Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Jumbos return to their circus roots through object manipulation see FEATURES / PAGE 5

WOMEN’S TRACK

Jumbos set several PRs in windy weekend meet

Mona Kareem’s poetry reading crosses languages, identities see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 7

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

THE

INDEPENDENT

STUDENT

N E W S PA P E R

OF

TUFTS

UNIVERSITY

E S T. 1 9 8 0

T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXIII, NUMBER 45

tuftsdaily.com

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

Passage of divestment resolution sparks strong reactions, emotions

by Zachary Hertz News Editor

Disclaimer: Nesi Altaras is a columnist at the Daily and Noah Habeeb is a former executive copy editor at the Daily. Neither was involved in the writing of this article.

by Emma Steiner News Editor

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate passed a resolution calling for divestment from four companies it says are involved in the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories, during its meeting on Sunday. The meeting saw a large crowd and more than three hours of debate, as opponents criticized the timing and language of the resolution while proponents stressed the importance of joining a movement and drew parallels to see DIVESTMENT, page 2

to End Investments in The Israeli Occupation.” After more than three hours of debate and questions, the resolution passed with 17 in favor, six against and eight abstaining.

Next, Senator Charlie Zhen took the floor to talk about the creation of a FirstGeneration Community Senator position.

He explained that he wants someone on the body to represent first-generation students, making Senate and Tufts as a whole more accessible to the first-generation community. There were no questions about the position, and the proposal passed by acclamation.

The next order of business was four bylaw changes. Rapfogel described each, after which the body voted. The first was to add a description for the newly created First-Generation Community Senator, which passed by acclamation.

The second change was a clause stating that any senator can recuse themselves from a vote if they cannot be objective or have a conflict of interest in a funding matter. This change also passed by acclamation.

The third bylaw was to change the voting procedure, modifying the definition of majority. The change proposed that, for a resolution to pass, the number of votes in favor must exceed the sum of votes against and abstentions. Currently, only a simple majority needs to pass, with abstentions not counting.

When this change was moved, it was

President Donald Trump released the first budget proposal of his presidency in March, titled “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again.”

The proposal significantly slashes budgets for agencies like the State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, and cuts off funding entirely for federal agencies that fund arts and public broadcasting.

If Trump’s proposed budget is passed by Congress, it would seriously affect funding for all research universities, Tufts School of Medicine Dean Harris Berman told the Daily in an email. Funding for art projects, medical research and research in the humanities at Tufts would all be affected by the proposal.

Berman said that more than 80 percent of funding for research at the Medical School comes from federal sources.

Proposed cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget would likely mean a slowdown in the pace of research at the Medical School, which is currently conducting research on Alzheimer’s disease, tuberculosis and antibiotic-resistant sexually transmitted diseases, he noted.

“Cuts to NIH funding would make it more difficult for faculty at research institutions such as Tufts to compete for new research funding in an already competitive environment,” Berman said. “These cuts would not only impact biomedical research, but have an impact on the scientific workforce as funds from NIH support the salaries for faculty, postdocs, graduate students and other essential research personnel. This impact would be felt at every research institution across the country.”

On the Medford/Somerville campus, Tufts University Art Gallery would also see consequences if funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is eliminated entirely, as Trump’s budget proposes. Art Gallery Exhibitions Coordinator Lissa Cramer said that Tufts applies to one or two grants annually from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), which draws funding directly from the NEA, she said.

While the gallery budget allocated by Tufts is unlikely to change, she said, a cut

see SENATE MEETING, page 3

see TRUMP'S BUDGET, page 3

VINTUS OKONKWO / THE TUFTS DAILY

The TCU Senate met in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room on April 9.

TCU Senate holds last meeting of the year

by Vibhav Prakasam Senate Correspondent

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate met for the last time this semester in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room Sunday night, to discuss budget approvals, two resolutions, bylaw changes and final addresses.

The meeting began with two Tufts administrators who spoke about their work and answered questions from the Senate body. The first visitor was Director of Community Standards Kevin Kraft, who oversees judicial processes of the Tufts community. He took questions from the Senate body, several of which centered on the role of student activism.

Next, Michael Baenen, University President Anthony Monaco’s chief of staff, spoke about the work being done by the Mental Health Task Force. The task force has conducted one-on-one interviews with several faculty members, is but now looking for input from the student body through student groups and one-onone conversations, according to Baenen.

The next order of business was to approve the budgets for the next fiscal year for each of the nine student group councils. Each council encompasses a different category of student groups and each was budgeted by a member of the Allocations Board (ALBO). All budgets passed by acclamation.

The next section was a discussion about two resolutions.

TCU Senate Parliamentarian Adam

Please recycle this newspaper

Sunny 83 / 54

/thetuftsdaily

Trump budget proposal to cut research funding at Tufts

Rapfogel took the floor to introduce a resolution written in part by members of Tufts Students for National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), which aimed to expand reproductive health services on campus. It argued that the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) and Health Service should provide more informational material about their services.

It also called on Tufts to offer Plan B for free, to use gender-neutral language online and to expand Jumbo’s Condom Circus so that contraceptives are available in all dormitories.

After TCU Senate Historian Rati Srinivasan read through the resolution, the authors had a few minutes to speak.

They explained that there is currently a lack of knowledge about and access to reproductive healthcare on campus, and that their goal is to increase transparency about the available services, the costs of these services and how to obtain them.

They also talked about how Jumbo’s Condom Circus’ products are not immediately available because they must be requested, so they would like to supply dorm buildings with supplies and create a system of “Safe Sex Reps” to replenish the supplies.

After a brief question-and-answer period during which senators asked about the accessibility of Plan B, the details of the Safe Sex Reps, the health services fee and other topics, the senators voted on the resolution. It passed by acclamation.

The next order of business was “A Resolution Calling for Tufts University

For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily

tuftsdaily

tuftsdaily

Contact Us P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................5 ARTS & LIVING....................... 7

COMICS.......................................9 OPINION...................................10 SPORTS............................ BACK

2

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Tuesday, April 11, 2017

T HE T UFTS D AILY Kathleen Schmidt Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL

Jei-Jei Tan Miranda Willson Managing Editors Joe Walsh Executive News Editor Ariel Barbieri-Aghib News Editors Zachary Hertz Gil Jacobson Robert Katz Liam Knox Daniel Nelson Catherine Perloff Emma Steiner Hannah Uebele Charles Bunnell Assistant News Editors Emily Burke Daniel Caron Aneurin Canham-Clyne Juliana Furgala Elie Levine Natasha Mayor Jesse Najarro Minna Trinh Costa Angelakis Executive Features Editor Becca Leibowitz Features Editors Jake Taber Emma Rosenthal Emma Damokosh Assistant Features Editors Zach Essig Elie Levine Jessie Newman Sean Ong Hermes Suen Grace Yuh Eran Sabaner Executive Arts Editor John Gallagher Arts Editors Cassidy Olsen John Fedak Assistant Arts Editors Libby Langsner Setenay Mufti Paige Spangenthal Anita Ramaswamy Executive Op-Ed Editor Stephen Dennison Cartoonists Shannon Geary Noah Kulak Haebin Ra Miranda Chavez Editorialists Julia Faxon Hannah Kahn Lena Novins-Montague Lanie Preston Eddie Samuels Executive Sports Editor Yuan Jun Chee Sports Editors Maddie Payne Maclyn Senear Liam Finnegan Assistant Sports Editors Savannah Mastrangelo Brad Schussel Sam Weidner Sam Weitzman Ray Bernoff Margot Day Scott Fitchen Thaw Htet Lilia Kang Ben Kim Max Lalanne Rachael Meyer Zachary Sebek Alexis Serino Seohyun Shim Angelie Xiong Sitong Zhang Ezgi Yazici Olivia Ireland Ana Sophia Acosta

Executive Photo Editor Staff Photographers

Executive Video Editor Executive Video Admin.

Staff Videographer

PRODUCTION Sebastian Torrente Production Director Connor Dale Executive Layout Editors Ezgi Yazici Morgan Berman Layout Editors Jewel Castle Julie Doten Ricci Ji Peter Lam Nasrin Lin Brianna Mignano Ellah Nzikoba Emily Sharp Astrid Weng David Westby Sharmitha Yerneni Alice Yoon Peter Lam Executive Graphics Editor Gil Jacobson Zachary Hertz Jack Ronan Arthur Beckel Caroline Bollinger Reena Karasin Bibi Lichauco Katie Martensen Netai Schwartz Nihaal Shah Liora Silkes Dan Strauss Mary Carroll Madhulika Gupta Anna Hirshman Tess Jacobson David Levitsky Ali Mintz Alexis Serino Anahita Sethi Seohyun Shim Hannah Wells Jiayu Xu Vanessa Zighelboim

Executive Copy Editor Senior Copy Editors Copy Editors

Assistant Copy Editors

Nitesh Gupta Online Editor Seohyun Shim Social Media Editor

BUSINESS Josh Morris

Executive Business Director

tuftsdaily.com

Language, timing of divestment resolution come under fire DIVESTMENT

continued from page 1 divestment from South African apartheid.

In the end, the resolution passed with 17 in favor, six opposed and eight abstentions.

When the meeting entered the discussion phase, supporters read a statement introducing and giving background to the resolution.

“We … believe that Israel is committing massive human rights violations and that the four corporations articulated in this resolution facilitate these injustices,” the statement read. “We are following the Palestinian Civil Society’s call to boycott corporations and institutions that profit off of injustice.”

The statement drew parallels between the resolution and a 1979 vote that encouraged Tufts to divest from apartheid South Africa, and called for Tufts to divest from Elbit Systems, G4S, Northrup Grumman and Hewlett Packard Enterprise for their ties to Israeli military and prison technology.

The resolution also called for Tufts to place a screen on its investments that would account for human rights compliance. According to the resolution, although Tufts’ specific investments are unclear, the investment policies do not currently account for the investments’ social impact.

In a statement from the Office of the University President, Tufts stated that it does not support boycotts of Israeli institutions.

“While members of our community vigorously debate international politics, Tufts University does not adopt institutional positions with respect to specific geo-political issues,” the statement read.

In addition, the statement noted that Tufts’ ability to divest is limited because it does not invest in specific firms.

In the Senate debate, the resolution’s backers emphasized that the goal of the resolution is to make a statement that Tufts should not profit from human rights abuses. In a later interview, Noah Habeeb, one of the authors of the resolution, explained that passing the resolution was just a first step.

“I want this to be the beginning of a conversation,” Habeeb, a fifth-year, said in an interview. “We don’t see it as the end of the process but the beginning. We also would love to receive more information from the Board of Trustees or others that could help us make this human rights screen a reality.”

The Senate meeting on Sunday was the last of the semester, but also took place the day before the Jewish holiday of Passover, leading some to worry that opponents of the resolution could not attend. Sophomore Class Senator Nesi Altaras, who strongly opposed the resolution, expressed concern that the timing of the resolution was deliberate.

One of the resolution’s co-authors, senior Hannah Freedman, insisted that the timing was not intended to be close to Passover. In an interview she pointed

out that comments submitted online from those who could not attend were read aloud during the meeting.

Freshman Class Senator Pedro LazoRivera said that, even if the resolution was not intentionally set to be the day before Passover, the number of students on both sides who asked for the resolution to be tabled so they could be heard proved that the resolution was ill-timed.

“This resolution could have been powerful, it could have been the chance for collaboration, this resolution was a chance at building bridges, and the timing of it just burnt them down,” Lazo-Rivera said in an interview. “I think if people are coming forward and saying that they feel marginalized, cut out and unsafe because they feel unable to participate in this conversation, that matters. And that needs to be acknowledged and that needs to be addressed.”

Habeeb criticized the allegations that the resolution was intentionally timed during Passover.

“I can tell you we had no intention of timing it during a Jewish holiday,” Habeeb said. “And I think that … implicit in [that claim] is the assumption that Jewish students who would not be here the day before Passover because they’re practicing Judaism would also be anti-BDS students. And to me, that’s a conflation between practicing Judaism and performing Zionism.”

In addition, Tufts Friends of Israel Co-President Jenna Friedman worried that the resolution had not been given enough public attention.

“If education and dialogue were a priority, there would have been more campus dialogue about this specific resolution,” Friedman, a senior, said in an interview.

“I take issue with the fact that [the introduction of this resolution] was done so clandestinely.”

In particular, she expressed concern that the issues behind the resolution were too complex to be discussed in the short time between the resolution draft’s release and the Senate vote.

“There was no opportunity for all of campus discussion outside of that one Senate meeting, which … is extremely difficult to parse through,” Friedman said. “You have 30-second time slots in which people are jumping back and forth, and that’s not the same thing as … one person talking for five minutes about their connection to the two-state solution. There’s not the kind of opportunity … to really come to an understanding about all of the narratives that play into this.”

The language of the resolution itself also came under scrutiny. Sophomore Eva Kahan said that much of the resolution was ambiguous, leaving it up to interpretation and implying ties to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

“For example, debates over the use of ‘the occupation of all Arab lands’ gives the sense that the goal of the movement is the destruction of the state of Israel,”

Kahan said in an interview. “And whether or not that was the intention of this resolution, that is some of the language that was included because that’s the language that’s attached to the BDS movement as a whole.”

Altaras also criticized the wording of the resolution.

“The language of that resolution, that was deliberately vague enough to allow for an interpretation that meant there should not be a state of Israel, is anti-Semitism,” Altaras said.

Freedman rejected claims that the resolution could imply a question of Israel’s right to exist.

“This resolution was not deciding the question of Israel’s existence, it was proposing divestment from corporations that profit off of the Israeli occupation of Palestine,” she said.

Student safety was also a central concern of the discussion. The Senate livestream of the resolution meeting was audio-only, and senators and audience members were not referred to by name. Photography and video recording were also prohibited inside the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room during discussion of the resolution.

“There have been numerous recent incidents regarding groups like the Canary Mission, who publish public information about people who support BDS and other anti-Israel measures, and we wanted to ensure that we maintained the safety of everyone in the room,” Parliamentarian Adam Rapfogel told the Daily in an electronic message.

At one point during the meeting, a student was seen videotaping the meeting. He was asked to delete the video and leave the room. Another student was accosted for having his phone out, and people in the room were asked to refrain from using their phones during the rest of the meeting.

“Unfortunately, we’re used to these forms of repression and surveillance,” Habeeb said, referring to concerns about safety. “It happened on this campus before and unfortunately it might again. But at the end of the day, for me, it’s a relatively small cost to pay.”

Freedman agreed, saying that people who organize for Palestinian causes are often targeted by political repression.

“Students and faculty on this campus that have been involved in Students for Justice in Palestine have profiles on a McCarthy-era scare tactic website,” Freedman said.

Habeeb expressed hope that the resolution could pave the way for other divestment campaigns at Tufts.

“And personally, in the future, I think it would be great — I won’t be here — but I think it would be great if people launch other divestment campaigns like prison divestment,” Habeeb said. “And if we could get work done around that, which I know people have organized on in the past … hopefully this can set an example for successful divestment resolutions.”

Tuesday, April 11, 2017 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

News

3

Tufts researchers, facing threats of federal funding cuts, discuss alternative sources TRUMP'S BUDGET

continued from page 1 to the NEA would mean a decrease in a significant source of funding for important projects put on by the gallery.

The billboard that has been standing outside Mayer Campus Center since in 2013 was a project funded by the MCC, she said. Cramer explained that MCC grants allow students to get more involved in the gallery, encourage diversity and allow the gallery to focus on topics they might not have otherwise.

“Normally with the MCC grants, there’s a very strong student-teaching aspect,” she said. “We will bring somebody in and the students get to participate. Students don’t get the opportunity to really work in the gallery … so having these MCC grants offered us the ability to provide more student interaction.”

Funding for projects run by professors and opportunities for student research would also be affected by the proposed cuts. Classics Professor and Editor-in-Chief of the Perseus Digital Library Gregory Crane said elimination of funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services and cuts to the Department of Education will all have consequences for his research.

Perseus Digital Library, a virtual library of openly licensed texts translated to various languages, is dependent on funding from the NEH, he said. Funding allowed Perseus and other projects to create data, hire programmers and provide grants to students, according to Crane.

“We’ve built up a library of openly licensed texts in various languages which people can use for research and for teaching,” he said. “It’s very important these texts are open, that is to say anyone can use them … we couldn’t have done that without having had any support for that and if we don’t have an NEH, we’ll have no support for that.”

However, Crane noted that the currently proposed cuts are not inconsistent with the actions of other presidents, who have made similar cuts on a lower

scale. Crane attributed this trend to a lack of support in the United States for research in the humanities.

“Trump has proposed to eliminate funding to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the NEA and the [Institute of Museum and Library Sciences], and that is obviously a catastrophic change from what happened before,” he said. “But the U.S. has never provided very generous funding in comparison to Germany and the European Union.”

Yet even funding for seemingly bipartisan programs such as medical research would be massively cut, setting Trump apart from many other pres-

idents, Crane said.

“I think a comparison would be the budget proposals for the NIH … everyone wants medical research, and Trump didn’t quite get rid of it but he proposed a 20 percent cut,” Crane said. “[His budget is] even against the most bipartisan and obviously useful and valuable kind of research.”

Eighteen percent of the Medical School’s funding comes from foundations and industry groups, Berman said.

Should the cuts take place, Berman expects faculty to turn to these sources for funding.

Cramer said that the Art Gallery also receives funds from private foundations

and donors and would likely seek alternative funding in those areas.

Crane said that support for the humanities is much greater outside the United States and that he has previously sought funding in the European Union. Crane said that, should this proposal pass, he would likely aim most grant proposals at funders in Germany, but he feared this approach would limit options for student participation on campus.

A cut to the NIH would have effects beyond university research, Berman said.

“In addition to saving lives, cuts to the NIH budget would also have drastic effects on the country’s economic growth,”

GRAPHIC BY BELINDA XIAN

Senate passes resolution urging expansion, increased transparency for reproductive health services SENATE MEETING

continued from page 1 objected to, leading to a short debate primarily on what it means to abstain from a vote. The change failed in a vote of 19 in favor and 13 against, which did not meet the two-thirds majority requirement.

The last change was to modify Senate language such that the role of Community Representative would be called Community Senator, and this quickly passed by acclamation.

TCU Senate Vice President Shai Slotky then took the floor to discuss the finalized Strategic Plan, which he said was not complete but allows for feasible action to be taken to improve Senate. The plan

will officially be presented to the next Senate as a guideline.

Slotky, a senior, then asked for committee updates. Student Outreach Committee Chair Jacqueline Chen said the committee is compiling a catalog of Senators’ projects throughout the year. Services Committee Chair Kevin Gleason said the committee is continuing to push for JumboCash to be accepted at more venues.

Finally, Culture, Ethnicity, Community Affairs Committee Chair Benya Kraus discussed several projects including alumni networking, the Indigenous Studies minor, institutionalization of Indigenous Peoples’ Day and a consent culture student workshop.

Senator Philip Miller briefly talked about the new textbook exchange program, which will take place in the Campus Center from May 1-8. Trustee Representative Gregory Chin then brought up his work to get funding for a FirstGeneration Community Center.

The last order of business was for Treasurer Chris Leaverton, Kraus and TCU President Gauri Seth to give their final addresses: the State of the Treasury, the State of Diversity and Community Affairs (DCA) and the State of the TCU. Leaverton, a sophomore, thanked ALBO and said that he realized how passionate Tufts students are and how much they care about their organizations. Kraus, a junior, then dis-

cussed the feelings of hardship and stress that had been palpable at the night’s meeting as well as the tensions and struggles throughout the world, emphasizing that people must continue to care for one another and to continue the work they are doing.

Finally, Seth, a senior, gave her address.

She brought up the restructuring of the Office of Residential Life and Learning.

She said there is still much work to be done, referencing issues with club sports, financial aid and the bursar’s office. She ended by saying she has a deep-rooted love for the school and a sense of belonging, and that it had been an honor to serve as president for the past year.

The meeting then adjourned.

4

THE TUFTS DAILY | ADVERTISEMENT | Tuesday, April 11, 2017

1/4

1/8 FULL AD 1/2

tuftsdaily.com

Features

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Jumbo Jugglers spin fire, form community around object manipulation

by Hermes Suen

Assistant Features Editor

If you thought fire-bending was impossible, think again. The Jumbo Jugglers is a student group dedicated to providing an outlet for people of any background to learn the skills of object manipulation, including spinning flaming objects.

Object manipulation is an overarching term that encompasses a wide array of actions, according to Ruth MeadowMacLeod, a fourth-year Tufts-SMFA dual-degree student on the Jumbo Jugglers’ executive board.

“Object manipulation is an umbrella term that covers juggling and just about any performance or circus-type thing that involves an object,” Meadow-MacLeod said, giving examples including box juggling, which uses cardboard boxes, and card and magic tricks.

Senior Erik Poppleton, who is also on the Jumbo Jugglers’ executive board, said that the most common types of object manipulation are poi, which is a ball on a string, and staff.

“The whole idea [of poi] is that you can move them around your body and keep them from tangling, and there are a lot of really cool patterns. Some poi have LED lights, and others are just acrylic balls,” he explained.

Traditionally, the staff is held in two hands and spun very quickly — a form that derives from martial arts traditions — but the Jumbo Jugglers tend to practice contact staff.

“Contact is when you try not to touch the staff with your hands,” Poppleton said. “You roll it around your body without grabbing it.

It is almost magical to watch.”

The Jumbo Jugglers grew out of another object manipulation community called Medford Spinjam, according to Poppleton.

The group was founded in 2011 by several Tufts undergraduate and graduate students.

“They started the club as a vehicle to get a fire permit in order to spin fire in public. This involved speaking with the fire marshals and the Tufts legal department,” Poppleton said.

“The club has slowly grown since then, and [we] are about 20 people, with five members on [the executive] board.”

The Jumbo Jugglers continue to hold weekly Medford Spinjam sessions on Thursdays, according to Meadow-MacLeod.

“We spin every Thursday night on the Res Quad if it’s nice or the hanger by Granoff [Music Center],” she said. “When it is nice outside, a lot of people see us outside spinning fire.”

Meadow-MacLeod said that anyone from any background is welcome to come watch and learn.

COURTESY SAURAV ACHARYA / JUMBO JUGGLERS

The Jumbo Jugglers hosted its annual festival, WOMBAT, from March 31 to April 2 this year.

“Nobody needs previous experience to come join. None of us had any previous experience when we started, [and] I’m never going to stop. We are definitely going to be doing it, and [after graduation], I’ll still be coming back every Thursday,” MeadowMacLeod said.

The Jumbo Jugglers have evolved into something much more than just a group holding weekly meetings, however. Poppleton said that they are involved in many local community events.

“We occasionally perform and teach juggling at schools around here for free. Last year, we worked with Tufts Community Day, a big festival in October, where we joined their parade,” he said.

Each year, the Jumbo Jugglers put on a three-day festival called WOMBAT, which includes a variety of workshops for all skill levels in different forms of object manipulation as well as an evening performance.

“We get a whole bunch of people to teach and perform various object manipulation and who come from all around the country,” Poppleton said, adding that performers and teachers go through an application process.

Poppleton said that the performers are of higher caliber and skill than the Jumbo Jugglers themselves, although alumni have performed at WOMBAT. “People arrive in the morning and class is all day,” Meadow-MacLeod said. “A number of classes happen at the same time, teaching all types of object manipulation. This year we had somewhere around 100 people.

The whole event is free, with recommended donations. For Tufts students, they can just show up, but for others they need to register online.”

COURTESY SAURAV ACHARYA / JUMBO JUGGLERS

Mike Hayataka face hoops at WOMBAT on April 1.

The Jumbo Jugglers and WOMBAT are part of a larger juggling community in Massachusetts. Poppleton noted that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Juggling Club holds a spinjam every Monday called Boston Spinjam. It also hosts a festival called JuggleMIT. Meadow-MacLeod emphasized that there are also many non-school-affiliated festivals.

“The ones that are not affiliated with a school are often in the woods for a weekend,” Meadow-MacLeod said. “There is a standard formula for these festivals. Most consist of workshops and performances and then a burn, which is spinning fire.”

At a burn, people spin fire using complicated object manipulation techniques, giving the illusion of fire-bending.

First-year Henry Zumbrunnen said that his favorite thing about joining the Jumbo Jugglers is that he gets to spin fire. He described the club as having a fun atmosphere where he can relax.

“I would say that we are a group of people who enjoy doing some silly, fun, cool and fire-related things in our free time,” Zumbrunnen said. “I’ve found it to be a wonderful way to relieve stress and a very welcoming group.”

Zumbrunnen emphasized that many of the people who go to the Jumbo Jugglers’ spinjams are learning object manipulation for the first time themselves, and there is no pressure to excel right away.

“We’ve all been bad at [or] new to [object manipulation techniques], so there is absolutely no judgement for people not knowing how to do things, especially since they’re so off the beaten path,” he said.

Poppleton added that the Jumbo Jugglers is distinct from many other communities at Tufts because its members decide what they want to learn and “make it happen.”

“The biggest difference is that the Jumbo Jugglers is a skillshare. Every other club I’ve been a part of has been a group of people who were told what to do by the leadership. The Jumbo Jugglers are much more of a choose-your-own-adventure,” Poppleton said.

The Jumbo Jugglers has already established itself on campus and in the greater community, but the group hopes to grow further.

“We would really like to expand our reach within Tufts,” Poppleton said. “Right now we’re quite well known within the New England spinner community, but a lot of people at Tufts don’t even notice we exist, despite lighting things on fire on a weekly basis.”

5 tuftsdaily.com

Alec Whipple Red, White and True

The Syria situation

“W

e cannot play innocents abroad in a world that’s not innocent; nor can we be passive when freedom is under siege.”

– Ronald Reagan In the wake of reports that Bashar al Assad used chemical weapons against Syrians, the United States launched over 50 missiles at a Syrian airbase. It marked some of the most serious action America has taken against Syria in recent years.

The world has been watching with bated breath and debating the question: Was this the right move?

The conflict in Syria has been ongoing since 2011, and the United States has been involved to some extent since the early stages of the conflict. The Syrian Civil War began with protests against Bashar al Assad from people who were dissatisfied with his authoritarian rule and turned into armed conflict. America supplied Syrian fighters with non lethal-aid but largely stayed out of the conflict at first.

Eventually, it began to provide more training and further aid to Syrian commanders before shifting their focus to attacking ISIS, which had emerged as a player in the Syrian conflict. However, the Obama administration was always loath to escalate operations in Syria, going as far as to cut a deal with Assad to remove chemical weapons instead of intervening militarily.

Because Assad did not follow the parameters of the deal, it became clear that diplomacy was not an option with his regime.

The use of chemical weapons last week prompted the American missile attack and stands as the beginning of the next chapter in Syria. Assad has benefited from the cover of ISIS as the main threat in the region, but his regime is just as dangerous, if not more. Perhaps the biggest failure of the Obama administration was their inaction in Syria, which led to mass casualties and destruction.

Although the Trump administration might not have the most foreign policy knowledge or a set doctrine, the action of Syrian intervention was a positive step. It establishes the United States clearly on the other side of the Syria-Russia alliance and shows that the United States will not be afraid to intervene when necessary.

Our allies have supported this action because it shows that America is still a world leader and an engaged participant on the global stage. Additionally, the airstrike emphasizes to Russia that America is not to be taken lightly, even under an administration that has shown deference to the Russians.

Although the Trump administration has preached an isolationist foreign policy, its actions suggest more of a traditional globalist foreign policy. The Obama administration did not act sufficiently and quickly enough in Syria to combat the evils of Assad and it has resulted in a conflict that has dragged on for years. At the moment, the Trump administration may not have a solidly articulated foreign policy, but the action of military response to chemical weapon use is a step in the right direction, no matter the pretenses under which it was conducted.

Alec Whipple is a sophomore majoring in political science. Alec can be reached at alec.whipple@tufts.edu.

6

THE TUFTS DAILY | ADVERTISEMENT | Tuesday, April 11, 2017

12TH ANNUAL EDWARD R. MURROW FORUM ON ISSUES IN JOURNALISM in partnership with the Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series

1/4

1/8 FULL Lester Holt AD

Anchor, NBC Nightly News and Dateline NBC Media in a New Age: Fake News, Alternative Facts, and What's Next One of the most important voices in American journalism, Lester Holt has covered stories ranging from the terror attacks in Paris and Brussels, to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, to the Arab Spring uprisings. He moderated last year's first presidential debate, the most-watched in U.S. history.

1/2

April 12, 2017 | Noon Cohen Auditorium Tickets available at the Cohen Auditorium box office For more information, visit activecitizen.tufts.edu/events

tuftsdaily.com

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

ARTS&LIVING READING RECAP

Mona Kareem explores identity in poetry reading

by Paige Spangenthal Assistant Arts Editor

Mona Kareem’s poetry reading on Saturday felt like a gathering of old friends. The homey atmosphere of the Center for the Humanities at Tufts, which hosted the event, as well as the elaborate spread of cheese, crackers and wine in the entryway and the small-but-attentive crowd created an intimate, friendly environment. This friendly mood became even more apparent at the beginning of the reading, which was sponsored by the Tufts Arabic Program and other campus departments, when Kareem smiled and cracked a joke about taking down the patriarchy.

Kareem, a poet-writer-translator based in New York, read poems from her latest collection, “What I Sleep

for Today.” A doctoral candidate in the comparative literature program at Binghamton University, Kareem has translated works such as Ashraf Fayadh’s “Instructions Within” (2016) and a selection of Alejandra Pizarnik’s poems. Kareem’s poems have also been translated into a wide array of languages, including French, English, Spanish, Farsi and Kurdish.

A major theme of the reading was the limitations of language. All of the poems in “What I Sleep for Today” are written in Arabic. Kareem explained that whenever she attempts to write poetry in English, “something isn’t there.” She has, however, found better success writing memoirs and fiction in English.

Kareem read eight of her poems aloud in Arabic. After each poem, she read the English versions, which had

been translated by another student at Binghamton. During the discussion after the reading, Kareem explained that the English versions never live up to the original poems because certain meanings are always lost in translation.

Kareem did not have an English translation on hand for the final poem she read, but an audience member offered to take her book and translate the poem on the spot. The audience eagerly listened to this act of great mental dexterity.

During the discussion session, an audience member asked Kareem about her choice of using modern standard Arabic instead of spoken Arabic.

Kareem explained that she never grew up feeling attached to a dialect of Arabic. While growing up in Kuwait, see MONA KAREEM READING, page 8

CONCERT RECAP

Third Day Gospel Choir gives passionate performance

by Setenay Mufti

Assistant Arts Editor

Third Day Gospel Choir, a massive gospel singing group of over 200 Tufts students, performed its first concert of the year, “Everything I Need,” on Friday.

Directed by Music Lecturer David Coleman, “Everything I Need” consisted of ten masterfully arranged gospel songs, some classic and some original.

The concert managed to display the many different musical and stylistic facets of gospel music. The first gospel on the setlist, “Everything,” was a slow, serene composition. The melody was almost tantric, and the soft and repetitive singing by the choir made Coleman’s solo stand out. In contrast, the following song, “Hide Me,” opened with a solo by the drummer, who showed off some funky beats and syncopation.

The pieces performed were diverse in their speed and energy as well as in their history. Third Day sang one particularly famous soul song, “What the World Needs Now is Love” (1965) and several original pieces, including “Everything I Need,” which was originally a solo guitar piece that Coleman added words to and arranged for the choir.

Third Day also featured “WeR1,” originally by Boston-based hip-hop artist Kabir Sen (professionally known as MC Kabir), a soul-meets-rap number that had never before been performed publicly. In his introduction to “WeR1,” Coleman explained MC Kabir’s prominence in the Boston music scene, often acting as an opener at rap clubs. What made this number even more special was the fact that MC Kabir was present and even contributed to one of the rap verses performed by the choir.

The original version of Kabir’s song was turned into a collaboration with Coleman in response to the multiple shootings and acts of violence that garnered attention and controversy in 2016.

Despite its tragic background, “WeR1” is devoid of anger or even sorrow, and

NICHOLAS PFOSI / TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Students sing during Third Day Gospel Choir’s “A Historical Journey Through Gospel Music” presented by the Department of Music in Cohen Auditorium on April 11, 2014. with its heartening lyrics (“enough of the insanity, humanity is one”) and calland-response section, Coleman and Kabir created a positive and empowering message out of the many tragedies that took place in 2016.

The message of this song seemed to encompass the message of the concert at large: a feeling of togetherness and community. “You’re not alone,” Coleman told the audience. “And even when you lose all strength, perspective and hope, gospel tells you that it’s going to get better.”

Coleman’s charisma was evident throughout the performance.

Graduating seniors shared memories about their time in Third Day and presented their director with flowers before the final, most energetic song of the night, “Better.” Coleman maintained a friendly vibe with the audience, encouraging clapping and call-and-responses when appropriate. His keyboard opening to “Everything I Need” morphed into the recognizable opening bars of “Stairway to Heaven,” before he said “just kidding” and switched back to the song’s melody.

In a particularly moving moment of the concert, Coleman also paid tribute to his mother, who had traveled to Tufts from Memphis, Tenn. to see this concert.

The musicians in the concert also deserve special recognition. With the exception of “WeR1,” all of the numbers were performed using exclusively live music. The live band included three keyboard players (Coleman, guest musician Michael Manigault and senior Jackson Clawson), guest musician Gerald Langford on the bass and guest musician Matthew Williams on the drums. All musicians, particularly Williams, successfully carried the singers. Although Coleman shone as the main soloist of the night, senior Priscilla Sena also gave a passionate solo for the third song of the night, “His Eye is on the Sparrow.”

“Everything I Need” was full of energy, passion and positivity. Although it could be difficult for 200 students to sing together while also sounding polished, the talent and love of each singer was evident, making the performance universally enjoyable.

7 tuftsdaily.com

Tommy Gillespie On Location

I

Mali

n the opening scene of “Timbuktu” (2014), a group of radical jihadist soldiers try to hunt a gazelle from their SUV. Using a mounted gun, they pursue it across the sparse desert landscape, with brief pops of gunfire interrupting the splotchy sound of their car bounding over the rocky soil. There is no score, only sporadic eruptions of their gun and some panicked baying by the gazelle. As the soldiers chase the gazelle, they begin to lose it. The screen eventually fades to black, and the fate of the gazelle is not revealed.

Filmed in Mauritania and directed by Abderrahmané Sissako, the film details the brief occupation of the ancient city of Timbuktu, Mali by the black-flag jihadist militant organization Ansar Dine. Sissako focuses his direction on three separate areas: the specific effect the occupation has on herder Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed dit Pino) and his family, the motivations of the jihadists themselves and the effect on the everyday lives of the citizens at large. The perspective of the jihadists, as Sissako has pointed out, is what sets the film apart from others of its ilk, as it delves into the convoluted and often hypocritical beliefs, as well as how they turned from regular people into radical militants.

“The most terrible thing about this is that they are people like us. It is always hard to say. But they are,” Sissako said in an interview with The Guardian.

As Sissako follows the Ansar Dine’s takeover of Timbuktu through the repercussions of Kidane’s accidental shooting of one of their fighters, he is careful to inject scenes on the periphery of the main narrative highlighting the effect their takeover has and its often confusing, contradictory directives on citizens outside of Kidane and his family.

In one scene, a group of jihadists from France are hanging out in a Timbuktu street, talking about soccer, debating whether Zinedine Zidane or Messi is a better player. A few scenes later, the Shariah committee of the jihadists sternly reminds a group of local boys that sports are forbidden. In the beginning scenes, they go through the city streets with megaphones announcing the new rules, including a ban on smoking. Later, after a public stoning of a couple accused of adultery, they go back to unwind over cigarettes. In one of the film’s most powerful scenes, a new recruit from France is asked to tell potential new jihadists what compelled him to join Ansar Dine’s cause, but he is unable to come up with a reason.

The film has attracted controversy since its premiere at Cannes in 2014 for its unflinching depiction of the torture, violence and hostage-taking perpetrated by Ansar Dine, but Sissako feels that the film’s message is more important.

“The media are interested when someone from France or Britain is taken hostage,” he says. “But the townspeople who are hostages, no one’s really interested in.” Hopefully, Sissako feels, “Timbuktu” will get Western media to wise up to the human rights issues in Africa.

Tommy Gillespie is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Tommy can be reached at thomas.gillespie@tufts.edu.

8

THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Tuesday, April 11, 2017

tuftsdaily.com

Kareem shared original poems in Arabic followed by English translations Kareem read addressed the concept of identity. She explained that she likes to construct and destruct identities at the same time in her poems, especially feminine identity. For example, the second poem she read, “Kumari,” tells the story of a female servant who is mistreated by the family she works for.

SEOHYUN SHIM / THE TUFTS DAILY Mona Kareem, doctoral candidate in English at Binghamton University, poses in front of a poster with the event program One stanza of on April 8. the poem echoed Kareem’s crimination. While responding to this ideas toward patriarchy expressed at MONA KAREEM READING continued from page 7 question, Kareem also spoke of the the beginning of the reading: “You her family spoke an Iraqi dialect of immense beauty that she finds in might have to help the son / discover his sexual desires, / Or even sacrifice Arabic at home, but she had to mask Arabic literature.

Several of the poems that / for the father’s bodily failures. / In this dialect in public to avoid dis-

both cases, do not run to the police station, / From there all fathers and sons come.”

Money is another prominent symbol in Kareem’s poems. In “Dying like a Statue,” she writes of a university paying her less than minimum wage to teach. In “The Devil’s Bakery,” the description of money jingling in the pockets of a passerby engages the auditory senses of her listeners. During the discussion, Kareem also discussed how nostalgia for one’s home country can be a negative, capitalist device.

For listeners who do not speak Arabic, the English translations of Kareem’s poems were just as beautiful.

Certain elements, such as repetition, rose above the barrier of language.

Kareem’s demeanor also demonstrated her close emotional connection to her writing, as her pursed lips and the occasional catches in her voice proved that she was truly inhabiting the world of her words.

To borrow the words of an organizer of the reading, Assistant Professor of Arabic Studies Alexandra Chreiteh, poetry is something “deeply, deeply above language.” Kareem demonstrated this fact perfectly.

Tufts Summer Session 2017

Explore. Prepare. Achieve.

Over 170 Courses Day, Evening, and Online Courses Affordable Tuition Outstanding Tufts Faculty High School, University, and Professional Options

Courses Offered May – August Additional SHORT COURSES and WORKSHOPS running throughout the summer!

Sign up today at go.tufts.edu/tuftsdaily

9

Tuesday, April 11, 2017 | Comics | THE TUFTS DAILY

tuftsdaily.com

Comics

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Anita: “See I love all the strippers.”

Comics

SUDOKU

GARFIELD

BY JIM DAVIS

NON SEQUITUR

BY WILEY MILLER

Difficulty Level: Leaving those jackets at home

Monday’s Solution

FOR RELEASE APRIL 11, 2017

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis CROSSWORD

ACROSS 1 Prefix with deed, feed and read 4 Fave texting buds 8 One looking for something 14 Gorilla, for one 15 To whom Rick said, “We’ll always have Paris” 16 Mode of dress 17 *Pay for your online purchases, say 19 Admirers, as a group 20 Actress O’Donnell 21 Caspian, e.g.

23 Nick and Nora’s dog 24 Ancients, for instance?

27 Big Band __ 29 White wine apéritif 30 Kitten cries 31 *Skip work because of illness 34 Double curve 35 One to say “G’day” to 36 Grandmas 37 *Cause a ruckus 40 Once more 43 Deal with it 44 “How cute!” cries 47 *Go out of business 50 Coin named for a continent 51 ER staffers 52 Frying __ 53 Movie double 55 Sport shirt brand 57 Male cat 59 Santa __ racetrack 60 Tenor Enrico 62 “Care to wager?” ... and a question answered, one way or the other, by the first words of the answers to starred clues 65 Tennis great Andre 66 Gung-ho 67 __ Fáil: Irish coronation stone 68 Port on the Loire 69 Dickens’ Uriah 70 Junior nav. officer

By Lila Cherry

DOWN 1 Knot-tying art 2 Siri speaks on them 3 Up-and-down playground boards 4 Hog rider 5 Perky spokeswoman in Progressive ads 6 Seminoles’ sch.

7 Pre-coll. exams 8 Jungle adventure 9 Approx. touchdown hour 10 Italian volcano 11 Glove leather 12 Racy literature 13 Comments 18 Smokes, briefly 22 Slippery as an __ 25 Berry rich in antioxidants 26 Wrestling surfaces 28 Broadway orphan 32 Parasite 33 __ Andreas Fault 35 “Don’t be a wimp!”

37 Unburdened (of) 38 Lovey-dovey exchange 39 Date bk. entry

4/11/17

Monday’s Puzzle Solved Monday’s Solution

©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

40 Like some violets 41 Spokane school with a strong basketball program 42 Beaten candidate 44 Loud enough to hear 45 Unlisted vote-getter 46 Piano works 48 Regional dialect 49 __-Caps: candy

4/11/17

50 Sicilian resort city 54 Food retailer named for two oceans 56 Clean with Pledge 58 [Air kiss] 61 Opposite of NNW 63 Prop. often named for a state in Monopoly 64 Nietzsche’s “never”

10 tuftsdaily.com

Nesi Altaras Looking In

Referendum (2)

T

urkey is holding its referendum on constitutional changes legalizing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s authoritarian dictatorship. Voting is now over in consulates around the world, yet the actual election is still almost a week away and polls are very close.

Looking ahead, what will Turkey face if it chooses Yes or if it chooses No? If No prevails, which I hope happens, Turkey will have only averted a drift into full-on dictatorship temporarily. Erdoğan is not the kind of leader who sees the election results against him and thinks, “I guess the people have spoken, we’ll move on to the next thing.” As seen after the June 2015 election, when his AK Party lost the majority in parliament for the first time in its history, he prevented his party’s official leader from even pursuing serious coalition talks. Instead, he began a period of violent crackdown on the Kurdish population of the country, aimed at gathering nationalist support, and then called a second election only five months later in November 2015.

In this same vein, if No prevails and the people of Turkey refuse to submit to Erdoğan, he will not relent. He will once again crack down, possibly even harder, against the long-suffering Kurdish people of Turkey. Turkey is currently housing almost three million Syrian refugees and Erdoğan plans to increase his electoral power by giving a large portion of them citizenship. These refugees already receive a lot of support from the AKP government.

If Erdoğan legalizes their status and allows them to vote, this overwhelmingly conservative and Arab population is likely to be beholden to Erdoğan’s conservative Islamist party, as opposed to the Turkish nationalists on the left or right or the pro-Kurdish social democrats.

In a country of around 55 million voting citizens, a change of 1 or 2 million would factor significantly into the results of any election, and Erdoğan would exploit this opportunity to the maximum. When he brings this referendum back, probably less than a year after the vote, he could win and achieve his goal. This is a grim look at a possible sequence of events that would be the desirable outcome for those supporting democracy in Turkey.

If the vote comes out Yes, all hope will likely end for Turkey to retain any sort of democratic status, freedom of expression or any other civil liberties. Erdoğan will have legally achieved the status of dictator and the people of Turkey will have given up the modicum of democracy they have now to empower Erdoğan’s totalitarian conservative Islamic state. Erdoğan, like any dictator — especially after weathering a coup — is constantly paranoid. Feeling more secure in his position, he will have a free hand to meddle in regional affairs, most importantly in Syria. Increased Turkish interventionism will be to the detriment of the Kurds of northern Syria, the most effective fighting force against ISIS. All in all, neither choice is admirable and won’t lead to a peaceful and prosperous future in Turkey. However, the former is clearly superior to the latter.

Nesi Altaras is a sophomore majoring in international relations and economics. Nesi can be reached at nesi. altaras@tufts.edu

Opinion

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

OP-ED

Democracy died in darkness at Tufts

by Scott Geldzahler In the dead of night on April 10, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate passed a resolution forced through in ignorance of the democratic process and, ironically, disenfranchised hundreds of Tufts students.

Regardless of anyone’s thoughts about the merit or demerit of the resolution, the process in which it was accelerated through the Senate shows that the central pillars of democracy are negotiable, a precedent that is extremely dangerous. Democracy is an institution built on accountability and representation, both of which were cast aside in the debate over urging Tufts’ divestment from four companies.

The Israel issue is a contentious one on campus, and for transparency reasons, I’ll disclose that I am a Jew and support the state of Israel in most matters. I am also a former Executive Opinion Editor of this paper. However, I urge you not to disregard the following points I am about to make, all of which are applicable to any situation that comes before a democratic legislative body, not just what occurred last night.

Going into the meeting, I was already disheartened to hear that this vote on an issue that is extremely important to many Jewish students, regardless of where they stand on the issue of Israel, fell just before the Jewish holiday of Passover, a time when many Jewish

people head home to celebrate with their families. I was shocked to hear one anonymous voice at the meeting say that anyone arguing in favor of tabling the resolution to a time when more voices can be heard was reductionist to Jewish students, implying that they only care about one issue: Israel. To that voice: Is it not just as reductionist to erase passions in support or opposition to that same issue?

A submitted online statement cannot ask for more time, back up claims or challenge others. If the level of interest in the room (which, again, was not available to see by interested parties who were unable to be there) was any indication, there were clearly more voices that should have been heard.

I commend the Senate for livestreaming the event, but I was extremely disappointed when the screen cut to black and senators were instructed not to use other senators’ names, or anyone to use names. This is inexcusable. Unless there is a public record of who voted for or against this motion, students will be headed into an election not knowing where their representatives stand on an issue which, as stated above, is clearly important to the student body. While I understand the frankly venomous contempt practiced by supporters of both sides of this issue and the underhanded and evil tactics that, again, both sides use, this creates a standard where accountability on contentious issues is made infinitely more opaque.

CLASSROOM DAYDREAMING

SHANNON GEARY

I would have had much less issue had only the senators been shown, with presenters on both sides not on camera.

In the end, what we are left with is a grandiose statement, a disenfranchised section of the student body, a non-solution, more bitterness and a gaping hole in accountability. In the end, we got a shouting match over who was more anti-Semitic, with harmful accusations being thrown around by both sides, and neither side reflecting on the poisonous nature of their words. While as an alum, I personally feel ashamed that this resolution passed, and while I would hope that proponents of it would understand my viewpoint and respect it just as they ask that I respect their viewpoints, I hope that the Senate moves to rectify these mistakes, and at the very least puts into place plans to ensure this never happens again. Tufts may not be the most diverse campus out there, but we can start doing better by increasing our transparency and allowing all interested parties to speak.

Editor’s note: If you would like to send a response or make an op-ed contribution to the Opinion section, please email us at opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The Opinion section looks forward to hearing from you.

Scott Geldzahler (LA ‘16) can be reached at shgeldz@gmail.com.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017 | Opinion | THE TUFTS DAILY

Opinion

11

OP-ED

Visions of Peace

by Visions of Peace Coexistence Fellows Over spring break, 26 Tufts students traveled to Israel and Palestine on the first annual Tufts Hillel Visions of Peace (VOP) Coexistence Fellowship Trip. Over six days, we traveled to seven cities and met with numerous organizations that work to understand, evolve or bridge the divide between Palestinians and Israelis, Arabs and Jews. While each of us came from a unique background, we shared the same goals: to cut through the biased narratives that exist on both sides of the conflict, to study efforts that are succeeding in mitigating the conflict and to understand what we, as students of Tufts University, can do to help bring an end to the violence.

It is important to remember that every venture to Palestine/Israel comes with a bias. The VOP Trip was sponsored by Tufts Hillel, who fundraised for the trip.

The trip was planned by Sara Legasey, a program associate at Hillel who has led six trips to Israel and Palestine, alongside Tufts junior Abe Bayer and senior Nimarta Narang. What made the VOP Trip so extraordinary was that everyone involved acknowledged their biases, lending the trip a level of transparency. As an organizer of Birthright trips through Hillel, Sara was fully aware that this trip would be perceived by some as a pro-Israeli mission.

Alongside Abe and Nimarta, she crafted the trip with this recognition in mind.

Yossi Samet, the Israeli tour guide who shepherded the Fellows across the country, continually acknowledged his political leanings as a Zionist – a complicated term that traditionally means someone who supports the existence of a Jewish state – albeit a liberal one. Every stop on the agenda, every question answered, came with the acknowledgement of a personal stance and the recommendation to seek a second opinion. These acknowledgements lent a sense of honesty that helped us understand the complexity of narratives that can conflict while coexisting in a single space.

If the first VOP Trip had a bias, it was in demonstrating that Arabs and Jews can live together peacefully. We met with community centers in the mixed cities of Haifa and Jerusalem as well as with the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, organizations that are bringing the geographically, culturally and religiously divided communities together using art, dance, interfaith celebrations and sports. This theme was echoed in the work of the Peres Peace Center and Roots, two organizations that are attempting to cut through the warped narratives on both sides of the conflict, presenting a vision of people who are not so different from each other.

In the context of a conflict that is seen by many domestically and internationally as hopeless, this is a powerful message.

Despite the fact that there are only a few ‘mixed’ cities in the country, these grassroots organizations proved that peace is not only possible but present in certain pockets of society.

However, it is important to note that these presentations of peace carry an inherently pro-Israeli bias. First, coexistence – a word that has been heavily critiqued – fundamentally necessitates the right of the Jewish people to have a home in that region. Coexistence operates under the assumption that the Jewish people will remain in Palestine and that we must find ways for the Arabs and Jews to live and interact peacefully with each other. While this may be a realist view of the situation, it is not one that is accepted by everyone. Second, supporters of coexistence efforts are labeled by many as ‘normalizers.’ Members of the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, who were no older than 18, admitted to us that they were seen as traitors in their own community just for singing songs alongside Israelis, a sentiment present on the Israeli side as well. By making peace with their occupiers, supporters of coexistence are seen as perpetuating the oppression of the Palestinian people.

Recognizing this stance, the VOP Trip took Fellows into the West Bank

to witness how the occupation affects the everyday lives of Palestinians. In East Barta’a, we witnessed Palestinian workers streaming across the border to find work in Israel. With their economy depressed, they have no choice but to endure humiliation at the security checkpoints, piling into crowded cabs that will take them to the scrap heaps where they salvage metal from rusted cars to be shipped off to China and Germany. A Palestinian business owner, whose store was based in Israel, showed us the five documents that he was required to carry at all times. In Hebron, a city in the West Bank divided by Palestinians and Jewish settlers who both believe they have a historical claim to the city, we witnessed the store owners who had been forced out of their shops. The once-thriving Hebron market had been forced into the streets, where grates covered peroples’ heads to protect them from the trash and stones hurled down from the settlements looming above. Israeli guards kept watch over the whole scene, there only to protect the settlers. This is the alternate view of the conflict, one in which messages of coexistence are at best a distant dream, at worst propaganda.

Through the atrocities we witnessed on both sides of the conflict, some lessons emerged. Most of the debate around the Palestinian-Israeli conflict centers on political debate: one state or two states.

Of course, decisions will have to be made at the national and political levels that define new borders and hopefully grant equal rights to the Arab people. But whether there is one state or two, this conflict will not be solved politically. There is no adjudication of territory that will end the violence, not when the two populations are packed together along indivisible boundaries in a country roughly the size of New Jersey. Peace will only come from the grassroots level, from the children of the Jerusalem Youth Chorus or the Parents Circle-Family Forum, an organization that tells the stories of those whose loved ones

were killed in the violence. As with any conflict, the Israeli-Palestinian divide will only be bridged by bringing the disparate communities together once again, both physically and mentally.

This is where we, as students of Tufts University, have a role to play. This is a lesson we have yet to learn on the Tufts campus, where student groups are entrenched in their respective sides. This is a reality that was painfully clear on Sunday night, when the Tufts Community Union Senate debated and passed a measure calling for Tufts to divest from four companies that do business in Israel. Such polarization impedes productive dialogue and, more importantly, productive action. If a father whose daughter was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber and a wife whose husband was killed without cause by an Israel Defense Forces soldier can come together to promote peace, then we too can work together to write a new narrative.

Over the next few weeks, months and years, the VOP Fellows will be planning a number of initiatives to promote this goal.

In addition to this op-ed, we will be creating a book that shares some of our takeaways and leading dialogues that can help create a less divisive conversation around this issue. We welcome the support of all who want to aid in this effort. As the few who were privileged enough to embark on the first VOP Trip, we hope that we can share with the entire Tufts community the lessons we learned.

Sincerely, 2017 Visions of Peace Coexistence Fellows: Jamie Neikrie, Ria Mazumdar, Alison Bogy, Nimarta Narang Editor’s note: If you would like to send your response or make an op-ed contribution to the Opinion section, please email us at opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The Opinion section looks forward to hearing from you.

Jamie Neikrie, one of the authors of this op-ed, can be reached at benjamin. neikrie@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community.

The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

EDITORIALS 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.

OP-EDS The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length and submitted to opinion@tuftsdaily. com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions.

ADVERTISING All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director.

12 tuftsdaily.com

Sam Nowicki Teeing Off

Sports

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

Jumbos set several season bests in third-place

Make it a Spanish finish at weekend quad-meet trio

W

ow. What a finish. Sergio Garcia has finally won his first major in his 74th appearance. The Spaniard has had so many near misses over the course of his nearly-20-year career in the major championships, going all the way back to the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah, where a 19-year-old Sergio was just edged out by Tiger Woods.

Over the course of his career, well until about 7:40 p.m. EST on Sunday, Sergio has been known (pretty universally) as the greatest player to have never won a major.

And I am sure everyone will congratulate him on getting off of that list.

The Masters this year was an absolute treat to all who watched. The first 36 holes were some of the hardest in recent history.

The scoring average was well over par for both days, as the wind howled with gusts as strong as 40 mph. But Saturday saw calm weather and low scores, as the players jockeyed for position. Garcia and Rose started Sunday, tied at the top at six under par, with Rickie Fowler one back and Jordan Spieth two back playing together in the penultimate group.

The two young Americans quickly faded on the front nine, and the tournament became a two horse race between Englishman Justin Rose and Garcia.

Importantly, these two Europeans have not only been teammates in previous Ryder Cups, but they have played together in fourball and four-some matches in the Ryder Cup, forming a wonderful friendship.

Garcia got off to a quick start, with birdies on the first and third, quickly taking a two-shot lead. Rose, however, seized all the momentum after three straight birdies on holes 6, 7 and 8.

Then, on the 13th hole with a two-shot lead, Rose looked for the knock-out punch.

Garcia had driven his ball on the par five way left, over a creek, in the woods, into a bush … and Rose hit his nicely down the middle into the fairway. Garcia was forced to take a penalty drop and play his third from the woods, but miraculously Garcia made par, channeling the late great Seve Ballesteros (his mentor), a two-time Masters Champion from Spain famous for making incredible up and downs for par.

Ironically — or not — Seve’s 60th birthday would have been on Sunday. And as Rose three putted for par, Sergio regained all the momentum.

After Garcia birdied 14 and made an incredible eagle at 15, the two were tied at 9 under par with three to play (well clear of the rest of the field). Both men hit great irons on 16, but only Rose birdied.

However, Rose gave it back after an errant drive on 17. The two were tied on the final hole. Both men made par, each just missing their birdie putts and thus replayed the 18th in a sudden death playoff. Rose was errant off the tee again, but it wouldn’t matter, as Garcia drained an 18-footer for birdie and for the win at the 2017 Masters Championship.

Garcia’s pure jubilation with victory surely moved many. Let there be no mistake: Golf, like life, doesn’t owe you anything. However, we can all see when something is deserved. Well played, Sergio!

Sam Nowicki is a junior majoring in biochemistry. Sam can be reached at samuel. nowicki@tufts.edu.

RAY BERNOFF / THE TUFTS DAILY

First-year Rhemi Toth competes in the second 4,000-meter distance medley relay heat at the New England Div. III Indoor Championship at MIT’s Johnson Athletic Center on Feb. 18.

by Mackenzie Bright Contributing Writer

Tufts competed in a quad-meet at windy Bates this past weekend and finished third overall with 154 team points. They were 57 points ahead of last-place Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and 40 points short of second-place Bates. MIT claimed first at the meet with 235 team points.

“Our team performed well this weekend, given the windy and cold conditions,” senior quad-captain Rita Donohoe told the Daily in an email. “We did not stack every event and chose to rest some people, so our whole squad was not competing.”

With less than a month left before the NESCAC and New England Div. III Championships, the Jumbos prioritized individual times at the meet.

“For us it isn’t about whether we’re winning or losing the meet, it’s more about individual performances,”sophomore Patricia Blumeris said. “For example, we had a lot of distance girls in the 1500, and usually they do 5k’s or 10k’s, so it wasn’t really their event. We just wanted people doing as well as they could in the events they were in.”

The Tufts 4×400-meter relay team finished first in their event with a time of 4:03.14, a full 7.20 seconds faster than their closest competitor, Bates.

The foursome who took home the top finish for the Jumbos was made up of junior Annalisa DeBari, first-year Nehalem Kunkle-Read, Donohoe and first-year Julia Gake. Their speedy finish ranked them 39th in the country in Div. III. In the 100-meter hurdles, DeBari improved on her previous national ranking by shooting through the course with a blistering time of 14.75, drop-

ping .13 seconds off her previous time.

The new finish ranks DeBari 13th in the nation.

DeBari saw success in the 100-meter dash as well, finishing third with a time of 12.74, a season-best for the Jumbos. Donohoe claimed the 400meter title at the event, finishing with a time of 1:00.14, while Gake took third in the same event, coming in at 1:01.45 to give the Jumbos two placing runs.

The 4×100 relay team featured sophomore Sydney Ladner, Donahoe, firstyear Raquel Whiting and DeBari. The group dashed their way to a third-place finish at 50.16, a season-best for the Jumbos.

Junior Jennifer Sherwill finished second in the shot put with a throw of 38 feet 2 inches, her season and career best. The discus saw Sherwill put up another strong showing, as she threw another season- and career-best 133 feet 7 inches to come in third and place 33rd nationally.

Senior Lindsay Atkeson finished 11:38.16 in the 3,000 steeplechase, earning herself a season-best time and a top-50 time nationally. Sophomore Sarah Perkins came in right behind her at 12:17.46 to take third.

Junior Brittany Bowman ran a season-best time in the 1,500-meter at 4:49.35. She took second place in the event, while sophomore Caitlin Porrazzo ran the 10,000-meter with a time of 40:43.68; she was the only athlete from any school to participate in the event.

“She was the only woman entered in the entire 10-K and she ran an automatic PR because it was her first time running the event,” Donohoe said. “She crushed all 25 laps even though she had no one to race, and she showed a lot of determination.”

Ladner cleared 10 feet 2 inches in the pole vault for the Jumbos, another season best. Pole vault also featured Sharon Kelmar, clearing 9 feet 2.25 inches.

“This past weekend, Sharon cleared something like three heights,” Blumeris said. “Which, compared to what she was doing for the two weeks before, was a big improvement and she was super happy about it.”

Sophomore Brita Dawson cleared 17 feet 2.25 inches in the long jump for the Jumbos, contributing to the streak of season-best performances.

“We have been getting stronger and healthier throughout the past weeks and I think the next two meets before NESCACs will be good opportunities to do some tuning up,” Donahoe wrote. “Everyone is really focused and looking forward to gearing up for championship season.”

Season-best performances could be seen all weekend from Jumbos in all events, as both runners and field competitors pushed themselves to work at their full potential, but the Jumbos will have to continue breaking those season-best times to qualify for the New England Div. III Championships on May 5 and 6 and the National NCAA Championships May 25-27.

“This weekend is a bigger meet and it’s probably going to be more competitive,” Blumeris said. “But again, we’re just focusing on individual performances and getting as many people as possible to qualify first for NESCACs and then [Div.] IIIs, and then, for the people who are good enough, we want them to qualify for nationals. So for people who can do that, that’s what we’re pushing for.”

The Jumbos will next run Friday, first at an invitational hosted by Conn.

College, and then at the Sunshine Classic on home turf on Saturday.