New Ryan Murphy series “Scream Queens” challenges comedic conventions see ARTS AND LIVING / PAGE 5
Sophomore illusionist boasts hit Instagram account
Tufts football squeaks past Hamilton with overtime field goal from junior Holmquist see SPORTS / BACK PAGE
SEE FEATURES / PAGE 3
THE
INDEPENDENT
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N E W S PA P E R
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T HE T UFTS D AILY
VOLUME LXX, NUMBER 12
Monday, September 28, 2015
MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.
tuftsdaily.com
Eclipsed harvest moon passes over campus
TCU SENATE UPDATE
Two community positions to remain empty until October by Roy Yang News Editor
day on weekdays in the [Mayer] Campus Center,” Farooqui, a senior, told the Daily in an email. However, Farooqui said it was tough to reserve a room every day and to find a central place for prayers in the evenings or on the weekends. The new Curtis prayer room is a small and open space with large windows, specifically designed as a space for Muslim prayer, according to Farooqui. The pattern in the carpet is oriented such that the lines are perpendicular to the Qibla, the direction of Mecca toward which Muslims pray, and the room has a small, built-in foot basin to perform the Wudu, the ablution before prayer, he explained. Space Management Planner Heidi Sokol said the design features of the fin-
The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate met last night to tackle its first set of supplementary funding requests from student groups. Senior Brian Tesser, president of TCU Senate, opened Sunday’s meeting by welcoming the three newly elected trustee representatives and updating the Senate on general news. According to Tesser, 20 first-years will run in Wednesday’s elections to become firstyear representatives in the Senate. Diversity and Community Affairs (DCA) Officer Anna Del Castillo, a sophomore, then took the floor to explain that only three of the five open community representative positions — Africana, Asian American and LGBTQ — will be filled after Wednesday’s elections. Students have not yet expressed interest in running for the women’s and Latino community representative positions, so the Senate will have to hold special elections in October, according to Del Castillo. After general updates, TCU Treasurer Shai Slotky, a junior, presented the first treasury report of the 2015-2016 year. The report began with TuftScope, an undergraduate journal of health, ethics and policy, which appealed for a supplementary funding total of $992. TuftScope appealed for an additional $520 over the Allocation Board’s recommended amount of $472 in order to increase the number of journals printed. According to TuftScope Editor-inChief Evan Balmuth, a senior, the 420 copies of the journal’s issue last semester that were distributed throughout campus were all taken after two days. Balmuth said the group wanted to increase readership of the journal by raising the number of printed journals to 500. However, members of the Allocations Board and Senate expressed concerns with the appeal, arguing that one semester of increased popularity was insufficient data for a definitive increase in funding. According to Tesser, printing costs are expen-
see PRAYER ROOM, page 2
see SENATE, page 2
EVAN SAYLES / THE TUFTS DAILY
Tufts students gathered in large numbers around campus on Sunday, Sept. 27 to observe a total lunar eclipse.
New prayer space for Muslim students opens in Curtis Hall by Emma Steiner News Editor
A new prayer room has opened in Curtis Hall this fall to provide a space for ritual Muslim prayers during weekdays. The space’s proximity to other academic buildings makes it easily accessible, allowing support for student practices and rituals, according to Muslim Chaplain Celene Ibrahim. “It is a very accessible space so that people can stop by between their classes or in between whatever other extracurricular events they have in the day,” Ibrahim said. “The ritual prayers are very short; they usually don’t take more than 20 minutes, so it is really a place of rest and reconnection.” Ibrahim, who became part of the chaplaincy in July 2014, led the creation of the new space. When she arrived, many
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Muslim students were concerned about the accessibility of prayer spaces, which presented an obstacle to their rituals, Ibrahim said. “The most crucial part of Islam is our daily prayers, and they are set at intervals throughout the day,” she said. “The times change because the times are based on the daylight and the sun … They are ritual and required for a Muslim, so students were having to rent out classrooms and scramble to find places that were appropriate.” President of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) Obaid Farooqui explained that it had been difficult for students to find a consistent space for prayer. “To facilitate [prayer] during the school day, the Muslim Student Association had been booking a room for a few hours in the middle of the
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