The Tufts Daily - Wednesday, January 22, 2020 by The Tufts Daily

‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ season 10 maintains comedic excellence see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5

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Jumbos builds off undefeated NESCAC record

Tufts should push back drop deadline for first-years see OPINION / PAGE 9

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T HE T UFTS DAILY Wednesday, January 22, 2020

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Tufts begins review of fossil fuel investment following student activists’ proposal by Connor Dale News Editor

Tufts University decided last week to convene an investment advisory committee, which will review Tufts’ investments in the fossil fuel industry and advise the Board of Trustees’ Investment Committee on its findings. The decision to activate the Responsible Investment Advisory Group (RIAG), which the Board of Trustees voted to establish in November 2019, follows nearly seven years of student activism on the issue as well as a formal proposal submitted by members of Tufts Climate Action (TCA) encouraging Tufts to join more than half a dozen of its peer institutions in divesting its endowment from fossil fuels. According to the Board of Trustees’ policies, the purpose and scope of the RIAG’s review are defined by the proposal that the administration chooses to act upon. In this case, the proposals were laid out in a memorandum from members of TCA and sponsored by the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, one of the approved bodies that can sponsor a proposal as per the Board of Trustees’ policies. The proposal, which was sent to Executive Vice President Mike Howard on Dec. 6, 2019, calls on the university to divest from its direct and indirect holdings in the fossil fuel industry. It details the wide-reaching effects of climate change and outlines how fossil fuel divestment at Tufts would impact the fossil fuel industry and contribute to the climate justice movement. Celia Bottger, a member of TCA and one of the five co-authors of the proposal, applauded the university’s decision to convene the RIAG as a shift in the right direction for the divestment campaign. She pointed to TCA’s actions last semester as well as its activism over the last several years as reasons for the change in momentum. “This is the first step in the process of getting Tufts to divest from fossil fuels, which is the result of years and years of tireless student activism,” Bottger, a senior, said. TCA has been pressuring the university to divest from its investments in fossil fuels since 2012. According to a 2014 statement from University President Anthony Monaco, the TCU Senate passed a resolution organized by TCA in February 2013 asking the Board of Trustees to refrain from any new investment in fossil fuel companies, which was followed by a student referendum that passed later that year urging the university to divest from fossil fuels entirely.

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These actions prompted Monaco to establish the Tufts Divestment Working Group, comprised of students, faculty, administrators and trustees, in April 2013. Along with investigating a sustainability fund, the Divestment Working Group was tasked with examining the impacts of divestment on the institution, according to the statement. In 2014, however, the Board of Trustees accepted the recommendations of a Divestment Working Group report whose majority opinion was not to divest, citing a $75 million loss in the market value of the university’s endowment in the five years following a hypothetical divestment. On March 31, 2019, TCU Senate passed another resolution authored by TCA members calling on the university to transition to a carbon-neutral endowment and to disclose information on Tufts’ connections to the fossil fuel industry. The resolution called for a response from the university by October 2019; according to TCA member Hanna Carr, TCA ramped up its climate activism efforts last semester in part to force Tufts to acknowledge the proposal. This activism included a petition that encouraged alumni and parents to withhold donations to Tufts until the university divested from fossil fuels, two university-wide strikes to demand action on the climate crisis and weekly protests on the sidewalk outside of Ballou Hall. “There was a real energy on campus last semester around our divestment campaign, and I think this escalation was necessary in bringing Tufts to the table,” Carr, a senior, said. TCU Senate published an Oct. 7 letter from Howard in response to the resolution. It outlined his plans to establish an advisory group to the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees which would review the university’s investments in fossil fuels. According to Carr, Howard then met with student activists from TCA after the Board approved the creation of the RIAG at its meeting on Nov. 2. Since then, Carr and Bottger both said that Howard has effectively served as a liaison between the activists and the Tufts administration, which has been crucial for getting the ball rolling on divestment. “He is really helping facilitate this process for us,” Carr said. “He’s not hiding from student activists — instead, he’s embracing Tufts’ culture of student activism and giving us a voice.” TCA began drafting a formal fossil fuel divestment proposal for the RIAG as soon as it learned of the group’s establishment. Alongside Carr and Bottger, the proposal was For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily

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Senior Sean Lee leads a group of protesters to the second Boston climate strike. co-authored by fellow TCA members Erica Nork, Caro Fett and Temple Miller-Hodgkin. Paul Joseph and Ann Rappaport also assisted with drafting the proposal, according to Bottger. Once drafted, a student must present their proposal to one of the approved bodies that can sponsor it, which include the TCU Senate, the Faculty Senate, the Alumni Council and any of the graduate student councils. The TCU Senate, however, decided to sponsor the proposal without a formal presentation from TCA. According to TCU President Shannon Lee, this was because TCU Senate had already passed TCA’s carbon neutral endowment resolution in March 2019 and the language in the new proposal was similar to that of TCA’s divestment resolution from 2013. “TCA had already made the case for divestment, which both the Senate and the student body have overwhelmingly supported, so Mike Howard, TCA and the Senate all agreed that it would be a little bit silly for the group to come in again,” Lee, a senior, said. “And given the urgency of the issue, we really didn’t want to delay the convening of the RIAG.” The RIAG will be composed of three trustees appointed by the Board, Tufts’ chief investment officer, the vice president of finance or their representatives, as well as two students and two faculty members appointed by the provost, according to the Board’s policies. According to Patrick Collins, Tufts’ executive director of media relations, the process of identifying committee members is now underway.

Once its members are appointed, the group will review the proposal, request pertinent information from the Tufts University Investment Office and write a nonbinding recommendation to the Board’s Investment Committee, which will make the final decision regarding divestment. Collins said that a timeline for the group’s work will be devised once the group begins meeting. The convening of the RIAG comes as some of Tufts’ peer institutions have already made public commitments to fully divest their endowments from fossil fuels. Notably, the University of California system announced last September that it is cutting fossil fuels from its approximately $83.4 billion investment portfolio due to the financial risk the assets pose, adding a potential financial incentive to a movement driven by environmental concerns. As for TCA, its members say that that group’s top priority is now to continue to educate the campus about the importance of divestment so that its movement will not lose momentum during the RIAG’s review. “We are still focused on advocating for divestment and making sure that the issue doesn’t slip to the wayside just because it is finally being addressed again by administration,” Carr said. “And I think recent extreme climate emergencies across the world — right now I’m thinking about the fires in Australia, for example — contribute to the urgency of the RIAG review.” Robert Kaplan contributed reporting to this article.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, January 22, 2020

THE TUFTS DAILY Ryan Shaffer Editor in Chief

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‘Create your own’ theme housing receives 1 application by Sarah Sandlow

Assistant News Editor

The Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL) invited students to apply to create their own themed house in Community Housing (CoHo) centered around a common interest or passion for fall 2020, but received only one application, according to Su McGlone, the director of fraternity and sorority affairs. McGlone, the point of contact for the applications, explained that the only application ORLL received was for Green House, which would center around sustainability and sustainable living. ORLL’s existing theme houses are affiliated with specific academic departments, identities or languages, such as the Russian/ Slavic Culture House which is sponsored by the Russian Language and Cultural Studies program. This program, however, invited students to form their own special interest housing, creating their own living and learning community centered around a specific topic or theme of their own choice. McGlone explained that she worked with ORLL Director Joshua Hartman to craft the idea of special interest housing after he saw it at other institutions. When the idea was introduced, McGlone said the overall response from students was positive and she wants it to remain an option for residential living. “[The hopes are] to provide more dynamic opportunities for students to

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engage with one another around topics that are enhancing their experience here at Tufts and to do that in an intentional way, to be able to find the potential ways of connecting with one another, finding their sense of belonging on campus, being something they get to create,” McGlone said. “There’s something sort of powerful around that, and hopefully it’ll be something we keep doing year after year.” Selected applicant Caeden Fial plans to live in the only create-yourown special interest house next year, called Green House. He explained that the house’s mission is to practice and encourage other people on how to live more sustainably, as well as to serve as a point of contact for various on-campus groups. Fial, a sophomore, currently lives in “the Hive,” which he explained as a Latin Way suite that is focused on sustainable living. He said the members of the suite each have different projects to work on that relate to sustainability, whereas in the Green House, all the members will be working on one project together. “A bunch of us [in the suite] wanted to keep doing what we were doing,” Fial said. “I find it really interesting figuring out different ways to live more sustainably and we thought it would be good to continue with it.” According to Fial, the members of the Green House next year want to start a garden with the outdoor space they have and host events or organize meetings in their common space. He

believes it will be easier to continue sustainability efforts in a house, rather than a suite. Environmental studies major Marilene Rivas-Chavez, another current resident of the Hive, expects to be the house manager as required by ORLL’s application. They explained that they chose to take on the role of house manager because they want to make the house open and available to people of all identities to take part in environmental movements. “I want to make other people feel like they can get involved too, because I’ve started going to the climate marches and I’ve been seeing a lot of the same people,” Rivas-Chavez, a sophomore, said. “But a lot of people from my circles, especially the Latinx community, are kind of struggling to get involved and feel like they have a space in it so I just want to have something big so people can know that we have a space too.” Fial explained that there are currently eight people who have expressed interest in living in the Green House next year. Since there are 12 spots available in the house, they are still looking for applicants interested in living sustainably and interested in working with different environmental groups on campus. “I think people should apply for themed housing if you find something that really interests you,” Fial said. “Then you can connect with other people who are also interested by it and if you live together it’s a lot easier to cooperate and figure out other things you might have in common.”

Research presents need to transition to ecological agriculture by Elli Sol Strich Assistant News Editor

Investigations Editor

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The Tufts Institute of the Environment held its first Hoch Cunningham Environmental Lecture of the semester on Jan. 16, featuring Tim Wise and the findings of his new book titled “Eating Tomorrow: The Battle for the Future of Food in the Climate Crisis” (2019). Hosted in Curtis Hall, the event was open to community members, students and faculty, and presented the urgency of climate change as it relates to the demands to change agriculture and the production and marketing of food. According to Sara Gomez, the Assistant Director/Program Manager of the environmental studies program, the topic of the lecture is timely with current issues and also coincides with many programs that are occurring at Tufts, including the academics of the food systems and nutrition minor, faculty research on food production and labor, and community outreach with the Tufts Food Rescue Collaborative. Wise is a senior researcher at the Small Planet Institute, where he directs the Land and Food Rights Program, and a senior research fellow at Tufts University’s Global Development and Environment Institute, in the Globalization and Sustainable Development Program from 2000–2016. He explained that his book took five years to complete, conducting research in the U.S., Mexico, India and several southern African countries. Wise deemed the question, ‘how do we feed the world?’ as flawed, juxtaposing U.S. overproduction of food against the 800 million people worldwide who suffer extreme hunger every year. He explained

that individual workers who are growing food for commercial profit often go hungry, while policymakers ignore low-cost food solutions. According to Wise, agribusiness profits drive these inequities, and the role of these industries are environmentally destructive. “The way we’re producing our food on chemical-intensive, industrial-scale farms is quite literally devouring the natural resource space—soil, water, seeds, climate—on which future food production happens,” he said. After showing a picture of a farmer in Malawi, Wise explained that after the first draft of an extreme policy, corn farmers were not allowed to call their kernels “seeds,” but rather had to call them “grains,” because they hadn’t been commercially certified. According to Wise, after he broke the news of the connection between the Malawi seed policy and Monsanto, serious revisions occurred. In response, a farmer’s rights policy is currently being developed, which guarantees farmers the rights to save, exchange and sell their seeds. In researching Zambia, Wise stated that 78%of the rural population of Zambia lives in extreme hunger, a percentage which has not moved in spite of the tripling of corn production. According to Wise, an excess of fertilizer and the wrong type of fertilizer, which are sold for commercial gains, are the causes of many of Zambia’s problems. The future for food, according to Wise, is most urgent in Africa because of the impact and projected impact, of climate change in the area. Wise stated that the “Green Revolution for Africa,” which promoted commercial seeds and chemical fertilizers, was coun-

terproductive, and instead a diversity of crops, intercropping a variety of plants and composted manure are needed to increase the soil’s fertility and productivity. Wise emphasized the impact of climate change on agriculture and food production everywhere, stating that two out of the six places he researched were underwater due to climatic events, including Iowa. In Iowa, Wise highlighted the research of Matt Liebman, an Iowa State University professor whose research concluded that a third rotation of the agriculture land would have large positive environmental impacts—including a reduction of fertilizer use by 85%, a reduction of herbicide use by 97% and an elimination of water pollution and runoff. Although this would improve soil fertility and reduce erosion, Wise asserted that it was not implemented by industrial farms because it led to less profits for agribusinesses. In response to the lecture, undergraduate Caro Fett stated that the lecture emphasized to her the connections and weight of money in the political sphere. “The decision-makers are not making decisions based on what’s best for farmers or even the majority of their nation — they’re really pawns of the agribusiness,” Fett, a senior, said. However, Wise also discussed the hope of new energy to address these problems. He cited participatory plant breeding, agroecology projects, women owning land and the Green New Deal. “If the system can be put in place to make incentives work to encourage a different kind of farmer, as Matt said, another Iowa is possible. And as farmers all over Africa told me, another agriculture is possible,” he said.

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Wednesday, January 22, 2020 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

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TCU Senate adjusts allocations board structure, prepares to fills vacancies by Alexander Janoff Assistant News Editor

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate heard updates from its executive board, discussed filling the vacancies left by senators spending the semester abroad as well as basic budgeting and parliamentary procedures in their first meeting of the semester on Sunday. TCU Senate heard no resolutions or supplementary funding requests at its meeting. Instead, the TCU Senate Executive Board announced various updates from their respective roles. TCU Senate President Shannon Lee provided her updates first. According to Lee, a senior, various committee

meetings will begin this week and the Education Policy Committee has two vacant seats to be filled. After an announcement of the meeting time and location of each specific committee by the committee chairs, TCU Treasurer Sharif Hamidi briefly reviewed the fall semester’s spending summary and discussed the budgeting process for the ongoing spring semester. According to Hamidi, a junior, he hopes to keep supplementary funding for this semester below $225,000, based on spending from the fall semester. The final budget vote will take place on April 5. Hamidi, in a structural change to the Allocations Board (ALBO), also announced that he himself would directly oversee the

budgeting for large umbrella organizations that have several subgroups which require funding, such as club sports and the Tufts University Social Collective (TUSC), in a brand-new allocations division specifically devoted to those large umbrella organizations. In the past, the responsibility of budgeting these groups was distributed across other ALBO members in their respective councils. Hamidi explained that he made this change in an effort to divide the heavy load that umbrella organizations carry. This also allows Hamidi to more directly allocate funds to specific groups, which he had not previously done during his tenure as TCU Treasurer. “It’s a little silly for the treasurer to budget zero organizations,” Hamidi said.

After TCU Senate Parliamentarian and Senator for the Class of 2020 Finn McGarghan led the group in a Kahoot trivia designed to review parliamentary procedure and rules of debate, TCU Senate Historian Rabiya Ismail discussed the upcoming special election to fill eight vacant TCU Senate seats. Ismail, a sophomore, said that there will be a general interest meeting for prospective candidates on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 9 PM in Pearson 104. Applications will be due the following Tuesday, Jan. 28. Voting will commence on election day, Feb. 5 following a Candidate’s Forum on Feb. 4 at 9 PM in Braker Hall room 001.

The “It’s Not Like I’m Drunk” Cocktail 2 oz. tequila 1 oz. triple sec 1/2 ounce lime juice Salt 1 too many 1 automobile 1 missed red light 1 false sense of security 1 lowered reaction time Combine ingredients. Shake. Have another. And another.

Never underestimate ‘just a few.’ Buzzed driving is drunk driving.

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Wednesday, January 22, 2020

TUSC changes internal structure, provides social programming for students by Kayla Butera

Contributing Writer

Fall Gala, Tuftonia’s Day Carnival, weekly movie nights and more. The Tufts University Social Collective (TUSC) organizes over 200 social events each year. TUSC aims to appeal to a variety of students. “As a student organization, they work hard to represent the needs and interests of all students and the board consists of representatives from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, degree programs, class years, racial and ethnic identities and interests to ensure their events are relevant, affordable and appealing to a variety of students,” Associate Director for Campus Life John Wescott said in an email. The organization’s events offer opportunities and spaces to have fun and socialize for students who might not want to go out on a Friday or Saturday night, according to TUSC Executive Co-Coordinator Noah Brown. One of TUSC’s goals is to provide alternatives to alcohol-centered parts of social life. Research was conducted over the summer on “high-risk” weekends, according to Executive Co-Coordinator Siobhan Shamlian. “Recently, TUSC has been thinking a lot about bringing different communities together in social spaces, and also helping to address the increase in alcohol related conduct cases across campus by hosting additional mid-evening and traditional late night programs that aim to disrupt ‘pregaming’ and provide alternative social spaces for those that do not wish to drink,” Wescott said. For example, TUSC had a particularly rigorous Halloweekend programming series this past fall. “We shifted our programming model to help reduce high risk behavior and help students build healthy relationships and

resiliency during high stress times during the semester,” Shamlian wrote in an email. TUSC may now be an easily identifiable presence on campus, but many students are not aware of the inner workings of the organization and how it has changed in recent years. Proposals for events come from members of TUSC and the newly-formed Team TUSC. Team TUSC is a group that conceptualizes ideas for upcoming events, volunteers at TUSC events and plans events, Brown and Shamlian told the Daily in an email. Team TUSC will be having its first meeting on Jan. 27. Twice a year, TUSC sends out a form to its members requesting potential event ideas, vendors of interest and what date and time they would like the event to take place. Before proposing an event, members are encouraged to extensively research their ideas and plans. “Just really go out there and see what you can come up with,” Shamlian said. The TUSC Executive Board then reviews all the proposals. TUSC leaders work closely with the Office for Campus Life (OCL), specifically with Wescott as their advisor, to assist members’ understanding of students’ needs and how to program accordingly. According to Wescott, he meets regularly with the programming teams to discuss event logistics, representation, affordability and access. As for the financials, TUSC receives all of its funding from Student Activity Fee dollars that are distributed by the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate; TUSC receives over $800,000, a budget which students can find on the TCU Senate website. Each TUSC subgroup has its own budget. “TUSC actually pays OCL for services, such as event staff or Tufts Tickets, just like all the other 340 student organizations,” Wescott said. “The only time that TUSC receives university funding is when a department or University program co-sponsors a special event – such as the

Halloweekend Series or Roller Rink in Tisch Library which are collaborative efforts with TUSC and many departments such as the Dean of Student Affairs office, Tisch Library, Health and Wellness, Residential Life and Learning, and [The Office of ] Fraternity and Sorority Life.” TUSC has asked for and collected an increase in funding in the past four years due to increasing costs of materials. “We don’t want to increase pricing for students because that’s not fair and we want to make sure that our programs are accessible for all people on campus, no matter their socioeconomic status,” Shamlian said. Funding is not the only factor that has changed. Last year, TUSC underwent a reorganization and rebranding to streamline their event planning and image. According to Brown, a committee rewrote the organization’s constitution, changing approximately 60 to 70% of what TUSC was. This marks the first year under the new structure. TUSC was originally divided into groups by class year. Under this system, budgets would get mixed up. “So last year, we needed to cut down on the number of people on TUSC and simplify everything,” Brown said. Brown and Shamlian explained TUSC’s new structure in an email to the Daily. The class groups were combined to form three specialized groups: TUSC Traditions, Late Night and Weekend Programming and Daytime Programming. TUSC Traditions is led by four to eight coordinators from different class groups and organize events such as Tuftonia’s Day, Fall Gala, Winter Weekend and Welcome Weekend. The Daytime Programming and Late Night and Weekend Programming teams each have two coordinators and were added to pre-existing committees within TUSC. So far, the new structure has been seen as a success, as members are

in smaller, more personal groups, Brown said. “[The benefit of working with multiple classes is] getting different input because people are in different places in their college careers, and we have anyone from first-years to seniors on Traditions,” Brown said. “Because we’re a smaller group now, we’re closer and can feed off ideas off of each other a lot better.” Apart from structural changes, TUSC has also transformed its appearance within the past two years, to which Brown and Shamlian credit TUSC’s marketing team. Before the marketing team, members would have to make posters themselves. “Getting a marketing team was really huge for promoting our brand – we got a more cohesive branding situation,” Shamlian said. “We became more specialized and way more effective.” The increased marketing could be due to TUSC becoming a familiar presence on campus and increased attendance at events. “Two years ago TUSC was not a recognized brand on campus,” Brown wrote in an email. “Now, because of some amazing work from our marketing team and our coordinators, students identify the TUSC logo with fun, high quality, and inclusive programming.” While attendance varies depending on the event, recent occasions demonstrate TUSC’s popularity. According to Shamlian, the apple-picking trip this year sold out in under two minutes, and some of the senior events have sold out in under three. At the roller-rink in Tisch this November, 700 people attended, 300 of which arrived within the first 10 minutes. TUSC aims to deliver events of all sizes and niches, and their evolution has proven to be a success on campus. First-year Victoria Chen echoes this sentiment. “Without those on-campus events, I wouldn’t be as close with my friends, and TUSC is doing a great job,” Chen said.

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Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Larry David is back in season 10 of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ by Tuna Margalit

Assistant Arts Editor

The premiere episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm’s” (2000–) decadal season is a reaffirmation of the unmatched brilliance that is Larry David’s writing. Some of “Curb’s” elements introduced following the post-season-eight hiatus — namely, high definition photography and an insistence on spicing up the camera angles — detract from the classic “Curb” feel. Having said that, the weaving of comedic plotlines, in and out and back in again, stuck all their landings. Seeing as that has always been “Curb’s” most identifiable trait, this episode was immensely satisfying. Reviewing an episode of “Curb” is difficult. There are many separate storylines that cannot be efficiently explained in the order they are shown due to how rapidly the show hops back and forth between them. On top of that, some actors play fictionalized caricatures of themselves while others play completely fictional characters. But this will be an attempt. The episode starts with fictional Larry David walking the streets of Los Angeles with Leon Black (J.B. Smoove), discussing the dissatisfaction Larry has in having white skin. Leon, who is black, comments that Larry’s skin is reminiscent of porridge and Larry agrees. This conversation kicks off a whimsical barrage of quips that don’t necessarily push the story forward, but they are incredibly bizarre and function as the irreverent center of the show’s humor. As Larry and Leon continue their walk, the former almost impulsively snatches a selfie stick out of a teen’s hands and snaps it over his knee. The moment is one of the only parts that don’t work, as it feels a bit forced and out of touch. There’s no doubt that the selfie stick realm would be a stronghold for angry baby boomers — of which fictional Larry David is a passionate member — but selfie-stick hating passed its peak far too long ago for the joke to land. Also, fictional Larry is known for being kind of a “bald asshole” but mainly for his horrible choice of words and offensive remarks. However, it seemed out of character for the usually non-violent Larry to unapologetically destroy someone’s personal property. From here, the main plotlines of the episode begin. They are: (1) Larry running into an eightmonths-pregnant mutual friend at the gym (Lennon Parham) and being abhorred by her decision to run on a treadmill. His comment that she is “jostling the fetus” is classic “Curb Your Enthusiasm” dialogue — astoundingly funny but completely socially unacceptable. Throughout the episode, Larry sees her doing things that he believes endanger the baby. The payoff is that he is the cause of something that will actually hurt her fetus — his sprinting through a hospital causes him to crash into her and knock her down. This is a comedy show, however, so a pregnant woman falling doesn’t elicit much of a dramatic response. Rather, it only serves the comedic purpose of showing how Larry is often the cause of the issues he tends to point out.

(2) Larry and Leon discover that a character from season seven — “Mocha Joe” — has opened a café in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, their elated reactions quickly dissipate when Larry proclaims the scones at the café to be too soft. This observation leads to a muted-yet-strong disagreement between Larry and Mocha Joe over the range of hardness in which a scone can be considered a scone and where it turns more into a “sconeslash-muffin,” as Larry calls it. One issue leads to another and Larry storms off. He relays his disgust to his friends Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin) and Richard Lewis — the former being Larry’s agent and the latter a comedian. Richard claims that he’ll boycott the café which pleases Larry. Later in the episode, Larry catches Richard at the café causing Larry to blow up at his friend and Mocha Joe. Mocha Joe bans Larry from the café and Larry vows to exact revenge on him. The plans for this revenge are put into motion in the premiere as Larry rents out a vacated space directly adjacent to Mocha Joe, in order to set up a “spite shop” — a café started purely so Larry can drive Mocha Joe out of business. (3) The #MeToo movement is broached in the episode as Larry, without asking, uses a dangling piece of his receptionist’s top to wipe his glasses and later tries to reach for food on a platter but accidentally grabs the server’s breast. Both instances start off innocent enough — the former with Larry being enthralled and curious about his receptionist’s arm tattoo and the latter with Larry’s craving a pig in a blanket. This plotline is the weakest, however, not because of the topic’s controversiality. Rather, the plotline is built on an action by Larry that just didn’t look at all realistic. How Larry went from reaching for platter to accidentally-grabbing-breast was incredibly cartoonish and done solely for the needed plot point. Having said this, the payoff to this plotline is excellent. Larry’s receptionist walks in on Larry, ready to lay into him. The scene she arrives at consists of Larry wearing a Make America Great Again hat while his agent Jeff Greene — who throughout the episode has been mistaken for Harvey Weinstein — admonishes Larry (who is not truly a Trump supporter) for using the hat merely to repel people from starting unwanted interactions with him. The picture could not be worse, even though, for the most part, it is entirely explainable. (4) Finally, Larry and his ex-wife Cheryl (Cheryl David) hookup. Having left Larry in season six but in many instances almost reuniting with him, Cheryl’s return to Larry’s romantic life has been a long time coming. This is a complicated situation, however, as Cheryl is currently dating fictionalized Ted Danson — Larry’s friend (though the accuracy of that label is something that Larry often internally debates). But the chemistry and longing is there; a party-pleasing ventriloquist act and a mostly-mature conversation about the

VIA IMDB

A promotional poster for “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (2000–) is pictured. strengths of their past relationship prove this to be true. Also, this conversation features a back-andforth where Cheryl reminisces about the moral superiority she felt over Larry when married to him, and Larry responds in affirmation, saying he’s morally inferior to all other humans but he takes solace in knowing he’s morally superior to all other animals and especially insects because he can crush them. So strange, yet so funny. Oh, also Larry uses talcum powder — a recurring substance in the episode — on his nether regions in preparation for oral sex but he forgets that Cheryl is allergic. This mishap winds them up in the hospital, where Cheryl reveals Ted Danson will soon be arriving, prompting Larry to sprint out of there, but causing him to run into the pregnant friend. Full circle. Plotline one was meant only for this episode, as evidenced by its incorporation of the title and overarching motif of the premiere — the phrase “Happy New Year.” The pregnant friend is the first to annoy Larry with a “Happy New Year!” that he

deems to have passed the expiration date weeks ago. Many people throughout the episode mistakenly greet Larry this way but the plotline concludes when Larry yells it at the pregnant friend who he just caused to fall. Plotlines two through four seem to be more long-term, likely to last the entire season. Therein lies the brilliance of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Real-life Larry David, along with an army of other talented writers, manages to work in the most hysterical, bizarre utterances at a relentless speed, all while crafting a story so delicate and satisfying to watch unfold that each episode plays like an intricate novel. These episodic novels then make up equally intricate seasons, though season nine was the first that doubted this “Curb” trademark. But those doubts were fully erased with this premiere. Season 10 is just as fresh as season one was, 20 years ago. Pretty… pretty… pretty… pretty good.

From Star Wars’ biggest year yet to the future of the franchise

by Christopher Panella

Arts Editor

2019 was perhaps the biggest year for Star Wars fans yet. From a critically acclaimed video game and the end of the Skywalker saga to probably the cutest, most meme-able character ever, this past year had something for everyone — even the most casual of Star Wars viewers — to enjoy. It brought the new comic miniseries “Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren,” an exciting backstory series on Ben Solo and his fall to darkness. 2019 was also the year of what looked like the most exciting Star Wars Celebration yet, with special announce-

ments and a 20th anniversary celebration for “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” (1999). While there’s plenty of content to dig through from 2019, here’s a look back on three of the year’s biggest Star Wars moments and a note on what’s coming next in a galaxy far, far away. “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order” Coming after 2015’s “Star Wars Battlefront” and 2017’s “Star Wars Battlefront II,” “Fallen Order” follows Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis (Cameron Monaghan) as he searches for a Jedi Holocron with a list of Force-sensitive children and continues his Jedi training, all while being hunted by Darth Vader’s Inquisitors, a group of Force-

sensitive dark side users who hunt down any surviving Jedi or Force-sensitives. It’s a complex plot — Kestis travels to various planets and fights plenty of enemies throughout “Fallen Order.” But every aspect of the game is enjoyable and immersive; indeed, it might just be the best Star Wars video game since “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” (2003). Kestis’ character is well-developed, the various locations across the game are beautiful and the battles are challenging and fun. A major highlight of the game is the ability to customize Kestis’ outfits — there are some really neat ponchos to find, like a hot pink one! — his ship skin and his lightsaber. With plenty of

lightsaber materials and kyber crystals to choose from, players can truly make Kestis look unique. “The Mandalorian” Set before the sequel trilogy, “The Mandalorian” — a Disney+ exclusive live-action series — is inarguably the breakout series of the television season. The series follows the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal), a lone bounty hunter, as he pursues various bounties across the galaxy. The series took a turn in its first episode with the introduction of The Child — or as fans call him, Baby

see STAR WARS, page 6

THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Wednesday, January 22, 2020

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‘Star Wars’ looks ahead after historic 2019 STAR WARS

continued from page 5 Yoda. While the show is absolutely great — a smaller-scale Star Wars story with strong Western and samurai vibes and some killer scoring — Baby Yoda’s internet popularity has made for some pretty hilarious memes (the best certainly being of him holding a cup, which is literally just the cutest thing ever). The unexpected relationship between The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda is the highlight of the show; The Mandalorian, despite constantly wearing armor and speaking only when necessary, has a soft spot for The Child. It’s impossible for the viewer to not feel the same way. Here’s to counting down the days until season two of the best television show out there right now. “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” With the end of a 42-year-old saga comes feelings of both sadness and joy. While the nine-episode, three-trilogy story certainly feels complete thanks to “The Rise of Skywalker,” it’s impossible not to hope for another trilogy with these characters. Sequel trilogy characters like Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) might be new on the block, but they already feel cemented in the Star Wars legacy and mythology. “The Rise of Skywalker” builds on fans’ love for the past trilogies and these new characters, focusing on Rey and Kylo Ren’s conflict and palpable romantic tension — arguably the best chemistry between any two characters in the Star Wars franchise — while also providing

plenty of fan service and nostalgia. The final film in the Skywalker saga not only spends time exploring interesting Force mythos, showing a very creepy undead Palpatine and providing some of the coolest planets the saga’s seen (talking specifically about Exogol!), it also wraps up the battle between the Resistance and the First Order. As “The Rise of Skywalker” breaks $1 billion at the box office, Disney earns its seventh 2019 $1 billion release. Well… what’s next? Good question. Star Wars fans are always looking forward to new content. And while “The Mandalorian” will have its second season release in fall 2020, audiences won’t see a new film until 2022. Who will that film involve? Will it finally kickoff Rian Johnson’s series of films? Or possibly Kevin Feige? Regardless, reports and rumors suggest that it’ll take place during the High Republic era, set around 400 years before the prequels. It’s a great time period to explore — there’s plenty of Jedi, exciting planets to discover and characters to meet. Of course, this doesn’t mean that audiences won’t get to see some fan-favorite Skywalker saga characters. Kathleen Kennedy, the President of Lucasfilm, teased that sequel trilogy characters could certainly make appearances in the future of Star Wars (a Rey Disney+ series? Please!). Fans can expect a slower year for the franchise in 2020, including Project Luminous, a book/comic series written by multiple authors. There aren’t many details about Luminous just yet, but expect it to be an exciting new chapter for Star Wars.

VIA IMDB

A promotional poster for “Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker” (2019) is pictured.

One pope, two popes, red pope, new pope

VIA IMDB

A promotional poster for “The New Pope” (2020-) is pictured. by Daniel Klain

Assistant Arts Editor

After a three-year wait, a cloud of white smoke appeared from HBO’s office and just like that the people knew that “The New Pope” (2020–) was on TV. While technically considered a follow-up, it is essentially the sequel to Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Young Pope” (2016).

“The New Pope” picks up soon after where “The Young Pope” left off. Nine months after Pope Pius XIII falls into a coma after suffering a heart attack, with no figure to symbolize the leadership of the church, Cardinal Voiello finally decides that it’s time for a new pope to be elected. While the placement of politics into the church is a considerably easy opportuni-

ty to make a statement on both institutions’ similar dominance by egomania and backroom power-broking, the opportunity is masterfully executed. Voiello puts in a puppet pope who will essentially follow his direction. Sadly, it backfires. The pope elect, Francis II, quickly realizes the power at his fingertips and utilizes it by enacting radical change. Francis forces all of the cardinals to give up their life of luxury and give back to the less fortunate; he forces the cardinals to give up all of their jewelry and gold crosses, and even more radically opens the doors of the Vatican to refugee immigrants. To force the Vatican and the leaders inside it to sacrifice in the name of service doesn’t feel radical — so much of Christianity preaches about love and charity — but as we see the hesitancy of the cardinals, especially Voiello, the church is exposed for its selfishness. Shortly after, we learn that Francis’s motives are no more innocent. The radical decisions are just as much about helping as they are about having the power to take away the cardinals’ lavish lifestyle and receive praise from the public. This level of nuance further indicts the church; in Sorrentino’s mind, no act is purely motivated and no one is free of sin. The season premiere ends with the most powerful figure, ironically not God in this circumstance, smiting down Francis II, a final twist in the show’s criticism of how power taints Catholicism. The premiere episode is a fantastic hour of television. The radical style, its use of montage, vibrant color, modern music and its open commentary on the church clashes with its incredibly traditionalist subject, Catholicism and the Vatican, in a way that creates sparks. Nothing better encapsulates this than the confounding intro where a giant neon-lit cross strobes as nuns dance in slow motion to house music in front of it. These elements combined should not

work in any way, but because of its clear message, the style feels purposeful and the episode clicks. In comes John Malkovich to save the day. Anyone who had seen any content about the show before it aired knew Malkovich was going to be on the show, but to make them wait until the second episode for his arrival only built up anticipation. Normally known for his flourish and overacting, Malkovich is no different here, but the overacting isn’t nearly as loud as it normally is. Malkovich’s character, Sir John Brannox, is an English priest whose remorse and sadness prominently hang like a cloud not only over himself but also the entire room. The second episode is spent with Voiello and his cardinal entourage visiting Brannox and trying to convince him to become ‘the new pope’. Brannox in turn questions Voiello about the Vatican and Catholicism. Brannox admits that the death of his twin brother Adam still haunts him and has made him much more fragile, so he is hesitant to take on the role. The second episode feels like a turn from the first episode. It is much more still and quiet, signaled by the lack of a true montage sequence and its use of more classical music, but the characters are more honest about their true desires and motivations. It is enigmatic, somber and split between comprehensible and confounding, encapsulating the character that dominates it, John Brannox. All in all, it seems like “The New Pope” is worth sticking around for. The second episode, especially in pair with the first, makes it seem like the show is attempting to not just mock the church but seriously interrogate it and its devout faith. More importantly, it is injected with a lively and effective style that feels thoughtful about the themes of the show. Those intrigued by “The New Pope” should definitely make the time for it.

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Opinion

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EDITORIAL

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Tufts must find a middle ground with the spring first-year drop-deadline

BY CARYS KONG Last week, Tufts students returned to campus and began their spring semester courses, settling back into the rhythm of academic work and on-campus commitments. During the semester’s start, some students look to add or drop courses and reconfigure their schedules to better suit their interests and academic abilities. Aware of their academic passions and well-seasoned in the exercise of building schedules, upperclassmen are likely able to make these decisions with relative ease while first-years require additional time to gauge whether or not they should drop a

course; they have little experience in course selection and have not yet had the chance to fully explore their academic interests. Despite this experience of first-year students, the spring drop-deadline was changed this year to be the same for all undergraduates based on a recommendation from the Mental Health Task Force: first-years now must drop classes by Feb. 19. The recommendation stated that the previous late deadline, the 10th week of the semester, may have generated additional stress, with students pushing themselves to stay in courses that they may not be able to

successfully complete. As such, the earlier drop-deadline seeks to motivate students to make choices about their classes and seek help sooner. Although this reasoning holds some validity, the university did not consider the similar concerns and other disadvantages of an earlier first-year drop deadline. In order to allow first-years the flexibility to engage with the breadth of a liberal arts curriculum while still considering the recommendations of the Mental Health Task Force, Tufts should change the first-year drop-deadline to a middle ground between the past and current spring dropdates: mid-March before spring break. During the fall semester, first-year students were offered a 10-week period to drop classes without record of enrollment, enabling first-years to develop and explore new interests without sacrificing their mental health as they test their capabilities in a university environment. First-year Rachel Feldman experienced these benefits, taking advantage of the extended deadline and dropping her Introduction to Philosophy class at the end of October. “The later deadline gave me a concrete idea of the workload and how I’d perform in the class, which ultimately led to an informed decision to drop,” said Feldman. With the ability to experience the class for a few months prior to dropping, she was not forced to remain in a class that did not suit her well or deal with the pressure of figuring out if she should drop earlier in the semester without the knowledge to make an informed decision, which causes unneeded stress especially for first-years who are getting used to the pressure of college life. As Feldman experienced, a later drop-deadline allows students to accurately assess whether they can succeed in a course. For some, the difficulty of a course does not increase linearly throughout the semester; a student who struggles during the third week may find themselves com-

fortably settled by the sixth week, having developed better strategies to learn the material. The opposite may also hold true; students who find they can handle the first three weeks of a course may encounter unforeseen challenges later, and the longer drop-deadline serves as an effective safety net. Reflected in the values of its curriculum, Tufts promises to provide students with the opportunity to develop new interests through trying different classes unrelated to their previous interests, in particular during the first year of college. The extended drop-deadline achieves this mission, incentivizing students to step out of their comfort zone and try new things because they know they can drop the class if needed. When asked how her situation would have changed with an earlier drop-deadline, Feldman said, “I probably wouldn’t have taken philosophy at all.” If Feldman had never taken philosophy, she would have never known if the subject interests her; although she ultimately did not discover a new passion, the extended drop-deadline gives the opportunity to take classes that students would not normally take and thus allows many students to discover new interests that they would not have had otherwise. By changing the drop-deadline to a middle ground between the previous and current spring drop-deadlines, Tufts would pay respect to these benefits of a later deadline while still acknowledging the earlier recommendation of the Mental Health Task Force; Tufts must do so in order to fully address the needs of its first-year students. In this form, Tufts more holistically considers mental health in context with the advantages of a later drop-deadline at the heart of a Tufts education: academic and self-exploration.

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BY NASRIN LIN

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.

THE TUFTS DAILY | Opinion | Wednesday, January 22, 2020

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Sports

Wednesday, January 22, 2020 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Swim and dive impresses in meets against Wheaton College, Boston College by Sruthi Kocherlakota Assistant Sports Editor

The Tufts men’s and women’s swim and dive team had an outstanding performance against Wheaton College on Saturday, despite racing after its grueling training trip to South Florida and meet against Boston College (BC) on Jan. 14. The Jumbos hosted the Lyons at their home Hamilton Pool, with both the men’s and women’s teams emerging victorious. Earlier in the week, Tufts hosted BC in the team’s first race since December, fresh off its annual training trip to Florida. The men’s team defeated BC, while the women’s team fell short. Coach Adam Hoyt shared his thoughts on the team’s performance in the two meets, especially after a quick turn around from their winter training. “I think everyone was feeling fatigued from both meets — physical and mental fatigue from travel and a busy past couple of weeks of training,” Hoyt said. “But, the men and women both responded well from the fatigue, and we were able to focus on the things they needed to control.” Men’s team The Jumbos outperformed the Lyons in nearly every event, with a final score of 167‒ 9 3. For the 200-yard medley relay, the Jumbos placed in first and second, with senior Matthew Manfre, sophomore Nate Tingen and first-years Joshua Balbi and Peter LaBarge recording a time of 1:33.78. In the 200-yard freestyle, the first eight finishers were all Jumbos, with senior Roger Gu holding the fastest time of 1:42.37. Tufts also held at least the top three times in the 100-yard backstroke, 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard butterfly. Five days before, despite 10 consecutive years of losing to BC, the team dominated in a close meet, with a final score of 195‒179. Tufts picked up a win in the 200-yard medley relay with a 1:32.62 time. Notably, including the 200-yard medley relay, sophomore Tar Tar Jarusinchai totaled three first-place finishes, while Gu had four. “I am pretty happy with how I swam after coming off the training trip — we

TUFTS DAILY PHOTO ARCHIVES

Members of the women’s swim team dive into Hamilton Pool on Dec. 2, 2018. are all tired, and I gave it my all and I was pretty happy with it,” Gu said. “The team did very well, there were a lot of breakout swims. I think, given the circumstances of just coming off of a trip and a meet earlier in the week, we did really well.” Women’s team The women’s team also had a polished performance on Saturday, defeating Wheaton 169‒114. After falling to the BC Eagles earlier in the week, the Jumbos were motivated to outperform the Lyons. The women’s 200-yard medley relay teams placed in first and third, with sophomore Emma Donchi and juniors Lily Kurtz, Sahsa Fong and Amy Socha on the firstplace team with a 1:49.14 time. First-year Katelin Isakoff had two wins in the 1,000yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle. “I thought I did pretty well, especially coming off the training trip where we were all broken down,” Isakoff said

about the Wheaton race. “It was definitely a pretty solid mid-season meet. It was really good to see the team all together at a home meet supporting each other and cheering.” During the BC meet, the women’s team overall had a consistent performance, but fell to the college by a final score of 266–110. Isakoff completed the 500-yard freestyle in 5:09.08, placing first in the event and also came in second in the 200-yard butterfly at 2:07.96. Moving forward The men’s and women’s team will race against Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) this Saturday, in the annual senior meet. It will be hosted at Hamilton Pool. The men’s team fell short to MIT in the MIT Invitational earlier this season, placing as runner-up in the meet, while the women’s team placed first in the meet. Looking forward to the remainder of the season, Hoyt explained that now the team can focus on more technical aspects

of swimming. “From a fitness standpoint, we are where we need to be — our athletes have trained really hard, and fitness levels are high,” Hoyt said. “From a technical standpoint, really working on top-end speed and crisper racing, meaning high levels of focus on technical aspects of their swimming, whether it is their starts, turns or pacing that are a little bit more difficult to improve when you are broken down and fatigued as an athlete.” Gu mentioned th at at this point in the season, the team is looking for ward to the u pcoming champion ship meets. “That is definitely the most exciting part of the season,” Gu said. “After seeing how well everyone performs when we are not in optimal conditions, once we get into championships there is a lot of potential to do great things.”

In opening meet of season, track and field sees success individually and in team scoring TRACK AND FIELD

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second-place Springfield College at 151.5. In her collegiate debut, first-year Jaidyn Appel became only the second athlete in Tufts women’s’ track & field history to clear 5’7 ″ in the high jump. Remarkably, Appel’s mark ranks fourth nationally for Division III. Sophomore Tara Lowensohn, who won the 600-meter event at 1:41.24, praised Appel’s talents and amazing accomplishments from last Saturday. “I think she is a very interesting teammate who has a strong work ethic,” said Lowensohn. “I think she has a lot of potential and room to grow. It’s crazy for someone to achieve the accolades she did in her first meet.” Sophomore Hannah Neilon won the 800-meter event with a 2:19.71 time, ranking fifth nationally in Div. III. Tufts senior co-captain Rhemi Toth finished her run in the same event with a 2:20.79 runner-up

finish, ranking 12th place in the nation. Before the winter break, on Dec. 7, sophomore Danielle Page represented Tufts at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University. She raced the 5,000 meters (5K) with a converted time of 16:59.76, beating her previous personal record. She came off an excellent fall cross country season, posting the second-best NCAA finish in Tufts University history with her sixth-place finish (21:25.5) at the 2019 national championship race. The men’s team will compete at both Boston University’s John Thomas Terrier Classic and at the Wheaton Invitational next weekend ( Jan. 24 and 25). Meanwhile, the women’s team will compete only at the Wheaton Invitational on Saturday. “I don’t really know much about next week’s meet except that it is at Wheaton, but we are looking to build off of what we’ve done last week,” Avallone said.

MADELEINE OLIVER / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Danielle Page ‘22, wins the 10,000m race at Snowflake Classic on Mar. 30, 2019.

12 tuftsdaily.com

Sports

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Men’s basketball continues successful start to season, improves to 13–3 by Henry Gorelik

Assistant Sports Editor

After defeating Hamilton and Amherst over the weekend, the men’s basketball team remains undefeated in NESCAC play and owns an impressive 13–3 overall record. In their last game on Jan. 18, junior center Luke Rogers’ 25 points paired with senior guard and co-captain Eric Savage’s 18 points, eight rebounds and nine assists propelled the Jumbos to a 96–78 victory over the Amherst Mammoths. This gave the Jumbos their second win in two days after beating the Hamilton Continentals the day before by a score of 78–72, off of 21 points and 16 rebounds from Rogers. Despite the successful weekend and start to the season, the Jumbos are still preparing for the challenges ahead. “Every game in the NESCAC is a grind [because] you only play everybody once, so it means a lot,” Savage said. “We also sort of put together a resume that has led to a target being on our back a little bit, you know people are coming for us. If we can keep our energy high and our tempo and our pace high, you know we’re going to be tough to beat.” These two conference wins come on the heels of an 89–78 loss to Suffolk on Jan. 14. Suffolk sophomore guard Max BonneyLiles dropped 31 points while Suffolk more than doubled Tufts’ three-point shooting percentage. Savage blamed this loss on themselves, looking internally rather than crediting Suffolk. “[Against] Suffolk we kind of came out and did not have much energy, but I don’t think that [they were] necessarily like a strong opponent,” said Savage. “I think it was just more of an internal problem.” Before the loss to Suffolk, Tufts went on a five-game winning streak in which they beat Wesleyan University, Nichols College, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), University of La Verne and University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston). In a 92–85 victory over Wesleyan on Jan. 10, four out of five starters reached double figures in scoring. These high scorers paired with junior guard and co-captain Will Brady’s 9 points off the bench after going three-for-three from the three-point arc proved to be lethal.

“I think for me obviously shooting is what I do best, so that’s my job on the team,” Brady said. “I come off the bench and provide a little bit of spark energy-wise and defensively.” When asked about the Jumbos’ success during the season and this five-game winning streak, Brady referenced the role of strong chemistry in addition to talent across the team. “I think we’re a team that wants to get up and down the court and run,” Brady said. “We feel like we have pretty good depth and a lot of people who can score and definitely can shoot. I think just overall we are all really good friends and our team chemistry is good.” Tufts’ depth and scoring distribution, as described by Savage and Brady, was on full display in their games against Nichols, Caltech and UMass Boston. Tufts’ depth really shined when the bench tallied 27 points in their 75–65 victory over Nichols on Jan. 4. On Dec. 29 against Caltech, the starters combined for 84 points en route to a 99–83 victory. Coming up big again, the bench provided 29 points in the team’s 71–49 win over UMass Boston on Dec. 11. Tufts went 1–1 in the New England Big Four Challenge Championship, losing to Babson College on Dec. 8 by a score of 99–85 after beating Brandeis University 68–61 the day before. This tournament came after Tufts lost to Worcester Polytechnic Institute by a score of 72–62 on Dec. 3, the team’s first loss of the season. “It was our first big test of the year and we came out a little bit flat — I think we hadn’t found our stride offensively yet,” Savage said. “We hadn’t played a team that was that good on the defensive side of the ball, so when they locked up, we struggled to score.” The Jumbos treated this month-anda-half stretch of games as a learning opportunity, using their time as an opportunity to see games through and bury the opposition. “We’ve had to learn lessons in terms of like finishing games and finishing teams out,” Savage said. “We’d be up by 10 mid-second half and not really be able to extend that lead to 20 and sort of put them away. I think playing in close games against tough opponents

EVAN SAYLES / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Junior center Luke Rogers swats down a shot in the game against Trinity on Feb. 11, 2018. is really going to help you down the stretch if you want to make a postseason run.” Despite their improvement, the Jumbos still have a few changes to make if they want to accomplish their goals throughout the season, according to Brady.

“I think a season-long process for us is being as good of a defensive team as we can,” Brady said. “I think last year that was our biggest issue. We’re a little bit undersized at the one through four so just continuing to grow and play defense and make sure that we out rebound teams is huge for us.”

Junior Daeseob Lim was second in the pole vault event with a 13′ 1 ½” (4.00 meters) best effort. First-year Hunter Farrell was third with the same height. The men’s team showcased an excellent performance despite the varying levels of experience on the roster. Although it is very early in the season, the first-years showed the potential to compete at high levels. “It’s early, people are still getting back into the groove, but the [first-years] can compete,” Avallone said. “Personally, I think Willy White had a very strong meet. He competed and scored in three events. It’s a sign that [first-years] came to show up and they’re going to have a positive impact on the team moving forward.”

Lim empathized with his first-year teammates’ leap into collegiate track and field, as he was once in their shoes. “This was the [first-year’s] first collegiate meet ever, and I can tell you from experience that it was nerve-wracking going into a meet as I have a lot of expectations on my own performance because it is your first college meet,” said Lim. “Since I am a junior, there was less nervousness and more excitement going into the season since I know what I am doing.” The women’s team won its season opener at the Gantcher Center, accumulating a total of 243.5 points, well ahead of

Women’s track and field places 1st in Tufts Invitational, men’s team places 3rd

by Jason Schwartz

The most exhilarating event of the day was the 4×400-meter relay. The Jumbo crew had senior Jordan Abate The members of the men’s and wom- leading off, junior Vincent Avallone in en’s indoor track and field teams com- the second position, sophomore Sam pleted their first invitational on Jan. Oomen-Lochtefeld in the third position 18 at their home track, the Gantcher and first-year Willy White in the anchor Center. The Jumbo Invitational was an role. The foursome’s finish of 3:29.21 exciting and successful season opener currently ranks No. 31 nationally in for both squads, resulting in many per- Div. III. sonal records. “I knew we had put together a great Overall, the men’s team placed third team and we each knew we wanted out of eight. to run fast,” Avallone said. “It was an Senior Matt D’Anieri won the 1,000- opportunity to run on a 4×4 relay since meter run event with an impressive we haven’t run in one in a while since time of 2:30.08, a personal record. this is the first meet of the season. We Sophomore Nick Delaney was second ended doing pretty well and we got in in the race, finishing with a personal second place as a result. We will look to record of 2:30.71. improve our splits even further.” Staff Writer

see TRACK AND FIELD, page 11