The Tufts Daily - Monday, November 26, 2018 by The Tufts Daily

Documentary explores relationship of truth to storytelling through famed Israeli writer Etgar Keret’s life, stories see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Jumbos win four straight behind record-setting offense

‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ fails to charm, loses its magic with labyrinthine plot see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 5

SEE SPORTS / BACK PAGE

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Dark Money at Tufts, Part 1: Illuminating Tufts’ multimillion dollar donor network

DAVID NICKERSON / THE TUFTS DAILY

by David Nickerson

Executive Investigative Editor

Tufts has accepted over $22 million since 1985 from charitable foundations that have openly expressed a desire to promote their political agenda at institutes of higher education, or which have directly funded academically controversial, racially antagonistic

research at Tufts, a multiyear Daily investigation has discovered. Through an analysis of tax records made available by American Bridge 21st Century, Foundation Center and ProPublica — in addition to financial information publicly released by Tufts’ Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development — the Daily has charted the flow of controversial chari-

table donations the university has accepted over the last 33 years. Tufts’ continued acceptance of these funds is indicative of a donation review process that prioritizes the immediate on-campus implications of potential donations over the histories and motives of the donors. Monica Toft, director of the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) at The Fletcher School

of Law and Diplomacy, and Richard Lerner, director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, told the Daily that they accepted money from the Charles Koch Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation, respectively, without knowing about the organization’s political intentions or without fully understanding the highly controversial funding schemes these foundations have engaged in at Tufts and across the United States. The seven foundations included in this report are the John M. Olin Foundation, which gave $1,626,051; the Sarah Scaife Foundation, which gave $7,620,000; The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which gave $1,018,250; the John Templeton Foundation, which gave $6,699,828; the Earhart Foundation, which gave $1,413,008; the Smith Richardson Foundation, which gave $1,193,017; and the Charles Koch Foundation, which pledged to donate $3,000,000 over a six-year period beginning in 2017. Some of the donations and grants given by these foundations have funded racially and religiously divisive research initiatives at Tufts. One such project was the now-closed Cultural Change Institute at Fletcher, which received financial support from the Templeton Foundation and the Smith Richardson Foundation. The Cultural Change Institute was founded in 2007 by former Fletcher adjunct professor and senior research fellow Lawrence Harrison, who also directed the institute from its establishment until he retired in 2010, according to Miguel Basáñez, who was named director following Harrison’s retirement. Fletcher tapped Harrison to direct the Cultural Change Institute in 2007, even see DARK MONEY, page 2

David Cochrane, longtime professor of biology, dies at 74 by Alexander Thompson Staff Writer

David E. Cochrane, who was a professor of biology at Tufts for 38 years before retiring in 2014, passed away in Essex Junction, Vt. on Nov. 7. Cochrane was born in Cold Spring, N.Y. in 1944 and grew up on a chicken farm in the nearby small town of Fishkill. Growing up on the farm, Cochrane developed a great passion for animals and studied animal science at Cornell University, according to his daughter Jessica King (LA ’02). King said that when Cochrane began pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of

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Vermont, his focus shifted to physiology. After a few years of pursuing postdoctoral study at Yale University, Cochrane arrived at Tufts in 1976. Longtime colleague Harry Bernheim, an associate professor of biology who started teaching at Tufts just three years after Cochrane did, described Cochrane as gentle, kind and brilliant. For much of both professors’ careers they taught General Physiology I and II together, leading students to dub the courses “The Harry and Dave Show,” according to Bernheim. “[Students] often said that [Cochrane] was like Mr. Rogers and had a California effect, whereas I was

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more East Coast and high strung, so we were sort of a complementary pair since my personality was somewhat different than his,” he said. “Students liked that one was calm and cool and one was frenetic and agitated.” King attributed comparisons to Fred Rogers to Cochrane’s warmhearted demeanor, as well as his habit of wearing zip-up sweaters reminiscent of the beloved PBS personality. In his own way, Cochrane had a knack for performance. Bernheim recounted an occasion when members of the biology department filmed a video for an ill colleague in which Cochrane taught physiology in character as Rogers.

Cochrane was a performer with range too. Bernheim said that when teaching General Physiology II, he and Cochrane once performed a physiological version of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner’s trademark 2000-year-old man comedy routine. King said her father made strong connections with his students. “I stopped by his office nearly every day to hang out and talk and there were always students there — always. At least one, usually multiple,” she said. “He was working with them, teaching them, meeting with them, talking on the

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Tufts accepts donations from politically motivated, academically controversial organizations DARK MONEY

continued from page 1 though he had a long history of producing racially divisive scholarship dating back over 20 years. In one written work, Harrison argued that black slaves benefited from British slavery and in another argued that black subculture is the primary cause of black underachievement in America. Not all of the foundations included in this report have supported controversial scholarship at Tufts, but they have all engaged in questionable donation campaigns at universities across the country. The Charles Koch Foundation, which funded Fletcher’s CSS through a $3 million grant over six years, has attempted to influence faculty hiring decisions and academic curricula at several universities to which it donates, according to documents signed in 2008 by Charles Koch Foundation officials and administrators at Florida State University (FSU) that were released in 2011 by UnKoch My Campus and the FSU Progress Coalition. Ralph Wilson, co-founder of UnKoch My Campus, said that his organization’s release of the FSU documents provided evidence to support its claim that the Charles Koch Foundation attaches conditions to its donations. “The FSU contract was the first time we got to see the conditions on this money and we could say, ‘Look, there’s a legal document. We’re not making this up, we’re not shouting at the donor’s politics’ — we’re reading a legal document that says ‘here’s what the donors get for their money’ and shows those strings attached,” Wilson said. Tufts’ Executive Director of Public Relations Patrick Collins told the Daily in an email that donors sometimes retain the right to give final faculty approval but did not directly respond when asked if donors can influence the hiring process. “For some awards, the agreement will call for Tufts to select personnel and for the sponsor to give final approval based on the personnel’s qualifications,” Collins said. “This is common for agreements with federal government agencies, e.g. with the United States Agency for International Development.” The Charles Koch Foundation contributed funding to the Center for Choice and Market Process at the College of Charleston. In 2010, the foundation requested that the center’s director, Peter Calcagno, share students’ personal email addresses so that it could recruit them for other foundation initiatives, according to an email released by the Center for Public Integrity. “Please submit names and permanent e-mail addresses (preferably not ending in .edu), if your program includes any activities that include a roster of students,” Charlie Ruger, director of university investments at the Charles Koch Foundation, and Derek Johnson, vice president of education at the Charles Koch Institute, wrote to Calcagno. “Given our goals, this section of the report will factor substantially into our evaluation of future funding requests.” Toft, director of CSS at Fletcher, said that she has never been asked to provide the Charles Koch Foundation with students’ personal information and added that she was unaware the foundation engaged in this behavior. Collins did not directly respond when asked if Tufts has any rules that bar the sharing of personal student data with charitable foundations, but noted that he does not know of any such occurrences. “We are unaware of any agreement requiring the university to provide students’ personal information to funders and we typically would not agree to such a requirement,” he said. At a secretly recorded Association of Private Enterprise Education conference in 2016,

Ruger said that the foundation can tap into its large network of philanthropists to pressure universities that do not adhere to its goals. “It really helps if we can call the donor and say, ‘Hey, you know the university. Call up the vice president of development and ask him what the hell he’s doing.’ That’s incredibly powerful, and it goes way beyond just the dollars contribution that they put into this,” Ruger said. Ruger further explained that the Charles Koch Foundation seeks to elevate select scholars whose conservative views differ from the vast majority of modern academics. “We do this because professors with certain classical liberal sympathies are outnumbered in the academy about 125 to one,” Ruger said. “Those 125 professors aren’t just quietly stewing about how much they dislike classical liberal ideas. They’re actively taking the opportunity to fight against liberty, against freedom. So, when we go to build new academic institutions in partnership with universities, we’re doing it because in order to make a dent, we’re going to need to have a disproportionate impact.” Toft said that she thought the Charles Koch Foundation changed its behavior after the Center for Public Integrity first reported on its attempts to influence personnel decisions in 2014 but was unaware of foundation officials’ recent statements, which suggest that the Charles Koch Foundation continues to pressure academic institutions into adopting its preferred scholarship. When asked if it was her responsibility to know about the Charles Koch Foundation’s intentions, given that it pledged $3 million to the CSS, Toft said that it was, but that she ultimately felt “clean” because she has never allowed the foundation to impinge on her academic freedom. “From my perspective, I am a scholar who does research to save lives,” Toft said. “It’s really about training the next generation of scholars … they’re already coming in with dissertations and, from my perspective, that’s the full story.” Top officials at several of these charitable foundations — all of whom have donated to Tufts — have also publicly stated that they donate to universities with the intention of forming academic networks meant to support their political initiatives. In a 2005 Philanthropy magazine article, former Executive Director of the John M. Olin Foundation James Piereson explained that the foundation, through its donations, hopes to present an alternative to an overwhelmingly liberal academic consensus in higher education. “Frankly, we rarely thought of our work in terms of winning a dominant place for non-left-wing thought on campus, but only of establishing ‘beachheads’ at leading colleges,” Piereson wrote. “With enough funders joining in such work … donors, alumni, students, and discerning faculty may wish to challenge head on the ideological bias of the contemporary university and seek to have their ideas represented on an even plane with those of the current orthodoxy.” Piereson added that conservative philanthropy is necessary to counteract universities’ efforts to promote faculty diversity, which he said were created to warrant hiring from traditionally progressive demographics, including “radical blacks and homosexuals.” “‘Diversity,’ for example, is a doctrine developed out of whole cloth … to justify recruiting more radicals to the faculty to teach ever more radically charged courses,” Pierson wrote. “Diversity, in practice, has been little more than a patronage scheme for various special interest groups: feminists, radical blacks and homosexuals, environmentalists, and representatives of other groups that have been recognized by the liberal establishment.” The John M. Olin Foundation gave $1,626,051 to Tufts from 1986 to 1998 to sup-

port several professorships and media seminars, according to financial records released by Greenpeace. Michael Joyce, executive vice president of the John M. Olin Foundation from 1979 to 1985 and president of the Bradley Foundation from 1985 to 2001, articulated a similar vision of supporting an ideological battle within higher education in a 2003 speech at Georgetown University. “At Olin and later at Bradley, our overarching purpose was to use philanthropy to support a war of ideas to defend and help recover the political imagination of the founders: the self-evident truth, that rights and worth are a legacy of the creator — not the result of some endless revaluing of values,” Joyce said. Foundations at which Joyce held leadership positions donated over $2.5 million to Tufts between 1986 and 2015 during and after his tenures. A video shown at the Bradley Foundation’s Kohler Impact Conference in 2016 explained that the organization still promotes conservative ideology through its charitable donations in an orchestrated effort to aid the electoral prospects of the Republican Party. “No matter the outcomes of [the] Nov. 8 [elections], state think tanks will continue to research and implement conservative ideals in exactly the way our founders had intended — not from Washington, but from individual states,” the narrator said. “We at Bradley and the Bradley Impact Fund hope you will join us in recognizing and supporting these outstanding resources. Together, we can work to keep our Great Lakes blue and our states red.” Between 1990 and 2015, the Bradley Foundation donated over one million to Tufts, including to the International Security Studies Program at Fletcher, according to its website. Shultz repeatedly declined to comment on the organization’s support of the International Security Studies Program. Charles Koch Foundation Vice President Kevin Gentry similarly stated that his foundation seeks to build “fully integrated” grassroots networks through its donations to universities at a June 2014 donor conference hosted by Freedom Partners, a political fundraising organization associated with the Koch brothers, according to a transcript of the conference released by the Center for Public Integrity. “You can see [support for] … higher education is not just limited to impact on higher education,” Gentry said. “[Students] … populate our program, these think tanks, and grassroots.” Gentry continued by explaining how these grassroots networks can be used to support the Charles Koch Foundation’s electoral priorities. “It’s not just work at the universities with the students, but it’s also building statebased capabilities and election capabilities, and integrating this talent pipeline,” he said. “So you can see how this is useful to each other over time. No one else has this infrastructure.” This week’s four-part Daily investigation spotlights seven controversial foundations that have supported Tufts in the last 33 years and reveals the process by which the university accepts such donations. Part 2 will explore these foundations’ national funding efforts, which at times supported racially divisive and inflammatory media campaigns and scholarship. Part 3 will examine Tufts’ donation acceptance policies and explore their ramifications for students and newsrooms. Part 4 will compare Tufts’ donation acceptance record with other universities across the United States and examine how they comport with national trends. Liam Knox contributed reporting to this article.

News

Monday, November 26, 2018 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

Colleagues, former students remember late biology professor for his kindness, research contributions COCHRANE

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David E. Cochrane, former professor of physiology at Tufts, is pictured.

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continued from page 1 phone. He just put an enormous amount of time and energy into his students.” Bernheim said that over 38 years, Cochrane worked with about a hundred students in his lab. One of those former students, Phil Riback (LA ’79), wrote of his gratitude to Cochrane in comments read at Cochrane’s 2014 retirement party. “Not only would he point out the flaws in our experimental design gently, but he was visibly excited and accepting when we came up with novel ideas,” Riback said. In addition to a passion for his students, what also motivated Cochrane to enter academia was research, King said. The focus of that research was the mast cell — a white blood cell that releases many of the molecules, like histamine, which are associated with inflammation, according to Bernheim. According to a faculty resolution on his retirement in 2014, written by biology department Chair and Professor Sergei Mirkin, Cochrane published 58 peer-reviewed papers over the course of his career, including groundbreaking research on inflammation and the mast cell. Bernheim said that Cochrane’s research introduced new ways of understanding and reducing inflammation at the cellular level. “If you knew what could cause the activation of these cells — what could cause them to degranulate — then you could potentially find pharmacologi-

cal molecules which would block those stimulators,” Bernheim said. Outside the lab and the classroom, Cochrane was a sports and outdoor enthusiast. He started running from a young age and continued to do so until he was no longer physically capable, King said. She added that Cochrane went to the gym almost daily. Cochrane also enjoyed hiking, having summited all 46 high peaks in the Adirondack Mountains. He took annual week-long hiking trips, which Bernheim said always seemed to be accompanied by terrible weather. Cochrane also maintained a large garden at his Acton, Mass. home and was the steward of a local nature reserve, according to the resolution on his retirement. When he was not running, hiking, teaching or in his garden, Cochrane would share his passion for physiology with his family, King said. “Growing up sitting around the dinner table, the conversation would always go to physiology of some kind or nature of some kind, and understanding how one organ or biological system works,” King said. One of the things King remembered most about her father was how much he cared about human relationships. She recalled how her father said that he took frequent trips from his office to the biology department’s main office so that he would have a chance to talk to people he knew and loved in the hallways. “He was really intentional about taking the time to go and see everyone,” King said.

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ARTS&LIVING

Monday, November 26, 2018

MOVIE REVIEW

‘Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story’ exhibits the beauty of absurdity in storytelling by Eran Sabaner Arts Editor

The first thing you should know about the critically-adorned, bestselling writer Etgar Keret is that he is a liar. Keret’s friends and family, including the great American novelist Jonathan Franzen, admit this without hesitance. His lies are, however, merely exaggerations for the sake of storytelling — a touch of fantasy to what is mundane. In other words, his compulsive lying is what makes Keret arguably one of the most talented magical realists of contemporary fiction. “Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story” (2017) tackles this issue at its core and investigates what makes great storytelling, by mixing fiction with documentary making. The film opens with a scripted scene, where the director-screenwriter duo Stephane Kaas and Rutger Lemm are held up at the infamous Israeli border customs. They are subjected to interrogative questions by the security staff regarding their purpose of travel. As two Dutch men, Kaas and Lemm explain that they are shooting a documentary about Keret. They address their decision to have Keret as their subject and talk about the first time they have been exposed to his fiction. To full comedic effect, the exchange between the security officer and the Dutch men leads into a discussion about Keret’s fiction. The conversation assures that Keret’s fiction and humor, as fantastical they come, are also universal. The discussion is followed by the men discussing their favorite Keret story; Kaas chooses “Fatso” from the short story collection “The Nimrod Flipout” (2006). While Kaas retells the story, a striking stop motion animation serves as a visual companion. “Fatso” is about a man who is in a relationship with a woman who shape-shifts into a hairy, fat man named Fatso at night. Even though the man is surprised

at his girlfriend’s condition at first, he soon befriends Fatso. In the end, he spends time with his loving girlfriend in the morning, and his loyal friend, Fatso, at night. The audience soon learns the inspiration behind “Fatso.” Keret explains that he wrote his story when he first met his wife, film director and actress Shira Geffen. Splitting his time with Shira and his best friend Uzi, Keret felt the two closest figures in his life had many similarities. He also felt that he had spent less time with Uzi, which led Keret to dedicate the story to him. As proven in this case, Keret’s stories have autobiographical truths in them, but the truths are exaggerated and distorted to highlight the absurd and the silly. The rest of the documentary focuses on Keret’s life and the colorful characters around him. His closest friends include Uzi, who is so protective of Keret that he threatens a fact checker from The New York Times when they question Keret’s statements; Kobi, a strongman who cannot be strangled; writer Jonathan Franzen and the famous National Public Radio host Ira Glass. As different as they are, all of Keret’s friends show admiration of his storytelling skills and laud him for viewing life from a unique perspective. Keret has his own trauma, mostly from his days in the military, which leads him to seek escapism through fiction. Keret’s charm and humor is captivating and, interacting with him for the duration of the documentary, the audience gets a glimpse of his naiveté and his passion for life. Near the end of the film, Keret describes his fiction as “advertisements for life.” In many ways, this statement proves to be true. Keret’s stories ultimately confront the sadness in life and offer comfort through humor. They encourage readers to view reality from a different perspective, whether that perspective is strange, absurd or amplified.

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A promotional poster for ‘Etgar Keret: Based on a True Story’ (2017) is pictured.

MOVIE REVIEW

‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ is a crime of a movie by John Fedak Arts Editor

Among recent movie franchises, none have managed to capture the imagination and wonder of a generation quite like Harry Potter. Both the movies and the books they were inspired by are regarded as charming, wonderous and, of course, magical. As part of the spin-off movie series based on a Hogwarts textbook, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” had big shoes to fill to continue the legacy of such a beloved franchise. Unfortunately, the movie is an overwhelming failure, and its terrible showing diminishes the cherished reputation it attempts to rest on. The movie picks up three months after the events of “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (2016), with the dark wizard Grindelwald ( Johnny Depp) having escaped his confinement in New York. As protagonist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) visits the Ministry of Magic, it is revealed that Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), the powerful Obscurial from the previous film, is in fact alive and searching for his family in Europe. Grindelwald believes that Credence is the only one who can kill Grindelwald’s once-lover-turned-nemesis Albus Dumbledore ( Jude Law),

and the Ministry is attempting to find Credence before Grindelwald does. Although Newt initially refuses to get involved, after Dumbledore approaches him and after Newt learns that his love interest Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) is also in Europe searching for Credence, he sets out to reunite with Tina and find Credence before Grindelwald does. The biggest problem with “The Crimes of Grindelwald” is that it contains incredibly convoluted and confusing plots. The movie feels as though J.K. Rowling, who wrote the screenplay, tried to cram as much as possible into two hours, and the resulting jumble is nonsensical and underdeveloped. The bare bones of the story make sense, but finding these bastions of logic amidst the rest of the film is a challenge. As a brief overview, the film explores the complicated family history of Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz) while returning to Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol) and Jacob Kowalski’s (Dan Fogler) forbidden wizard-Muggle romance, also simultaneously tackling Newt and Tina’s romance while explaining Grindelwald’s past at the same time that Credence searches for his family, all while Newt and the Ministry search for Grindelwald. And there are still

more subplots hidden among these larger points — the result is a messy story that all too often is forced to perform exposition dumps on the audience, rendering the plot entirely unappealing. Harry Potter fans will probably recognize names such as Lestrange, Nagini and Dumbledore from the original films and books. The movie tries to lean into the history of the franchise with too much gusto, and its nostalgia feels forced, as if we are expected to like characters simply because of who they are or who they’re connected to. Indeed, nostalgia passes for characterization in “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” and this makes most of the characters rather uninteresting. Then, there are characters who have no business existing in the film — Nagini (Claudia Kim) and Nicolas Flamel (Brontis Jodorowsky) serve no purpose besides cramming more backstory into characters that frankly didn’t need or benefit from it, and they are underdeveloped as a result that they may as well be walking statues. Even when characters are done well — such as with the charmingly awkward Newt — the sheer amount of plot threads means they never have enough time to develop and lead the plot unfolding before them. Another issue facing the movie is its lack of a coherent atmosphere. In short,

it doesn’t feel like this installment belongs in the world of Harry Potter. Sure, there are witches and wizards, but the setting bounces around from New York to London to Hogwarts to London without firmly establishing any of these locations as distinct from one another. Even the magic feels different: Most of the spells are cast silently, which leaves them feeling undefined and vague. As much as the movie tries to announce that it is part of the wizarding world too, everything about it hinders this attempt at solidarity with the franchise’s past. The core reason why “The Crimes of Grindelwald” is a failure rests within the larger scope of the “Fantastic Beasts” series. J.K. Rowling, who is the primary writer behind the movie series, has stated that there will be five movies in total. This installment, when coupled with the whole series, might work better when sandwiched between the events of the first movie and those of the later films, but at present it feels decidedly unfinished. There are too many plot holes, inconsistencies and unrevealed details for the plot to succeed, and when combined with a cast of forgettable characters, the real crime here is that the movie wasn’t approached from a different angle.

A rts & L iving

Monday, November 26, 2018 | Arts & Living | THE TUFTS DAILY

Evan Zigmond Out on the Town

Coolidge Corner

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n case I haven’t made myself clear, I love the City of Boston. The proximity of many different neighborhoods, each with is own distinct feel, makes for a very enjoyable experience. In my quest to see all these different neighborhoods, I stumbled upon the gem that is Coolidge Corner. I’m pleased to report that this small area, nestled halfway between the Berklee School of Music and Boston College, has quite a lot to offer. Unfortunately, the shuttle service currently replacing trains from Alewife to Harvard on the Red Line makes the trip a little longer than it otherwise would be. From Harvard, you can take the Red Line to Park Street and transfer to the C train on the Green Line towards Cleveland Circle. Alternately, you can board the 66 bus towards Dudley from Harvard station, riding 17 stops to Coolidge Corner. As usual, the bus route is slightly more expensive, but offers a nicer view. I was pleasantly surprised as soon as I got off the train. Before me, a strip mall of faux-Victorian buildings stood out from the brick backdrop of the surrounding area. From the outbound train, I took a right onto Harvard Street and started walking. The character of Coolidge Corner was quickly apparent. The area combines the vibrant energy and youth culture of lower Allston, just a few blocks north, with some of the quietly impressive flair of the neighborhoods further into Brookline to the south. Right near the T stop sits Brookline Booksmith, a heavenly two-story bookstore. The massive shop offers more than just books too. One section of the store is dedicated to maps; another features racks and racks of rad socks. If you’re looking for a good place to buy a present for the upcoming holiday season, I recommend checking out the festive baubles there. The lower floor features used and budget books. It has a beefy selection of comedic memoirs, dusty sci-fi novels and children’s books. The next time I need a bedtime story for my child, I’m totally heading down to Coolidge Corner. Exiting the bookstore, I saw the Coolidge Corner Theatre across the street with its grand neon signage. Like many theaters in Greater Boston, the theater offers a mix of new and old films for all moviegoers. Last week, they screened the Wes Anderson classic “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001) and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Next, I walked east on Beacon Street towards Boston. This, too, proved to be a treat. There is a massive synagogue on Beacon Street, and I took time to marvel at the huge domed roof. Another notable piece of architecture is tucked away on Powell Street, north of Beacon. There is a stunning bright yellow house just a few feet down the block, with a lattice helping ivy to climb the side of it. Even further east down Beacon, I found the Hall’s Pond Sanctuary, a surprisingly tranquil walking path and pond complete with a gazebo and wooden docks for viewing ducks. I felt removed from the bustling traffic on Beacon Street. Coolidge Corner is very kind to its tourists and pedestrians, and offers a distinct experience from other parts of Greater Boston. For those looking for a calm neighborhood that still has things to see and do, Coolidge Corner is just the place for you. Evan Zigmond is a sophomore studying music. Evan can be reached at Evan.Zigmond@tufts.edu.

THE TUFTS DAILY | FUN & GAMES | Monday, November 26, 2018

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Monday, November 26, 2018

Quinn Pham Human

Strengths, shortcomings of theory of mind

ow aware are you of other people’s perception of you? Do you know if you sometimes take up too much space? Talk too loudly? Not loudly enough? Here’s an example: I’m having a conversation with someone and they won’t stop talking. I can get about two sentences in, and then somehow they’ll find a way to direct the conversation back to them. After enough thwarted attempts, I sit back and humor them with a nod here, an “uh huh” there and fiddle with my phone. As they talk, I wonder if they are just unable to recognize the signs of someone not engaged in the conversation or if they can tell but choose not to care. I tell myself that I’ll be attentive to other people’s nonverbal signals whenever I’m in a conversation with someone so that they’ll never have to feel uncomfortable. At the age of four, most children begin to develop theory of mind. Essentially, theory of mind revolves around the concept of being able to understand your own beliefs, motivations and thoughts, and recognize oneself as a separate entity from those of other people. Theory of mind allows us to act appropriately in social settings, engage in meaningful conversation and build relationships based on mutual understanding and respect. Not being able to differentiate your thoughts and beliefs from others’ would prevent someone from being able to take on another perspective, leaving them either confused about why people do not think the way they do or perpetually stuck in their own mindset. Having some level of this awareness is good for social development. However, sometimes it might develop out of whack, leading one to become hyperaware of how others perceive them. Take the example from above. Let’s say that I’ve decided to become aware of nonverbal signals in conversations to make sure the other speaker is never uncomfortable. Done in moderation, I might be great at conversations. But if I allow myself to get carried away by overanalyzing each nonverbal cue, like their fingers tapping against the tabletop or their eyes flitting elsewhere, I may end up misreading the other person. I might no longer express myself as freely, afraid that I would drone on for too long. It’s certainly very difficult to do such things in moderation. I especially struggled when I first transitioned to college and became hyperaware of how I must act to fit into a culture that is drastically different from my own. In Vietnam, people might throw a quick nod at someone they recognize on the streets, but wouldn’t stop to say “Hey, how are you?” It is a culture where challenging an adult’s viewpoint is considered rude, which initially made me hesitant of going to office hours, as I was unsure of how to hold a conversation with a professor. It is these little changes that clearly mark the transition from a collectivist culture to an individualistic one. Now, when I find myself in a situation where I’m questioning whether or not the other person is acting in accordance of social norms, I instead tell myself I should also take it in my stride and be a bit more carefree myself. Quinn Pham is a sophomore studying international relations. Quinn can be reached at quinn.pham@tufts.edu.

I’VE NEVER UNDERSTOOD WHY MY HUMAN WON’T LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT HER LEASH. I THINK SHE’S AFRAlD OF GETTING LOST. BUT IT’S OK, I KIND OF LIKE SHOWING HER AROUND. — HARPER adopted 08-18-09

Monday, November 26, 2018

Opinion

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CARTOON

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Opinion | Monday, November 26, 2018

Anita Ramaswamy Anita’s Angle

Why algorithms aren’t the new religion

“I

’m spiritual, but not religious” — it’s a trendy mantra these days. Much to the disdain of our parents, young people are rejecting institutionalized religion. Although the phenomenon is much more prevalent in North America and other predominantly Christian nations, it still applies worldwide, with 41 of 106 countries reporting that young adults are less likely to identify with a religion than previous generations. The number of Americans, in particular, with no religious affiliation is rising, but a lack of faith in Judeo-Christian tradition does not mean that these nonbelievers are entirely atheist. The term “politically homeless” has been used to describe those who do not feel they have a distinct place in the two-party electoral system. Our generation may be increasingly realizing that we are religiously homeless, as well. In his book, “Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow,” historian Yuval Noah Harari argues that the doctrine of humanism has replaced religion as the guiding force behind much of our decision-making. Harari defines humanism as a form of religion that worships humanity instead of a god. We regard science, rationality and logic as our ultimate deities. Where humans may err, data and algorithms can provide us with a clear path forward. The humanist paradigm has defined the development of society from the Middle Ages to now. The limitation, though, lies in the fact that we still need normative assumptions to tell us how we should act. If we let algorithms determine right and wrong, we might not like the answers. We see the pitfalls of worshipping algorithms in the real-life example of facial recognition systems’ misidentifying nonwhite faces. Such errors ostensibly reflect the biases, conscious or unconscious, of those who first wrote the algorithms. That’s where religion, or spirituality, or whatever you want to call it, matters. And while atheists may like to believe they are purely scientific, retired philosophy professor John Gray explains that “a truly naturalistic view of the world leaves no room for secular hope.” Most atheists and agnostics are not utilitarian hedonists and agree that acts like killing, lying and stealing are wrong. Atheists are still united by these shared values even if they do not stem from literal belief in a monotheistic god. Prevailing criticism of religion today not only fails to account for the similarities between religion and humanism, but it also overweights the importance of Western religion. Hinduism and Buddhism, practiced by 1.6 billion people around the world, do not require their followers to believe in God or to observe the rituals and doctrines established by any single institution. The fundamental tenets of Eastern religion differ greatly from the teachings of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This is not to say that any doctrine is superior to another, but before we are so quick to eschew religion on face, we should understand the breadth and depth of the philosophies being discounted. Carl Jung put it best when he addressed the Society for Psychical Research in England in 1919, saying “I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud.” Those of us who are atheist, agnostic and religiously homeless should be careful not to fall prey to the fashionable stupidity of dismissing religion altogether. Anita Ramaswamy is a senior studying political science. Anita can be reached at anita.ramaswamy@tufts.edu.

tuftsdaily.com

OP-ED

Undo yourselves, Jumbos by Rena Oppenheimer Content warning: This article discusses mental health and sexual assault. My name is Rena Oppenheimer and I graduated from Tufts in 2013. I often wondered about what I was doing there, what the point was, and never seemed to find it. I have begun to realize that many of the hard parts of my experience as a student are deeply connected to systems of oppression — and that a lens to understand these systems was glaringly absent from my Tufts education. I want to write this so that others feeling the same way, whether still at Tufts or beyond, can feel less alone and understand that you are not at fault. I am calling for the powers that be at Tufts to think deeply about what ‘active citizenship’ really means and what can be done to protect individuals from further harm as well as to bring communities together in solidarity and healing. When I reflect on my time at Tufts, I certainly remember moments that were beautiful — friendships or professors or groups that made me feel connected and inspired. I recognize, too, that many others may not think about Tufts the way I do, but in my mind that campus is a landscape of loneliness. At Tufts, depression was a struggle more often than not. I balanced my courses and involvement in Institute for Global Leadership groups with treatment at an eating disorder center — which I lied to most friends about, saying I was taking a class at another school. On the weekends, I used substances to numb myself out and saw others around me doing the same. Being at Tufts is a chapter in my life when I was raped and assaulted multiple times, and these expe-

riences felt normal, par for the course. I didn’t see any difference between partying and enduring unsafety on a regular basis. Tufts is a place where many white folks like myself go straight into a private liberal arts institution after high school, swaddled by the unquestioned assumptions that they are hardworking and deserving. My learning was not grounded in my positionality or role in the world — it was about picking apart the experiences and ideas of others. I sat in mostly anthropology classrooms with mostly white students and professors — according to the Tufts Admissions website, 72.9 percent of professors are white — and mostly studied resource-poor people of color. I critiqued my ass off for four years and wrote papers that had nothing to do with my soul. I remember a class I took where a student identified herself as a woman of color when she raised her hand, and I remember laughing about it with a white friend. I couldn’t understand why someone would bring race into the room like that. In retrospect, I can see that I had never really considered my own whiteness before. My laughter was a defense. Deep down, I knew how uncomfortable it made me to sit with my own privilege and complicity in the brokenness of our world. Part of the reason that I held so much in was because I felt like there wasn’t enough room to be vulnerable at Tufts. In my experience, painful feelings were something to be ashamed of — I was supposed to be having fun. I blamed myself for feeling violated and less-than, for hating my body, for feeling a profound and pervasive hopelessness about the world, and for doubting the importance of what I was studying. This did not change until years after graduating, when I first encountered ideas about liberation: feminist theory, queer theory and critical race theory.

Of course, I would never suggest that Tufts is responsible for the creation of rape culture or binge drinking or unchecked white supremacy. I do feel strongly that Tufts has an institutional role in perpetuating systems of oppression and a beautiful, unmet potential in naming and disrupting them. According to its mission statement, Tufts is committed to providing “transformative experiences for students and faculty in an inclusive and collaborative environment.” There is a lot to transform on campus and a lot being excluded. I also see incredible possibility for people to challenge and question and dismantle and rebuild within themselves. I want to propose that Tufts include liberation-oriented learning as integral to its educational goals — for both students and faculty. This includes holding space for difficult conversations about our own identities, building up thick skins in order to have interactions that matter and lifting up the scholarship and leadership of marginalized voices. Most importantly, this means making damn well sure that nobody graduates or steps in front of a classroom without knowing about patriarchy, ableism, white supremacy, transphobia or other ways that oppression impacts all of us. Perhaps engineering students at Tufts will develop a time machine that will allow me to find myself on the Tisch roof and put a bell hooks book in my hand. Until then, it is my sincere hope that Tufts will do some hard work to bring more aliveness and freedom to the student experience. Rena Oppenheimer (LA ’13) graduated with a B.A. in anthropology and Arabic. She is a group therapist at a psychiatric hospital for teenagers in Oakland, Calif. Rena can be reached at rena. oppenheimer@gmail.com.

Sports

Monday, November 26, 2018 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Jumbos deliver powerful offensive performances to start season

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

continued from back ward and co-captain Erica DeCandido’s six rebounds. The trend continued, as the Jumbos spread the scoring wealth across their roster throughout the rest of the game: 12 players scored a bucket for the Jumbos

during the game, with senior forward Katie Martensen (12 points) leading the way. The Lasers had little to offer on offense themselves, leading to a 90–30 Jumbos victory. “We have a lot of really good players and a deep bench,” Berube said. “Everybody’s got the green light in their area, so if you’re

working hard, hopefully you can get some easy scoring opportunities.” The Jumbos tipped off their season on Nov. 16 against the Springfield Pride (2–3). Unlike in its other games so far this year, Tufts was unable to take control of the game in the first quarter, instead holding a slim 14–13 lead at the end of the period. However, a 22–12 second-quarter advantage gave the Jumbos a double-digit lead at halftime. Springfield failed to generate a significant response in the second half, as Tufts also won the third and fourth quarters by double digits to wrap up an 89–51 victory. Knapp said that the team’s first-years and sophomores are beginning to find their feet after a brief adjustment period, which has keyed Tufts’ strong start. “We’re really developing great chemistry on and off the court,” Knapp said. “It’s been really fun and exciting. We can’t wait to keep moving forward.” Now 4–0, the Jumbos will face their next challenge when they head to Williamstown, Mass. for the Williams Tournament. Tufts will tip off against New England College on Friday

WEEKEND SCORES MEN’S BASKETBALL (2–1 Overall) at MIT

92–98

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL (4–0 Overall) Skidmore Brandeis

78–41 110–63

ICE HOCKEY (1–3 Overall) at Babson at Saint Anselm

1–4 3–0

before facing either Williams or Alfred State the following day to kick off its December schedule. Despite its impressive start to the season, Berube knows the team still has work to do, particularly on the defensive end. “[ We’re giving them] way too many open looks, and we’re fouling too much, giving them easy baskets,” Berube said. “[ We need] a greater commitment to that end of the floor and better communication on that end of the floor, as well.” The Jumbos’ game against the New England College Pilgrims will tip off at 8 p.m. on Friday.

Sports

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Monday, November 26, 2018

Women’s basketball breaks scoring record in win Around the JBA over Brandeis, starts 4–0

Sam Weidner Weidner’s Words

his past year was the first year of the newest basketball league, known as the Junior Basketball Association ( JBA). This league is the brainchild of LaVar Ball and Big Baller Brand, marketed as an alternative to the NCAA for players who wish to continue playing past high school but don’t want to go the route of college. Ball started this league to give players a way to play professionally right out of high school, and they are eligible to earn between $3,000 and $10,000 each month. This move isn’t the only that he has made to push against the standard one-and-done basketball path, as he is also known for having convinced his son, LaMelo, to leave high school and his son, LiAngelo, to leave UCLA to play in the Lithuanian professional league. It hasn’t gotten much press yet, but the JBA sits in an interesting spot as the recent investigations into NCAA misconduct, coupled with NBA’s recent G-League salary increases and promises to revisit the 19-year-old age requirement, threaten to place NCAA basketball in a state of flux. It’s impressive that the JBA has even gotten off the ground, yet the immediate returns haven’t been entirely promising. The league has had trouble attracting big name recruits. LaVar Ball has even had to resort to messaging ESPN 100 recruits on Instagram, inquiring if they want to join the league. It hasn’t worked very well, as none out of around 80 recruits that LaVar contacted from the official Big Baller Brand account decided to sign with the JBA. Ball and other team recruiters will, at some point, need to realize that an in-person visit is always be more effective, and competing with the top Div. I coaches who are making these visits, like John Calipari and others, by using Instagram will not produce many recruits. Yet there are some interesting stories about the players who have decided to sign on. For example, Kezo Brown, a member of the Chicago Ballers — all the teams in the league are named the Ballers, which is awesome — was billed as the next great Simeon Academy (Ill.) player, following in the tradition of Chicago legends Derrick Rose and Jabari Parker. However, after missing his sophomore year of high school due to an undisclosed health issue and his senior year after struggling with his mental health, Brown’s stock dropped dramatically, and he was only able to find a potential college career at Div. I Chicago State. That is where the JBA stepped in and gave him an opportunity to join the league. He tried out, made the team and was playing competitive basketball again, scoring 46 points in his debut game in front of a Chicago home crowd. After his first season with the JBA, Brown has now signed with a professional team in China. So maybe the JBA has produced its first success story, and only time will tell if it will produce any more or if LaVar will finally get his first Instagram recruit. Sam Weidner is a junior studying in mathematics. Sam can be reached at samuel. weidner@tufts.edu.

RAY BERNOFF / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Sophomore forward Emily Briggs battles for possession during the Jumbos’ 67–63 win over Babson on Jan. 29. by Ryan Eggers Sports Editor

After a 26–5 season in which Tufts advanced to the Elite Eight, the No. 6 team in Div. III had some big expectations this year. First on the list for the Jumbos was a strong start to kick off the 2018–19 campaign, and after four straight blowout victories, things seem to be on track. On Sunday, the Jumbos hosted the Brandeis Judges (1–3), winning 110–63 to break the program’s single-game scoring record. The teams traded buckets to start the game, with the Judges taking an early lead, 12–11. The Jumbos responded with a 13–3 run, however, and never relinquished control of the game, ending the first quarter on top 31–20. The final 30 minutes followed similarly, as the hosts had the game in their hands by halftime, up 63–33. After tacking on another 28 points in the third quarter, Tufts was approaching record territory. The program’s previous single-game scoring record was 108 points, a mark the team achieved against Norwich University in 1989. Against Brandeis, Tufts reached the century mark midway through the

fourth quarter, putting the record in serious danger. First-year guard Sofia Rosa secured the historic rout with 57 seconds left, with a layup that extended the Jumbos’ advantage to 110–61. The game marked the first time that Tufts has posted 100 points or more in coach Carla Berube’s 17-year tenure. While Berube celebrated the accomplishment, she also pointed out the team’s uncharacteristically poor defensive display, which has typically been a strong suit during her time at the helm. “We made a lot of shots,” Berube said. “I wasn’t expecting to score that much, and I would have liked to see better defense and discipline, but it was fun to see how many plays we made for each other … The work that they’re putting in practice and outside of practice putting up shots is really paying dividends.” The Jumbos have scored an average of 91.8 points per game in their first four games, an offensive explosion which senior guard and co-captain Jac Knapp attributes to the extra work the team has put in during practice. “We’re excited,” Knapp said. “We’ve been all getting in the gym and putting up extra shots, and it’s clearly paying off.”

On Tuesday, Tufts took on Skidmore (1–4) in its first home game of the season. Much like in Sunday’s game, the teams battled back and forth for the first few minutes before the Jumbos caught fire. The team’s starters were relieved four minutes into the first quarter, as the bench sparked a 10–2 run to open up a 17–10 lead. Tufts’ momentum carried over into the second quarter, outscoring Skidmore 31–8 in the 10-minute period. The second half was a bit more competitive, but the Jumbos were in the driver’s seat the whole way, winning 78–41. Knapp led the team with 13 points to go with five rebounds, two assists and two steals. The Jumbos began their season in earnest in Vermont, participating in the Middlebury Tip-Off Classic on Nov. 16–17. The team showcased its scorching hot offense in its two victories at Middlebury, posting a combined 179 points. Tufts hit the ground running against Lasell (2–4) on Nov. 17. The Jumbos played a picture-perfect first quarter, taking a 21–4 lead behind sophomore forward Emily Briggs’ seven points, Knapp’s three assists, and junior forsee WOMEN'S BASKETBALL, page 11