The Tufts Daily - January 24, 2019 by The Tufts Daily

SERIES SPOTLIGHT

Women’s track and field races to top three finish at Bowdoin see SPORTS / BACK PAGE

‘Sex Education’ offers relatable glimpse into teenage years

Students, administrators offer feedback about Canvas see FEATURES / PAGE 5

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VOLUME LXXVII, ISSUE 5

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Thursday, January 24, 2019

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Students share stories of resilience and hope at annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration

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Martin Luther King Jr., speaking at the Washington Monument, is pictured. by Alejandra Carrillo Assistant News Editor

Disclaimer: Jesse Najarro is a former news editor for the Tufts Daily. He was not involved in the writing or editing of this article. Students, faculty and alumni gathered on Jan. 22 in Breed Memorial Hall to commemorate the life and legacy of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by sharing stories of overcoming hardship and discrimination, both at and outside of Tufts. The event, titled

“A Single Garment of Destiny: Stories of Resilience and Hope,” draws its name from a King quote and was sponsored by the University chaplaincy. Grace Talusan, a lecturer in the English department, opened the event with welcoming remarks before introducing a time for student stories. The students recounted their experiences related to race, faith, hardship and family. First-year Kamar Godoy, the first student speaker, opened his speech with a quote from Dr. King, focusing on the faith and courage of the civil rights

activist. He recalled actively attending church in his hometown of Los Angelés, Calif., and his decision to continue strengthening his faith at Tufts by attending Mass on campus. “Faith is a cup, and it is a cup within you, and when I go to church it refills that cup with encouragement and refills that cup with the word … with everything that I need to get through the rest of my week,” Godoy, a first-year, said. Jesse Najarro spoke next, sharing the challenges he faced growing up as a Latino from an immigrant family. Najarro, a senior, spoke about the

lack of Latino representation in film and media and emphasized the exclusion and isolation he felt as a result. “I remember watching a movie called ‘Latter Days’ and the film is so sad and what made me sadder was that I couldn’t relate to some of the characters,” he said. “I was a Latino kid from a Central American immigrant family and I remember just crying and not understanding what I was going through.” Najarro concluded by describing how he has worked to find his voice in this environment. “I broke the silence and spoke my truth … little by little I have tried to build myself up,” he said. Senior Ashley Alphonse then spoke about her own experience overcoming sadness. Dedicating her speech to her mother, she detailed the overwhelming grief her family felt after her father’s passing and her admiration for her mother’s strength. “Whenever I feel like I’m struggling and I really just can’t persevere, I think about how much she had on her shoulder and how much she had to do for us and how hard that must’ve been,” Alphonse said. Next, Xavier Brooks spoke about his father’s love for rap music and how it impacted the process of his father’s divorce. Brooks, a first-year, said that his father often hummed songs and spoke confidently, but during the divorce, he could not. “That was the first time where he has ever spoken to me and it looked see MLK DAY, page 3

Nadine Aubry named as new university provost by Zachary Hertz News Editor

Tufts has appointed Nadine Aubry as the university’s next provost and senior vice president. Aubry will begin as provost on July 1, according to a university press release provided to the Daily. “I am deeply honored and extremely excited to be named the next provost of Tufts, a premier university with superb students, prominent faculty, dedicated staff, and accomplished alumni,” Aubry said in a comment in the press release.

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Aubry will replace Deborah Kochevar, who served as provost ad interim following Provost David Harris’s departure last year to assume the presidency of Union College. Previously, Aubry served as dean of the College of Engineering at Northeastern University beginning in 2012, where she received the award of university distinguished professor in 2013. Before coming to Northeastern, Aubry was head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. According to the press release,

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Aubry has valuable experience working to create a stronger and more dynamic academic program and nurturing interdisciplinary academics. “She has demonstrated an ability to build innovative academic programs, grow research, enhance academic quality, generate new resources, and create interdisciplinary programs bridging disparate areas of study,” the statement said. At Northeastern, Aubry spearheaded numerous initiatives, including the College of Engineering Diversity and Inclusion Council, which aimed to increase enrollment among under-

represented minority students. In an interview with the Daily, she said that she also worked on creating a center for entrepreneurship education, encouraging students to use interdisciplinary methods to create new methods, ideas and products. Her academic research focuses on fluid dynamics and the modeling of complex flows using advanced decomposition techniques. For her contributions, Aubry was awarded the 2017 G.I. Taylor Medal from the Society of Engineering Science and

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................5 ARTS & LIVING.......................6

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OPINION.....................................8 FUN & GAMES.........................9 SPORTS............................ BACK

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, January 24, 2019

THE TUFTS DAILY Elie Levine Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL

David Levitsky Anita Ramaswamy

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After six months, no agreements on key issues in dining worker contract talks

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Tufts dining workers exit 200 Boston Ave. after attending a negotiation on Jan. 23, 2019.

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BUSINESS Olivia Davis Executive Business Director

Representatives from Tufts and negotiators from UNITE HERE Local 26, the union that represents Tufts dining workers, met yesterday morning at 200 Boston Ave. for the 11th time since talks began in August. After four hours of discussion, an agreement on key issues such as wages and temporary contracts had yet to be reached, according to representatives from the union and the university. Michael Kramer, UNITE HERE Local 26’s lead negotiator, said that the university’s negotiating team, led by Joseph P. McConnell from the Boston legal firm Morgan, Brown & Joy LLP, had put forward a series of responses to proposals the union had made about non-economic issues including protections for immigrant workers. He said he felt that the union’s proposals were standard, but the university has yet to accept them. “I think that is the thing that signaled to our committee that they aren’t yet taking this as seriously as the dining hall workers are,” Kramer said. “The university needs to do something quickly to respond, and respond in a way that they’re making some real movement toward what people are demanding.” Patrick Collins, Tufts’ executive director of public relations, contended that the university has already agreed to “significant” job protections for employees and a grievance process, while it has proposed measures that would transfer the majority of workers on temporary contracts to fulltime employment and give dining workers a pay raise. “While we have a ways to go to complete our work, we believe that both the university and the union teams are working conscientiously to seek to improve the working conditions of dining employees in a responsible manner,” Collins said in an email to the Daily. Kramer said that the points on which the parties have already agreed, such as the grievance process and jury duty, are often dealt with early in the process, and that the more contentious issues have yet to be addressed.

One of those issues is wages. According to Kramer, in early December, the union proposed a system of uniform, collectively bargained pay raises to replace the current system of individual merit-based raises, which he said are subject to racial and gender bias. Kramer said that the university responded in mid-December by proposing that the current system be preserved. The university disputed this interpretation. Collins said that in their early December proposal, the university had included provisions addressing both wage rates and increases; when the union responded in mid-December, they addressed the increases only, and the union did not provide counter-proposals on wage rates until Jan. 18. The university is now reviewing those proposals, Collins explained. Collins also said that the union rejected a package proposal that would have addressed the issue of temporary contracts, making the majority of temporary employees regular employees with benefits and wage increases, at yesterday’s meeting. This was because the package had included provisions that were unacceptable to the union, according to Kramer. Lucson Aime, a first cook at the DewickMacPhie Dining Center who was present at the talks yesterday morning, said that the university’s negotiators are pursuing a strategy of delay in an effort to make the workers lose hope in the process. “We realize that they are trying to drag it — trying to make it slow, because people can get discouraged, people can give up. That’s their strategy, and they’re good at it,” Aime said. “The workers are kind of fed up about it.” Kramer, who has been involved in dining workers’ contract negotiations at Harvard University and Northeastern University, also said that these talks have proceeded at a much slower pace than comparable ones, and that “significant distance” remains between the two parties. He stressed that the union is seeking a contract that is similar to those at comparable universities in the area, some of which are less wealthy than Tufts.

“There’s no question of affordability. There’s a question of will and a question of whether the leadership of the Tufts administration has the will to correct what we regard as injustices,” Kramer said. Collins responded that the university recognizes the frustration that can come with negotiating an initial contract. “We appreciate our dining employees’ commitment to the bargaining process and … their candor. We hope that we will be able to reach agreement as soon as possible,” he said. William A. Herbert, a distinguished lecturer at Hunter College, City University of New York, who studies unionization at universities, said that the negotiations for initial contracts are often the most difficult because that contract becomes the starting point for all future negotiations. Failure to agree could result in a strike, he said. “Federal law requires that parties negotiate in good faith. It does not require that they reach an agreement,” Herbert wrote in an email to the Daily. Harvard University’s dining workers went on strike for 22 days in the fall of 2016 after their negotiations reached an impasse, according to an article in the Harvard Crimson. Tufts’ student activists, for their part, have tried in recent days to increase the pressure on the university. Tufts Dining Action Coalition (TDAC) held a rally in support of the dining workers last week, and organized Button Up Day on Tuesday, during which they encouraged students to wear buttons reading, “We Love Our Cafeteria Workers.” Jesse Ryan, a sophomore in TDAC, said, “I think it was definitely successful seeing how many people were posting, were wearing [the buttons] — the fact that people were going into their big lecture classes and having everybody take a picture with their buttons on.” Christine Tringale, a night cook supervisor at Hodgdon Food-on-theRun, said the group was determined to speed the process along. She said that both parties are looking to schedule further negotiations in March.

News

Thursday, January 24, 2019 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

Tisch College releases Distinguished Speaker Series lineup

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Tisch College shot at sunset on Feb. 13, 2018. by Kat Grellman News Editor

Former Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Donna Brazile, former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake and interfaith leader Eboo Patel will speak at Tufts University this semester as part of Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life’s Distinguished Speaker Series. According to the Tisch College website, Brazile will speak on Feb. 5, Flake will speak on March 11 and Patel will speak on April 1 as a joint initiative with the University Chaplaincy. According to Jennifer McAndrew, the director of communications, strategy and planning at Tisch College, the events will not be ticketed. She added that RSVPs are strongly encouraged for planning purposes. Special Projects Administrator at Tisch College Jessica Byrnes said that all of the events will be live-streamed and uploaded to YouTube for those unable to attend. Byrnes noted an important aspect of the Distinguished Speaker Series is to encourage community engagement and dialogue. “One way we’ve done that is to sort of allow students and other community members to talk about what they’re hearing from the speaker during the event using, [for example], #JeffFlakeAtTufts and after the event as well,” Byrnes said. “It’s also a good way to hear

from other students who might not want to ask a question during the event but have an important thought that they want to voice.” In an email statement to the Daily, Dean of Tisch College Alan Solomont noted the varied professional backgrounds of the speakers. “Taken as a group, they represent leadership in the non-profit world, public service, politics, the faith community and the arts,” he said. “We welcome everyone’s participation in what I hope is an ongoing conversation about the state of our civic life in 2019.” According to McAndrew, the Distinguished Speaker Series was launched in the fall of 2014 with Senator Elizabeth Warren. The series hosts well-known, high-profile speakers on the Tufts campus. Byrnes noted the overarching goals of the Distinguished Speaker Series. “One is we seek diverse individuals from different walks of life to share insight to the Tufts community and expose students to a range of perspectives different than their own,” Byrnes said. “Second is really to encourage debate on some of today’s most pressing issues. And third is to inspire and educate our students on what it means to be a civic leader.” McAndrew said a key aspect of the lineup this year is that all of the speakers come from different backgrounds with differing ideologies.

“I think that as usual, the compelling piece of each is that they’re different,” McAndrew said. “That you could ask them all the same one question and they would all have very different answers. And how we think about those answers and knit them together and consider them is something that is an important and unique part of the Distinguished Speaker Series.” According to Byrnes, Tisch College will partner with the University Chaplaincy to host Patel, who served on former President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, as part of the Chaplaincy’s annual Russell Lecture on Spiritual Life. She said that collaborating with other groups on campus is extremely important to Tisch College when planning the Distinguished Speaker Series. “It’s a chance to work with other groups across campus, support their work as they support ours, and also to share Tisch College’s work and mission with other groups across campus that we may not normally interact with,” Byrnes said. McAndrew said that having two speakers, Brazile and Flake, on opposite sides of the political aisle will be enlightening for students. “Donna Brazile had a long career in Democratic politics and I think her thoughts on what happened in 2018, and what that

means for 2020 and going forward, will be really interesting to students,” McAndrew said. “She also has an interesting perspective as a black woman in politics and leadership positions, and I hope that we’ll dig into what that experience has been like.” “And then Jeff Flake, of course, has been a … conservative, libertarian, someone who definitely clashed with President Trump and is sort of known for that in recent years … So we’re interested in exploring that with students as well.” Byrnes added that Tisch College takes speaker suggestions from members of the Tufts community. McAndrew said to expect more events and speakers as the semester progresses. “You hear … about someone who might be coming to town, we can try to jump on these opportunities … We have the ability to do pop-up events and we expect that students will see a couple of those this semester,” McAndrew said. Tisch College’s events and speakers, including the Distinguished Speaker Series, are listed under “News and Events” on the Tisch College website. “We’re really excited for this semester and we hope as many folks as possible in the Tufts community come out and join us and be part of the conversation,” Byrnes concluded.

Tufts community reflects on legacy of Dr. King MLK DAY

continued from page 1 like it hurt … I could see it in his eyes that he was really going through something,” he said. He related his father’s resilience to the need to correct current issues in the political system. “My message to you all is that, like my dad, we as a nation make the tough decisions to figure out the flaws in our system and do our best to correct them,” Brooks said. Following a speech, first-year Symon Savatphong shared a story of the violence that riddled his hometown in Rhode Island, specifically the presence of gangs. “I became a victim of my community … I was trapped in this way of life,” Savatphong

said. “I just happened to fall into it.” He noted that he fought to change his way life during his first year of high school when his mother was hospitalized. “After that I realized that I really did have to change because I was just throwing away everything that my mom did for me, she sacrificed so much to support her family,” he said. The final student speaker, first-year Lillian Mousad, also shared an instance of violence that felt personal to her. She described the moment when she learned of the bombing of a Coptic church in Cairo, Egypt that killed twenty-nine people. “I had heard about things like what happens in the Middle East, but never thought it could happen to the place

that I call home,” she said. Despite this incident, Mousad recognized the strength of her church. “My Coptic church has not been destroyed and instead became victorious … love cannot be torn apart,” Mousad said. During the panel discussion at the second part of the event, Kendra Field, an associate professor of history, moderated a conversation between Zerlina Maxwell (A ’03) and Christina Greer (J ’00). Maxwell, the director of progressive programming at SiriusXM and a political analyst for MSNBC, spoke about her experience at Tufts and emphasized the importance using our voices to share our different opinions and perspectives.

“One of the biggest things that I learned about going here [to Tufts] is that if there isn’t anybody else in the room, it’s unfortunate, but you do often have to speak on behalf of the folks who are like you who are not in the room,” she said. “I learned how to be that person in the room who raises an objection and has an additional point.” Greer, an associate professor of political science at Fordham University, also shared about her experience at Tufts. Greer stressed the value of using the resources available at Tufts to find and build a strong community. “When I look back on my time here, it’s incredibly positive as far as diverse friends, diverse experiences, great mentorship,” she said.

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, January 24, 2019

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Police Briefs — Week of Jan. 21

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Caution tape is pictured in front of the scene of a car crash that caused power outages throughout lower campus on Sept. 12, 2018. by Jenna Fleischer News Editor

Get dent On Jan. 7 at 1:18 p.m., Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) was notified by a student that their car had been damaged. The student parked their car in Cousens Parking Lot around 11:45 a.m. and returned around 1:00 p.m., when they observed a large dent to the rear driver’s side. There was no note left at the scene of the property damage, and TUPD is currently investigating.

On a separate note On Jan. 8 at 5:38 p.m., TUPD was notified by a Tufts employee that their car had been damaged. The employee parked their car in Dowling Hall Garage where it was hit by a Tufts affiliate, according to a note from the affiliate left on the employee’s vehicle. TUPD assisted the employee with getting in contact with the affiliate. Don’t give a hoot On Jan. 16 at 9:35 p.m., TUPD received a report of an incident from a

student. The student was walking down Talbot Ave. around 8:00 p.m. when a car drove by and the passengers hooted and hollered at the student, as well as another individual walking ahead of the student. Fraudulent goods come in big packages On Jan. 17 at 8:53 a.m., TUPD received a report from a non-Tufts affiliate living in a Walnut Hill Properties house that someone had purchased a 50-inch TV using their

credit card information and had the TV shipped to their address. The individual saw the package in the common area of the house, but within an hour the TV was gone. Book ’em Later that day at 3:48 p.m., TUPD received a report that a student had lost their ID the day before and that the missing ID had been used to make a $26 purchase at the Tufts Bookstore. TUPD is currently investigating with the help of the Tufts Bookstore.

Aubry brings experience in engineering, leadership, interdisciplinary academics to Tufts PROVOST

continued from page 1 the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, among other accolades. She is also an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and holds various other positions on academic committees,

as well as advisory and review boards. Jianmin Qu, dean of the School of Engineering, praised Aubry’s academic accomplishments as fundamental contributions to the field. “Nadine is truly a world-class scholar, and a highly regarded leader in the theoretical and applied mechanics community around the world,” Qu said in the press release. “I am

immensely proud that Tufts is able to attract such a talented scholar and innovative academic leader.” In an interview with the Daily, Aubry said that she hoped to bring her administrative experience to Tufts to make an impact in the academic realm and encourage civic involvement. “I look forward to working with all constituencies to take the univer-

sity to new heights so it can reach its highest aspirations,” Aubry said. “That includes, of course, education … but I also like very much the fact that Tufts teaches active citizenship, and I hope to further this work … for the students to become not only successful, but also caring citizens in the society we live in. [ To] not only do well, but do good.”

TRASHING ONE EGG WASTES 55 GALLONS OF WATER

Thursday, January 24, 2019

FEATURES

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Students and faculty react to implementation of Canvas

by Michael Shames Features Editor

During the fall semester of 2018, Canvas, a learning management system (LMS), replaced Trunk and Tufts University Sciences Knowledgebase across the School of Arts and Sciences and

the School of Engineering. Tufts had been using Trunk as an LMS since 2011. At first glance, Canvas appears to be similar to Trunk, with the Tufts’ white and blue theme and the list of items on the left side of the screen. However, Canvas has some subtle advantages that Tufts

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Hill mentioned that some of the feedback she had directly received was negative, but she felt like these reactions were due to the implementation of something new. “Change is always hard and time-consuming, especially for students, faculty and staff that already have so much on their plate,” Hill said. Educational Technology Services has attempted to mitigate this issue by offering training to faculty and staff. According to Hill, these trainings have helped ease the transition to Canvas for professors. “Users have raved about how helpful that has been,” Hill said. Aside from some of the casual feedback they have received, Tufts Technology Services plans on distributing a survey to Tufts faculty to obtain more formal and specific feedback and suggestions. Going forward, there are ways that the Canvas implementation team is looking to improve upon the new LMS. “We are always looking to make Canvas better for Tufts,” Hill said. “Right now, we are working on tools and features that support teaching and learning in the Health Sciences.” In addition, the Canvas implementation team is hoping to make communication between instructors and students easier and more efficient. “Canvas has a huge community of users at hundreds of schools — it’s one of the reasons [why] we chose to bring Canvas to Tufts,” Hill said. “We are constantly engaging with the community to learn new ways to use Canvas, develop new features, and talk about best practices.” According to Hill, the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine will begin using Canvas in March, while the Tufts University School of Medicine is planning to implement the new LMS in 2020.

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Janet Hill, director of educational technology services and systems, poses for a portrait.

community members have picked up on throughout the semester. According to Educational Technology System and Services Director Janet Hill, Canvas has the advantage of being more intuitive and user-friendly. “The developers of Canvas are highly committed to accessibility, usability, and good design, and that shows in the platform,” Hill said to the Daily in an email. “Many users have told us that the interface just makes sense.” Hill noted that most of the feedback she had received from students, faculty and staff was positive. “Students have mentioned that the Calendar and To-Do List features are particularly helpful, [as] it allows a student to see all of their assignments, due dates, and activities in one place,” Hill said. “Faculty are especially positive about the SpeedGrader tool, which allows them to view and grade submissions in one place.” Junior Charles Billings compared Canvas to other learning management systems. “I liked Trunk, and now I use Moodle (another LMS) in my study abroad [program], [but] Canvas might be the best of them,” he said. Junior Darren Ting mentioned that he likes Canvas because it is more organized and in his experience, his professors put more information in the system such as grades for assignments and exams. However, not all of the feedback has been entirely positive. Junior Ethan Sorkin commented on his confusion with Canvas’ system of communication. “Not many of my class uses Canvas, but one thing I’ve noticed is that with the assignments, discussions and chat sections, there are too many places that professors use to communicate information to the class,” Sorkin said. “It’s a lot to keep track of and I’m worried that sometimes I’ll miss something.”

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Thursday, January 24, 2019

SERIES SPOTLIGHT

‘Sex Education’ is a raucous, fun and thoughtful glimpse into the awkwardness of adolescence

VIA NETFLIX

Promotional poster for Netflix’s ‘Sex Education’ (2019–) by Yas Salon

Assistant Arts Editor

Given the high volume of content on Netflix, searching for a good show to watch can be daunting and almost over-

whelming. In 2018 alone, the streaming service provided approximately 700 original shows. Some shows like the sci-fi horror “Stranger Things” (2016–) or adult cartoon “BoJack Horseman” (2014–) have become major hits.

Others fell flat and proved to be controversial, such as the teen drama “Insatiable” (2018). One of Netflix’s most recent releases, “Sex Education,” stands apart from other shows. The sex-positive teen dramedy is a refreshing contribution to the genre that lacks the two dimensionality and cringe-inducing cheesiness of so many other modern teen shows. The show is centered around 16-yearold Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield), the socially awkward child of couth sex therapist Dr. Jean Milburn (Gillian Anderson), who teams up with the punk hidden genius Maeve Wiley (Emma Mackey) to create a sex therapy clinic for their high school. Their patient’s woes range from everyday struggles with body image or unrequited love to more colorful (for instance, one girl’s struggle to fulfill her alien fetish) and agonizingly relevant problems. For example, in the fifth episode, a patient enlists the two to track down a person who is threatening to leak a nude photo of her. One of the show’s strong suits is that it tackles every patient’s storyline with thought, care and respect, and the anxieties of the characters are masterfully rooted in the universal anxieties of growing up and exploring one’s sexuality. Because the show encapsulates the adolescent experience in a holistic way, viewers are able to both laugh at and sympathize with the characters. Another particular triumph of the show is the characters’ complexity. At first, they all seem to be the fatigued archetypes of the young-adult genre: there’s the awkward nerd, the cool girl who’s way too out of his league, the airhead blonde and the dim-witted bully. However, this impression fades quickly; each character has unique, well thought-out motivations and emotions,

and their actions never feel out of place or like they’re solely for cheap laughs, something that can be somewhat lacking in modern teen media. One strikingly well-developed, lovable character is Eric Effiong (Ncuti Gatwa), Otis’s best friend, who struggles with his identity as gay in the context of his hyper-religious African family. He is boisterous, raunchy and fashion-loving; however, his sexuality is never reduced to a stereotype, and he doesn’t get reduced to comic relief. Instead, he is one of the most complex characters in the series. While he is gay and Otis’s best friend, he doesn’t get shoved into the tired archetype of the Gay Best Friend. Towards the latter end of the season, he has a phenomenal multi-episodic narrative independent of Otis where he explores his identity and searches for where exactly he belongs. Both touching and humorous, Eric’s development is one of the greatest successes of the show, and Ncuti Gatwa’s portrayal is nothing short of exceptional. One cannot discuss the strengths of “Sex Education” without bringing up Gillian Anderson’s portrayal of Dr. Jean Milburn. The X-Files alumna nails the role of accidentally overbearing sex therapist, and without her perfectly executed performance, the show wouldn’t be nearly as much of a success as it is. Her character is charming and poised, yet occasionally tactless and muddled, and Anderson captures the nuances of this character almost effortlessly. In all, “Sex Education” is a genuine, progressive and honest portrayal of the strife of adolescence, while capturing both the utter laughability of this stage of life and the genuine anguish of growing up. In a sea of teen shows that paint a sensationalized, unrelatable picture of youth, “Sex Education” is a show that just gets it.

Fyre Festival documentaries show different sides to the same disaster by Daniel Klain

Contributing Writer

Fyre Festival is one of the greatest failures of the social media era. Marketed as a luxury music festival, the idea was to take something like Coachella and up the level of wealth and opulence. The original promotional video showed famous Instagram models such as Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber enjoying themselves and indicated that perhaps festivalgoers could do the same. None of what was promised came to pass, though. Attendees arrived to the Bahamas to a gravel lot filled with unfinished FEMA relief tents, port-a-potty bathrooms, and cheese sandwiches that gained notoriety when a disappointed attendee tweeted about them. The situation quickly escalated as people fought for their luggage and tents, and when they tried to leave the island were unable to, getting locked in the airport for hours. Last Friday, Netflix released its documentary about the infamous Fyre Festival, a luxury music festival planned to take place in the Bahamas in April 2017 that went horribly awry. Hulu, another streaming giant, thought one documentary was not

good enough. Without any warning, Hulu released a separate documentary about the festival on their platform a mere four days before Netflix. What better way to beat a tech company than by beating them to something first with a cool press release? While the Hulu and Netflix documentaries cover the same event, they are remarkably different in style, and their overall scope. Netflix’s “Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened,” directed by Chris Smith, tackles the story with a more straightforward approach. Highlighting interviews with people from Fyre Media, the company responsible for putting on the festival, Netflix’s documentary provides a clear timeline of events leading up to the festival. Tension mounts as it becomes clear the organizers will not be able to pull the event off, but continue to try anyway. To its advantage, “Fyre” uses a lot of filmed footage of meetings and events from during the planning process that show just how poorly thought-out this was; the list of tasks horribly mismanaged or ignored is too long to read. By the end, the movie places the blame mostly on Billy McFarland, CEO of Fyre Media, and co-creator of Fyre Festival, though it does not interview him

directly. The documentary points out that while some employees continued to follow McFarland’s orders, many were misled or lied to by McFarland. It seems that at the end of the day, the buck stops with the person who committed wire fraud. The documentary’s message ends up focusing on the arrogance of the privileged and powerful, giving it a relatively narrow scope. Hulu’s documentary, “Fyre Fraud,” takes a much broader swing at the festival and what it implies about modern society. Using cut-aways to pop culture references like “Family Guy” (1998–) and “The Office,” (2005–2013) the film often tries to be lighthearted about an event that was disastrous for some. “Fyre Fraud” attempts to build tension just as the Netflix documentary does, but features fewer key members of the event staff or secret footage, it does not depict to the same extent the negligence and horror of the planning and the event. Although the film spends significant time interviewing McFarland, it places blame on Jerry Media, the media company that helped promote the event, and Fyre employees as well as McFarland himself. The documentary does not try to humanize him, but it attempts to reveal his motiva-

tions more holistically. Rather than depicting him merely as a smug jerk who thought he could get away with it, the film portrays him as a compulsive liar. The documentary argues that the classic American con man has now adapted to the modern internet economy, able to cash in on our obsession with fitting in and our crippling fear of missing out. While that is true to some extent, it is almost too obvious, and finger-wags a lot for a movie that tries to have fun; the word “millennial” is used so frequently, it was like watching some major news channel try to attract young viewers. At one point, a woman argues that social media influencers are “incredibly brave people.” Hulu’s best point comes at the end when it reveals that the Netflix documentary was produced in part by Jerry Media, forcing you to question the motives and message of the documentary. But according to rapper Ja Rule, Hulu paid Billy McFarland, who scammed Bahamian day laborers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, to appear in their documentary. In the end, Netflix’s documentary is the better watch, ethics aside, as it best captures all that went wrong and was wrong with the Fyre Festival itself.

Arts & Living

Thursday, January 24, 2019 | Arts & Living | THE TUFTS DAILY

MOVIE REVIEW

‘Bird box’ a cage of bad ideas

VIA THE VERGE

Promotional poster for Netflix’s ‘Bird Box’ (2018) by John Fedak Arts Editor

Content Warning: This article mentions self-harm and suicide. ‘Netflix Original.’ This term has, in recent years, taken on an almost reverent meaning, symbolizing the epitome of production, entertainment and cinematic value. Yet some of Netflix’s recent forays into originality have proven that labels are sometimes undeserved; “Iron Fist” (2017–18) and “Disjointed” (2017–18) stand out as classic examples of silver screen flops. Unfortunately, even the company’s original movies are not exempt from failure, and “Bird Box” (2018) represents one of Netflix’s worst cinematic entries so far. The movie starts with a bang as Mallory Hayes (Sandra Bullock) yells at two young children about the dangers of removing their blindfolds outside before it flashes back five years into the past. Malorie is pregnant, and while her sister Jessica (Sarah Paulson) is visiting her, they notice news reports on TV discussing an epidemic of unexplained mass suicides in Europe. After a pregnancy checkup at the hospital, Mallory witnesses a woman hurting herself, and panic breaks lose as the phenomenon of self-harm manifests in the streets of California. Jessica succumbs to the mystery illness and Mallory barely

makes it into a nearby house, where she meets a group of survivors, which includes Douglas (John Malkovich), Tom (Trevante Rhodes) and Greg (B.D. Wong). As the plot progresses, the group learns the truth about the suicides: anyone who witnesses mysterious supernatural entities immediately commits suicide, but those who are criminally insane are unaffected, and instead force others to look at the creatures. Alternating between the past and present, the movie follows Mallory during the beginning of the apocalypse and its aftermath years later, as she and the children under her care desperately try and reach a sanctuary free of the monsters’ influence. As far as casting goes, “Bird Box” seems to have all the necessary tools for success. Bullock and Paulson are both formidable actresses with proven skill, Malkovich is a theatrical powerhouse and actors like Trevante embody charisma and warmth. However, the film’s decision to stall any meaningful character development outside of Mallory renders “Bird Box’s” spectacular cast mostly useless. Malkovich is the biggest disappointment, with his character’s constant anger becoming annoying within five minutes of his appearance onscreen. The rest of the cast doesn’t fare much better. In fact, most of the supporting actors are either entirely unmemorable or complete clichés, as if the writers didn’t trust anyone

outside of Bullock and simultaneously decided to force-feed certain characters to the audience instead of letting natural development lead to likability. The stereotypes are all here: the loving mother clearly not cut out for the apocalypse, the angry and proven-late-too-right old man, the comic relief and plot advancement grocer. No one feels real, not even Mallory, whose character development is so linear and predictable that she may as well be an arrow despite all the ‘nuance’ desperately shoved into her character. However, the cast is not the worst part of “Bird Box,” not by a long shot. Its hackneyed plot and terrible pacing ensure that not even the film’s action can save it from mediocrity. There are so many confusing contradictions and problems the movie may as well be called ‘Bad Box.’ The titular birds serve no purpose to the plot and are incredibly contrived. The entities suddenly gain the power to tempt you with sound in the final act. The entities are never explained in the slightest. Characters contradict their established beliefs and are used solely to move the plot along. Blindfolds protect against the creature despite not fully impairing vision. A school for the blind is accessible only by river in the middle of a forest. The movie implies that being mentally ill is what causes people to become evil missionaries for the hellish creatures. Some of these points are nit-

picks, but they all contribute to a central problem: the movie breaks its established rules when it’s convenient and forces the audience to accept these breaks as logical and emotional. Nothing else in the movie stands out in a positive and meaningful way. Because we can’t see the entities, any scares are cut off and muted before they reach a crescendo, and the film contains nothing special in the visual-effects realm. The frequent drone shots feel fresh at first but quickly become overused, and there is no magic happening behind the camera. The best that can be said is that the music is generally a good atmospheric fit, but one strength cannot negate a multitude of weaknesses. Perhaps this criticism seems overly harsh, and it has certainly become popular to hate on “Bird Box” since Netflix released it. However, some of this hatred is deserved, because the film is at the end of the day an unoriginal mess full of choices ranging from passable to poor and rarely venturing into the realm of impactful. Even the meme it spawned quickly became a dangerous game of ‘what can you do while blindfolded without dying’ that has led to injuries and car crashes. It seems the real killer here is not some supernatural power but the movie itself, which possesses enough mediocrity to cause those who watch it to rant, rave and commit acts of sheer stupidity.

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8 tuftsdaily.com

Opinion

Thursday, January 24, 2019

EDITORIAL

Leisure reading is good reading For many students, the Tisch Library is a symbol of unrelenting work. It represents hours spent studying for midterms, working on group projects and typing dreaded final essays. Recently, Tisch Library created the Leisure Reading Collection, a set of books for students to read in their downtime. Students should take advantage of this new addition to the library and use the collection as an opportunity to find new perspectives on issues, discover a new literary genre and rediscover their love of reading. During the school year, students often don’t touch books unrelated to coursework — textbooks replace autobiographies and novels. In the process,

we often neglect other areas of interest. Leisure reading provides students with the opportunity to explore areas that they are passionate about while offering flexibility regarding reading pace. The personal struggles and obstacles authors and novelists face can help students connect with social issues in a more empathetic way. Martha Kelehan, assistant director of research & learning at Tisch Library, and Dorothy Meaney, the Tisch Library director, started the Leisure Reading Collection after a library survey revealed that students would like to see more books that they could read during their downtime. Split between the Tower Cafe and the hallway outside

of the Reading Room, the collection has partnered with Porter Square Books, a local independent bookstore, to get a variety of books to fill the collection. Porter Square Books was asked to suggest titles for the section, as they might know what Tufts students would like to see in the library, according to Kelehan. The collection features books from a variety of genres, including the memoir “Yes, Please” by comedian Amy Poehler, a narrative composed of shorter stories, “Olive Kitteridge” and new books of political criticism like “The Chapo Guide to Revolution,” by hosts of Chapo Trap House, a popular socialist podcast. The new collection, in addition to providing students with an opportu-

nity to broaden their reading horizons, can change students’ relationship with the library and transform the role it plays in their lives. While libraries are more commonly used as a space to study and complete projects, the Leisure Reading Collection gives students a chance to use the library for more personal reasons. Students should make sure to stop by the Leisure Reading Collection the next time they’re waiting for a friend in Tisch. Students can also recommend a purchase if they think of something that should be added to the shelf. By picking up a book that catches their eye, students might be able to reconnect with the joy of reading.

CARTOON

Shaking things up

BY MARIA FONG 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.

Thursday, January 24, 2019 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY

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FUN & GAMES

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Sports

Thursday, January 24, 2019 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Relay team earns sixth best time in the nation

RAY BERNOFF /TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Junior Rhemi Toth competes in the 4,000-meter distance medley relay at the New England Div. III Indoor Championship at MIT’s Johnson Athletic Center on Feb. 18, 2017.

WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD

continued from back in the 800-meter, senior co-captain Kelsey Tierney, who ran a 10:24.82 in the 3,000 meter and first-year Danielle Page, who ran an 18:45.60 in the 5,000meter. Diaz’s time is currently ranked 18th in the nation, Tierney’s time is 24th and Page’s time sits at 46th. The Jumbos found success in the field events as well. Junior co-captain Evelyn Drake won the weight throw, posting a mark of 47’11.75”″ (14.62 meters), and then placed third in the shot put with 36 ′ ’ 9”″ (11.20

meters). Drake’s shot put distance was also her personal record. Sophomore Jacqueline Kirk placed third in the high jump with a 4’11” (1.50-meter mark), one-tenth of a meter from the personal record that she converted in her last meet on Jan. 12. Tufts earned 129.5 points in total over the course of the meet, just edged out by NESCAC rivals Bowdoin (131) for the second-place finish. MIT was the winner of the meet, earning a total of 170 points. Tufts bested Brandeis University (71), Merrimack College (47.50) and University of Southern

Maine (37) for their third-place finish. Ultimately, the Jumbos won four events at the meet. With their success in the second meet of the spring semester, the Jumbos are hopeful for what the rest of the season holds. “In our first two meets, we had many strong performances from both [firstyears] and upperclassmen alike,” Toth said. I believe that the combination of new and returning talent on our team will allow us to be very successful this winter. Our biggest meet of the indoor season will be the Division III New England Championships at Bowdoin

where we hope to finish in the top three as a team overall.” Tufts hosts its next race, the Branwen Smith-King Invitational, at the Gantcher center on Saturday. Field events take off at 10 a.m. while track events begin at 10:30 a.m. The event, held in honor of former Associate Athletic Director Branwen Smith-King, brings in some of the best competition in New England. Tufts faces off against schools from all over New England, including NESCAC rivals Amherst, Connecticut College and Wesleyan.

Men's and women's swimming and diving return to action SWIMMING AND DIVING

continued from back victory. Bowen captured three firstplace finishes himself; he took first in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly, where his 51.76 topped the second place finisher, Tufts’ first-year Nate Tingen, by just over a second. Bowen was also part of a 200-yard medley relay with Tingen, Gu and Manfre that came out on top. The same team, save for junior Costantino Camerano who filled in for Tingen, also won against Boston College on Sunday, proving to be masters against any supposed fatigue. “Especially coming off of our [winter] training camp, their fatigue level was high,” Hoyt said. “Our goals were to really just compete well and not let the fatigue take away from the level of focus the team has. It was a long weekend of racing and it’s hard to stay focused and keep your energy level when you’re coming off of heavy training … [Ultimately] we swam against two really competitive

teams, and we came out with some really nice performances that we’re pleased with.” Women’s Swimming and Diving The women’s team also didn’t show much sluggishness. On seniors day at Hamilton Pool, they faced off against a tough Boston College team at the Hamilton Pool on Sunday afternoon, falling 237.5–138.5. The Jumbos started out brightly in the individual events; sophomore Sook-Hee Evans took the top spot in the 1000-yard freestyle before first-year Mary Hufziger claimed first in the 200-yard freestyle, where her 1:56.58 was also good for a Hamilton Pool record. Senior captain Colleen Doolan marked a victory in the 200-yard butterfly, while Evans was victorious for a second time in the day in the 500-yard freestyle. Sophomore Lily Kurtz had the other Tufts first-place finish on the busy afternoon in the 200-yard breaststroke. The women’s defeat at the hands of Boston College was only their sec-

ond of the season (4–2 overall). The day before, the team swam and dove impressively to a 182–111 win at Wheaton. “Our women have put together a great season thus far,” Hoyt said. “The biggest meets are ahead of us … Past performances, this weekend and prior, just have built their confidence. We have a strong team and I’m excited how they can build in on that both in training and in racing over the coming meets.” There were a host of Jumbo firstplace finishes, including those from the usual suspects such as Evans and Doolan. Others topping the charts included sophomore Amber Chong in the one-meter dive, sophomore Sasha Fond in the 50-yard freestyle, as well as fellow sophomores Amy Socha in the 100-yard butterfly and Abby Claus in the 200-yard butterfly. A slew of first-years came through with victorious showings in addition, including Jeannette Khowong in the 100-yard backstroke, Juliette Bichon in the 200-yard breastroke and Emma Donchi in the 200-

yard backstroke. Junior Kate Brown in the 100-yard breastroke rounded out the individual winners. Tufts celebrated Doolan, Ailish Dougherty, Jessica Fan, Tessa Garces, Alex Good, Christie Hug, Madeline Lee, Caroline McCormick and Sydney Nasson as part of the team’s seniors day. It’s back to MIT for the men’s and women’s teams tomorrow, a pool at which both teams found success in December. The BU Invite follows, the last meet before the NESCAC championships. Last season, the men were conference champions, while the women’s team finished fourth. As they prepare for championship season, they are certainly starting to round into form. “We had a ton of really fast swims at our mid-season meet at MIT,” Evans said. “So I think this year is going to be huge at NESCACs … We definitely have our eyes on third or even second. [Also] the conference teams get announced this Saturday, so everyone is really excited.”

Sports

12 tuftsdaily.com

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Men’s and women’s swimming and diving return to action with similar showings

COURTESY DAVE DECORTIN

Junior James McElduff swims at a practice on Jan.16, 2017. by Jeremy Goldstein Sports Editor

The Tufts men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams returned to action this weekend with nearly identical results: decisive victories at Wheaton College and hard-fought home defeats to Boston College on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. After winter break, both teams jumped into the competitive pool for the first time since Dec. 8. The women’s team impressed before the break with a string of three victories out of four and a first-place showing at the MIT Winter Invitational in early December. The men’s team faced two losses in a row, but finished second at the MIT winter Invitational beforehand. The teams travelled to Stuart, Fla. for their annual 12-day winter break

training trip, which usually features a slew of comedic music videos and intense training. “The training trip went really well this year,” sophomore Sook-Hee Evans said. “We had much better weather this year [than last], so morale was definitely much higher … it was a long two weeks, but we’re all definitely much better prepared for the coming championship meets.” Coach Adam Hoyt always looks forward to the trip, highlighting its purpose: preparing both teams for the season run-in. “The facility we train at is worldclass, [and it’s] definitely great to get good training in,” Hoyt said. “The great weather that we had puts both teams in a great position to be at their best at the end of the season … when you’re on a 12-day trip with 82 team-

mates, it’s exhausting, but what comes out of it is really quite special.” Men’s Swimming and Diving The men came up just short against Boston College on Sunday, falling 196–164 in the afternoon. However, they did manage to win eight events of 20 on the day, and four new records were set at Hamilton Pool. Sophomore Lomax Turner’s 51.51-second effort was good enough for second place all time in the 100-yard butterfly, while junior Roger Gu posted the other two individual records. The freestyle specialist rolled off consecutive victories in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races, rattling off times of 20.30 and 45.19 seconds, respectively. Finally, senior captain Kingsley Bowen, junior Matt Manfre, junior Costa Camerano and Gu teamed up to take down the pre-

vious 200-yard medley relay record, posting an impressive 1:33.72. “Setting a school record is special, it’s history: it’s the fastest anyone has gone in our facility, which is old,” Hoyt said. “From a team standpoint, those athletes are clearly on track to put together pretty special seasons. It’s nice for the program to progress in a way that can be shown in the record books.” More impressive perhaps was that the meet was right off of the back of Saturday’s victorious showing against Wheaton. The 200.5–77.5 winning scoreline also featured winning finishes from Turner in the 200-yard butterfly and Gu in the 200-yard freestyle, while a slew of other contributors rose to the occasion to ease the Jumbos to see SWIMMING AND DIVING, page 11

Women’s track and field team takes third place finish at Bowdoin Invitational by Liam Finnegan Sports Editor

On Saturday, the Jumbos finished third out of six teams at the Bowdoin Invitational held in Brunswick, Maine. An abundance of individual first-place finishes and the 4×400 meter relay team’s top-10 ranked time highlighted the Jumbos’ performance in their third event of the season. Coming off of a dominant performance at the Tufts Invitational, a meet in which the Jumbos won 10 events, the women’s track and field team continued to impress at the Bowdoin Invitational. The 4×400 relay team consisted of junior Julia Gake, sophomore

Kristen Andersen and first-years Tara Lowensohn and Luana Machado. The group took first place in their relay with a time of 4:02.87, beating Bowdoin, the hosts of the invitational, by half a second. The relay team’s mark was good enough to place them sixth in the nation for the 4×400 relay. First-year Hannah Neilon had an impressive showing and took first in the 600-meter with a time of 1:37.62. “I was really happy to win the 600 especially since that was my first time running it in college,” Neilon said. “Julia Gake and I make each other run better and our times from the race should be good enough to get us into the fast heat at [Division III] New England Championships so I’m happy with our performance.”

Even though Neilon has more experience in running the 600-meter than many of her peers, she maintains that reaching the NCAAs is a goal of hers. “I’m definitely happy with how the season is going so far, both individually and as a team,” Neilon said. “It’s been a really cool experience racing against solid competition and doing well. One of my goals is running at nationals, and I think as long as we stay healthy and driven, my teammates and I have a good shot at achieving that.” Junior Rhemi Toth also found success in the track events; she took first in the 1,000-meter with a time of 2:57.63. Toth set a new personal record in the 1000-meter event with her performance on Saturday.

“Setting a new personal record in the 1000 was very rewarding, especially since I am coming off of an injury that kept me from running cross country in the fall,” Toth said. “I am very excited to see what the rest of the season will bring.” Along with the first-place finishes, the Jumbos earned several other high-placing finishes in the track events. In the 400-meter, Lowensohn earned a second-place finish with a time of 1:01.21. Gake also earned a second-place finish, finishing just behind Neilon in the 600-meter with a time of 1:37.69. Tufts’ third-place finishes included junior Lauren Diaz, who ran a 2:19.88 see WOMEN'S TRACK AND FIELD, page 11