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Friday, April 2, 2021
TUPD to form mental health working group, TCU senator advocates for student representation in the group by Yiyun Tom Guan News Editor
SOPHIE DOLAN / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES
The Tufts University Police Department’s front entrance is pictured.
The Tufts University Police Department is in the process of creating a multidisciplinary working group to advise TUPD on issues of mental health, and Tufts Community Union Class of 2021 Senator Annika Witt is working with TUPD to add a student to the group. According to the Interim Director of Public Safety and Chief of Police Chip Coletta, the working group will be formed by Assistant Director of Public Safety Mary
Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series hosts Michael Steele by Madeline Mueller Contributing Writer
The Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life hosted the latest event in its Distinguished Speaker Series, a conversation with Michael Steele, on April 1. Steele was the first African American elected to statewide office in Maryland, where he was lieutenant governor from 2003 to 2007; the chairperson of the Republican National Committee from 2009 until 2011; and is now a political analyst at MSNBC. Tisch College Dean Alan Solomont (A’70) delivered opening remarks and provided context for Steele’s impactful political career, explaining why he believes Steele is qualified to speak on some of the most important and complicated questions the nation is facing. “One of those questions is certainly about the future of the conservative movement and the Republican Party,” Solomont said. “And today’s guest is uniquely qualified to provide some insight and perspective to that question.” Solomont then introduced Deborah Schildkraut, a professor in the department of political science, as the event moderator. “[Professor Schildkraut] is an expert on American politics and psychology,” Solomont said. “At Tufts, she teaches courses like the politics of ethnicity and American identity, political psychology, public opinion and political representation in the United States.” Schildkraut first brought up Steele’s childhood, noting that he grew up as a devout Catholic and studied for the priesthood. She asked what led him to his positions in politics and the Republican Party.
McCauley, who will also act as a liaison between the working group and University President Anthony Monaco’s Steering Committee on Mental Health. Coletta explained that the mental health working group’s creation came in accordance with recommendations presented by Tufts’ Working Group on Public Safety and Policing, which was formed last July as one of the five “Tufts as an Anti-Racist Institution” workstreams. It released its report in February, in an email from Monaco to the Tufts community.
Among other recommendations, the Working Group on Public Safety and Policing workstream report suggested that TUPD increase its use of mental health professionals in either an in-person or on-call capacity, noting that there is a clear need for a greater availability of mental health resources. “The number of service calls involving mental health matters is significant and has been steadily increasing over the last decade,”
by Skyler Goldberg
day. Students on meal plans can also pick up kosher for Passover food from Dewick-MacPhie and Carmichael Dining Centers. To ensure the food is kosher, it will be prepared in separate kitchens and stored in dedicated areas, according to a statement released by Tufts Dining. The Protestant community held its first hybrid worship service of the year on the Sunday before Easter, Palm Sunday, on March 28. Ten pre-registered students were able to participate in person, with other members of the community joining via Zoom. “We will probably not have a palm procession, as is traditional, but there will be palms available to wave around,” The Rev. Daniel Bell, Tufts’ Protestant chaplain, wrote in an email to the Daily. While Tufts’ observant Protestant students have traditionally attended a local church on Easter Sunday, this year, the community will hold worship services over Zoom. Thomas Dawkins, music director and organist for the Chaplaincy, will join from his home to play the piano and sing hymns, as he has done weekly for the community’s Sunday services since the pandemic started. Bell reflected on what worship in general has looked like amid the pandemic, and how that will apply to Easter. “The Protestant Evening Worship services we’ve been having on Zoom have been deeply meaningful,” Bell said. “The same, I trust, will hold true on Easter Sunday, when we will gath-
Tufts Chaplaincy, religious organizations modify spring holiday celebrations Contributing Writer
SOPHIE DOLAN / THE TUFTS DAILY
Michael Steele, political analyst at MSNBC and former chairperson of the Republican National Committee, speaks at a Tisch College webinar. Steele said his religious upbringing was a big contributor to his future career. “It was grounding, it was very, very important,” Steele said. “It set for me how I would ultimately come to view the world and how I would experience the world, how I find the water’s edge where things are not any longer political but they’re, in fact, about people.” Schildkraut then asked about Steele’s upbringing in a “monolithic Democratic community” and Democratic family, inquiring how he moved to the Republican side of the spectrum as an adult. “My mom told me to be an independent thinker,” Steele said. “Now that’s a blessing and a curse, to be honest.” He discussed his investigation of the history of party politics. “For over 100 years, African Americans voted for Republicans the way they vote for Democrats today,” Steele said. “I wanted to understand that more. So I realized that it was Black ideas and Black hands and Black politics that helped shape this new-forming party that was born out of the Whigs, known as the Republicans.” Schildkraut asked about how Steele has overcome the impact of threats and hateful messages as a public figure. He offered advice to those interested in a career in politics, especially students.
“If you don’t know who you are, don’t get in this game,” Steele said. “If you’re not ready to shut up and listen to what people around you are saying, you will never learn and, therefore, you will never grow, and, therefore, you will never be that good leader you want to be.” He spoke further on the traits of a good leader. “Always be prepared to lead, but never be afraid to follow,” Steele said. Schildkraut next focused on Steele’s criticism of former president Donald Trump from within the Republican Party. “When I criticized Donald Trump, I didn’t really care what anybody else inside the party thought about that because I was sharing my conviction,” Steele said. “I was sharing my voice, just as [Trumpsupporting Republicans] were sharing their support: ‘Yeah, anything Trump wants to do, we’re there.'” Steele disagreed with the practice of blindly following the leader of the party you support. “This is not about one man, nor should it be,” Steele said. “It’s not about the party. It’s about the country I live in.” Steele said he believes there is an existential crisis in the Republican Party right now. “I’ve been advocating for 20 plus see STEELE, page 2
see TUPD, page 2
Tufts University’s faith communities are experiencing their first on-campus observances of Passover, Easter and Ramadan since the COVID-19 pandemic began. To celebrate the holidays, various small-group, in-person events and Zoom events have been occurring, with more planned for the coming weeks. Tufts Hillel enlisted students to lead in-person “micro-Seders,” the ritual meal eaten by observant Jewish people on the first two nights of Passover. Passover began the evening of March 27 and will end the evening of April 4 this year. The Seders took place in the Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex at 574 Boston Ave. Attendance at each Seder was capped at 10 students, and student leaders were given the option to restrict attendance at their Seders to their friends, given that some may have been uncomfortable hosting unfamiliar students during a pandemic. Seder leaders were advised to take COVID-19 precautions seriously. “To minimize aerosol, you could consider having half of your attendees eat for a certain amount of time, and half eat later,” sophomores Jacob Brenner and Hannah Pearl, Hillel’s Conservative Minyan chairs, said in an email to the leaders. “This is up to you, but it could be a good way to make people feel more comfortable.” Hillel is also offering one kosher for Passover meal per day over the course of the eight-day holi-
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Tufts must act now to improve situation for RAs
How major booksellers take business away from independent bookstores
Extended NCAA eligibility will stiffen competition for roster spots next season
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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Friday, April 2, 2021
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University applauds TUPD, TCU Senate efforts to establish working group TUPD
continued from page 1 the report said. “The number of service calls involving mental health matters has demonstrated the need for dedicated mental health professionals or other highly trained staff who can provide in-person crisis-management and support, particularly at night or on weekends.” Coletta noted that the working group is seeking input and consultation from various departments at Tufts and Tufts students, as well as other law enforcement partners. “McCauley is seeking input from internal and external stakeholders, including the Department of Public Safety (DPS), Tufts University Counseling and Mental Health Services (CMHS), the Dean of Students Office, and students who have expressed an interest in participating in this important work,” Coletta wrote in an email to the Daily. “Additionally, we are consulting with our law enforcement partners in Medford and Somerville, other campus law enforcement agencies, and subject matter experts, as we evaluate options to increase the DPS mental health response capacity and effectiveness.” Witt, a senior, noted the absence of mental health professionals within TUPD to respond to the increasing number of mental health-related calls they receive. “Right now there’s no mental health … professionals in TUPD, so TUPD is just dealing with all of those calls, which [are] increasing in volume,” Witt said. “For college students, mental health calls are going to be the biggest part of that job, and I think they finally realized or are coming to that realization that officers can sometimes escalate the situation when it’s really meant to be a safety precaution.” Witt explained that while she will spearhead the collaboration with McCauley to add a student to the mental health working group, she will also be working closely with community senators to ensure that marginalized voices are heard. “I am in close communication with [the community senators] because I think … this mental health committee needs to be aware of marginalized communities that are mostly affected by TUPD’s behaviors,” Witt said. “So I really just want to focus and center it around those communities.” Witt noted that she had posted on Facebook in search of a student to join the working group and that
she would like this student to be a person of color. “I posted it on Facebook to see which students are interested. There was a lot of responses, so now I’m talking to Mary [McCauley] about how to narrow that down and how to kind of sort through them,” Witt said. “I really want a [person of color] member — a member of our student body that recognizes the incredible need for these conversations to be centered around marginalized communities.” Witt anticipates that the mental health working group will be active over the long term. She said progressive changes in policing happen gradually. “Transitioning from this traditional policing system to a very progressive system is going to take time, and students on our campus are very passionate and aggressive in what they want to see and they want to see it now,” Witt said. “But it takes time, and so this perfect and progressive TUPD is not going to happen overnight.” She added that she thinks the role of the board will be fluid and hopes it will continue to improve over time. “This is just going to be, I think, an acting, long-term committee, in which it continuously evaluates the effectiveness of mental health professionals working alongside TUPD officers,” Witt said. Patrick Collins, executive director of media relations at Tufts, applauded TUPD and TCU Senate’s effort and acknowledged the urgency of their initiative. “This work is very important as the university examines how to best respond to the needs of its community members, including the potential of Involving mental health professionals in certain response situations,” Collins wrote in an email to the Daily. “We look forward to the information the group gathers from the stakeholders it plans to engage and to the group’s recommendations.”
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A mix of in-person and virtual events planned for the coming weeks HOLIDAYS
continued from page 1 er over Zoom to celebrate our faith in the Resurrection and reaffirm our conviction that sin and death have been conquered by the Risen Christ.” Catholic Chaplain Lynn Cooper explained what Easter looks like in a typical year for the Catholic community on campus. “In a typical year, we celebrate Easter with mass and an ecumenical Easter Dinner with the greater Christian community and friends,” Cooper wrote in an email to the Daily. “Some local students travel home, but we usually are a large assembly at Easter Sunday Mass, with out of town visitors joining us as well.” Cooper explained what the plan is for this year. “This year, we will be offering a special COVID-times Stations of the Cross on Wednesday of Holy Week,” Cooper said. “We will be meditating on the intersection of our lives during the COVID and Jesus’s own trials.” On Easter Sunday, which is April 4, Cooper explained that members of the Catholic community will gather on Zoom to watch a pre-recorded Mass. “This service will no doubt include fabulous music, which I know nourishes the soul of our community,” Cooper said. The Catholic and Protestant communities will collaborate to hold a joint Good Friday service, and will have a celebratory dinner over Zoom on Easter, between the Catholic service and the Protestant service. “This year, Easter may not bring packed pews and the bright scent of a lily-soaked sanctuary,” Cooper said. “But I am hopeful that we will be able to embrace Easter’s celebratory spirit.” In terms of celebrating Ramadan, which will begin in the evening of April 12 and will end in the evening of May 12, the Tufts
AVA IANNUCCILLO / THE TUFTS DAILY
The Academic Quad is pictured at sunrise on Oct. 14, 2020.
Muslim Students Association has been working with the Muslim Chaplain, Abdul-Malik Merchant, to provide students with meals and Ramadan care packages, including a prayerbook and other spiritual items. The communications chair of the MSA, sophomore Faizah Wulandana, held a Ramadan town hall last month to hear concerns and desires from students who celebrate the holiday, which MSA vice president Iman Ali said has helped inform their planning. While students would normally eat together at the Muslim House before the start of the fast, this year, Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center will make available to-go boxes for Suhur, the pre-dawn meal that is eaten before fasting begins. The Chaplaincy will provide Suhur boxes for students not on meal plans, Ali said. “We are hoping to do a couple of socially distanced picnics, in groups of 10 or less, around campus, so that people still have that element [of community],” Ali, a junior said. Beyond meals, Ali said that Merchant will be facilitating regular lectures and discussions. “[Topics may include] self-care during the month of Ramadan, how to boost your faith during this month … and also a mini-series leading up to Ramadan so that people feel like they’re prepared and they have the resources going into it,” Ali said. Ali noted that students who have class when the fast ends each day may be granted excused absences, and religious accommodations are available to students who will be taking exams that coincide with iftars, the meals eaten after sunset. The MSA will provide email templates for students to request these accommodations. Ali spoke to the importance of the holiday and MSA’s desire to honor it during a unique year. “Usually people are either spending this month with families or they have some element of being able to find community, and we want to make sure we can bridge that gap … being able to organize group calls, whether that means breaking fast together on Zoom, or even having a buddy system where we have people pair up and check in on each other and see how we can help each other be accountable and support each throughout this month,” Ali said.
Steele not optimistic about future engagement of African American voters in the Republican Party STEELE
continued from page 1 years … we have to recognize where this trend line is going,” Steele said. He noted that many states that were once solidly red are shifting. “You may be [red] today, but you won’t be in 10 years,” Steele said. “Virginia, check;
North Carolina, on the bubble; Georgia, 2024, mark my words. Texas is a battleground state, and I will be surprised if the Republicans hold on and keep it.” Steele also answered several questions posed directly by audience members before Schildkraut summarized other questions coming in, one of
which was about the future of the Republican Party with respect to African American voters. Steele was not hopeful. “Unless you can address what we see unfolding right now in the Chauvin trial, unless you can get behind and understand the angst around Black Lives Matter and why it came into being in the first place … then you hav-
en’t begun to scratch the surface,” Steele said. The event ended with a question asking whether Steele is optimistic that the Republican Party will do the work he has suggested to engage with African American voters. “Not at this moment,” Steele said. “I’m waiting for a leader to make the sacrifice, to do the course correct.”
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Tufts, surrounding communities rally support for Danish Pastry House by Casey Cummings Contributing Writer
Providing a laid-back study environment, warm and welcoming service and of course, tasty food to enjoy with friends, Danish Pastry House on Boston Avenue has become a staple of the Tufts experience. Yet, after experiencing a kitchen fire in January 2020 and then observing the enforcement of COVID-19 regulations in the following months, DPH has had a difficult year. Danish Pastry House has two locations: the Medford location, which is situated near Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus, and the Watertown location. The Watertown branch is where most of the shop’s production happens. According to Ulla Winkler, the owner of DPH, Watertown’s location has a wholesale baking facility that sells mostly to cafes and hotels in the Boston area. Winkler said the citywide shutdown at the start of the COVID19 outbreak created many obstacles for DPH.
GRACE ROTERMUND / THE TUFTS DAILY
An outdoor view of the Danish Pastry House awning is pictured on Feb. 15. Due to the reduction in staff, DPH’s production has slowed. Moreover, Winkler recognized the difficulties that come with running a restaurant in the midst of a pandemic. “It is so hard to open when everything is so limited … with capacities,” Winkler said. In response to the uncontrollable challenges that have been
“We were closed for eight to nine months. We were closed from January to September. It was super hard because where we produce most of the products is in Watertown and they have not been able to produce. They have had to cut down 90% of the staff,” Winkler said.
thrown at DPH, the Tufts and Medford community have rallied behind Winkler and the local cafe. To start, Joanne Tulimieri took action by volunteering at DPH. “When they reopened, that’s when I started helping … because you know, it’s really hard to start
back up your business when you can’t pay your workers. So, I volunteer for her and I do it two days a week,” Tulimieri said. “It’s just so much fun because the customers are always appreciative of us.” However, Tulimieri is not the only community member who has worked hard to support the local coffee and pastry shop. Tulimieri reflected on how much she appreciates that Tufts students bring their kind words of support to DPH. Specifically, according to Winkler and Tulimieri, one student raised money to buy DPH an open sign. “[The student] decorated [the sign] and wrote ‘open’ and drew cakes on it. She gave it to me and that is just so beautiful,” Winkler said. Another group of Tufts students who have made an impact on DPH include junior Nicholas Gourley and his roommates who began consulting for DPH, set up an Instagram page (@danishpastryhousemedford) and helped the business develop logistical strategies. “[Winkler] obviously got excited about the fact that Tufts students were trying to help out her small businesses,” Gourley said. “Eventually, as we got to know her and got to know her situation, we started doing work for her pro bono.”
Keira Myles Anthro Talks
Anthropologist James Holston, in his “Insurgent Citizenship in an Era of Global UrbanPeripheries,” (2008), details how the 20th century’s urbanization rates rose in tandem with global democratization, yet created urban slums, or urban peripheries, with horrifying poverty. Periphery residents have struggled to accumulate sufficient resources for sheer existence, causing the development of insurgent citizenships claiming rights to the city. “Sites of metropolitan innovation often emerge at the very sites of metropolitan degradation,” as tensions rise between forces of control and subjugation, Holston notes in his book Wealthy center squares segregate the poor and place them into peripheries. Despite degradation, Holston says, urban poor leaders who are “barely citizens,” claim residential space with insurgent citizenship, fight-
ing for rights to housing, plumbing and security. Holston conducted ethnographic research on insurgent citizenship performances in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In the 1960s, autoconstruction. Holston discovered an instance in 1972 in which an official from Sao Paulo who had tried to evict the workers was beaten by the residents of the periphery. According to Holston, one resident claimed, “it was a war, between us and the land‐scammers. The law didn’t exist” Brazilians in the 1980s did not ascribe, Holston concluded, a significant identity-defining relationship to the term “citizen.” The word symbolized a “nobody.” In other cases, the idea of citizenship can be dispiriting and isolating for the urban poor who buy into the concept. Holston noted that, in the mid-1990s, Sao Paulo’s poor were expected to stand in
GRACE ROTERMUND / THE TUFTS DAILY
The syrup rail and drinks in Danish Pastry House are pictured.
Urbanization and urban periphery tension
H
umans have resided in small communities for most of history, with 90% of the global population living in rural areas as late as 1800. Now, 4 billion people — just over half the world’s population — dwell in urban areas. Urbanization rates are increasing rapidly as countries become richer, incomes rise and industry and manufacturing overtake the agriculture sector. Despite urbanization’s link to rising incomes, about one-third of those residing in urban areas live in “slum households.”
Gourley’s latest project with DPH was assisting Winkler with her application to The Barstool Fund, a fund for small business owners who have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. The application process includes submitting a video component, of which Gourley took charge. Using the Tufts class Facebook pages, he rallied Tufts students to send in personal videos endorsing DPH and speaking about their own experiences with the business. Gourley noted that the focus of most of the videos he received centered on students’ positive interactions with Winkler.
long bank lines while wealthy and privileged individuals did not have to wait. According to Holston, the poor accepted their unequal treatment in the bank lines, simply stating, “It’s the law.” Autoconstruction’s constriction of Sao Paulo citizens into poor, peripheral neighborhoods, politicized the citizens and altered their notion of rights. Insurgent citizenships emerged from cramped confinements of unbearable slum peripheries, helping Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who also rose from autoconstruction peripheries, to secure the presidential victory for the Workers’ Party in 2002. His election demonstrated how, in three decades, the working class had amassed enough support to fight against Brazil’s maintenance of exclusive and unequal citizenships. By 2050, 68% of the world — close to 7 billion people — are
“One thing that stood out to me in every single video is that, you have people talk about the food and whatnot, but Ulla was the main focus of every single one … when people meet her, they love her,” Gourley said. “Everybody who sent a video clearly sent one because they had developed some sort of connection with her, whether it was something as small as her giving them a free pastry — which she does all the time with Tufts students — or if it was somebody who traveled abroad and then came back and talked about their experience with her.” Winkler sent in her application for the Barstool Fund in February. She then sent in the video component of the application, which compiled these student testimonies in a single video, in mid-March. While the community’s love for Danish Pastry House has been made clear through their efforts to help Winkler and DPH, this gratitude is a two-way street. Winkler reflected on the support the community has shown DPH. “I just really appreciate the students,” Winkler said. “I don’t expect anything more. It’s just so beautiful as it is … I am so full of gratitude. You could say, it has restored my faith in humanity. It is so beautiful and that has been worth it because it’s not about money for me.”
GRACE ROTERMUND / THE TUFTS DAILY
Danish Pastry House’s chalkboard menu is pictured on Feb. 15. expected to live in urban areas, according to a 2018 report from Our World in Data. The looming threat of environmental catastrophes will cause further rural migration to urban centers, stoking tension. French sociologist Henri Lefebvre notes in “The Production of Space” (1974) that social space serves as a tool for control and domination over people. Thus, to mitigate degrading treatment of climate refugees in an increasingly urbanized future, migrant social justice must be linked to spatial justice, he says. “Change life! Change Society! These ideas lose completely their meaning without producing an appropriate space … new social relations demand a new space and vice-versa,” Lefebvre recommends. Keira Myles is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Keira can be reached at keira.myles@tufts.edu.
Arts & POP ARTS Pop CULTURE Culture
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Friday, April 2, 2021
Independent bookstores file class-action suit against Amazon, ‘Big Five’ publishers by Devina Bhalla Arts Editor
Independent booksellers are suing Amazon and the “Big Five” publishing companies — Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, HarperCollins and Macmillan Publishers — with a class-action lawsuit citing “a massive price-fixing scheme to intentionally constrain the bookselling market and inflate the wholesale price of print books,” according to Hagens Berman, one of the law firms representing the prosecutors. The lawsuit was filed last week in a federal district court in New York. The suit’s lead plaintiff is an Evanston, Ill. bookstore, Bookends & Beginnings, owned by Nina Barrett. Barrett opened the store in 2014 with her husband Jeff, an expert on rare library collections. The lawsuit says that the Big Five publishers control 80% of the traded book market, and that Amazon sells about half of all books sold and 90% of all print books sold online. This results in immense price-fixing, which prevents booksellers from competing in price and availability. In a statement published by Hagens Berman, Barrett said, “I’ve been involved in bookselling since the early 1990s, and I’ve watched Amazon grow into the juggernaut it’s become … I’ve experienced first-hand the devastation to publishing, booksell-
Jessica Blough and Stephanie Hoechst Soundtrack to the End of the World
Ambitious and on my way to start some stuff
M
y first column hypothesized that anthems are endangered in a pandemic world. Here, Steph Hoechst highlights the moments when that thesis fails — while cooking a sultry candlelit dinner for one or getting all dressed up to strut across campus (to get tested for
ing, and to local brick-and-mortar shopping that’s resulted. Indie bookstores like mine battle every day to survive on a commercial playing field that is anything but level, and I’m proud to do whatever I can to help remedy that.” Amazon’s control and dominance over the book industry and publishing continue to diminish competition in and alter the framework of the industry and severely threaten independent bookstores’ survival. In August 2020, the Association of American Publishers, Authors Guild and the American Booksellers Association came together in a letter to the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law. The letter said that Amazon “engage[s] in systematic below-cost pricing of books to squash competition in the book selling [sic] industry as a whole.” Moreover, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance published a study titled “Amazon’s Stranglehold: How the Company’s Tightening Grip is Stifling Competition, Eroding Jobs, and Threatening Communities” in 2016 about Amazon’s monopolizing of the economy. It says that Amazon is “eroding opportunity and fueling inequality, and it’s concentrating power in ways that endanger competition, community life, and democracy.” Parts of this study were also cited in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, “Amazon’s contracts with publishers cover practically all the potential avenues a competing bookseller may attempt to use in order to differentiate itself against Amazon. To control wholesale prices, the Big Five agree to anticompetitive restraints that prevent Plaintiff and other booksellers from competing with Amazon.” It goes on to say that the Big Five and Amazon’s agreements fix the wholesale price of books and give Amazon “its monopoly power in the U.S. online retail trade book market, where it
accounts for roughly 90% of all print book sales.” The Big Five benefit from their agreement with Amazon — they have no incentive to lower prices. This is not the first time that booksellers have protested Amazon’s market dominance. In October 2020, independent bookstores, in a coordinated effort with the American Booksellers Association, called out Amazon’s colossal power with its “Boxed Out” campaign. Bookstores enveloped windows and storefronts with brown paper, boxes and messages like, “Books curated
by real people, not a creepy algorithm,” “Buy books from people who want to sell books, not colonize the moon” and “Don’t accept Amazon’s brave new world.” This lawsuit is the latest avenue that independent bookstores have taken to fight Amazon’s control over the book and publishing industries. It seeks monetary damages and the termination of the monopoly and price-fixing. Independent bookstores continue to be beloved community staples and this lawsuit could be the next necessary step toward ensuring their survival.
COVID-19). Being alone can be energizing and anthemic, and maybe even a little sexy. Stephanie: I spent a lot of the last year in Maine. The ethereal indie sounds, folk-pop and guitar of Maggie Rogers, Phoebe Bridgers, Hozier, Dr. Dog and Sufjan Stevens were the perfect background music while I did doughnuts in a John Deere utility vehicle in the field across the street from my house at sunset. Very main character of me. But as the months wore on and staring dramatically at a candle in my room started to get a little old, I turned to what I can only describe as “hot girl music,” as my increasingly chaotically named Spotify playlists will tell you, which include gems such as “I’m drunk, I’m ambitious, and I’m on my way to start some stuff.” It’s a long
title, but c’mon — tell me you don’t know exactly how that playlist sounds. Hot girl music is for when you’re done feeling the feels for the day and want to walk around, mask on, like a total badass. Hot girl music makes you sweat. This is powerful lady music, this is sexy music, music for dancing in front of the mirror, music for putting on your headphones and absolutely strutting to Pax et Lox to pick up a salmon bagel. ‘Holy’ (2018) by King Princess “Holy” is the first song you put on before opening that bottle of wine in your kitchen. It sets the mood for cooking pasta for yourself while you sway to its seductive vocals in the sweatpants you’ve been wearing all day. King Princess has dominat-
ed my Spotify for the past year, and it’s not hard to see why — her music ranges from passionate and sentimental, like “1950” and “Talia,” to unapologetically sexy tracks like “Holy” and “Hit the Back.” She’s a gay icon and a total rockstar. ‘Make Me Feel’ (2018) by Janelle Monáe Poppy, zesty and energetic, “Make Me Feel” starts as this deliciously slow-burn, subtly sexy beat, before absolutely exploding into a pre-chorus of “It’s like I’m powerful with a little bit of tender,” which aptly describes the track, too. “Make Me Feel” wants you to hop off the computer and dance in your room — as you should! ‘You Sexy Thing’ (2019) by Zella Day Zella Day’s cover of the 1975 Hot Chocolate classic is all the
energy I didn’t know I needed this spring. With an indie/alternative take, Day’s blown-out vocals are fierce and positively smoky, though the lyrics and beat are still just as smooth as the original. Where Hot Chocolate serenades, Day almost wails her words. Even the album cover — ’80s, shoulder-padded, belted blazer, black tights, pop of red background (basically everything I’ve ever wanted to be) — reads both retro and modern, like the song itself. I suppose if the world’s ending, it’s best to go down with a little flair.
VIA FLICKER
An Amazon Books storefront in Manhattan, NY, is pictured.
Jessica Blough is a senior studying international relations. Jessica can be reached at jessica.blough@tufts.edu. Stephanie Hoechst is a senior studying English and film and media studies. Stephanie can be reached at stephanie.hoechst@tufts.edu.
Friday, April 2, 2021 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY
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F& G
LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Kendall: “If you were in a cult, what font would YOU use?”
FUN & GAMES
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Difficulty Level: Going to the dentist
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MY DOG: TOTALLY INNOCENT
By Aidan Chang
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CROSSWORD
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Opinion
6 Friday, April 2, 2021
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EDITORIAL
RAs have spoken, now Tufts must listen
In any year, Tufts’ resident assistants wear many hats. They are students, peers and employees, tasked with creating safe, accessible and enjoyable residential life. But during the pandemic, RAs have shouldered the additional burden of balancing typical dorm life with the maintenance of a safe and healthy student body. With every policy change, it is RAs whose labor goes into finding that balance, a process that often involves putting themselves in uncomfortable and dangerous situations at the expense of their mental and physical health. RAs represent some of the best of the Tufts community, and given the additional burdens presented by the pandemic, it is imperative that Tufts listen to their voices and be more responsive to their needs. One common struggle, among the myriad that RAs have faced this year, has been social isola-
tion. In the fall, RAs were unique among students on campus in that they were typically considered “cohorts of one” rather than members of larger residential cohorts like most students; the end of the cohort system before the spring semester, however, did not spell the end of the social toll that comes with being an RA during a pandemic. “The cohort system has been discontinued, but we’re still so incredibly isolated,” Katherine Powers, an RA and a junior, told the Daily. “It’s really difficult to find social connection, and … that’s been really hard on a lot of us.” This social isolation accompanies a plethora of professional challenges brought on by the pandemic. Without compensation for this additional work, many RAs have become frustrated and decided either to not continue next year or to go even further and quit early.
“They do tell you that it can be 10 to 15 hours every week when you apply,” Florence Grenon, a former RA, said. “And in reality, it was not 10 to 15 hours, it was almost, like, every hour of every day.” Grenon, a sophomore, made the decision that she couldn’t continue being an RA while she was still just partway through her first semester in the role. Despite her desire to give back to the community, the hours and the pressure of being an RA during a pandemic were just too much. “Personally, I knew it was affecting my mental health a lot,” she said. “I wanted to be better for other people, but I also have to take care of myself first.” In addition to mental health, some RAs have felt worried about their physical health, given their responsibility of enforcing virus safety rules among students. Zach Woods, an RA in Harleston Hall, added that the university does not notify RAs when residents under their watch test positive or enter quarantine. “As an immunocompromised person, that’s sort of really concerning,” Woods, a junior, said. “It’s gotten to a point where, if someone tests positive, because the university won’t tell anyone, people will literally put a sticky note in the bathroom that’s like, ‘We’re in contact quarantine,’ or ‘One of us who uses this bathroom tested positive.’” The Office of Residential Life and Learning previously resisted RAs’ calls for greater communication in these situations, claiming that its hands are tied by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Yet Tufts sends professors a notification when one of their students is no longer able to participate in classes in person — it should at
Brendan Hartnett Democracy in The Daily
build and upgrade ports along the already well-traveled sea corridor between the Indian Ocean and China. Thus began the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s major infrastructure project to reroute global trade through China in the hopes of becoming the world’s new superpower. In this project, China provides loans to fund the creation of new infrastructure — deep water ports, high-speed rail systems, bridges, highways, pipelines and fiber-optic networks — in countries throughout the Global South. The project spans three continents and touches over 60% of the world’s population. Last Friday, President Joe Biden discussed implementing a new program with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative, proposing “a similar initiative, pulling from the demo-
cratic states, helping those communities around the world that, in fact, need help.” Biden’s proposal recognizes a true threat posed by China to the world order. Previously, countries seeking loans for development projects needed to meet the World Bank’s strict conditions for loan recipients. Frequently, these include structural adjustment programs, currency reform and austerity. But China doesn’t require countries to meet these standards. Instead, it offers loans to countries that will not be able to pay them back. Many of these recipient countries are regularly plagued by corruption and stagnant economies that would inhibit them from receiving a loan from the World Bank. This type of predatory lending is termed debt trap diplomacy. Rather than defaulting on the
BY ANNABEL NIED
There’s a new World Bank
I
n a 2013 speech before the press in Kazakhstan, Chinese President Xi referenced the past glory of the ancient Silk Road, a trade pathway that once connected Europe with China and dominated international markets. Reflecting upon the glory of the since-expired trade path, Xi proposed a major infrastructure project that would revive overland trade routes between China, Central Asia and Europe: an economic belt. About a month later, Xi traveled to Indonesia and announced the creation of a new maritime Silk Road. The project would
least be able to do the same for those students’ RAs. RAs, of course, do not deserve just transparent communication, but also generous financial compensation for the duties they perform on the university’s behalf. Unfortunately, the university’s mere provision of housing is short of what RAs’ labor warrants. “As a low-income student, I still have to work … I think, like, 20 hours a week outside of being an RA, just to make extra money. Whereas if I would have had extra compensation, I may not have had to put myself at the extra risk,” Woods said. “When we are worrying about money for ourselves, it takes away from the energy that we could be devoting to our residents.” Multiple RAs testified to the Daily that even just a meal plan would have helped — something that used to be one of the benefits given to first-year advisors, but was removed when the position was replaced with that of RAs. Either through meal plans or through cash, it is important that the university rectify the position in which it has put RAs. Beyond direct compensation, Tufts must also facilitate regular communication and consultation between RAs and the Office of Residential Life and Learning staff. The university took a positive step in this direction when it agreed to develop an RA Council for next year, which will give RAs a platform to formally voice their concerns to the administration and weigh in on the appropriateness of policies they are asked to enforce. But to show that it is sincere in this effort, it matters that the university actually listen and make policy changes when the council recommends them. Relatedly, while the administration handles the disciplinary side of breaches of COVID-19 campus policy, it still calls upon
RAs to enforce and report them. Because of this, it is imperative that the university be transparent about its disciplinary rules, so that both RAs and their residents are fully aware of the sequence of events that follow a violation. The current system leaves RAs hesitant to enforce virus safety measures, not knowing with any certainty what consequences a resident will face if reported. Finally, it remains important that the university hold to the commitments it already has made to RAs. Most notably, this includes the university’s commitment to greater anti-racist training, which was only a small part of this year’s two-week RA training. In response to the egregious acts of racist violence that we have witnessed over the past year, the university must give RAs the opportunity to formally acknowledge and unlearn implicit biases under the guidance of professionals so that they are in the best position to support their residents throughout the academic year. RAs deserve better than the experience Tufts gave them this year. They are stewards of the Tufts community, people who make this campus safe and welcoming to all who reside here. When they speak, the university should show that it is listening.
loans, these developing countries lease ports and roadways to China. In doing this, China gains power over recipient nations, holding them hostage by way of their debt. Experts speculate that China’s grand strategy is to create a string of pearls — a network of Chinese naval bases that will allow China to police the Indian Ocean. While many Western observers are anxious that this project will propel China to be the world’s sole economic superpower, the project poses a more fundamental threat to democracy. The World Bank, in some cases, works to incentivize countries to protect human rights and implement procedural democracy. By establishing these as requirements for loans, the World Bank has used developmental financing as a means to encourage democrat-
ic development throughout the Global South. Unlike loans from the World Bank, some of which are preconditioned upon ethical governance, protections of human rights and some level of democracy, China’s loans require little from the recipient nations. In fact, nations involved in the Belt and Road Initiative are overwhelmingly oppressive and autocratic. China’s minimal requirements for recipient nations have thus allowed many countries to maintain their autocratic structure rather than democratize as they formerly would have to receive development loans, threatening the diplomatic power of the old World Bank. Brendan Hartnett is a sophomore studying political science. Brendan can be reached at brendan.hartnett@tufts.edu.
Opinion
Friday, April 2, 2021 | Opinion | THE TUFTS DAILY
7
OP-ED
Understanding Myanmar’s coup: Could a military insurrection halt a genocide? JULIA SHUFRO On Feb. 22, huge crowds gathered in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital of Myanmar, to mourn the death of Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing, a young woman who was shot in the head during protests against the military coup. At least 138 people have died in these protests, and the murders will only continue to mount. These young protestors face a violent military that is responsible for the murder of many civilians since the late 20th century. Older Burmese citizens support these young and outspoken civil rebels, but because of the brutal history of the military and the haunting memory of such atrocities, it is the young people who lead the way, and, thus, are the ones being killed. Myanmar, which was formerly Burma until 1989, when the State Law and Order Restoration Council changed the country’s official name, has, for almost two months, been the site of political upheaval, a military coup d’etat and violent protests. Concurrently, the government and military have been committing genocide against the Rohingya people of Rakhine State. On Feb. 1, the military — the Tatmadaw — seized power and declared a state of emergency for one year, following a general election in which the country’s former ruling party, the National League for Democracy, won in a landslide. The country’s de facto ruler, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a longtime pro-democracy activist and Nobel Prize winner, was charged for violating the nation’s Natural Disaster Law. Along with many other NLD officials, she has been detained. Currently, the military’s commander in chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, leads the coup; he has received international condemnation, but, other than hurting his international reputation, no actions have been taken to stop him and the coup. President Joe Biden, along with the United Kingdom, ordered sanctions against the military. Biden stated, “The military must relinquish the power it seized and demonstrate respect for the will of the people of Burma.” On social media, the United Nations Secretary General, António
Guterres, articulated his disappointment in the military takeover, stating that it was a “serious blow to democratic reforms.” However, this international reaction to the coup fails to bring to light serious faults in human rights advocacy, in the infrastructure of the U.N., in the concept of Westphalian sovereignty and in the factor of national interest in response to mass atrocity. On Jan. 23, 2020, the International Court of Justice in The Hague unanimously ruled on the case brought by The Gambia alleging that Myanmar has been committing genocide against the Rohingya, and thus has breached the 1948 Genocide Convention. Within this momentous decision, the ICJ ruled that there was prima facie evidence that Myanmar breached the Convention, rejecting Aung San Suu Kyi’s defense of her country’s actions; this means that it “appears” that genocide has occurred, but it is The Gambia’s responsibility to prove this in trial. Further, the ICJ ordered Myanmar to implement emergency measures to protect the Rohingya against violence and to preserve evidence of possible genocide. Nevertheless, this genocide has not been halted. The Rohingya crisis is founded upon more than 60 years of deep hatred and discrimination intensified by decades of civil war. Since the late 1940s when Great Britain ended its colonial rule over Burma, Myanmar has been entangled in on-and-off ethnic conflict. Since its independence, the central government of Myanmar has fought the world’s longest continuing civil war against several of its 135 minority ethnic groups, which makes it one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse countries in Asia. It is a multi-ethnic, multireligious and polyglot nation, but Bamar people are the predominant ethnic group, dominating Myanmar’s government and military. Suu Kyi guided Myanmar against a backdrop of raging nationalism. She won a revolutionary free and fair election in 2015 by a landslide, but she was barred from the presidency by a provision in the country’s military-drafted constitution of 2008. She governed alongside the president, Htin Kyaw, a National
League for Democracy leader. Despite the country’s being run by her democratically elected government and the NLD, Myanmar remains under the constraints of the 2008 military constitution, which was written while the country was still under an oppressive military rule. The referendum in which this constitution was approved is viewed as fraudulent by the international community, and the constitution allows for several contentious points, including the reservation of 25% of seats in the national legislature for the Tatmadaw. In 2015, the military vetoed a number of proposed amendments to the constitution; thus, the legislative body failed to oust the anti-Rohingya Tatmadaw from power. This national and ‘democratic’ party seems undemocratic in foundation. Since its 2011 transition from military rule to a democratic government under President Thein Sein, Myanmar has attracted foreign investments and reintegrated into the global market. Recently, Myanmar has worked closely with Japan and China to reinvigorate its economy. China and Japan hold major interest in Myanmar, due to geographical location, border wars and economic investment. Myanmar’s borders are rich in extensive natural resources: jade, copper, gold, tin, teak and rubber. Furthermore, India joins China and Japan in their quest for greater influence in and economic benefit from Myanmar. On Nov. 14, 2020, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, an organization in which Myanmar claims membership, and other nations, notably China, New Zealand and Australia, signed the world’s largest trade pact, evidencing the economic value of Myanmar. China seeks to establish a naval port in the Indian Ocean and pipelines, and, thus, solicits Burmese support. China, as one of the Permanent Members of the Security Council, holds veto power in the U.N. Problematically, Myanmar has sought to ensure an alliance with China, evidencing a systemic issue with the Security Council veto in the face of human rights abuses; national interest and sovereignty will influence China’s use of the veto, as the nation will be less likely to
support intervention within an allied nation. Unless China condemns the military, this military coup and the genocide will not end in the near future. While a humanitarian approach to conflict-resolution is an idealist’s ending to mass atrocity, massive political shifts, such as this coup, provide more likely ends to the crisis. Transitional justice and reconciliation will be complicated in Myanmar, but, for now, the junta-led military coup proves imperative, as it provides a unifying factor for ethnic groups. The strongholds of diverse ethnic groups protest against a common enemy: Min Aung Hlaing. Videos and pictures show the streets of Yangon packed to capacity with protestors fighting for democracy. The Civil Disobedience Movement in Myanmar has inspired people of all ethnic backgrounds to refuse this regime. Despite the NLD’s previous lack of support for unity of the people of Myanmar, given the ongoing ethnic conflict and genocide that occurred under its rule, the country must rally together and support this established and legitimate democratic power. Of course, the NLD must still be condemned and punished for its continuing genocide against the Rohingya people in Rakhine State. As such, the international community must act in the political environment created by this coup to reinforce democratic values within the nation, to support peacekeeping and reconciliation and to revise the infrastructure and constitution of Myanmar and of the NLD to support human rights for all. The struggle for human rights has not stopped in Myanmar, but, now, it is a more universal cry throughout the country. The Tatmadaw has claimed martial law. March 27, Armed Forces Day in Myanmar, was one of the deadliest days of this coup: There are over 100 confirmed deaths from the parades and protests. Innocent civilians are being murdered by the governing power. What is the fate of Myanmar? The fate of peaceful protest? As established by John Locke in the Age of Enlightenment, people have the natural right to revolt against a government that acts against the interest of its people. What is
to become of this precedent with the martial law in Myanmar? This military coup is a means through which a true democracy — not a regime that disregards and systematically abuses the rights of minorities — can be established. By ousting the Tatmadaw for good, a new constitution can be written with influence from international actors to ensure that reconciliation unites the various ethnic groups of Myanmar. We must act to endorse a global commitment to human rights and peace. The military and the government of Myanmar both must be held accountable. Due to China’s power in the Security Council and its own national interest — alliances, economic desires and its own ongoing human rights abuses — China seems to be the linchpin of halting this atrocity. China must support intervention in and condemnation of Myanmar to terminate this coup and to stop genocide and mass atrocity crimes from occurring. History seems to be repeating itself in Myanmar, as this coup catalyzed military rule once again, after the country had briefly transitioned from six decades of military rule toward democracy. We, as students, must rally around the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar to fight for Myanmar’s freedom from military power and in support of halting the genocide and mass atrocity crimes that have occurred there. Here are five things that, as a college student in the United States, you can do right now to make a small impact on Myanmar’s fight for human rights and democracy: 1. Tell Congress to impose sanctions on the military in Myanmar. 2. Educate yourself on what is occurring and stay up to date with the news. 3. Find a petition you support and sign it. Here’s one. 4. Make a gift in support of activists fighting for Myanmar, such as the International Campaign for the Rohingya. 5. Make those in your social networks aware of what is happening! Julia Shufro is a junior studying history. Julia can be reached at julia.shufro@tufts.edu.
8 Friday, April 2, 2021
Sports
tuftsdaily.com
NCAA grants extra year of eligibility, seniors contemplate their futures by Isabel Castro
Contributing Writer
As college coaches across the United States begin the recruiting process for upcoming seasons, current players are pressured with the decision to stay in school or proceed with their original post-graduate plans. Student-athletes throughout the United States face tough choices when it comes to future plans for themselves and their respective sports at their current universities. In late March of 2020, the NCAA released statements that granted spring sport collegiate athletes an extra year of eligibility. When the COVID-19 pandemic encroached upon the 2020-2021 school year, the NCAA granted the extra year of eligibility to fall and winter sports teams as well. The goal for many playing a sport at the Div. III level is to win a national championship; but at heart, many play for simply the love of the game. Although Tufts offers several masters programs for students looking to extend their stay in Medford, these programs might not have been as tempting for student-athletes prior to the NCAA announcement. Senior Taggart Eymer, a member of the men’s varsity lacrosse team who transferred from Bryant University, will be taking advantage of his extra year of athletic eligibility by pursuing a master’s program through the Tufts School of Engineering’s Gordon Institute. “We had other kids in the past that have taken fifth years on our team, so I talked to a lot of alumni and I found the MSIM program, Master of Science in innovation and management, and that fits in line with exactly what I want to do in the real world,” Eymer said. “It’s kind of like the perfect combination of not only being able to come back and study what I want to study next year but also I have that extra year of eligibility. The eligibility piece was definitely a huge part of it.”
Aiden Herrod The Fast Break
The visceral beauty of the NBA’s play-in tournament
I
t’s undeniable that COVID-19 has ravaged any hope for a normal NBA season. I feel like a broken record speaking about how the pandemic has forced leagues to make sacrifices and be creative. However, one aspect of this bizarre moment in sports that I think is being underappreciated is the NBA’s willingness to embrace innovation. This was put on full display in the bubble: a unique event in sports
SEOHYUN SHIM / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES
Hannah Isenhart runs on the field during a game against Trinity on Sept. 17, 2017. Other seniors are still unsure of their future plans as the school year comes to a close. Senior Eddie Hannon, a member of the men’s varsity hockey team, feels that he’s still on the same path he was on prior to COVID-19, even with a few minor setbacks. Although the unexpected time off from his sport posed troubling questions, Hannon was able to find some answers. “I wasn’t really driven to get a job,” Hannon said, in the midst of all the uncertainty with his 2020– 21 season. “[The time off] was a hindrance because [I went] from being motivated and happy … and wanting to work hard, [but when I] dealt with the blow of losing the season and losing a major piece of my identity, I had to reshape and figure out who am I without the athletic side, and who am I on campus if I’m not telling people I’m on the hockey team anymore?” Many student-athletes on campus have taken the required time off from their sports to explore new activities on campus, networking opportunities and themselves. “It gave me other opportunities to find myself and who I am out-
side of hockey and make myself happy and explore things I always wish I had more time for,” Hannon said in reference to the fortuitous time he had this past year. “The opportunities and disadvantages even themselves out.” After working as an intern for EY-Parthenon, senior Hannah Isenhart, a member of the varsity women’s soccer team, made her decision over the summer to postpone her full-time job offer to extend her time at Tufts. Isenhart was actually ahead of the game and made her decision prior to the NCAA’s granting fall 2020 athletes the extra year of eligibility. “COVID-19 definitely impacted my graduation plans a significant amount,” Isenhart said. “Going into the summer I figured we wouldn’t end up having a senior season and things wouldn’t be normal again for quite some time. After I had my internship this summer at EY-Parthenon, I ended up asking them if I could postpone my offer date for a full-time role and, instead, come back [to Tufts] and take another year off.” After the company allowed Isenhart to postpone her offer date, she decided to take the fall 2020 semester off and postpone
her own graduation. Isenhart will be eligible to play soccer at Tufts this coming fall. “It was sad not to be on campus but ultimately I’m glad that I’ll get to have a final senior year [season] and get to be here hopefully when things are a little bit more normal than now.” Senior Nolan Ostmo, a defensive back on the varsity football team, has taken advantage of networking opportunities in his free time. “This fall semester I was actually still working out with football, and at that point, I was still hoping we would do something in the spring,” Ostmo said. “Once we learned that nothing was going to happen in the spring, that was when I decided that football was not for me anymore at this point and it’s better to focus my attention on other places … I did a lot of networking, which I may not have had time for if I was playing sports and focusing all my energy there.” Many seniors, like Ostmo, have also used the free time in their senior off-seasons to help mentor younger players during a time when they would normally be “retired,” and coaches have made the most out of having a full roster
that we will recall for years to come. In the NBA’s first full season under COVID-19’s grip, it has continued to push the envelope with bold changes. My favorite of these is the advent of the new play-in tournament, which has single-handedly shifted the competitive landscape of the league in strange and beautiful ways. To briefly recap the rules of the play-in, seeds No. 7 through No. 10 in each conference will be considered play-in teams. This is a departure from the traditional playoff in a few key ways. First, it makes seeds No. 1 through No. 6 far more coveted, as those teams are the only ones guaranteed to play in a playoff series. Seeds No. 7 and No. 8 will face off, with the winner securing the seventh seed and a spot in the playoffs. The loser will play the winner of a game between seeds No. 9 and No. 10, and the winner of that game will secure the final spot in
the playoffs. This means that two of the four teams will make the playoffs, emerging from what will surely be intense, entertaining games that whet our appetites for the playoffs. I love what the play-in has done to the parity of the league. In each conference, I can count at least one competent team that will fall beyond the No. 11 seed and miss the play-in entirely. Additionally, many mid-seed teams are only barely clinging to their spots. As of April 1, there are three games of separation in the Eastern Conference between the fourth-seeded Charlotte Hornets and the ninth-seeded Indiana Pacers. That’s not even counting three other competitive East teams, who could all qualify for the play-in tournament. The Chicago Bulls just acquired All-Star Nikola Vucevic (or “Vucci Mane,” a nickname I will fiercely defend as the NBA’s best). The Toronto Raptors have
the talent and pedigree to make a run at any moment, and even the Washington Wizards have a shot behind Russell Westbrook’s recent hot streak of triple-doubles. In the West, the ruling class of the playoff seeding goes all the way to No. 6 before there is a slight drop-off. Even in a throng of teams one could expect to be playoff locks, there are cracks in the facade. The Los Angeles Lakers could experience a standings free fall while LeBron James and Anthony Davis remain injured. Portland’s grip on the sixth seed could loosen in the face of its atrocious defense. Beyond the sixth seed, there are plenty of teams that should look to remain in the scuffle until the bitter end. Luka Dončić and the Dallas Mavericks, Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, coach Greg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs, Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies, Zion Williamson and the
in the off-season to prepare for upcoming seasons. “While I was going through the process of figuring out what I was going to do in my senior year, I think my teammates and coaches both influenced me to at least participate in the athletics going on in football,” said Ostmo. “We were going through general practices and lifts, which I still wanted to be a part of to, at least, lead the younger football guys through what we do here and show them the ropes to set an example for them.” Senior Kirsten Grazewski, a member of the women’s lacrosse team, felt that her team was the biggest influence in her commitment to play her final season this year rather than pursuing her extra eligibility. “My biggest reason is my senior class. I don’t think I would have wanted to complete my last season with anybody except for them, even if it is a limited season,” Grazewski said. “I think that for me the most important thing in terms of lacrosse is my teammates, and even with COVID, I still get to make very valuable memories with them and spend tons of time with them. So with or without a full season I still get the full experience.” Traditionally, student-athletes are given four seasons to play their sports, but with the new NCAA eligibility rules, there will be some differences during the 2021–22 school year. The change will affect recruiting numbers and roster sizes for the next couple of years, especially if athletes affected by COVID-19 continue to take fifth years to extend their time with their respective sports and teams. There will certainly be an increase in competition for roster spots for current players and incoming recruits, but returning Jumbos are up for the challenge to improve themselves and the status of their teams in the process. New Orleans Pelicans, the list goes on and on. My point being, the play-in has made playoff basketball more than feasible for a number of teams. Twenty teams will play meaningful, do-or-die basketball in May. It’s the exact wrinkle we needed to counteract the weirdness of a season shortened by COVID-19. It means the number of teams waving the white flag and opting to tank is incredibly small, amounting to only three or so per conference. It will make this final stretch of the season as entertaining, if not more so, than the playoffs themselves. The NBA continues to innovate and push boundaries, and I really hope they keep this development in the long term. Let the chaos begin. Aiden Herrod is a junior studying film and media studies and entrepreneurship. Aiden can be reached at aiden.herrod@tufts.edu.