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Monday, September 14, 2020
Admissions programming moves online Bloomberg donates for fall semester, virtual campus tours $3 million toward construction of new Medford public library by Sam Klugherz
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ANN MARIE BURKE / THE TUFTS DAILY
The Academic Quad is pictured on Aug. 28. by Alexander Janoff News Editor
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions has adopted several virtual alternatives for prospective students, following an announcement in August that in-person campus tours would not be allowed for the fall semester due to the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and Massachusetts’ travel restrictions. In place of in-person visits, the admissions office has offered virtual information sessions, campus tours, student panels and “Java with a Jumbo,” a program that allows prospective students to speak with current undergraduates. “Admissions is contributing to the university’s efforts to promote
a safe and healthy environment for our enrolled students,” Joseph “JT” Duck, dean of admissions, wrote in an email to the Daily. He underlined that all in-person programming hosted by the office has transitioned to a virtual format, in compliance with the university’s policies. see ADMISSIONS, page 2
Tisch College reaffirms stance against racism, creates new first-year course, webinar series by Sarah Sandlow News Editor
Dean Alan Solomont (A’70) released a statement on July 16 outlining the steps the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life is taking to combat racism, including a new first-year course, webinar series and the sponsor of research in different focus areas. The statement follows a letter sent to the Tisch College community on June 1 condemning the recent acts of racial injustice. “Though raising our collective voices for justice is essential, it is not enough,” Solomont wrote in the June 1 letter. “We must take action. Our civic responsibility demands this of us, especially in times of trauma and struggle.” Some of Tisch College’s initiatives include doubling the Tisch Fund for Civic Engagement to allot half of the grant money to students who are specifically doing anti-racist work, according to Solomont. “We especially encourage students to apply for funding that will support projects related to racial justice,” Tisch College’s website states.
Tisch College also conducted an eight-week virtual webinar during the summer, titled “Navigating the Pandemic,” which had sessions devoted to issues of inequity, race and racial injustice, according to Solomont. Solomont enthusiastically praised students who have participated in Tisch College’s initiatives, saying they reflect the institution’s goals. “I think that [Tisch College] has been a place that students have come to who believe in social justice, who believe in fighting institutional racism and have used some of the work they do at Tisch to act upon those beliefs,” Solomont said. Tisch College has also worked alongside Tufts’ School of Medicine to expand the graduate school’s Common Book program. This year, they chose Ijeoma Oluo’s “So You Want to Talk About Race” (2018). The book is intended to be read by all medical school faculty, staff and incoming students, according to Jessica Byrnes, the program administrator at Tisch College. In prior years, the selected book was only chosen for first-year medical students to read, according to Byrnes.
There will also be a virtual event with the author later this fall that will be hosted through Tisch College’s Distinguished Speaker Series. Byrnes noted that the unique circumstances this fall have increased the number of events and speakers. “I think we have never had this many speakers or events in one semester before, so I’m excited for … just how many different experts we have who are going to speak on different topics,” Byrnes said. She added that Tisch College will evaluate its own administrative system. “… Within our own institution, [we are] looking at our own hiring processes, job descriptions … [and] seeing what we can be doing more to be a more anti-racist institution,” Byrnes said. In an email to the Daily, Peter Levine, associate dean of academic affairs, wrote that a new course called Civic Pathways has been created this fall for first-year students. Multiple departments are collaborating with Tisch College on see WEBINAR, page 2
Medford native Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and a Democratic candidate for president in the 2020 campaign, donated $3 million toward the construction of Medford’s new stateof-the-art public library last month. The new library, which is expected to open in the fall of 2021, will be named the Charlotte and William Bloomberg Medford Public Library after Bloomberg’s parents, who lived in Medford for more than 60 years. Bloomberg expressed his contentment that the new library will be named after his parents, who visited the library often when they lived in Medford. “It means a lot to Marjorie and me to have our parents’ names attached to an institution that was such an important part of our childhood, and that provides such important resources to people of all ages in our hometown,” Bloomberg said in a press release announcing the $3 million gift. Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn emphasized that Bloomberg’s donation will make a significant impact in the Medford community. “We are so grateful to Mr. Bloomberg and the [Bloomberg] Philanthropies for this amazing donation,” Lungo-Koehn wrote in an email to the Daily. “The new library will be a space for residents of all ages to use for reading, learning, gathering, and creating, and it will have such a positive impact on our entire community for generations to come.” Holly Sargent, executive director of the Medford Public Library Foundation (MPLF), the nonprofit organization established to raise
private sector funds in support of the new library’s construction, expanded on the amenities that the new library will offer to the Medford community. “The library, of course, will be fulfilling its traditional purpose of ‘pathways to discovery’ with books, e-books, films, etc.,” Sargent said. “But it also will provide a lot of other things for the community that the community doesn’t have.” In addition to reading areas for adults, children and young adults, Sargent said that the new library, located on High Street, will feature a tech lab, a maker space, a multipurpose performance space, a local history room, a cafe and an outdoor terrace, among other amenities. The new library was designed by Schwartz/Silver Architects and is being constructed by G&R Construction, a company based in Quincy, Mass. The MPLF hosted a socially distant ice cream social in late August to celebrate Bloomberg’s donation and the campaign for the new library. C.B. Scoops and Colleen’s Ice Cream & Sandwich Shop, which are both located in Medford, served nearly 600 free cones in support of the new library. “People learned about the new library and celebrated a little bit about the Bloomberg gift, but also learned about how they could be part of the effort going forward,” Sargent said. The old library, which opened in 1960, did not meet accessibility standards, had a leaky roof and lacked sufficient electrical outlets, according to Sargent. In an effort to resolve the issues, community members gathered to help develop a plan for the new see BLOOMBERG, page 2
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The building of the Medford Public Library is pictured on Sept. 13.
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On or off campus, community concerns matter
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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Monday, September 14, 2020
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Barnum Hall is pictured on Aug. 28. ing a statement about anti-racist actions at Tisch College. Many students applied for grants, registered for the first-year course and participated in the Common Book program. “I’m hoping that Tisch will be one of several places at the university where students and faculty feel that the university is not just talking the talk but walking the walk,” he said.
continued from page 1 As part of its recent online initiatives, the admissions office launched an audio tour, narrated by its student interns, and a new program called Fall for Tufts, according to Duck. The program is scheduled to last from Sept. 19 to Oct. 17. “[Fall for Tufts is] designed to provide access to much of what we would have otherwise offered through our fall open house programs,” Duck said. “Each week of this month-long endeavor will center on a different theme and allow prospective students to deeply explore Tufts from afar.” He added that the admissions office will also continue its annual Virtual Voices of Tufts Diversity Experience program, which will be held in a two-day synchronous virtual format this year. Throughout the Voices program, prospective students will receive virtual campus tours and learn about the application and financial aid process through a series of presentations, according to the program’s website. Duck noted that the virtual offerings may allow the admissions office to extend its outreach. “We hope that the online format allows us to reach students who may not have oth-
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The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at racism are the top three issues for young people, according to Solomont. He underlined that this is representative of a larger movement. “This is the first time I think racism as an issue has risen to the top of the list that way and [it] speaks to what we’re living through,” Solomont said. He indicated that he was impressed by the positive responses he received after issu-
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continued from page 1 the one-semester-hour unit course, which will act as an orientation to civic engagement at Tufts, according to Levine. Byrnes explained that the course will emphasize civic skills and agency and added that it will be a unifying experience for first-years coming to Tufts in an entirely new environment. Tisch College’s anti-racist initiatives also include the recent work done by its research institutions, namely the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) and the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education (IDHE). The IDHE published an updated guidebook this year called “Election Imperatives 2020: A Time of Physical Distancing and Social Action,” which is about the role of COVID-19 and its subsequent effects on electoral participation. Similarly, CIRCLE conducted a poll of 18 to 29-year-olds in June to look at how young people differ among races and ethnicities in terms of their attitudes toward voting, according to Solomont. The CIRCLE poll identified that affordable and accessible health care, climate and
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erwise had the resources or time to visit our campus this summer or fall,” he said. Curry Brinson, the diversity and recruitment co-chair of Tufts Tour Guides, indicated that tours are being held both through Zoom and YouVisit, a platform that allows students to take part in virtual tours. He explained that, though the tours have been conducted online, he has seen more student engagement. “Maybe I don’t get to see their faces on the tour, but I have been getting a lot more emails from prospective students than ever before,” Brinson, a junior, said. He was also impressed by how quickly the tour guides were able to adapt to the virtual format. “It was super cool to see, to watch that transition and see how quickly, our guides are able to make that transition and keep that special personal feeling and convey that Tufts community that we’re so famous for showing,” Brinson said. Senior Jason Getzler, who is also a tour guide, hopes that the online tours leave prospective students with a positive impression of Tufts. “Tours will be very different than what everyone is used to,” Getzler said. “A part of tours is being able to walk around campus … I’m hoping that [the virtual tours] will
come together in a coherent model that won’t be the same but will give light to what the Tufts experience is like.” Brinson has had a positive experience giving virtual tours over the summer, and he expects more of the same this upcoming semester. “It would be foolish to say everything is the same and I’m totally feeling normal about this, but all things considered … we still have our cameras on, [and we] still get to share anecdotes,” Brinson said. “It still feels special and it still feels cool.” Duck acknowledged that the general uncertainty surrounding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the admissions process. “It is hard to predict how the admissions cycle will unfold this year,” Duck said. “Given all that high school seniors and prospective transfer students are contending with right now, they may approach their college search process differently than previous classes.” However, Duck is confident that this semester’s virtual programming will offer the admissions office a strong applicant pool from which to admit students. “Registration numbers have been strong for our virtual programs, and we are confident that we will build a strong applicant pool from which to admit the Class of 2025 and our next transfer cohort,” Duck said.
Tufts pledges $100,000 to Medford Public Library Foundation BLOOMBERG
continued from page 1 library and a grant proposal was submitted to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, a government agency that supports and regulates public libraries. The city received a grant of $12.2 million from the state shortly after, according to Sargent. “That was very exciting, but it also spoke to the grave need we had for the library,” Sargent said. She explained that, after the city received the grant, then-mayor of Medford Stephanie Burke asked for additional funding for the project, which was estimated to cost $34 million. The MPLF worked in 2018 to raise an additional $4 million, according to Sargent. She indicated that Barry Sloane, president and CEO of Century Bank, and chair-
man of the MPLF, put together a board for the foundation, which included Rocco DiRico, director of government and community relations at Tufts. Sloane also appointed Sargent to be the executive director and run the fundraising for the organization, according to Sargent. She detailed that, after a group of contractors bid to get the job of building the new library, the winning contractor estimated that the project would only cost $27.5 million, lower than the original estimate of $34 million. The MPLF adjusted its fundraising target to $5 million, instead of $4 million. Bloomberg’s $3 million dollar gift contributed toward MPLF’s $5 million goal, according to Sargent. Sargent said that the MPLF has raised an additional $1.5 million in gifts. Currently, the foundation has a total of $4.5 million, as it works to reach its $5 million goal.
The MPLF has also received a pledge of $100,000 from Tufts University over five years, according to DiRico. DiRico explained that Tufts’ donation is just one way the university supports its host communities. “Tufts decided to donate to MPLF because we believe libraries provide access to opportunity for so many people in our community,” DiRico wrote in an email to the Daily. “Our donation will specifically help fund a technology commons that will help bridge the digital divide in the City of Medford.” This comes in light of a protest held in August by local Medford and Somerville constituents who oppose the university’s reopening plans and view them as putting the health of community members at great risk.
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3 Monday, September 14, 2020
Tufts groups continue preparing for 2020 US presidential election by Jillian Collins Features Editorv
With an unprecedented presidential election just around the corner, emotions are running high on campus. Tufts groups have been hard at work since last spring, preparing campus for this influential election season. All hands are on deck. Together, Mail Services, university leadership, the Office of Communications and Marketing, the Experimental College (ExCollege), the Africana Center, the Asian American Center, the FIRST Resource Center, the School of Engineering, the Office of Sustainability, JumboVote, the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, Tufts Dining, the Women’s Center, the Latino Center, the Department of Political Science, the Office of Student Affairs, the Office for Campus Life, Residential Life, Athletics, the Office of Government & Community Relations and the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life have formed an ad hoc group to plan various events for the presidential election, according to Jessica Byrnes (LA’12), program administrator for Tisch College. Due to COVID-19, planning has changed since the Daily spoke to this ad hoc group last spring, but the overarching goals have not. It is still determined to make sure the Tufts community is informed, supported and engaged so that students can confidently go out and vote. Lidya Woldeyesus, the student chair for JumboVote, spoke on the steps this group has taken for implementing these goals. “For [JumboVote], we have to be a lot more strategic in how we use our time and how we connect with people,” Woldeyesus, a junior, said. “On the registration front … we do in-person voter registration most of the time. That’s how in 2018 we registered 88% of students to vote. So much of that was because we were in the [Mayer] Campus Center or the dining hall every single day.” Although it cannot reach students in person, JumboVote has found new ways to meet students where they are. Over the summer, the organization sent out packets with voter registration information to all first-years and postcards to all returning students, according to Woldeyesus. Woldeyesus shared that one of JumboVote’s main priorities is having early communication about the processes of mail-in and absentee voting, especially at a school where most students are out of state. “Depending on what state you are from [or] how close you are to election night … it can
be extremely difficult to register to vote [and] to request your absentee vote,” Woldeyesus said. “Much of that is voter suppression tactics, especially [toward] the college students.” To aid with the confusion behind voting, groups on campus have created a Tufts election website. Byrnes said the site is expected to go live this week. “In 2016, we had an election website that was the center of all election-related information across Tufts. We have been working with [the Office of Communications and Marketing] to do the same thing in 2020,” Byrnes said. “We are working with folks there to design the site, but also to figure out how people across the university can put in information on what they’re doing around the election.” Another critical aspect of ensuring students can vote this fall is working with Mail Services to create a seamless system for processing and distributing voting materials, Byrnes said. “[In the spring primaries], we ran into a few problems with Mail Services,” Byrnes said. “Those experiences sort of laid it out to us what our work is. Over the summer, and continuing in the fall we have been working closely with Mail Services to try to think through what are some of the obstacles they anticipate seeing, and just [seeing] how much this is for one department to hold.” To decrease the burden on Mail Services, they are planning on hiring more student workers for the department, Byrnes said. They also have to prepare for a scenario in which Tufts moves to a “red status,” a situation in which there is increased community spread, testing and contact tracing is limited and personal protective equipment is unavailable. If red status is reached, all on-campus students get sent home.
“I really hope students feel empowered and feel like their voice mattered in this election.” “We are planning for worse case scenarios, so that if it’s the absolute worst day, we get sent home, and everyone has already requested absentee ballots,” Woldeyesus said. “For example, how do we reroute mail? How do we make sure students are still able to vote in November? Those are the things that [COVID-19] has just messed up entirely.” Logistics is only half the battle when it comes to getting stu-
ANN MARIE BURKE / THE TUFTS DAILY
President’s Lawn is pictured on Aug. 28. dents ready to vote; the other half is motivation. ExCollege Director Howard Woolf believes that getting young people to vote will be the game changer in terms of election results. “Typically numbers aren’t great amongst young voters … so that to me is what our goal should be,” Woolf said. “You know the old phrase, ‘Think locally, act globally.’ We need to make sure Tufts people are going to vote, and hopefully vote in the way I would like them to, but just vote.” One way the consortium of campus organizations is getting students engaged is through the Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series. This fall, there will be conversations covering many issues and concerns in this election. Topics include police brutality, epigenetics and climate change, according to the Tisch College event website. “This year we are really focusing on having civic conversations and panels on all the major issues we are going to be voting on in November, and that frankly are at stake in this election,” Woldeyesus said. “I think it will be really exciting to bring more attention and people to a lot of the work and conversations that they are going to be having inside Tisch College this year.” Leading up to the election, Tisch College and JumboVote have developed debate and election night party events. “So much of the work that JumboVote has done in the past has really been community building and spending time together to watch debates and to watch election night together, but due to COVID-19, so much of it is so different. We really want to be able to foster that type of community,” Woldeyesus said. “We are working with the residential halls through our
democracy reps program, so we can still build community and talk about the election and the way people feel about it as things develop.” Byrnes also said that they are creating free debate watching packages for students. Packages will include a debate watch bingo card, a face mask that says “Vote” on it and a bag of popcorn. “I think the key will be uplifting students who want to watch the election in their dorms, and uplifting those smaller celebrations and parties,” Byrnes said. On another front, JumboVote is also encouraging students to volunteer as poll workers. “There’s a really massive shortage of poll workers in Massachusetts, and for the first time, you don’t have to be registered to vote in Massachusetts to be a poll worker. You just need to be eligible to work in the United States,” Woldeyesus said. “We are working with the state election network and MassVOTE to host a poll worker training for students who are interested in that.” For students who want to engage academically, there are courses offered this semester that are centered around the election. “[James M. Glaser, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences,] is teaching his American politics course for the first time in a while, precisely because it is an election year and he wanted to be able to do that as a way of giving people context for what might happen and what is going on,” Woolf said. The ad hoc group wants to make sure students are educated about the election not only before, but also on election night and following up after. “What happens if there isn’t a clear winner?” Byrnes said. “There are a million situations
that I feel like might be unique with the current administration and what might happen [on election night]. I think some of the work is just preparing the students for understanding that we might not have an answer on election night … It’s going to be a very emotional experience no matter what happens.” After the election, the ad hoc group plans on hosting a panel of various leaders and professors about the results. “In 2016, the chair of the political science department had a panel with faculty across the university with different expertise talking about what does this mean, what is the transition going to look like, who do we think might be in the Trump administration, what does this mean for immigration, what does this mean for everyone in our country?” Byrnes said. “That is something I definitely want to replicate … I think that is just one idea and more of an academic focus on it.” Leaders of this ad hoc group shared their thoughts on how they hope this election goes. “One of my goals, as student chair of JumboVote, is helping people to become lifelong voters, because the data shows that the younger you start voting, the longer you will vote,” Woldeyesus said. “I really hope students feel empowered and feel like their voice mattered in this election.” You only get one presidential election to vote in during college, and Byrnes said she hopes this will bring people together. “I hope that no matter what happens, that it is a unifying experience for the Tufts community,” Byrnes said. For more information on the election and registering to vote, connect with JumboVote at https://tufts.turbovote.org/ and on all social media platforms.
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Monday, September 14, 2020
‘Vanguard’: A history of Black women’s power
DEVINA BHALLA / THE TUFTS DAILY
A screen capture from a Harvard Book Store virtual discussion about ‘Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Votes, and Insisted on Equality for All’ (2020) is pictured. by Devina Bhalla Arts Editor
On the day of its publication, author Martha S. Jones, joined by Nikole Hannah-Jones, discussed her new book “Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All” (2020) in a Harvard Book Store virtual event on Sept. 8. “Vanguard” is a book about the political history of Black women in America and how their work has affected the United States as a whole. It lays bare how essential the advocacy of Black women in American politics has been to this country. “The idea for this book came precisely because I knew the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment was coming,” Jones said during the event. “And we were in danger perhaps of entering into this anniversary year and overlooking Black women quite literally.” Jones is an American cultural and legal historian as well as the Society of Black Alumni presidential professor at Johns Hopkins University. She also wrote the highly regarded and awarded book “Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America” (2018). Ibram X. Kendi, author of “Stamped from the Beginning”
(2016) and “How to Be an Antiracist” (2019), said in a book review, “Martha Jones is the political historian of African American women. And this book is the commanding history of the remarkable struggle of African American women for political power.” With the 19th Amendment’s centennial in mind, Jones engaged in intense research, using generations of Black historians’ work to put together this comprehensive review of the political accomplishments of Black women, many of which are often forgotten, overlooked or simply not taught in historical narratives. Jones’ goal was “to offer up one volume that would really permit all of us to fully appreciate the role that Black women played in political culture,” she said. At first, she thought that the book would be full of “Black women firsts,” but as she began, she realized that “there was a core principle that Black women arrived at 200 years ago and carried forward to now: the idea that American politics should have no place for racism and sexism.” Jones noted that Black women have long promoted this view. “When I realized how long they had been alone in carry-
ing that [platform] forward and setting that ideal in front of us, I realized they were indeed an intellectual and political vanguard,” she said. “Vanguard” opens with a personal story about the matriarchs in Jones’ family history. With the power of a personal history opening the book, she uses her family story as a way into the conversation. At first, she didn’t know where her ancestors fit in her book, but by uncovering their stories she stumbled on an interview her grandmother gave in 1978. In the interview, her grandmother talked about the struggle for Black voting rights in the 1950s and 1960s. Jones said she let her ancestors’ history guide her to tell a Black woman’s perspective on voting and political rights for Black women. Part of the event’s discussion was about the unique position of Black women and how they are sidelined for both their race and gender, which is the heart of “Vanguard.” The history of the Seneca Falls Convention is often told as if it was the faceoff of white suffragists, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, versus Black men such as Frederick Douglass. “Vanguard” dispels this idea by
including the perspectives of the Black women that were crucial and important parts of the conversation as well. Jones talked about how this version of history that excludes Black women — such as Frances Harper, one of the first Black women to publish a book in the United States — does a kind of violence to Black women, as if they weren’t involved. Another theme that runs through “Vanguard” is that of violence that Black women activists have experienced and continue to experience, which has been punctuated by the exclusionary harm of hiding or burying their stories. Both Martha S. Jones and Nikole Hannah-Jones, who is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering racial injustice and the creator of the 1619 Project, discussed how so much of the work that Black women have done has been buried by white people and Black men. Jones explained how the bodily presence of Black women somehow seems to deprive people of hearing their words clearly. “Yes, we are here to claim our political power and exercise our rights, but we come to do that in the interest of all of humanity.” Jones said.
Jones discusses the lives and work of Black women from the beginning of this country to the 19th Amendment to the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond. “This book needed to be a history that insisted that Black women were there, that they understood and analyzed, and thought through and organized,” Jones said. “It’s an honor to come back to that material and distill it for readers … History reminds us that Black women have shown up even in the darkest [moments].” As more and more firsts are achieved for Black women in America, especially in light of California Sen. Kamala Harris being chosen as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, “Vanguard” gives us the history of those firsts. “The firsts didn’t come out of nowhere. And the firsts came because of the organizing of millions of nameless faces of Black women who made sure that this could happen,” Hannah-Jones said. The legacy of these women continues today, and “Vanguard” highlights how Black women are intellectual and political pioneers. “Black women are a force that is here to stay in American politics,” Jones said.
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Monday, September 14, 2020 | Arts & Pop Culture | THE TUFTS DAILY
‘Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe’ is the franchise’s most satisfying story yet Arts Editor
The Phineas and Ferb franchise grows even bigger with the addition of “Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe” (2020), a Disney+ film that follows stepbrothers Phineas and Ferb as they rescue Candace, their sister, from aliens with a sinister goal in mind. It’s certainly impressive that creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh were able to find another adventure to add to Phineas and Ferb’s already jam-packed summer; it’s perhaps even more impressive that “Candace Against the Universe” is the franchise’s most mature and satisfying story yet. Throughout its 133 episodes (222 segments, considering most episodes are split into two stories), an animated Disney Channel Original Movie (“Across the 2nd Dimension,” which aired in 2011) and multiple specials — like “Star Wars” (2014) and “Mission Marvel” (2013) — the franchise never failed to tell intelligent and witty stories. There are episodes about science fair portals to Mars, disco miniature golf and trips to the United Kingdom that can appeal to audiences of any age. It’s never strictly a children’s animated show — although for audiences who watched “Phineas and Ferb” (2007–2015) while it aired, there’s certainly a strong sense of nostalgia surrounding it — and it never veers too far into appealing to adult audiences. Rather, it’s a show for everyone. A show whose mature themes and comedic gags make it a perfectly balanced viewing experience. And “Candace Against the Universe” captures that balance better than any previous Phineas and Ferb story. It’s been five years since the series ended, but releasing a Disney+ film feels like an easy jump back in. And this time, Candace is our focus. While it’s certainly easy to say that this film finally gives Candace her moment, it’s not exactly the sharpest point to make. While many episodes
rely on her desire to bust her brothers for their crazy antics, Candace often bonds with her brothers (“Mom’s Birthday,” perhaps one of the series’ best, comes to mind) or finds herself caught up in the fun of whatever they’ve built that day. She also enjoys plenty of screen time — many episodes and specials focus on her conflicting desires to bust her brothers and enjoy teenage summer fun. Rather, it might be better to say that “Candace Against the Universe” is really the first story where Phineas and Ferb have to come to terms with the differences and conflicts between them and Candace, specifically Candace’s feelings of inadequacy. It’s a topic that the show hasn’t always had time to delve into, but it’s certainly a glaring issue; with her genius brothers building amazing inventions and cool contraptions every day, it’s no wonder Candace is so hellbent on getting attention, or at the very least, feeling validated. And “Candace Against the Universe” hits on that idea. When Candace arrives at the alien planet Feebla-Oot and meets Super Super Big Doctor, the planet’s ruler, the two connect over their feelings for their brothers. Super Super Big Doctor makes Candace feel special, telling her that she has “Remarkalonium,” a substance that’s far less remarkable than it sounds. When Candace learns the truth behind “Remarkalonium” (it’s carbon dioxide) and that Super Super Big Doctor needs it for her mind-controlling plant Mama, she’s immediately broken. She’s no longer special — no one is. There’s certainly some greater commentary here about how we all contain “Remarkalonium,” or rather something remarkable that makes us special, but the film doesn’t harbor on that too much. But it does give Candace the opportunity to prove herself. She saves the day with the help of her brothers, now beginning to understand just how much they mean to her.
VIA IMDB
A promotional poster for “Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe” (2020) is pictured. It was important for the film to focus on Candace — she’s possibly the most dynamic character in the show — and her feelings. Despite Phineas and Ferb mostly relying on a reset button at the end of each episode, Candace is one of the only characters to have plots
(her relationship with Jeremy) that we see clear development and changes in. And the show plays with that, often putting Candace in situations where she has to interrupt her teenage life to attempt to bust her brothers. But “Candace Against the Universe” allows Candace to fully
focus on herself and her relationship with her brothers. And that’s important. For a character who can sometimes be so stuck in the rut of busting and failure, this film is a freeing experience. It’s a heartwarming story for all ages and certainly proves just how wonderful Phineas and Ferb continues to be.
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THE TUFTS DAILY | FUN & GAMES | Monday, September 14, 2020
F& G
tuftsdaily.com LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Ethan: “I’m not funny.”
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Opinion
7 Monday, September 14, 2020
EDITORIAL
Tufts must consider local residents’ concerns in proceeding with fall plans The COVID-19 pandemic has required universities to dynamically weigh the pros and cons of an on-campus experience. Tufts, like other universities, faces the challenge of protecting students’ health while still preserving an engaging academic experience. With the majority of undergraduate Tufts students back on campus for the fall, many are happy to reunite with friends, attend in-person classes and take advantage of on-campus resources. In enjoying these opportunities, we must also be aware that the decision to reopen campus affects not only our own community but Medford and Somerville as well. As we react and readjust to the spread of COVID-19 on our campus, it is critical that the Tufts community and administration account for the concerns of our neighbors in making on-campus decisions.
While returning to campus comes as a relief for many students, local residents are rightfully concerned about the spread of COVID-19. In August, elected officials of Medford and Somerville penned a letter to the Tufts administration urging Tufts to amend its reopening plans and safety protocols. They cited Tufts’ shared living situation off campus as a potential problem with its plan, raised red flags about the implications of students arriving to campus from out of state and protested outside University President Anthony Monaco’s house. Although Tufts established extensive precautionary measures for its own community, disparities between health care received by Tufts students and surrounding community mem-
bers remain. Tufts students are tested at least once per week, have designated modular housing to isolate if infected and can access quality health care on campus. Not all of Medford and Somerville residents have these same options. As protestors expressed in August, on-campus precautions, while important, cannot entirely eradicate the risk of an outbreak. Even with consistent testing, there still exists the possibility of Tufts students unknowingly spreading the virus to immunocompromised or elderly locals. Still, Tufts’ protocols exist to prevent this. In order for them to succeed, our Tufts community must recognize that our campus is not a bubble; our actions will affect those outside campus borders. As students, it is crucial that we follow all university pro-
tocols by wearing masks, limiting gatherings to 10 people and social distancing when outside of living spaces. It is also important that we remain actively involved in the surrounding Medford and Somerville communities. By choosing to shop at local stores and order from nearby residents, we help support small business owners who may be facing financial challenges as a result of the economic crisis caused by COVID-19. We must also commit to actively supporting residents impacted by the pandemic by donating time and resources to local support funds, such as the Massachusetts COVID19 Relief Fund or the Somerville Cares Fund. Much weight falls on the university as well. On top of its established procedures, Tufts should follow its trend in the
early stages of the pandemic by providing aid to areas affected by outbreaks in the Greater Boston Area. To further enforce these protocols, Tufts must implement graduated sanctions on students who violate Tufts’ policy. Tufts’ administration and faculty members must also be diligent in fielding the questions of community members, a concern some residents left the recent town hall with. Above all, Tufts must make realistic decisions about on-campus operations while prioritizing the health and safety of both Tufts’ and the surrounding communities. These steps, along with efforts to protect the health of local residents, will prove vital in sustaining growth within the surrounding communities as well as bolstering Tufts’ community relations.
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BY ANNABEL NIED 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 Business Director.
8 Monday, September 14, 2020
Sports
tuftsdaily.com
Shifted expectations: student-athletes, coaches adapting to reality without fall sports by Brigitte Wilson Contributing Writer
As students return to Tufts for the hybrid fall semester, fall athletes must deal with the reality of training and staying motivated with no season or indication of when normalcy will return. Some athletes have been able to return to play, depending on where they spent the summer and the logistics of their respective sports. Ann Sheridan, a junior on the sailing team, had the chance to sail a little earlier than her teammates thanks to her hometown of Charleston, S.C. opening up early. “I had the opportunity to sail and my spin studio was closed so it was a lot more outside, working out alone activities over the summer and the varsity athletic trainer sent us monthly workout plans specific to the sailing team,” she said. Under normal circumstances, the sailing team would have focused on getting time in different kinds of boats over the summer, but instead, they got into a combination of running, cycling and cross-training. In terms of transitioning back into the fall, the sailors are expecting changes with no regattas for the foreseeable future. “It’s looking different than usual. We would normally have lift twice a week and then practice four days a week for about five hours,” Sheridan said. “Instead, we are doing one lift, maybe outside or in smaller groups and we’re doing single-handed sailing instead of double-handed sailing. Normally there are two people per boat but pretty close together, so we are forced to sail those boats alone for now,” Sheridan said. Sheridan was named a New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association second-teamer for women’s crews during the 2019– 2020 season, an award she appreciated as a confirmation of her hard work last fall.
“It’s a really big motivator, and I’m so grateful to be honored in that way … I feel like I have to live up to it now and continuously prove that I was deserving of it,” she said. Looking toward the future of the team, Sheridan hopes to welcome the first-years in the best way possible, although the team hasn’t been able to meet them yet due to quarantine guidelines. “I’m looking forward to the team continuously improving and showcasing our talent and hard work at regattas … I’m excited to see my team again in any capacity because we are pretty close and we have fun together,” she said. Junior Will Kandianis, a defensive lineman on the football team, got creative for non-gym workouts by incorporating buckets of rocks into lifts and ensuring a positive and fun attitude at home. “I did whatever I could with the buckets of rocks, and then pushups, pullups, running, situps, a lot of bodyweight activities. Our strength trainer sent us two workouts, one if you had weights at your home and one if you didn’t, which was super helpful,” Kandianis said. Typically the football team trains in three phases, beginning over winter break through training camp right before the season, so there is normally a lot of buildup and hard work put in for what is ultimately a nine-game season. Due to the brevity of their playing time, the loss of the season due to COVID-19 was even more disappointing. “We train for 35 weeks out of 52 in the year and it stinks that we do all this work and there is no way to enjoy the fruits of our labor this year. [It’s] definitely really disappointing but [we’re] trying to stay positive,” Kandianis said. Kandianis’ main message to younger players on the team has been for them to wear their masks and practice social distancing. “Even though we don’t have football and coaches telling us to
NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY
Huskins Field is pictured on Aug. 8. do the right thing, I want to remind the freshmen and sophomores to have their masks on and not gather in large groups. We have to stick to the guidelines and rules so that we can play as soon as possible,” he said. Tufts’ fall sports coaches are also facing the unique challenge of setting training plans for their current athletes and planning recruitment for the future. Over the summer, most coaches had to make the adjustment of accommodating students that did not have access to gyms, fields or water, depending on the sport. Coach Tina Mattera of the field hockey team sent her players workouts from FitnessBlender.com, a free website that includes many varieties of full-body workouts and healthy eating recipes. “I sent them workouts that they could do at home from [a] fitness website, but a lot of girls were just running to get out of the house or [biking] indoors. They did what they could do, also either doing
yoga or finding ways onto a field,” Mattera said. Mattera also shed light on difficulties in the recruitment process for the high school class of 2022. “It’s been kind of awful and I feel so bad for them. Normally [high school] players send me a video and I’ll say ‘OK, see you at the tournaments,’ but now I’m relying on videos so much more.” She noted that the disappointment goes both ways because in the past, bringing potential recruits to campus has been such a selling point for the field hockey program. “It’s really hard because we haven’t been able to get the players on campus. The fact that we can’t [bring them here] has been so tough,” Mattera said. Mattera remarked that another consequence of COVID-19 has been the inability to see non-local girls play. “There’s a group of kids that we’ve seen multiple times and then other players we haven’t seen at all. I’m more likely to recruit a local kid that I’ve seen four times than a kid
that I haven’t seen and only have a five-minute video of which is tough.” While it is difficult for teams to stay in touch due to social distancing regulations and strict rules about group practices, field hockey has done Zoom calls to do checkins with players and to provide updates about the program and workouts this fall. “My players are awesome and they took ownership. They were really good about pulling the freshmen in for this year and the captains organize team Zooms. It’s their team so I love for them to do fun stuff together without me there,” Mattera said. Although student-athletes were disappointed to come back to campus without their seasons, most teams have found ways to stay motivated and connected thanks to support from their coaches and substantial online activity. Until they can get back out on the water, field or track, they plan to keep energy high and focus on what they can accomplish in the future.
Celtics advance to conference final for 3rd time in 4 years by Alex Sharp
Assistant Sports Editor
With just under a minute remaining in the fourth quarter of Game 7 and the Celtics clinging to a two-point lead, Raptors guard Norman Powell had the ball on a fast break with only one man to beat. Unfortunately for Powell, that man’s name was Marcus Smart. Three days after being named to the NBA’s All-Defensive team, Smart made perhaps the greatest defensive play of his career. After crossing from his right to his left hand just outside the 3-point line, Powell drove hard toward the hoop. Smart, unfazed by his opponent’s slight change of direction, stalked him to the rim. As Powell jumped to lay the ball in, Smart elevated behind him and
blocked the ball hard off the backboard, preserving the Celtics’ lead. Boston went on to win 92–87. Smart’s game-saving block is just another example of the passionate, high energy and balls-to-the-wall play that has endeared him to his teammates and Celtics fans. “The hustle. The block. The toughness. He had a couple of loose balls, he almost came up with another couple of rebounds towards the end of the game,” coach Brad Stevens said in a press conference after the game. “He’s a huge part of our team, he’s a huge part of our organization. I said this before the playoffs, we’ve gotten a chance to play in [the playoffs] every year he’s been here and it’s not a coincidence.” The low-scoring total was a fitting end to a grueling sev-
en-game series between two of the NBA’s best defensive teams. It was the Celtics’ two young stars, 22-year-old Jayson Tatum and 23-year-old Jaylen Brown, who were able to break through enough offensively for Boston to hold off Toronto. Tatum scored 29 points and finished with seven assists, repeatedly showing off one of the smoothest strokes in the game. Brown shot only one for seven from the 3-point line but was deadly in the paint area, scoring 18 points on nine out of 10 shooting inside the arc. Thanks to the contributions of Tatum and Brown, the Celtics were able to survive another quiet night from star point guard Kemba Walker (14 points, five out of 16 from the field). Walker acknowledged his subpar offensive output in his post-game press conference,
while crediting his teammates for keeping him engaged. “I struggled last game, I struggled this game, but it wasn’t no quit in me. My teammates, they encouraged me so, so much tonight. They made me keep my head high,” Walker said. “And you know, much credit to those guys, I could have easily got down on myself, but they wouldn’t let me. And they held me down. That’s what a team is for.” The Celtics offense may receive a boost in the Eastern Conference finals as forward Gordon Hayward, who averaged 17.5 points per game in the regular season, is set to return from an ankle sprain suffered in the Celtics’ first-round series against the 76ers. The Celtics Game 7 victory ends the defending champion Toronto Raptors’ quest for
a repeat. After losing their best player and finals MVP Kawhi Leonard to free agency last summer, the Raptors exceeded expectations this season by winning 53 games en route to the two seed. Toronto’s front office has some decisions to make this offseason as key players Fred VanVleet, Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol will all be free agents. The Celtics will begin the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat on Tuesday. The last time the two teams met in the conference finals was in 2012 when Lebron James and Dwyane Wade led the Heat to a Game 7 victory over a Celtics team led by Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. With the Bucks and Raptors eliminated, this will be the first-ever Eastern Conference final without a one or two seed.