Thursday, February 22, 2018 by The Tufts Daily

Fletcher’s Center for Strategic Studies celebrates first year see FEATURES / PAGE 3

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

Jumbos set records at New England Div. III Championships

ICA shows Oscar-nominated short films see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 7

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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U.S. Senator Susan Collins addresses bipartisanship at Tisch College event by Jessica Blough

Assistant News Editor

U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Me) spoke to students and members of the Tufts community about the state of the U.S. government and the future of bipartisanship on Wednesday in the ASEAN Auditorium. Collins’ presentation, which was moderated by Associate Professor of political science Eitan Hersh, was the second installment of this semester’s Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series hosted by Tisch College of Civic Life. The event was co-sponsored by the Tufts Department of Political Science, Tufts Republicans and Tufts CIVIC. Collins, a Republican, is currently serving her fourth term and is the senior senator from Maine. According to Jessica Byrnes, special projects administrator at Tisch College, Tisch College reached out to Collins’ office in

an effort to invite more diverse voices to campus, one of the primary goals of the Distinguished Speaker Series. “She has voted on both sides of the aisle on a number of issues, so we thought that, considering the gridlock in Congress right now, she would [bring] a really interesting and important view to campus right now,” Byrnes explained. The event began at 6:30 p.m. and lasted for about an hour and a half. Students and community members filled almost all of the 270 seats in the ASEAN Auditorium. As a current senator, Collins has a limit on the financial gifts that she can receive and was not paid to speak at Tisch, according to Byrnes. Collins’ talk began with a welcome from Dean of Tisch College Alan Solomont, who called Collins “one of the last survivors of EDDIE SAMUELS / THE TUFTS DAILY

see SUSAN COLLINS, page 2

JCC*, UIJ co-host Day of Remembrance event to memorialize JapaneseAmerican incarceration by McKenzie Schuyler Contributing Writer

Tufts Japanese Culture Club (JCC*) hosted its annual Day of Remembrance event on Wednesday evening in collaboration with Tufts United for Immigrant Justice (UIJ), the Asian American Center and the Consortium of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora. Day of Remembrance: Incarceration and Resistance commemorated the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Feb. 19, 1942, which authorized the incarceration of Japanese-Americans. The event explored how Japanese-American incarceration during WWII affects the present day. Day of Remembrance was held in the Alumnae Lounge, and over eighty people were in attendance. The night began with a screening of ‘Resistance at Tule Lake,’ a 2017 documentary directed by Konrad Aderer. By documenting the protests and resistance in the Tule Lake concentration camp, the film tells the story of Japanese-American incarceration and combats the myth that JapaneseAmericans did not resist their internment. A student-led panel discussion followed the screening. Seniors Joseph Tsuboi and Anna Kimura, members of JCC*, recounted their family connections to incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry. Sophomore Alejandra

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Tisch College hosts panel on public amnesias by Conor Friedmann Contributing Writer

Corbella, senior Ana Manriquez and first-year Alejandra Baez, members of UIJ, shared contemporary stories relating to themes of immigration, prejudice and resistance. “We forget that this same hate and this history is repeating itself,” Corbella said. Describing her ancestors’ struggles with incarceration, Kimura drew links between incarceration in the past and the present day. “The narrative is the same but the bodies are different. When we’re talking about history, it’s important to [think about] what’s happening today,” Kimura said. Tsuboi shared this sentiment, discussing the persistence of silence about the history of incarceration. “I think a lot of the silences come from the fear that at any point if you were too Japanese … you could be incarcerated,” Tsuboi said. “I think that fear was very much ingrained in the Japanese American community.” This paralleled Corbella’s, Manriquez’s and Baez’s expressions of the persistent fear present in the lives of immigrants. Corbella spoke about her home town in Texas, which has a large population of undocumented immigrants. “The fear never stops,” Corbella said. “I became aware of the struggles of immigrant see DAY OF REMEMBRANCE, page 2

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Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine speaks as a part of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life Distinguished Speaker Series.

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The Program for Public Humanities at Jonathan M. Tisch College for Civic Life sponsored a panel on “Public Amnesias” yesterday afternoon to discuss dynamic omissions in the narratives of experiences. The event, moderated by Diana O’Donoghue, director of the Program for Public Humanities, featured four panelists: Kendra Field, assistant professor of history and Africana studies; Kerri Greenidge, professor and co-director of the African American Freedom Trail Project; Aditi Mehta, a recent graduate of MIT with a Ph.D. in Urban Studies and Planning; and James Rice, Walter S. Dickson Professor of English and American history. The panelists discussed the ramifications of forgetting events and narratives, specifically pertaining to histories of African-descended and indigenous communities and environmental disasters in academic disciplines. The first panelist, Field, talked about the narratives of what she called “freedom’s first generation,” or children who were born as slaves but grew up during Reconstruction. She went on to recount the deep impact this generation had on communities of Oklahoma, as well the generation’s deep multiracial and transnational dimension. Field explained how the narratives of this generation are often lost. “The vast swaths of human and North American history has only recently been

entered into American history textbooks, let alone public history, public culture and public space,” she said. Field said her research aimed to uncover why some stories from this generation were remembered, while some were not. Greenidge, the second panelist, explained the history of William Monroe Trotter, an African-American activist in Boston during the early 20th century. “William Monroe Trotter placed Boston at the center of black American politics and forced an overwhelmingly white city to live up to the most progressive conceptions of itself,” Greenidge said. Greenidge connected Trotter’s influential history to the fact that his narrative is hardly remembered today. “Inoculation against public amnesia through a reconceptualization of William Monroe Trotter and the role of black Boston in transnational black radicalism disrupts our understanding of African-American political and cultural history,” Greenidge said. Mehta, the third panelist, described public amnesias in the post-disaster context. Mehta talked about the gap between headlines during Hurricane Katrina, which stated that “chaos and rioting” occurred when, in reality, the situation was the opposite. “Sociological research indicates that in a crisis, conflicts within communities are often forgotten but instead people, who may know one another or not, collaborate under extreme

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 COMICS.......................................6

see PUBLIC AMNESIAS, page 2

ARTS & LIVING....................... 7 SPORTS............................ BACK

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, February 22, 2018

THE TUFTS DAILY Catherine Perloff Editor-in-Chief

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Collins emphasizes cooperation across party lines SUSAN COLLINS “It’s particularly important for Tufts and In the remainder of the conversation, continued from page 1 a once-common species of moderate New England government officials.” Following a question from Hersh about the current state of the Republican party, Collins called for students in the audience to raise their hands if they were content with the current state of the two major political parties. No students raised their hands. Within her own party, Collins attributed this response to Republicans’ reluctance to take a progressive stance on social issues. “Republicans have been slower to evolve on these issues, and that has driven away a lot of young people,” Collins said. In an interview with the Daily before her presentation, Collins elaborated on students’ discontent with the current state of U.S. politics. “We are more polarized. We are tending to view those who disagree with us politically as the enemy rather than as someone who has a different viewpoint,” Collins stated. “We are losing the opportunity to get to know one another and to be exposed to different philosophies.” Collins partially attributes this to the lack of ideological diversity in New England academia.

DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

continued from page 1 bodies to survive in a constant state of surveillance.” Tsuboi described the many emotions that arise when recognizing Day of Remembrance. “This is why I want to speak for our families up here, and for the thousands of families alike who have lived in the silences of war and the traumas of immigration and incarceration,” he said. “Day of Remembrance is a grievance, but it’s also a celebration. I cannot think of this day without [feeling] angry and sad. However, I know that we must break these silences with our stories, so that our generation and the future generation can

PUBLIC AMNESIAS

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learn from this country’s injustices.” JCC* and UIJ members said they hope attendees of the event take away a solidarity between different groups and see that although World War II occurred 80 years ago, similar problems are still present today. “A lot of the policies and legislature that was used then is being used … today,” Tsuboi said. Kimura, Corbella and Manriquez also addressed ways they and their families have shown resistance today. “Our ability to thrive despite [these traumas] is another form of resistance,” Kimura said. “Today our storytelling and sharing out family stories is another act of resistance.” Manriquez referenced her parents’ pasts.

“For my parents [leaving Mexico] was difficult for a lot more reasons. But even though this isn’t the life they were promised, they moved forward and continue to do so today,” Manriquez said. “They moved forward because seeing their children thrive is their form of resistance.” Corbella emphasized the power of sharing one’s story. “The government can take so much from me, but they cannot take away my story and they most definitely cannot take my resilience. I have learned that story telling is one of the most powerful forms of resistance and in many ways a revolutionary act,” Corbella said.

used Stratford Hall, the birthplace of Robert E. Lee, as an example. “Members of the surrounding communities were not coming to Stratford Hall,” Rice explained. “White folks didn’t feel connected with these plantation owners, and black folks who were descendants of people who had been enslaved at Stratford Hall, weren’t crossing the street.” Rice further elaborated on why the public lost interest in Stratford Hall. “It was failure of Stratford Hall to rec-

ognize the promise and profound disappointment with the end of reconstruction,” he said. “It failed to recognize Jim Crow and the existing structural inequalities to this day.” Field emphasized the idea that narratives can be chosen to be advanced through history, or not. “The experience of public amnesias is perhaps especially true for those who have endured unsung histories of social movement and resistance,” Field said.

tion, to cast a ballot for candidates online, via mobile app or in person, according to ECOM Chair Ethan Mandelbaum, a sophomore. Mandelbaum explained previously that the sign-in glitch from last semester, which would allow voters to sign in twice, has been resolved. Nimoityn said that ECOM will be releasing voting data in the near future. Weinstein said she is excited to hear student voices, and that she will work toward facilitating the communication between the student body and the Senate. “My main goal is to create the online submission form on the Facebook page,” she said. “People can submit any comments, questions, concerns or ideas they have, and I think that will be an awesome way to connect the student body more with the senators. I am really excited to be able to do that as a Class of 2020 Senator, and be able to hear what everyone has to say, not just the groups I run in.” Cashman said he wants to prioritize

students’ interests over those of the administration. “I am really excited to represent the community and get more involved, and see what I can do to help the Tufts community become more of what the students want it to be and less of what the administration wants it to be,” he said. Baez said that, as First-Gen Community Representative, he will work toward promoting the needs of the first-generation students. “I am just gonna keep on building my advocacy and support for first-generation students, and now that I have senatorial power, I really wish to enact stable frameworks and initiatives that can benefit all the students,” Baez said. Crosby said he is excited for the opportunity to serve on the CSL and that he hopes to expand the CSL’s presence on campus. “I am just super excited to get more involved with the community and be able to make CSL more visible on campus, especially within the student body,” Crosby said.

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Collins addressed depoliticizing the judiciary, gun violence, the Trump administration’s tax plan, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, climate change, the budget process and her hopes for the future of bipartisanship in government. She also took time to dispel rumors about her political strategy and joke about the Boston Globe’s unfair portrayal of her. During the time allotted for student questions, two students pointed out that Collins had described several bills that almost passed in the Senate but failed to gain the necessary 60 votes. When they asked about her plans to overcome the gridlock that has categorized politics throughout the lives of most Tufts students, she defended the necessity of a majority in creating legislation. Collins also advocated for making an effort to understand the motivations of the opposing side. “Even for those that I vehemently disagree with those on the far left and the far right, I recognized that though they have a very different viewpoint, that they still love this country, they still want what is best for Americans. They just have very different views on how to achieve that,” she told the Daily.

Panelists discuss gaps in historical memory

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other liberal arts colleges to invite speakers who can broaden the horizons of the students who attend their institutions,” Collins said. “Outside speakers can help counter the bias that is shown by the majority of faculty.” Collins cited her own college experience with ideologically diverse faculty as pivotal in the development of her own political beliefs and her understanding of those who are not members of her party. Collins said her Senate career has been defined by her demands for compromise, which she defended during her presentation. Collins repeatedly referenced her Common Sense Coalition, a collection of 26 senators committed to promoting bipartisanship in Congress. “It’s hard to be a moderate these days in Washington, because you do get shot at at all times by both sides,” Collins stated in her presentation. Collins also stressed the importance of bipartisan discourse. “Neither party has the monopoly on good ideas,” Collins said. “We need to restore a sense of civility and a respect for different viewpoints. People should not have to be fearful that if they are a conservative and speak up, then they are going to lose friends.”

Panelists from JCC*, UIJ discuss familiar traumas of incarceration and resistance

stress,” Mehta said. Mehta also spoke about the importance of narratives and public memory in rebuilding after a disaster. “Who decides what will be rebuilt where, and which voices carry forward and dominate the narrative?” Mehta asked. Rice, the final panelist, first talked about public amnesia as planned forgetting. Rice Executive Graphics Editor Graphics Editors

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Alexa Weinstein and Daniel Cashman were elected to fill the two Class of 2020 Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate openings, according to Tufts Community Union Elections Commission (ECOM) Treasurer Woody Nimoityn, a junior. Alejandro Baez, a first-year, will be the new First-Generation (first-gen) community senator, according to Nimoityn. The position, first introduced in the 2017-2018 academic year, has been vacant since Isaac Kim, former FirstGen Community Representative and sophomore, resigned from the position in January. Students of all class years were able to vote for this candidate. Ayden Crosby, a first-year, will fill the vacancy on the Committee on Student Life (CSL), according to Nimoityn. This election was also open to all students. Students used Voatz, a voting platform that was first used in the fall 2017 elec-

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Features

3 tuftsdaily.com

Fletcher’s Center for Strategic Studies concludes successful first year

Dorothy Neher How Tufts Works

by Kenia French

ive minutes after meeting, Kristin Lee and I are standing on a former glacial field examining six hundred million-year-old rocks. Shockingly, we are not on an archeological research trip in Siberia. We are five feet from Tisch Library learning about the geology of Tufts from Grant Garven, professor in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, who had set up drilling rigs all over campus to collect rock samples. Although it came as news to me that the greater Boston area was at one time blanketed by a glacier, Kristin did not seem phased by this fact. It turns out that as a trained geologist and research data librarian at Tisch, she is intimately familiar with the study of rocks. As an undergraduate at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, Kristin was introduced to geology after receiving a scholarship for women in the field. Upon graduation, she became a field worker for a Canadian mining company. Her first assignment consisted of prospecting for uranium in northern Quebec for seven weeks. On a daily basis, she and a team of prospectors were transported by helicopter to remote sites. Carrying their equipment, they trekked through swamps and bushes, sampling rocks along the way. After that, Kristin traveled to Mongolia as a member of the company’s global explorations team. While there, she developed a deep appreciation for the unique character of the East Asian country. Reflecting on this part of her life, Kristin balances an appreciation for the “hunt” involved with mineral excavation with the trying nature of the job. Despite the hardships involved with prospecting, it afforded her with the invaluable opportunity to travel around her home country and the world. After returning to human civilization and going back to school for a master’s degree in library and information science, Kristin officially swapped rocks and minerals for books and data. Her new career path brought her to Tufts, a school that she says she had always wanted to work at. She feels fortunate that she is able to combine many of her passions as a librarian in higher education. Kristin’s role as a research data librarian is to teach people how to take advantage of the incredible resources the library has to offer in the most efficient and effective way possible. She streamlines the process of information collection so that researchers can spend their time focusing on the big picture questions, instead of drowning in the vastness of their sources. The most rewarding part of her job, Kristin explains, is witnessing the “aha” moments that she helps create. However, she quickly brushes aside her own contributions and credits her colleagues with creating a great atmosphere within Tisch Library. Just when I thought I could not be more impressed, Kristin casually mentions that she and another librarian are learning roller derby. At this point, I need no more convincing that her description of Tisch librarians as “dynamic and interesting and enthusiastic and passionate” is most applicable to her.

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The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy has added to its academic and research prowess in the field of international security with the creation of the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) last May. The CSS is led by its mastermind, Professor of International Politics Monica Duffy Toft. According to Toft, her vision for the center was informed by her time spent as a PhD research fellow and later as assistant director at Harvard University’s John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, which has since closed. “In the ’80s and the ’90s, we were starting to focus on U.S. foreign policy, but we weren’t getting an academic perspective in research in the way that we wanted [it] to be. So we [at the Olin Institute] wanted to train and mentor students who were interested in foreign policy, and recruit scholars who were thinking about policy,” Toft said. Before the opportunity arose for Toft to head a research center at Tufts, she was a pioneering faculty member at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, a program that was founded in 2010. “When I was at Oxford, I was helping to build a new school, so I wasn’t in a position to build my own intellectual academic center,” Toft said. However, Toft explained that her passions lie within security and strategic studies. Serving as the director of CSS at The Fletcher School gives her the opportunity to create a research institution similar to the Olin Institute. “It’s my vision, it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” she said. According to Meg Guliford, PhD research fellow at the CSS, the term “strategic studies” refers to a specialized field within international relations that is devoted to the intersection of international politics, diplomacy and military power. “Strategic studies are those major issues that affect regional balance of power or global balance of power. So when you are talking about civil wars, civil wars are destabilizing in a way where you might not feel it globally but regionally it becomes very, very important,” Guliford, a fourth-year PhD student, said. Toft concurred and explained that some of the center’s research focuses on the long-term implications of military intervention on behalf of the United States and other countries. “One thing we’re focusing on is what’s going on with intervention,” Toft said. “It may not be a bad thing but there are trade-offs and the questions are, what are those trade-offs and what do they mean for United States foreign policy.” Guliford’s research reflects this concern with how military interventions in conflicts affect violence against noncombatants. “My research looks at under what condition the military interventions affect the strategy that states and rebel groups adopt with respect to civilian victimization. So, how do different types of military interventions affect not only the nature, but ultimately the type of civilian victimization that states and rebel groups have to take,” Guliford said. Research centers like the CSS are able to elevate the prominence and quality of scholarly research on specific topics, by attracting first-rate scholars and forming academic communities, as Guliford explained. “Fletcher, at times, is so interdisciplinary that your research may get lost in the milieu because it’s so specific to a group of scholars, whereas when you’re part of a center, people know your research, they understand the

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Monica Toft, professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, poses for a portrait on Nov. 7, 2017. literature of which your research is based,” Guliford said, “To be able to constantly get their feedback and also critique their research as well just elevates your game.” Toft and her colleagues are not the only people interested in researching strategic studies. According to a press release from The Fletcher School, the CSS is funded through a $3 million grant over six years from the Charles Koch Foundation. The foundation has made similar grants to other academic institutions, including one for a program in strategy, security and statecraft jointly conducted by the Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as stated in a Nov. 13, 2017 Harvard Kennedy School press release. In Toft’s view, this grant seems to indicate a long-term partnership forming between the center and the Charles Koch Foundation. “[The Charles Koch Foundation] is really concerned about human freedom being abrogated,” Toft said. “I do think that they are in it for the long term because their goals align with ours in the research we are conducting.” While research is clearly an important part of the center’s overall vision, the program also emphasizes connecting foreign policy practitioners with scholars, according to Anna Ronell, program manager of the CSS. “The center is really about U.S. foreign policy. It’s designed as a hub for students, scholars and practitioners. We have a series that’s called ‘Engaging Practitioners’ and we’ve invited people who are diplomats, people from think tanks, people who are actual prime ministers,” Ronell said. “We had former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak come here to talk about security.” Ronell attributed the center’s current success to the power and relevance of Toft’s vision for it. “We’ve been trying to bring together both the academic world and the non-ac-

ademic world. That’s one of the goals, to promote discussion and to promote a variety of points of view, and question things. That’s what Professor Toft envisioned,” Ronell said. Ronell’s main focus as program manager is to oversee the administrative operations of the center and encourage its researchers to write as much as possible. The center has a blog with various contributors and several research fellows currently working on articles for academic journals. “I try to encourage writing. We started a blog, and that is a really good platform. If you look at our blog, some of the entries have around 1,000 hits, which indicates that people read it. That’s important,” Ronell said. “I think that for an academic institution, writing is the most important intellectual product.” In the future, Ronell aims for the CSS to produce many different forms of writing, potentially even creating its own publication. However, seeing as the center has only existed for less than one year, its current production must be matched to its resources. “We are an academic start-up. In reality, we’ve only existed — this is our second semester, this is our first year. We need to do a lot of things that are going to be productively fast,” Ronell said. “What happens is ideally, once we graduate from being an academic start-up, we would like a spread of different forms of writing but that needs to grow organically.” Toft shared that she is pleased with the progress that the center has made so far and is looking forward to watching it growing to fulfill her vision of a world-class research center on strategic studies. “We spent the first year sort of building up from the shadows and now we’re working on establishing ourselves as a center conducting top-notch research,” Toft said. “I’m really excited about it.”

Books rock

Dorothy Neher is a columnist at the Tufts Daily. She is a sophomore majoring in international relations and Spanish. Dorothy can be reached at dorothy.neher@ tufts.edu.

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EPIIC 2018 Symposium Is the Liberal World Order Ending? March 1-3, 2018

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The 33rd Annual Norris and Margery Bendetson EPIIC International Symposium

For more information and registration: 617.627.3314 and tuftsgloballeadership.org Thursday, March 1 Beyond Borders: Contending with Transnational Challenges, 7:30pm • Samantha Gross, Former Director, Office of International Climate and Clean Energy, U.S. Department of Energy • W. Andy Knight, Professor of International Relations, University of Alberta; Author, Remapping the Americas: Trends in Region-Making • Jonathan Prentice, Chief of Office, Office of the Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral for International Migration, United Nations

• Mathieu Duchâtel, Senior Policy Fellow and Deputy Director, Asia and China Programme, European Council on Foreign Relations • Amb. Bonnie Jenkins, Former Special Envoy and Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, U.S. Dept of State • Charles K Johnson, Director of Nuclear Programs, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)

Saturday, March 3 A Loss of Faith: The Rise of Populism and Nationalism, 10:00am

Friday, March 2

• Mark Bailey, Deputy Head, Political Section, British Embassy, Washington; former Foreign Affairs Assistant, UK Prime Minister • Michael Lind, Author, Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States • Ted Piccone, Senior Fellow and Charles W. Robinson Chair, Brookings Institution

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The Changing Social Contract? Globalization and Technology in the 21st Century, 12:30pm • Michael J. Handel, Associate Professor of Sociology, Northeastern University; former Labor Market Analyst, OECD • Thomas Kochan, The George Maverick Bunker Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management; Author, Shaping the Future of Work • Nawaf Obaid,Visiting Fellow for Intelligence and Defense Projects, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School • Jeff Vogel, Managing Director, Bulger Partners

The Future of R2P? Mass Atrocities and the Liberal World Order, 2:30pm

• Simon Adams, Executive Director, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect • Kate Cronin-Furman, Author, Just Enough: The Politics of Accountability for Mass Atrocities (forthcoming) • Sergey Kislitsyn, Research Fellow, Center for North American Studies, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences • John Packer, Director, Human Rights Research and Education Centre (HRREC), University of Ottawa; former Senior Legal Adviser and Director, Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, The Hague

Keynote Address: Repositioning the United Nations: Reinforcing Multilateralism in a Challenging Global Context, 11:30am Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations; Former Minister of Environment, Nigeria

Challenging the Liberal World Order: The Rise of Alternative Forms of Governance, 2:30pm • Tarun Chhabra, Fellow, Project on International Order and Strategy, Brookings Institution • Radosław Sikorski, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of National Defense, Poland • Feodor Voytolovsky, Director, Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences

Expert-Led, Small-Group Discussions, 4:30pm (see web site)

Keynote Address: Is the Liberal World Order Ending?, 6:30pm Allan Rock, President Emeritus, University of Ottawa; Former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations; Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Former Minister of Health, Canada

The Global Nuclear Dilemma: Power, Stability and Proliferation, 7:30pm • Amb. Joanne Adamson, Deputy Head, EU Delegation to the United Nations; UK Chief Negotiator, Arms Trade Treaty diplomatic conferences, UN

The Role of the United States in the Liberal World Order: Past, Present and Future, 8:00pm • Daniel Benaim, Former Speechwriter and Policy Advisor, White House, State Department, and U.S. Senate; Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress • Daniel Drezner, Professor of International Politics, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; Author, All Politics is Global • Anthony Dworkin, Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations; former Executive Director, Crimes of War Project

THE TUFTS DAILY | Comics | Thursday, February 22, 2018

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Comics

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Cathy: “I just ate it and that amuses me.”

Comics

Oscar-nominated animated shorts include Pixar, Roald Dahl-inspired stories ANIMATED SHORTS

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his father’s approval via phone calls. “Negative Space” is visually and emotionally reserved for the most part. Its human characters have barely any facial expressions. The film also features a packing scene in which the clothing items fold and fit perfectly in a suitcase by themselves. The precision and lack of variations and surprises make for a very minimalist and withdrawn quality. Such an aloof atmosphere in the film could symbolize the sense of emotional fatigue and emptiness upon the loss of a loved one. However, with its last line, the film introduces a sense of humor. Toward the end of a funerary scene, the protagonist stares into his father’s coffin to see him for one last time and mutters, “Look at all that empty space.” The protagonist wittily alludes to one of his father’s principles for packing: Leave no empty space. Such humor at the end of the film functions as a break from the protagonist’s long process of emotional dullness and mourning upon his father’s death and suggests the start of a healing process. Rating: 4/5 “Lou”(2017) Pixar’s entry in the short film category this year, “Lou,” tells a simple

lesson of anti-bullying through digital animation. In the story, an elementary school boy grabs his classmates’ toys on the playground for fun. One day, the objects in the lost-and-found station suddenly become a cute animated monster, takes the protagonist’s school bag and beloved teddy bear and demands he return all the items that he has taken from others. The protagonist willingly follows after a short bout of wrestling with the lost-and-found monster. Lou’s visuals are classically Pixar, with the illusion of three-dimensionality and the cute characters with round faces and small noses. The film also adopts many traditional Disney characteristics, such as the use of many bright colors, harmonious motion designs, a didactic tendency and most apparently, a happy ending. “Lou” recalls the purpose of many early animation works in the 1930s, showcasing the technical spectacles of animation instead of delivering a deep message. Rating: 3/5 “Revolting Rhymes” (2016) Part one of the two-episode film “Revolting Rhymes” is rather the antithesis of Disney. This British digitally animated film is adapted from a collection of poems written by Roald Dahl which retells popular fairy tales such as “Snow White” and “Little Red Riding Hood” with some hints of cyn-

icism. The film “Revolting Rhymes” interweaves “Snow White,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Three Little Pigs” into one story, told by the big wolf from the original “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Three Little Pigs.” The film defies the simple categorization of characters into “good” and “bad.” In the film, Little Red Riding Hood kills the two nephews of the big wolf as well as one of the three little pigs with a pistol. She also peels the animals and makes their skin into coats and handbags. Snow White lives with seven unlucky dwarf horse gamblers after fleeing from the woods. To help the dwarfs win their gamble, Snow White steals the omniscient magic mirror from the evil queen, so that the dwarfs know which horse to buy. The film cites a famous line from the original poem, “Gambling is not a sin, provided that you always win.” The title “Revolting Rhymes” potentially has a clever double meaning, as it could refer to either the darkness of the original fairy tales or to the excessively sugary, bowdlerized, primarily Disney versions of these classical fairy tales. Rating: 4/5 “Garden Party” (2017) “Garden Party,” another French nominee, pushes digital animation to its limits with its verisimilar scenes. The film depicts a group of frogs that take over a deserted luxurious man-

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sion. The intermittent croaks, together with an inauspicious soundtrack, foreshadows a sinister climax in the film. The forewarning is strengthened by a scene of a pair of kissing frogs. In the scene, two frogs lay on a queen bed with extravagantly decorated quilts and lean in to kiss each another while immersed in golden beams of sunlight. Right before the two frogs kiss, a smaller frog suddenly jumps onto the glass window as it chases a fly, thus creating a sound that interrupts the frog couple. This scene epitomizes the film — both maintain a sense of artificial serenity that is later destroyed by a horrible turn of events. Toward the end of the film, a frog accidentally turns on the lights, fountains and water inlets in the mansion’s swimming pool. The quick flows of water brings up a gigantic inflated corpse which supposedly belongs to the owner of the mansion. The ending alludes to Gatsby’s tragic swimming pool death in “The Great Gatsby.” Rating: 4/5 The five Oscar nominees for best animated short film this year demonstrate the endless potential of animation to tell various genres of stories, whether that is autobiography, comedy, tragedy, horror or fantasy. The winner for Best Animated Short Film will be announced at the 90th Academy Awards Ceremony on Sunday, March 4.

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Arts & Living

Thursday, February 22, 2018

7 tuftsdaily.com

2018 Oscar-nominated animated short films exhibit diversity in technique, theme

Julian Blatt Tufts Creatives

by Ruijingya Tang

lthough sophomore Rachel Napoliello has always been passionate about filmmaking, the co-director of Bosfeed had never considered it as a possible career path until she joined Tufts University Television (TUTV) her first year. Now a film and media studies (FMS) major, Rachel is currently collaborating with the theatrical retro band Fire Tiger to produce the music video for their song “Suddenly Heavenly.” Julian Blatt (JB): How has Tufts affected your relationship with filmmaking? Rachel Napoliello (RN): I’ve had multiple opportunities through both the FMS department and TUTV to work on the production side of things, which is what I’m interested in. I discovered how and when to use the various pieces of equipment by shadowing sets on TUTV my freshman year; learning from older, more experienced students was very enjoyable and made it much easier for me to become involved in student filmmaking. JB: How and when did you get the idea to shoot a music video? RN: One day during finals last December, I decided that I wanted to film a new project, and I had never made a music video before. This band that I had been following for at least four years was releasing their second album, so I thought, “Why not just email them?” So I did, and they said yes. JB: What is the story behind the song? RN: It conveys the yearning and heartbreak of a woman in love with her best friend who loves someone else. It’s incredibly bittersweet. JB: Does it carry any intimate meaning for you? RN: I cannot personally relate to the narrative exhibited in the video, but I can deeply sympathize with the idea of loving one’s best friends, and I try to focus on that in the music video. JB: Did you watch any music videos on YouTube or elsewhere to prepare for production? RN: I watched some classic ’80s music videos because the band told me that they wanted to emulate videos from that decade. I picked out aspects that I especially appreciated from certain videos, like the lighting or the narrative storytelling or the editing, and I made a list to give to the crew so that we would all be on the same page. I think the stylistic elements are definitely the most important part of any music video. JB: What makes this video unique? RN: I want to create a music video in the style of a short film, so it will feature some inserts from the band, which they will send me from L.A. I hope that the narrative I’m telling is reminiscent of coming-of-age stories, even though the characters are older. There is also a fantasy element that I’m particularly excited about. JB: How do you hope people who watch the video will respond to it? RN: The goal is to make people happy. Even though I’m adding fantasy and supernatural elements, many people can relate to the story of falling in love with someone that they really care about. I want people to remember that special feeling and to feel nostalgic.

Staff Writer

Throughout late February and early March, the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston screens all 2018 Oscar-nominated short films. On Feb. 17 and 18, The ICA presented this year’s five nominated animated short films, and will show them again on March 4 and March 11. As is the case every year, these Oscar-nominated shorts exhibit diversity in both animation techniques and themes. “Dear Basketball” (2017) “Dear Basketball” is an American short film from Kobe Bryant’s letter to “The Players’ Tribune” published in 2015, a year before Kobe’s retirement. The film recounts the former Lakers star’s journey of achieving his dream of excelling as a basketball player. This sentimental and empowering film is quintessentially American. Created using the hand-drawn animation technique, the film shows clear, rough pencil traces. Meanwhile, the film is almost monochromatic, with only a faint layer of a dull yellow, which alludes to fading old photographs. By intentionally reducing the film’s appearance of technological complexity, director Glen Keane humbles Bryant from an invincible basketball superhero to a common hardworking man. This redefinition of Bryant’s persona is meant to show that

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A promotional image for Dear Basketball (2017), an animated short film being screened at the ICA, is pictured. every person is the primary arbiter of their own fate — a crucial premise of the American dream. That being said, Keane, having contributed to the productions of Disney classics such as “The Little Mermaid” (1989) and “Beauty and the Beast” (1991) is undoubtedly a technically mature animator. In “Dear Basketball,” scenes fuse seamlessly into one another through the metamorphoses of figures, a style that much resembles that of Fleischer Studios, the creator of the “Betty Boop” (1930-1939) series. Therefore, the entire film feels like a long take, unbroken by the instantaneous dark void between the switch of

scenes. Kobe’s constant visual evolution as an animated figure mirrors his strenuous development in real life. Rating: 3/5 “Negative Space” (2017) The French nominee “Negative Space” similarly deals with a sentimental theme. The stop-motion animated film illustrates its protagonist’s reflection on his relationship with his late father. In the film, the protagonist recalls that he bonds with his father mostly through packing. His father teaches him how to pack; the protagonist packs for his father and waits for see ANIMATED SHORTS, page 6

‘Everything Sucks!’ lacks depth, proves 1990s are better forgotten by Julian Blatt Staff Writer

Ah, the ’90s. A decade of fantastic music, outrageous fashion trends and blatant homophobia. With “Everything Sucks!” (2018), Netflix attempts to prove once again that any television show centered around teenage drama can be significantly improved with just a pinch of nostalgia. This time around, unfortunately, with the 1990sset “Everything Sucks!” the result is far from pleasing. It is immediately obvious why the creators chose Boring, Ore. for the setting. Just like the town, the show has incredibly little to offer. The characters are nothing more than archetypes: nerds, theater kids and bullied loners who hide their identities. In other words, the entire show is simply a stretched-out version of the “Mean Girls” (2004) cafeteria scene. Sadly, the table with ‘the greatest people you will ever meet’ is nowhere to be found. Unlike “Mean Girls,” the vast majority of the comedic moments fall so flat they go right through the floor. Much of the show’s humor stems from poking fun at ’90s pop culture in a way that only demonstrates how little the writers understand their audience. For example, Tyler (Quinn Liebling) and McQuaid (Rio Mangini) argue about the upcoming “Star Wars” prequels while other students can be seen in the background playing with slap bracelets and hacky sacks and drinking Capri Sun. While timestamp comedy should be appreciated, “Everything Sucks!” exemplifies how reliance on it is utterly unenjoyable for us viewers who cannot relate. If the constant use of “phat” (“with a p-h!”) and “cool beans” is not enough to make you

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Peyton Kennedy and Jahi Di’Allo Winston in ‘Everything Sucks!’ wish the ’90s could be erased from history, the music choices surely will. Even 2000s kids know that plenty of ’90s songs are impossible not to dance to. So why would Kate (Peyton Kennedy) pick Oasis’ “Wonderwall” (1995) to become obsessed with? The number is repeated so many times throughout (Luke, played by Jahi Di’Allo Winston, even goes so far as to re-enact the music video) that any improbable Oasis fan will never want to listen to the English rockers again. Another song the show butchers is “Ironic” (1995) by Alanis Morissette. Any debate about its ironic nature has long lost its appeal. With both the comedy and the music, “Everything Sucks!” wastes multiple opportunities to allow its audience to relive the magic of the ’90s. But it is exactly this general sense of lacking that characterizes the show; it never

goes far enough. Moreover, everything feels already played out. Luke, Tyler and McQuaid are passionate about filmmaking and become members of the A/V club, which would make for an interesting storyline if it had not just been done on “Stranger Things” (2016–). The ‘kindhearted-but-misunderstanding-dad’ trope the show employs has been an integral element of every sitcom since the beginning of time. Even less-explored themes, like falling in love with someone trying to come to terms with their sexuality, leave the audience desperately wanting something more. With all the hype leading up to the show’s release, one would expect something engrossing and hilarious, but instead the show offers nothing but disappointment. At least it lives up to its name: Everything really does suck.

Dancing flames

Julian is a first-year majoring in cognitive and brain sciences. Julian can be reached at julian.blatt@tufts.edu.

Sports

8 tuftsdaily.com

Thursday, February 22, 2018

WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

Yuan Jun Chee On the Spot

Tufts finishes fourth at New England Div. III The case for VAR Championships

n Saturday, criticisms for the new video assistant referee (VAR) system reached a new high in the FA Cup match between Huddersfield Town and Manchester United, as Juan Mata’s goal was ruled out for being marginally offside. While Hawk-Eye, the company that provides VAR technology, has since apologized for providing misleading images to television viewers at home, it still leaves many questions unanswered about the application of the system. According to the International Football Association Board, VAR is only meant to be used to correct “clear errors and for missed serious incidents” in “match-changing” situations. There’s no question that Mata’s goal was “match-changing,” but it brings up serious questions about what “clear errors” refer to. I’ve found myself going back to the replay and vacillating between offside and not — and I’m being objective about this! Let’s go back in time to when the last major technological change was made in soccer. Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter was originally against the introduction of goal-line technology (GLT), but he changed his mind after Frank Lampard’s disallowed strike for England against Germany in the 2010 World Cup. It’s obvious what the introduction of the GLT system has done — it’s reduced the frequency of players crowding the referee for a decision to go their way and made the game smoother. I don’t hear people complaining about the lack of controversy there. VAR is something that current FIFA president Gianni Infantino is seeking to implement. However, it amuses me to see that many other players, such as Luka Modric and Gianluigi Buffon, are against VAR. The reason for their disapproval to the new system is because they want the game to remain ‘human.’ If anything, though, the bigger outrage should be at how inequitable VAR’s application has been this year in the FA Cup. How is it fair that only some games — and the decisions in those games — are put under review? To all my non-NFL watching friends reading this, perhaps this is where my experience watching the NFL comes in (and yes, I know that instant replay in the NFL is under fire for what a “catch” is). Ultimately, I’m convinced that having a video replay system does more right than wrong, and the same argument about what constitutes a catch applies here. Let common sense and the rule of ‘clear and incontrovertible’ prevail. It’s the best kind of compromise. Only when there is obvious evidence to overturn the decision on the field should that action be undertaken. While there’s criticism of how much time it might take to review the decision, some of these decisions can be made in the same time players take to restart play anyway. Besides, isn’t that what stoppage time is for? Blatter saw that he was on the wrong side of history and changed his mind. Implementing VAR would take tweaking the system, but it’d ultimately be for the better. Yuan Jun Chee is a sports editor at the Tufts Daily. He is a junior majoring in history and international relations. Yuan Jun can be reached at yuan.chee@tufts.edu.

by Tim Chiang Staff Writer

On Friday and Saturday, the Tufts women’s track and field team turned in numerous impressive results to place fourth at the New England Div. III Championships, yet ultimately fell short of its goal to finish in the top three. Williams was ultimately crowned New England Div. III champion with a score of 149 points, while runner-up MIT scored 127 points. Middlebury took third with 73 points, and Tufts scored 52 points, good enough for fourth. Sophomore Rhemi Toth was disappointed with the result, but stayed positive. “In order to have been [in the] top three, we would have needed to have our best day,” Toth said. “It unfortunately didn’t happen, but we gave it our all.” In the weeks leading up to New England Div. III Championships, the Jumbos set out to get half of their team to qualify for the meet, but illness and injury resulted in a smaller squad. Sophomore Ann Roberts, a distance runner for the Jumbos, commented on the unfortunate timing. “Due to injury and an influenza outbreak, we weren’t able to have half the team qualify,” Roberts said. “Regardless, we still had a great team.” Although Tufts did not finish in the top three, several athletes registered outstanding performances at the meet, notching top-five nationally ranked times. Senior co-captain Brittany Bowman finished runner-up in the 3,000 meters with a time of 9:45.89, posting

the fourth-fastest time in Div. III this season. The Camden, Maine native’s time was a personal record, beating her previous best time of 9.46.93 which she set three weeks ago at the John Thomas Terrier Classic. In the 60-meter hurdles, senior co-captain Annalisa DeBari crossed the line with a preliminary time of 8.83 seconds, ranking her fourth in Div. III. Her time beat the previous Tufts 60-meter hurdles record of 8.84 seconds, held by Marilyn Allen (E ’16). DeBari placed third, with a time of 8.96 seconds, in the final round of the event. Aside from Bowman, several other Jumbos strode past the line in second place. Sophomore Julia Gake was runner-up in the 600 meters for the second consecutive year, recording a time of 1:37.65. In the 4×800meter relay, sophomore Nicole Kerrigan, firstyears Olivia Martin and Emily Murray, and Toth placed second in the 16-team field with a mark of 9:32.85. Toth ran the anchor leg for the Jumbos, a position typically given to the team’s most experienced member. The additional pressure only drove the Weston, Conn. native forward. “It’s knowing that I am the last person on the track that pushes me across the line,” Toth said. Apart from the 4×800-meter race, the Jumbos secured crucial results in several other relay events. In the 4×400, DeBari, sophomores Nehalem Kunkle-Read and Raquel Whiting, and Gake flew past the finish line in 4:02.46 to finish fourth. Tufts’ distance medley relay team of Martin, sophomore Sarah Levine, junior Julia Noble and Bowman also came in fourth, with a time of 12:46.39. Finally, Kunkle-Read, Whiting, junior Brita Dawson

and first-year Olivia Schwern placed sixth in the 4×200-meter relay, with a time of 1:48.19. Tufts’ run of success continued in the long-distance events, as several athletes were able to score points in their respective races. Toth came in sixth in the 1,000 meters in 3:03.09, registering three points for the Jumbos, while junior Sarah Perkins placed seventh in the 3K (10:31.04) to score two points. Additionally, senior Margot Rashba finished seventh in the 5,000 meters in 18.17.08, immediately followed by junior Kelsey Tierney, who finished eighth (18.23.46). The Jumbos continued to turn in strong performances in the field events. Senior Jennifer Sherwill launched 11.48 meters in the shot put, good for eighth place in the 26-athlete field. Sherwill also threw 13.37 meters in the weight throw to finish 16th. On the first day of the meet, junior Kylene DeSmith finished 10th out of 13 competitors in the pentathlon. The Rochester, N.H. native totaled 2,820 points across the five events, making it the second-best performance of her career. Despite narrowly missing their goal at the New England Div. III Championships, the Jumbos are already looking forward to their next major competition. “We are eager to redeem ourselves at the outdoor NESCAC Championships at Trinity [on April 28],” said Toth. Before that, however, Tufts will be back in action at national indoor qualifying meets: The Last Chance Meet will be held at Boston University on Feb. 25, and Tufts will host its own qualifying meet on March 3.

MADELEINE OLIVER / THE TUFTS DAILY

Senior co-captain Annalisa DeBari runs the first leg of the 4x400m race at Springfield College on Feb. 17.

TRASHING ONE EGG WASTES 55 GALLONS OF WATER