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Somerville City Council proposes restitution program for those previously incarcerated under war on drugs by Ava Autry
Assistant News Editor
The Somerville City Council is calling on Mayor Joe Curtatone to establish a restitution fund for those affected by the war on drugs. In a city council meeting on Aug. 26, Councilors Will Mbah, J.T. Scott and Ben EwenCampen proposed this resolution in order to provide funds for residents of Somerville that have been harmed by the war on drugs. Mbah, a sitting councilor on the Somerville City Council who also announced his candidacy for mayor of Somerville in April and finished first among all candidates in Somerville’s mayoral preliminary election, led this resolution. In an email to the Daily, Mbah spoke to the importance of restitution and its necessity for the Somerville community. Mbah noted the impact of the war on drugs on Black community members, in particular previously incarcerated Black men. “The [war on drugs] has literally destroyed Black lives in our communities, and the harm is ongoing,” Mbah wrote. “People, especially young Black men, are still failed by our education and economic system.” The restitution proposal, in its early stages, describes a process of redistributing profits from cannabis sales to those in Somerville who had been indicted on cannabis charges during the war on drugs. Mbah also discussed the importance of redistributing the
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wealth gained in the cannabis business since its legality. Ewen-Campen shared his reasons for supporting this proposal while also outlining the impact of the presence of legal cannabis in the city. “The reason that I co-sponsored is because we are seeing the cannabis industry now really take shape in the state and in Somerville and there is going to be an enormous amount of wealth pouring into the industry and a lot of people are going to get rich,” Ewen-Campen said. Ewen-Campen also mentioned the importance of allowing for the redistribution of wealth generated from cannabis sales to those who had lost so much from its prior criminalization. “I think it’s really critical that we take a look at all the people who have been harmed and incarcerated by the criminalization of cannabis and other drugs in our past,” Ewen-Campen said. “I don’t think that there’s any way that we’re going to be able to make those people whole, but I think that we have a responsibility to do everything we can to support them.” Margie Skeer, an associate professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine, discussed the scale of the harm caused by cannabis criminalization among Black Massachusetts residents. “Despite marijuana being decriminalized and then subsequently legalized for recreational purposes, we still see a significant disparity between Black people
TCU Senate elects new trustee representatives, discusses upcoming election
by Zoe Kava News Editor
The Tufts Community Union Senate elected three new trustee representatives and discussed the upcoming TCU Senate elections during a meeting on Sunday. After a brief roll call and committee updates, TCU Vice President Tim Leong introduced the three candidates applying for the four open trustee representative positions. Trustee representatives, appointed by the Senate, serve as nonvoting members of the Senate and represent the student body in Tufts Board of Trustees meetings. The Senate reviewed each candidate’s resume and allotted them a minute to present their opening case before opening the floor to questions. The first candidate, Max Miller, highlighted what he hopes to accomplish as a trustee representative. “My general philosophy is that, unless I’m kind of asked about what the trustees have said in prior meetings or if there’s something that’s really salient that I need to get in on, my general job is to sit, to listen, to take notes, make sure I know what’s going on on campus,” Miller, a senior, said. Miller said his experience in the Senate will help him in the trustee representative position. “I was involved with Senate very briefly before COVID …
and it’s really interesting for me to be able to see the varying ways in which we can make an impact,” Miller said. “And I think that this position would be good for me because I can basically take some of the previous experience I’ve had and take it to the trustees and hopefully be a good advocate.” The second candidate, Izzy Lobin, discussed the importance of representing the interests of the entire student body if chosen for the position. “I think in any situation where you’re representing people, or trying to represent their interests, you can’t always assume … what’s best or what they think,” Lobin, a junior, said. “Getting data [is important], or just [hearing] student views for a wide range and [talking] about tangible steps … and then taking it from there versus assuming I know what they need or want.” The third candidate, Emily Afriyie, said she hopes to increase transparency by communicating more with the student body to figure out students’ concerns and needs. “I’m thinking of maybe doing some shorter surveys … and having students talk about what they think needs to change on campus … and then from there, using that information, talking with representatives on your organization or so, talking with the board and seeing what they think,” Afriyie, a sophomore, said.
Elections Commission Chair Mark Lannigan led the vote for trustee representative and all senators voted in favor of each candidate seeking the position. TCU Treasurer Elizabeth Hom then announced mandatory TCU Treasury meetings for student organization treasurers on Sept. 21 and Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. Sept 29 will be the first time a club can request supplementary funding. ECOM then discussed the upcoming TCU Senate elections. Applications for Class of 2025 senators will close Monday, Sept. 20 at 12 p.m., and a candidates meeting will take place on Tuesday night. Lannigan explained that ECOM is experimenting with a few new additions to the elections process this year, including a $50 candidate budget. “We’re going to test pilot it, see how it goes and then potentially maybe that’s something you might have in the spring as well, depending on how it goes,” he said. Another new addition is a meet and greet, where candidates can interact with the student body and answer questions from passersby. “This upcoming Friday, all of the candidates are going to be at the Campus Center … meeting and talking with people who are walking through the Campus Center,” Lannigan said. Voting will begin at noon on Sept. 28 and conclude the following day at noon.
see RESTITUTION, page 2
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Somerville City Hall is pictured on March 12.
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Ballou Hall is pictured on Sept. 14.
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Check out a book and a new study spot at the West Branch library
Monet on display at the MFA
American lives, dollars, moral high ground lost in the years since 9/11
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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Monday, September 20, 2021
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Mbah, Scott, Ewen-Campen call on Curtatone to implement restitution program RESTITUTION
continued from page 1 who were arrested for marijuana possession as compared to white people,” Skeer said. Somerville is not the first local city to consider a restitution program; Mbah said he drew inspiration from the Cambridge City Council’s restitution proposal. “I was inspired by my friend, Cambridge City Councilor Quinton Zondervan, who sponsored a similar resolution in Cambridge,” Mbah said. “Quinton and I both saw the tax revenues from cannabis were beginning to flow into our communities, and thought it
should be incumbent on our communities to use the revenue to make up for at least some of the harm done.” The Somerville City Councilors called on Curtatone to respond by Oct. 4, and they hope to launch the project by July 22 of next year if it is approved. What the program will look like remains unclear, but Mbah nonetheless discussed what he hopes the program will accomplish. “We will need to organize a coalition that represents the communities that have felt the impact of the [war on drugs] the hardest and give this group the authority to determine how the
funds should be spent,” Mbah said. “The funds could be distributed not just to individuals who have been harmed by the war on drugs, but to community organizations that are working to repair or mitigate the negative impact the war on drugs has had on communities of color.” Skeer also shared with the Daily other measures, in addition to restitution, she wants to see implemented by the government in communities in the future. “I think … using … tax revenue from the legalization of marijuana in the state is an important first step,” Skeer said. “But additional social services and programs that focus
on education or job training, opportunities to purchase housing … are the kinds of … opportunities they haven’t had as a result of being discriminated against.” Skeer shares Mbah’s belief that those in charge must listen to the needs of the affected communities in order to best serve them. “I do think it’s important to talk with the communities that have been affected [about] what do they think they need too,” Skeer said. “I think a lot of times people in power make decisions based on what they think is important rather than really hearing from the communities.”
Tufts students observe Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur as classes begin by Jack Maniaci
Assistant News Editor
Jewish members of the Tufts community observed Rosh Hashanah during the first week of classes with programming by campus organizations. The holiday took place over a period of two days, with the final day coinciding with the first day of classes for undergraduate students. Tufts’ decision to start classes on the second day of Rosh Hashanah forced some students to decide whether to attend class or attend religious services. Tufts Hillel Student President Allison Cohen explained how some members of the Jewish community at Tufts felt about the timing. “I remember when we first … found out about the dates, we were like, ‘Oh gosh, it’s going to be so stressful,'” Cohen, a senior, said. “Students were really, really appreciative that Tufts gave the first day off on Tuesday … but I know that people were disappointed in having classes [on Wednesday].” While some students opted to attend class despite the holiday, others decided to miss the first day. Sophomore Violet Kopp explained that her peers were split on the difficult decision. “My first class of the year was Hebrew … and over 50% of the students weren’t there,” Kopp said. “It’s obviously not an ideal situation for Jewish students as a whole.” Despite the conflict between the holiday and the beginning of classes, Tufts was generally accommodating of students who wished to prioritize their religious observance. According to Rabbi Naftali Brawer, Tufts’ Jewish chaplain and the executive director of Hillel, the university was supportive of students who chose to miss the first day of classes
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The Granoff Family Hillel Center is pictured on March 26. in order to attend religious services. “Jewish students who wanted to participate in the service [are] able to skip classes and make up for [them at] other times, [and] those accommodations have been very clearly communicated,” Brawer said. Cohen said that in addition to the university’s accommodations, Brawer offered to help students craft emails or reach out to professors about missing class. However, some students who were excused on the first day of classes to observe Rosh Hashanah worried about their workloads and the possibility of missing important information during lectures. “The tricky thing … is, professors can be totally kind and reasonable and willing to let students miss class for [religious commitments], but that still doesn’t negate the fact that they have to make up their first day of class, which is arguably one of the most important ones,” Kopp said.
On both days of Rosh Hashanah, students were invited to attend services hosted by Tufts Hillel and Chabad, as well as join other students for meals. The services offered by Tufts Hillel came in two varieties: a Reform service led by a rabbinical student, and a traditional service led by Rabbi Brawer himself. The latter service, though traditional, offered a variety of outlets for Tufts’ Jewish community to come together and celebrate the holiday. According to Hillel’s website, these activities included guided meditation, art, poetry, literature and singing. “We include the traditional Jewish prayers, but we also take a lot of time to reflect, and we use lots of different tools to enhance that reflection,” Brawer said. “My message for Rosh Hashanah is that it is a time to express wonder for being alive, you know, as simple as that.” Hillel’s programming for September did not end with Rosh Hashanah, which is only the first in a series of Jewish hol-
idays that take place throughout the fall semester. The next major holiday in this series was Yom Kippur, which began the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 15. Brawer looked forward to introducing new members of the Jewish community at Tufts to Hillel’s programming during Yom Kippur and beyond. “Yom Kippur is a day that [students] would intentionally spend some of it, if not all of it, in synagogue,” Brawer said. “So it’s an amazing opportunity for us to meet so many students for the first time.” Brawer explained that with several Jewish festivals — including Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot — taking place in the fall, it will be an energizing, busy season for Jewish students at Tufts. “The whole period is one of a flurry of activity: lots of organizing, a lot of singing, praying, eating, spending time together,” Brawer said. “It’s beautiful, it’s exciting, it’s exhausting, it’s all of the above.”
TRASHING ONE EGG WASTES 55 GALLONS OF WATER
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Renovated Somerville West Branch library offers dynamic space to community by Amelia Becker Features Editor
Many have walked by the West Branch of the Somerville Public Library on the way to Davis Square, watching the renovations over the years, without ever stepping foot inside. Built in the Classical Revival style, the West Branch has maintained many of its historic features since the renovations while adding modern upgrades to make the space more usable for the community. The Somerville Public Library received funding from Andrew Carnegie to establish the West Branch building in 1909. Since the building opened, the West Branch has only undergone minor renovations and some cosmetic work. The building lacked a number of accessibility features and air conditioning, and the only public toilets were located downstairs in the children’s department, according to Somerville Library Director Cathy Piantigini. Renovations to the West Branch centered on increasing the accessibility of the library to the community. “We want our libraries to do a lot to respond to a lot of different needs in the community, whether that’s through our collections or our programming or the space that we can make available to the public,” Piantigini said. “So what we really want ideally are spaces that are responsive.” The library held a number of community meetings to get input from the community on what they wanted in the renovated West Branch. “The community meetings really served as an opportunity to find out what the community thought they needed in the renovated West Branch,” Piantigini said. “There was a lot of planning around the size of the renovation because this was an opportunity for us to also expand the library.” According to Alison Mitchell, a children’s librarian at the branch, the plan for the renovation changed significantly following input from the community at these meetings. The updates consisted of a historic renovation of the existing building and a new addition. “Much love and attention was put back into [the building] … The woodwork was restored, the original tile on the main floor was preserved. We had some of the windows that were original to the building, those were all restored as well,” Piantigini said. Piantigini said the addition serves primarily to house an accessible entrance, the new ele-
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The new glass entrance to the Somerville Public Library West Branch is pictured. vator and one of the new public bathrooms. The question was how big the addition should be to account for the various needs of the community. “We ended up with a square footage that allowed us to have some really nice programmatic space in that new addition,” Piantigini said. A key part of the addition is the flexibility for different events. Just this past Tuesday, the West Branch served as a polling location for the community, according to Piantigini. The modern addition has a wall of windows that opens into a courtyard with a preserved Norway Maple tree behind the library. This flexible space has been useful in planning programming that can be inside and outside during the pandemic. Mitchell has been hosting a children’s story time outdoors in the renovated courtyard. There is also a series of violin concerts taking place this fall in the new space. In addition, there are a number of wooden tables and a bar where people can sit, read and do work. There is also a drop-down screen that allows the library to have presentations and events, according to Piantigini. The West Branch is the first of the Somerville public libraries constructed to allow commu-
nity members to use the space when the library isn’t open, Piantigini explained. There is a community room in the basement that people can reserve and use. Upstairs in the original building is the children’s section, which now has a restored skylight. The main floor has the circulation desk and the refurbished historic reading rooms. The downstairs now houses most of the adult collection and meeting spaces that are available to the public. There is also a large table where people have been working and hanging out, Mitchell explained. “This was the point — to turn it into a place where people have wanted to come and be — because before we did have tables and things, but people weren’t hanging out there,” Mitchell said. Piantigini said that the Somerville Public Library received funding from the city and a grant from the Community Preservation Act for the renovation. During the renovations, the West Branch operated a small collection out of the Tufts Administration Building at 167 Holland St. When the pandemic hit, the West Branch at TAB closed to the public, only offering email and virtual programs.
Staff were allowed back into the building in June 2020, and the library started doing contactless pickup from each library location. The renovated West Branch opened over the summer, offering only contactless pickup at first. Since then the building has opened to the public, who have been taking full advantage of the space. Community members have been using the library’s resources like printing, free wifi and lending Chromebooks. It is also a place to just sit and read a book or newspaper. Since the West Branch has reopened, some Tufts students have used the library to study and borrow books. Junior Elisa Cink visited the newly renovated West Branch library for the first time this summer. She went with a number of friends to get a free library card, a process she said was really easy. Mitchell explained that students, even if they’re not from Massachusetts, are able to get a library card for free with their Tufts address. With a library card students can check out physical books and have access to the online resources offered as part of the library. Cink mentioned that part of the appeal of the West Branch is
its convenient location and the ease of borrowing books for free. Some students enjoy having the West Branch library as a place off campus to study. “I know sometimes students like to do work in Davis so I think that’s a good place if you want to be somewhere other than Tufts,” Cink said. “It’s nicely renovated and it’s got big windows so it’s good for [studying].” Senior Caitlin Colino went to the library to study for the first time this semester. “The first time I went in I was stunned with how beautiful it was on the inside,” Colino said. “It’s obviously pretty from the outside but it was nice to see a modern feel … It was a nice balance of quiet with a little bit of background noise … and I was able to get some good work done.” The West Branch is now better able to respond to the needs of the community and provides a welcoming space for anyone to visit. “I really hope that people do get an opportunity to go check out the space … It’s a great programmatic space,” Piantigini said. “It’s also great for somebody who needs to get some work done … you can sit in a really beautiful spot in pretty much any part of that library.”
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Monday, September 20, 2021
‘Certified Lover Boy’ is a boring and bloated rehash of Drake’s previous work by Miles Joseph
Contributing Writer
On Apple Music, 34-year-old Drake describes his newly released album “Certified Lover Boy” (2021) as “a combination of toxic masculinity and acceptance of truth which is inevitably heartbreaking.” For better or worse, this cringeworthy description only applies to a few of the songs on the album. Drake built up his “Certified Lover Boy” persona for over a year, going as far as cutting a heart into his hairline, only to release a bloated and unoriginal album nearly indistinguishable from his music of the past five years. Listening to “Champagne Poetry,” the first song on the album, gave me false hope. The beat switch and non-stop aggressive delivery is reminiscent of “Tuscan Leather” (2013) from “Nothing Was the Same” (2013), and Drake is rapping like he has something to prove. “Papi’s Home” begins with an introspective verse about Drake’s son, but it’s hard to take him seriously when the song devolves into generic lyricism about how Drake is at the top of the rap game directly after. On “Girls Want Girls,” Drake and Lil Baby trade verses about their obsession with lesbian women. The hook, “Say that you a lesbian, girl, me, too” is cringe, but at the very least it’s
one of the few songs that sounds like it belongs on an album called “Certified Lover Boy.” Great features from Givēeon and Lil Durk over droning production make “In the Bible” one of the highlights of the album. “Love All” sounds like classic Drake at his best, and Jay-Z’s verse is the icing on the cake. Drake finally embraces his “Certified Lover Boy” persona on “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug. The song is a musical representation of pure, unapologetic toxic masculinity. Future’s hook is infectious, and Drake seems like he’s having fun rather than just going through the motions. “Knife Talk,” featuring 21 Savage and Project Pat, is a chilling song that sounds like it belongs on “Savage Mode II” (2020). Drake sounds amazing over 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’s trademark spooky, cinematic production, but the song is out of place. In “7am On Bridle Path” Drake focuses on current rival Kanye West. The rapping is great, but the disses are weak and uncreative. Drake calls out Kanye for ghostwriting like he hasn’t done the same and repeatedly claims that Kanye is declining despite his recent success. A better way to get back at Kanye would have been releasing a better album than Kanye’s newly released “Donda” (2021).
Most songs on the album would be good on their own but at an hour and 26 minutes, “Certified Lover Boy” is a forgettable, directionless slog to get through. When listening to the album as a whole, Drake’s empty lyricism, lack of originality and safe production get old quickly. Drake’s “Dark Lane Demo Tapes,” a mixtape released in May 2020 during the buildup to “Certified Lover Boy,” proved that Drake can still produce a great project. The mixtape wasn’t pushing any boundaries, but it was concise, original and fun. “Scary Hours 2,” a three-song EP featuring Rick Ross and Lil Baby released in March 2021, was similarly excellent. Instead of building on these projects, Drake has released an album that sounds as if an AI bot created a Drake album based on his music from the past five years. “Scorpion,” released in 2018, was defined by its empty lyricism, bloated track list and overall lack of direction. “Certified Lover Boy” shares the exact same flaws. The album offers almost nothing Drake hasn’t already done better in the past, and without features would be unimaginably boring for the most part. It’s as if Drake made “Certified Lover Boy” not because he had something to say or prove but to
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Drake’s album “Certified Lover Boy” was released on Sept. 3. rack up enough album sales and streams to show that he’s still at the top of the rap game. Rappers such as Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, the Creator and even Playboi Carti have proved many times that commercial success is possible while taking risks and experimenting with new styles. Drake has improved technically as a rapper and singer over his career, but his refusal to get out of his musical comfort
zone has prevented him from making an album comparable to his early work. There are a few standout songs, but, like “Scorpion,” most of the album’s hour-and-26-minute runtime is forgettable and uninspiring. For a man who’s regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time and talked about in the same vein as rappers like Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and Kanye, “Certified Lover Boy” is a mediocre disappointment.
‘Monet and Boston: Legacy Illuminated’ leaves a lasting impression by Siavash Raissi Contributing Writer
Claude Monet (1840–1926) is arguably one of the most important painters of all time. With his extraordinary impressionist works, he captured nature’s fleeting moments in an entrancing manner and forever left his mark on art history. Though he never visited Boston during his life, the city has still served as a popular hotspot for collectors to buy and sell Monet’s works. Some of these compositions were eventually donated to museums, including Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.
“Monet and Boston: Legacy Illuminated” (2021) builds upon last year’s “Monet and Boston: Lasting Impression” (2020–2021), which celebrated the museum’s 150th anniversary by displaying all 35 Monet paintings in its collection for the first time in 25 years. While maintaining the same works and themes as last year’s exhibition, “Legacy Illuminated” provides visitors with a chance to understand not only Monet, but also the artists and people who inspired him. Upon entering the exhibition, visitors are greeted by a 1915 blackand-white film by director Sacha Guitry displaying Monet painting
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The Monet exhibition in the Museum of Fine Arts is pictured.
at his studio in Giverny, France, home to his famous water lilies. Immediately, simply by witnessing his live mannerisms and process, viewers gain insight into the kind of man Monet was outside of his art. The exhibition begins in the first hall and focuses on Monet’s early works while comparing them to that of his mentors, including Eugène Boudin. Both artists show a similar interest in subject matter: the entire room is dominated by paintings depicting French harbors and urban landscapes in an early impressionist manner. Meanwhile, the next hall illustrates Monet’s fascination with Japanese art by juxtaposing his paintings with prints from the MFA’s “ukiyo-e” collection. When comparing these works, the similarities in composition between the artist’s landscapes and those of its original Japanese influences soon become apparent. In the center of the room, the exhibition proudly places its focus on a large, vertical painting of Camille Monet in a vibrant red Japanese kimono, titled “La Japonaise” (1876). Its unusually restrained technique and sheer size causes the work to immediately stand out from its surroundings, inviting the viewer to further explore Camille’s character. The third gallery is specifically dedicated to Monet and his predecessor, Jean-François Millet. Here, view-
ers will find one of Millet’s most recognizable works, “The Sower” (1850). While the exhibition still focuses on Monet’s overall artistic development, the room also highlights Millet’s similar appeal among Boston art collectors. These rooms, each dedicated to a step in the Monet’s growth, eventually culminate in the fourth and final hall filled with the impressionist master’s most famous works. Every brilliantly colored canvas contrasts with the gray walls of the gallery. Hanging directly in front of the entrance is Monet’s “Grainstack (Sunset)” (1891), a beautiful example of the artist’s obsession with creating compelling depictions of light. To the right, another black-and-white film plays, this time of Monet’s peer and close friend, Auguste Rodin, whose unique impressionist sculptures complement Monet’s paintings throughout the space. The works shown on the walls are organized to show identical locations painted during different seasons or times of day, once again calling attention to the artist’s ability to capture sunlight as it changes. A notable example is the set of three paintings titled “Morning on the Seine, near Giverny” (1896–1897), all of which depict the same river, yet at distinctly different stages of sunrise.
VIA THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
Claude Monet’s “Morning on the Seine, Near Giverny” (1897). From start to finish, “Monet and Boston: Legacy Illuminated” guides viewers through a visual journey of Monet’s artistic career and development. Though Monet’s paintings are almost indistinguishable from that of his idols’ in the first hall, by the time the viewer reaches the final chamber, the artist’s unique impressionist style becomes instantly recognizable. The comparisons made between Monet and his contemporaries grant museum visitors the opportunity to simultaneously explore a variety of similar painters and understand their influence on art history. For this reason, the exhibition’s layout is one of the most impressive I’ve seen, as it thoughtfully highlights the artist’s work while enhancing the visitor’s experience through its thematic rooms.
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The legacy of 9/11 and the American response by Reya Kumar Opinion Editor
Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021 was marked by remembrances of the horrific attack 20 years ago that transformed countless lives, our nation and the world at large. The remembrances focused largely on the 2,753 lives lost at Ground Zero — people who undoubtedly deserve to be remembered. As we reflect, remembering those who lost their lives and lauding the heroic first responders and citizens who gave their lives to protect others, we must also confront the dark reality that is the American response to this tragedy. The 20-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks marks the
coming of age of a new generation, one which does not remember the attacks but has grown up in its aftermath. The annual refrain of “Never Forget” means something different to many of us than to older Americans — 9/11 is not an event we have flashbulb memories of, and yet it shaped the only world we have ever known. Here in the United States, the intelligence and surveillance technology brought about by 9/11 have changed the way we treat our own citizens. For instance, in a recent New York Times article, Derrick Ingram describes being detained by dozens of armed New York City Police Department officers who used drones, facial recognition technology and intercepted his phone calls in order to
identify him. He was an organizer and activist who had spoken through a bullhorn while standing too close to a police officer at a protest back in 2020. He was arrested, though the charges were later dropped. The new intelligence tools that were created to aid the War on Terror are being used by police officers on American citizens. The Department of Homeland Security has provided police officers and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials with weapons that should only be used in war, likely worsening the excessive use of force which organizations like Black Lives Matter and Abolish ICE have worked to combat. One group that has been targeted, both by the U.S. gov-
BY KAYLA DRAZAN
ernment and by the American public, in the aftermath of 9/11 has been the Muslim community. Muslim people have been demonized and Islam has often been associated with terror in the United States, including in the FBI which was exposed in 2011 for running Islamophobic trainings. All the while, Americans have been killed in countless mass killings, none of which were perpetrated by Islamic extremists. Muslim communities have instead been the victims of violence, as hate crimes committed against Muslims in the U.S. rose dramatically after 9/11 and still have not returned to pre-9/11 levels. Even those of other faiths and communities, including those of the Sikh faith, have experienced heightened violence as a result of racial profiling. Four days after 9/11, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh man, was shot and killed at a gas station by someone who incorrectly identified him as Muslim. For millennial Muslims, 9/11 changed everything. Many were called “Osama” or other names and slurs by classmates, some felt self-conscious wearing their hijab and others were suddenly finding themselves stopped at every airport security check. My Indian family has often joked about being stopped at the airport for “being brown” — but the issue is truly a deep-seated and harmful mistrust born out of 9/11. And, of course, one of the darkest legacies of 9/11 is the War on Terror, spe-
cifically the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We lost American lives, American dollars and, in many ways, the American moral high ground in these wars, not to mention the reprehensible impacts on the communities in which we fought. We entered the war in Iraq based on blatantly wrong intelligence, pulling resources away from the war in Afghanistan that would last 20 years and end painfully for both America and Afghanistan. In these wars, we worked with countries such as Pakistan and Egypt whose corrupt and abusive governments had ties to the terrorists we were purportedly fighting. We have killed many innocent civilians, such as the 10 Afghanis, including seven children, killed in a U.S. drone strike days before the end of the war. The U.S. military supported Afghan commanders who blatantly committed acts of child sexual abuse, even relieving servicemembers who refused to turn a blind eye. And infamously, the United States used horrific torture methods on terrorism suspects at Guantanomo Bay and the Iraqi Abu Ghraib prison. In what way have we successfully ‘fought evil?’ As we move forward, we should mourn those lost too soon on Sept. 11, 2001. But we should also recognize the harm caused by the American response to the attacks and mourn those that the U.S. has hurt, abused and killed since, in the name of counterterrorism.
OP-ED
Op-ed: So close yet so far by Santiago Castillo Juarez I was partying in Paris the moment I found out that Tufts had overenrolled the Class of 2025. Speakers were blasting reggaeton as I heard the distinct ringtone I had set for Tufts emails. I took my phone out of my pocket and read the headline. “Tufts Class of 2025 Housing Assignments.” I skimmed the email looking for my roommate assignment and my residence hall but quickly found out it wasn’t in the email. The email simply stated that 100 or so students had been randomly selected to live in the Hyatt Place Medford, about a 35-minute walk from Tufts’ Campus Center. I celebrated at the time, as the email said that those unlucky 100 students had already been notified early in the morning and I had not been one of them. Nonetheless, the next day, peers I had met online were already asking me what hall I was in. I never received the housing email. Endless calls and unanswered emails to Residential Life left me desperate for an answer.
The tuition payment deadline came along quickly and I was forced to pay the full cost of the first semester without a room assignment. Gambling upwards of $40,000 is a lot when you have no idea if you are going to have a place to live. I waited and I found out, 24 days after the original email was sent, that I was going to be housed at the Hyatt. I went through the seven stages of grief, eventually culminating in acceptance. I adopted an “it is what it is” mindset and came to terms with it. The move-in day came and the rooms were amazing. Private bathrooms with a bathtub, full-sized beds and plasma TVs seemed like they would be enough for the minor inconvenience of living a 5-minute shuttle away from campus. The reality has been far from it. I feel cheated out of my college experience. Getting to campus and back to the Hyatt has often been a titanic ordeal, having to budget in an excess of 40 minutes just for the one-way trip. Shuttle service has been incon-
sistent at best and disastrous at worst. In order to get to class on time, after waiting 45 minutes for the shuttle, I have had to take multiple Lyfts and Ubers, priced at a ridiculous surge rate, on my own tab. I have not been able to attend social commitments for complications with the shuttle. I am fortunate to be a man in this misogynist world. A female peer at the Hyatt tells stories of being catcalled in broad daylight on the 35-minute walk back to the Hyatt. Making students choose between their safety and getting to campus on time should not be an option, but with such poor shuttle scheduling and management, it leaves us no choice. Although the primary promise that has been broken is the 10- to 15-minute shuttle frequency directly to campus, many others have also failed to be true. “Luxury bedding” was promised yet the hotel sheets we slept with the first night were removed the very next day and replaced with fecal colored
bedding resembling sandpaper. Desk chairs for double rooms are unacceptable plastic dining hall chairs that are unsuitable for long periods of studying. Free laundry service has, to this day, not been implemented, though we’ve been told it will start soon. We have still yet to find out whether the administration’s promise for preferential lottery treatment will hold true. After 10 nights sleeping in the Hyatt I have come to the conclusion that with the current issues, the disadvantages of living in the Hyatt much outweigh its benefits. My primary plea to ORLL and Tufts Transportation is to offer a direct, nonstop, frequent shuttle exclusively for Tufts Hyatt residents to get to campus and back. Walking 35 minutes, with a tight class schedule, homework and a social life is simply not a possibility for most of us. One has to be blind to reality to believe that the experience of living in an on-campus residence hall is the same as living in the Hyatt, especially
under the current conditions. I firmly believe that with certain modifications, Tufts can get somewhat close to or actually succeed in finding an approach that embodies a normal college experience. The 100 students living in the Hyatt clearly have major disadvantages that other first-years on campus do not have. ORLL should make it a priority to bridge this gap in due time. Given that we pay tuition and board surpassing $80,000 a year, we should at least get a response to our emails. The core of my anger comes not necessarily from the living situation, but from an utter lack of communication and transparency. Having inconveniences during the first week of classes is normal, but if the current situation continues it will directly impact our first year of college experience in ways that should not be acceptable. I, along with dozens of other Hyatt residents, beg for rapid solutions and forums where we can be heard and where issues can be addressed.
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Monday, September 20, 2021 | SPORTS | THE TUFTS DAILY
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Jumbos fall 42-28 in season opener FOOTBALL
continued from page 8 another Girard touchdown reception, the Jumbos headed to the locker room trailing 35–7, with the game seemingly far out of reach. Trinity began the second half the same way it had ended the first, extending its lead and making it 42 straight points scored for the Bantams. Backup quarterbacks were featured for both teams in the fourth quarter, but it would be sophomore quarterback Matt Crowley who would steal the show late. While no player wishes to trail 42–7, Crowley remained optimistic when he was put in the game to take the first competitive snaps of his collegiate career. “Go play ball — all anyone can ask for is an opportunity, so when mine came, I wanted to have fun with it,” Crowley said, describing his thoughts as he stepped onto the field. Perhaps it was this enthusiasm that propelled the Jumbos’ offense to an outstanding fourth quarter, in which all three of their drives resulted in touchdowns. First, junior wide receiver Billy Dunn hauled in the first reception of his collegiate career for 35 yards to the Bantams’ 16-yard line. Dunn and Crowley connected again on the next play for a Jumbos touchdown. There was a remarkable display on both ends of the Jumbos’ next touchdown pass,
EVAN SLACK / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES
Former quarterback Dom Borelli runs the ball forward in the homecoming football game against Bowdoin at Bello Field on Oct. 19, 2019. as, on fourth down and goal from Trinity’s 22-yard line, Crowley scrambled toward the right sideline and heaved a pass toward junior wide receiver Philip Lutz, who grabbed the ball in a crowd of defenders. Like Dunn, Lutz scored his first collegiate touchdown in the fourth quarter. Dunn went on to add his second collegiate
touchdown less than a minute of gameplay later ― this time on a 64-yard touchdown catch, which brought the game to its final score, 42–28. Dunn and Crowley produced 115 yards and two touchdowns just in the fourth quarter alone. “We relied on the plays that went well for us all week at practice,” Dunn said. “[Crowley] had
a great week of practice and we worked on the go-ball a lot, so that definitely added a lot of confidence when the play calls came in.” The Jumbos will look to improve on their overall performance and continue the momentum of the fourth quarter in their home opener against the Williams
College Ephs at 1:30 p.m. this Saturday. Defeating Williams, who beat Middlebury 41–13 this past week, may be another tall order for the Jumbos early in the season. But, if the big “firsts” produced at Trinity this week is any indication, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about what’s to come from this team.
tuftsdaily.com
SPORTS
8 Monday, September 20, 2021
Jumbo Sam Brill gets face to face with Djokovic and Medvedev at US Open by Ananda Kao
Executive Sports Editor
While watching the U.S. Open finals on Sunday, Sept. 12, many Tufts students may have recognized a familiar face on the court. Junior Sam Brill was frequently caught by ESPN’s cameras standing directly behind Novak Djokovic or Daniil Medvedev, serving as a ball boy for the historic match at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Brill did not simply stumble upon this gig — working a match on the biggest stage in tennis was over six years in the making for him. Born and raised in New York City, Brill grew up going to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center with his family. He had always loved tennis, and the desire to get closer to the action ignited a spark inside of him. “We would sit pretty close to the action and I, always being in the middle of the rat race in New York City, wanted to find ways to get closer to the action,” Brill said. “Obviously, we were pretty close, but the only people that were consistently closer than us were the ball [persons].” When Brill was 14, he decided to try out to become a U.S. Open ball boy. A self-described “chubby little 14-year-old,” Brill impressed at tryouts. “I was throwing lasers across the court and there was nothing they could really do,” he said. “They were like, ‘Wow, where’s this coming from?’ It’s a 14-yearold kid who doesn’t look athletic at all and I was just throwing the ball easily over the umpire’s chair and got called for a callback that year.” After the callback, Brill got the job. The tryouts consisted of running to pick up the ball, picking up the ball and rolling. Brill noted that the people in charge of tryouts want to check coordination, ability to
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Arthur Ashe Stadium is pictured in September 2010. sprint, stop on a dime, pick up the ball, sprint again and then stop again. They also look for general tennis awareness, on which they quiz prospective ball persons. Brill said the staff usually consists of around 400 people, with hundreds more coming to try out each year, so many that there is usually a mile-long line. Since landing the job, Brill has had to work his way up the ladder and prove his talents to the U.S. Open bosses. Long before he was assigned to marquee matches, Brill enjoyed his early years working as a ball boy on the smaller courts around the U.S. Open grounds. He noted that, at the U.S. Open, all tennis is good tennis. Just over a week ago, in his sixth year, Brill finally made
it onto center court during a finals match. “Getting in on the action was incredible,” Brill said. “You’re literally so close, like face to face. We literally used to bring them the towels so you are sweat to sweat with greatness, which is an unreal experience … You can kind of see the wheels turning as they get up to crank a serve or even a thinking point, you can feel when a player gets too tense because they’re thinking too much.” Coming within feet of both Djokovic and Medvedev during the match, Brill recalls one interaction as particularly noteworthy. He said that Djokovic was going for history at this U.S. Open, aiming for 21 Grand Slams to put him above Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Despite having
two balls in his hands, he looked at Brill for another. “So, he could have theoretically gone to the line, but he sees [a ball] in my left hand and I throw him the one in my right because I’m right-handed,” Brill said. “But, he just stares it down and gets all wide eyed. I can clearly see that I messed up and that he wanted the ball that was in my left hand and there was nothing I could really do about it except throw him the other ball because he wasn’t going to go to the line until he had the ball that he wanted.” Interactions like this are what tennis enthusiasts dream about, but for Brill, it became his reality. In addition to being close to the players and celebrities that come to watch the matches, Brill said he appreciated the relationship
formed between the ball persons and the umpires. “The umpires are also really nice to us,” Brill said. “When I came off court Sunday, one of them wanted to jersey-swap with me. So, I have an umpire shirt now — I have one umpire shirt and one ball boy shirt. He was really funny about it, he was just like, ‘I have a shirt, I want one of yours.’ And I was like, ‘Give me five minutes and I’ll come and trade.’ He thought it was the best thing ever.” Brill’s journey as a ball boy has been fulfilling, exciting and has culminated in the biggest way one could imagine. Returning on a 3 a.m. train back to Tufts after the match in order to make it to class the next morning, Brill brought with him his two shirts and memories to last him a lifetime.
Tufts football newcomers shine in otherwise grim opening day loss at Trinity by Ethan Grubelich
Assistant Sports Editor
Tufts football played its first game in 679 days on Saturday afternoon at Trinity College to begin the 2021 NESCAC football season. The Trinity College Bantams are the NESCAC football record champions, with nine titles, whereas the Jumbos have yet to capture their first. The Bantams had not lost an opening-day game since 1995 until 2019, when the Jumbos stunned the then-reigning NESCAC champions in an epic defensive effort at Ellis Oval. This marked the Tufts football
program’s first victory over the Bantams since 2007. On Saturday, however, the Jumbos were not just faced with arguably their greatest test of the season, but also their mission to turn the tides of history. The momentum of history looked like it could stay with the Jumbos when, on the third play of the game, a pass thrown by junior quarterback Trevon Woodson slipped through a Bantams defender and fell into the hands of junior wide receiver Jackson Butler, who ran it down the sideline 72 yards for his first collegiate reception and a touchdown for the Jumbos.
“Before the play, I was just planning on catching the ball past the sticks for a first down,” Butler said. “The corner made a good break on the ball, but once I saw it go through his hands, I was in a good position to make a play on it and score. I was shocked that my first career catch unfolded like that, but was excited to meet my teammates in the end zone and celebrate with them.” The Bantams were left unphased by their early defensive miscue and score deficit, as their offense stepped onto the field and tied the game only a few minutes later with a touchdown run by Trinity running
back William Kirby in his collegiate debut. The Jumbos’ offense looked threatening again on the next drive, as they chugged their way to the Bantams’ four-yard line. A redzone stop that forced the Jumbos’ offense back to the 20-yard line resulted in a field goal attempt, which was blocked by a Bantams special teamer. With the game tied at 7–7, the Bantams’ offense ended the first quarter by putting together a drive similar to their first, once again resulting in a rushing touchdown by Kirby, this time from one yard out. In the second quarter, the Jumbos’ offense struggled to
make it into Bantam territory while Trinity quarterback Spencer Fetter and the Bantams’ offense looked nearly unstoppable. The Jumbos’ offense began the second quarter with a punt, which was answered with a third Bantams drive ending with a Kirby rushing touchdown. Down 21–7, Woodson fumbled at Tufts’ 14-yard line, which gave Fetter excellent field position for the first of three times on the day that he would connect with Trinity wide receiver Jonathan Girard for a Bantams touchdown. After see FOOTBALL, page 7