The Tufts Daily - Thursday, April 26, 2018

‘Boxer (Live in Brussels)’ revitalizes the National’s classic album see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 4

After DACA cancellation, campus groups organize events to highlight undocumented narratives

Budget transparency and a lack of access for low-income students see INVESTIGATIVE / PAGE 5

SEE FEATURES / PAGE 3 THE

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Jacqueline Chen, Adam Rapfogel announce candidacies for TCU President

by Jessica Blough

Assistant News Editor

Today, Tufts students of all class years have the opportunity to cast their votes for next year’s Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate President. Juniors Jacqueline Chen and Adam Rapfogel are running for the position. Both announced their candidacies last Thursday, April 19.

Chen is currently the TCU Historian, and she has served on TCU Senate for three years.

Her sophomore year, she served as the Asian American community senator and student outreach committee chair.

“Being in all these different leadership positions has really shown me what a powerful body Senate can be and really driven home to me the importance of working with administrators, and oftentimes Senators are the only people who have this kind of access,” Chen said of her time on Senate.

Her campaign revolves around five themes: academic opportunity, community and social spaces, dining and sustainability, student engagement and social change. Her campaign website lists a total of 31 reforms she plans to make or recent changes she vows to uphold.

Additionally, Chen added that a component of her platform involves making Tufts more accessible to students from different socioeconomic backgrounds. She plans to use the research that senior and TCU Senate trustee representative Nathan Foster has been doing on the Tufts affordability metric, and she hopes to create more transparency around where the funding from increased tuition goes.

Chen also said that she hopes to increase the transparency of TCU Senate, making Senate more accessible and supportive of students. She expressed her admiration of student groups on campus and her desire to create more opportunities for partnerships between Senate and these groups.

“I will encourage partnerships between Senate and student groups to help push their

COURTESY ALEXA WEINSTEIN AND CIEL SRIPRASERT

TCU presidential candidates Adam Rapfogel and Jacqueline Chen pose for portraits. agendas forward,” her campaign website reads. “There are so many student groups on campus outside of Senate who are working to improve our campus, whether it be about worker’s rights, sexual assault prevention, or mental health, and as TCU President I will work to lift these voices up.”

While on Senate, Chen was responsible for the addition of a $10 printing stipend to every student’s JumboCash, and she also spearheaded the creation of the Swipe It Forward meal bank initiative. She has worked on projects such as opening up the Asian American Center, and this has allowed her to see the demand for social spaces on campus, according to Chen.

Chen’s campaign outreach has been largely digital, with her supporters sharing her Facebook page and website, as well as changing their profile pictures to her signature “Elect Chen” frame. On April 23, Chen and her campaign supporters handed out 200 ice pops at her “Chill with Chen” event outside the Mayer Campus Center.

“Campaigning has really given me an opportunity to reflect on why I have been working to improve Tufts for the past three years,” she said.

Rapfogel, also running for TCU Senate President, currently serves as the TCU Parliamentarian. Like Chen, he is serving his third year on TCU Senate.

Rapfogel’s platform consists of long-term reforms like making Tufts more financially accessible, fairly funding the Group of Five houses and creating an equitable method of funding student groups recognized by TCU Senate. His campaign also has five clearly defined short-term priorities: providing more funding for club sports, increasing off-campus housing accessibility, creating additional unpaid internship grants, making syllabi and course evaluations available to students before they register for classes and reforming the eight-semester residency requirement.

In regards to financial accessibility, Rapfogel wants to see the tuition-setting process be opened up to more of the Tufts com-

munity, specifically students and faculty.

“The Board of Trustees are largely detached from the goings-on of the university, so you have the faculty, the teachers and staff who are working here, you have the students who have the best idea of what’s going on here day to day and what students and what the campus needs, yet they aren’t really involved in any meaningful way in the tuition process,” Rapfogel said.

In regards to his short-term goals, Rapfogel suggested creating an online system to give students information on the best local landlords and how to book a house for when they live off campus. He also hopes to find funding for club sports from Tufts athletics, which currently does not allocate any money to club sports, according to Rapfogel.

Rapfogel’s campaign manager, Alexa Weinstein, a sophomore, said that the short-term priorities have been a key part of see TCU PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, page 2

Child development and mechanical engineering classes collaborate to teach children robotics

by Abbie Gruskin Staff Writer

Tufts students in the courses “Children and New Technology” (CSHD-0114) and “Robotics and Mechatronics” (ME-0084) are collaborating to create learning technologies intended to help young children learn new concepts and skills, according to “Robotics and Mechatronics” Professor Ethan Danahy.

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Children from the Eliot-Pearson Children’s School, an on-campus laboratory school, are testing these technologies at Tufts, according to “Children and New Technology” Professor Marina Bers.

The collaboration between these two classes has been ongoing for several years and aims to enrich the learning experience for students in both classes, according to Bers.

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“In this project, [Professor] Marina Bers from Child Development and I … collaborated together to see if we could find common ground between our two, very different disciplines and create an educational experience that, for the individual students in the individual courses, delivered a meaningful cross-disciplinary experience highlighting the role of their learning in a real-world context, while

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still delivering the expected core content,” Danahy said in an email.

Both classes met together for one session a week at Eliot-Pearson to work in small interdisciplinary groups in addition to attending one class a week separately, according to Bers’ see CHILD DEVELOPMENT, page 2

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Thursday, April 26, 2018

THE TUFTS DAILY Catherine Perloff Editor-in-Chief

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Rapfogel, Chen explain presidential platforms TCU PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

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Rapfogel’s campaign.

“What’s been really successful and we’ve found that students love is that we have these five priorities … so part of the campaign has been just going into these groups and saying, ‘we have a way to fix this, can we get you vote, can we work together on this,’ has been really exciting,” she said.

As TCU Parliamentarian, Rapfogel says that the requirement to read and understand every Senate resolution has given him experience helping other members of Senate with a variety of projects, and that he has witnessed “what works and what doesn’t” when it comes

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to passing resolutions. As Parliamentarian, Rapfogel is prohibited from taking sides on resolutions.

Speaking about his accomplishments on Senate, Rapfogel mentioned developing the Tufts app, getting the Whole Foods stop added to the Boston Avenue Shuttle schedule and increasing Senate transparency. As Parliamentarian, he instituted a policy that requires Senate resolutions to be available a week before the Senate meetings where they are discussed, while they used to be available for just a few days.

“We’re just 35 people, we can’t possibly represent everyone in the student body, so as much transparency as we can get is great,” he said.

Both Rapfogel and Chen expressed their gratitude to be running for TCU President, and they implored students to vote for the candidate whose policy would best reflect their needs.

“Jacqueline and I are good friends, so we thought it would be a little stressful going into it, and it definitely has been not super easy — it’s never easy to run a campaign — but I’m really excited that we both really consciously decided to run a policy-focused campaign … [and] to focus on priorities and long-term goals,” Rapfogel said.

Elections will take place all day today, April 26. Students, including seniors, can vote all day, according to events posted on Facebook

by Rapfogel’s and Chen’s campaign pages.

Departments collaborate to teach at Eliot-Pearson Children’s school CHILD DEVELOPMENT

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teaching assistant, Kathleen Robinson. “[Professor] Bers’ class focused on Child Development concepts while my Mechanical Engineering students enrolled in the robotics class learned about robotics theory and implemented small example projects to reinforce those ideas,” Danahy said. “Then, as the students met each week all together, they could incorporate those disciplinary ideas into the larger cross-disciplinary semester-long project.”

Students also spent time outside of class meeting in groups of four to eight to work on their projects, according to Danahy.

The projects are aimed at teaching children, ages four through seven, various skills and tasks, according to Robinson.

“The goal of the project is different for each group,” Robinson told the Daily in an email. “One new technology helps teach children the engineering process, another more clearly defines fractions, another helps children understand emotions.”

The project primarily serves to benefit undergraduate and graduate students in both classes, however, through exposure to an interdisciplinary and collaborative work setting, according to Bers.

“Marina and I are both strong believers in experiential learning, and that through hands-on, project-based learning that is situated within a context and addressing the

needs of a client, you’ll best be able to not only learn how to process and apply the theoretical content, but will develop a deeper long-lasting understanding of it,” Danahy explained. “It was very much up to the students to bring their own ideas, creativity, and understanding of the content to the project, collaborate in interdisciplinary groups with other peers they just met, and by the end of the semester create a … solution that appropriately addressed the self-selected challenges they themselves came up with.”

Danahy and Bers said they hope to extend the impact of this collaboration beyond their own classes and see an expansion in interdisciplinary courses and opportunities at Tufts.

“I would like to see something like this continue not just for this specific course, but for other cross-disciplinary courses at Tufts to partner up, collaborate, and develop curriculum that bridges both different disciplinary content as well as theory and practice,” Danahy said. “While I hope to keep teaching in this style, I also hope to see other professors (through their own personal inspiration or administrative support) also explore collaborative experiences like this in developing new, innovative teaching strategies.”

Upon completing their projects, students had the opportunity to present their work to a panel of education and technology industry professionals and receive feedback, according to Robinson.

The panel of experts included Co-Founder and CEO of Modern Robotics Steve Barker,

Director of the Eliot-Pearson Children’s School/Laboratory School at Tufts University Hanna Gebretensae, Senior Educational Concept Developer at Lego Group Cathy Helgoe, Lecturer in Child Development and Director of the Evelyn G. Pitcher Curriculum Resource Lab Bruce Johnson and Co-Founder and CEO of KinderLab Robotics Mitch Rosenberg, according to Robinson.

Students from these classes presented their work on new learning technologies intended for children on Tuesday, April 24, and will present again today from 12:00 to 1:15 p.m. in the Eliot G. Pitcher Curriculum Resource Lab of the Eliot Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, according to Bers.

BEN KIM / THE TUFTS DAILY

A student presents the technical aspects of his robot for ‘Children and New Technologies’, a class cross-listed with the Child Studies and Human Development and Mechanical Engeineering departments in which students develop robotic toy products for children, in the Evelyn G. Pitcher Curriculum Resource Lab of the Eliot-Pearson Children’s School on April 24.

UIJ works with other groups to highlight immigrants' lived experiences, expand undocumented narrative UNDOCUMENTED STUDENTS

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“The panelists [provided] more of the community members’ perspectives and spoke to the current state of affairs in Boston regarding medical care and [immigrants of undocumented status],” Campbell said.

The Welcome Project is a local organization within Somerville that “builds the collective power of Somerville immigrants to participate in and shape community decisions,” according to its website. Echevarría, who was present at the post-screening panel, said that the organization works to do immigrant advocacy in the Boston area and provides a number of services, events and educational courses.

“Such events strengthen the capacity of the immigrant youth, adults and families to advocate for themselves,” Echevarría said.

According to its website, The Welcome Project provides services such as legal clinics, which partner with local law schools in order to provide legal assistance to the immigrant community, and the Somerville Rapid Response Network, which notifies people when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are in the area. In terms of education, The Welcome Project also

offers computer classes where students learn skills, ranging from how to set up an email to how to successfully give a presentation using PowerPoint and other online tools.

Echevarría believes that this kind of work is especially important given today’s political climate.

“We have definitely seen more events and more opportunities [recently]. The current administration negatively paints a picture that people want to dispel,” he said.

According to Echevarría, The Welcome Project has had a long relationship with Tufts. Echevarría himself is the co-chair of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life Community Research Center.

Echevarría applauded the documentary screening as another successful partnership with the university to showcase the lived experiences of immigrants. He also emphasized the importance of the documentary in portraying the difficulties of attaining medical care and treatment not only for immigrants of undocumented status, but also for all people of low socioeconomic status, who have great difficulties finding both affordable and effective medical treatment.

“I thought it was a strong event, not only with immigrants, but [also with] people of low

economic status,” he said.

Alejandro told the Daily that these events co-sponsored by UIJ have been popular with others on campus. In addition to participating in the JCC* panel, he also took part in this post-screening panel to discuss his experiences with the health care system.

“I participated in both of those by sharing my narrative and experiences in health care and related the internment experience to our contemporary scapegoating of undocumented immigrants,” he said.

Alejandro also believes that co-sponsoring events with other organizations helps to showcase the many different aspects associated with being on undocumented status.

He noted that these events were especially successful in fulfilling UIJ’s goal of education.

“I think any identity is multifaceted in nature. The undocumented narrative has this leaning toward the [Latinx] kind of narrative,” Alejandro said. “It was very nice to partner with other organizations and look into other aspects, such as health. Just with working with JCC* was really great because … having this joint collaboration introduced both communities. It was a great bonding experience, and it helped introduce [the idea] that the immigrant experience isn’t just one party.”

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Features

Campus, local groups organize around DACA, undocumented students

by Jessie Newman and Jacob Fried

Features Editor and Contributing Writer

Editor’s note: This is the first part of a two-part series about how the Tufts and Medford/Somerville communities have rallied in support of undocumented immigrants and students.

The United States has always had a complicated relationship with immigration. Most recently, President Trump’s executive orders on immigration, from the travel ban to his crackdown on immigrants of undocumented status, have garnered increased national media attention.

This issue has hit home on Tufts’ campus, where a small yet united undocumented community resides. The past year has seen a student protest against the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and statements from members of the administration in support of DACA, as well as an increasing number of events run by student groups and local organizations in support of students of undocumented status and students enrolled in DACA. United for Immigrant Justice (UIJ) is an organization at Tufts that advocates for the rights of all immigrants, both at Tufts and regionally. According to UIJ member Alejandro, who did not provide his last name due to safety concerns, the organization works to represent a marginalized identity that many at Tufts and beyond are unable to relate to.

This past semester, UIJ has co-sponsored a number of events to increase dialogue around the immigrant experience and specifically the obstacles that persons of undocumented status face. In February, UIJ co-hosted the Tufts Japanese Culture Club’s (JCC*) Day of Remembrance event, in collaboration with the Asian American Center and the Consortium of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora.

The event, titled “Day of Remembrance: Incarceration and Resistance,” commemorated the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Feb. 19, 1942 — which authorized the incarceration of Japanese-Americans — and explored how Japanese-American incarceration during World War II affects the present day.

Senior Joseph Tsuboi was a panelist at the event. As a member of JCC*, Tsuboi has helped plan this event for the past four years. He said that it was his obligation to educate himself, members of JCC* and the greater Tufts community on the impact that incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II had on generations of Japanese-Americans.

Tsuboi explained that he had conversations with different members of UIJ, and while listening to their experiences, began to entertain the idea of a collaborative event between the two organizations that would emphasize the present difficulties that immigrants of undocumented status face on a daily basis.

While reflecting on the event, Tsuboi connected the experiences of JapaneseAmericans during World War II to the modern immigrant experience while noting where the two groups diverge.

“What was most poignant for me during the event was that while our stories diverge in regards to race, gender and generation, … the Japanese-American incarceration … [and the subsequent] trauma on generations after are not exactly the same as [the discrimination] that today’s immigrants experience. But what is very similar are the [unjust] policies [toward immigrants] in place that did not disappear from World War II,” he said.

Alejandro was another panelist at this event. He shared his appreciation for the

RACHEL HARTMAN / THE TUFTS DAILY

Senior Joseph Tsuboi shares his family’s story at the Day of Remembrance in the Alumnae Lounge on Feb. 21. opportunity to share his experiences as an undocumented immigrant with the broader Tufts community, adding that by working with other organizations, narratives of immigrants and students of undocumented status reach wider audiences.

“I participated in [Day of Remembrance] by [relating] the internment experience to our contemporary scapegoating of undocumented immigrants,” he said.

Tsuboi touched on the generational difference between the incarceration of JapaneseAmericans and the mistreatment of people with undocumented status.

“Our stories are generations old. We think it is important to voice ours [and our families’] in order to develop our own identities now, but I think it is really scary if we look at how young the other panelists [from UIJ] are because it is more direct on their bodies and minds,” Tsuboi said. “These issues that I want to bring up are even more hard on the other folks on the panel.”

According to Tsuboi, the concept of citizenship was manipulated by the American government for the second-generation of Japanese-Americans during the 1940s.

“The legal language that the government used to describe that generation is known as non-alien, so instead of saying ‘citizen,’ which would give them more agency, they actually called them first-generation aliens. Nonaliens was used to blur the lines … further from citizenship,” he said.

Tsuboi also explained that his grandfather was one of thousands of “no-no boys,” a group of Japanese-Americans who opted, on questions 27 and 28 of the loyalty questionnaire given at internment camps, not to join the U.S. military or renounce their loyalty to Japan and pledge their allegiance to the United States.

“It is the same government that is locking people up against their will, but there is also a lot of expectations to prove their Americanism and thus serve the army,” Tsuboi said. “[Renouncing their loyalty to Japan] has a lot of implications, because kids who knew that their parents did not have citizenship feared that their parents would not have rights after the war.”

Tsuboi pointed out that while many resisted, others followed the government’s orders because they thought it was the only way that they survive what was happening to them.

This event was the second collaborative event hosted by the JCC*. In 2017, JCC* co-hosted its Day of Remembrance event with the Muslim Students Association (MSA). This event touched on the rhetoric directed at Japanese-Americans during World War II,

such as “alien,” “enemy-alien” and “nonalien,” and the use of language directed at Muslims post-9/11.

“Specific rhetoric constructs an ethnic group or a race as an enemy,” Tsuboi said.

Tsuboi noted that such rhetoric language is something that both in the past and today affects all immigrants.

“History repeats itself, and it is my job and part of an obligation of knowing this history, and using it to propel thought and bringing forward that … [all of these experiences] are connected,” he said.

He cited these stories of his ancestors as part of his motivation to fight injustice in today’s America.

“I think it is on us as direct descendants of folks who have experienced this discrimination 75, 76 years ago to get behind contemporary issues. [This is] part of my motivation to get behind MSA and UIJ and their missions, because that collaboration is not something that goes on that often at Tufts,” he said.

In March, UIJ co-sponsored a screening of the documentary “Clínica de Migrantes: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” with The Welcome Project, the Department of Community Health, Health and Wellness, Office for Student Success and Advising and the Tufts Premedical Society. The screening was followed by a moderated discussion.

Senior Katherine Campbell, president of the Tufts Premedical Society, explained that the producers of the documentary reached out to them to see if Tufts would be interested in hosting a screening. According to Campbell, members of the Tufts Premedical Society executive board felt that this opportunity aligned well with contemporary discussions at Tufts and across the country.

On the panel at the documentary screening were Adolfo Cuevas, an assistant professor of community health, serving as moderator, Jessica Zeidman of the MGH Chelsea HealthCare Center, Ben Echevarría, executive director of The Welcome Project, and Tufts student Alejandro. In addition, there was a representative from The Family Van, a mobile van that, according to Campbell, provides medical assistance to underserved communities in the Boston area, specifically in Revere, Chelsea and East Boston.

Campbell welcomed the balance that the post-documentary panel provided. She commented that the documentary showcased the workings behind the doctors and nurses at a specific clinic, Puentes, providing healthcare to undocumented immigrants. see UNDOCUMENTED STUDENTS, page 2

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Dorothy Neher How Tufts Works

Really pre-med

J

heneal Atkinson is a Resumed Education for Adult Learning (R.E.A.L.) student in her second year at Tufts. Not only is she part of the R.E.A.L. program here at Tufts, but she has also spent her life studying medicine and plans to go to medical school after graduating from Tufts.

Atkinson was introduced to the medical field at a young age. Growing up, she volunteered in hospitals and shadowed doctors through academic programs. Unfortunately, a family emergency that forced Atkinson to leave college during her second year at the University of Georgia temporarily derailed her plans to pursue medicine professionally.

After a few years, though, Atkinson re-joined the work force as a medical scribe for an organization called ScribeAmerica. After undergoing a rigorous training process, she excelled at the job and quickly advanced through the company’s hierarchy. Within a year, she was in a leadership role traveling around the country to train new hires.

While she thoroughly enjoyed the job, being a scribe was not the career that Atkinson had envisioned for herself. Instead, she knew that she wanted to go to medical school. As such, she was overjoyed when she was accepted to the R.E.A.L. program and matriculated into Tufts in spring 2017, along with her identical twin sister, Jheanelle.

However, returning to school as an adult is no simple task. The daunting nature of the transition was only eased by the fact that her sister was by her side.

“I am lucky in the respect that I have a support system here,” she said, in reference to her twin sister.

But Atkinson is a living example of the idea that success takes much more than luck; her journey has required a great deal of individual effort. When she first started at Tufts, Atkinson was also working two time-consuming jobs.

On top of waking up at three in the morning, working four-hour shifts at Old Navy and attending full days of classes, Atkinson was a part-time pharmacy technician.

Since that time, Atkinson insisted that she has managed to strike a more reasonable balance in her schedule. Yet, she still manages to put most of us to shame: Her idea of balance is replacing the job at Old Navy with an on-call tutoring gig in Spanish and biology.

Atkinson’s ability to juggle many competing commitments comes from years of experience. Her first-rate time management skills will undoubtedly be an asset to her throughout medical school and beyond.

Additionally, Atkinson said that not being afraid to ask for help is a major strength of hers. Throughout her time here, she has made sure to take advantage of the available resources.

She also attributed a great deal of her success at Tufts to her professors and academic advisors.

“Everyone here has been incredibly understanding,” she said.

She appreciates that people have been willing to accommodate her individual needs, which often do not align with those of the traditional undergraduate.

Atkinson emphasized that Tufts has worked well for her. It seems to me, however, that she deserves just as much of the credit for her success.

Dorothy Neher is a sophomore majoring in international relations and Spanish.

Dorothy can be reached at dorothy.neher@tufts.edu.

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Arts & Living

The National revisits ‘Boxer’ with Record Store Day release

by Ryan Eggers

Assistant Arts Editor

On May 22, 2007, The National released “Boxer,” the band’s fourth studio album. The record was immediately praised by fans and critics alike and further cemented The National’s legacy as one of the greatest indie rock bands of this century so far.

A little over 10 years later, on Nov. 9, 2017, the group revisited the record in Brussels, Belgium. Despite having seven albums under its belt now, The National decided to indulge fans at Forest National to a bit of nostalgia, playing the 12-track record in its entirety with “Boxer (Live in Brussels)” (2018).

For fans who couldn’t make it to that show, experiencing “Boxer” live was only possible by peering through dozens of cell phone recordings on the internet. But, with Record Store Day 2018 last Saturday, The National decided to change that, releasing the album on clear vinyl with an initial run of 4,000 copies in the United States.

Such albums can be perceived as cash grabs that take advantage of vinyl collectors, and that’s probably still true in this case. But for avid fans of The National or any indie rock fan looking for a good live album to enjoy on a Sunday afternoon, the release proves to be of both excellence in quality and bringing back memories of the original 2007 album.

It’s hard not to smile at the opening piano riff in “Fake Empire” as the crowd begins to cheer loudly in the background.

It’s even harder not to continue grinning as the drums kick in and the crowd begins to clap to the beat. With the right set of speakers or headphones, it feels as though you’re right inside the venue — the vinyl’s quality is top notch.

Immediately after, “Mistaken for Strangers,” the album’s first single back in 2007, is played succinctly and without

too many dramatics. The song speaks for itself — the themes of isolation and feeling those around you slip away come through beautifully on the live track, and the ability to replay the recording allows even more time to soak in lead singer Matt Berninger’s powerful lyrics.

The album ventures on with killer live instrumentation including a bouncy horn ensemble, but Berninger and crew never dare to go much outside of the album’s original compositions. Interestingly enough, though, the band opted to play the long version of “Squalor Victoria” that they normally play at their live shows rather than a carbon copy of the original song which is a mere two minutes and 59 seconds.

“Slow Show” hits the crowd hard and will likely hit your ears hard as well.

Berninger’s low baritone pushes through the soft and sweet love song with conviction. Aaron Dessner deserves ample credit for his heartfelt keyboard playing at the bridge of the song. It also contains one of the few moments of actual talking on the record, where Berninger shares his experience of meeting Michelle Obama.

The B-side of the record begins with “Apartment Story,” the second single off of the original “Boxer,” kicking off a second half that has plenty of gems to sift through. “Start a War” and “Guest Room” were executed to near perfection, though both songs perhaps laid a bit too much of a somber tone in the room, with Berninger commenting, “This is a sad record,” at the end of the latter track.

He makes a fair point. Despite the nostalgic feeling revisiting the album emits, “Boxer” is all about growing up and the hardships of love and friendship that come with becoming an adult. For a band of guys in their 40s, perhaps it’s a hard album to revisit.

It certainly isn’t the most ‘fun’ record to put into a live album, but as far as 10-year

Do it this Weekend: April 26-29

by Tommy Gillespie Arts Editor

In addition to the Spring Fling weekend festivities, there are a number of things to do on campus this weekend. Be sure to check them out!

FRIDAY “Movie Night: Moana” Details: Come see the hit animated film about a girl who goes on an adventure to protect her island this Friday. The event is free, and snacks will be provided.

When and where: 7 p.m. in Barnum 104 “Dutchman: A Senior Capstone” Details: As part of the Department of Drama and Dance’s capstones and thesis showcase, there will be a performance of Amiri Baraka’s play “Dutchman” (1964) directed by senior Kristin Reeves. Reeves also stars in the play as Lula, alongside fellow senior James Williamson as Clay. For anyone interested in attending, the play’s organizers have warned that it depicts racial violence and slurs, including the n-word. Admission is free.

When and where: 8–9 p.m. in Balch Arena Theatre “Shimmy into the Stars” Details: Tufts Middle Eastern Dance is here with its spring show.

When and where: 8:30–9:30 p.m. in Sophia Gordon Hall (Multipurpose Room)

“Bubs in the PUB 2018!”

Details: The Tufts University Beelzebubs will be holding their final show of the year, featuring some of their hits from the past year. The show is free for Tufts students with ID and $5 for the general public.

When and where: 9:30–11 p.m. in Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center “The In5titute: the Marsical!”

Details: The Institute is back with its fifth original musical, this time taking us to Mars. Get ready for some hilarious jokes and a truly intergalactic experience.

Admission is free.

When and where: 9:30 p.m.–10:30 p.m. on Mars (or rather, in Barnum 008) SATURDAY Spring Fling Concert Details: Headlining the main event of the weekend, the Spring Fling concert, will be Ty Dolla $ign, Princess Nokia, Quinn XCII and Dutch Rebelle. Tickets are free for Tufts undergrad students and $30 for alumni, faculty, grad students and guests.

When and where: 12 p.m. on President’s Lawn SUNDAY “Tufts Tap: It’s Gettin’ Hot in Here” Details: Tufts Tap is putting on its end-of-semester tap show. In addition to tap, the show will feature performances from The Beelzebubs, Enchanted and Cheap Sox.

VIA PITCHFORK

The album art for the National’s album “Boxer Live in Brussels” is pictured. anniversaries go, it’s hard to imagine a better piece of The National’s discography to look back on. The album feels nostalgic because of the coming-of-age themes, the sad memories we tie to certain songs and the knowledge we have now of those experiences from 10 years ago. Some albums are worth revisiting — “Boxer” is one of those albums.

The record wraps up with “Gospel,” a proper ending to the bittersweet experience that is this live album. The band says goodbye, jokingly reminding the crowd that what they just heard was “Boxer,” in case they didn’t know.

With a really solid audio recording, impressive vocal and instrumental performances and a perfect nostalgic record to boot, “Boxer (Live in Brussels)” is certainly a record worth seeking out. For fans of The National, it’s a sad but sweet trip back to one of the band’s most heartbreaking yet loved records, and for anyone else, it’s a clean-cut live record with 12 gorgeous tracks to dive into.

The only bad aspect of the record is that you’ll wish you had been in Brussels last November to experience the nostalgia with the crowd. Luckily, this is the next best thing.

When and where: 4 p.m. in Barnum 008.

Outdoor Movie: “Coco” Details: Due to rain, the outdoor screening of Pixar’s hit animated film “Coco” has been rescheduled from Thursday to Sunday. Free ice cream and popcorn, a mechanical shark, a photo booth and a smoothie bar will be offered.

When and where: 7-9:30 p.m. on the Res Quad; movie will start at approximately 8 p.m.

BONUS: MONDAY Tuftonia’s Day Carnival Details: Also due to the rain, Tuftonia’s Day has been rescheduled for Monday.

The annual carnival will feature rides, games and food trucks. Admission, activities and food are all free.

When and where: 4-8 p.m. on Fletcher Field “TBT Presents: Grim(m)” Details: The members of Tufts Burlesque Troupe will be performing their semesterly show. Get ready to see the dancers channel the raunchier side of Grimm fairytales on the last day of classes. Tickets are currently available at the Aidekman Ticket Office. One ticket per Tufts ID. When and where: 9-11 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Julian Blatt Tufts Creatives

Shining stars

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s my first year draws to a close, I want to use the final edition of “Tufts Creatives” to reflect on my experience as a Daily columnist. Though I plan to continue writing television and movie reviews, I will forever cherish this experience. To everyone I interviewed, thank you for your time and your thoughtful answers, and for making this a memorable semester.

Julian Blatt (JB): How did you first become interested in writing?

Julian Blatt (JB): When I was younger, one of my most prized possessions was a spiral notebook. Every night, I would jot down my thoughts and feelings about the noteworthy events that had occurred during the day. Through these journal entries, I developed a better understanding of who I was. That’s why I enjoy writing — it’s a conversation with yourself.

JB: Why did you want to write a column?

JB: I loved having the opportunity to speak with passionate members of the Tufts community on a weekly basis. There are so many students here with fascinating backgrounds and interesting stories to tell. We just have to take the initiative to listen.

JB: How did you get the idea for this column?

JB: My high school newspaper had a feature called “Artist of the Issue,” where a student would interview a classmate about their creative pursuits. I realized that the idea would work well here since there are many more students involved in a much greater variety of disciplines. I wanted to showcase the skilled members of the Tufts community and shine a spotlight on them so that their peers could become more familiar with their work and recognize their talent.

JB: Did you encounter any unforeseen obstacles?

JB: I was originally clueless as to how to choose which student to interview each week. Eventually, I realized that my best bet was the Class of 2021 Facebook page since that is where people post about their upcoming artistic events. Also, it took me much longer than anticipated to transcribe the interviews and edit them for length and clarity.

JB: How did you decide which questions to ask?

JB: Even though the interviewees were typically hosts of creative events, I aimed to make the questions pertinent to the student’s relationship with the relevant discipline, such as how they first became interested in it and why they find it enjoyable. The purpose of the column was not so much informing the student body about upcoming events as it was ‘introducing’ the student and their work to the rest of the Tufts community, so I wanted to truly understand the person and get inside their mind.

JB: Did you enjoy the experience?

JB: Definitely. I’ve loved getting to meet talented people who I probably would never have met otherwise. This opportunity has also opened my eyes to the diverse range of artistic activities and disciplines that Tufts offers its students, and as such has made me want to become more involved in campus life. It’s required a lot of work, but the journey has certainly been worth it.

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

Investigative

Thursday, April 26, 2018

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Affordability and the Budget: Budget transparency and the push for need-blind admissions

by Kenia French

Assistant Features Editor

This is part three in a four-part series from the Daily’s Investigative Team.

As the university’s deficit persists and spending increases, students have become increasingly frustrated at the university’s lack of budget transparency.

Elizabeth Dossett, a junior and a member of Tufts Student Action (TSA), said that if Tufts is using the deficit as an excuse not to meet student needs, then they must explain how the they got into a deficit in the first place.

“If the university is so crippled by this deficit to make these decisions then they need to share how they got into the deficit, why the deficit is persisting, what they are doing to offset the deficit, all of these things which no one knows,” Dossett said.

One student-directed attempt at budget transparency was a town hall organized by TCU Senate Vice President Anna Del Castillo and Administration & Policy Committee Chair Jamie Neikrie, where administrators and students shared their perspectives on tuition increases. In the Daily’s coverage of the event, Neikrie expressed hopes that this town hall would spark an administrative effort to increase budget transparency.

“I’m hoping that this is the beginning of a more collaborative process, where the university feels like it can arrange these town halls or arrange dialogues when there is an issue on campus,” Neikrie, a senior, said.

However, Ava Ciosek, a TSA member, felt that the town hall was another instance of the administration failing to address concerns about transparency and tuition hikes in general.

“I think that there’s an apathy towards students,” Ciosek, a first-year, said.

TSA member and junior Amira Al-Subaey noted one area where there needs to be more transparency is the Board of Trustees, since, according to Board Chairman Peter Dolan, the Board sets tuition and plans the increases every year.

“Students [could be] invited to trustee meetings, or trustees [could] have office hours like administrators do where students can meet with them and talk about their concerns,” she said. “The level of accessibility we have to the board of trustees now is so low that anything would be an improvement.”

The Board of Trustees projects tuition increases up to three years in advance A central demand of the #HaltTheHike campaign is for information regarding tuition hikes and the budget to be made publicly available. According to Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell and Vice President of Finance and Treasurer Tom McGurty, the Board of Trustees projects what future tuition will be ahead of time — up to three years in advance.

“The University prepares a three year operating budget containing estimates of all University revenues and expenses. For each revenue and expense item the budget contains a significant number of assumptions that would include enrollment levels, tuition rates and financial aid funding,” Campbell and McGurty wrote in an email to the Daily.

When asked about the accuracy of these projections, McGurty and Campbell explained that they are only as accurate as the underlying assumptions made.

RAY BERNOFF / THE TUFTS DAILY

Junior Amira al-Subaey, a member of Tufts Student Action, poses for a portrait in Mayer Campus Center on April 9.

“The principal focus is on the next fiscal year while out-year estimates are subject to greater uncertainty and change … [the projections] are only as accurate as the underlying assumptions, which reflect a significant number of variables. This is why they are considered directional only and subject to change,” they wrote.

These projections could be valuable in helping students plan financially.

While the three-year projection is presented to the Board of Trustees, according to Campbell and McGurty, they only approve the plan for one year and do not publicize the details of the threeyear plan.

According to Campbell and McGurty, these plans are not publicized to students because they are subject to change.

“As the major source of revenue, we expect tuition charges to continue to change as expenses described above rise or as other sources of revenue change, either through increases or decreases,” they wrote.

Tuition has never decreased in Tufts’ recent history, and the average increase since 2010, according to Tufts’ audited financial statements, is 3.69 percent.

While these projected increases may be subject to change, language in the audited statements suggests at least part of these projections are accurately planned.

According to 2017 Annual Financial Report, “gross tuition and fees increased 6.3% to $526 million due to planned rate increases and an increased enrollment of 192 students.”

Even though the university considers these projections to be guiding rather than definite, their existence means that the university knows three years in advance that tuition will increase. This means that the university was not likely to entertain TSA’s demands to halt tuition hikes.

Al-Subaey expressed her frustration that students were not made aware of the existence of these projections and said that increased student input is needed.

“I think that’s why the inaccessibility of the Tufts Board is so concerning because this realistically could be happening, it could have been happening for the past ten to fifteen years, and students could still be unaware of it,” she said. “It just seems to be really backwards to have an institution that is centered around students and have no student input around the budget or tuition at all.”

When asked about tuition projections and why the Board of Trustees does not offer more information to students, Dolan explained the ways different ways students can currently access the Board, including through the Trustee Representatives and that students are welcome to visit or contact the Trustees Office.

“The Board of Trustees is always interested in hearing students’ thoughts, concerns and proposals, and there are a number of existing ways in which students can raise issues to the attention of the board,” Dolan wrote in an email to the Daily. “Student representatives sit on the board’s committees on Academic Affairs, Administration and Finance, and University Advancement … issues also can be brought to the attention of the board through the university’s administration, which happens frequently. And community members can always write, call, or visit the Trustees Office.”

Need-aware admissions: evidence of socioeconomic discrimination?

Tufts currently has a need-aware admissions policy. As reported by Time, the most basic definition of a need-aware admissions process is that a student’s ability to pay is a factor when making admissions decisions. According to Assistant Professor of Sociology Freeden Blume Oeur, this makes it more difficult for low-income students to get into Tufts.

Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Karen Richardson said that socioeconomic status does not come up when applications are first reviewed. However, Richardson also said that a student’s socioeconomic status becomes an influential factor in whether the student is admitted in the final steps of the admissions process.

“When we are finalizing the class, however, because we have finite resources for financial aid, we have to stay within that budget. It means that we do have to make some tough decisions, but, as best we can, we try to ensure that students who will be good fits for Tufts — no matter what their financial need may be — will be given the opportunity to attend,” Richardson told the Daily in an email.

Alumnus and former trustee representative Sylvia Ofoma (A ’17) worked in the admissions office while attending Tufts.

She describes this process as a “balancing of the budget,” as the university must figure out how to maximize socioeconomic diversity without expending all of their financial aid resources.

“It’s kind of a balancing of budget in terms of socioeconomic diversity. You have these kids who can pay in full, you have a certain amount of kids who need more, you have a certain amount of financial aid available,” Ofoma said.

In a Somerville Neighborhood News special report published by senior Nathan Foster and junior Celeste Teng earlier this year, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences James Glaser said that this budgeting process is better than its alternative: offering smaller financial aid packages. Tufts would rather meet 100 percent of demonstrated need for a smaller number of students than only some demonstrated need for a larger number of students.

“A little bit [of budgeting] happens there at the end, it’s too bad, I wish we didn’t have to do it,” Glaser said, noting that at the end of the admissions process, they may have to prioritize students who can pay full tuition. “I think it is preferable to do that than to do what many of our peer institutions do which is simply to lower the aid offers.”

Del Castillo, a senior, said that she appreciates Tufts efforts to meet 100 percent of admitted students’ demonstrated need, but that it’s demoralizing to know that as a low-income student, her applicasee BUDGET, page 6

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Investigative | Thursday, April 26, 2018

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Tufts struggles to admit economically diverse student body

BUDGET

continued from page 5 tion could have been rejected in the final process based on her ability to pay.

“I think that increasing financial aid should be one of the school’s main priorities. I’m a very low-income student myself, and it’s upsetting to know that my application may not have been considered in the same way as my peers’ applications,” Del Castillo said.

This need-aware policy may not be the only way Tufts’ admissions process inherently discriminates based on socioeconomic status. Richardson told the Daily that she expected half of Tufts’ class of 2022 to be admitted through Early Decision in a March Daily article. Early decision often attracts wealthier applicants, as they must commit to a school before knowing their financial aid package.

According to Richardson, Tufts briefly pursued a need-blind admissions policy, or one where a student’s financial need is not a factor in admissions decisions, in 2007. However, the policy was only made

possible due to a gift from a donor who specified it should be used for that purpose and had to be discontinued once the money ran out.

“Tufts … had to discontinue the practice in 2009 after the funds from a large, finite gift were exhausted. We aspire to a need blind policy but it would require significantly more financial aid each year than currently available,” Richardson wrote.

Campbell and McGurty said that they don’t see a need-blind policy as feasible.

“Being a need-blind institution would require a significant infusion of financial aid annually. We don’t currently see that as being feasible,” they wrote in an email to the Daily.

How does financial aid at Tufts compare to its peer institutions?

Compared to its peer institutions, Tufts has the smallest number of students receiving university grant money as financial aid, according to data from Foster, who is also a trustee representative. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 36 percent of Tufts students receive financial aid in the form of

GRAPHIC BY SITONG ZHANG

grants or scholarships from Tufts, compared to 42 percent of Georgetown students and 53 percent of Columbia students.

This data reflects the school’s overall lack of socioeconomic diversity. Tufts’ Office of Institutional Research and Evaluation (OIRE) recently published statistics detailing the number of students from each economic quintile in each class, indicating that only 3.6 percent of students in Class of 2021 were in the 20th percentile and applied for financial aid.

This imbalance is more apparent when the amount of students from the 1 percent is compared to the amount of students from the bottom 60 percent. A New York Times article published last year showed that 18.6 percent of Tufts students are from families in the top one percent, while only 11.8 percent of students are from families in the bottom 60 percent.

The disparity between the high-income student population and the average to low-income student population is tangible, and students on financial aid like Ciosek say it can be ostracizing.

“I just know from experience that a lot of kids that I meet, entire friend groups, are in the one percent. I think that it is alienating and I’m not even an entirely low-income student, but I am on financial aid,” Ciosek said. “It is that feeling [of alienation] that never goes away. That you are thinking about those loans before you even graduate, or before you finish your first year.”

Who gets aid?

According to Nick Ducoff, the founder of Edmit, a company that helps students evaluate college as an investment, this imbalance is an example of how universities struggle to balance their democratic goals of admitting all students with earning revenue. The higher the income of a student’s family, the more money the university will ultimately make through admitting them — and sometimes, this means enticing even higher-income applicants with small amounts of financial aid.

According to data from the OIRE, in 2017, 127 students from families in the top five percent of wealth earners in the U.S. and 149 students from the top 20 percent applied for financial aid.

In addition, students from the top five percent who applied for aid paid about $4,000 less than the full cost of attendance on average, and those from the top 20 percent received an average discount of over $20,000. This reduced cost could be attributed to outside scholarships, but Ducoff said that it very well may be a result of university aid.

“Let’s say the university costs $40,000 a year has $10,000 in availability. They could use that $10,000 of profit— they could either pay one quarter of one person’s full ride, or they could attract a student paying $30,000 a year, giving them $120,000 over four years,” Ducoff said. “The decision here is generally using the $10,000 to attract a student paying $30,000, the harder part of this decision is finding a way to come up with more ways to fund a full ride.”

Blume Oeur said this imbalance is another example of where universities struggle to balance their goals of admitting every qualified applicant, regardless of their socioeconomic status, and their pragmatic need to earn revenue. Ultimately, because of this conflict, universities reflect the larger, detrimental social patterns that exist in the United States and don’t do much to change them.

“I certainly don’t doubt the good intentions of a lot of people who are trying to balance the need to keep Tufts atop the perch of higher education with wanting to increase access. One of the first things you’ll learn in a sociology courses is that elite institutions have never really been accessible to students,” Blume Oeur said.

“They are just the province of the most elite, they are just engines of social reproduction and not engines of social transformation.”

When life throws you a financial challenge, you’ve proven you have what it takes to ace it.

Now it’s time to tackle your retirement savings at AceYourRetirement.org

tuftsdaily.com

Thursday, April 26, 2018 | ADVERTISEMENT | THE TUFTS DAILY

1/4 FREE SPRING AD 1/8 FLING BBQ SATURDAY, APRIL 28 AD ACADEMIC QUAD

11AM - UNTIL FOOD IS GONE! FREE FOR ALL STUDENTS Sponsored by: Office for Campus Life, Health & Wellness, Health Promotion & Prevention, and the Dean of Student Affairs Office

1/2 AD

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Comics | Thursday, April 26, 2018

Comics

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Daniel: “Does E.coli have a taste?”

Comics

SUDOKU

Puzzle 1 (Hard, difficulty rating 0.62)

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Difficulty Level: Remembering your son’s birthday.

Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Mon Apr 23 00:22:43 2018 GMT. Enjoy!

Wednesday’s Solution

CROSSWORD

Wednesday’s Solution

CARROLL'S Monday- $1 Oysters & Clams Tuesday- $2 Tacos & Sliders (Bar Only) Wednesday- $7 Burgers.

Add a beer for $3 (restrictions apply) Thursday- Select 1/2 Priced App's (Bar Only) Friday- $1 Oysters & Clams (Bar Only) 4-6 Saturday-$18.95 Prime Rib w Mashed

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Opinion EDITORIAL

Senior Dinner should be less career-focused, more celebratory

On three nights over the span of the past two weeks, seniors flooded into Gifford House in their best ‘business casual’ attire, looking forward to one of the first senior events of graduation season, a night that promised to honor Tufts seniors with good food, an open mic for students to share their best memories and at least one heartfelt speech by University President Anthony Monaco: Senior Dinner.

Unfortunately, many students were blindsided by the amount of alumni present at the dinner, donning nametags that said things like “Ask me about my career switch.” (Some, however, may have anticipated it, if they read the email sent to students carefully. One asterisk at the bottom of the e-mail told students, “Please feel free to introduce yourself, as you never know who could help you after you graduate.”)

When Monaco welcomed students and faculty — professors who past seniors have noted have made a significant impact on their education — he proceeded to identify the smattering of alumni around the room. It suddenly became clear that this was not only a celebratory evening for graduating seniors, but also, more prevalently, a networking opportunity. Recent alumni delivered speeches on their career decisions post-Tufts, and professors, who were supposedly being honored for their connections to

students, were told to bring business cards. The pre-professional atmosphere of the Senior Dinner may have soothed the fears of some, but for many, it seemed only to exacerbate senior year stress.

“I took issue with defining post-graduate life as a professional existence,” senior Grant Steinhauer said. “What about continuing to grow as individuals? I left the dinner unsure about the overall purpose of the event. ” Many seniors still don’t have jobs lined up for after graduation for various reasons. While networking may be helpful for them, Senior Dinner is the wrong time and place for it. The Career Fair and other department-specific programs, like the Film and Media Studies (FMS) Careers in Film, Entertainment & Media event, are more appropriate and productive. Seniors deserve a celebratory night nearing the end of the semester where worries about jobs and work can take a backseat to socializing and reflecting on their Tufts memories.

Last year, too, some students reported similar feelings regarding the Senior Dinner, “Senior Dinner made me so stressed,” Suze Kaufman, (A ‘17) said. “All the people who spoke were STEM so it wasn’t even useful to me. I felt totally unrepresented and like the school really only cared about connecting Tufts kids with money-making jobs.”

A speech at this year’s first Senior Dinner featured a Tufts alumna who now works as a human factors engineer at a medical technology start-up discussing how her child development major and film and media studies minor provided the platform for her unlikely career shift. The sentiment was undoubtedly positive — that a liberal arts education can be applied to virtually any career path — but the implication of the speech seemed to reflect a general prioritization of STEM careers over other fields. Perhaps the heavy representation of alumni working in STEM at Senior Dinner was coincidental, but the overall effect of the dinner sent the message that Tufts equates success with a traditionally lucrative career — even one that will allow graduates to donate to Tufts in the future.

“It was awkwardly in between a networking or fundraising event and a nice, sentimental event to bookend our time here. It felt like a cheap ploy to get us to start thinking about donating already,” senior Anson Sidle said.

Perhaps Tufts should put more effort into helping students achieve the careers they want before their final college goodbyes. Through improving Career Services, updating department-specific job resource sites and funding more internship opportunities, Tufts could proactively help students seek employment. But at Senior Dinner, let seniors simply celebrate.

CARTOON

by Rebecca Tang The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community.

The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

EDITORIALS Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily.

OP-EDS The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself.

Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length and submitted to opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions.

ADVERTISING All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director.

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Alexa Weinstein The 617

MA Criminal Justice Bill

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overnor Charlie Baker signed a new bill on criminal justice into law on Friday, April 13. In it, minor offenses are decriminalized, minor offenses are diverted from prosecution and bail is reduced. Importantly, mandatory minimums for non-opiate, non-weight retail drug offenses are repealed or limited. Contrary to this, mandatory minimums for opioid trafficking were increased. This increase in mandatory minimums for opioid trafficking is incredibly important considering how deadly and dire the opioid crisis is. Reducing the mandatory minimum for less serious drug offenses helps to keep fewer people in jail for less serious drug offenses.

When it comes to the prisons themselves, the bill includes reductions to solitary confinement and improvements to prison conditions. These changes to solitary confinement include protecting LGBTQ prisoners from arbitrary use of restrictive housing, as well as ensuring that the restrictive housing conditions are more humane. Reforming prison conditions includes giving prisoners without high school diplomas access to education programs, treating prisoners for substance abuse disorders and creating a commission to study LGBTQ prisoners’ health.

A huge concern prisoners face as they leave prison is paying for the costs of prison.

Prisoners already face huge barriers to re-entering society as their criminal record can bar them from obtaining housing and a job.

Part of this bill would eliminate parole and probation fees for a certain amount of time after being released from prison. Additionally, criminal records will be made more private through a variation of policies such as excluding juvenile arrests from public police logs and preventing employers from investigating sealed or expunged cases.

While the bill tackles a ton of other criminal justice reforms, it also includes ways to reduce errors in the judicial system. There will be more of a push toward oversight of forensic labs as well as increased access to compensation for wrongful convictions.

This bill is the biggest criminal justice overhaul for the state of Massachusetts in decades. The bill passed by a 37-0 measure in the State Senate and by a 148-5 measure in the State House. It’s 121 pages long and truly seeks to turn prison into a more rehabilitative process. While the price-tag of the bill is still unclear, legislators are sure the bill will save money in the long run by reducing prison populations.

As Martin Healy, chief legal counsel for the Massachusetts Bar Association, put it, “They are getting smarter on crime rather than just being tough on crime.” It has been an incredibly long time coming for a bill like this to pass the Massachusetts state legislature, and be signed into office by the Governor. Finally, prisoners will start to be treated humanely and with the decency and respect they deserve. There will be more support given to the wrongly accused, a group often overlooked by state legislatures and more support given to those who face discrimination while in prison. Entering prison already provides an incredible burden on a person and their family, and this bill will help to ease that burden by lessening costs and providing more educational opportunities. Even though this bill is not making the headlines of national news, it’s surely helping the lives of all Massachusetts residents.

Alexa Weinstein is a sophomore majoring in political science and history. Alexa can be reached at alexa.weinstein@tufts.edu.

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THE TUFTS DAILY | ADVERTISEMENT | Thursday, April 26, 2018

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tuftsdaily.com

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2018 Presidential Award for Civic Life!

School of Arts and Sciences

School of Engineering

Undergraduate Fatima Ajose, 2018 Saja Alani, 2018 Ross Bendetson, 2018 Amanda Borquaye, 2018 Anna Del Castillo, 2018 Winnona DeSombre, 2018 Benjamin Kesslen, 2018 Anne Roome, 2018 Lucy Zwigard, 2018

Undergraduate Ryan Stocking, 2018

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Graduate Tania Alarcon, 2018

Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine Anika Farina, 2018 Makoto Sakamoto, 2019

The Fletcher School Pulkit Aggrwal, 2018 Claire Wilson, 2018

Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences Alexander Fine, 2019 Siobhan McRee, 2018

School of Medicine Nathan Potter, 2018

School of Dental Medicine Robert Geary, 2018

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Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy Megan Lehnerd, 2018 Each year the Presidential Award recognizes exemplary students across Tufts for outstanding community service and civic leadership.

Sports

Thursday, April 26, 2018 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Tufts places sixth in final tune-up for regional championship

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Yuan Jun Chee On the Spot

Who’s favored in Russia?

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COURTESY TUFTS SAILING

Senior Molly Pluskus and junior Taylor Hart compete in the Oberg Trophy, hosted by Northeastern, on April 14.

SAILING

continued from back Dinghy Championships. Tufts ultimately placed sixth in the 14-team field with 200 points, falling by nine points to Brown, but edging Harvard by 16.

In the A division, senior skipper Alp Rodopman and junior crew Sarah Bunney registered a pair of second-place finishes, as well as one thirdplace result. The Tufts pairing finished seventh in the top division with 76 points. One division down, junior skipper and co-captain Cameron Holley and junior crew Ian Morgan turned in a splendid performance. Holley and Morgan were victorious in the fourth, sixth and eighth races of the weekend and closed with back-to-back fourthplace showings for third overall.

“Cam Holley and Ian Morgan have been having a pretty tough spring,” Legler said. “But they sailed well and

helped us move up a little bit. It was really satisfying for them, particularly in that they need some confidence going into their next championship.”

Finally, junior skipper Christopher Keller and senior crew Michelle Chisdak placed seventh in the C division, with the duo’s best finish a second-place result in the fifth race.

Elsewhere around the region, Tufts finished second in the Priddy Trophy, hosted by Sacred Heart. First-year skipper Bram Brakman and first-year crew Theo Bartlett steered the Jumbos to three victories in eight races, and the Jumbos didn’t finished lower than fourth. With 16 points, Tufts was nosed out by Rhode Island (14 points) for the top spot.

The team also turned in a pair of fourth-place showings at the George Morris Trophy, hosted by Boston University, and the Greater New York Dinghy Regatta at Fordham. In the

former, senior skipper Aaron Klein and junior crew Kahler Newsham posted a victory in the third race, along with a trio of second-place results.

At Fordham, first-year skipper Wells Drayton and junior crew Marisa Permatteo won three races to finish third in the B division with 41 points.

The Jumbos rounded out their busy weekend with a sixth-place finish at the O’Toole regatta in Buzzards Bay, Mass. and an 11th-place showing at the Admirals Cup in Kings Point, N.Y. Sophomore skipper Elena Gonick and first-year crew Delilah Roberts turned in an impressive performance at the O’Toole regatta, climbing from an initial fourth-place result to win the 12-team B division.

The Tufts co-ed team will visit Brown this weekend for the New England Dinghy Championship, while the women’s side will head to MIT for the Team Racing National Invitational.

Sorkin and senior Rohan Gupte fired back in second doubles to level the score, registering a hard-fought 8–5 victory over senior co-captain Josh Leiner and junior Josh Quijano.

In third doubles, Bates bit back with an 8–5 win of its own, as junior Duane Davis and first-year Alex Kennedy took down Bershtein and Niemiec.

The Bobcats continued to ride the momentum from their 2–1 lead, winning five of the six singles showdowns.

Tufts’ lone victory came in the third spot, where Sorkin split sets against Leiner before ultimately slipping past in a third-set tiebreak (6–4, 2–6, 10–7).

However, Bates was dominant throughout much of the singles play, sweeping all five of its victories.

Shaff ’s battle against sophomore Jacob Eisenberg was the most competitive of those matches at 7–5, 6–4.

Niemiec noted that the Bobcats’ experience on the courts at Merrill Indoor Gymnasium played a huge role in their success. Since Tufts’ Gantcher Center has a relatively slow surface, the

team had to adjust to Bates’ fast play.

“We struggled to keep up with the fast pace of the indoor courts,” Niemiec said.

After the Jumbos’ long stretch on the road (their last home match came on April 8), they will look forward to returning home for their final two matches of the regular season, both against NESCAC opponents.

Niemiec emphasized that despite the disappointment from the weekend, the Jumbos are eager to close the season on a high note.

“Everyone is really excited,” he said.

“We’re looking forward to this weekend. Everyone’s excited to get out there and give everything they have.”

Tufts will face off against No. 2 Bowdoin (14–1, 5–1 NESAC) on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Jumbos have matched up well against the Polar Bears over the last couple of years, beating them 5–4 in 2016 and falling by the same scoreline last season. On Sunday, Tufts will host Colby (8–5, 3–4 NESCAC) at 10 a.m. for the team’s Senior Day.

Jumbos' postseason hopes fleeting after loss to Bobcats MEN'S TENNIS

continued from back to Bates, Coran was pleased with its performances over the rest of the weekend.

“I was really proud with how we bounced back,” Coran said. “It was a complete turnaround. We played Tufts tennis again with high energy and enthusiasm. [Our] guys were yelling from court to court.”

The Jumbos lacked that energy in Friday’s match against the Bobcats (7–7, 5–3 NESCAC) in Lewiston, Maine, which held major postseason implications. Coran expressed that the team came out flat at the beginning of the match.

“We didn’t come out with the energy and intensity we typically do,” he said.

“In the end, it was just not enough energy and fight, but we give a lot of credit to Bates [for] being the better team.”

The hosts drew first blood, with senior co-captain Ben Rosen and sophomore Jacob Kauppila downing the Jumbos’ duo of Grant and senior Zain Ali, 8–2, in No. 1 doubles. However,

he short answer, despite the usual media hype in England, is: No, not the Three Lions.

We’re slightly less than two months out from the opening game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, when hosts Russia play Saudi Arabia on June 14 in Moscow.

Ultimately, you’d expect most of the usual suspects to make it out of their groups, but the potential clashes may be intriguing. While Argentina should make it through its group, only one of Croatia, African powerhouse Nigeria and giant-killers Iceland will join them. In Group H, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski and Colombian superstar James Rodríguez, teammates at Bayern Munich, will face challenges from wellcoached teams in Senegal and Japan.

Should they make it out of their group, defending champions Germany are favorites to lift the trophy in Moscow on July 15. Germany won the Confederations Cup last year with its reserve team, and in Joachim Löw Die Mannschaft has one of the most tactically astute coaches.

While Germany’s shortage of strikers — as revealed in its Euro 2016 semifinal defeat to France — is a concern, you can still expect the team to be in contention.

Germany will potentially face Belgium or their old enemy England in the quarterfinals, both of whom I do think they’d defeat; neither Gareth Southgate nor Roberto Martínez have the coaching knowledge or enough game-changers to pose a significant threat. The challenge comes in the semis, where Germany may face Portugal, Argentina or Spain. I think the Germans should be able to see off the challenge of the first two — the Portuguese won Euro 2016 via a complete fluke of the rules, while the Argentinians, despite a deadly front-line, were completely embarrassed by the Spanish last month. It is Spain, who possess an embarrassment of riches in midfield and quality in defense, that poses a challenge for the No. 1 team in the world — their draw in March was an interesting prelude to this potential Final Four clash.

Should Germany make it all the way, it would potentially face their biggest challenge in France or Brazil. The Brazilians have improved with the appointment of Tite as coach. However, I’m not convinced by their defense, never mind what people tell me about Thiago Silva and Marquinhos. And they’re sweating on the fitness of their star player, Neymar. While the 2014 World Cup hosts defeated the Germans in a recent friendly, I expect the world champions to step it up come tournament time.

It is in the French that the Germans could face their biggest threat. One wonders who Didier Deschamps will start.

Up front, Antoine Griezmann’s name will be penciled in immediately, but what about from Thomas Lemar, Kylian Mbappé, Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud and Kingsley Coman to name a few others? It gets even scarier when you think about the quality they have at all other positions.

Ultimately, I’m confident the Germans will make it to Moscow but believe they’ll fall one hurdle short of a record-equaling fifth World Cup. Yuan Jun Chee is a sports editor at the Tufts Daily. He is a junior majoring in history and international relations. Yuan Jun can be reached at yuan.chee@tufts.edu.

12 tuftsdaily.com

Sports

Thursday, April 26, 2018

MEN'S TENNIS

Tufts undone by Bates, bounces back with two victories

RAY BERNOFF / THE TUFTS DAILY

Senior Rohan Gupte prepares to hit a backhand shot in Tufts’ 6–3 loss to Middlebury in the Gantcher Center on April 8.

by Tim Chiang Staff Writer

The No. 15 Tufts men’s tennis team registered a 2–1 record on the road this weekend. Tufts fell 7–2 to No. 24 Bates in a high-stakes NESCAC matchup on Friday. Yet, the Jumbos fired back in two non-conference contests, routing Rensselaer 6–3 on Saturday and subduing Skidmore by the same scoreline on Sunday.

After losing to the Bobcats, the Jumbos (9–5, 2–4 NESCAC) will likely miss a berth in the conference tournament for the second consecutive

year, making the defeat especially disappointing. Still, Tufts stormed into Saturday with newfound resolve, defeating No. 27 Rensselaer (12–3), 6–3.

After establishing a 2–1 lead in doubles, the Jumbos booked four of the six singles matches to clinch the victory. Tufts sophomore Nathan Niemiec dismissed Rensselaer first-year co-captain Andrew Imrie 6–4, 6–0 in second singles, while senior co-captain Danny Coran cruised to a comfortable 6–3, 6–2 victory over senior co-captain McKinley Grimes in fifth singles.

Coran later revealed the crafty tactics he relied on to break down Grimes.

“I was playing a big hitter — [Grimes was] hitting really heavy shots,” Coran said. “[But] I was more consistent. I threw in some slices and off-speed balls. It ended up working, and I felt pretty good throughout the match.”

First-year Boris Sorkin (6–4, 6–3) and sophomore Ben Biswas (7–5, 6–2) also won their respective singles matches for the Jumbos in the visitors’ win.

The following day, Tufts downed No. 26 Skidmore (11–5), 6–3. The Jumbos built an early lead in doubles, as the sophomore duo of Niemiec and Zach Shaff inched past junior Travis Leaf and first-year Suraj Mahtani, 9–8, in the

second spot. Biswas and sophomore Bershtein added to Tufts’ advantage by besting sophomores Jack McClaren and Jason Keye, 8–6, in third doubles.

Shaff ’s success continued in singles.

The Allentown, Penn. native was victorious in a tight first-set tiebreak against McClaren before soundly sealing the second in fourth singles, 7–6, 6–1. At No. 3 singles, Carl-Herman Grant rallied past Leaf despite dropping the second set with a lengthy third-set tiebreak, 6–3, 2–6, 11–9.

Following the team’s tough loss see MEN'S TENNIS, page 11

SAILING

Jumbos qualify for national regatta with 11th-place finish

by Caleb Symons

Executive Sports Editor

The Tufts sailing teams competed in a staggering seven regattas over the weekend, including two conference championship regattas. The top women’s squad finished 11th at the New England Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) Championship in New London, Conn. Meanwhile, the co-ed team prepared for the upcoming New England Dinghy Championships with a sixth-place showing at the Boston Dinghy Club Cup. After finishing eighth at the 2017 NEISA Championship, the women’s team sought another strong result at this year’s edition in order to qualify for the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Championship semifinals from May 22–23. They did just that, squeak-

ing into the national regatta with an 11th-place finish.

“Our expectation was to qualify,” coach Ken Legler said. “Because our conference is absolutely stacked with the best teams in the country, that’s hard to do. The good news is that because we have so many women’s teams in this conference, we got 11 qualifiers into the semifinals.

The recruiting around here has been incredible in the last five years, and the all the best [female] sailors in the country are sailing in New England.”

Senior skipper Molly Pleskus and junior crew Taylor Hart got off to an inconsistent start in the A division on Saturday. The Tufts duo finished no higher than 11th out of 17 in its first five races on the water at Coast Guard.

However, Pleskus and Hart responded with a pair of fifth-place results later in

the weekend to post 104 points, good for 14th place in the highly competitive A division.

“We kept missing massive wind shifts,” Legler said. “We’d sail off to the right, and a big puff would roll down off the hill on the left and hit the boats on the left, and we’d be the last boat to get it. So the next race we’d go left, and the wind would just die altogether. We started getting even breaks — we’d get some and miss some — after that. That, combined with really good starts, allowed us to have some better finishes.”

In the B division, first-year skipper Talia Toland and senior crew Emily Shanley-Roberts stormed out of the gate, posting sixth- and second-place finishes, respectively, in their first two races. Toland and Shanley-Roberts also placed third in the sixth race, ultimately garnering 78 points for 10th place.

With a combined total of 182 points, Tufts edged out 12th-place Roger Williams by just four points to qualify for next month’s ICSA Championship semifinals at Old Dominion. “[Toland and Shanley-Roberts] had amazingly good starts,” Legler said.

“Their boat was at full speed within six inches of the starting line at the precise instant the starting time went off.

That’s hard to maneuver the boat in a variable wind, particularly when you can’t see the end of the line because every other boat is trying to do the same thing [and] blocking your view.”

Tufts’ top co-ed team took on the field at the 82nd annual Boston Dinghy Club Cup, hosted by MIT — Tufts’ last competition before the New England see SAILING, page 11