The Tufts Daily - Thursday, February 20, 2025

Tufts researchers ‘on edge’ in midst of threats to federal funding

“That just doesn’t cover what it costs to run a lab,” Freudenreich said.

Tufts researchers are expressing concern over President Donald Trump’s attempt to halt federal research grants and cap the National Institutes of Health’s funding for indirect research costs at 15%, though a federal judge temporarily blocked the action earlier this month.

Tufts’ indirect cost rate is 56%, which makes a potential 15% cap a significant reduction in federal funding, according to Catherine Freudenreich, chair of the biology department. Tufts could lose as much as $20 million of its preexisting $26.9 million worth of federal support, according to Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations.

“While there are still many unknowns, we are working directly with our researchers to keep them informed, and we are proactively preparing for potential impacts,” Bernard Arulanandam, vice provost for research, wrote in a statement to the Daily.

University President Sunil Kumar announced last week that Tufts is part of a lawsuit against the NIH over the change alongside the American Association of Universities, the American Council of Education and the Association of Public and LandGrant Universities. The plaintiffs allege that the funding restriction is against the federal

Somerville’s Willie Burnley Jr. joins mayoral race

Sitting Somerville City Councilor-at-Large Willie Burnley Jr. announced on Feb. 2 his candidacy for mayor of Somerville, joining fellow Councilor Jake Wilson and twoterm incumbent Mayor Katjana Ballantyne in the mayoral race.

Burnley emphasized his background as a community organizer as well as his legislative record on the City Council when discussing his decision to run for mayor.

“I’m someone who, from my entire adult life, has been organizing on the ground with different organizations, pushing government to do better and also learning how the system operates in order to best advance the demands of my neighbors,” Burnley said. “And I think right now, we need folks to take the helm who are going to make decisive choices that reaffirm our values and don’t take any steps back in this moment,” he said.

On the council, Burnley is a member of the Finance Committee and chairs the Licenses and Permits Committee.

“As chair of licenses and permits, I’ve learned a lot about our local business community. I’ve been able to support them in their earliest stages when they’ve needed help navigating through the city’s labyrinthine permitting process,” he said.

Zachary Yaro, a Somerville resident, has been frustrated by the lack of answers from the city about important issues.

“There’s certain projects where it feels like they know an update with bad news is going to get complaints, whereas a lack of update, most people will ignore. … I would like to see more of a, ‘If we said we’ll give you an update in six months, we’ll give you an update in six months, even if the update isn’t good news’ [attitude],” Yaro said.

Recently, Yaro has been working with others to

form the Davis Square Neighborhood Council and appreciates Burnley’s explicit support for the neighborhood council model.

“With [Burnley], I appreciated that he’s really supportive of more neighborhood councils forming and being those sorts of bridges between people who live in particular neighborhoods and the government, and particularly on issues of property development,” Yaro said.

As Somerville continues to grow, Burnley believes that the city will receive an influx of developers and sees neighborhood councils as an important way to ensure development is beneficial.

“I foresee a future in which there’s not a spot in Somerville where developers don’t want to start to move. And before that happens I think we need to be connected as a community and in conversation, so that we can

Shayna Levy Assistant News Editor

RAY BERNOFF / THE TUFTS DAILY A lab in the Tsungming Tu Complex is pictured on April 28, 2018.

LOCAL

Grayton Goldsmith News Editor

PETER WOLFE / THE TUFTS DAILY

Willie Burnley Jr. is pictured inside Pearl Street Tattoo Club.

see GRANTS, page 3

see BURNLEY, page 3

Tufts students participate in 50501 protest at Mass. State House

Earlier this month, Tufts students joined hundreds of local Massachusetts residents in a “50501” protest against the latest actions of the administration of President Donald Trump. Born on social media, the 50501 movement encompasses the simultaneous occurrence of 50 protests in 50 states on a single day.

“When I saw that this was happening, I took it as a sign that it was finally time I could start fighting back and feeling like I was helping in some small way,” Kira Sutcliffe, a first-year student who participated in the Boston 50501 protest on Feb. 5, said. “We are now the generation that must demand change. We can’t sit back and watch the world happen anymore.”

Another first-year who attended the protest, Analiese Christenson, said that the 50501 protest was the first she ever intended to go to alone. But as soon as she got on the train to Boston, Christenson said, she met three other Tufts students planning to participate in the protest.

“I want to see what’s going on from a real-life perspective because I feel like so much

is online. That just makes me feel really disconnected, and I didn’t feel like there was anything positive happening,” Christenson said.

Christenson said she was also motivated by the protest’s many objectives, namely to advocate “for immigrants and against transphobia.”

One student Christenson met on the train was firstyear Eli Stettner. Stettner said that one of the main reasons he decided to participate was because he was upset by the tariffs imposed on Canada and Mexico.

“I thought they had no basis in any kind of rational policy. … I think it really did a lot of damage to the position of the United States.”

Sutcliffe said she was initially unsure about attending the protest because she found it hard to find information online.

“It was a completely random flyer that I saw on Instagram,” Sutcliffe said. “It was very unclear if it was real. It was very hard to get information about it.”

Stettner also tried doing further research after initially seeing a digital flyer posted on the anonymous app Sidechat. “I really tried to dig into it to see if it was a legit thing.”

The students talked about how disorganized the protest felt, in part because of 50501’s decentralized structure. “There wasn’t a particular group that was spearheading it,” Christenson said.

“It was just incredibly disorganized, but it didn’t really feel like that, and everyone was very kind. It was incredibly peaceful.” Sutcliffe said. “It was just incredibly unique in that way. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Sutcliffe described how she felt a strong sense of community at the protest as well.

“It felt very good to know that I wasn’t alone in my fear, in my despair, but also in my hope,” Sutcliffe said. “Part of me had felt like we had given up and the general feeling was that we were just going to have to let it happen. And so I was really glad that there were people out there that also wanted to keep fighting.”

In the past, Sutcliffe has attended #MeToo protests, pride parades and reproductive rights protests. She noted how the 50501 protest was unique in not having just one particular focus.

“It was just a group of people coming together to advocate for those that are being actively cast to the side by

the current administration and who are being attacked because of their identity,” Sutcliffe said, “It was also a group of people that were just there because we believe in the American ideals and we believe in our civil rights. It was really a range of people. There was no one kind of person that was there.”

Both Christenson and Sutcliffe chose attendance at the protest over some of their other obligations. Sutcliffe chose to miss class, which she said was “definitely worth it.”

Christenson said it was “a little hard” to miss a meeting at her internship but ultimately decided to go after receiving encouragement from her boss.

Despite the success of the 50501 movement and the protest, Stettner thinks the movement needs to move beyond protesting.

“It’s a pretty narrow vehicle of political activism. It can bring awareness to something, but it can’t be the last stop,” he said. “I think it’s important to show that there’s pushback. Protesting is a first step toward building something more sustainable for resistance.”

“I think it’s an important time to get out there right now,” Stettner said.

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The crowd at the 50501 protest is pictured in Boston on Feb. 5.

Shayna Levy Assistant News Editor

Faculty members discuss impact of NIH grant cuts

GRANTS

continued from the front

Administrative Procedure Act, “and, therefore, are in violation of the law,” Kumar wrote.

The distribution of NIH funds to universities and research centers, Freudenreich said, has supported a lot of the nation’s fundamental, Nobel Prize-winning research.

“The reason why we’ve done so well with research is because of that funding,” she said.

NIH funds support more than 200 projects across the university, according to Kumar’s email, which would be put at risk if the cuts are enacted.

“We actually don’t know what that looks like, but we’re very concerned. Could it mean closing of labs? Downsizing

of labs? … All those things are on the table right now,” Freudenreich said.

“I’ve had an NIH grant since my first year at Tufts,” she said. “It’s been a mainstay of support for my lab.”

Sarah Hengel, an assistant professor in biology with a lab funded by an NIH grant, said that federal funding for the research she conducts is crucial.

“We really rely on federal funding. And there’s not just the NIH, there are also other institutes, like the [National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration].”

Catie Kean, a senior in the biology department, shared uncertainties surrounding

the federal grant the lab she researches at receives.

“We were supposed to get another installment, and it’s usually just a procedural thing to get this installment, but because of the freeze, we didn’t know whether we were going to get the next installment or not.” Kean said, “There was a really big concern in my lab about being able to pay people.”

Should federal funding be paused or heavily decreased, researchers are worried that there aren’t other sources of funding they can turn to.

“Everybody in the department is on edge,” she said. “Everybody in the department is terrified and nothing is normal. No one can think about anything else.”

Funding cuts would slow down existing research projects by creating the added complexity of applying for alternative grants, according to Brett Nava-Coulter, a lecturer in the sociology department.

“It just creates inefficiencies in the system when you could just be doing the science or the research and now you have to be your own fundraiser,” NavaCoulter said.

If the indirect funding cap goes into effect, Freudenreich noted that it could affect the amount of opportunities offered to undergraduate students.

“I’m most concerned about my students, my master’s students, my Ph.D. students, my [undergraduates]; these are

students I choose to mentor and really care a lot about. I really care a lot about the future and their success,” Hengel said.

Although not all projects would stop immediately if federal funds are frozen, Kean said that cuts could threaten even current research progress.

“Any disruption is really bad in terms of jeopardizing existing research and years of scientific development,” Kean said.

At the moment, the consequences are difficult to predict with certainty. “It is premature to speculate on the impact of the orders because they are still unfolding and guidance from agencies regarding compliance is, at the time of this writing, still evolving,” Arulanandam wrote.

Burnley discusses neighborhood councils, road safety

BURNLEY continued from the front

build up the kind of guardrails necessary to change as a community, but change in a way where we don’t lose what made us special in the first place,” Burnley said.

Scott Zaccheo, a Somerville resident of 30 years, would like to see better traffic enforcement in bike lanes.

“I honestly think [bike lanes] are … being misused,” he said. “They have to learn to

share the road instead of having their own.”

Burnley, a member of the City’s Bicycle Advisory Commission and avid cyclist himself, intends to make road safety a priority.

“I would be in the community far more trying to show up, trying to hear feedback, going with residents to see their concerns around road safety,” Burnley said.

“Whether you’re a pedestrian or cyclist, there are some roads that people feel are very unsafe.”

With the mayoral election still some months away, both Yaro and Zaccheo are still undecided as to how they will vote. Still, Yaro is optimistic about Burnley’s campaign.

“I’ve seen him showing up in person … and interacting in a way that feels … like he’s actually showing up and engaging in a genuine way,” Yaro said.

As the only renter currently in the race, Burnley said feels he has an important

perspective to contribute to the city’s leadership.

“Part of the reason I got into this race, frankly, is because I’m impatient. I’m impatient at the pace of response to all of these crises that we’ve been talking about from the administration. I’m impatient to see us actually seize opportunities when they present themselves.

And I think in this moment in particular, it is important for a community like Somerville — that is heavily tilted toward

renters, a very young and vibrant city that is struggling in some respects right now — to have someone in a leadership position, who’s actually a renter, who actually comes from a lot of the shared backgrounds that contribute to this city’s culture, whether it is as a young person, as a queer person, as a renter, as a cyclist,” he said.

Mayor Ballantyne did not respond to the Daily’s request for comment.

SOPHIA ELIA / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Tsungming Tu Complex is pictured on Sept. 18, 2019.

What the honk? Geese descend on Tufts campus

Emily Sullivan Staff Writer

Webbed footprints litter the snow. A cacophony of honks echo across the lawn. Greentinged excrement coats the sidewalks. Students reluctantly recreate events from “Make Way for Ducklings” on their way to class. All of these resulted from the influx of Canada geese — also known under the misnomer of Canadian geese even though they lack

around and share that source until it dwindles. Once they run low on grass, they spread back out until a new food-rich area is discovered.

Even if the reason the geese chose Tufts is similar to why a student chooses DewickMacPhie Dining Center — a

coming here to have a warmer experience? Canada must be crazy right now,” Griffith said.

In reality, land use likely has more influence on Canada geese migrations.

Reed responded that although Boston may seem cold for us here, for a goose originating in northern Canada, Boston is quite comfortable.

The geese’s decision to land here is likely by chance; however, local environmen tal changes may have

led to greater forestation rates as that land returns to its origi

during summer breeding months and when they have

Although, he dents to minimize “Just like at parks, don’t go out and feed them. They’re wild animals. Leave them alone. Don’t make friends with them,” he stated. “I think it’d be unusual for them to be very aggressive and certainly not in the winter unless you try to grab them. Don’t do that. …

If following this advice is not enough to prevent an encounter with an aggressive goose, Reed

“If they come towards you, I wouldn’t run away because that usually triggers a chase response in pack off and hold it in front of me, between me and the goose, and keep walking. Eventually, they’ll

Professor Michael Reed of the biology department and self-designated ‘bird guy’ provided some answers. He explained that the sudden arrival of the geese is actually quite simple.

“They’re always looking for a food source, and they tend to travel in large groups — flocks, it were. And when

shared her speculation on why the geese had descended on Tufts in this frigid weather.

There is little cause for concern though, as the geese are much more interested in what the campus can offer them rather than

“I think there’s a lot to do with climate change and things. I think geese are supposed to migrate south. I study [economics], but I know that much,” Roberts said.

extreme as lawn sizes have grown. Migrating birds in search of grasslands to feed on have to travel less distances north and south to find food thanks to these large fields, and instead, land somewhere in between the two extremes.

He also suspects that land use changes are a contributing factor to the geese appearances this winter.

students.

Even with goose violence being a non-issue, student and faculty attitudes towards the geese seem varied. Griffith’s perspective spans both sides.

“There’s actually more forest around here than there used to be. We’re actually short of grasslands. So it could be that as farm-

Similarly, Robert Griffith, a sophomore, expressed the concern he and his friend had about the conditions in Canada for the geese to going on in Canada if they are

“I have two conflicting sides of me that are pro and anti, and I think they cancel out. I’m pro-geese because we’re animals too. We are like ‘It’s our world’ but in reality, it is their world too. … And honestly, the other part of me is like, ‘I don’t think so.’ They’re annoying and they’re loud and they poop everywhere,”

It seems like the Tufts community may have to learn how to coexist with these feathered visitors. It may mean adjusting to dodge excrement and ignore goose honks, at least until the birds run out of food sources on campus. It is up to the geese whether or not their presence becomes an annual occurrence or perhaps just this winter.

the 18th and 19th centuries has

Even with her concerns about being a goose

Could an AI-generated essay get an A?

Dylan Fee Executive Features Editor

According to ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence overview is untrustworthy because it has a “lack of source transparency,” “hallucinations and misinformation,” a “lack of context and nuance,” “bias and algorithmic influence,” an “inability to interpret real-time or niche information” and “no direct accountability.” Despite its self-proclaimed faults, AI-generated overviews pop up for almost every Google search, with no way for users to opt out of receiving them.

Students, along with everyone else, have been able to commercially access free generative AI services, such as ChatGPT, since 2022. Within Tufts and other academic institutions, this has caused a shift in the classroom for both professors and their pupils.

Monica Kim, a senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, explained that the progression of generative AI within the past few years has caused her to change how she assesses her students so that they are more inclined to submit original work.

“Students turn in a draft of something that we look over and then they turn in a final paper. And if there’s going to be a huge discrepancy between the draft and the final, then we have a conversation about that,” Kim said. “Sometimes paper topics end up being more specific … rather than … something that you can easily type into AI.”

Nick Seaver, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology and the director of the Science, Technology and Society program at Tufts, discussed that in previous years, he has created exams centered around generative AI.

“I gave questions I used to do as essay questions on my final exam to ChatGPT … and got short answers from ChatGPT. Then the student assignment was to critique those answers,” Seaver said. “If you’re going to keep using [generative AI] in your life, that’s the kind of skill that you need [which is] how to assess what’s coming out of this.”

Even though professors have made changes to their classrooms to try and prevent students from plagiarizing with generative AI, there has not been a catch-all solution. So, along with lecturing, holding office hours, lesson planning, grading and looking out for non-AI plagiarism in students’ works, professors have to factor checking for generative AI responses into their job descriptions.

Instructors at Tufts have access to Turnitin, a plagiarism detection service, for any assignments students submit on Canvas, but they do not have access to the version that has AI detection.

“Apparently, it is the policy right now of Tufts not to have something with Canvas where you can use AI detection,” Kim said. “If I did suspect that a paper had been written by an AI, I would have to copy and paste the paper, and put it into my own AI detection tools.”

Even if a professor decides to put an assignment into an external AI detection service, Seaver points out that these tools can often be unreliable.

“AI detection [is] truly bogus, does not work, cannot work. No one should use it. If anyone is using it, students should complain. It’s completely illegitimate,” Seaver said. “It’s based on how these systems work, you cannot know for sure and [it creates] very serious consequences for students.”

Seaver and Kim both shared that while professors might have a sense of when a student has used AI for an assignment, there’s not a huge push to heavily police it.

For areas of study that involve more creative thinking, such as the humanities and social sciences, generative AI usage among students is often easier to detect by instructors.

Kim emphasized that generative AI services are generally good at compounding facts and summarizing and clarifying philosophical ideas. However, when it comes to creating an analysis for those things, a pivotal skill in a philosophy class, that’s where AI falters.

Nika Lea Tomicic is a senior studying sociology as well as science, technology and society who has never used ChatGPT, or any other generative AI service, who shares Kim’s doubts about the capabilities of generative AI.

“These kinds of tools, while they may be helpful in parsing out code or getting some study questions in order, at the same time, they erase a lot of the nuance and context that I think is necessary,” Tomicic said.

Kim noted that using generative AI could also cause students to have stunted critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

“If students started to not be able to know how to get from a reading and a paper prompt to an outline by themselves … that would be a really bad thing, and that is part of what I’m trying to encourage them to be able to do on their own,” Kim said.

Similarly, Tomicic wonders how students using generative AI in school will affect them in the long run.

Hey Wait Just One Second Hearts Max Turnacioglu

I❤ you. This confession is quite audacious — indeed, I may hardly know you beyond your proclivity for consuming great journalism. Nonetheless, I hope my love may entice you to continue reading because I find such an admission remarkable, despite its forward attitude. There are multiple layers of meaning intuited in a statement like “I ❤ you.” First, this simple emoji is construed to act as a verb — it relates myself to you through the action of an object. That object is, apparently, a heart, although such a depiction might bewilder an anatomist; the connection between the emoji and the one beating in our chests is implicitly communicated. Finally, that a heart intimates love at all is a crucial revelation unto itself.

My abuse of heart symbolism is a recent innovation in written communication, rooted in Milton Glaser’s 1970s ‘I ❤ NY’ campaign that prototyped ‘I ❤ [blank]’ statements. The invention of emojis solidified the heart as a legitimate symbol for written speech, with the first set of emojis including five heart symbols back in 1999. Usage of the ❤ has continued to proliferate, as we can now use it as emphasis or a reaction on its own. Our hearts are affixed to the world around us like never before. Why bother with language? We can offer up an even more powerful image: our organs.

That such a symbol even resembles a real heart is not abundantly clear. Contrary to popular belief, there is a scientific basis to our simplified pictography. The simultaneous visualizations of the right and left coronary trees closely mirror a simplified heart, which was likely determined via a plaster-molding procedure performed in antiquity. Thus, the heart symbol could be the actual appearance of our plasticized, lifeless hearts, now less painfully proffered in visual form.

“It’s just not sustainable for the long term, and [you ask yourself], ‘Did I actually grasp anything from this class? Or do I just have these pre-generated notes?’” she said.

Long-term effects of generative AI not only apply to individuals who use the services but also to the world around them. Generative AI has both direct and indirect impacts on the environment from its over-usage of electricity and high levels of water consumption.

Tomicic is the editor-in-chief of The Lantern, a publication and think tank revolving around science, technology and society, and they are having an event with the Center for Engagement and Learning at Tufts and the Sustainable CORE Fellows for people to discuss AI usage as it relates to sustainability.

If generative AI is not producing the best quality content, causing negative effects on the environment and there is the possibility of academic repercussions: Why are students taking the risk of using it?

Tomicic expressed that some key factors to generative AI usage among students are academic pressures and workloads.

“I think about my peers, and when ChatGPT comes up, it’s usually related to stress,” Tomicic said. “It’s usually related to just not wanting to think about what you’re currently working on and not wanting to analyze any of the ethical, environmental, legal implications of what you’re doing if you have an assignment due at midnight.”

A dominant historical perspective links the modern heart to silphium seed pods, an extinct fennel popularly used as a contraceptive. Ancient Cyrene’s wealth in silphium led them to print it on their coins, transforming the heart into a currency requisite to sexual pleasure.

At its basest, the heart’s symmetrical curves could just idealize breasts and bottoms, caricaturing physical allure. But are hearts just a means to sex? Marguerite Marie, the patron saint of devotees of the Sacred Heart, would decry such blasphemy, as she perceived that Christ’s Sacred Heart was the “living fountain of his flames.” Her usage of the modern heart symbol, intended to urge the devout to feed Christ’s flame with their devotion, remained prominent in Catholic symbolism and continued in Protestant symbolism due to religious reformer Martin Luther’s use of the heart in his personal seal.

Pious or sensual, hearts are still inextricably tied to love in its purest form. Yet most of the feelings associated with love are actually caused by our cognitive reward circuits that release serotonin, oxytocin and vasopressin, creating our experience of passionate and ‘compassionate’ love. Love is, apparently, a mental game, despite Aristotle’s assertions otherwise.

However, the experience of love can still profoundly shake our hearts like “wind on the mountain, troubling the oak-trees,” as the Greek poet Sappho wrote. Our hearts beat always, but love spurs them on. Our essential life force, the coursing of blood through our veins, becomes a product of love and thus represents it.

Perhaps we should reflect on the sincerity of presenting our hearts so freely. In doing so, we offer up our mortality, our living humanity embodied, our love. My ❤ is precious, so it’s a gift all the more. Love yourself first — your heart is yours to keep.

Max is a sophomore majoring in international relations. He can be reached at maxwell.turnacioglu@tufts.edu.

MATTHEW SAGE / THE TUFTS DAILY

Since 2022, ChatGPT and other generative AIs have found their way into the classroom.

I watch too much YouTube. You can ask my housemates about this, but I really watch too much YouTube. It’s always playing on my AirPods, either in the background when I’m doing homework or when I’m going to sleep. Due to my heavy consumption of the medium, I am always on the hunt for new and interesting YouTubers. I’ve managed to find some pretty cool content creators, but no one around me ever seems to know who they are, which I find to be a disservice to the YouTube community. In order to spread visibility to some of my favorite YouTubers, I’ve decided to take this responsibility and start a series in the Daily on some of the best video essay creators with less than 300,000 subscribers. Without further ado, I would like to talk to you about YouTuber Allie Meowy.

I’m making a prediction now: Meowy is going to be a big star. Right now, Meowy’s subscriber count sits at just over 19,000, but I know that count is going to hit astronomical heights because of the quality of her video essays. I was introduced to Meowy’s content randomly as a video of hers was recommended to me. The video is titled “How Many Times Can You Pee in Heavy Rain?” and documents how many times one can use

ARTS & POP CULTURE

& POP CULTURE

Video essayists you should watch: Allie Meowy

the bathroom in the video game Heavy Rain. (The final count was 14.) At the top of the comments section sat a comment from legendary BreadTuber, video essayist and liberal Hbomberguy, indicating to me that the quality of the video would be immaculate. With over 182,000 views, it is the most-viewed video on her channel. While the video does document the player’s ability to pee, Meowy manages to extrapolate meaning from this banal action,

In Photos: Tufts wildlife

delving into how female characters are treated in video games made by David Cage (the game’s writer and director) and that the pee order can allude to plot points within the game. Over the course of an hour, I went from “Why am I watching this?” to complete investment in Meowy’s research.

Meowy’s library of videos is similarly made up of attention-grabbing titles: “so, Sonic can technically get a star on the Walk of Fame,” “Skyrim VS Ernest Hemingway” and “Pokemon Legends is really just about potatoes.” These are points I personally have never thought of but are still immediately intriguing. However, my favorite video is hidden under a more normal title, “Investigating a forgotten Edward Snowden Quote.” This video is anything but normal. It begins by highlighting the Snowden quote: “Some hentai games are very good.” Meowy then describes her process as to how she got to this quote — a process that is not linear — with the starting point being that she looked at a Wikipedia page for video games based on movies. On this page, she couldn’t find one game — “Elf: The Movie” — and began to think about video game preservation. Her brain tied game preservation to the National Security Agency’s collection of data, and naturally, that brought her to Snowden and his digital footprint. The rest of the video follows these two pathways: Snowden’s background and the background

of “Elf: The Movie” (the game). One would think these two plotlines are impossible to tie together or ask why anyone would care about either of these two storylines, but one would be wrong. Meowy captures the watcher’s attention, and you find yourself caring about both Snowden and “Elf: The Movie.” Her drive for preserving the legacy of an unknown Game Boy Advance game comes from a larger passion for media preservation. You feel just as confused as she does when she stumbles upon the conflicting “Elf: The Movie” information and just as triumphant when she uncovers the real creator of “Elf: The Movie.” Meowy is also incredibly entertaining, with her deadpan delivery and superb editing decisions creating an amusing final product. Her utilization of underscoring music is top-notch, making the viewer understand how they should be feeling in response to the script at all times. Her conclusion is also very poignant; in an age where the world feels like it is falling apart, Meowy advocates seeking out small silly things and seeing where that leads you. Allie Meowy has a mind that I can’t quite understand or follow, but it results in some incredible content. She is truly unique in her ideas, and I cannot recommend that you follow her work enough. I have subscribed to Meowy’s Patreon, and I really look forward to the day that she gets credit for the incredible work she’s done.

Basil Hand Contributing Writer

COURTESY BASIL HAND

Basil Hand poses with Allie Meowy’s profile.

‘No Other Land’ aims the lens at

to sobering effect

Noah Goldstein Staff Writer

In Masafer Yatta, a collection of Palestinian hamlets in the southern West Bank, life is synonymous with conflict. Bulldozers come to destroy family homes. Mothers’ cries are met with soldiers’ orders. Foundations come crumbling down, only to be put back up inside of caves. Conflict is everywhere.

It’s even present for the two protagonists at the center of “No Other Land” (2024), the Oscar-nominated documentary that explores this issue. Palestinian activist Basel Adra calls Masafer Yatta home, while Yuval Abraham, a Jerusalem-based journalist, tries desperately to spread the word of the demolitions in Masafer Yatta despite being an outsider.

Shot in vérité style by the duo, along with Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal and Israeli cinematographer Rachel Szor, the work is perhaps the clearest example of the occupation’s injustices to be put to screen. It won the prize for best documentary at the Berlin Film Festival, captured the New York Film Critics Circle award and looks to be an Oscar frontrunner as well. However, unlike previous documentary darlings such as last year’s Russia and Ukraine-centered “20 Days in Mariupol,” “No Other Land” is punishingly calm in its approach. Save for a few shocking moments, showcasing the Israeli military’s violence is not the film’s goal. Instead, it points to ways in which the Palestinians native to the land are ignored. Often, soldiers just push them to the side — business as usual.

“No Other Land” is not merely a documentation of injustice, but rather, a form of protest. The camera is Adra’s weapon as he defends his land; often, crying out, “You’re being filmed,” is the only way he gets any response at all. But as much as they film and as many articles as Abraham writes, the film makes it clear that the decadeslong struggle in Masafer Yatta has yet to get the attention it deserves. In fact, a seven-minute visit by former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair was the only event that got the Israeli state to halt the demolitions.

Nonetheless, activism is almost second nature for Adra. His father, Nasser, has been fighting similar battles for his entire life and made sure that the spirit was passed down to his son. It is there, inside the family’s fight for freedom, that another plotline unfolds. At multiple points, Basel questions whether he is built to carry on his father’s legacy. While riding in the car with Abraham, Basel admits that the work demands more energy than he can muster. Later, after a clash with the military, he is forced to lay low for a while.

In “No Other Land,” it becomes clear that the Israeli military aims to destroy slowly, demoralizing Palestinians one by one. A slow and painful death. “Every week, a home,” the voiceover explains. “Every week a new family

West Bank cruelty

must decide: Endure, or leave their land.” Though the scenes of bulldozers and protests are somewhat redundant, they are included, one after another, to show the incessant strife the residents must endure.

But humanity persists, even through demolitions and rubble. The picture is able to function as a work equally shocking and rage-inducing because it does not view the inhabitants of Masafer Yatta as simply victims but as true individuals. At night, the men sit around and smoke hookah, while the children lay in bed playing on their iPads. There are even moments of humor; a mother jokes that her son is too lazy to get out of bed for school but jumps up immediately when it’s the military knocking.

As expected, the result of their protests is not successful, and what comes after — the collective wrapped shooting in October 2023 — is assumed to be even worse. The last piece of footage they were able to film in Masafer Yatta showed Israeli settlers raiding a village, and as a title card explains, Masafer Yatta’s fate is yet to be determined.

Fiona Hinrichsen Trunks Full of Treasure

Exciting vintage finds at Found

Begun by husband and wife duo Rob Singh and Megan FehlingSingh, Found has expanded from running Fenway Flea to a series of vintage pop-up events and ultimately establishing permanent curated vintage stores in Boston. After doing a video about Fenway Flea, Singh and Fehling-Singh reached out to videographer Sam Clovers and asked if she wanted to make videos for their new project called Found. Together, the trio launched Found in February 2023.

They decided to venture into retail in December 2023 by opening four pop-up stores — three on Columbia Street and one in Watertown. To celebrate the launch of the Columbia Street stores, they hosted a huge vintage market outside the shops.

“It was in December, so it was cold, but still, thousands of people were so excited to show up,” Clovers said.

Despite having no prior retail experience, the stores quickly became a great success. They have now consolidated the three Columbia Street locations into two, while the Watertown store has transitioned into a seasonal winter pop-up. Each location boasts a very unique and distinct vibe.

One of their shops specializes in highend vintage clothing inspired by Americana and Japanese fashion, particularly reflecting Singh’s appreciation for Japanese art. The choice of location was influenced by the trend in Harajuku, Japan where boutiques are often located off the main thoroughfares. This first vintage shop is more than just a store; it serves as a museum — an immersive collection of vintage signs and artifacts that enhance the shopping experience.

The second shop specializes in more contemporary items, where Clovers is currently curating a Y2K theme, which she considers her favorite era of fashion. Additionally, this location features their new charm bar, introduced in January.

Despite a growing number of terrible obstacles Palestinians must overcome, the film’s one truth remains: They’re not going anywhere. While President Donald Trump recently stated the United States’ intentions to “take over” Gaza and relocate its citizens, “No Other Land” is an example of the plan’s flaws. It’s unlikely that the estimated 2,500 inhabitants of Masafer Yatta would accept to move anywhere, and even so, a Trump Tower would still likely be at the bottom of the list.

But with Israel’s crimes against humanity being well documented, it’s naive to say that they would even have a choice. This is why “No Other Land” is crucial viewing. There is no better way to understand the Palestinian perspective than to see it authentically. Unfortunately, distributors in the United States won’t touch the film; it’s not in their best interests to get in the middle of geopolitics. Still, some producers are independently working to get the film in theaters. A difficult watch, but it’s essential nonetheless, and every ticket counts.

“I think when people think of sustainability and then, to me, fashion, they don’t think about jewelry, but jewelry is something you can recycle too,” Clovers remarked. “I don’t think there’s a lot of opportunities to do that — not only in Boston but anywhere.”

At Found’s charm bar, customers can bring in old jewelry to sell, add charms to already owned jewelry or create something entirely new with sourced vintage charms. It also features Italian charm bracelets.

Just this past weekend they hosted their biggest indoor market of the year in South Boston, celebrating their two-year anniversary, featuring over 80 vendors and 10,000 square feet of space. Their mission is to promote vintage and sustainable fashion, making it more accessible.

“We want to give more opportunity for people to keep their clothing circular in the city, so they don’t need to sell it online,” Clovers added.

As they look toward the future, Found remains dedicated to providing accessible, high-quality fashion and sustainable shopping. So, dig through your closet, find five cool pieces you no longer want and come trade them in for something new and exciting at one of their Cambridge locations. Also, be sure to follow their Instagram for updates on upcoming markets.

Fiona Hinrichsen is a first-year who has yet to declare a major. She can be reached at fiona.hinrichsen@tufts.edu.

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham are pictured at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2024.

HOROSCOPE

MARCH 21-APRIL 19

Ulysses S. Grant was a Taurus, but we’d rather write about Fitzgerald Grant of “Scandal.” Don’t have an affair! It could negatively impact your career. And, of course, your interpersonal relationships.

next call, or at the very least get off the toilet before you pick up the phone.

SEPTEMBER 24-OCTOBER 23

REST in peace this week. You deserve it! Midterm season is stressful — make time for tea, TV, TikTok and plenty of R&R.

OCTOBER 24-NOVEMBER 22

Just because your nickname is “Teddy” doesn’t mean you have to keep all of the teddy bears your admirers gave you for Valentine’s Day. Toss them, and begin your spring cleaning.

NOVEMBER 23-DECEMBER 21

Be like Martin Van Buren and pick up a second language. Watch your favorite show in Spanish, try to spend a whole day speaking French or practice Italian for an hour on Duolingo.

DECEMBER 22-JANUARY 20

We know you love to ‘bend the truth’ like Nixon, but try to be honest with yourself and others this week. Tell someone about your morning bowel movements, and tell someone else about your crush(es). Radical honesty will serve you well in 2025.

AQUARIUS

JANUARY 21-FEBRUARY 18

Watch your back this week. Your fellow Aquarius Lincoln’s story speaks for itself.

PISCES

FEBRUARY 19-MARCH 20 Don’t be afraid to start something new this week. Make a big decision — though maybe not the time to found a new country like your birthday buddy GW.

Late

Aisha:

CROSSWORD

Cry for caffeine

Overly Caffeinated Student: Some of my peers hosted an impromptu intervention and divulged that my caffeine intake is concerning and bordering on an addiction. I suffer from withdrawal headaches if I don’t have caffeine early enough in the morning and I typically require two to three caffeinated beverages to get through my day. Caffeine also no longer provides me with a burst of energy and I can drink caffeine late into the evening without impacting my sleep. However, I love caffeine. It is a needed constant and joy in my life. I go to bed looking forward to the coffee I will drink in the morning. … I am simply unwilling to remove it from my day-to-day routine, although my peers urge that I wean myself off of caffeine and switch to herbal tea. Do you think I should quit caffeine for good or continue to feed my necessary, empowering addiction?

Dear Overly Caffeinated Student, First, thank you for being so vulnerable in your request for help. Coming from a lengthy lineage of caffeine consumers myself, I too have suffered the harrowing straits of caffeine addiction and undergone the disastrous effects of an inevitable withdrawal. Having adopted this dangerous habit several years ago, I know how daunting it can be to confront this reality posed by your friends.

I will concede that your friends are admittedly well-intentioned and likely only have your well-being at heart. Not surprisingly, it might well benefit you to heed their advice and reconsider your relationship with this ubiquitous stimulant.

The side effects posed by withdrawal can pose a major inconvenience and turn downright treacherous when compounded with early morning fatigue. I can recall many mornings when, deprived of my typical 12 ounces of coffee for whatever reason, I’ve had to stumble across campus in a

decaffeinated haze in search of my first class and, once there, fight a battle of the psyche to remain awake.

Though this problem is solved with relative ease — simply wean off coffee and switch to a decaffeinated beverage — it has plagued my mornings and late afternoons since the day I picked up my first mug. It persists even today, much to my annoyance. Only adding insult to injury, my wallet has never felt worse during my most intense stints. I approached my brother, considered a coffee connoisseur, several years ago with this same question. For context, he keeps detailed notes on every ounce of coffee he’s ever extracted with the help of a French press or espresso machine, and he now disguises his addiction under the guise of a “hobby.”

So what was his advice for dealing with caffeine addiction?

Just make sure you never run out of coffee.

It took me a long time to wrestle with this idea. How can I justify the constant need for caffeine while the positives of quitting glare up at me from the reflection of every cup? Even perhaps a little irrational, I, like you, enjoy the routinely bitter yet sweet taste of coffee too much to sacrifice it for the numerous benefits of avoiding the intoxicating drug. And I think that’s okay.

Instead of sacrificing caffeine outright, I instead suggest you carefully structure your consumption in order to minimize its impact on your day. Instead of rushing to the kitchen at first light, wait an hour before indulging in a cup of coffee or tea — a recommended method of eliminating a crash and the subsequent need for more caffeine. Avoid caffeine in the late afternoon, and hold yourself to this rule as you acclimate to your new routine (unless, of course, you have a newspaper to lay out until 3 a.m.). Above all else, ask yourself if you really need a fix to get through your homework while allowing some leeway to enjoy an extra cup here and there.

I hope my advice — albeit enabling — can bring you some solace in your caffeinated journey.

Sincerely, Matthew Sage

Mixed Bag Ezra Holzapfel

‘Mixed Bag’ by Ezra Holzapfel

Lorem ipsum

Matthew Sage Sage Advice

The Editorial Board

Dissenting views at Tufts are often not taken well. From conversations about living uphill or downhill to whether you should nap or work after Spring Fling to political positions, discussions that strike strong feelings are everywhere. However, without open, constructive, civil discourse, it is extremely difficult to discuss — or even point out — the elephant in the room when everyone in the room seems like they will instantly dismiss it if it was voiced out loud.

We, as Tufts students, hold a joint responsibility to foster an environment where everyone feels comfortable — or at least encouraged — to share and express their views. Outside of Tufts, we will not always have the comfort of engaging solely with those who will agree with us. Sooner or later, we will have to coexist with people who challenge our perspectives. And after all, Tufts prides itself on its commitment to civic engagement and political pluralism, with the terms “diversity” and “inclusion” thrown around all too often and plugged into the statement of virtually every on-campus organization. Therefore, we have a shared obligation to reflect on our own beliefs and recognize that the views we passionately defend may be the very ones that others strongly oppose. It is time to learn how to handle

Evan Wang and Sadie Roraback-Meagher

The Conversation

Musk, the apprentice

Originally published on Feb. 18.

Sadie Roraback-Meagher: Heya there Evan!

Evan Wang : Hey Sadie!

Sadie : I hope your week has been good so far. I don’t know about you, but for me, looking at the news this past week has been … what’s the word? Panic inducing? Nauseating? Just flat-out horrifying? But hey, at least that means there’s a lot for us to discuss for our first column.

Evan : I can’t help but agree with you. As per tradition, a president’s first hundred days are always the most action-

OPINION

EDITORIAL

Let’s bring more elephants into the room

uncomfortable perspectives instead of immediately questioning their legitimacy or developing a personal distaste for the individual holding that view.

To be clear, we’re not saying that a genuine conversation about something like nuclear power’s spot on the grid should be platformed at the same level as the hateful rhetoric coming from our current federal administration.

Let’s enter every conversation assuming intelligence. It may be second nature to assign preconceived notions to a person as they’re explaining their point of view. We might latch onto provocative keywords and associate them with an entire ideology or stance. If it’s something we disagree with, it can be tempting to jump to conclusions about the other person’s lack of information, aptitude or even morality. However, it would be much more fruitful to strip away our egos and acknowledge the value of someone else’s perspectives and lived experience. Who knows what kind of nuance they might add? Who are we to assume that our own takes are superior?

Let’s prioritize learning instead of winning. It shouldn’t be the goal to change someone’s mind in a single sitting. Simply hear them out and unabashedly ask those nagging questions, no matter how simple or risky. This might make you more empathetic and wellversed in the topic — it may

packed, and the Donald is letting us down.

Sadie : I’m not sure where to even begin with all that has happened, so let’s start by talking about that musky odor: Elon Musk.

I recently saw a headline that the most recent issue of Time magazine features Musk sitting behind the Resolute Desk. Certainly, this seems like the type of thing that will get under the president’s skin. I’m curious to know your thoughts about Musk’s significant role in the Trump administration so far, and whether you think this relationship will last.

Evan : Personally, I don’t think that Musk’s influence will grow any larger. Most of his actions are now under litigation and frozen while the legality of his position is being questioned. President Donald Trump likely won’t even get to butt heads with Musk before

even strengthen your existing convictions. An intent to learn allows everybody to truly internalize what others are saying instead of tuning them out to mull over what type of punchy response will really serve as a personal mic drop.

Let’s get involved beyond informal settings. Care about an issue? If there’s a group on campus that’s open to having dialogue about it, join! If not,

then create one! College is an excellent opportunity to meet people in safe environments where dialogue is celebrated and accessible — a rare and precious benefit outside of the ‘college world.’ If you want to share your thoughts with the broader community, write a letter to the editor or an op-ed to the Daily (or the many other publications at Tufts), speak at a demonstration or collect data as part of a

research project. There are so many ways to transcend our immediate network and emerge from any echo chambers we might find ourselves in.

Addressing the elephant in the room shouldn’t have to come at the expense of our reputation or relationships. Inclusivity starts when we aren’t afraid to face the taboo, listen compassionately and express ourselves respectfully.

he is entangled in so much litigation that he is forced to quit. What I’m more worried about is all of Trump’s cabinet picks. After looking at all of Trump’s picks, which one do you think will play the biggest role in his second administration?

Sadie : Geez, Evan, that’s a tough one. I guess if I had to pick, it probably would be Pete Hegseth. For years, Hegseth lauded Trump on “Fox & Friends,” proving himself to have unwavering loyalty toward the president. He has also advanced Trump’s rhetoric, by saying that women shouldn’t fight on the front lines and implementing a ban on trans troops. But perhaps the most telling of all is Hegseth’s response to the U.S. dropping the atomic bomb on Japan: “They won. Who cares.” This definitely isn’t what you want to hear from a man in charge of military personnel with their hands on deadly weapons.

Evan : Honestly, I think I’m more worried about Trump’s attorney general: Pam Bondi. If Bondi is like Trump’s previous attorney general then she might be interested in the unitary executive theory. It essentially holds the president as the sole power of the executive branch, allowing him unlimited power over federal agencies and any other parts of the executive. Kind of concerning for such an irrational president.

Sadie : On a different note, it seems like Trump has been doubling down on his talk of taking over Gaza despite the fact it would undoubtedly violate international law. And his pitch for Canada to be the 51st state apparently has some weight to it. How are you feeling about Trump’s manifest destiny approach to foreign policy?

Evan : That is a good question, Sadie. You know, while I can’t quite imagine Trump actually sending troops north

of the border, his brazen language has already damaged America’s reputation abroad. The more he acts like a crazy person, the harder it is going to be to get America’s foreign policy goals accomplished. Take Greenland. Denmark, which has control over the island, is part of NATO, and America already has a major military base on the island. What is the point of force-buying the island when America is already established on it?

Sadie : Couldn’t agree more Evan. I guess this is what happens when you have a real estate agent for a president.

Evan Wang is a sophomore studying history and biology. Evan can be reached at evan.wang664121@ tufts.edu.

Sadie Roraback-Meagher is a sophomore studying political science. She can be reached at sadie. roraback_meagher@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free of charge 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 Editorial Board. Individual editorialists are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Editorial Board. Editorials are submitted for review to The Tufts Daily Executive Board before publication.

VIEWPOINTS AND COLUMNS: Viewpoints and columns represent the opinions of individual Opinion editors, staff writers, contributing writers and columnists for the Daily’s Opinion section. Positions published in Viewpoints and columns are the opinions of the writers who penned them alone, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. All material is subject to editorial discretion.

OP-EDS: Op-Eds provide an open forum for campus editorial commentary and are 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

All material is subject to

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AARON GRUEN / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Jumbo statue is dusted in snow on Jan. 16, 2023.

How the Trump administration’s immigration policy is based in fear-mongering

It was a typical Tuesday night when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers raided a Bronx apartment complex. The event drew a lot of media coverage, especially when Kristi Noem, homeland security secretary, posted a video on social media with the caption, “Dirtbags like this will continue to be removed from our streets.” Thirty-nine people were arrested that night in raids across New York City and Long Island, inspiring fear both throughout the state and the country about who may be next.

Some of these arrests were recorded on video, including that of a Venezuelan man wanted by state police for armed burglary in Aurora, Colo. What leaders like Noem failed to point out was that two other Venezuelan men arrested in connection to the same burglary had already been identified and arrested under the administration of former President Joe Biden. Nor has there been much mention of the fact that over 400 migrants were released from detainment since the beginning of the second term of President Donald Trump. The first Trump administration had fewer deportations than the the administration of former President Barack Obama, and Biden’s last year as president saw a 10-year high of deportations. While the agency’s 39 arrests are higher than the past two years’ average number in New York City, it remains to be seen if this pace will be maintained. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul described the aforementioned Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids as standard procedure.

While it is true that the numbers the current Trump administration is reporting are higher than average — 828 per day as compared to 282 per day this time last year — these reports are coming out a lot faster than normal. It normally takes months to report the arrests, as Immigration

Mariia Kudina Ukraine at War

Russia targets Chernobyl as peace talks approach

My dad turned 9 years old on the day of the Chernobyl disaster. Two years later, his father was sent to the city to clean up the contaminated area and manage the consequences of the catastrophe. He spent around five months maintaining the station, managing a team of people and ensuring that safety protocols were followed. Back then, everything was covered in radio-

and Customs Enforcement verifies whether the arrested person ended up being released. Experts have said that the administration may be putting out incorrect or incomplete data in order to bolster its political goals. They want to show their supporters that they are following through on the promise to catch undocumented immigrants with a criminal background, as well as fearmonger to undocumented immigrants that any one of them could be next.

New York City might not be deporting or arresting immigrants

active dust, and even eating an apple from a tree or sitting on a park bench could be deadly. The radiation deteriorated not only the environment but also people’s physical and mental health. Some of his fellow liquidators lost their minds after getting lost in the Red Forest, a strip of greenery around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. My dad, a physician, explains that everyone reacted to the radiation differently.

When my grandfather left for Chernobyl in 1988, he said goodbye not knowing if he would return. He did, and for us, April 26 is marked both with happiness and grief — we celebrate my dad’s birthday but also remember the lives lost and damaged due to the catastrophe. Learning about the dreadful impact of the mismanagement of nuclear power since my childhood from someone who was there makes the recent

at a more rapid rate than previously, but the media coverage of a major raid in a huge, Democratvoting city sends a message: the Trump administration is cracking down everywhere.

This type of performance can also be seen in Trump’s executive order to send migrants to Guantánamo Bay. Experts have said that it would be cheaper to house the migrants somewhere within the continental United States and a lot less legally murky given the fact that the facility is not located

Russian attacks on Chernobyl beyond concerning for me. Such news triggers the generational trauma that all Ukrainians share.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Zaporizhzhia and Chernobyl nuclear plants in southern and northern Ukraine have been occupied and damaged by Russian weaponry. The Kakhovka dam destruction interfered with the cooling systems of the Zaporizhzhia plant, and drones hit the infrastructure many times. While the Zaporizhzhia plant remains under Russian control, the one in Chernobyl was liberated. While it seems that we can finally feel a bit more at peace, Russia continues to shell the facility as if they forgot the gloomy event of 1986.

On Friday, Russia attacked Chernobyl again, damaging the plant with a drone warhead. The radiation levels remained

grants to Singapore by caning two or three of them. His logic was that it would inspire such fear in the other thousands of immigrants that they would flee the country. Ten thousand immigrants left within the next two weeks.

The Trump administration has made actual, harmful impacts on people’s lives. He passed legislation limiting transgender people’s access to military service and gender-affirming care, removed the United States from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization and limited money going toward scientific research, among many other things. In terms of immigration, he has ended Temporary Protection Status for Venezuelans, ordered expedited removal which allows for the deportation of people without a court hearing and mandated that the Department of Homeland Security makes sure work permits are not given to undocumented immigrants. Some of these pieces of legislation have already been put in place while others are still pending, but they paint a picture of the kind of term that Trump wants to have.

in U.S. territory. But by invoking the name Guantánamo Bay, with its controversial history of torture and use of practices otherwise deemed illegal on U.S. soil, Trump inspires fear. Thus far almost 100 people have been flown out to the detention camp.

Trump is not the first person to make an example out of the few to inspire fear in many. Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister of Singapore, infamously told his advisors to deal with the influx of immi -

normal, yet the attack stands out in its cruelty due to the timing. The plant was hit on the first day of the Munich Security Conference and just a couple of days after President Donald Trump said he planned to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss possibilities of ending the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented that the blow against Chernobyl was a “very clear greeting from Putin and the Russian Federation to the conference.”

Attacking a nuclear facility and risking another catastrophe does not seem like a good starting point for negotiations.

The United States and the European Union should react to the attack with more concern, recognizing that it is Putin’s tactic to establish power in the potential peace talks. Brushing this assault under the rug as if it was ‘just another bomb-

As Tufts students, we need to take in all of the information being provided by the Trump administration with a critical eye. We must be wary of his claims that all of the immigrants being deported are criminals. The administration makes examples out of people who have committed murder or are members of illegal drug trades, but they have simultaneously been expanding the criteria determining which individuals can be deported, beginning to include people who entered the country legally. We must also question the administration’s attempts to fearmonger. These methods have been used before, like in Singapore, and we can apply that historical knowledge to the present. Trump may be capable of causing damage to the people, but it is necessary that we see the limits of his power.

ing’ is unacceptable. The nuclear power play should be taken seriously not only from the perspective of the possible environmental and economic consequences of another disaster but also out of respect for the memory of the Chernobyl tragedy, which affected not only Ukraine but much of Eastern Europe. If we want to achieve stable peace, we cannot turn a blind eye to Russia’s constant crossing of red lines, especially regarding nuclear energy. I hope that someday there will be justice for those who took part in relieving the impact of the Chernobyl disaster and Ukrainians who have been protecting democracy in Europe.

Mariia (Masha) Kudina is a senior majoring in studio art. Mariia can be reached at mariia.kudina@ tufts.edu.

VIA PICRYL

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is pictured in 2018 in Salem, Ohio.

Monica Reilly Opinion Writer

Tufts’ men ice hockey stuns No. 1 Hamilton, falls to Amherst to earn another weekend split

Keriann Slayton Staff Writer

Tufts men’s ice hockey took a road trip out west for a pair of conference matchups against league-leading Hamilton as well as Amherst, returning to Medford with a win and a loss in the penultimate regular season weekend. The Jumbos made their first stop in Clinton, N.Y. to face the Continentals on Friday for the second time this season with aspirations for revenge after being handily beat 6–1 on Jan. 17. Tufts settled the score with a 2–1 victory behind a strong performance by junior goalie Gus Bylin in net and offensive production from the senior forward duo of Harrison Bazianos and Brennan Horn. Hamilton, ranked No. 9 nationally, came into the contest off of back-toback uncharacteristically shaky performances, including a close shootout win over Colby and a 7–5 loss to Bowdoin. Tufts took advantage of the hiccup in the Hamilton momentum, scoring twice off of just 24 shots to Hamilton’s 36. After a scoreless first period, Horn caught Hamilton goalie Charlie Archer off-guard with a bouncing shot that snuck through just under six minutes into the second period. The Jumbos kept rolling, with Bazianos sinking the game’s second goal just three minutes later on an assist from first-year defender Drew Pitts. Bylin played 40 minutes of shutout hockey,

saving 35 of the 36 shots on net with Hamilton unable to notch a goal until the third period.

“For me, I always try to focus on one shot at a time, so in my head, I’m telling myself, ‘Okay, just focus on the next shot.’ Whatever’s happened in the game prior, whether it be I got scored on the shot before or whatever, I try to throw that out of my brain and have a short memory,” Bylin said. “It’s just taking it one shot at a time and not focusing on the whole game necessarily, but small spurts.”

Bylin’s performance punctuated an outstanding defensive effort by Tufts that included blocked shots by junior forward Max Resnick and senior forward Tyler Sedlak, limiting Hamilton’s space for high-quality scoring opportunities. Bylin and the squad watched film of their previous loss to the Continentals in order to solidify their approach; the focus on defensive domination with trust that the offense would find a way proved successful.

“We’ve had more of a defensive mindset … that was big in our game plan against them,” Bylin said. “In general, our defense has been really good, the seven guys that have been playing, people just really bear down on focusing on the defensive side of the puck … It definitely helps me out, and they’ve been great in front of me, so I think to win 2–1 against Hamilton, it’s a testament to them and how they played as well because they didn’t really

give up any grade-A chances that were very good scoring chances, everything was perimeter.”

Despite the rush of besting the Continentals, the Jumbos came out a bit flat the following day against the Mammoths, who scored 3 points in the third period to solidify their 5–1 victory. Tufts’ only goal came from first-year forward Rory Andriole early in the first period, while Amherst goalie Andrew Palena proceeded to stuff Tufts’ offense for the rest of the contest. The teams matched up nearly perfectly in shot totals, with Amherst sending 36 shots on net to Tufts’ 35, but long possessions allowed Amherst’s offense to create better quality chances and pull away in the final frame.

“I think we got pressured into our zone a lot. … I think their time of possession in our zone was probably a lot higher,” Bylin said. “I thought we had our chances, I think their goalie stepped up … And I think coming off a great win against a top team like Hamilton, it’s tough to [recover] … you get maybe a little complacent.”

With the loss, Tufts remains at 22 points, tied for No. 5 in the conference with Middlebury. As postseason play approaches, Bylin reflected on the team’s growth throughout the season.

“I think early on, we didn’t really have much of a team identity … I think since [winter] break and since we came back from Tampa, we’ve had way more of a team identity to be more

SCIENCE

Spotlight on the Scheck Lab

One of the first things that students learn when they enter a biology class is the central dogma: DNA→ messenger RNA → proteins.

Proteins are the workers of our cells. From signaling cascades to intracellular transport to energy metabolism to DNA repair, proteins are behind it all. In most introductory biology courses, we learn simply: Amino acids dictate a protein’s structure and thus determine its function as a result. However, there is another piece to this story — namely, what happens to proteins after they are formed. Post-translational modifications are chemical changes that can change a protein’s function, inactivate it or activate it.

Only about 3% of the human genome directly codes for proteins, which begs the question: What does all the other DNA do? That answer is long, complex and not completely answered, but it includes roles like gene expression regulation and post-translational modifications of proteins.

There are a huge number of different post-translational

modifications — some of which have been historically harder to study than others such as glycation and ubiquitination. The Scheck Lab studies these modifications and develops chemical tools that can help us better understand them — both their mechanism of action and how they are regulated.

“We can think of [post-translational modifications] as part of a cellular vocabulary, so it’s the way that information is transmitted and shared in cells,” Rebecca Scheck explained.

Both glycation and ubiquitination present unique challenges when it comes to studying them. However, the Scheck Lab does not shy away from this complexity. Instead, the lab chooses to focus on these modifications that do not fit the norm.

“Most traditional tools focus on inhibiting the enzymes that put the modifications on or take them off, and we particularly focus on [post-translational modifications] that don’t fit that paradigm as well and just have some nuance,” Scheck said.

One such nuanced modification is ubiquitination, which is

defensive, to establish hitting intensity because I think when you hit them a lot, they tend to make soft plays, and they don’t really want to go into the corners with our guys because we’re a pretty strong team,” he said.

“I think now with that defensive mindset, we know our identity, we know how we have to play every night. … I think if we can be a hard team to play against and do all the little things it takes to win, I think we’d be a really tough team to beat in the playoffs.”

Tufts will face rematches with Colby and Bowdoin for the final two games of the regular season — two teams that Tufts has not seen since the first week of December 2024. They are aiming for their first NESCAC sweep of the season and the privilege of hosting a conference tournament quarterfinal.

“Obviously it’s a huge weekend. I think it’s going to feel kind of like two playoff games just in terms of what they mean for the home playoff game: if we get one or if we don’t. A sweep would be awesome because we haven’t had a NESCAC sweep yet this year,” Bylin said “I think, especially these last few weeks, we’ve been going 1–1 every weekend, [with] one good performance, one shaky performance, so if we get that consistency going and come out with two really good performances, I think that’ll give us a ton of confidence going into playoffs. I also think we kind of owe these guys one because, before break, they actually both beat us, so we haven’t beat them yet this year, so it’d be great to get two wins this weekend.”

simply the addition of a ubiquitin protein to another protein (let’s call it the protein of interest). When ubiquitin is added to the protein of interest, the protein’s function is modified.

Ubiquitination is challenging because it involves three different types of proteins working together to install the modification: E1, E2 and E3. What makes this so complex is that there are around 40 E2 and over 600 E3 ligases — any combination of which can result in the ubiquitination of a protein.

With other modifications like phosphorylation, you just need to identify the one protein responsible for adding the modification, but with ubiquitination, distinct interactions must be identified. To do this, the Scheck Lab uses an approach to track interactions by illuminating the interactions of E2 proteins.

The other modification studied by the Scheck Lab is glycation. Glycation is a very unique post-translational modification because it involves sugars rather than proteins, and the mechanisms and situations when these

modifications occur are not yet well understood.

The new tools that the Scheck Lab has developed have begun to reveal that there is a huge diversity within glycation. Scheck spoke a bit about one of the lab’s current hypotheses.

“One hypothesis we have in our lab right now is that maybe there’s two different types of glycation, and one is for this more longterm damage and the other could be some sort of faster acting dynamic [post-translational modification-like],” Scheck said.

“We’ve been able to add a layer of chemical detail that’s allowed us to sort of tease out those two different ends of the spectrum.”

Developing tools to track these modifications can broaden our understanding of the processes they are involved in and the ways in which they are controlled, as well as perhaps even reveal further complexity in how post-translational modifications function.

While these projects are distinct, they have found fascinating ways to connect and feed off each other. For example, in one paper (currently in review),

members of the Scheck Lab developed a method for studying glycation using ubiquitin. Due to the fact that ubiquitin itself is a protein, it too can experience glycation, and this new method studies glycation modifications on ubiquitin proteins. Post-translational modifications on post-translational modifications — now that’s pretty meta.

This research, while often super rewarding, is not without its challenges (but hey, nothing worthwhile is ever truly smooth sailing).

“You definitely have to be a little bit stubborn to be a good chemist,” said Jeremiah JacobDolan, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in Scheck Lab.

This is especially true as the Scheck Lab, funded in part by National Institutes of Health grants, watches with much of the American scientific community as the future of scientific research is being threatened. But for now, research continues and with it come some very exciting new tools and discoveries that will help us continue to understand the intricacies and complexities of the world around us and the world within us.

Shoshana Daly Contributing Writer

COURTESY TUFTS ATHLETICS

Senior forward Brennan Horn is pictured in a game against Wesleyan on Jan. 24.

Women’s swim fights valiant back and forth battle in the NESCAC Championship

Jack Chapleski Staff Writer

The women’s swim NESCAC Championship was held in Waterville, Maine at Colby College from Thursday to Monday. The Jumbos finished second out of the 11 NESCAC opponents.

The Jumbos kicked off their Thursday with some outstanding performances that landed several of them on the podium. The entire weekend was full of incredible displays in the water, with several swimmers beating personal bests and pool records.

In the 4x200 freestyle relay, a squad of four, consisting of juniors Madeleine Dunn and Quinci Wheeler, sophomore Selin Tuncay and first-year Noa Chambers, finished second overall in the event. The first day finished with Tufts scoring 76 points, just behind Williams with 90 points.

On Friday, the Jumbos started off hot, taking the first three events of the night.

In the 4x50 freestyle relay, the foursome consisting of juniors Isa

Chambers and Katharine Skelly, senior Emma Claus and graduate student Jillian Cudney teamed up to take first place in the event.

Wheeler also topped her Thursday night performance with a win in the 50 breaststroke, making it her second conference title in the event. She also shattered Colby College’s pool record with a time of 28.62 seconds.

Junior Jade Foltenyi and sophomore Elena Harrison both put on a show throughout the weekend, recording Tufts’ first-ever NESCAC Championship wins in their respective events. Friday saw Foltenyi win the 50 butterfly with a time of 24.93 seconds, followed closely behind by two fellow Jumbos. Harrison broke Tufts’ school record in the 50 backstroke earlier that morning in 25.78 seconds and won the event later that night with a time of 26.18 seconds.

Along with some key runner-up placements in multiple events, the Jumbos narrowly trailed the Ephs going into Saturday, in which there was no shortage of surprises.

A longstanding Ephsdominated event saw them finally dethroned after a nine-year streak of winning the 4x50 medley relay, broken by none other than the Jumbos. The squad that did it was made up of Harrison, Wheeler, Foltenyi and Cudney, taking the event for the first time in nearly a decade and only 0.01 seconds off of a Tufts record.

In the 1,000 freestyle final, Dunn shattered her own school record by two seconds, with a 9:58.87 finish.

Nepalese Olympian and Tufts senior Gaurika Singh won the 100 backstroke with a time of 55.85 seconds.

With some strong finishes that put some crucial points on the scoreboard for the Jumbos, they edged in front of the Ephs. However, it was just for a moment as the Ephs regained their lead by a hair going into Sunday’s events.

When asked about preparing for this kind of moment, Harrison wrote in an email to the Daily that “showing up everyday to put in the work,” all the way from their

preseason through to the NESCAC Championship is what brought them to Sunday — the final day of the championship.

On the last day of the meet, Cudney decided she was going to leave the water in her final NESCAC Championships with a bang. She won the 100 freestyle and, along with Chambers, Wheeler and sophomore Sydney Stasz, took the 4x100 freestyle relay as well.

In an email to the Daily, Harrison wrote “A highlight of the meet for me was watching the 4x100 freestyle relay on Sunday night,” describing the sheer excitement of watching her teammates beat powerhouse Williams’ swimmers in the event. She recalled that most swimmers had finished up their events, so everyone was there to fuel the fire for the Jumbos.

Also in her final NESCAC Championship meet, senior Lara Wujciak had a strong fourth-place finish in the 200 butterfly final.

Tufts ended the meet in second place after an incredible battle, finishing with 1,801.5

points, just 30.5 points behind Williams.

“Our team did a really good job of swimming for each other,” Harrison wrote, reflecting on the weekend. She added that the team’s efforts were in line with their shared goals and went far beyond individual accolades.

“It was one of the best meets I have ever gone to,” Harrison stated. Tufts put up a truly amazing display of competitiveness, and each day was filled with adrenaline-packed, nail-biting races in the water.

The next step for those who qualified will be the NCAA Division III Championships, which will be held from March 19–22 in Greensboro, N.C.

With plenty of swimmers showing up when it counts the most, the road ahead is promising for the team as they prepare for the big stage. “I’m really excited to see what the team can do in [Greensboro],” Harrison wrote. After an unbelievable NESCAC Championship performance, there is plenty to be excited about for the Jumbos swim squad.

Senior Valeria Strohmeier of the Tufts women's swim team is pictured.