Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Startups for a cause: social entrepreneurship gains traction at Tufts see FEATURES / PAGE 3

MEN’S LACROSSE

No. 2 Tufts remains unbeaten after seven games

Jawlensky exhibition drops jaws with bold colors, powerful forms see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

THE

INDEPENDENT

STUDENT

N E W S PA P E R

OF

TUFTS

UNIVERSITY

E S T. 1 9 8 0

T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXIII, NUMBER 36

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Wednesday, March 29, 2017

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

SMFA students find limited dining options on campus

by Ariel Barbieri-Aghib News Editor

Facing a lack of full-service dining options, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) at Tufts is currently offering students meal plans at other universities.

The Cafe des Arts, which is the SMFA campus’ only food service option, is pending renovation and not offering full service, according to the SMFA website. Instead, the cafe is offering an express service called the Cafe des Cart.

Tufts Director of Dining and Business Services Patti Klos explained that students are offered plans at nearby Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) and Wentworth Institute of Technology this year. Klos told the Daily in an email that Tufts is looking to upgrade options at the SMFA. “We do plan to create a café service at SMFA and tentatively plan for this work to be completed for fall 2018,” Klos said.

“When the café at SMFA is restored, we will be able to have a more complete integration between the two campuses.”

SEOHYUN SHIM / THE TUFTS DAILY

An employee prepares food at Massachussetts College of Art and Design’s Dining Commons.

Several dual-degree students have noted that the SMFA’s dining options are extremely limited. The issue of dining is among various details — including shuttle

service between the two campuses and the housing situation for first-year SMFA students — that Tufts is working to address since it acquired the SMFA last July.

First-year Isabella Kiser is on the premium meal plan, although not see SMFA DINING, page 2

Make-up class day added to end Tufts Technology Services looks to publicize, clarify preferred of semester name-change process online

by Joe Walsh

Executive News Editor

Tufts will hold an additional day of classes on Tuesday, May 2 for the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering (AS&E) to compensate for two snow days this semester, according to an email announcement sent to the Tufts community on March 28. For all AS&E students, reading period will take place on May 3 and 4, and final exams will still begin on May 5.

The decision to add a make-up day was made by the Dean of Arts and Sciences and the Dean of Engineering, according to Dean of Undergraduate Studies Carmen Lowe. A make-up day was needed this semester because the snow days were on a Thursday and a Tuesday, meaning that many classes on a Tuesday/Thursday schedule have missed two classes, Lowe noted.

The make-up day will follow a Tuesday schedule, and the announcement stated that students should expect to have classes unless they are instructed otherwise. Nonetheless, the decision to hold a class on that date is ultimately left up to

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the discretion of individual professors, according to Lowe.

“The make-up day simply sets a class schedule … and allows professors to stay in the same classroom to avoid the chaos of professors trying to re-schedule,” Lowe told the Daily in an email.

The protocol for calling a make-up day was set in December 2016 by the faculty Educational Policy Committee.

The policy allows the Dean of Arts and Sciences and the Dean of Engineering to add a make-up day, generally on a holiday or during reading period, Lowe explained.

This policy was created partially in response to the spring 2015 semester, when a succession of blizzards caused five snow days, according to Lowe. That semester, Tufts added two full make-up days during reading period, as well as a make-up day for evening classes on Patriots’ Day, according to a February 2015 announcement.

“The Tufts faculty adopted this policy to avoid a lot of the confusion we faced that winter and spring, when we had to find space in the limited weeks that remained,” Lowe said.

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

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by Johanna O'Neil Contributing Writer

Tufts announced that students on all campuses can change their name in various online Tufts systems, such as Student Information System (SIS) and Trunk, according to a Jumbo Digest email sent out Feb. 26.

Students can change their preferred name for most online systems through SIS, which also updates class rosters, according to the Tufts Technology Services ( TTS) website. This process does not alter official records, financial documents or diploma records.

According to Hope Denese Freeman, the director at the LGBT Center, this change is important for many students who use names that are different from their legal names.

“These names are names that students are typically best known by, and when students know that Tufts University supports them in using those names, it creates a culture of respect

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that often occurs in daily interactions here at Tufts,” Freeman told the Daily in an email. “This new system would allow students the autonomy to update their own information (preferred names and pronouns) into the electronic systems so that it correlates with their records” According to Parker Breza, Tufts Community Union ( TCU) Senate’s LGBTQ community senator, and Michael McNulty, senior service management analyst for TTS, the change was initiated by a TCU Senate resolution passed in the fall of 2015.

The option for students to change their name on SIS and Trunk to a preferred name was officially introduced in January 2016, and it was also made available for professors on class rosters. McNulty noted that adding this capability was a complicated process.

“Tufts has many applications , and there are many, many systems that have identity information,” McNulty said.

NEWS............................................1 FEATURES.................................3 ARTS & LIVING.......................5

see NAME CHANGE, page 2

COMICS....................................... 7 OPINION.....................................9 SPORTS............................ BACK

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, March 29, 2017

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

EDITORIAL

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

Ana Sophia Acosta Staff Videographer

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

Executive Copy Editor Senior Copy Editors Copy Editors

Assistant Copy Editors

Nitesh Gupta Online Editor Seohyun Shim Social Media Editor

BUSINESS Josh Morris

Executive Business Director

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Tufts looks to upgrade dining at SMFA SMFA DINING

continued from page 1 all dual-degree students are required to enroll in the premium meal plan, according to Kiser.

“Dual-degree students are allowed to opt into a meal plan that consists of about 200 meals per semester and about 900 dollars in Rhino Bucks, which can be used in a bunch of restaurants and stores around SMFA,” Kiser told the Daily in an email.

Kiser added that SMFA students have always had the option to go to other nearby schools for dining service because the SMFA only has a small cafe. In particular, MassArt has offered dining plans to SMFA students in the past, Klos noted.

First-year dual-degree student Nayoung Kim, who is also on a premium meal plan, noted that JumboCash and Rhino Bucks are not used interchangeably, because Rhino Bucks can only be used at the cafe at the SMFA. Kim told the Daily in an electronic message that she appreciated the effort to offer alternate options, although she chooses to use her meal plan at Tufts since she spends more time on the Medford/Somerville campus.

Lily Pisano, a dual-degree student on the dual-degree meal plan, commented on the lack of adequate dining services at the SMFA. “SMFA has a small café that sells some food throughout the day. This aside, there is very little to get,” Pisano, a firstyear, told the Daily in an email. “In this way, dining has been fairly inaccessible from my experience. As a result, I usually go to Tufts to eat before traveling to the [SMFA] if I have a class there.”

SEOHYUN SHIM / THE TUFTS DAILY

A student buys food at Cafe des Cart, the SMFA’s only dining option on campus as of March 24.

Pisano explained that traveling back and forth from Tufts to the SMFA on the shuttle can be inconvenient, especially since many options available around the SMFA are only accessible to those with sufficient funds.

“Before, students could eat at MassArt because of the fact that SMFA is relatively small and doesn’t have or need the space for a dining hall,” she said.

Kiser said that the café at SMFA is not only overpriced for the quality and quantity of food available, but it is also inconvenient for dual-degree students.

Pisano and Kim both hope to see an

expansion of the dining hall options now that Tufts has acquired the SMFA. “I think it would be much more convenient … if they unified the ‘university debit’ or at least allowed JumboCash and Rhino Bucks to be used interchangeably,” Kim said.

While Tufts continues to offer dining options at nearby colleges, Klos said that plans to reopen the Cafe des Arts are underway.

“We are aware of the concerns at the SMFA campus and are working on improvements to better meet the needs of the campus community,” Klos said.

University to solidify preferred name change policy this semester NAME CHANGE

continued from page 1 “Unfortunately, all of those systems are not well-integrated, meaning when you make a change in one it does not propagate to all the other ones.”

Over the summer, after receiving feedback about points of confusion, TTS published an instruction sheet to help make the process of changing a preferred name easier, McNulty explained.

The university is currently working on a preferred name change policy that it hopes to publish by the end of the semester. It will cover the different limitations and regulations for changing one’s name, according to McNulty.

“For the most part, any student can elect to choose a preferred name,” he said.

“Nobody will question why you chose it, with a caveat: you can’t choose vulgar names, you can’t be using it to misrepresent yourself, or to hide from something.”

According to Breza and McNulty, the ability to change to a preferred name

is available for all students associated with Tufts. McNulty added that it is not currently an option for faculty, but that it could be a future consideration.

“We wanted to make sure that we are doing this for all students, that it’s something that can be done on all four campuses, and for any of the schools and any of the programs” McNulty said.

According to Breza and McNulty, the work on preferred names is an ongoing project that is still open to changes.

“We will be constantly looking at improvements and enhancements to the system,” McNulty said. “Some of the future enhancements we are looking to do are to have it be more self-service and more anonymized.”

Freeman explained that the ability to change preferred names will have a positive effect on Tufts students, staff and faculty.

“The LGBT Center supports this initiative, as there are many students at Tufts who are transgender and/or non-binary and can ultimately feel more respect-

ed and affirmed when their preferred names and pronouns are utilized in their daily interactions,” Freeman said.

McNulty agreed that the goal was to make the process sensitive to students’ needs and concerns.

“The purpose of this is to give students agency over their own identity,” McNulty said. “We really wanted to make sure that … at the end of it, we give people a sense of security that what they’re doing is okay, and we’re not going to question it or judge it.”

Breza, who sponsored the initial TCU Senate resolution, said that he is looking to publicize the name-change process to students.

“I think that this will be important for trans students, people who change their name legally for a variety of other reasons, and for international students who might use a different name in the U.S.,” Breza told the Daily in an email. “It’s not a new change, and we’re now trying to make sure that people know about it.”

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Features

Contributing Writer

Entrepreneurship courses at Tufts, run primarily through the Entrepreneurial Leadership Studies (ELS) program, aim to guide students through concepts relating to developing and sustaining the growth of new businesses. Classes offered by ELS, which is run through the Gordon Institute and offers an official minor to students, cover a range of topics, from the initial conceptual stages of a business to the final goal of moving to market and making a profit.

In recent years, however, there has been a growth of student groups on campus that aim to approach different concepts, ideas and social problems from a social entrepreneurship perspective, according to Co-Director of the Tufts Entrepreneurship Society (TES) Alex Rappaport.

He explained the meaning behind the concept of social entrepreneurship, which combines entrepreneurial ideas and pressing social issues.

“The term social entrepreneurship characterizes entrepreneurial development that is always focused around helping people, helping solve a problem, helping pursue a social initiative, helping make sure that the work that we do as entrepreneurs is making a better impact on the world,” Rappaport, a senior, said. “A lot of the ways that the [ELS] professors teach the courses and the ways students try to pursue their ventures [asks], ‘What’s a problem in the world I can try to help?’”

Since he became a director of TES, Rappaport has worked to refocus the group, which he said had felt listless in recent years and was having trouble finding its footing within the broader framework of the entrepreneurial community at Tufts.

He saw the skills that students were building in their ELS classes but noticed that they often struggled to find ways to turn those lessons into something more concrete.

“They would channel that excitement into an idea, but most would realize that it’s really tough to take the

next steps on getting that idea to materialize,” Rappaport said. “Few were able to figure out where to go or who to talk to for help.”

Rappaport said he recognized this gap as something that the TES could easily fill, and he moved to create a space that would help students move their entrepreneurial pitches forward.

One major achievement of this effort is the Tufts Venture Lab, a new space sponsored by the ELS program that aims to bring together teams of entrepreneurs looking to take their concepts to the next level. It is housed in the Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex (CLIC).

“The Venture Lab is a dedicated co-working space on campus,” Rappaport said. “Students’ startups can apply to be in the Venture Lab, and all throughout the Venture Lab semester, we come up with curricula, events and things to help give you new access to professional contacts, resources and people who can help you develop your venture.”

Rappaport said that the Venture Lab has grown from 20 startup teams last fall to around 35 this semester, including teams from Tufts’ graduate schools, such as the Fletcher School and the School of Dental Medicine.

One such team is Acenna, a startup founded by three Tufts students that works to connect medical technology companies to researchers interested in purchasing their products.

Currently, Acenna employs six students, and it has recently begun making sales directly to medical professionals.

Besides TES, the Tufts Consulting Collective (TCC), a group that focuses on providing students with handson consulting experience at local non-profits, has also begun expanding into entrepreneurship.

The organization is currently in the preliminary stages of developing a summer course in the ELS program, according to TCC member Taylor Wurts. More specifically, TCC is exploring the possibility of working with ELS to add a course based on entrepreneurship to the existing four course offerings to high school students through Tufts Summer Session.

tuftsdaily.com

MJ Griego Mind the Gap

More student groups embrace social entrepreneurship, support startups

by Cory Sagerstrom

3

Wurts said the organization is still gauging interest and exploring what form the new summer course will take.

“We’re unsure yet if we’re going to be emulating the current ELS course format that’s offered throughout the year, or if we’re going to try to incorporate more general business principles, whether that’s soft skills such as management, HR, negotiations, conflict resolution or just a broader look at business principles, such as finance or accounting,” Wurts said. “We’re trying to understand what balance students would be interested in, in terms of a summer course.”

Wurts touted the value of entrepreneurship as an interdisciplinary opportunity for students to connect a variety of interests.

“ELS can function as a nice intermediate between business and liberal arts, where you can still apply business principles while gaining skills that can benefit you over a broad range of disciplines, whether that’s presentation skills or leadership,” Wurts said.

Another new group, TAMID Beta, has joined the growing sphere of the social entrepreneurship community at Tufts.

TAMID Beta member Isaac Herman explained the group’s main focus is to provide students with experience in startup development and entrepreneurship skills through the lens of the Israeli economy.

“This semester, our main focus has been education, so we have weekly education seminars,” Herman said. “We have also been running a simultaneous startup simulation, so basically we apply what we learn in these seminars to the development of a mock startup.”

Next semester, TAMID Beta plans to expand its reach even further by participating in a pro-bono consulting project for an Israeli company and running an investment portfolio simulation, according to Herman.

He emphasized the variety of opportunities available to those interested in entrepreneurship.

“Entrepreneurship on a larger scale is good for anyone to get involved in,” Herman said. “The things we learn are really valuable skills for people to have in the long term, just strategically and dealing with people in whatever profession you choose to pursue.”

MAX LALANNE / THE TUFTS DAILY

Students participating in 3 Day Startup, a 72-hour entrepreneurial bootcamp at 574 Boston Ave., give their final pitches on Sept. 26, 2016.

Off the binary at Tufts

D

o you ever see someone looking at you and worry if you’re being thought of as a girl or a boy? I do every day. Being gendered is, to cis people, so normal that it is invisible. Most people assume others are male or female without a second thought.

When you identify with the gender you were assigned at birth (meaning you are cisgender), there is often comfort in knowing that you will be seen as what you are: a man or a woman. Being transgender calls into question that comfort.

The idea of ‘passing,’ being seen as a cis man or woman, permeates Westernized trans culture. Many trans people are drawn to being accepted and understood by the cis public, which pressures us to conform in many ways to gender stereotypes, binary mannerisms and appearances to be validated. But what happens when you don’t fit this binary?

I am non-binary. This term, as well as genderqueer, serves as a blanket term for people who don’t discretely identify as man or woman. There are other terms people identify with under these umbrellas, and being non-binary means different things to different people (just as being a man or woman means different things to individuals). To me, it’s an evolving perception of myself as transcending categorization by a Western social construct. It’s also a daily discomfort with being assumed to be a man or a woman. I use they/them pronouns in the hopes that I will be more often seen as non-binary, although many other non-binary people use she or he pronouns and are just as valid in doing so. If you are new to these concepts, I understand how they could be confusing, and I urge you to do some research and read personal stories of non-binary people.

Being non-binary at Tufts is much easier than it would be in many places. Being in a big city, I can seek out a community, and within Tufts’ liberal bubble, I am also much safer than I would be elsewhere. However, Tufts still has a long way to go with respecting non-binary people. There are very few bathrooms on campus that aren’t designated for men or women. Many student groups or teachers ask people which pronouns they use as an ice-breaker but struggle in following through with this ideal of inclusivity. I had one teacher hand out an information sheet asking for pronouns one day, only to misgender me at the end of class anyway. I have many teachers that gender students casually during class, and I constantly fear being misgendered to a whole lecture room full of people.

There is so much to address in this topic that can’t be covered in 500 words. Even writing now, I feel the pressure to cover as much as possible for people who wouldn’t seek out this information otherwise. My biggest piece of advice for cis people is to form the practice of not gendering strangers. Refer to someone by name or with they pronouns if you don’t know what they use, describe people with physical attributes and not broad general categories (men and women and non-binary people can look so many ways) and try to think of people as more than just a gender.

MJ Griego is a junior majoring in sociology. MJ can be reached at madeline. griego@tufts.edu.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | ADVERTISEMENT | Wednesday, March 29, 2017

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Wednesday, March 29, 2017

ARTS&LIVING GALLERY REVIEW

New York’s Neue Galerie presents stunning retrospective on Alexei Jawlensky

by Libby Langsner Assistant Arts Editor

The Neue Galerie is currently showcasing the first retrospective of Alexei Jawlensky, a Russian born Expressionist painter. The exhibition is the first full-museum retrospective of Jawlensky’s work in the United States. Jawlensky moved to Munich in 1896, where he was exposed to expressionist movements. The 75 paintings shown range from 1900-1937, and are arranged by time periods and themes.

Jawlensky’s contemporaries consisted of Wassily Kandinsky, with whom he painted still lifes, as well as Paul Klee, August Macke and Franz Marc.

Jawlensky knew many artists in the German expressionist movement Der Blaue Reiter, but he was not formally a member.

The most striking element of Jawlensky’s work is his use of color.

The exhibition’s wall descriptor states that his later paintings show “the artist’s deep spirituality and belief that art is a ‘prayer spoken with color.’”

Throughout his work, from his early still lifes to his later series “Meditations,” one cannot help but be captivated by Jawlensky’s control of color, as well as the medium of paint. In his works such as “Girl with the Green Face” (1910), the human face is depicted using colors such as orange, yellow, green, blue and red. These are all colors that a human face has but Jawlensky heightens their intensity and the vibrancy of the colors overrides the figure’s naturalistic skin tone.

In his series “Mystical Heads,” “Savior’s Faces” and “Abstract Heads” — kept in the same room as “Girl with the Green Face” — Jawlensky further abstracts the colors of the face into pure shapes of color. The face

COURTESY ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

In 'Girl with the Green Face,' Alexei von Jawlensky saturates the subject's skin for a dramatic effect. becomes entirely geometrical, consisting of lines, squares and semi-circles.

However, it is still clear that what is presented to us is a face, although it has been rid of any of its naturalistic features. “Abstract Head Red Light” (1926) derives a certain vibrancy that could not emanate from any vaguely

naturalistic figure. Artists such as Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse and Vincent van Gogh heavily influenced these works. Although these works might bear some resemblance to works such as Matisse’s “Portrait see ALEXEI JAWLENSKY, page 6

Lady Gaga wows as guest judge in ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ season 9 premiere Executive Arts Editor

It is truly mind boggling to see what “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (2009–present) has become over the last three years. Initially regarded as a queer parody of “America’s Next Top Model” (2003–2015; 2016–present), the show began as a tongue-in-cheek reality competition series that targeted primarily gay viewers. Today, with its integration of internet culture, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has become an online hit, notably among teenagers and young adults.

The rising popularity of the show explains Viacom’s decision to move the show to VH1, a network that has a broader audience than LOGO. It also explains the choices made in the premiere episode of season 9, which feels like more of a longform “Meet the Queens” promo than an actual premiere.

The ninth season premiere starts off per usual, with the queens entering the workroom. This season, the queens come from all sorts of drag backgrounds, from Vegas show girl (Kimora Black, Farrah

tuftsdaily.com

Abigail McFee Advice from Dead Poets (and Some Living)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning on taking risks

I

TELEVISION REVIEW

by Eran Sabaner

5

Moan) to camp (Jaymes Mansfield). Based on the entrances and the first workroom interactions, two contestants stand out in particular: Nina Bo’nina Brown and Eureka O’Hara.

Nina’s creates make-up focused, conceptual looks reminiscent of Kim Chi, with an added amateur, DIY aspect to them for a truly unique aesthetic. When she enters the workroom, she chants, “NINA BO’NINA BANANA FOFANA OSAMA BIN LADEN BROWN,” which is certainly memorable. Yet underneath her loud, obnoxious drag persona, there might just be a vulnerable side of Nina. It seems obvious from the first episode that Nina will be major character in season 9.

Compared to the earlier seasons, many of the queens are visibly uncomfortable in front of cameras. Eureka, who enters the workroom first, is a good example. She talks and interrupts the other queens, attempting to be witty and shady, yet she ends up sounding mean and dumb. Viewers can sense the insecurity and anxiety in Eureka.

She feels the need to act a certain character in order to get noticed the first episode.

Similarly, Jayme’s nervous energy and Farrah’s childish behavior seem to suggest that it will take time for the queens to become familiar with their new environment. The self-consciousness of the new queens could perhaps be attributed to the fact that many past contestants have blamed the program for giving them a “bad edit.”

The true surprise of the opening is the 14th contestant named Ronnie, who is revealed to be Lady Gaga. An icon for the LGBTQ community and a fashion iconoclast, Lady Gaga is the arguably the most important celebrity to join the show as a guest judge in terms of queer culture, perhaps save from John Waters.

Since Lady Gaga’s presence is huge for the show, RuPaul decides to take it easy on the contestants and announces that there will be no elimination this week.

While the decision is good for getting to know the contestants and introducing the format of the show to new viewers, it also takes away from the sheer joy of a lip sync battle. see DRAG RACE, page 6

save lines of poetry in the Notes app on my phone, interspersed with grocery lists and reminders. At first, I expected that the words would act as trail markers: One thought would lead to the next.

I imagined I would reread old notes, find words that were once meaningful and see that they were no longer necessary. But I’ve realized that the opposite is true.

A little over a year ago, I saved some lines from Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and they’re just as applicable now. She died in 1861, five years after publishing her novel-length epic poem, “Aurora Leigh” (1856), which explores the upbringing of a woman poet. Through the poem’s eponymous protagonist, Barrett Browning poses questions about art, societal roles and the right to a voice.

I saved the lines in my phone because they made me feel courageous. “I would rather take part / with God’s Dead,” Aurora Leigh proclaims, “than keep quiet here / and gather up my feet from even a step / for fear to soil my gown in so much dust. / I choose to walk at all risks.”

The protagonist, like the poem, insists on moving forward, even when her steps are uncertain — even when they’re dangerous.

I spent the past week at an eco hostel in Ecuador with a group from Boston, doing yoga and hiking. When we arrived, we were greeted by the managers, Sharon and Steven. That afternoon, Sharon and her 6-year-old daughter led us on a hike to a nearby waterfall. As the adults tested stones with our feet to make sure they wouldn’t wobble, the 6-year-old scrambled up and over a boulder in the river. While we opted for smooth footholds, she preferred stepping over steep rocks. Late in the hike, she hopped off the trail to climb down a muddy embankment beside it.

That was when she fell. Mud coated her white stretch pants and pink shirt, squeegeeing from the holes in her sandals. Her mom held her as she cried, then wrung her pants out in the river.

When we got back to the house, someone mentioned how beautiful it had been: the sight of the 6-year-old perched at the top of the boulder in flimsy sandals, the water rushing beneath her.

During quiet moments for the rest of the trip, when I wasn’t taking obvious risks like biking through a busy tunnel or jumping off of a zip-line platform, I thought about those other risks I want to take — the ones that really matter.

What if I decide not to find a ‘good’ job post-graduation? What if I try in earnest to be a writer?

I don’t remember what risks I had in mind a year ago, when I first read those lines from Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

But when I read her words now, I’ll think of those sandals dripping with mud. I’ll think of how the fall was worth it, because earlier in the hike, those same sandals were poised on a rock above the river: joyful, floating.

Abigail McFee is a senior majoring in English. Abigail can be reached at abigail. mcfee@tufts.edu.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Arts & Living | Wednesday, March 29, 2017

tuftsdaily.com

Exhibition features colorful, abstract pieces by famed artist Jawlensky ALEXEI JAWLENSKY

continued from page 5 of Madame Matisse (Green Stripe)” (1905), Jawlensky uses more colors and textures and ultimately reaches a level of abstraction that none of the impressionist and fauvist artists before him sought to achieve.

Jawlensky’s devotion to color can be noted in both his earlier series of landscapes and his very abstract series of small paintings enti-

tled “Meditation.” The series created between 1914 and 1921 called “Variations” consisted of multiple still lifes from the artist’s window. Unlike impressionists before him, Jawlensky’s strokes are not small and painterly, rather his landscapes use large swatches of color to depict the natural world.

In Jawlensky’s work, color becomes the form, and what the viewer is left with still resembles something naturalistic and familiar, but arrives at

something much more complex and alive. Most landscapes can have a kind of stagnant feature, and it takes a true master of paint to create a still painting that encapsulates the life of the living realm it is trying to depict. In his late life, Jawlensky unfortunately suffered from severe arthritis, which limited his ability to paint. His smallest and last works resemble the “Abstract Faces” series, but Jawlensky uses even fewer shapes and colors. He rather focuses,

or meditates as the title suggests, on the quality of the colors and the forms they create.

The Neue Galerie’s retrospective offers the most comprehensive collection of Jawlensky’s work ever displayed in the United States. It is hard to feel unmoved after leaving the retrospective, and it is even harder to forget it.

“Alexei Jawlensky” will be displayed at the Neue Galerie in New York City until May 29, 2017.

New contestants sashay down the runway in Gaga-themed looks DRAG RACE

continued from page 5 The main (and only) challenge in the first episode is a two-look runway show.

The challenge is mediocre at best, as season 7 contestants had to do the same thing in their respective premiere as a mini challenge. The first look was meant to represent the state the contestants are from, and the second look was supposed to pay homage to a Lady Gaga ensemble. Of the looks, the highs were Nina’s peach-inspired outfit and Sasha Velour’s artsy NYC costume. Sasha is edgy and polished at the same time and has the potential to stand out, yet her personality has little to offer in the premiere.

The winner of the challenge is Nina.

Her unconventional approach to runway might be irksome to some, but it is definitely intriguing. Her win signifies that this season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will once again define and redefine drag culture, exploring and celebrating unknown territories.

COURTESY LOGO

The contestants from season 9 of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ pose for a photo.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017 | Comics | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Comics

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Bibi: “And I was like ‘Why is my face on fire?’”

Comics

SUDOKU

GARFIELD

BY JIM DAVIS

NON SEQUITUR

BY WILEY MILLER

Difficulty Level: Dealing with the New England weather after spring break in Florida

Tuesday’s Solution

CROSSWORD

Tuesday’s Solution

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Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Opinion OP-ED

A ban on tobacco and vaping will make the campus less healthy

by Kristof Redei As a never-smoker who’s lost loved ones to gruesome diseases directly caused by smoking, I’ve always been interested in and enthusiastic about initiatives to assist smokers trying to live healthier lives. The recently announced plan to make Tufts a ‘tobacco-free’ campus will hurt them more than it helps them, and will be of little benefit to anyone else.

Let’s start with the pros. Tufts Tobacco Free claims that a campus-wide ban will improve the success of smokers attempting to quit, as they will have less temptation to light up. They are probably right in that several studies have shown a reduction in intention to smoke on campuses with smoking bans compared to those without. It’s unclear, however, whether this translates to any improvement in the long-term quit rate, or if it just means people smoke more elsewhere.

A ban may also reduce non-smokers’ exposure to second-hand smoke and the resulting health effects. However, we already have reasonable restrictions on smoking around campus buildings that make it easy for those who wish to avoid smoke to do so.

How about the cons? First off, some smokers have weighed the costs and benefits and decided that smoking is worth it.

For them, being banned from smoking anywhere on campus is a big nuisance. Second, adding any restriction on people’s behavior requires time and money for enforcement.

Tufts Tobacco Free claims that TUPD would not be enforcing the ban; they have not made it clear who would. If nobody does then it’s not a ban and shouldn’t be called one. Third, as a matter of principle, restrictions on what responsible adults put in their bodies should only be made if there is a compelling aim that cannot be achieved in another, less intrusive way.

Reasonable people can disagree on whether the above pros and cons imply that a ban is desirable or not. The proposed policy, however, goes much further.

In addition to forbidding smoking, Tufts Tobacco Free aims to ban the use of both smokeless tobacco products, like chewing tobacco and snus, and vapor products and e-cigarettes, which contain no tobacco (and sometimes not even nicotine).

The use of smokeless tobacco and vapor products is widely considered much less harmful than smoking since the user avoids ingesting tar and carbon monoxide, which together are responsible for the majority, if not all, of the health problems attributed to smoking. Both are commonly used by smokers to cut down on or eliminate smoking while still enjoying the hand-to-mouth ritual, the buzz of nicotine or both. To forbid their use is to take away some of the best tools currently in our arsenal for reducing the harm caused by smoking. In fact, encouraging all smokers to switch to lower-risk products is one of the best things we can do for the community’s health.

Since the proponents of the ban are in favor of increasing smoking cessation resources, including information on lower-risk products, it’s particularly surprising that they would, at the same time, push to disallow them on campus. It makes about as much sense as providing nicotine gum and patches but telling people they aren’t allowed to use them here. The reasoning behind this is presumably to prevent non-smokers from being drawn in and becoming addicted to vaping or even progressing to smoking. Aside from the fact that despite almost ten years of research Tufts Tobacco Free hasn’t provided evidence linking vaping to any illness, this again raises the question of how far we’re willing to go to try to protect people from themselves. If we want to forbid legal substances and activities simply because they might be dangerous to the user, why not start with sugary sodas or horseback riding, both of which are actively offered by the university?

Tufts Tobacco Free doesn’t just want to ban smoking on campus. They seek a full-on ban on smoking, tobacco and a set of products whose most important connection to smoking is that they have helped millions of people kick the habit, according to a survey sponsored by the European Union. This is a policy that is likely to achieve the opposite of its stated aim, and should be opposed by anyone concerned about our community’s health.

Kristof Redei (G ‘09) can be reached at kristof@kristof.me.

SIGNS OF SPRING

NOAH KULAK 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 oped@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.

9 tuftsdaily.com

by Khuyen Bui Dear Jumbo

On achievement and fulfillment

S

aturday afternoon, 55 days to graduation, Whole Foods, San Francisco: “What’s the difference between achievement and fulfillment?” My mind wondered. As I closed my eyes and prepared to enter a nice nap, I found myself naturally reflecting on the journey so far.

Many of us remember that feeling of wanting something so badly. For me, it was the dream of going to an American college, which came true thanks to Tufts. Back in Vietnam, my mother always taught me to be content, but I wasn’t content with being content. My youthful restlessness and unwillingness to settle down made me come to the United States, and here they were fueled even more in a ‘doing and achieving’ culture. If you ever have that nagging sense of “Am I not enough?,” you’ve been in my shoes. I’ve done reasonably well in school. I’ve gotten some awards and prizes here and there but rarely found achievements to be that satisfying. *If achievement is getting what you want, then fulfillment is wanting what you get.* Control shifts from the external (trying to influence what happens) to the internal (shaping our responses to the situation).

A teacher once gave me a piece of advice before college: *learn* to love the place and your work. It is not an easy lesson. If it is, we would see much restlessness in our generation. Learning to want something is a long, often inexplicable process. A big part of growing up to me is integrating these two orientations. Achievement without fulfillment is like eating loads of food on a leaky stomach; fulfillment without achievement is like eating the same dish again and again. It is fine, but variety is the spice of life. We need both. …

I might have slept for 10 minutes. I woke up … and my backpack was gone. I stood still in disbelief for a moment. The security guard said that the homeless man who sat next to me, someone whom I smiled at and almost talked to, took it. I lost, in increasing order of pain, a jacket, passport, e-reader, a book signed by a heroine and a dear notebook with many cherished thoughts.

I heard my inner voice: “You were too careless again …” but I’ve learned not to blame myself. Instead, I let myself grieve for the loss. I sat there, took a few deep breaths and acknowledged: “At least I didn’t lose much valuables.” Positive thinking, accept it, let it go, no big deal, right? Then I could not help but think about achievement and fulfillment again.

“Fulfillment is wanting what you get.”

Life happens. We cannot control what happens, but we can learn to respond in a way that fulfills.

How could I want this situation? It is tempting to think too much about ourselves, especially when we are faced with loss. I tried to shift my focus on the homeless man: What if it could be a gift for him?

I hope he can wear my jacket. It was very light and warm, the only piece of clothing I ever bought in the United States.

I hope he reads the books in the e-reader.

These books have enriched my life and hopefully will enrich his too.

I hope he resonates with my notebook.

Cherished thoughts need a good companion.

Thanks for reading, and please share with me your thoughts at bit.ly/dearJumbo.

Khuyen Bui is a senior majoring in computer science. Khuyen can be reached at g.khuyen@gmail.com.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Sports | Wednesday, March 29, 2017

tuftsdaily.com

SOFTBALL

Jumbos blow out Blue to close out spring break trip

Junior catcher and utility player Michelle Chisdak bats during the Jumbos’ game against Bowdoin on April 1, 2016.

by Sam Weitzman

Assistant Sports Editor

Powered by a six-RBI performance by senior tri-captain first baseman Cassie Ruscz, the Jumbos (9-5) torched the Wellesley Blue (1-1) in the last installment of their 14-game road trip to Clermont, Fla. The Jumbos won 12-2 in five innings on March 25.

Wellesley opened the scoring in the top half of the first inning. After first-year utility player Sequoia Johnson singled and reached second on a sacrifice bunt, senior outfielder Anna Pisac doubled to right field to give the Blue an early 1-0 advantage. Tufts immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning, when senior first baseman Summer Horowitz absorbed an errant pitch to plate Ruscz and tie the game.

The Jumbos’ offense then exploded for six runs in the second inning, capped by a team-leading fourth home run for Ruscz. With the bases loaded and nobody out, the Wolcott, Conn. native redirected a pitch over the left field fence to give Tufts a 7-1 advantage.

An inning later, two Jumbos — junior catcher/outfielder Raven Fournier and Ruscz — hit two-run doubles, and junior catcher Sarah Finnigan added an RBI single to increase Tufts’ lead to 12-1. An RBI single by Pisac in the top of fifth served as a mere consolation run for the Blue.

Three Tufts pitchers performed well in the contest. Junior Raina Galbiati, firstyear Allison Tilton and sophomore Amolee Hawkins combined to hold Wellesley to two runs and seven hits while striking out nine and walking one.

Earlier that day, Tufts beat the University of Chicago (7-4), 3-1. Firstyear pitcher and first baseman Gillian O’Connor shone, tossing her second consecutive complete game. The game-winning runs crossed the plate in the sixth inning, when Galbiati smacked a two-run double to center field to break a 1-1 tie.

The Jumbos began March 24 by beating the Hope Flying Dutchmen (9-3), 6-3.

Tufts faced an early deficit against Hope, but took a 4-2 lead in the fifth when Ruscz hit a three-run home run. Senior outfielder Maggie Hoffman and sophomore infielder Kristen Caporelli tacked on insurance runs in the sixth and seventh to secure the victory.

Later that day, the Jumbos silenced Fontbonne Griffins (2-10), 5-0. Tilton notched her first win, scattering four hits and striking out nine batters in a complete game. All five Jumbo runs came in the bottom of the sixth inning, beginning with an RBI walk by first-year infielder Casey Maggiore. The very next at-bat, first-year infielder Jamie Stevens — pinch hitting for junior catcher Sara Willner-Giwerc — slapped a two-run double to break the game open. An RBI groundout by senior tri-captain outfielder Carrie Copacino and an RBI single by sophomore infielder Christian Cain sealed the win for the Jumbos.

According to Cain, the four-game winning streak that closed out the trip to Florida demonstrated the team’s progress and growth.

“When we first started our first set of games, we were just getting used to playing as a team for the first time, and we hadn’t congealed yet. We weren’t a cohesive unit yet,” she said. “As we progressed in the tournament, things began to solidify. I think by the end of the tournament, we really [had] turned a new page and got to see the potential of the team. And we haven’t yet reached that potential, but we’re very aware that we are capable of going all the way.”

On March 23, the Jumbos out-slugged the Worcester State Lancers (2-8), 12-4, before falling to the No. 9 Luther Norse (16-2), 8-0. Both games lasted five innings. Against Worcester State, Tufts scored nine runs in the first inning and never looked backed. Later that day, however, the Norse shut down the Jumbos’ offense on the back of senior pitcher Annie Versnik, who allowed just

four singles in five shutout innings.

Junior infielder Natalie Stockman tripled and homered, driving in five runs in the first two frames.

Tufts won both games on March 21.

The Jumbos began the day with a comeback 8-6 victory against the Benedictine Eagles (5-5). Facing a 6-0 deficit after five frames, the Jumbos hit four home runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

Tufts took the lead for good in the top of the seventh, when Horowitz slugged a three-run shot to left.

Later that same day, Tufts beat Worcester State, 10-2, in six innings. Two first-year pitchers, O’Connor and Maria Ostapovich, combined to limit the Lancers to just three hits. Seven Jumbos plated runs, and Stevens posted her first multihit game for the team.

Tufts lost both games on March 20, falling to No. 15 St. Catherine (10-6), 6-1, and Fontbonne, 6-3. Junior pitcher/infielder Krista Flugstad had a strong outing for St. Catherine, holding Tufts to just one run on four hits in seven innings. The only Tufts run came on an RBI groundout by Hoffman in the third inning.

In the later game, a four-run third by the Griffins condemned the Jumbos to a third consecutive defeat. Tufts suffered from an uneven offensive performance, as four players had multiple hits while eight other batters failed to record a single hit.

On March 19, Tufts beat Buffalo State (4-12), 11-3, before losing to Clarkson (9-7), 17-9. Both games concluded after the sixth inning. In the earlier contest, Hoffman led the Jumbos offense. The Avon, Mass. native went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and fell just a triple short of the cycle.

Against Clarkson, Hoffman again went 4-for-4, though she failed to knock any runs in. Additionally, Caporelli slugged her first career home run – a grand slam – in the fifth inning.

Not for the first time, however, the Jumbos succumbed to inopportune errors, as eight of Clarkson’s 17 runs were unearned.

SOFIE HECHT / THE TUFTS DAILY

On March 18, Tufts fell to No. 11 Linfield (17-3), 4-2. Tilton performed admirably in her Jumbo debut, giving up only one earned run in seven innings of work. Four errors, however, doomed Tufts and allowed three unearned Linfield runs to cross the plate.

According to Stevens, fielding errors should not be a problem in the long run.

“I’m not too worried about it, personally. It’s been a while since anyone has played on dirt and not all of us have played next to each other on the field, so we’re all still learning how each person plays, their ranges,” Stevens told the Daily in an email. “Everyone on the team is so talented, and because of this, we are still trying to figure out the best roles for each person to fill. As we move people around, there are bound to be a few errors.

[However,] I’m optimistic.”

Cain also referred to the difficulties of readjusting to outside playing conditions.

“That’s attributed to not having played on a real softball field since October,” she said.

“We hadn’t played on dirt since preseason, so getting used to actually playing on a real field is an adjustment for sure. But I think [that] by the end of the week, we were pretty much completely adjusted. Hopefully by this week, we’ll be able to go on the field and be completely acclimated to the dirt.”

Earlier that day, in their season debut, the Jumbos blanked the Plymouth State Panthers (8-6), 4-0. Galbiati and O’Connor combined to throw seven shutout innings, while Ruscz socked a pair of two-run shots in her first two at-bats.

Reflecting on the team’s spring break trip, Stevens expressed optimism.

“I think we had a good showing for our first few games but that there is room for improvement,” she said. “I think that we will continue to grow as a team as we strive to achieve the high goals that we have set for ourselves.”

The Jumbos resume play on March 30 with a double-header against the visiting Eastern Connecticut State Warriors (2-8). The first game at Spicer Field begins at 3 p.m.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Sports

No. 2 Jumbos face Camels Saturday MEN'S LACROSSE

continued from back you can jump on a team really early like that, it throws them off their game. We kept our foot on the gas throughout the whole game, and it was awesome to see the scoring be so spread out across the entire team.”

Shanks added his second career goal later in the third quarter. Sophomore attackman William Pasik and first-year attackman Fitz Reese both recorded their first career goals as well.

Lucas Johnson applauded the Jumbos’ defense.

“Against Trinity, everyone did their jobs,” he said. “The goalies made a ton of saves, the defense got stops and the face-off unit dominated every matchup and got the ball to the offense.

A midweek competition against the Stevenson Mustangs was the Jumbos’ first encounter against another top-10 opponent, though the Mustangs have been demoted to No. 11 after their loss to the Jumbos.

Stevenson got on the scoreboard first, but Cordrey grabbed two points back to back with a goal and an assist to senior attackman Michael Mattson to give Tufts its first lead. Richman added a pair of goals 18 seconds apart, and Murphy grabbed his own. The Mustangs managed a goal with 12 sec-

onds remaining to cut the Jumbos’ lead to two before the end of the quarter.

The Mustangs netted four in the second quarter, compared to three by the Jumbos, allowing the Jumbos a single goal advantage before the half. In the third quarter, two goals from Cordrey and one apiece from Murphy, Mattson and Lucas Johnson gave them the threegoal lead that they maintained for the rest of the game.

“There was no pump-up speech at half time,” D’Annolfo said. “We were doing what we wanted to do. We just had to continue driving away, [and] the goals would come.

Legitimately, nothing changed at half time.

It was mostly just our guys connecting on their shots. Our goalies played really well throughout the entire game, and Stevenson had fewer chances than us.”

On March 18, the Jumbos handed the Colby Mules their second conference loss after scoring seven unanswered goals in the first 15 minutes. Six different Jumbos scored in the first quarter, indicative of the spread of talent both in the starters and bench players this season.

The remainder of the contest was a different story, with the score from the final three quarters totaling 3-7 to Colby. The scoreline in each quarter was 0-2, 1-2, and 2-3, but despite the

Jumbos being outscored each time, the Mules could not cancel out the significant deficit that they had incurred in the opening quarter.

“We strayed away from some of the stuff that we do well, so it wasn’t one particular phase of the game,” Cordrey said. “In the first quarter, we played really good team offense, drawing the slides and moving the ball so the defense couldn’t get set.”

The Jumbos are one of the most aggressive teams in the NESCAC at preventing the other team from successfully clearing. However, against the Mules, they prevented only four of 22, compared to preventing nine of the Bantam’s and 10 of the Mustang’s.

Another contributor was Colby’s sophomore goalkeeper CJ Layton, who saved nearly two-thirds of Tufts’ shots.

The contest was the Jumbos’ lowest scoring match-up of the season so far by six goals, and well below their average of 17.86 goals per game.

However, the Jumbos remain ranked at No. 2 in the nation and lead the NESCAC in goals and assists, with Shmerler leading the NESCAC in goals against.

The Jumbos looks ahead to this weekend where they will play Conn.

College, who are 1-2 in the NESCAC.

Tufts looking to bounce back after loss to Pomona-Pitzer MEN'S TENNIS

continued from back the singles matches of Ali, Chen and junior Rohan Gupte all lasted a full three sets. While only Chen was victorious, the Jumbos clinched the victory by winning three additional singles matches and two doubles matches.

“Traditionally, Colby has been competitive,” Kelly said. “This year’s team is [even] stronger than in years past.”

Barring a matchup in May’s NESCAC Championships, the Jumbos won’t face the Mules again this season, but the victory should provide a strong launching point for the young team as it dives into NESCAC play.

“It was great to see [our first-years] rise to the occasion,” Battle said. “If you look at their performances against Point Loma compared to how [they] performed against Colby, it’s [encouraging] to see their improvement.”

For the second time in three years, Tufts wrapped up its whirlwind week by falling to No. 9 Pomona-Pitzer in a narrow 5-4 decision. Ali, Shaff and Kelly provided singles victories to split the singles matches 3-3 with Pomona, the latter two in three sets. While the Shaff-Battle partnership fought to a 9-7 win, the team lost the doubles matchup, as Ali and first-year Ben Biswas fell 8-6, to PomonaPitzer’s duo of first-year Quinn Hirsohn

and junior Marko Mandic, while Gupte and junior Griffin Brockman lost 8-2 to juniors Spencer Simonides and Anthony Bello. “[Our matchups with Pomona] are always very tight,” Battle said. “Losing a match like that is a good learning experience because we’re going to play NESCAC teams [on] that level [who] we need to beat 5-4.”

The loss dropped Tufts to 4-2 on the young season, as the team returns home after a long, yet rewarding week in the California sunshine. The No. 14 Jumbos will look to build on their 1-0 conference record when they host No. 15 Amherst College on April 1.

11

Bradley Schussel The Coin Toss

And then there were four…

W

elcome to The Coin Toss, where I make some bold, unlikely predictions about your favorite sports.

Before spring break, I made some predictions for the first round of the NCAA tournament. I correctly predicted two upsets: (11) Xavier over (6) Maryland and (11) URI over (6) Creighton. (10) VCU lost their first round match-up, busting my third prediction. Still, a successful week with two correct picks out of three.

My overall bracket was not as successful. I had some early picks right, but all of my final four teams (Kansas, Duke, Arizona and UCLA) got knocked out. Perhaps that doesn’t help my credibility much, but I have been watching the tournament and I’ll try to take a stab at the final four games coming up this weekend. Let’s get to it…

(3) Oregon over (1) UNC This was a tough match-up to pick, but I’m taking Oregon to reach the finals. There are a couple of motivating factors here. First of all, the Ducks have been burning me on my bracket. I had them losing early due to Chris Boucher’s injury, but they have gone on an incredible run to reach the Final Four.

Secondly, Oregon has a ton of momentum coming out of its big Elite Eight win over (1) Kansas. Tyler Dorsey was scoring with ease, with 27 points on 9-13 shooting. Ten of his 13 shots were three balls, and he made six of them. That was also Dorsey’s seventh straight game with 20 or more points. Junior forward Dillon Brooks was hot on the offensive side of the ball as well, as he scored 17. Perhaps the biggest factor in Oregon’s win was forward Jordan Bell, who was a lockdown defender and grabbing rebounds all over the court.

Bell had eight blocks and 13 rebounds in the game. The junior also added 11 points on five-of-six shooting.

Oregon hasn’t been to the Final Four since 1939, and it will face UNC, which is participating in its twentieth Final Four.

It will be a challenge for the Ducks, but it’s hard to pick against them after they proved me wrong throughout the tournament. I’ll take Oregon over UNC in this one.

(1) Gonzaga over (7) South Carolina Here we have a match-up of two teams in their first Final Four appearances. South Carolina was perhaps the biggest bracket buster in this tournament.

It defeated (2) Duke, (3) Baylor and (4) Florida in the east region. They’ve beaten a two-seed, a three-seed and a four-seed, but I think the first-seeded Bulldogs will be too much for them.

South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell has been torching defenses throughout the tournament, but he hasn’t faced a defense like Gonzaga’s. You can bet Gonzaga will focus on Thornwell and force him into some contested shots. Gonzaga had a hard time on the boards against Xavier, as it wasn’t boxing out quite well enough. This led to only three rebounds from Przemek Karnowski, one of the team’s top rebounders. The Bulldogs saw some great scoring from Nigel Williams-Goss (23 points) and Johnathan Williams (19 points). Their defense won them the game, however, as they held Xavier to 35 percent shooting.

Gonzaga’s defense has taken them this far, and it will get them the win over the ‘Cinderella’ of this Final Four, South Carolina. The pick is in: the Bulldogs will take down the Gamecocks.

Bradley Schussel is a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering. Bradley can be reached at bradley.schussel@tufts.edu.

12 tuftsdaily.com

Sports

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

MEN'S LACROSSE

Jumbos remain unbeaten after seven games

by Maddie Payne Sports Editor

COURTESY JUMBOS LAX TV

Senior midfielder Michael Mattson skips past a defender’s check in the game against Endicott College on March 10.

The No. 2 Jumbos had a productive spring break, increasing their run of wins to seven on the season so far, remaining unbeaten. Tufts faced two conference opponents – Trinity and Colby, who they defeated 22-9 and 10-7 respectively — and non-conference rival Stevenson 16-13, who at the time of the matchup was ranked No. 8.

On Saturday, the Jumbos hosted the Trinity Bantams (2-4, 0-4 NESCAC) in what became their second game in the season during which they scored more than 20 goals. Tufts went five goals up in less than five minutes led by a pair of goals from sophomore midfielder Nick Katz. Thanks to sophomore face-off expert Henry Hollen, who won the first five face-offs and two-thirds total, the Bantams did not see their first offensive possession until they were already five goals down. The Bantams scored three in a row before the end of the quarter to minimize the deficit, and the game went to the second quarter with a score of 5-3.

Coach Casey D’Annolfo praised the Jumbos for their strong offense.

“There are some teams we play that slide really early and force us to really move the ball quickly and use our teammates,” D’Annolfo said. “Trinity was one of those teams, and forced us

to play good team offense, but our guys did a good job of taking advantage of that.”

Tufts opened the second quarter with possession and a man-down situation, but the team was able to ride out the disadvantage. After sophomore goalkeeper Ben Shmerler grabbed a save, a successful clear saw first-year midfielder Nick Shanks take the ball downfield and score his first career goal for the Jumbos.

Four more Jumbos found the net before the half, with senior attackman Zach Richman scoring two and one each from senior co-captain defenseman Tucker Mathers, senior midfielder Lucas Johnson and sophomore attackman Ben Connelly.

Two more goals from Lucas Johnson in the second half made him the contest’s highest scorer, with only three goals because the Jumbos had 13 different goal scorers that day.

“In the offense, we like to let the defense dictate who scores our goals,” Lucas Johnson said. “We just find the open guys, and it just ended up being me who got them on Saturday.”

Sophomore midfielder John Cordrey similarly acknowledged the team’s strong offense.

“We drew slides and moved it to the guys with the best shots,” Cordrey said. “When see MEN'S LACROSSE, page 12

MEN’S TENNIS

Jumbos win four of six in California

by Caleb Symons Contributing Writer

The Jumbos kicked off the season in a rapid fashion on their annual sun-bathed swing through California, winning four out of six matches in a span of seven days. For the young team — six of its members are first-years — the trip was an extremely beneficial experience.

“It’s a great way for the team to get to know each other and to have a full week of competition,” senior tri-captain Kevin Kelly said. “It’s definitely a lot, considering this is the start of our season. If you look at [the remainder of ] our schedule, we [only] play one or two matches a week.”

The accelerated schedule and California heat always pose unique challenges, including fatigue and injury, but after being hampered by these factors in previous years, the Jumbos took new measures to combat those risks, according to senior tri-captain Ben Battle.

“We had an earlier fitness test requirement, about a month before spring break,” Battle said. “When official practice started [three weeks before the trip] … we wanted everybody to already be in their groove, so they could take the three weeks to train and build up. That certainly worked — our fitness was great, and we handled the schedule really well.”

On March 18, the then-No. 13 Tufts downed host Point Loma Nazarene University, 6-3. The team dropped the top three singles matches, but Kelly (6-1, 6-1), along with first-years Zach Shaff (6-4, 6-3) and Nathan Niemiec (6-4, 5-7, 10-6), rebounded with wins to even the

scoreline. Tufts then swept the doubles matches, as Shaff and Battle provided the clinching victory.

Tufts was right back on the courts the next day, rolling to a 6-0 win over the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, Calif. First-years Jason Scanlon and Ethan Bershtein dominated their singles matches, winning 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-1, respectively, while juniors Zain Ali and Danny Coran swept their doubles match, 8-0.

The Jumbos extended their season-opening win streak to three on March 20, dropping just a single set in a 9-0 triumph over No. 24 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in Claremont, Calif. Shaff improved to 4-0 on the season with wins in both his singles (6-3, 6-1) and doubles (8-4, with Battle) matches, while sophomore Ethan Chen rebounded from losing the opening set of his singles match to defeat the Warhawks’ Zach Wood, 10-8, in a tight third-set tiebreak.

The following day, Tufts traveled to Pomona, Calif. where it lost 9-0 at the hands of No. 5 University of Chicago.

The Jumbos were only able to win two sets against a talented Maroons squad, as Ali (3-6, 6-2, 4-6) and Shaff (2-6, 6-4, 0-6) took opponents to three sets in their respective singles matches. Firstyears Ninan Kumar and Erik Kerrigan and sophomore Charlie Pei each recorded two victories for the University of Chicago.

Playing its fifth match in as many days, Tufts rebounded with a hardfought 6-3 victory over a familiar opponent: Colby College. Underscoring how evenly-matched the two teams were, see MEN'S TENNIS, page 12

COURTESY ROB JACOBSON

Junior Zain Ali hits a forehand in a match against Colby in Palm Springs, Calif. on March 24.