10th and 14th in the country, respectively. Dyer’s contributions were not limited to shutting down forwards, as she finished her senior campaign with six goals and three assists for 15 points, plus a perfect three-for-three pace on penalty strokes.

Since her freshman year, Dyer has seen success as Jumbo. After earning her first collegiate start on Day 1, Dyer led Tufts to the 2008 NCAA National Championship game where the team lost a double-overtime heartbreaker

“She’s one of the most athletic players in the NESCAC and really showcased this, especially on defense,” senior co-captain forward Kate Barnosky said. “She was routinely assigned to guard the other team’s best player and was successful in shutting these players down game after game. She always came to play in games and was never intimidated by an opponent.”

This season especially, Kornegay embodied the determined attitude of an over-achieving Tufts team.

“A lot of teams looked past us this year, but through hard work and dedication we made a name for ourselves,” she said. “Not just making it to the NCAA tournament, but making it to the Sweet 16 is my biggest takeaway and something I will never forget.”

As a junior, the guard also posted some

impressive numbers: 9.4 points, 3.3 assists and 7.9 rebounds per game, plus 56 steals on the season. Kornegay will graduate with 845 career points, 249 career assists, 208 career steals and 633 career boards. “[My biggest highlights have been] improving my skills and becoming a better student of the game at the college level while building strong relationships with my teammates over the years,” she said. “I will always love basketball, but being around people that are just as passionate has made my experiences that much better as a Tufts athlete.”

In the fall, Kornegay will take her leadership skills to Choate Rosemary Hall, where she will teach Introductory and AP Psychology and serve as an assistant coach for the varsity basketball and track teams.

Kevin McCormick and Sean Kirwan to Bowdoin. Though the Jumbos wouldn’t return to Div. III’s biggest stage again, it was clear the impact Dyer — and classmates co-captain midfielder Lindsay Griffith and goalie Marianna Zak, who also played throughout their rookie season — would have on the program over the next three years.

“It was definitely helpful having experienced confident leaders all over the field this year,” Dyer said. “And I think that’s a big part of our program that freshmen can come in and take on a leadership role immediately, and that helps us become better leaders as we become upperclassmen.”

Still, it wasn’t about the glory for Dyer. She cites the friendships she’s made over the last four years as her most important takeaway from Tufts field hockey.

“I think the best thing I’ve gotten out of field hockey at Tufts have been the relationships I’ve formed because of it,” she said.

“I met most of my best friends through field hockey and I’m sure I will remain close with all of my teammates in the future.

Working together with people you care about makes being successful even more rewarding, and I know part of our success is due to our dynamics as a team.”

Griffith noted that Dyer’s contributions to team morale on and off the field were just as important as her shutdown defense and gamewinning strokes.

“It was really special playing with Taylor,” Griffith said. “She’s my best friend, my co-captain and my teammate, and I’ve never played with another player like her before.

It was an honor and a privilege and I’m going to miss it. She kicks butt. … She’s an awesome teammate and an awesome friend.”

K. C. HAMBLETON / The Tufts Daily

Last year, some said there would be no replacement for the men’s lacrosse team’s scoring trio of D.J. Hessler (E ’11), Matt Witko (LA ’11) and Ryan Molloy (LA ‘11). It was clear that graduating senior co-captains Kevin McCormick and Sean Kirwan could be a lethal combination, but after Kirwan suffered a preseason high ankle sprain, the naysayers got louder.

They’re not saying much now.

The pre-season All-American duo has led the Jumbos to a third-consecutive NESCAC Championship, and they are searching for a third straight national championship appearance.

“There was no point where we considered this year a rebuilding year,” McCormick said. “I suppose that was one of the many outside opinions we’ve ignored.

While we lost some great players and there are some new faces, we knew we would be a great team from the start.”

For the Jumbos, it’s still championship or bust.

“Never did we expect anything less than returning back to the national championship and taking home that title,” Kirwan said. “Our team goals haven’t changed since I’ve gotten here and they never will change. We expect excellence in this program, and anything less is unsatisfactory.”

This spring, McCormick has compiled 41 goals, 13 assists and 54 points, tied for third in the NESCAC. As of the Jumbos’ NCAA win over Trinity on May 12, the two-time All-NESCAC first team selection had 117 goals, 39 assists and 156 points in his career.

After sitting out the first 10 games this season, Kirwan came

Lena Cantone

As a wide-eyed, sweet-hitting freshman about to depart to the NCAA World Series, Lena Cantone and her classmates watched the softball team’s seniors participate in an impromptu, post-practice commencement ceremony.

That’s going to be us, the freshmen said. When we’re seniors, we’re going to miss graduation too.

Cantone’s illustrious career will be book-ended in quite an appropriate way this weekend, when she and the Jumbos head to Salem, Va. for the World Series. In her first year out of Southington (Conn.) High School, Cantone hit .375 on a loaded Tufts team that placed fourth in the nation and finished with a 44-3 record. The experience, complete with some free gifts and a dizzying slate of games, was unforgettable.

Now, three years later, Cantone has led the Jumbos to an NCAA Regional championship and another World Series berth. The 2011 NESCAC Player

James Choca / The Tufts Daily

back with a vengeance. Just 10 seconds after stepping onto the field for the first time, Kirwan found the back of the net. The four-time NESCAC Player of the Week selection earned his most recent nod after scoring seven goals in the NESCAC semifinal and championship games.

Sometimes it seems like Kirwan, who had 66 goals last season, scores every time he touches the ball. While that’s not exactly true — he has a career scoring percentage of .515 — he is averaging 2.78 points per game in nine games this season, which is ninth in the conference.

“It’s been awesome being a captain alongside Sean because he’s a great teammate and friend,” McCormick said. “He’s one of the best players and leaders I’ve ever played with. Entering our senior year we couldn’t wait to get started and help lead the team to another championship run.”

Still, in the midst of another title

of the Year recently earned her third all-region honors and shattered the Jumbos’ career hits record, a mark her mother had been tracking all season, even though she never said anything to Cantone about it.

With 215 career hits entering the World Series, Cantone surpassed the previous mark of 210 set by Samantha Kuhles (LA ’09), a senior when Cantone was a freshman. Kuhles was more of a leadby-example type. Cantone considers herself more vocal.

215

Career hits heading into the College World Series for Lena Cantone, who broke the Jumbos’ all-time record during the Regional tournament last weekend. Her counterpart on the baseball team, Sam Sager, finished second all-time in hits for the Jumbos.

306

Career points, through the NESCAC tournament, for Sean Kirwan and Kevin McCormick. run, the graduating seniors took some time to reflect.

“There is so much that makes the Tufts lacrosse experience great,” McCormick said. “It’s been the greatest part of Tufts in my four years because of the friends I’ve made, the success we’ve had and the hard work involved in becoming great. I couldn’t be prouder and happier to have been a part of it, and it’s something that I’ll never forget.”

“Coach [Mike] Daly always talks about leaving things better than how you found it, and this senior class is no exception,” Kirwan said.

“We have done everything we could so far to make sure we leave this program better than when we came in, and we aren’t done yet.”

“Sam wasn’t a very vocal leader, but when you wanted to know what to do or how to act, I really admired her for that,” Cantone said. “I would say I’m definitely a leader by example, but I think I’m a louder leader on and off the field.

I’m not necessarily the quiet type.”

And perhaps most importantly, Cantone, alongside classmates and fellow tri-captains Lizzy Iuppa and Mira LiemanSifry, will miss Sunday’s graduation. Instead they attended a private ceremony last Tuesday before they left for Virginia.

“Oh yeah, I don’t think I could ask for anything better,” said Cantone, who will spend next year at Central Connecticut in a post-grad program preparing for dental school. “We’ve been saying since the beginning of the season, we knew we could do it. To actually have done it, now that we’re getting there -- it’s unreal. It’s unbelievable. I’m really glad that everyone else on my team is going to get to experience it.”

The Tufts Daily

38

Sports

Commencement 2012

Fall and Winter Sports Recaps Men’s Cross Country The men’s cross country team earned its first nationals berth since 2007 this past fall and went on to place ninth at the NCAA Championships in Winneconne, Wisc.

Disappointing fifth-place finishes at the NESCAC and Div. III New England Championships were still enough to earn the runners a trip to nationals, and the Jumbos certainly saved their best for last, as all five runners crossed the line of the 8,000-meter course in personal record times.

Rising senior Matt Rand led the squad at NCAAs, as he did throughout the season, earning All-American honors with a 19th-place finish. The Jumbos ranked third among the five NESCAC teams at NCAAs. At the regional championship, Rand took third, earning AllRegion honors for the second consecutive year, while classmate Kyle Marks secured those accolades for the third time.

Rising junior Brian McLaughlin earned his first All-Region distinction by finishing in the top 35. McLaughlin’s classmates Liam Cassidy, Andrew Shapero and Ben Wallis and graduating senior co-captain Connor Rose rounded out the regional and national squad.

Women’s Country

Cross

The women’s cross country team enjoyed a successful fall that included first-place finishes at the Maine Invitational and the Mayor’s Cup, a thirdplace finish at ECACs and fifth place out of 51 teams at the New England Div. III Championships. That last effort qualified the squad for nationals for the first time in six years.

At NCAAs, the Jumbos came in 20th place.

Graduating senior tri-captain Anya Price and rising senior tri-captain Lilly Fisher led the way all season. At New Englands at Bowdoin on Nov. 12, Price placed 23rd, a huge boost in helping the team finish fifth. Fisher and rising junior Madeleine Carey took 34th and 35th, respectively, at the event and earned All-Region honors along with Price.

Fisher and Carey’s success is a good sign for Tufts looking ahead to next fall, when the pair will try to lead the team to even greater heights within the conference. Tufts placed fourth at the NESCAC Championships at Amherst on Oct. 29.

rienced Tufts squad, which sometimes fielded a lineup comprised primarily of freshmen, finished in the top half of the conference for the first time since 2003, was perfect in non-conference matches for the first time since 2002 and was at one point ranked as high as fifth in New England.

The Jumbos finished in fifth place in the NESCAC, posting a solid 5-4-2 mark against conference foes and a 9-4-2 record overall. Moreover, just two years removed from an ugly 2-10-2 campaign, the team displayed an ability to compete with and beat the traditional NESCAC powerhouses.

Tufts topped Williams in front a raucous Kraft Field crowd on Homecoming behind two goals from rising sophomore forward Maxime Hoppenot and came back to tie Middlebury in the first match of the season after a late strike from rising junior forward Jono Edelman.

Although the Jumbos are losing five seniors to graduation, including two tri-captains in goalkeeper Alan Bernstein and midfielder Matt Blumenthal, they should be even better next season with the arrival of Shapiro’s second crop of elite freshman recruits and the maturation of this past season’s first-years. Rising sophomore midfielder Gus Santos, the reigning NESCAC Rookie of the Year and a First-Team AllConference selection, should continue to lead the way.

Women’s Soccer The women’s soccer team hit the ground running in 2011, starting off 3-0-2 and finishing with a 7-4-4 record in a season that ended in penalty kicks in the NESCAC quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.

Despite the heartbreaking loss, which marked the end of six seniors’ careers, there were many bright spots, especially graduating senior Jamie Love-Nichols and rising senior

Men’s Soccer Despite a disappointing loss to Williams in the NESCAC quarterfinals to end its 2011 campaign and dash its NCAA tournament aspirations, the men’s soccer team made great strides in its second season under head coach Josh Shapiro. The relatively inexpe-

Alyssa Von Puttkammer, who led Tufts with 10 points apiece.

At the other end of the field, goalkeeper Kristin Wright stood tall between the pipes, starting all 15 games during her sophomore campaign and posting an .868 save percentage.

Tufts outscored opponents 21-13 on the season and enjoyed success in several big conference games, including a regular season victory over NESCAC semifinalist Wesleyan and a 2-2 draw in its season opener against second-seeded Middlebury.

In the fall, head coach Martha Whiting will return three of her top five scorers, as well as Wright in goal. Rising juniors Maeve Stewart, Sophie Wojtasinski and Anya Kaufmann will join Von Puttkammer in the attacking end, while a strong corps of returning defenders will hold its ground in front of Wright. The Jumbos appear to have the talent to finally push past the opening round of the conference tournament come October.

Football In the football team’s ashes, there’s life.

The Jumbos went 0-8 in head coach Jay Civetti’s inaugural season, plagued by a disappointing offense that averaged just 9.4 points per game, but a rejuvenated attitude leaves hope for the future. In the fall, Tufts will return a loaded secondary ripe with experience, a unit that is hoping to take a team that’s gone 3-21 over the past three seasons to the next level.

Not that getting through this year was easy. The Jumbos lost every game for the first time since 1886, starting with a 24-16 loss to Hamilton and ending with their closest defeat of the season, a 19-17 heartbreaker versus Middlebury at Ellis Oval, when the Panthers scored 19 fourth-quarter points and capped the comeback with a game-winning, twoyard touchdown run with two seconds remaining. Tufts also took then-undefeated Trinity to the brink in a 9-0 loss on Homecoming.

Although the offensive highlights were few and far between, four Jumbos were named to the All-NESCAC squads. Graduating senior linebacker Zack Skarzynski led the league in tackles and earned second-team honors alongside rising senior defensive back Sam Diss. Rising senior Dylan Haas, the team’s leading receiver with 436 yards on 38 catches, was named to the second team as a return specialist and was joined by graduating senior kicker Adam Auerbach, who set Tufts’ all-time field goal record late this past season.

Field Hockey The field hockey team knew the 2011 season would be difficult after it graduated five starters, including the most prolific starter in program history, Tamara Brown (LA ‘11).

But while the Jumbos missed the NESCAC semifinals for the first time since 2005 and failed to receive an NCAA bid for the first

time in six years, the campaign was far from a failure. The team went 7-3 in conference action and 11-4 overall, scoring 54 goals along the way for an average of 3.6 per game — just 0.11 shy of eventual national runner-up Middlebury — while allowing only 16 all season.

The Jumbos proved they had the offensive depth to rebuild after such a large departure, and they will need to do it again after they say goodbye to another talented senior class. Co-captains midfielder Lindsay Griffith and defender Taylor Dyer, as well as goalkeeper Marianna Zak and defender Sarah Cannon, will be sorely missed. Dyer, a two-time All American and former NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year, has controlled Tufts’ backfield for four years. Behind her, Zak put together the most successful four-year starting career for a Jumbos goalie with a 59-10 record in the cage in 4,443 minutes. Griffith, an All-NESCAC and AllNew England selection, was the quarterback of Tufts’ potent offense and the most skilled ball handler on the field for the Jumbos this season.

Ultimately, the Class of 2012 will be a tough one for head coach Tina McDavitt to lose, as she looks to return Tufts to the national runner-up heights it reached when the graduating seniors joined the team in 2008.

Volleyball The 2011 season was yet another strong one for the volleyball team, which compiled a 26-6 overall record while reaching the NCAA tournament for a fourth straight year before falling in the second round to Springfield. This fall also marked Tufts’ fourth season in a row with at least 20 wins under head coach Cora Thompson.

Thompson’s recruiting prowess was on display this season, as it became clear from the first match that the firstyears would play a key role. A tall class of rising sophomores made for a ferocious attack — outside hitters Kelly Brennan, Izzy Kuhel and Hayley Hopper combined for a tremendous 881 kills and were all named to the New England Women’s Volleyball Association (NEWVA) All-Rookie team.

Experience also contributed to Tufts’ success: Graduating senior tri-captains Audrey Kuan — who is also the executive online editor for the Daily — Cara Spieler and Lexi Nicholas were rock solid all season long, while rising senior setter Kendall Lord averaged more than 10 assists per game to lead the NESCAC. Lord was named to the All-NEWVA First Team and was the NESCAC Co-Player of the Year. With Lord continuing to feed Brennan, Kuhel and Hopper next season, the Jumbos appear primed for a big 2012 campaign.

Men’s Basketball Kevin Gilchrist Pitcher

This year marked a historic season for the men’s basketball team. The Jumbos, with a 16-9 overall record and 6-4 confer-

photos by virginia Bledsoe, William Butt and Scott Tingley

Kate Barnosky Forward ence mark, enjoyed the

most w i n s for the program and first NESCAC tournam e n t h o m e g a m e since 2006 after earning the No. 4 seed.

Though the team made an e a r l y p l a y off exit with a 57-54 loss to visiti n g No. 5 Bates, Tu f t s looks poised for unprecedented success in the coming years.

T h e Jumbos will say goodbye to their b e s t p o s t

defender in tri-captain James Long and most dominant rebounder in Alex Orchowski, but they will return a gifted group of underclassman. Tricaptain forward Scott Anderson, a rising senior who earned AllNESCAC accolades this past year, will continue to lead the young Jumbos as they look to maintain a surge that has spanned the last three winters.

Rising sophomore Ben Ferris, who was named NESCAC Rookie of the Year, is one of several young, talented guards on the squad. Ferris, along with classmate C.J. Moss and rising juniors Kwame Firempong, Tom Folliard and Oliver Cohen, helped make the 2011-2012 campaign a major stepping stone for a team on its way to NESCAC contention.

Women’s Basketball The women’s basketball team enjoyed one of its finest seasons in program history, finishing with a 23-7 record, good for second in the NESCAC, and making an appearance in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. Coming off a victory against Johns Hopkins in the second round of the tournament, Tufts nearly upset St. Thomas but fell 50-47 as a result of miscommunications late in the fourth quarter.

Tufts thrived all season thanks to its stifling defense, which was anchored by graduating senior and NESCAC Defensive

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

Player of the Sean Kirwan Attackman

two matches, the team fell in the finals to a vengeful Hobart squad in nail-biting fashion, 5-4.

One Jumbos player, rising sophomore Zachary Schweitzer, was given a bid to Individual Nationals, highlighting the success of the team’s first-years.

The team was led by captain Henr y Miller and fellow graduating senior Eli Borek, but with only those two leaving the Hill, the squash program will look ahead with head coach Doug Eng guiding its firm base of underclassmen.

Women’s Squash

Year Tiffany Kornegay, who finished second in the conference in rebounding and fifth in steals per game. The Jumbos allowed only 46.3 points per game, the third-best mark in all of Div. III. Kornegay and co-captain forward Kate Barnosky, the squad’s only seniors this past season, were both honored with All-NESCAC Second Team selections. Looking ahead to next season, the Jumbos will rely on rising senior co-captain guard Bre Dufault and rising sophomore guard Kelsey Morehead to lead the charge.

Ice Hockey The ice hockey team enjoyed its most successful season in 12 years, as the Jumbos skated to a 12-11-2 overall record and hosted their firstever NESCAC tournament game at the Malden Forum before falling 4-3 to Williams in overtime.

Last year, the Jumbos suffered a 12-game losing streak and finished with a dismal 6-16-1 record. This past winter, head coach Brian Murphy, the NESCAC Coach of the Year, welcomed eight talented freshmen to the squad — and they delivered, with defensemen Blake Edwards and Shawn Power and forward Tyler Voigt combining for 51 points.

Meanwhile, rising junior Kyle Gallegos was the Jumbos’ leading goalscorer for the second straight year, finishing with 18 goals, while graduating senior tri-captain goalie Scott Barchard finished his career with a sensational .922 save percentage and 2,781 stops, a program record. Barchard was recognized as a New England Div. II/III All-Star, while Gallegos was named to the All-NESCAC Second Team.

Next year, the Jumbos will feature a strong foundation of starters at both ends of the ice. Rising junior Brian Phillips, who made 29 saves and allowed just four goals this past season, will likely follow Barchard in the crease.

Still, it remains to be seen whether the Jumbos will be able to rebuild after graduating five seniors.

Men’s Squash For the men’s squash team, streaks defined the season. Twice the Jumbos won four straight matches, but those surges bookended a seven-match skid consisting primarily of conference defeats. With five rising sophomores in the top nine, the adjustment period was to be expected, and a season touted as a rebuilding effort concluded with a 10-12 record.

Tufts bowed out in the first round of the NESCAC tournament to Amherst, but was given the first seed in the Conroy Division at the NCAA Championships. After taking the first

In what can be described as a veritable roller coaster ride, the women’s squash team battled through a number of rough stretches against daunting opposition to finish the season 10-13 and ranked 22nd in the nation.

For a team that saw three freshmen receive substantial playing time, there was an air of uncertainty about how the year would play out. But the Jumbos coalesced well, overcoming injuries and players studying abroad to bounce back time after time.

Tufts displayed its resolve in a marquee win in early December, taking a 5-4 nailbiter against Colby. That victory ignited the first of two three-match win streaks, the second coming two months later.

At the Walker Cup, Tufts defeated higher-seeded Conn. College, 6-3, after falling to the Camels twice earlier in the season. It was a grueling contest, with most of the matches going into extra points or four or five sets, but Tufts emerged victorious.

The team will lose two key players — co-captains Alyse Vinoski and Mercedes Barba — to graduation, but all other starters are expected to return, which means one thing: Beware of the Jumbos come this winter.

Men’s Diving

Swimming

and

In a season headlined by a thirdplace finish at NESCACs and rising junior Johann Schmidt’s national diving title, the men’s swimming and diving team finished with a 5-4 regular season record. The team’s solid showing at the conference meet was due in large part to contributions from Schmidt, who won both the one-meter and threemeter dives, and graduating senior co-captain Owen Rood, who won the 50- and 100-meter freestyle races and contributed in a number of relays. This marked the seventh consecutive year that the Jumbos have placed in the top three at NESCACs, where Tufts diving coach Brad Snodgrass was named the Diving Coach of the Meet.

Rood and Schmidt also both qualified for the NCAA Championships held at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Schmidt won the Div. III one-meter national diving championship, Tufts’ first swimming and diving national title in 30 years, while Rood earned his 10th career honorable mention AllAmerican award.

39

Sports

Women’s Diving

Swimming

and

A podium finish at the NESCAC Championships, strong invitational performances and several All-American honors were all hallmarks of the women’s swimming and diving team’s 201112 campaign. Finishing with a 5-4 record in dual meets, the Jumbos were paced by a number of young swimmers who broke school records and took home hardware at championship meets.

Tufts placed third at the conference championships, breaking or tying 11 school records in the process. The Jumbos then sent four swimmers — rising juniors Jenny Hu and Mia Greenwald, rising sophomore Samantha Sliwinski and graduating senior co-captain Courtney Adams -to nationals, marking the first NCAA appearance for all of them. The foursome earned an All-American honorable mention in the 200-yard medley relay, helping the Jumbos place 28th as a team. Meanwhile, Greenwald took down her own school record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.33 seconds, good for ninth in the nation.

The Jumbos will send off graduating senior co-captains Adams and Valerie Eacret but will be buoyed next winter by a strong core of returning sophomores and juniors who helped shatter several school records this past season.

Men’s Indoor Track and Field The men’s indoor track and field team finished third at the Div. III New England Championships this year, highlighted by rising senior Brad Nakanishi’s victory in the pole vault and classmate Matt Rand’s win in the 5,000-meter run. The Jumbos then went on to take second at the ECAC Championships, where rising senior Curtis Yancy won the weight throw.

At the NCAA championships, the Jumbos boasted the largest squad they have brought in recent years, with seven athletes earning national berths and six returning with All-American honors, which are given to top-eight finishers. Rising senior Jeff Marvel earned the highest finish for Tufts, taking fifth in the 800-meter run. The Distance Medley Relay, consisting of rising juniors Bobby McShane and Graham Beutler, graduating senior tricaptain Connor Rose and Rand, earned eighth, while Rose and rising senior Gbola Ajayi both earned individual sixth-place finishes — Rose in the mile run and Ajayi in the triple jump. Yancy also competed in the weight throw at nationals, where the Jumbos combined for a 17th-place finish.

Two school records were set during the season, both at the Open New England Championships. Marvel took down his own 800-meter record from last year with a time of 1:51.43, while the foursome of graduating senior Ben Crastnopol, rising senior Vinnie Lee, Beutler and rising sophomore Francis Goins combined for a time of 3:17.36, a new record in the 4x400-meter relay.

Women’s Indoor Track and Field

It was an excellent indoor season for the women’s track and field team, which won two Tufts Invitational meets and placed fourth at New Englands.

However, impressive individual performances, especially toward the end of the season, truly set the team apart.

Throughout the winter, it was impossible to talk about the women’s track and field squad without mentioning rising senior Kelly Allen, who set school records in the shot put and the weight throw and was named an All-American in the latter event at nationals in Iowa.

All four members of the team who made the trip to nationals returned as All-Americans. Graduating senior pole vaulter Heather Theiss topped her own school record at the national meet by clearing 12-3 1/2 to place sixth.

Rising junior Jana Heiber set the school record for points in the pentathalon with 3,401 and came in third in the event at nationals to earn her first career All-American distinction. Lastly, graduating senior Nakeisha Jones won her seventh All-American award with her performance in the triple jump, setting a personal record with a leap of 39-9 1/4.

Fencing Despite finishing the season 4-9, the women’s fencing team had its moments this past winter under coach Ariana Klinkov. Led by the rising junior captain duo of epeeist Laurel Hutchison and sabreist Julia Hisey, those two squads enjoyed more victories than defeats on the strip, thanks in part to the return of rising senior epeeist Abigail Hepworth from abroad as well the contributions of a bevy of talented rising sophomores, including epeeist Katharine Lynch and sabreist Sarah Innes-Gold.

Meanwhile, the foil squad suffered a substantial loss when more than half of the squad dropped out midseason, but is hoping for resurgence under the leadership of rising senior and newly-appointed squad captain Kelly Manser.

The team finished its season by sending all seven starters from the epee and sabre squads to the NCAA Northeast Regionals, where graduating senior Sarah Danly was the lone Tufts fencer to reach the third round, capping off a phenomenal career. Now, the team is looking to increase its numbers by recruiting from both the incoming Class of 2016 and from within the current student body.

—Compiled by the Daily Sports Department

Jana Hieber Hurdler/Sprinter

40

The Tufts Daily

TOP 10

Sports

Commencement 2012

moments in Tufts athletics in 2011-12

K. C. Hambleton / The Tufts Daily

School records were shattered, two NESCAC titles were won and a national champion was crowned. There were walkoffs, buzzer beaters and overtime thrillers.

March Madness hit the Hill, and the results were sweet.

There were plenty of memorable moments in Tufts sports this year. The Daily narrowed it down to 10: 10. Barchard becomes saves king: Just 59 games and two-plus seasons into his Tufts hockey career, graduating senior tri-captain Scott Barchard stopped his 2,167th shot as a Jumbo, surpassing James Kalec (LA ‘08) as the program’s all-time saves leader. Barchard, who accomplished the feat during a home game against Middlebury on Dec. 3, broke the singleseason saves record with 862 as a freshman and then outdid himself by turning away 986 shots in 2009-10. After an injury-plagued junior year, Barchard returned this past winter to make 817 saves and lead the hockey program to its firstever home playoff game.

9. Firempong beats the buzzer: The men’s basketball team had one of its most successful years in recent memory, and no game was more exciting than its 64-62 home victory on Feb. 3 over Trinity. While much of the student body was “enjoying” Winter Bash, the Jumbos and Bantams were battling at Cousens, trading baskets down the stretch. With the game tied at 62, Tufts needed a hero to step up. Rising junior guard Kwame Firempong delivered.

Firempong’s step-back jumper from the foul line rattled in as time expired, giving Tufts one of its most important — and dramatic — NESCAC victories of the year.

Justin McCallum / The Tufts Daily

to crunch time, the ice hockey team took care of business. The Jumbos entered their home matchup against Colby on Feb. 18 on the heels of three losses that came by a combined score of 23-2. But thanks to 34 saves from Barchard and two goals from sophomore Kyle Gallegos, Tufts held up its end of the bargain in the season finale. When Williams lost to Amherst later that night, the Jumbos had wrapped up their first-ever chance at hosting a NESCAC tournament game as the No. 4 seed.

ment, Fournier did not disappoint. The strikeout machine set down 17 Middlebury batters in the championship game, a 2-1 Tufts win, after entering when rising senior Rebecca DiBiase failed to record an out. A two-run single from rising sophomore Gracie Marshall provided the difference for Fournier, the NESCAC Pitcher of the Year, who finished with a championshiprecord 47 strikeouts and 22 shutout innings as the Jumbos denied the Panthers a repeat conference title.

6. Clair walks off to finish Fournier’s perfect day: Eight innings into the softball team’s first conference playoff game against Middlebury on May 4, rising sophomore Allyson Fournier had already done her part.

The right-hander had fanned 19, obliterating the previous NESCAC single-game record of 12, and had not yet allowed a base-runner.

Heading into the bottom of the eighth, the game remained scoreless. But rising junior Jo Clair had something to say about that. After Lizzy Iuppa reached on an infield single with two outs, Clair lined her league-leading 13th home run over the left-center field wall, a tworun shot that not only gave the Jumbos the victory but also capped Fournier’s third perfect game of the year.

4. Sweet as can be: On March 2, Cousens Gym played host to NCAA tournament basketball for the first time ever — it had been slated as the site for a men’s Regional in 1995 but came up short, literally, because the court was not the required 94 feet long. By March 3, the women’s basketball team had earned the right to fly from Cousens to Chicago for the Sweet 16. Following a regular season in which no Jumbo averaged double-digit points per game, Tufts downed Misericordia in the first round of the tournament before bashing Johns Hopkins 55-46 to win the four-team Regional.

Senior co-captain Kate Barnosky put together one of her finest performances of the season, notching 18 points and seven rebounds. Rising junior Liz Moynihan, who had lost her starting job earlier in the season, also stepped up for the Jumbos, pouring in 11 points in 22 minutes off the bench.

5. Softball lifts NESCAC trophy: Unleashed for three straight games in the NESCAC tourna-

8. KG throws a no-no: One week into his senior season, Kevin Gilchrist was relegated to the bullpen. Then, on April 17, he made his first appearance of three innings or more in over three weeks. The result was a no-hitter. In the first game of a non-conference doubleheader against UMass Dartmouth, the southpaw walked two and fanned four en route to a 4-0 win and the baseball program’s first no-hitter since 2003. Though it was somewhat of a lost spring for the Jumbos, who failed to reach the conference playoffs, Gilchrist salvaged his own season with the no-no and then a completegame shutout on May 6 in his final game, earning him NESCAC Pitcher of the Week honors.

3. Wood you believe it?: As rising junior Beau Wood’s shot hit the back right corner of the net and the men’s lacrosse team’s sticks, gloves, and helmets took to the air, the Jumbos’ 9-8 double OT NESCAC Championship win over the Polar Bears on May 6 became an instant classic. The dramatic finish came in true Tufts style, marking the program’s third consecutive title win by one goal and second straight in extra minutes. The game didn’t look like it was going to be such a nail-biter -- with under four minutes left in regulation, Tufts held an 8-6 lead and had the momentum after scoring the last three. However, the Polar Bears refused to go down without a fight, and after two late goals the Jumbos found themselves on the wrong side of a comeback. But Tufts proved to be the better team, warding off the charging visitors for almost two full OT periods before graduating senior Geordie Shafer found Wood’s stick for the dagger.

2. World Series bound: Sometimes in sports, the stat line doesn’t tell the whole story. For rising sophomore pitcher Allyson Fournier, it’s all you need to know. In the softball team’s four games at the Willimantic NCAA Regional in Connecticut on May 10-13, Fournier threw 28 scoreless innings, walked one and struck out 43, going 4-0 to improve to 22-1 on the year with a 0.36 ERA. Tufts outscored its opponents 21-5 in the Regional, clinching the program’s third trip to the Div. III College World Series behind a two-hitter from Fournier in a 5-0 victory over Eastern Connecticut State. On May 18, the Jumbos began their title quest in Salem, Va. as one of eight teams in the NCAA Finals, where they have never placed higher than fourth. After winning the Regional, the Jumbos boasted a 40-5 overall record and had won 17 of their last 18 games.

1. Schmidt strikes gold: To win Tufts swimming and diving’s first national title in 30 years, rising junior Johann Schmidt needed his final dive to be just about perfect. On March 23 at the Div. III NCAA Championships in Indiana, Schmidt captured the one-meter diving crown.

The last time a Tufts swimmer or diver took first place at Nationals was in 1982, when Keith Miller (LA ‘82) won the three-meter dive and Jim Lilley (LA ‘82) won the 100-meter butterfly.

Schmidt, who is also the NESCAC champion on both boards and is now 4-for-4 in his career at conference meets, became Tufts’ first individual national champ in any sport since women’s tennis’ Julia Browne (LA ‘11) in 2010.

7. Ice hockey comes home for NESCACs: The lead-up was not pretty, but when it came down

Courtesy Johann Schmidt

COURTESY MEGAN ROBERTSON

COURTESY SALVATORE REGGIERO

Commencement 2012

The Tufts Daily

41

Sports

When it counted most, Jumbos came up short BASEBALL

continued from page 44

the Week award.

Tufts scored six runs in the first three innings, aided by two RBIs from Sager and a 2-for-3 performance from rising sophomore outfielder Connor McDavitt. Eight Jumbos batters either scored a run or had a hit in the game.

Ryan picked up the win in the opener, his sixth of the season and the 18th of his career, allowing four runs on six hits over 6.2 innings. Rising junior Dean Lambert was credited with the save after recording the seven-inning game’s final out. Tufts scored six runs on four hits in the first inning and, despite mustering just two hits over the rest of the game, held on.

“I think we wanted to come out and, realizing that this year was over, and that we weren’t going to move on to the playoffs, come out and set a good tone for next year,” rising senior outfielder Eric Weikert said. “As strange as that may seem, we wanted to continue to play the way we should play.”

Even with a runs-per-game average that, for most of the season, ranked among the best in the nation, the Jumbos’ offense went dormant when it counted most. Tufts was swept by Trinity before a series loss against Colby, and both of those disappointments took place at home on Huskins Field. Their destiny still in their hands, the Jumbos needed to take two of three on a road trip to Brunswick, Maine to earn a postseason bid.

Instead, they were swept by the Bowdoin Polar Bears. In its 22 wins this season, Tufts put up 10.5 runs per game. In its eight NESCAC losses, it averaged 3.9.

And so a team that received votes in the d3baseball.com national top 25 poll found itself with a sub-.500 record in the NESCAC and a 6-6 record at home, watching as Trinity won the NESCAC title over Bowdoin, snuffing out Tufts’ two-year reign atop the conference.

“For me, it’s definitely hard, sitting here this weekend and knowing that the playoffs are going on,” Sager said.

“I’d say there’s definitely a bad taste in my mouth.”

Following the doubleheader, Weikert’s first thought was to look ahead to next spring. Tufts will lose Sager, one of the most prolific hitters in school history, Collins, Gilchrist and

continued from page 45

After the regatta, Salk and Quinn were named to the All-NEISA second team.

In addition, Salk was voted the NEISA Sportswoman of the Year, an award decided by a league-wide vote.

“Natalie is awesome to sail with, and I think that we both improved and learned an incredible amount,” Quinn said. “Although there were one or two regattas that we could have done better at, we almost never finished out of the top five in our division.”

The women’s team finished 11th or higher in every fleet race regatta this year. The squad’s highest spring placement was a 6th-out-of-17 effort at the Coast Guard’s Emily Wick Trophy a week before the Reed Trophy.

The NEISA conference is notoriously competitive, and coach Ken Legler noted that the competition at regattas such as the Reed Trophy often match or exceed the intensity of national-level regattas. With that in mind, the Jumbos had an excellent showing this season.

“I think the season as a whole went very well,” Salk said. “We sailed strong the whole time and showed real improvement in both A and B divisions.”

The season has been a period of steady improvement and adjustment for the relatively small squad, which has only three rising seniors and a number of underclassmen leading the way into next year.

While the women’s season is over, the co-ed team is still preparing for its upcoming nationals qualifier and, with some luck, nationals. Some of the members of the women’s team will

30 for 30, plus three

I

scott tingley / the Tufts Daily

Graduating senior co-captain Matt Collins started all 34 games for the Jumbos this spring, hitting .374 with 31 RBI and leading the team with 69 total bases.

Ryan. But this year’s struggles should benefit a freshman-heavy, experiencelight unit over time.

“In a sense, we were successful despite not being able to make the playoffs,” Weikert said. “I’m very confident, especially given the way we ended our two games against Middlebury, the guys will understand what it will take to come out next year.”

Still, that doesn’t make the season’s end any less hard to swallow.

“The Middlebury weekend was just another example of, when we play the way we’re supposed to play, things go well,” Sager said. “It’s a good indicator of how our season went. As a senior, it was nice to end your career with two wins. Those games don’t really count towards what matters.”

Co-ed sailing team heads to Texas for nationals in June SAILING

Alex Arthur | King Arthur’s Court

use the event as extra practice before the offseason.

“We’ll be training during Senior Week [with the co-ed team], and then Natalie and I will be sailing together as much as possible this summer, as well as fitting in as much time in the gym as possible,” Quinn said.

“We’ve already signed up for a couple events this summer, largely team racing, which we’re eagerly anticipating.

Look out for us next year.”

Co-ed Sailing At the New England Team Racing Championships at MIT the weekend of April 28, the co-ed sailing team finished fourth with a win-loss record of 11-8, just shy of the top-three spot required to qualify for the Intercollegiate Saling Association (ICSA) National Team Racing Championships.

“It was heartbreaking,” rising senior tri-captain Will Hutchings said. “We knew it was going to be really hard to qualify given the depth of the teams in NEISA. For example, Yale, the numberone-ranked team in the country in both fleet and team racing, finished fifth. If we had one more win against Brown or against Boston College, we would have qualified, so it was really close.”

From the early going, Tufts looked primed to earn a qualifying spot, taking first place in its group with four wins and one loss in the qualifying rounds. After the first official round of team racing on Saturday, Tufts held a loose grip on second place thanks to a 5-2 record, with wins over powerhouses Yale, Boston College, Brown, Dartmouth and Harvard. On the sec-

ond day, however, Tufts went 3-4, moving down to fifth place after the second round.

“On Sunday, we had one or two extra losses,” Hutchings said. “We didn’t start off as strong, and we weren’t as quick off the line, so we weren’t executing our plays fast enough. Those two factors were our demise. But our coach was still happy with how we did, and we smoked Yale, which is a good feeling.”

During the final round of the topsix, the Jumbos regained their footing by posting a 3-2 record, giving them a final overall record of 11-8, including a sweep of Yale for the tiebreaker advantage. Still, it wasn’t enough to crack the top three.

“We’ve been just slightly off pace throughout the season in team racing,” graduating senior tri-captain Massimo Soriano said. “We started right in the mix at the Graham Hall Team Racing Intersectional at the Naval Academy.

Besides a slight slump midway through, we were a legitimate contender at championships and we won two out of three against the winner, Boston College. We’re proud of our hard work, and we’ll be interested to see how the teams do at nationals.”

While their chances at team nationals are gone, the Jumbos still qualified for the ICSA National Dinghy Championships by placing eighth at the fleet racing semifinals on May 12-13 at the U.S. Naval Academy.

According to Soriano, about a third of the team practiced on Boston Harbor during Senior Week, and the team plans to continue practicing next week with an even smaller group.

n October of 2009, ESPN rolled out “Kings Ransom” as the first original documentary in its “30 for 30” series.

The set of documentaries was wellreceived by critics and fans alike, so much so that ESPN has since produced an additional 12 sports documentaries as an extension of “30 for 30.” The idea was to tell stories that had been forgotten about and do so in a unique way.

While I’m sure there are documentaries that are in production now and will be released in the near future, I want to offer up three ideas of my own for “30 for 30” documentaries. These three stories are certainly unique in their own right — one qualifies as somewhat forgotten about, while the other two are more contemporary and have had a large impact on the sports population today.

“159-0”: Cael Sanderson is one of the greatest college athletes of all-time and perhaps the greatest no one has heard of. Sanderson is the only collegiate wrestler to go undefeated during his career, as he went 159-0 for Iowa State University from 1999-2002. He’s the only three-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner for best collegiate wrestler, and in 2002, Sports Illustrated listed its “Top 10 most impressive college sports feats ever” and placed Sanderson’s record second all-time. I realize barely anyone cares about college wrestling, but Sanderson’s feat was so unique, and it even momentarily brought a great deal of attention to collegiate wrestling. This documentary would fit into that quirky niche of something incredible occurring in an off-the-radar sport.

“The Year of the Pitcher”: In 1968, the pitching was so exceptional and the hitting so anemic that Major League Baseball lowered the mound from 15 inches to 10 inches the following year.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson finished the season with 22 wins and a modern-day record 1.12 ERA. Gibson won the NL Cy Young and MVP awards and was still overshadowed by Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain, who won 30 games en route to an AL Cy Young award, MVP honors and a World Series title. Additionally, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale threw a record 58 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. In the documentary, I want to see footage of these incredible feats, and I imagine statistical experts using the advanced metrics of today to look back on one of the most remarkable seasons in baseball history.

“Eight in Eight”: Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in eight days at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, eclipsing Mark Spitzer’s previous record of seven golds at the 1972 games. I realize not enough time has elapsed since Phelps’ record-breaking performance for us to really need to be reminded about it — especially considering that his legacy may not yet be complete. However, regardless of what he does in the 2012 London Summer Olympics, those eight days in Beijing will always be the highlight of his career. What made Phelps’ achievement even more special was that he was doing it with an American flag next to his name on the TV screen. I remember how consumed everyone was

by Phelps’ pursuit of Spitz’s record and how my heart stopped for a split-second when I thought he had lost to Serbian Milorad Cavic in the 100-meter butterfly event, only to see on the scoreboard that he had won by one one-hundredth of a second. In the documentary, I want to see how Phelps dealt with the immense national pressure and how he maintained his body during that grueling eight-day stretch. This documentary would be based mostly in footage, with limited interviews. We need to see up close, in an almost camera-in-a-fan’shand style, how Phelps put an entire nation on his back.

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

The Tufts Daily

42 Sam Gold | The OT

E

God Bless Omaha, Nebraska

arlier this month, ESPN columnist Rick Reilly wrote an article about an exemplary young man named Brett Major. Omaha-born and -raised, Major, despite having attended Texas Christian University, remains one of the biggest Nebraska Cornhusker fans out there.

Caveat: he’s openly gay and earnestly Christian.

Why the caveat? Well, to Ron Brown — longtime assistant football coach and state celebrity as a result, devout Christian, and vehemently anti-gay itinerant preacher — this is an abomination. And what you’re about to read will probably bring forth a profoundly visceral response.

The connection? Ron Brown introduced Brett Major to Jesus Christ some 13 years ago and, through his charisma, compelled Major to “live a Christian life from that moment on.”

How about that.

Brown’s demonization of the gay community has been well documented, and he has no compunction about parlaying his renown from being a Cornhusker insider into pipelines for his heinous message.

“Recently,” Reilly wrote, “he threatened the Omaha city council with eternal damnation if it passed a bill that would keep businesses from firing workers because they’re gay.” It passed, in spite of Brown’s blistering rhetoric.

Shortly after, the Associated Press reported that — on the same day Reilly chose to excoriate Brown — the state attorney general’s office claimed that, because “the state’s antidiscrimination laws don’t extend to sexual orientation,” Omaha’s decision is vitiated.

That score will likely be settled in a lawsuit in the near future, when yet another ultraconservative state representative takes to his or her soapbox to try and convince the rest of us that gays aren’t people. We’ll all be looking forward to that.

What’s even more alarming than his crusade itself, however, is that Ron Brown is employed by a state-funded university whose anti-discrimination policies collide headlong with his personal views.

He has every right in the world to speak his mind, but the University of Nebraska’s silence on the issue is troubling. There are sometimes consequences to speaking one’s mind, especially if one works for an entity funded (at least partially) by state tax dollars.

And when that entity keeps its mouth shut, its benefactors need to make hay.

Brett Major is a human being. He did not choose to be gay; no one is enough of a masochist to subject himself intentionally to the derision and unadulterated vituperation spit at him by Fundamentalist Christian dogma.

A holy man, Brown must be familiar with the Gospels. Matthew 7:12 reads, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” It’s the Golden Rule, and John Winthrop, the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s first governor, invoked it famously in his 1630 speech, “A Model of Christian Charity.”

As those of us familiar with American history are well aware, he failed to heed Matthew’s admonition, and his early society was mercilessly oppressive to religious and ethnic outsiders. Thankfully, we’ve progressed since then, prohibiting such discrimination almost universally in the states.

Now the move needs to be made to offer the same protections to the LGBT community.

The University of Nebraska must act on this, but so must all sports organizations — professional, amateur, collegiate, etc.

There can be no more stories like this one, or like that of Brandon Burke, an LGBT activist killed in a car crash in 2010 who once quit his high school hockey team because he feared that his teammates would discover that he was gay.

It all starts and stops in locker rooms — seas of testosterone and battlegrounds for virility. The hazing has to go, and if it doesn’t, harsher repercussions must be levied until it does. Burke shouldn’t have had to conceal his sexual orientation, and Major shouldn’t have to now either.

Read closely, all you Ron Browns out there: It’s not about gay rights; it’s about human rights.

Sam Gold is a rising sophomore who has yet to declare a major. He can be reaches at Samuel_L.Gold@tufts.edu.

Sports

Commencement 2012

Bats come alive as softball wins Willimantic Regional SOFTBALL

continued from page 46

to raise her NESCAC-leading strikeout total to 275.

Every time it’s looked like the bar could not be raised any higher, Fournier has outdone herself. In Willimantic, she was named the regional tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, and it’s easy to see why: She pitched all 28 innings in Tufts’ four victories and did not allow an earned run. Her 0.36 ERA and 22-1 record speak for themselves.

Against Eastern Conn., a balanced offensive attack was spearheaded by the middle of the order, providing Fournier with more than enough run support.

The 4-through-7 hitters combined for eight hits and four RBIs on the day, including a pair from Cantone in the third and sixth innings.

All-American Molly Rathbun, who pitched a perfect game against the Jumbos on April 15, worked quickly through the Tufts lineup in the first two innings before hitting a wall in the third, allowing two runs on singles from Cantone and rising junior catcher Jo Clair. The Jumbos never looked back, tacking on insurance runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth en route to their eighth win in as many games.

In four regional victories, Tufts outscored opponents, 21-5, surrendering all five of those runs in the first game against Salem State. After scoring just five times in three NESCAC tournament games, the Jumbos’ bats came alive.

Even with Fournier on the mound spinning shutouts, the team has stayed focused on the offensive end.

“I think that we’ve maintained the motto throughout the season of winning every inning,” Clair said. “If we get a zero on defense, then we need to go and win the inning by scoring a run or two or three on offense. Breaking down the game into seven individual innings and making more mini-goals for ourselves has created a way for the offense to not be satisfied with just scoring one run because Allyson’s on the mound.”

After winning NESCACs and Regionals, the Jumbos will look back on their 2012 season as a success. And yet, for a program that’s never finished higher than fourth in the nation, a deep World Series run would turn a successful season into a legendary one.

“We really haven’t gotten our hopes up a lot, but at the same time I feel like each and every one of us feels like we could be national champions, and I think that belief has really carried us through the playoffs,” Clair said. “There [are] not many teams out there that are better than us talent-wise, and if we just play our game then we will be on top.”

“I think all of us really believe that we can beat any team in the country,” Cantone added. “We’ve beaten some of the best teams in the country, and we are one of the best teams in the country.”

scott tingley / The Tufts Daily

Heading into the Div. III College Softball World Series this weekend, rising senior second baseman Emily Beinecke was riding an eight-game hitting streak and ranked second on the team with 37 RBI.

In obstacle-filled season, women’s tennis stayed strong WOMEN’S TENNIS

continued from page 46

ing the three doubles matches and securing easy singles wins from rising junior Samantha Gann, 6-2, 6-1, and rising senior Janice Lam, 6-1, 6-0.

In the first round on the conference tournament, 12th-ranked Bowdoin gave Tufts one of its toughest matches of the year. The Polar Bears came out of doubles with a 2-1 edge, the one Jumbos victory earned by Katz and rising junior Shelci Bowman. However, thanks to victories

by Gann, Lam and rising junior Rebecca Kimmel, the Jumbos were able to tie it up at 4-4. The deciding match, which came to down to Katz at No. 1 singles, went Bowdoin’s way, as she lost 6-0, 6-3.

After a first-round bye, Tufts played Salem State in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Jumbos cruised 5-0, earning three easy doubles wins and a pair of dominating singles wins from Bowman and Lam. But against the Ephs, the top-ranked team in the country, the Jumbos ran out of gas. They went down 3-0 in doubles and found it hard to recover. Katz and

Bowman played the closest match of the day, falling 8-6.

“I was incredibly proud of Lindsay’s and Shelci’s doubles match — their fight and commitment was so great, and they could have just as easily won that match,” Gann told the Daily in an email. “Obviously going down 3-0 after doubles against a team like Williams is tough to come back from in the singles.

That being said, our singles play down the entire line was so much better than last time we played Williams, and I am so proud of all of us for that.”

But the better play did not lead to any wins, and Tufts lost its next two singles matches to end the season with a 5-0 defeat.

Looking back on the year, which ended at 9-11 overall and 4-4 in conference, it is tough to call it a success or a failure based on record alone.

“Even though this season’s results might not have been as strong as last year’s, we grew so much as a team, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that,” Gann said. “Sure, it’s disappointing to not reach the Elite Eight this spring after having

made it last year, but I think we took much more important steps forward as a team than simply reaching the quarterfinals. Each player grew on an individual level and really stepped into bigger roles quite well throughout the season. Going from 13 players last year to seven is a big change, and everyone filled their new roles amazingly.”

The team started off with 10 players but quickly lost rising sophomore Sarafina Nance and rising senior Lauren Hollender to injuries. Then, midway through the season, rising junior Eliza Flynn left the team, leaving the Jumbos with seven players and spots to fill at both third singles and second doubles. Despite losing so many key pieces, a resilient Tufts team never faltered, continuing to score big wins down the stretch.

“We only got better as the season went on, and I truly feel like we are peaking as a team right now,” Katz said. “While the end of the season might not seem like an ideal time to peak, nobody from our starting lineup is graduating, so we are only going to get stronger next year with the new people coming in.”

Commencement 2012

The Tufts Daily

43

Sports

Men’s Tennis

Zach Drucker | The Loser

Transitive year ends with a flourish for men’s tennis team Marcus Budline

The last two matches said it all for the men’s tennis team. A disheartening sweep in a must-win match, followed by a convincing finish, told the story of an up-and-down season that featured moments of greatness but also troubling times.

Going into their penultimate matchup against Bates, Tufts knew that in postseason lives were on the line, as it would be eliminated from NESCAC tournament contention with a loss. The Bobcats, however, easily handled the Jumbos, 9-0, and dashed their hopes of continuing the season.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” said rising junior Matt Pataro.

“Things just didn’t fall our way.”

That is one side of the story of the 2012 season, as the Jumbos struggled all year with what they felt were the big points, the ones that could turn around a match against a higher-ranked opponent. In losses to Bowdoin, Bates and Trinity, those breaks just did not go Tufts’ way, leading to disappointment in crucial matchups.

“It was in general people finding new roles on the team to step into,” graduating senior co-captain Morrie Bossen said. “A lot of the matches that we lost [as a team], a lot of people lost a close match.”

The other side to that story, however, was the team’s consistent ability to capitalize against weaker opponents and rebound after difficult losses. The Jumbos had four 9-0 wins throughout the fall and spring, and they went into the final match looking for another sweep.

“We went into [Colby] thinking that this match is very winnable,” Pataro said. “If we lost that match [the season] would’ve felt like far more of a failure.”

With that in mind, the Jumbos came out strong, winning doubles, 2-1, and singles, 4-2, en route to a 6-3 victory that showcaswed their ability to put teams away when they fired on all cylinders. The win left the Jumbos’ final by

Last licks

Senior Staff Writer

scott tingley / the Tufts Daily

Graduating senior co-captain Morrie Bossen started all four years of his career with the men’s tennis team, which failed to reach the NESCAC tournament this season after losing a must-win match at Bates on April 27. spring record at 7-9, a sturdy mark from a season that began with instability.

In between the fall and spring seasons, the Jumbos lost two starters, and

Men’s Crew

first-year coach Jaime Kenney had no choice but to slide players into posisee MEN’S TENNIS, page 35

Women’s crew

Jumbos finish 11th at New England Championships

by Sam

Gold

Senior Staff Writer

winless varsity group. Despite the lack of positive results, the varsity squad remained level-headed about its races.

While they did not come away with any race victories, the Jumbos dropped seconds consistently as the year wore on, suggesting that they had the stamina to handle the physical and mental strain of their schedule.

Among the team’s goals was improving the second 500 meters in races, in

Leading up to the New England Championships and ECAC National Invitational Rowing Championships, the women’s crew team raced against Smith and No. 4 Wellesley on April 28. In order to hit their stride heading into the last and most important regattas of the season, it was imperative that the Jumbos race to the best of their abilities.

Things got off to a great start for Tufts, but a promising day quickly deteriorated as the competition dragged on.

In the first race against Smith, the first varsity eight eked out a thrilling three-second victory with time of 7:17.12, helping Tufts move ahead in the polls before championship weekend. The second eight raced as well, losing by nearly 27 seconds.

The first eight team put on a clinical display of technique in its race, powering through the midway point to emerge in front and hold on for the win.

It was an entirely different story against a stronger Wellesley squad, however, as its first varsity eight rowed hard and fast to win by nearly 30 seconds. Wellesley’s second varsity four also earned a victory, but this time by only 11 seconds.

“Against Wellesley, we were clearly tired,” said senior tri-captain Erika

see MEN’S CREW, page 33

see WOMEN’S CREW, page 34

courtesy michael bai

The men’s crew team took steps in the right direction this spring, placing 16th at New Englands and 13th at ECACs.

Amid adversity, men’s crew salvages final races

In the last two races of the spring, the men’s crew team finished strong, coming in 16th and 13th, at the New England and ECAC Championships, respectively.

The performances represent a positive ending to a tough season, one filled with adversity that nonetheless holds promise for the future.

By and large, the spring was marked by an impressive novice program and a by

GJ Vitale

Senior Staff Writer

W

hen thinking of Commencement and its implications, I, like many of my fellow Tufts seniors, start to feel sentimental. I yearn to reach out to all of the friends and family who have supported me over the past four years and thank them.

Translating those feelings into coherent words and phrases, however, is impossible. I want to commemorate and celebrate my experiences in a condensed, but all-encompassing, manner. But, I dare not try, for fear of coming off all ooey-gooey.

So, I decided to take some tips from the sports leaders who are forever remembered by their career-capping speeches and construct my own Tuftsending tribute that way.

The king of closing chapters will forever be Lou Gehrig. The famed Yankees first baseman dubbed himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” when he retired from baseball due to his bout with ALS. His words were poignant and filled with optimism. Yet, his brave discourse was in the face of a fatal illness, and I’ve never been a fan of the Yankees. Gehrig’s touching finale is too tragic to inspire a commencement signoff.

I next thought of Brett Favre’s example. Perhaps there were some hidden nuggets of wisdom in the longtime Packer’s words. But, after digging up a video of his retirement on YouTube, I could not make out much amidst all the blubbering. For goodness sake, Brett, you came back the very next season!

I quickly realized that I should shy away from retirement declarations and begin to seek inspiration elsewhere. So, I looked at some sports films. Too cliche, sure, but Hollywood is an ever-flowing fountain of spine-tingling one-liners.

Instantly, I turned my attention to Al Pacino’s “Any Given Sunday” (1999) locker room sermon, the Kurt Russell version of Herb Brooks’ underdog dissertation in “Miracle” (2004) and Gene Hackman’s fiery call to arms in 1986’s “Hoosiers” (and the subsequent slow clap).

In watching as many scenes as I could, I found the Fighting Irish huddle in “Rudy” (1993) gave me the biggest rush. Coach Dan Devine rouses his troops and reminds his graduating players: “It’s your last one, so make it count.” Hey, if it’s good enough to motivate an undersized walk-on, it’s good enough for me.

Finally, I recalled a moment in sports history of which I will forever be a part.

In 2006, I attended a third-round tennis match at the U.S. Open. After four swift sets, Benjamin Becker emerged as the victor. Andre Agassi was the loser, but before walking proudly off the court, he bid adieu to his sport in front of his most adoring fans.

“Over the last 21 years, I have found you,” Agassi said. “And I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life.”

Now, Agassi never attended college — he dropped out of school in the ninth grade to pursue his dream.

Nonetheless, his words are fitting for college graduates. Just pretend “21 years” refers to our lives rather than Agassi’s storied tennis career.

Over the last 21 years, I have found myself.

I have found myself as a brother, a son, a person and a friend. I could never have discovered my inner identity without my experiences at Tufts. Just as Agassi and our heroes will always hold a place in our hearts, I will always call Tufts home. And I consider myself lucky to have met so many diverse, exciting and inspiring people in four years here.

Zach Drucker graduates today with a degree in international relations and Spanish.

The Tufts Daily

44

Sports Baseball

The Tufts Daily sports awards Male Athlete of the Year: Johann Schmidt, Men’s Swimming and Diving Heading into the NCAA Div. III Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis in late March, four-time NESCAC champion Johann Schmidt was already used to winning. And yet even he had never faced pressure like this. To win the one-meter diving title, the rising junior’s final attempt needed to be almost flawless. The dive was one he had struggled with in practice, but he kept his focus and all but nailed it, catapulting himself into first place and becoming Tufts swimming and diving’s first national champion in 30 years.

Schmidt displayed incredible mental toughness in achieving the feat, weeks after struggling to find the motivation to train for Nationals without his teammates, whose season had already ended. But Schmidt performed when it counted, just as he has throughout his first two years as a Jumbo.

The difference at NCAAs, of course, was the level of competition, which according to Tufts diving coach Brad Snodgrass was as good as it had been in years. With everyone watching, though, Schmidt was better than his counterparts, and that is why he is a national champion — and our Male Athlete of the Year.

Female Athlete of the Year: Kelly Allen, Women’s Track and Field Kelly Allen never stopped throwing far. And the awards never stopped rolling in.

The rising senior won her first indoor AllAmerican honor this winter, finishing sixth in the weight throw on her first of six attempts. She also finished 14th nationally in the shot put. Her success continued into the ongoing outdoor season, when Allen won the NESCAC title in the discus, setting both meet and school records with a toss of 158-3 that ranked third in Div. III. She also placed first in the shot put at the meet to earn her third All-NESCAC honors, and backed up the performance a week later with two victories at the New England Div. III meet, winning the discus and shot put. The NCAA championships will be held on May 24 at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Claremont, Calif.

With one year remaining, Allen has already cemented herself as one of the most decorated throwers in Tufts women’s track and field history.

Last spring, as a sophomore, Allen was a repeat All-American in the discus, finishing fourth for the second straight season.

Coach of the Year: Carla Berube, Women’s Basketball Coach Berube led the women’s basketball team to the Sweet 16 this past winter, but it’s how she did it that makes her deserving of our Coach of the Year award.

After losing the program’s all-time leading scorer, Colleen Hart (E ‘11), and one of its bestever defenders in Vanessa Miller (LA ‘11), the Jumbos entered the 2011-12 season almost completely devoid of star-power. But they proved a lot of people wrong, and they did it in classic Berubian fashion: with teamwork and defense.

Berube used a nine-player rotation, and all nine averaged between 5.1 and 9.2 points per game.

Defensively, the Jumbos were phenomenal, holding opponents to 46.3 points per game, the third-lowest average in Div. III. It was that defense that helped an undersized Tufts team come within three points of a giant upset against St. Thomas in the Sweet 16.

Graduating senior Tiffany Kornegay earned the program’s fifth straight NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year award under Berube, while Berube was named NESCAC Coach of the Year for a third time. The Jumbos went 23-7 overall.

Team of the Year: Softball A core of veteran talent coupled with a freshman fireballer has made the softball team a national force this season and the Daily’s Team of the Year.

The Jumbos clinched the program’s third-ever berth to the College World Series this year, and their success can easily be traced to the mound.

It’s hard to ignore the feats of rising sophomore Allyson Fournier, the NESCAC Pitcher of the Year who threw three perfect games in her first season on the Hill, turning in a 0.36 ERA, a 22-1 mark and a single-season-record 275 strikeouts through the Willimantic Regional.

Though Fournier pitched in all four wins in Willimantic as well as the three victories during the Jumbos’ undefeated NESCAC tournament run, she appeared in just 27 of Tufts’ 45 games.

Part of that can be attributed to the efforts of rising senior Rebecca DiBiase (12-2, 3.09 ERA) and rising junior Lauren Giglio (5-1, 3.79 ERA).

Perhaps overshadowed by Fournier’s seemingly endless perfection, the Jumbos’ offense was hardly anything to sneeze at. In the heart of a Murderer’s Row-esque lineup, graduating senior

Commencement 2012

Lena Cantone broke Tufts’ all-time hits record with four hits in its regional opener versus Salem State; rising junior Jo Clair bashed 14 home runs through the regional tournament, bringing her to 30 career dingers, two shy of the Tufts record; and rising senior Emily Beinecke hit .404 through the regional with 12 doubles and 37 RBIs. All three were named to the All-NESCAC first team, alongside coach Cheryl Milligan, who earned the Coach of the Year honor for the fifth time in her nine seasons leading the Jumbos.

Male Co-Rookie of the Year: Cole Bailey, Men’s Lacrosse Bailey stepped onto the men’s lacrosse team with big — rather, huge — shoes to fill. His predecessor behind the cage, D.J. Hessler (E ’11), was undeniably the most dominant player in program history and had led the Jumbos to two consecutive national championship appearances, picking up a NCAA Player of the Year nod on the way. However, the rookie took over the No. 28 jersey with confidence, hushing all those doubting Tufts’ ability to rebound after Hessler’s departure.

Bailey, who would become the NESCAC Rookie of the Year, notched a goal, an assist, three ground balls and two caused turnovers in his conference debut against Hamilton. Against his first nationally ranked opponent, then-No. 4 Stevens, the attackman scored one goal while dishing out five assists. And he never slowed down. In the regular season finale, the rising sophomore played a role in seven goals, and in the NESCAC tournament he scored three goals and assisted on nine to help the Jumbos to their third consecutive title.

Through the conference championship game, the second-team All-NESCAC selection led the conference in points (61), points per game (3.39), assists per game (2.22) and assists (40), leading the last category by 17. A point of reference: In his freshman year in 2008, Hessler scored 46 points and had 23 assists.

Male Co-Rookie of the Year: Gus Santos, Men’s Soccer Nobody contributed more to the impressive turnaround of the men’s soccer team this season than rising sophomore midfielder Gus Santos, and nobody took home more awards, either. Santos was the NESCAC Rookie of the Year, a first-team All-Conference selection and a first-team All-Region selection in his first collegiate season.

He led the Jumbos in goals and assists, with seven and six, respectively, and finished fifth in the NESCAC with 20 points, far and away the highest total for a conference freshman.

A dynamic dribbler with breakaway speed and excellent knowledge of the game, Santos started every match but one for the Jumbos on the left wing and produced numerous scoring opportunities, firing 21 shots on goal over the course of the season. Santos also became known for his late-game heroics, scoring overtime golden goals against Trinity and UMass Dartmouth in the span of 10 days. The midfielder finished the season with four goals that would end up being game-winners.

His best performance came on Oct. 19 against visiting Suffolk, when he scored twice and added an assist to lead Tufts to a commanding 6-1 win.

Female Rookie of the Year: Allyson Fournier, Softball As evidenced again and again on these pages, Allyson Fournier was far and away the best pitcher in the NESCAC this season. The conference’s Rookie of the Year struck out 275 batters and allowed just 62 hits through 156 innings to post a mind-boggling 0.36 ERA heading into the College World Series, which began May 18.

The right-hander was Tufts’ biggest weapon all season, as the team went a perfect 12-0 in-conference en route to their seventh league title and first since 2009. Fournier’s third perfect game of the year came in Tufts’ 2-0 win over Middlebury on the first day of the tournament, when she set a NESCAC Championship singlegame record with 19 strikeouts — tying the tournament record in just one game. On day two, Fournier led Tufts past Amherst 1-0 with 11, and in the title rematch with Middlebury, the rookie continued added another 17 strikeouts and surrendered just four hits, raising her championship totals to 22 shutout innings, 47 strikeouts and five walks.

In the Jumbos’ four victories at the NCAA Regional in Willimantic, Conn., Fournier logged all 28 innings of work, amassing 44 strikeouts without allowing an earned run. Quite simply, when Fournier is on the mound, the Jumbos win: After the regional, she had a 22-1 record for the 40-5 Jumbos.

—Compiled by the Daily Sports Department

Highs, lows and everything in between by

Alex Prewitt

Daily Editorial Board

On the micro level, there was redemption. On the macro, disappointment.

BASEBALL POSTSEASON AWARDS DH Matt Collins (’12) First Team All-NESCAC SS Sam Sager (’12) First Team All-NESCAC 3B Wade Hauser (’15) Second Team All-NESCAC

The bad taste that lingered for the baseball team was temporarily alleviated by a doubleheader sweep over Middlebury that closed its season on a winning note. But it did little to relieve the bitterness brought on by a 4-8 NESCAC record that left the Jumbos without a post-

season bid for the first time since 2004.

“As a whole, our season’s really measured by how successful we are in the NESCAC,” graduating senior co-captain shortstop Sam Sager said. “Despite having a decent win-loss record overall, when we measure ourselves by that, we didn’t accomplish our goals at all.”

Graduating senior pitchers Dave Ryan and Kevin Gilchrist ended their careers with dominating outings against the Panthers on May 6.

After spending much of the season in the bullpen with what coach John Casey called “general arm soreness,” Gilchrist threw a six-hit shutout in the shortened seven-inning second game, striking out five and walking none in the Jumbos’ 6-0 win, an effort that earned Gilchrist the NESCAC Pitcher of see BASEBALL, page 41

Women’s Lacrosse

scott tingley / the Tufts Daily

Rising senior Kerry Eaton, who led the Jumbos with 38 goals this season, found the net four times in the women’s lacrosse team’s 12-8 NESCAC quarterfinal loss to Middlebury.

Tufts eliminated in first round of NESCACs by

David McIntyre

Daily Editorial Board

The women’s lacrosse team came into this year with high expectations, boasting a strong senior class and fresh off a run to the NESCAC semifinals last season that earned the Jumbos a bid to the NCAA tournament. Although the season ended in relative disappointment, with a first-round exit in the conference playoffs at the hands of the Middlebury Panthers on April 28, the Jumbos finished with yet another winning record at 9-6 and remained competitive in Div. III’s toughest conference.

The schedule seemed to put the Jumbos at a disadvantage from the outset, as they met five conference opponents in their first seven games while still trying to incorporate new strategies and get used to the absence of graduating senior Steph Perez, who did not play this year. However, the season started

off on an extremely positive note, with graduating senior midfielder Casey Egan scoring with 45 seconds to go in the home opener against Hamilton to give Tufts a dramatic 8-7 win.

After that victory and a fairly straightforward win at Conn.

College, Tufts sat atop the NESCAC standings and was playing at a high level. However, the loss of Egan to a concussion against the Camels made things more difficult for the Jumbos, who proceeded to drop three straight to the Colby Mules, the Panthers and the Trinity Bantams — all losses that saw spirited comebacks fall short because of large firsthalf deficits.

“Next year, I’m sure they will focus again on not making silly mistakes and taking care of the ball,” graduating senior tri-captain Katie Lotz said. “This season, we had a tendency to play harder the second see WOMEN’S LACROSSE, page 35

Commencement 2012

The Tufts Daily

45

Sports

Alex Prewitt | Live from Mudville

Sailing

One last story

F

courtesy Adam Weisman

The co-ed sailing team placed fourth at the New England Team Racing Championships at MIT in late April, coming up one spot short of an ICSA Team Championships berth.

Sailing squads barely miss national bids by

Andy Wong

Daily Editorial Board

Women’s Sailing After narrowly missing a top-seven finish and a qualifying spot in the national semifinals at the New England Intercollegiate Saling Association (NEISA) Women’s Championship Reed Trophy, the women’s sailing team has been effectively done with its season

since April 22. Now, the team can reflect on a thrilling final regatta.

“The competition at the [Reed Trophy] was incredible,” said captain and rising senior Natalie Salk, who skippered along with classmate Amelia Quinn, who is also a features editor for the Daily. “The starting line in A division was stacked with national champions. I was really pleased with how well we performed and how consistent we were with our results.”

“Although we were disappointed that we didn’t qualify for nationals, Natalie and I felt like we left everything on the water, and we performed at the highest level we had all season,” Quinn said.

“I don’t think that we had any regrets about our performance, and it was easily the best women’s regatta that I have ever sailed in.”

see SAILING, page 41

Women’s Track and Field

Tufts tops all Div. III opponents with ninth-place finish at Open New Englands by

Andy Wong

With the spring season nearing its end and the dream of the NCAA championships just days away, the women’s track and field team continues to gather steam in what has been a remarkable outdoor season. The Open New England Championships at MIT on May 11-12 were no exception, as the Jumbos earned one victory and numerous other top finishes, continuing to improve their qualifying marks.

“The New England Opens were a chance for us to improve our heights, times and distances against qualified athletes from Div. I and Div. II,” graduating senior co-captain Anya Price said. “At this point in the season, we are looking for individuals to improve their qualifying marks to get farther in the postseason, such as ECACs or Nationals.”

On the track, rising junior Lauren Creath finished fifth in the 10,000meter run with a personal-best time of 38:02.90 to give the team four of its 36 total points.

On the field, graduating senior Heather Theiss finished third in the pole vault in a tightly contested battle, clearing a final height of 12-1 1/2 to match her own school record.

Meanwhile, classmate Nakeisha Jones placed third in the triple jump with a season-best distance of 39-5. Rising junior Jana Hieber finished seventh in the long jump with a distance of 17-8.

On the throwing side, rising senior Kelly Allen earned the team’s only Daily Editorial Board

see WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD, page 33

virginia bledsoe / archives

Rising senior Kelly Allen set a meet record in the discus at Open New Englands at MIT, winning the event with a throw of 163-6 and leading Tufts to a ninth-place finish, the highest of any Div. III team.

inally, it comes to this, the last column to end all columns, 620 words in a two-inch-wide vertical space, the final battleground for personalized opinion that’s marked my past seven semesters with The Tufts Daily.

I will move on to other things in the journalistic world. Boston in the summer.

Dallas in the fall. Who knows after that?

This is an end. But it is not the end.

Take his class on baseball history, and Professor Sol Gittleman will often bring up the etymology of today’s buzzword. Commencement is a beginning, a moment when the glass bottle cracks on the ship’s hull and we sail into the supposed “real world,” whatever that means.

I imagine it will have more work, less beer and about the same, one-to-one jock-tohipster ratio.

This is my fourth Commencement column, a space I’ve reserved in the past for ridiculing the graduating class, but if there was ever a time for reflection, this would be it.

The trajectory of my collegiate career is weird and somewhat erratic, not unlike my daily encounters with, well, anyone on the street. I applied to Tufts to play baseball. I fell in love with the Hill on my recruiting visit. It was Spring Fling.

Common and the Dropkick Murphys played. My host participated in a moshpit. Then he left me at Delta Upsilon. I was overwhelmed.

The selection process exclusively boiled down to baseball. I attended showcases up and down the Eastern seaboard. Me and my father in our green Toyota Camry. Virginia Beach. Easton, Penn. Richmond. I forget where along the line I first saw Jumbo.

Both my parents attended that institution two Red Line stops toward Braintree/Ashmont. I wanted to blaze my own trail. Crimson was too regal.

Brown and baby blue were right up my alley. I am glad I did, but the reasons were far from what I anticipated.

During my time with the Minneapolis Star Tribune this past summer, I tried to write a story about the yips. Steve Sax Syndrome. Steve Blass Disease. The inexplicable inability to throw a baseball, a psychological illness that silences as many as it plagues. No one wanted to talk.

Myself included.

Baseball became a torturous affair my freshman year. One winter morning, during warm ups in the Carzo Cage, I threw the ball straight into the ground. My body forgot how to play catch. My partner stared at me, wondering what the hell was going on. It got so bad, I once pegged a senior. He was in ROTC. He cursed me out for that one.

I spent the winter torturing myself, wondering why my mind betrayed me in the space I loved so dearly. Sam Sager, my throwing partner who turned into one of the best all-around players in Tufts history, found someone else. Matt Collins, now a senior co-captain, took me aside one night and told me to relax. I’d done this a thousand times.

Sometimes, alone in my South Hall dorm room between class with nothing but my depreciated thoughts, I would throw a tennis ball at the wall, just to prove that I could still perform the game’s most basic task. My next door neighbors would yell at me. The noise was too loud.

I eventually made it through the season. The yips disappeared one day, retreating as quickly as they invaded.

I played summer baseball back home, returned to Tufts and decided to hang up my cleats. The yips resurface every now and then. Put a baseball in my hand, and the memories come flooding back.

For in the end, even after the majestic buildup and brouhaha as he marched to the plate, wielding that wooden battle axe out to center field, the defiance gleaming in his eye, mighty Casey still struck out.

Alex Prewitt graduates today with degrees in English and religion. He can be followed on Twitter at @Alex_Prewitt.

Sports

46

tuftsdaily.com

Softball

Jumbos ride Fournier train to College World Series by

Zachey Kliger

Daily Editorial Board

On Tuesday night, at a private graduation ceremony held on campus, University President Anthony Monaco handed the SOFTBALL POSTSEASON AWARDS 1B Lena Cantone (’12) First Team All-NESCAC 2B Emily Beinecke (’13) First Team All-NESCAC C Jo Clair (’14) First Team All-NESCAC P Allyson Fournier (’15) First Team All-NESCAC Pitcher of the Year NESCAC Rookie of the Year

COURTESY PATRICIA CORDEIRO

Coach Cheryl Milligan NESCAC Coach of the Year

Rising sophomore pitcher Allyson Fournier continued her magical season at the Willimantic Regional on May 10-13, twirling 28 shutout innings to lead Tufts to four victories and a spot in the Div. III College Softball World Series, which began Friday.

softball team’s four seniors their diplomas. The ceremony was special for its intimacy — the seniors’ parents attended, and Monaco delivered a personalized speech to the team — but it was a far cry from the typical graduation experience.

“We went out to dinner after-

wards, and I came home and all my friends in my house were just hanging out,” graduated senior tri-captain Lena Cantone said. “I had these balloons that said, ‘Congrats Grad,’ and I had my cap and gown in my hand. It was really strange.”

Strange, maybe, but totally

worth it. On Friday, the players began their quest for perhaps the one thing they’ve coveted more at Tufts than a diploma: a national championship.

After defeating No. 2 Eastern Connecticut State, 5-0, on May 13 in the NCAA Regional Final in Willimantic, Conn., the No.

Men’s Lacrosse

8 Jumbos earned the softball program’s third-ever trip to the NCAA Div. III Softball World Series, which started on Friday in Salem, Va. Heading into the weekend, Tufts was 40-5 overall and had won 17 of its last 18 games.

“We knew at the beginning

Tufts falls to topranked Williams Senior Staff Writer

Although the Jumbos’ season ended on May 13 with a loss in the third round of the NCAA tournaWOMEN’S LACROSSE POSTSEASON AWARDS A Lara Kozin (’12) Second Team All-NESCAC D Kelly Cakert (’12) Second Team All-NESCAC

Courtesy Salvatore Reggiero

Graduating senior co-captain Kevin McCormick was second on the men’s lacrosse team with 43 goals heading into its NCAA semifinal matchup against SUNY Cortland.

Tufts sits one win away from third straight championship game by

Kate Klots

In early February, NESCAC followers and online bloggers had written off the Jumbos.

Despite a high ranking in preseason polls, it seemed that only coach Mike Daly and his squad believed they had it in them to overcome the graduation of four key playmakers and make another late postseason run.

Now, the outsiders see what the Jumbos had seen all along.

After defeating the Rochester Institute of Technology 15-13 on Wednesday, Tufts advanced to the NCAA tournament semifinals against

see SOFTBALL, page 42

Women’s Tennis

by Jake Indursky

Daily Editorial Board

of the season that it was attainable, but to actually be going is unreal,” Cantone, one of three members of the team who went to the World Series as a freshman, and the only one who saw playing time there, said. “It feels good to be going back again.”

This time around, Cantone will see the experience from a whole new perspective.

“My freshman year I had no idea what to expect, and I think I was in such awe that I was on such a great team and just kind of [went] along for the ride,” she said. “People were like, ‘You’re never going to have this opportunity again, you better let it soak in while it can.’ And now we’re doing it again. As a senior, I’m not in awe anymore; I knew that we could do it, and I’m just ready to go and win.”

In the Jumbos’ regionalclinching victory, they received yet another stellar performance from NESCAC Pitcher of the Year and All-Region First Team selection Allyson Fournier. The rising sophomore phenom took a no-hit bid into the sixth, tossing seven scoreless innings for her 14th complete game of the season. She allowed just three baserunners and fanned eight

SUNY Cortland, which will be played today. With a victory today, the Jumbos will move on to the national championship game at Gillette Stadium for a third consecutive year.

“We don’t really pay attention to anything the media’s saying about us,” rising senior midfielder Sam Diss said. “We just really focus on our team and the next opponent that we have to beat.”

Wednesday’s win was an excellent display of the depth that has helped the Jumbos overcome their offseason losses. Nine players had multi-point performances and 10 found the back of the net as Tufts won its 34th

straight game on Bello Field.

Since a Mar. 31 loss to Trinity, the Jumbos have rattled off 13 straight wins, capturing a third straight NESCAC title along the way. The run includes two victories apiece over Amherst — the nation’s preseason No. 2 team — and Bowdoin.

On April 25, the Jumbos defeated the Polar Bears in a 15-7 rout, but the rematch in the conference finals was much closer, as coach Tom McCabe’s squad forced the Jumbos into double overtime.

With the title on the line, rising junior attackman Beau see MEN’S LACROSSE, page 35

A Kerry Eaton (’13) Second Team All-NESCAC ment, the team sees the season as a victory.

“I think that this season was a huge accomplishment for every-

one on the team,” rising senior captain Lindsay Katz said. “We had a number of setbacks, but we took every challenge head-on and came out stronger than before as a result.”

After losing 5-0 to Williams in the Round of 16, the team will have to wait a couple of months before continuing its building process. Nonetheless, the Jumbos played good tennis down the stretch, including a 7-2 win over Trinity in the regular season finale, a 5-4 loss to Bowdoin in the NESCAC tournament and a 5-0 victory against Salem State in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The No. 15 Jumbos easily handled the No. 19 Bantams, sweepsee WOMEN’S TENNIS, page 42

Caroline Geiling / the tufts daily

Against No. 1 Williams in the third round of the NCAA tournament on May 13, rising senior captain Lindsay Katz and rising junior Shelci Bowman put up a strong fight at first doubles before falling 8-6.

Commencement 2012

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

—Yogi Berra

The Tufts Daily

47

48

The Tufts Daily

Commencement 2012

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all — in which case you fail by default.” —J.K. Rowling