The Tufts Daily - Wednesday, September 8, 2021

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INDEPENDENT

STUDENT

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TUFTS

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T HE T UFTS DAILY

VOLUME LXXXII, ISSUE 2

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MASS.

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Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Welcome Back, Tufts!

ORLL houses approximately 100 first-years in Hyatt Place Medford

by Ria Agarwal

“[One] bus will begin at the Hyatt at 7 AM while a second bus begins at the Davis Sq stop,” John Savino, assistant director of transportation and contract services, wrote in an email to the Daily. “Then at 9 AM, a third bus is brought on beginning at the Hyatt.”

This schedule is made to ensure that the buses consistently remain on a 15–20 minute loop, according to Savino.

According to Hartman, the Hyatt Place offers superior accommodations compared to standard housing. These include luxury bedding, free laundry services and complimentary room cleaning by hotel staff. Hartman noted that these students will receive preferential treatment in next year’s

News Editor

Tufts Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL) announced that approximately 100 first-year students will live at the Hyatt Place in Medford Square this year instead of typical first-year dorm-style housing.

The students, who were selected at random from a pool of first-year students arriving on Sept. 1, will be housed on several floors of the Hyatt Place.

According to Josh Hartman, senior director of residential life and learning, the hotel is less than a mile away from campus and within biking and walking distance. The university will also provide a shuttle from the Hyatt Place to the center of Tufts campus and the Davis Square T stop.

COLTON WOLK / THE TUFTS DAILY

see HOTEL, page 2

The Hyatt Place Medford is home to 100 first-year students this academic year.

Tufts implementing pooled COVID-19 Tufts to help unvaccinated international students testing for 2021–22 academic year receive vaccine upon arrival

by Zoe Kava News Editor

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

The Medford/Somerville campus’s COVID-19 testing site is pictured on Sept. 20, 2020.

by Peri Barest

Deputy News Editor

Tufts University is switching to a pooled COVID-19 testing procedure for the 2021–22 academic year; pooled testing processes up to 10 samples

at once, performing the same polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 test that was used for individual testing in the past.

“Pooled testing combines samples from up to ten students and performs a COVID-

19 PCR test on that group,” University Infection Control Health Director Michael Jordan wrote in an email to the Daily.

“If the results of the test indicate that any of the samples are see TESTING, page 3

Due to discrepancies in vaccine administration among different countries around the world, Tufts will assist international students in receiving a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved vaccine if they had been unable to already do so by the beginning of the fall semester, according to university health officials.

“Tufts is requiring students to be vaccinated, but we understand that students arriving from international locations may have difficulty accessing the vaccine,” Caggiano wrote to the Daily in an email. “Tufts will assist these students in receiving the vaccine after they arrive on campus in the fall.”

Jordan said that any student who is not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 upon getting to campus will be required to quarantine for seven days before leaving their rooms or off-cam-

FEATURES / page 5

OPINION / page 12

SPORTS / back

Students bring new perspectives back to campus after gap semesters and years

Letter from the Editor in Chief: Welcome to the Hill, Class of 2025

First-year Olympic swimmer looks to combine academic and athletic pursuits at Tufts

pus apartments.

“Upon arrival on campus, any student who is not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and who has not been approved for a medical or religious accommodation, will be required by state and local health regulations to quarantine for 7 days before leaving their rooms or off-campus apartments,” Jordan wrote to the Daily in an email.

Caggiano added that once students complete the initial quarantine period, they won’t have to wait until they are fully vaccinated in order to participate in campus activities.

“While in the quarantine period, students will need to stay in their rooms, and participate in activities virtually. Caggiano said.

“After the 7-day quarantine period, students can participate fully in all campus activities, even as they are completing the vaccine series.” see VACCINATION, page 2 NEWS

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FEATURES

5

ARTS & POP CULTURE

8

FUN & GAMES

11

OPINION

12

SPORTS

BACK

2

THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, September 8, 2021

THE TUFTS DAILY Madeleine Aitken Editor in Chief

— EDITORIAL — MARIEL PRIVEN KATE SEKLIR Managing Editors

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HOTEL

breakfast on campus because by the time we wake up, get ready and get to campus, [dining halls] are switching over to lunch.”

According to Hartman, students living in the Hyatt Place are provided a free light breakfast at the hotel. However, residents must travel to campus if they choose to eat at one of the on-campus dining centers.

Hyatt Place resident Santiago Castillo Juarez echoed Powers’ and Kokoros’ sentiments of there being a social disconnect between students living in on-campus dorms and those living at the Hyatt Place.

“I am worried about the disconnect; not being on campus has meant we haven’t had enough time to meet new people and just organically socialize,” Juarez, a first-year, wrote in an email to the Daily.

Powers and Kokoros said that living in the Hyatt Place makes them feel more like commuter students than on-campus residents. The hotel environment also limits their ability to meet new people.

“We try to come to campus as much as possible and build connections, but with nowhere

to go on campus, we sit in the dining halls,” Powers and Kokoros said.

Dean of Student Affairs Camille Lizarríbar explained that the reason behind the housing issue is that the desire to attend Tufts is the highest it has ever been. According to Lizarríbar, universities usually admit more students than they anticipate enrolling based on historical models that predict student commitment rates.

“In a normal year, a small number of students elect to attend college elsewhere, apply for a personal or medical leave, or request a gap year,” Lizarríbar wrote in an email to the Daily.

“That did not happen this summer as much as anticipated.”

Hartman noted that ORLL’s decision to accommodate firstyear students in an off-campus hotel does not denote any form of housing crisis.

“While this happens infrequently at Tufts – the last time was in 1978 – it happens with some frequency at other schools, and the use of hotel space is a common solution in these situations,” Hartman wrote in an email to the Daily.

In order to remedy the housing issue, Hartman ensured that increasing on-campus housing is a top priority for Tufts.

This year, ORLL is adding 80 beds by converting Blakeley Hall to undergraduate housing. Moreover, there are also projects underway to add beds to 114 Professors Row and 123 Packard Avenue.

Despite this, according to ORLL, the demand for campus housing consistently exceeds Tufts’ capacity. Therefore, as ORLL acknowledged in an email to the students who had been selected to live in the Hyatt Place, it is unlikely that the housing measures instituted this year, including placing some first-years in the Hyatt Place, will sufficiently accommodate Tufts’ growing student body in the future.

“The university plans to expand its campus housing capacity through the construction of a new residence hall that will enable us to accommodate more of our students in the future and potentially alleviate pressure on the apartment rental market in our host communities,” Hartman said.

Unvaccinated students must quarantine upon arrival to Tufts VACCINATION

continued from page 1 An email from Student Life to students on June 9 made students aware of a “July 1st deadline” to upload proof of vaccination. However, Director Andrew Shiotani of the International Center said that this deadline was a soft one, and students who were not able to receive the vaccine before this date are still allowed to return to campus.

“The University asked students to submit their vaccination document by July 1st, but international students were not prevented/are not being prevented from coming to campus if they didn’t submit the required documentation by that July 1st date,” Shiotani wrote in an email to the Daily.

Jordan also said that the July 1st deadline was established mainly to encourage students to get vaccinated as soon as possible and before classes began in the fall.

Shiotani emphasized that all students are subject to the student vaccination policy, including international students, but that the university understands that some international students might not have easy access to the vaccine.

“I think it’s important to emphasize that all students are subject to the student vaccination policy,” Shiotani said. “But the University did acknowledge throughout this process that international students in particular may not be able to get vaccinated prior to arrival on campus this fall, and so the University is prepared to allow them to start

Wednesday, September 8, 2021 | News | THE TUFTS DAILY

3

Carmichael launches all new allergy-friendly menu, maintains traditional physical arrangements

ResLife converts Blakeley to undergraduate housing, announces additional residential construction continued from page 1 housing lottery to make up for the inconvenience caused by the extra transportation time to and from the Hyatt Place.

However, Hyatt Place residents Elizabeth Powers and Christian Kokoros believe that the accommodations at the Hyatt Place do not sufficiently imitate the community environment promoted by on-campus dorm-style housing.

“The rooms at the Hyatt can never replicate something as personal and homey as a dorm,” Powers and Kokoros, both firstyears, wrote in an email to the Daily. “There is no sense of community [due to] the lack of common spaces such as bathrooms and kitchens.”

Moreover, Powers and Kokoros argued that the extra transportation necessary to travel to and from the Hyatt Place inhibits students’ access to and engagement in on-campus activities.

“The shuttle is very unreliable, and it is hard to make it to campus to do simple things like eat food,” Powers and Kokoros said. “Most days we cannot get

News

by Emily Thompson Assistant News Editor

Carmichael Dining Center has entered a new era of allergen-friendly cuisine available to the Tufts community, releasing an all-new peanut-, tree nut- and gluten-free menu.

Fresh at Carmichael — the new name for the rebranded dining center — provides an increased variety and flexibility of food options for students with food allergies or dietary requirements.

“Food is such an integral part of the student experience and we feel strongly that it is important to create a dining experience that is welcoming and accessible to all students,” Patti Klos, director of dining and business services, said in an email to the Daily.

The redesign of Carmichael focuses more on the menu than the physical space. Still, students will notice minor cosmetic changes within the establishment, including new, dark gray “Fresh at Carm” signage, an updated paint job and a takeout station.

According to Klos, Tufts Dining has added a takeout area at the entrance to Carmichael. She said that this Carm2GO take-out station is intended to make it easier for students to pre-order food to avoid long wait times during high-service meal periods.

Carm2GO will be available Tuesday and Thursday from 12 –2 p.m. for lunch and Monday– Thursday from 5–7 p.m. for dinner. The dining center is also welcoming the return of indoor seating with current COVID-19 guidelines allowing for indoor occupancy to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Klos said that the dining team began developing the menu concepts that are being

NICHOLAS PFOSI / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES

Tufts Dining Services employee Kat Barry cleans the salad bar in Carmichael Dining Hall on Jan. 27, 2015. introduced this fall in early spring.

“Designing a menu that is gluten and nut-free eliminated our ability to rely on convenience products or pre-processed products,” Klos said.

“We decided to turn this to our advantage and make everything as fresh, authentic, and clean as possible.”

In total, the culinary team created over 190 new recipes on top of reworking older recipes to reflect a new, fresh approach to eating at Carmichael this year. In addition to the dining center’s classic recipes — such as vegetable mac and cheese and General Tso’s chicken — the new menu features options such as a ramen bar with chashu

pork, a pho bar and blackberry butter.

“The menu focuses on global flavors that are more nutrient-dense and more scratch cooking,” Klos said. “Most foods offered in the Dining Centers are made completely on campus, including the marinades and sauces.”

Sophomore Rachel Coll recalled first seeing the announcement that Carmichael was changing its menu options.

“I immediately took a screenshot and sent it to my friends who are nut-free and gluten-free,” Coll said. “I was definitely excited for them, because I know that finding food that is right to eat for them can be hard.”

Despite changes to Carmichael’s menu and touchups to its physical appearance, the dining center is not getting the organizational restructure that was originally proposed in the spring. Dining Services initially considered changing Carmichael from its traditional buffet-style system to a retail establishment, similar to Hodgdon Food-on-the-Run. The move drew widespread protests and criticism from many students, including members of the Tufts Labor Coalition, who feared that the change would limit accessibility to on-campus food and cause Dining Services employees to lose their jobs.

Following the outcry, Klos confirmed to the Daily in May that

Carmichael would continue to operate as a traditional dining center and that there would be no layoffs.

Emma Holland, an organizer with Tufts Labor Coalition, spearheaded the “Save Carm” campaign to mobilize students and community members to email, phonebank and sign petitions directed to the Tufts administration. She said she was happy with the ultimate outcome of the renovated Carmichael Dining Center.

“I am vegetarian, and mostly vegan, so I appreciate that they’re doing that,” Holland, a sophomore, said. “They got the gluten-free, nut-free situation that they wanted and we got the dining hall that we needed.”

amount of time and resources while helping to ensure a safe environment in schools.”

Tufts developed the pooled-testing methodology last year in collaboration with the Broad Institute, Jordan said. With help from Tufts, the new process and results portal were piloted in Medford and Somerville K-12 public schools and found to be highly effective. Sedore added that Tufts is supporting pooled testing initiatives at several other local colleges.

While pooled testing will be the main method of COVID19 testing this year, the university also employed a rapid test during arrival testing.

All on-campus students were required to get a negative rapid test result at the Gantcher Center before moving into their dorms.

“The rapid test is called BinaxNOW and is self-administered in the same way — ante-

rior nasal swab — as the PCR test, but the test is processed as soon as collection is done and results appear within 15 minutes,” Jordan said.

While the university’s vaccination requirement has allowed for the easing of many COVID-19 guidelines, Jordan said that Tufts’ approach to health and safety protocols, particularly COVID-19 testing, remains unchanged.

“Generally, the widespread availability of effective vaccines has enabled us to revise or eliminate many of the restrictions that were in place during the last academic year,” Jordan said. “However, we all will need to continue to comply with safe health practices and the guidelines now in place in order to prevent spread and reduce the number of COVID19 cases, especially for those who remain vulnerable to serious illness on campus and in our host communities.”

Pooled testing to process ten samples at once TESTING

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The university will support international students in securing COVID-19 vaccinations. and complete their vaccination cycle upon arrival.”

While Shiotani did not say which countries in particular have limited access to the vaccine, he acknowledged the uneven vaccine rollout that may make it difficult for international students to get vaccinated.

“It’s impossible for me to say which countries have been ‘better’ or ‘worse’ in these areas, but we do know that worldwide rollout of vaccines has been uneven and inconsistent and remains a global equity and public health challenge,” he said.

While unvaccinated international students will be allowed to return to campus,

the International Center heard plenty of concerns early in the summer from students who were worried they would not be allowed to enter the U.S if they were not vaccinated with a US FDA-emergencyauthorized (FDA was already introduced)emergency-authorized vaccine.

“We’ve clarified that the U.S government does not require proof of vaccination as a condition of entry into the US (however, international travelers are required to show proof of a negative result from a COVID test taken within three days prior to their international flight),” Shiotani said.

According to Shiotani, the struggles that international students may face when entering the country are not issues with vaccination status, but instead the travel restrictions that several countries have put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The primary challenge that international students have had in coming to the US is the worldwide impact of COVID-19 on US consulates and embassies, restrictions on international travel due to prevalence of COVID-19 in different parts of the world, and on home country health care systems and related challenges,” he said.

continued from page 1 positive, follow-up tests will be given to each student in the pool to determine which student tested positive.”

Chris Sedore, chief information officer and vice president for information technology, wrote in an email to the Daily that every individual in a pool who tests positive will receive a text message, email or phone call alerting them to return to the testing center as soon as possible for an individual retest. If there are no positive results in a pool, everyone in the pool will receive text and email notifications confirming a negative test in the new Tufts testing portal.

Sedore added that CareEvolve, the online platform Tufts used last year for COVID-19 testing and reporting, was designed to manage individual PCR test results, not pooled testing. Therefore, the

university developed a new results platform to accommodate the shift to pooled testing. Despite the new testing portal, all pooled tests and any subsequent individual tests will be processed by the Broad Institute, as they were last year.

Marie Caggiano, medical director of Health Service, said that weekly COVID-19 testing is crucial for the safety of the Tufts community.

“All faculty, staff and students who come to any Tufts University campus, regardless of frequency, are required to participate in routine surveillance testing,” Caggiano wrote in an email to the Daily.

“Students living on campus, coming to campus regularly, accessing Tufts facilities or attending in-person classes will be tested once a week.”

Caggiano explained that economic and environmental advantages motivated the switch to pooled testing.

“Combining samples from multiple people into a single test is more environmentally sustainable and offers significant resource and cost savings without sacrificing the accuracy or speed of individual testing,” Caggiano said. “The environmental impact is significantly less, with one larger tube being used in the pooled test versus 10 smaller ones being used in the individual test.”

According to the Broad Institute, pooled testing is especially useful for academic institutions, like Tufts, where a large volume of samples needs to be processed every day.

“Pooled testing is most effective in large populations, such as a school, where the infection rate is relatively low,” the Broad Institute explained on its website. “Pooled testing reduces the number of tests that need to be processed in the lab, saving a massive

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Wednesday, September 8, 2021

tuftsdaily.com

First-year, transfer students participate in in-person preorientation programs

tuftsdaily.com

by Madeline Mueller

5 Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Students returning to Tufts following gap semesters and years reflect on unique, rewarding experiences

Contributing Writer

First-year and transfer students began arriving to participate in pre-orientation programs on Aug. 27. This year, the programs were offered in person, marking a change from last year’s virtual itinerary.

According to Chelsea Jordan, associate director of campus life, over 1,000 incoming students participated in some form of pre-orientation program.

Program choices ranged from several days of backpacking, camping or canoeing in New England with Tufts Wilderness Orientation (TWO) to community service trips in the local area with First Year Orientation Community Service (FOCUS).

According to Jordan, students and student leaders all followed Tufts University’s fall COVID-19 protocols, including a testing sequence at move-in and wearing masks at indoor locations, regardless of if students lived on or off campus. With these precautions in place, all pre-orientation programs were offered in-person, unlike last year when all programming was virtual.

Jordan mentioned that pre-orientation programs are largely student-run and operated. This means that student coordinators do the legwork to prepare for the first years’ arrival and also train the upperclassman pre-orientation group leaders. This year, the role included adapting the programming to meet COVID-19 guidelines. “​​ We worked really closely with Health Service and with various Tufts administration [staff ] to get all of our steps cleared,” TWO Student Coordinator Emmy Daro said.

There were several logistical changes made to ensure that the program was operating safely.

Daro, a junior, explained that, in addition to wearing masks indoors, the program de-densified transportation and offered individual, wrapped-style meals.

Student coordinators and group leaders faced additional challenges from transitioning back to in-person programming after last year’s entirely virtual pre-orientation.

“A lot of the generational knowledge that is in the program, passed down from the coordinator team year to year, was lost,” Daro said. “And so it sort of felt like we were starting from scratch on a lot of things.”

FOCUS Group Leader Avani Kabra agreed that it was a new challenge to lead traditional in-person programming.

Features

COURTESY JACOB BEISER, SAMANTHA RAYMOND AND EMIKA BROWN

Jacob Beiser and Soliman Aboutaam (left), Samantha Raymond (top right) and Emika Brown (bottom right) are pictured.

by Raga Chilakamarri

Assistant Features Editor

SOPHIE DOLAN / THE TUFTS DAILY

First-years participating in the FIT pre-orientation program pose with junior Noah Jaeger Bruel on the Memorial Steps on Aug. 31.

“It just required an institutional memory of people who are just older to … try and remember what it was like two years ago,” Kabra, a junior, said. “So that was definitely difficult.”

Despite these new challenges, student leaders viewed the end result as a success.

“Ultimately, because this program is almost entirely outside … things operated as normally as they could have,” Daro said.

“And that was a really incredible feeling to see happen, to see so much of what makes the program special not be lost.”

Fitness and Individual Development (FIT) group leader Katie Shelburne felt a sense of appreciation among the members of the group she led.

“T​​hey all came in extremely excited … I know a lot of them have been in online school for the last year and a half,” Shelburne, a sophomore, said.

The in-person FIT experience was also important to Shelburne, as her own experience was virtual.

“I felt like it was … much easier to connect with my FITters and other fellow leaders in person,” she said. “It was easier to check how

[everyone] was doing in-person rather than behind the screen.”

Overall, the small-group format allows students to get to know one another on a more personal level within larger pre-orientation programs. Most programs divide participants into smaller groups with dedicated upperclassmen group leaders. In addition to leading planned activities, group leaders like Shelburne act as mentors to new students by providing advice and resources as well as helping them orient themselves physically on campus.

In general, students seemed very happy with their time in pre-orientation.

“I think it was really fun. One thing I wasn’t expecting at all is that the leaders genuinely did … want to be your friends,” Anna O’Sullivan, a first-year, said.

“And it felt less like it was kind of an authority and … more of just like, people to give you advice … I think everybody found little groups or communities whether that was new friends or just through the actual pre-orientation. It gave me a better sense of Tufts.”

TION OF STA T CIA

The uncertain circumstances prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic forced many students to carefully consider their plans for the 2020–21 academic year.

While many chose to continue attending classes at Tufts as previously planned — enrolling either remotely or in person — others decided to take time off, engaging in a wide array of unique experiences.

These are the stories of three students who explored gap semesters or gap years, the memorable moments that shaped their time off and the key takeaways they will bring into their upcoming semester.

Jacob Beiser Jacob Beiser, now a sophomore, spent his gap year in Ithaca, N.Y. along with his close friend from Tufts, Soliman Aboutaam.

They primarily worked as carpenter’s apprentices to Beiser’s uncle.

Beiser and Aboutaam helped renovate a run-down lakehouse property that Beiser’s uncle had initially planned to flip, redoing the entire first floor.

“We also ended up building a boathouse next to the water, which is probably one of the more memorable parts of that experience for sure,” Beiser said.

Along with various woodworking, construction and painting jobs, Beiser and Aboutaam also babysat for local families.

Beiser explained that he had not set out on his gap year with an intention to learn carpentry, but after being sent home in the middle of his freshman spring semester, he knew that a virtual school

wouldn’t be an environment conducive to learning for him.

“I just felt like I wasn’t going to be able to fully commit myself to the experience of hybrid learning and hybrid socializing,” Beiser said. “And, I wanted to do something that challenged me and kind of scared me.”

While slightly apprehensive about missing out on a year at Tufts with his friends, Beiser said that the opportunity to learn from his uncle, a carpenter, appealed to him.

“Anything that will help make me grow as a person,” Beiser said. “I just was like, ‘You know what, I got to do it.’ And I was like, ‘What’s up Soliman? Let’s do this.’”

Beiser remarked that he was surprised to discover how repetitive tasks became a form of meditation.

“I was sanding wood for eight hours,” Beiser said. “Before that, the thought of doing that sounded horrible. But I grew to enjoy it, because I kind of turned it into this weird, meditative [thing], kind of examining my thoughts.”

Moreover, learning from a craftsman and being surrounded by a myriad of materials inspired Beiser to reinvest in his love for visual art. Beiser would make oil pastel drawings on scrap wood from the workshop and create wall art decorations.

“It was definitely a new experience for me using wood as a medium … But it’s really cool to be able to hold a physical thing and then do art on a 3D surface because I was just mostly used to doing art [through] drawing,” Beiser said.

Although he does not intend to continue directly pursuing

carpentry, Beiser said he will carry with him a greater appreciation for how objects are built in his everyday life. He described his time in Ithaca as a rewarding chance to be deliberate about what he was committing himself to in each moment. At the same time, he separated himself from the pressures of a liberal arts setting, where he said it was easy to be concerned about fully understanding one’s future.

“I think doing carpentry — like doing woodworking — taught me to be very present with the work I’m doing and appreciate that and not be focused on sort of an outcome or result and how that might affect my future and my … prospects for the future,” Beiser said.

Small moments of contentment and fulfillment at the end of each day emerged as instances of success, according to Beiser.

“I think every success moment kind of came down to the times when we would stop and reflect on our choices that we had made, recognizing that we kind of had gone against the grain a little bit [and] that we were not surrounded by our friends … that we had made a choice that, although hard, [had] a lot of unknowns, and didn’t seem like the move in the beginning,” Beiser said. “Like, we were kind of appreciating the benefits of making a difficult decision that prioritized our well-being in the future over our comfort in the present.”

Coming into this new semester, Beiser expressed a mix of nervousness about engaging anew with academic work and optimism about the love he holds for the Tufts community.

“I’m an undeclared major, but

I am excited to reinvest in academics and learning … and just see what that’s like,” Beiser said.

“And I’m kind of trying to take that challenge, as I took the challenge of going into Ithaca to work as a carpenter.”

Samantha Raymond During her junior year, Samantha Raymond, an international relations major from Bala Cynwyd, Pa., chose to enroll remotely in the local Montgomery County Community College (Montco) while living at home with her family.

“It was such an incredibly different experience than Tufts,” Raymond said. “But it gave me insights that will inform the rest of my academic career and definitely my life as well.”

Raymond described how she and her family took quarantine very seriously. Shedid not see anyone outside of her parents and brother from March 2020 until getting vaccinated this year, which ultimately informed her decision not to attend Tufts in person. When a friend from high school recommended taking classes at Montco, Raymond said she was willing to give it a try.

“I kind of was like, ‘What’s the downside of doing that?’”

Raymond said. “If I hate it, I’ll stop. And if I love it … I’m safely at home, I’m not paying Tufts tuition, I’m going to Zoom school, but it’s a completely new experience.”

For Raymond, her time at Montco was transformative. “I am community college’s biggest fan,” Raymond said. “Like I thought it was the most amazing experience of my life. Because, for one thing … I could take anything that I wanted.”

Raymond found herself taking an assortment of classes, including Criminal Justice, Intro to Homeland Security, Educational Psychology, Biology and even Spanish 1 despite being a French minor. Raymond said she was particularly impressed by the small class sizes and the professors’ willingness to form meaningful one-on-one relationships with the students — even in asynchronous courses.

“The teachers at Montco — I went there for one year — they know me better than all but two professors at Tufts,” Raymond said. “And I was shocked because I love Tufts.”

Learning about other students in her classes proved to be an invaluable part of Montco for Raymond.

“The woman that I was put in the breakout room with … you could hear stuff behind her,” Raymond said, recalling one instance of meeting a classmate in her biology class. “And I was like, ‘Oh, my God, what’s up’… and she was like, ‘I have five kids.

I work. Like, I’m in my bathroom so that they can’t disrupt this call.

I’m just trying the most to get my degree.’”

Contrary to many people’s assumptions about community college, Raymond said that her classmates’ life stories — from a retired 80-year-old who used to be in the military to a high schooler getting ahead on credits — left her with a strong admiration for her peers.

“It’s just watching people give it their all at a place where people believe that people don’t give it anything,” Raymond said. “Like see TIME OFF, page 7

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THE TUFTS DAILY | Features | Wednesday, September 8, 2021

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Reflecting on two years of pandemic education

TIME OFF

Features Editor

SOPHIE DOLAN / THE TUFTS DAILY

Zoom is open on a laptop with class notes on the side. orientation coordinator, enjoyed being able to fast forward in pre-recorded lectures and felt more at ease attending virtual office hours.

“It can be really intimidating, especially as a first-year, to go to professors’ office hours and only have one question … but the virtual aspect of that I feel really helped me during COVID to actually go and meet my professors, so it broke down some type of barrier,” Ostrowski, a junior, said.

Some new procedures outside of the classroom have improved student life as well. Patti Klos, director of Dining and Business Services, sees Tufts’ Mobile Order app and takeout model as a success, despite initial issues. The takeout model offers more flexibility with students, and has been popular.

“I loved going to Dewick my freshman year and sitting down, but sometimes you don’t want to … sit there and eat your whole meal,” Ostrowski said.

“Now you can ask for a to-go container … and you can also sit in Dewick now.”

However, there have been plenty of unsuccessful efforts to adapt to the pandemic. Many accommodations did little to ease the incredible stress for students and staff of living in such uncertain times, perhaps the most detrimental impact.

“Everybody’s just on edge at all times, especially being an RA — I was an RA in the spring — and having to remind people to wear their masks and having to hold other people accountable,” Ostrowski said.

Steve Cohen, senior lecturer in the Department of Education, believes the biggest fumbles

during the pandemic were not specific actions, but rather opportunities for action that were not taken.

“I don’t, unfortunately, think we learned an awful lot, because we didn’t try very much,” Cohen said. “Most K-12 systems nationwide did not handle the pandemic particularly creatively …

For most of them, they just tried to do online what they do in school.”

Tufts’ Educational Policy Committee, a group of faculty and students that works closely with the TCU Education Committee, identified a racial divide created by the EP/F policy which it hopes to reconcile in the future.

“In the course of analyzing which students took EP grades, we discovered a large discrepancy between Black students’ grades and others: Black students in general received lower grades than Latinx students, who had lower grades than white or Asian students,” an EPC report stated.

The EPC further noted students chose to take EP grades to avoid getting low grades, but found many students considered B+ low enough to take an EP grade.

“We have spent the spring thinking about how to fix the inequities in the grade system and how to combat the gradesfirst mentality so many students developed in the course of trying to earn admission to a selective college,” the report stated.

The largely successful efforts of Tufts Dining were not without issue either. While meal swipes were accepted at all dining locations last year — in addition to

the two dining halls, Hodgdon Food-on-the-Run and Pax et Lox — Klos said this was an unsustainable change.

“The other locations are designed to provide services for third- and fourth-year students, graduate students, staff, faculty and visitors,” Klos wrote in an email to the Daily. “They do not have the production or service capacity to accommodate all the undergraduates, which is why meal swipes are generally restricted in these locations.”

These lessons have informed a range of new ideas going into the 2021–22 school year. This fall is a critical point that will demonstrate whether or not lasting positive change has come out of the pandemic.

“Everybody in some capacity has some type of trauma from COVID and the past year, and doing some type of personal work to reflect on that and acknowledge that year was really hard, and it’s okay to not go back to your previous self,” Ostrowski said.

The transition will be difficult for everyone, but it has the potential to improve the education of many. Many colleges, including Tufts, have long considered making standardized tests like the SAT and ACT optional for admission, and saw the pandemic as a good opportunity to try out the practice.

Cohen enthusiastically supported the action, hoping students’ individual differences can be considered more carefully in the college admissions process. “[Students] have different strengths and weaknesses, and one of the most important jobs of a teacher is to understand who your students are so you know

Wednesday, September 8, 2021 | Features | THE TUFTS DAILY

7

Beiser, Raymond, Brown give glimpses into time away from Tufts

by Ari Navetta

The pandemic has forced a reckoning in all aspects of education. While initially blindsiding educators and administrators across the world, looking back on the past two years, this process seems to have been a long time coming. COVID-19’s impacts on education continue to devastate, but they have also revealed the possibility of a new way forward — a more thoughtful, if complicated, way of teaching that emphasizes individual learning styles and allows experimentation to lead the way.

When Tufts students were first sent home in March 2020 due to the pandemic, the TCU Senate Education Committee, then chaired by senior Iyra Chandra, immediately sprang into action.

The Committee called for Exceptional Pass Fail (EP/F) grading to offer more accommodation to students whose education had just been upended.

Later recommendations included encouraging professors to record class Zoom meetings and enable closed-captioning on Zoom calls.

“A lot of the shift [during the pandemic] became how to make … learning more accessible for students, but also make teacher-student relationships easier with COVID,” Chandra said.

“Because I think there’s definitely a communication gap that just inherently happens when everything is online.”

To that end, the Education Committee passed a resolution calling for all courses in the fall 2021 semester to have some in-person component.

The Committee also presented at a full faculty meeting to give advice on how professors can best accommodate their students. While these actions did not result in an institutional policy that faculty must adhere to, the Committee’s work has still improved the lives of students. “[Senate has] realized in the last two years that it’s helpful to bring things up to faculty members and admin even if it doesn’t result in an actual concrete change because, in the lives of students, if their teacher changes how they’re doing things, it’s still a concrete change,” Chandra said.

The forced experiments of the past two years have provided educators and administrators a host of considerations for the future. Many of these are hopeful — the benefits of Zoom mean it is likely to grace computer screens for years to come — but they are tempered by countless challenges that the pandemic highlighted and created.

“Learning how to do things collaboratively online is a strength, and so I think that some professors who have figured that out in a good way will continue using some of those programs,” Chandra said.

Chandra noted virtual classes are much more comfortable for some students, especially those with learning disabilities.

Hazel Ostrowski, a first-year

F e at u r e s

them and can help them learn in the best way possible,” Cohen said. “And yet, recognizing that students learn differently, we then give everybody the same assessment.”

Ostrowski explained that freshman orientation this year did largely return to its pre-pandemic form, with a few key lessons from the last year. Most social events were held in-person, but more administrative programs, such as placement exams and alcohol/drug trainings, occurred virtually over the summer. A few virtual orientation events, like game and movie nights, allow those concerned about the rapidly spreading Delta variant to participate socially as well.

A path forward that takes into account individual students’ differences, the stress of a rapidly changing world and an honest appraisal of what students should take away from their education brings inherent complexities.

Without relying on standardized approaches, assessing students is difficult, but such streamlined ways of educating never effectively represented students or enabled them to make the most of their education.

The trade-off is well worth it, though. Constant experimentation and analysis of the results could provide much better solutions to issues that have long plagued U.S. K-12 and higher education. A compassionate and critical thinking-centered education system could go far to maximize students’ potential, creating a more able and well-adjusted population.

continued from page 5 every student that goes to community college, people assume is doing the least, they didn’t try in high school, they weren’t smart enough to get into college … These incredible people that I met are doing more than anybody else I know, including most people that go to Tufts.”

Raymond found that the coursework was appropriately challenging and engaging and that her professors were accommodating and reasonable; in some cases, when compared to Tufts, Raymond said that the difference was in grading styles and harshness.

“Community college has such a bad rap for being either the easy route or like you couldn’t get into college … there are so many stigmas around it and going there, I was so angry at myself that I bought into it,” Raymond said. “So the first … two months of going there, the biggest learning experience had nothing to do with my classes. It had to do with me looking at how I looked at academics and how I had judged and essentially graded my peers in high school and going through college, and how wrong that impression was.”

Returning to Tufts this semester, Raymond said she hopes to engage more with the surrounding communities and to proudly encourage others to explore community college as an option for their higher education.

Emika Brown Emika Brown, a junior from Boulder, Colo., lived in Christchurch, New Zealand throughout her spring semester

and into mid-July. Brown stayed in apartment-style dorms at the University of Canterbury where she attended in-person classes while also interning part-time and remotely at Speak for the Trees,an urban forestry and green infrastructure nonprofit located in Boston.

Brown found the fall semester on campus at Tufts to be a challenging environment and had been considering taking her spring semester off — whether that meant enrolling in a community college or traveling abroad — toying with her degree sheet to determine what courses she would need to still graduate with her class. After determining that the University of Canterbury offered the necessary courses for a part-time student, Brown worked through the logistics of traveling to and living in New Zealand.

Since her father is from New Zealand, Brown was granted dual citizenship, making her a part of a small and fortunate population that was allowed to enter the country during the pandemic and quarantine for free for the mandated two weeks in government-contracted hotels.

Given that New Zealand experienced very few COVID19 cases, Brown described the transition between living at Tufts and abiding by social distancing and mask restrictions to entering an essentially pre-COVID-19 lifestyle in New Zealand as rather jarring.

“I left this isolation hotel in February, into legitimately normal life,” Brown said. “It felt like stepping into 2017. Like, everything was overwhelming. Going

to the grocery store was literally exhausting.”

Brown shared that she had always envisioned the idea of living abroad by herself as something cool and exciting. However, making friends proved to be very difficult at times. Brown found that the Kiwis tended to be more shy and insular within their long-standing friend groups.

“I didn’t expect it to be so challenging, especially because it’s a country that I was pretty familiar with, like having gone there a lot growing up because of my dad,” Brown said. “So I wasn’t expecting the loneliness of it.”

Between classes, homework and her internship, Brown spent her time climbing with the climbing club, hiking and exploring the New Zealand countryside.

During a three-week term break, Brown embarked on a road trip, or “roadie,” with an acquaintance she had met through the hiking club. Brown rented a car and planned a loop through the South Island, home to beautiful mountains, mostly staying in hostels and even on a boat at one point.

The hostel culture is both very prominent and very laid back in New Zealand. Brown explained that a large population of Europeans had traveled to New Zealand in the winter of 2019 pre-COVID-19, and ended up hostel hopping because of restrictions and lockdowns in their home countries.

“And then [the European travelers] will run out of money, so they’ll pick fruit for like a month, make a couple $1,000 and then … move on to the next place,” Brown said. “And they’re super

interesting because they’re all … super lonely, but they don’t want to go home … and they also don’t really stick together.”

At one point, Brown and her friend stayed in a hostel up in the mountains, where they shared a six-bunk room packed with German “long-termers” in their late 20s.

“Their stuff was everywhere, like it felt like being in someone’s bedroom,” Brown said. “But it was okay because this beautiful Italian man — love of my life — named Danilo would make us coffee every morning.”

It was on returning to Christchurch after this trip that Brown said she started to feel at home in New Zealand, coming back more confident and comfortable in herself.

“During the first term, when I was super lonely and all the Kiwis were really shy … I was the friendliest person you’ll ever meet,” Brown said. “I was trying so hard … After [that] short break, I started to get … a return on investment. I had like five friends — that was a huge turning point.”

For Brown, her personal growth through her time living alone in New Zealand was tricky to pinpoint exactly. “[I had] to learn how to connect with new people in lots of different settings, from … short interactions with strangers in hostels … that rapid friendship thing where you just tell someone your life story in a night, versus … putting out … constant friendliness and … not getting anything back in a long time,” Brown said. “But I think it made me a lot better at meeting new

people and different types of people.”

Brown recalled memorable snapshots of strangers she had encountered, such as one man from Brooklyn who worked as a bartender for scientists in Antarctica and a carpenter and his pit bull she hitchhiked a ride from.

“I think I definitely learned that age is fake,” Brown said. “I would make friends with people that were like 50, or, like way younger than us.”

It took Brown three months to mentally adjust to Christchurch and by her six-month mark she said she felt very comfortable, having navigated the cultural differences and built a group of friends. Returning to the Boston area in the middle of the summer seemed like an abrupt end to her time in New Zealand, but Brown said she hopes to carry the laid-back and chill attitude of the Kiwis, along with some key slang phrases, into her new year at Tufts. Brown also reflected on the lack of social hierarchy within the culture of New Zealanders, which she said allowed for friendships across age groups.

“Just being more open to … people that I wouldn’t normally have talked to,” Brown said of her outlook on the new semester. “But I think also, my mindset is more like, I had to be really vulnerable with people to make friends … because I felt like I had to take that first step more and more than normal, so I [learned] people really respond to vulnerability. I think that that’s something I will bring into my life here more.”

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Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Kanye tells flawed but epic story of faith and family on 'Donda'

by Tuna Margalit Arts Editor

After three listening parties spanning a month and a half, a 24-hour livestream in Mercedes Benz-Stadium showing the tantalizing happenings of a small, converted bedroom, unreleased songs being played randomly on the radio and just an overall lack of transparency on when his album would release, Kanye West finally allowed “Donda” (2021) to hit the airwaves two Sundays ago.

Well, he didn’t technically allow it to drop, according to a now-deleted Instagram post.

Universal Music Group, the parent company of the labels that distributed the album — GOOD Music and Def Jam Recordings — allegedly did that without his permission.

Alas, “Donda” remains up.

Though named after his late mother, the album is not a tribute as tracks debuted at listening parties seemed to indicate.

Rather, “Donda” is a self-authorized emotional check-up as well as a spiritual successor to “808s & Heartbreak” (2008).

“808s & Heartbreak” was the immediate realization of, among other heartbreaks, his mother’s death, for which Kanye blames himself. The album was the product of shock and trauma. “Donda” is the post-digestion, post-study survey, showing us how Kanye has progressed since his mother’s death. Both are introspective, but the former captured a heart-shattering feeling and turned it into sound. We observed Kanye as he struggled.

The latter adds another dimension, as we sit above the operation theater’s stage and West cuts himself open below.

As with any album, the main elements to highlight and critique are structure, theme and sound.

“Donda” is structured in a mostly sensible manner. It kicks off with “Donda Chant” — 52 seconds of “All Falls Down” (2004) collaborator, Syleena Johnson, repeating Kanye’s eponymous

VIA KANYE WEST

The album cover for Kanye West’s much-anticipated 10th studio album, ‘Donda’ is pictured. mother’s name. We know what album we’re listening to.

The next eight songs all have either dark sounds, dark messages or both. “Jail” finds Kanye and Jay-Z foretelling getting locked up over two differently sounding guitar loops — one anthemic and one menacing.

“Off The Grid” starts with a trap beat for an outstandingly squeaky Playboi Carti feature before cleanly transitioning to a dirty drill beat on which Brooklyn rapper Fivio Foreign unleashes a career-best performance. Kanye also spits his best verse since “Kids See Ghosts” (2018) or maybe even “The Life of Pablo” (2016). On “Ok Ok,” Kanye, Lil Yachty and Rooga bemoan those in their lives who have been disloyal or fake over a beat that sounds evil and medieval.

The album mellows over the next four songs, with “Believe What I Say” and “Moon” being two sparkling additions to the pantheon of Kanye’s best tracks.

After the soothing “Moon” comes “Heaven and Hell,” a topnotch track that is brash and harsh — ”Yeezus”-like — but makes no sense being placed where it is. Had it been attached to the first eight songs, the flow would have been seamless.

Going from harsh to soothing and then back to harsh again for one song makes for a jarring listen. Making a fuss over only one song’s placement is probably over-analyzing, but this choice slightly weakens the thematic core of the album.

“Heaven and Hell” immediately precedes the title track, “Donda” — two minutes mostly consisting of an old recording of

Kanye’s mother talking about her son’s influence on her life.

Every song after “Donda” has a clear spiritual tint. This is clear from some of the titles alone; “Keep My Spirit Alive,” “Jesus Lord” and the track directed to his separated wife Kim Kardashian, “Lord I Need You,” to name a few.

Sonically, the remainder of the songs are ethereal and relatively light, further establishing the tonal switch.

The idea here seems to be that “Donda” is a shift in the ethos of our main character, a volta in this hour and forty-eight minute sonnet. Everything before the “Donda” track signifies a man unsaved. Everything after is a man (trying to be) saved.

“Donda” ends with an interpolation of the Lord’s Prayer and Kanye’s mother asking, “What did I teach him?/ And why Kanye

ain’t scared?” The connection between Kanye’s mother’s influence, and Kanye’s more serious commitment to Christianity in recent years, is clear.

As for the part twos at the end of the album, they function as remixes and do not add anything to the main narrative.

They also include what is easily Kanye’s most offensive track: “Jail pt 2,” in which he features DaBaby and Marilyn Manson — the former having recently spewed homophobic vitriol in a live performance and the latter having recently been accused of multiple instances of domestic and sexual abuse. These two accompanied Kanye at his third listening party, and reports say that Kanye attempted to have former President Donald Trump join as well. Whether this was all done to cause controversy or there was some point trying to be made does not matter; it was in about as poor taste as it gets.

Although Kanye is still clearly imperfect, “Donda” nonetheless shows impressive talent and growth. Consider the mechanical and haunting fieriness of “God Breathed,” the majestic production on “Hurricane” combined with The Weeknd’s sprawling voice, the celestial organ on “Pure Souls” and the sparkling piano mixed with Kanye’s career-best vocal performance on the album-best, penultimate song, “Come to Life.” Whichever sounds have not yet soaked in for listeners will almost surely do so as this album ages, as was the case with “808s & Heartbreak” and “Yeezus” (2013).

Moreover with “Donda,” Kanye refines the sonic representation of his faith, telling a story of a personal journey where his beloved late mother serves as the catalyst for his transformation. The album’s euphoric outro, “No Child Left Behind,” played in the second listening party as Kanye(’s body double) was lifted toward the heavens.

As Kanye — an imperfect, flawed human — ascends to the heavens to join his mother, so does this imperfect, flawed, but ultimately magnificent album.

Tufts to hear the people sing (and play winds and brass) once more

by Megan Szostak Arts Editor

For the first time in over a year, all musical ensembles at Tufts University will return to in-person modalities with full participation this semester. Vocalists, winds and brass players, whose participation in ensembles was restricted during the 2020–21 academic year, will be required to wear instrument-specific personal protection equipment; all such PPE will be provided by the Department of Music to any student who wishes to participate in an ensemble or engage in solo practice.

After the university relaxed restrictions on singing, winds and brass performance last spring, students were permitted to practice on campus following specific guidelines. Medical Director of Health Service Marie Caggiano explained how the upcoming semester will be different.

“This fall, the University will permit indoor practices and performances with appropriate, instrument-specific PPE,” Caggiano wrote in an email to the Daily. “There will be no PPE requirements or other COVID19 restrictions for outdoor practices and performances.”

University Infection Control Health Director Michael Jordan explained that the loosening of restrictions surrounding musical activities were made using data and guidance from local, state and federal authorities.

“Generally, the widespread availability of effective vaccines has enabled us to revise or eliminate many of the restrictions that were in place during the last academic year,” Jordan wrote in an email to the Daily.

The past year was certainly mired in challenges for vocalists and wind and brass players at Tufts, but also filled with inno-

vative solutions on the part of ensemble directors. According to Joel LaRue Smith, senior lecturer and director of the Tufts Jazz Orchestra and jazz activities at Tufts, the Tufts Jazz Orchestra — which typically has a “Big Band” instrumentation of five saxophones, at least four trombones, at least four trumpets, a rhythm section and a vocalist — was greatly reduced in size, as only students playing string instruments, percussion or rhythm section instruments were able to participate. “[Big Band music] particularly focuses on an instrument that actually wasn't so includ-

ed in the [symphony] orchestra, which is the saxophone,” Smith said.

With last year’s restrictions, however, Smith said that the students who were able to participate in the Jazz Orchestra were playing a different type of music: the jazz piano trio, which consists of piano, bass and drums.

“We did great music by Mulgrew Miller, Benny Golson, a lot of music from what was called the post bop, or the hard bop, period,” Smith said. “We focused on revolutionary themes see MUSIC, page 10

Wednesday, September 8, 2021 | Arts & Pop Culture | THE TUFTS DAILY

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Tufts graduate Adam Wilson breaks down novel 'Sensation Machines'

by Sadie Leite Arts Editor

Novelist Adam Wilson (LA’04) first published his new novel “Sensation Machines” on July 7, 2020. Soho Press released the novel in a paperback edition on Tuesday with an in-person event to follow on Sept. 13.

“Sensation Machines” is set in a near-future New York City. It explores the social, political and economic effects of the larger issues playing out in today’s society. Its main characters are a married couple, Michael and Wendy, whose many emotions following a shared loss begin to seep into their workplaces. Wilson’s portrayal of their decisions made at their high-profile jobs reveals pervasive corruption.

Wilson also brings in the perspectives of other characters, positioned in many levels of society, to illustrate the trickle-down effect that choices made by a privileged few have on a largely powerless majority. Though originally published over a year ago, the themes step in time with the current, ever-moving society.

One of the most important elements of Wilson’s writing is his use of humor, balanced with the more complicated events and emotions his characters face.

“My primary instinct as a writer is always one that bends towards humor and comedy," Wilson said. "For this book, the big challenge for me is that I wanted to write about all these big issues and topics and themes, and to try to figure out how to both make the book funny and fun and playful without doing so to a degree that it undercut the seriousness of some of that other stuff.”

His use of humor throughout the novel also served to imbue the more technical, serious topics being discussed with a new energy.

“The other side of that is the novel explores finance and the mortgage crisis and the economy –– certain things that might be dry or boring if it wasn’t infused with jokes and humor,” he said.

Elaborating on the intricacies of writing Michael and Wendy’s relationship, Wilson explained his desire to represent his two main characters fully in the novel.

VIA SOHO PRESS

Adam Wilson's work “Sensation Machines” (2020) is a satirical novel that follows a fictional Brooklyn-based couple, Michael and Wendy Mixner.

“It was really important to me that I tell both of their stories, and that they both had a voice in the book,” he said. “I have two kinds of voices that I feel comfortable doing as a writer. One is this voice Michael has — he speaks in these very long sentences and can get bombastic and lyrical at times; everything is moving very fast.”

Wilson described the other voice, that of Wendy, as “more restrained ... thoughtful or reflective.”

“It’s [a story] about two people who do really love each other and want to be together but for reasons external to their control can’t really figure out how to make that work,” he said.

Wilson also commented on the importance of introducing other character perspectives separate from the couple. He admitted it was difficult to write so many different characters but necessary to show how Michael’s choices as a derivatives

trader or Wendy’s decisions in a large marketing campaign “affect all sorts of other people in many profound and quite negative ways.”

“The people behind these things ... are shielded from the effects of those behaviors on the wider population,” he said.

Wilson admitted that his many character voices came “through trial and error and mostly error.” In fact, the book took eight years to finish. This lengthy process was partly due to the challenge of combining so many character perspectives, but was also related to changes in Wilson's personal life and the world at large.

“When I started writing the book, I was single and had no kids and by the time I was done writing the book, I was married, and I had a kid,” Wilson said. “I think that changed the way I thought about Michael and Wendy … Also, the world changed a lot.”

Specifically, Trump’s election disrupted his construction of his novel's near-future.

“The dystopia I had come up with wasn't nearly dystopic enough," he said.

"I had to go back and make everything worse.”

Reflecting further, Wilson explained how setting his book in the future enabled him to construct an understanding of the 2008 financial crisis that was more imaginative than factual.

“When I first started writing the book, I was trying to write a novel set around the 2008 Wall Street crash, [but] it became very clear that it would involve a lot more research than I wanted to do,” he said.

“I’m a novelist, not an economist. So, I had this bright idea to set the book in the future instead. It felt freeing to the imagination.”

In addition to this novel, Wilson has also written the novel “Flatscreen” (2012) and the collection of short stories titled “What’s Important Is Feeling” (2014). Two of the stories are set at Tufts –– though never directly stated, the stories’ details make it clear.

“Sensation Machines” is poignant for all thinkers grappling with the effects of everyday issues and available now in paperback for an eager browser at any local bookstore or a new student who needs a read for the Commons picnic tables.

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F& G

Tufts ensembles return in full force

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Hannah: “Nobody who chooses to be a managing editor is emotionally stable.”

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Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Tue Sep 7 22:38:38 2021 GMT. Enjoy!

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Students practice in Distler Performance Hall in the Granoff Music Center, led by conductor and director John Page on Feb. 11, 2014.

MUSIC

continued from page 8 from the 60s because it was such a fertile and great period for jazz and America politically.”

Smith, who has always programmed with the Black American experience and the Black Lives Matter movement in mind, will continue to do so next semester as his ensemble returns to its pre-pandemic instrumentation and size.

“Culture and music are the same to me,” Smith said. “I think

that it's important that music in the African American experience, in conjunction with everything else, is talked about and displayed through the music.”

Carol Mastrodomenico, director of the opera ensemble at Tufts, was also able to adapt her course curriculum during a period when her students were unable to traditionally participate in opera. “[In the fall] we did a ‘scenes program,’” Mastrodomenico said. “We did ... any opera that

was based on a play, and then we took those plays and did the dialogue instead of singing.

And then I played the music from the opera in the transitions when we would change the set.”

In the spr ing, Mastrodomenico and Opera Ensemble Co-Director Thomas Stumpf directed a video performance modeled off of “The Voice of Firestone” (1928–63), a radio show-turned television program that featured classical-

ly trained singers at prime time.

“We took some of the arias and art songs that were sung in ‘Voice of Firestone,’ and we assigned it to the students that had off-campus houses and could sing in them,” Mastrodomenico said.

Both Smith and Mastrodomenico anticipate that enrollment in their ensembles will return to pre-pandemic levels this semester. The music department has already procured over 2,000 PPE units

to accommodate anticipated requests.

“My whole job and purpose in existence is to inspire the beauty and the music inside of students, no matter what the situation is,” Smith said.

“COVID is not what I would hope for, or what any of us would hope for, but you can bet we're all going to bring out the very best of performance, and each rehearsal has got to be magic and met with zeal, focus and unbending intent.”

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CROSSWORD

12 Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Opinion

Opinion

To everyone stepping onto campus for the first time and to everyone returning for another year, welcome to Tufts.

We enter this fall semester with remaining uncertainty about COVID-19 and the increased prevalence of newer variants but also with the added comfort of vaccinations — bringing us just a little closer to some sense of normalcy.

This year will be centered on finding a balance between remaining cautious and enjoying lessened restrictions in our social and academic lives. It can definitely seem like a lot to handle, especially in addition to the typical college stresses of being away from home, of increased responsibilities and independence, of taking classes in a highly rigorous academic environment. But it is not without precedent anymore.

Last year, we had to come to terms with many adjustments to campus life.

We faced uncertainty and frustration as we navigated hybrid courses, frequent COVID-19 testing and virtual social events. For many of us, the deepened social isolation that we faced took a toll on our mental health, with college students across the country experiencing higher depression and anxiety levels.

This past year has also been defined by a number of cruel, hateful acts against communities of color. The Tufts community grappled with incidents of hate and racial bias occurring on campus in the aftermath of a fraught election season and an overdue national reckoning regarding the systemic racism and violence directed toward marginalized communities.

Tufts students have continued to prove that taking action to bring about systemic change and showing solidarity

BY ANNABEL NIED with our fellow community members can and must be done, regardless of the circumstances. Tufts students have created groups to provide support and form connections among historically marginalized groups on campus, spearheaded initiatives to combat global water and food insecurity crises and held rallies calling on the university to fully divest from fossil fuels and to support its dining workers.

And despite having missed out on many in-person experiences, including

student events and face-to-face interaction with professors and classmates, we made the most out of the cards we were dealt. We showed that despite the limitations, we could still have a rigorous and fulfilling academic experience.

While last year showed us the resilience of our community and our ability to continue to form connections, we are also undoubtedly eager to begin this year with lessened restrictions and the full student body present on campus. In light of these changes, we should all learn from last year

Uncharted college life for the Class of 2024

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Ushering in a new year at Tufts Opinion Editor

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VIEWPOINT

VIEWPOINT

by Caroline DePalma

Wednesday, September 8, 2021 | Opinion | THE TUFTS DAILY

Staff Writer

to take advantage of every opportunity for so-called normalcy that we can. We should use in-person classes and office hours to interact with our classmates and professors and to engage with coursework in ways not possible in a virtual format.

We should spend time with friends, participate in campus events, support local businesses and explore neighboring communities while remaining cognizant of how our choices affect those around us.

It would be irresponsible to assume that a successful past year of learning or the addition of the vaccines means that we can begin to disregard the presence of the pandemic, especially as the Delta variant sweeps across our nation. As the number of infections increases, it is now more important than ever to be thoughtful in the ways that we approach COVID19 restrictions and procedures.

With that said, we enter this new year confident that Tufts is prepared to keep its students, staff and surrounding communities safe. But that means we must be cautious of our own actions as well. We must ensure that everyone on this campus is working towards creating a space that is safe, welcoming and inclusive. We must commit to educating ourselves and listening to those affected by injustice in all its forms.

New and returning students alike should feel supported and comfortable in this community. They should feel hopeful and ready to take on new academic and social experiences. They should be prepared to confront discriminatory behavior and make safe and responsible choices regarding COVID19 protocol. Even in another year of uncertainty, if we remain aware of how our behavior affects those around us, we can all have a worthwhile and fulfilling experience here on the Hill.

To the Class of 2025, welcome.

We’re so glad you could make it.

I’m sure it has been a long and tumultuous journey, but you’re here now. Congratulations.

To my beloved Class of 2024, we have a lot to be proud of.

We made it through some of the most formative years of our lives during completely unprecedented times. And although we are far from returning back to normal, this year has some semblance of what life was like before the pandemic. In-person classes are resuming, varsity and club sports are returning, campus organizations and groups are starting back up — Tufts is starting to look like a college again.

As excited as I am for a more normal sophomore year, there is an interesting predicament at hand: we sophomores are pretty much first-years. Sure, we have a year of college classes under our belt and many of us have made meaningful connections, but just think about it — we have missed out on some of the most integral things that define the college experience. ​​While we are technically no longer first-year students, we somehow still are. There will be gaggles of first-years and sophomores wandering the academic quad, cautiously searching for their next class amidst a maze of hallways.

Walking through a dining hall with comparative free rein is another novelty, where we will not be constrained to a line but

CAMILLA SAMUEL will instead have the opportunity to explore, find a table with our friends and socialize to our heart’s desire. But that’s not all.

For many of us, this will be our first time in a lecture hall with over 100 people; a reality that will undoubtedly be difficult to navigate. Some first-year students went without any in-person classes last year, which means this semester will be their first opportunity to ever come faceto-face with their professors. And here’s the kicker: we’re not in high school anymore. Not only are the

classes much larger for many of us, but the first-years and sophomores are the vast majority of students on campus, meaning a large mass of the student body is essentially new to Tufts.

This does put us sophomores in a tough situation. We have to adjust to our newfound position of seniority over a quarter of the student body and much of the leadership we now hold, all while trying to accustom ourselves to the campus and culture that we experienced only a fraction of last year. For many

of us, some of our most tasking semesters lay directly ahead of us, which will make adjusting to “true” college life even more difficult. Not only that, but with all the opportunities for community building and engagement returning to campus, time management will come at a premium for many, where first-years and sophomores will have to juggle their academic obligations along with social and extracurricular ones.

What’s the bottom line? Put simply, we all just have to cut

each other a whole lot of slack, and always spread Pax et Lux. There’s going to be a lot of confusion around campus for the foreseeable future, so we need to help our fellow Jumbos however we can. So upperclassmen, give your closest underclassmen a couple words of wisdom and some quick directions.

And, my fellow sophomores, we need to help out our younger counterparts as well because this year, more than ever, we never know when we may be in their shoes.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF VIEWPOINT

As the Delta variant spreads, students must remain cautious and safe this semester

by Faye Shen Li Thijssen Opinion Editor

As the semester drew to a close last May, COVID-19 infection rates were steadily declining, indicating a possible end to this deadly pandemic. However, by late July, reported statistics throughout the nation showed an alarming increase in cases and deaths, specifically as a result of the novel Delta variant of COVID-19. According to the CDC, the seven-day moving average of cases climbed from 12,000 in late June to over 60,000 by July 27. As vaccination rates plateau and infection levels increase, hopes for the near end of the pandemic are fleeting.

When vaccination rates rose throughout the early months of 2021, the number of COVID-19 infections among vaccinated individuals accounted for only 1.1% percent of all cases nationwide as of June.

Andy Slavitt, former White House senior advisor to the Biden administration on COVID-19, estimated in June that 98-99% of all COVID-19 related deaths were among unvaccinated individuals, while CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky stated that nearly every death by COVID-19, at this point, is preventable.

Despite the clear advantages of full vaccination, the number of eligible individuals who have received the vaccine has plateaued. As of Sept. 4, slightly less than 53% of the total United States population is fully vaccinated, leading to concerns among medical professionals, government leaders and members of the community as to whether the pandemic will see a full resurgence of severity.

Studies have shown that the Delta variant is twice as contagious as other variants and can be spread by those who are fully vaccinated. Preliminary research also suggests that those who contract the Delta variant may experience more severe symptoms than those who contract the original form of the virus. Although the majority of reported Delta variant cases are among unvaccinated individuals, transmission is still possible — though less common — among fully vaccinated people.

Since the emergence of the COVID19 Delta variant and its concurrence with decreasing weekly vaccination rates, COVID-19 cases and deaths have begun to climb to levels similar to last November. At the height of the pandemic

in January 2021, the seven-day average for new cases was over 250,000. By June 2021, cases dropped to a seven-day average low point of just over 11,000, but has since risen to over 160,000 cases per day once again.

Tufts University has implemented a series of updated policies for the 2021–22 school year following last year’s comprehensive COVID-19 safety plans. The policies now include mandatory vaccination for all students, weekly testing and required masks indoors for all members of the Tufts community. Fully vaccinated individuals are not required to wear masks or socially distance outdoors but are encouraged to do so if they feel more comfortable.

By comparison, Massachusetts state-level COVID-19 policies are less stringent. Aside from a July 30 mask advisory requiring masks on all forms of public and private transportation as well as in healthcare, congregate care and correctional facilities, there are no other explicit state-wide restrictions.

Although the Tufts administration has continued to institute exemplary restrictions since the beginning of the pandemic, there are risk factors that

exist beyond the university’s control.

Outside campus grounds, students must maintain personal responsibility for the risks they take with regards to COVID-19 safety. Until a larger portion of the population has been vaccinated and COVID19 rates return to a decline, it would be unwise for people, including those who are fully vaccinated, to return to their pre-pandemic lifestyles.

When it comes to large groups of people, it is impossible to know every single person’s vaccination status and whether those who are vaccinated have potentially contracted the virus. Large, unmasked gatherings and particularly those that are indoors and without social distancing — like clubs, concerts and parties — will likely result in a rise of COVID-19 cases, ultimately perpetuating the same issues of the past two years.

As the pandemic continues, it is imperative that members of the Tufts community, vaccinated or not, understand the possible ramifications of their actions and make choices, and sacrifices, accordingly.

The sacrifices made now, in the name of COVID-19 safety, will ultimately reduce the likelihood and severity of a further prolonged pandemic.

Welcome to the Hill, Class of 2025 To the Class of 2025 and all students, faculty and staff, My name is Maddie Aitken and I’m honored and excited to be introducing myself as the Editor in Chief of The Tufts Daily for the fall semester.

It’s traditional for the Editor in Chief to use this space in the first issue of the school year to introduce themselves and introduce you, our readers, to Tufts and to this space within Tufts that we all love so much — The Tufts Daily.

To begin, welcome to Tufts, Class of 2025! I’m sure I’m not the first person to share that sentiment with you, but we really are so glad you’re here.

Joining our community this year will be a unique experience for you. Of course, beginning college is always a new and different experience, but this year feels especially unique. Though it will likely still be largely defined by the confines of the pandemic and the accompanying guidelines and precautions, it’s the first year since the pandemic began that we’re seeing at least a partial return to normalcy, with most

classes being held in person and indoor meetings and gatherings being allowed once again. As a member of the Class of 2023 who had their freshman year interrupted in March 2020 by COVID-19, I’m hopeful that you will have a freshman year filled with many of the opportunities and experiences that make Tufts as special as it is.

And now, to introduce you to the Daily more specifically: the Daily is the smallest independent daily college newspaper in the country (a mouthful, but something we are very proud of!), and we’re here to disseminate information, educate readers on important issues and share the stories of the people who make up our community. The importance of sharing information, both at a school like Tufts and outside of the university’s walls, has been redefined and reemphasized in the last two years by the pandemic. Despite widespread uncertainty and unpredictability, the Daily continued to publish after students were sent home in March 2020, and operated in full daily production throughout the 2020–21 school year.

Daily production is something I look forward to continuing this semester. We will be publishing our issues online every day, and printing and distributing them every Monday and Thursday. We will also publish four special issues over the course of the semester. This tradition was established by the Fall 2020 Managing Board, and we are excited to be continuing it.

If you’re reading this, in your hands or on your screen, right now is our first special issue, which we call the “Welcome Back” issue.

Our second special issue will be released in October, to celebrate Homecoming. November will bring a special issue covering elections that are happening in Medford and Somerville, including the mayoral races for both cities. And as we close out the semester in December, we’ll publish one more special issue to highlight, showcase and celebrate various communities at Tufts.

Beyond these special issues, we have a few other new initiatives this semester. We’re

launching a weekly science subsection under our News section to follow the latest news in science both on and off Tufts’ campus, including biological and health sciences, physical sciences, engineering, climate science and public health. We’re also launching a website redesign, thanks to our web team, and we can’t wait to share it with you all soon.

Though not a new development, we’re continuing to put the work of the Intentionality and Inclusivity Committee at the forefront of our mission.

This committee works to ensure all members of our community are represented respectfully and equitably in our reporting and management, and is one of the most important parts of our organization.

To the Class of 2025, I wish you the best of luck in your journey here at Tufts. I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, but if I can share one more piece of advice with you: Be open-minded and try new things, but remember who you are and stay true to yourself.

Your freshman year will be exciting, fun, messy, lonely, invigorating, scary and stressful… I could go on, but the bottom line is that there will be good and there will be bad. This year will contain some of the best days of your life thus far and some of the worst, but no matter what, you will come out the other side. We all do.

And my wish for all of you is that when you do come out onto that other side, when freshman year is over and you finally know where all the buildings are and have a firm opinion on the Carm vs. Dewick debate, that you will be able to look back and genuinely feel that you gave it your all. That you tried that thing you were interested in, that you reached out to that person you thought seemed cool, that you leaned into all the new experiences and had the best time you could, but also that you took care of yourself and remembered your values. Welcome to Tufts, Class of 2025. I’m so glad you’re here.

Pax et Lux, Maddie Aitken Editor in Chief, Fall 2021

14

THE TUFTS DAILY | Sports | Wednesday, September 8, 2021

tuftsdaily.com

True Becker climbs his way to the ANW finals

FALL SPORTS

continued from page 14 game of the season. Wilson said this was one of the games she was most excited for this season.

“I am pumped to test ourselves against Williams early on in our schedule,” she said. “I think it will be a really good indicator of our strengths and weaknesses at the beginning of it all.”

She also noted that their game against Middlebury will be particularly special.

“We have a little sibling rivalry between the two teams, so that will make for an exciting match,”

“My goal for the team is to win a championship,” she said. “I know we have it in us, and I think we are ready to test what we are made of.”

Unlike veteran athletes such as Wilson, many other athletes on campus have yet to compete in a full season of collegiate athletics. Sophomore Lainie Pearson, a forward/midfielder on Tufts field hockey, and her class teammates will play in their first field hockey competition at Tufts on Sept. 11, which she noted she is really looking forward to.

Sports Editor

(COURTESY TRUE BECKER)

Tufts first-year True Becker is pictured on “American Ninja Warrior” (ANW) Season 13 hanging from an obstacle. if I had just decided that one Monday night to not apply, my life would be so different and I’m so glad I did.”

His qualifying run started by solving a Rubik’s Cube at the starting line. After that, Becker took off and never looked back. He made it all the way to the fifth obstacle, known as “V-Formation,” before slipping off one of the pipes.

However, he made it far enough, fast enough, in order to qualify for the semifinals.

Becker, like many of the ninjas on the course, had to battle nerves coupled with sweaty hands.

“I wiped my hands on the towel and literally five seconds later — I kid you not — my hands are drenched again,” Becker said.

The nerves kicked in again when he was faced with not only the same obstacles, but an additional four in the semifinals course. However, this time Becker tackled all 10 obstacles to be one of just five finishers that night.

COURTESY SPORTSPIX

In 2019, Tufts men’s soccer won its third NCAA National Championship in four years, Tufts volleyball finished with a remarkable 28–2 record and many more notable athletic

Wilson said. “But all in all, I am just overjoyed to have a full season ahead.”

With the season beginning soon, Wilson and her teammates alike set goals for the upcoming season.

“Personally, I want to savor my last season with my teammates,” Wilson said. “COVID really brought my own priorities into stark contrast, and I am feeling so grateful for the chance to have one more season with the Jumbos.”

She also has another goal in mind as well.

by Isaac Karp

Derek Enge goes after the ball during a soccer game against Trinity College on Oct. 5, 2019.

Assistant Sports Editor

15

With preseason already in full swing, Pearson and her teammates are back on campus, building off of their preparation from the summer.

“My preparation has been a lot of running, a mixture of sprints and long distance,” Pearson said.

“We get a workout packet each summer that we can follow in order to stay in shape over the summer.”

Now all together on campus, the team is able to scrimmage, something they were unable to do because of the COVID-19 restrictions last year. With practices

back to normal and the season approaching, Pearson said she is most excited about spending time with her team and working towards possible NESCAC and National Championship wins.

“My personal goals this season are to work my hardest in each practice so I can continue to get better,” Pearson said. “As a team we really want to focus on being strong as a team so we can get to these really important games and win easily. We are really hoping to make it to, and win NESCACs this year and the National Championship.”

na Maggie Shae placed 11th in the women’s 49er FX event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this past summer.

Hamilton College The only NESCAC school not in New England can be found in Clinton, N.Y. Hamilton College is New York’s third oldest college and was named after the United States statesman and first secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton College was originally founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and transitioned to its college status in 1812. The Continentals have 29 varsity teams and 550 athletes that go by the motto, “Know Thyself,” as they sport Buff and Blue.

Middlebury College Middlebury College has one of the most successful athletic programs in the NESCAC with 101 NESCAC titles and 38 national championships in its trophy cabinet. Both its men’s and women’s soccer teams made a run to the NESCAC Championship in 2019, and the Panthers will look to maintain their dominance in football.

Trinity College Over the past 70 years, the Bantams have won 26 national championships and recently won three straight NESCAC football titles from 2016–19.

They also came in second to Tufts in baseball and softball in the NESCAC Eastern division last year.

Tufts University What most people call the Alabama of the NESCAC (we share the same mascot animal), Tufts will contend for championships in a great deal of fall sports. The Jumbos’ men’s and women’s soccer teams are eyeing the NESCAC title, and the women’s volleyball team will look to repeat their 2019 championship. Tufts’ field hockey and women’s cross country teams are ranked fourth and fifth in preseason polls, respectively. Don’t be surprised if the Jumbos find their way on most of the NESCAC Championship venues this November.

Wesleyan University The Cardinals hope to come out on top in the struggle of the “Little Three” colleges in the NESCAC. They should expect success this fall with title contenders for their women’s soccer and women’s volleyball teams.

The Cardinals will also attempt to repeat their 2019 success in football, when they went 8–1 and won the “Little Three” title.

Williams College The oldest NESCAC school resides in Williamstown, Mass.

— the Williams College Purple Cows, or “Ephs.” Williams was founded in 1793 and is the winner of 21 of the last 23 NACDA NCAA Div. III Directors’ Cups, which is considered to be emblematic of athletic supremacy. Williams excels in sports such as football and women’s soccer.

Who’s who in the NESCAC: Fall edition

“My biggest fear on the semifinal starting block was that I was going to slip off again and so I think even in the episode you can see me waving my hands in the air to try and air dry them,” Becker said.

“Honestly before my run, I was really, really scared.”

With these ANW experiences under his belt, Becker is ready to take on life at Tufts, where he plans to study mechanical engineering.

“Tufts honestly really just checked all of the boxes that I needed — it has an amazing engineering facility and is close enough to home,” he said. “Also, from what I’ve heard about the community is that it’s a bunch of really smart students who aren’t cutthroat about anything. They’re willing to support each other, and they’re willing to work together instead of just trying to see who can get the better grades. And that’s definitely where I want to go.”

Fall sports prepare to compete after cancelled 2020 season

by Sophia Antezana

Wednesday, September 8, 2021 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY

Athletes reflect on more than a year without sports

AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR

continued from page 16 to train whenever he wanted.

Becker also drilled additional studs in his bedroom so he could get in training during the winter months.

In the months leading up to the qualifying rounds, Becker drove three hours round trip to a ninja gym called Vitality in Fall River, Mass. Training with coaches and other ninjas for hours on end at this gym helped prepare him for the season. Additionally, during the offseason, Becker works at a local ninja gym coaching kids.

Becker’s journey to the qualifying rounds was far from traditional. After deciding to let a select number of teenagers compete in this year’s season, ANW began choosing from those who had competed in previous American Ninja Warrior Jr. competitions. However, Becker had missed the age cutoff to compete in Junior by just a week and therefore was not originally considered.

“My parents were like ‘True, just send in an application — what’s the worst that happens?,’” Becker said. “And I was like ‘Okay, you’re right.’ So on a Monday right after coming home from work, I sent in an application,” Becker said.

This shot in the dark ended up paying off — big time.

“The very, very last day they were giving out calls, I was the second-to-last person they called to be on the show this year,” Becker said. “This was a week and a half after I turned in my application, which is kind of crazy — I was so late that I thought I had no chance.

It’s wild all around and every round I’ve had that feeling of

S

accomplishments marked an amazing fall for Tufts Athletics.

However, after an unprecedented spring without athletic competitions and a summer with the COVID-19 pandemic in full force, all competition was cancelled for the fall and winter of 2020–21. Now, almost

two years later, Tufts fall athletes are eager to be able to compete again.

That being said, many teams spent time connecting over Zoom, and once they could, putting in work in the weight room or at small team training sessions, while following Tufts’

COVID-19 protocols. When athletics resumed in a modified manner in 2020, these athletes spent their time together preparing for the fall and winter of the 2021–22 school year.

Luckily, with a vaccinated student population on campus and hope for the future, athletic teams have returned to campus to begin their seasons after almost two years since their last competitions. Furthermore, teams are now able to practice with everyone together, rather than in small groups. Teams are even able to play outside with no masks on, due to the new updates to the COVID-19 guidelines.

Adding to the new adjustments and changes is the fact that many athletes in the Class of 2024 were on campus for their freshman year, but have yet to compete in a regular full athletic season. Now sophomores, they are joined by their first-year teammates in the Class of 2025, who are awaiting their first collegiate athletic season as well.

With a talented group of returning athletes as well as fresh faces joining them on campus, excite-

ment looms in the air as the Jumbos prepare for competition as early as Sept. 7. Tufts teams are looking to make a mark in this highly anticipated season of competition.

Tookie Wilson, a senior on Tufts women’s soccer, is returning for her last season with the Jumbos. Above all, she said she is most excited to be back with her teammates. Wilson anticipates a strong season for the team based on their preseason performance.

Some of her biggest preparation for this season has been with regards to her mental game.

“The summer is always a physical grind to prepare my body for the long season ahead, but after a year off from NESCAC competition I have spent a lot of time getting my head ready for the games to come,” Wilson said.

“Prep for 2021 has been all about mental fortitude.”

The Women’s soccer team’s 2021 season kicks off today with a game at Emerson College.

Three days later, the Jumbos will face NESCAC opponent Williams College in their first home see FALL SPORTS, page 15

The colleges that make up the New England Small College Athletic Conference have more to offer than just large financial endowments, a liberal arts education and an Ivy League inferiority complex. In fact, this Division III conference contains some of the most interesting and historic athletic programs in the country. The COVID-19 pandemic may have forced the NESCAC to cancel its fall 2020 season, but its student-athletes are back and ready to compete.

Below is a quick rundown of the identity and expectations for each NESCAC school.

Amherst College The Amherst Mammoths are the smallest of the “Little Three” colleges, which also includes Williams and Wesleyan. Despite its size, 32% of the 1,785 students participate in varsity athletics, while 80% participate in intramural or club sports. Their varsity men’s soccer team will likely pose the toughest threat to Tufts, who the Jumbos lost to in the national championship in 2019. A real powerhouse in the conference, the Mammoths have won 11 NCAA team titles in the past 10 years and 80 individual championships.

Bates College Boasting 12 Olympians, the Bates Bobcats are one of three NESCAC schools located in the

ASLI KOCAK state of Maine. The Bobcats’ women’s volleyball team might surprise fans with a solid season and a playoff run this year.

Canadian rower and Bates alumnus Andrew Byrnes was a gold medalist in the men’s eight boat in Beijing in 2008 and won a silver medal in London in 2012.

Bowdoin College Home of the Polar Bears, Bowdoin College can be found in Brunswick, Maine. Notably, sophomore Emilie Grand’Pierre competed in the 100m breaststroke in the Tokyo Olympics this summer. Grand’Pierre became the eighth Bowdoin Olympian and set a Haitian record with a time of 1:14.82.

The Polar Bears also have a competitive women’s volleyball team that reached NCAA Division III tournament quar-

terfinals in 2019. Founded in 1794, the Bowdoin College Polar Bears have 31 varsity teams and wear black and white when they compete.

Colby College Rounding out the NESCAC schools in the state of Maine is Colby College, residing the farthest north in Waterville.

The Mules’ newest attraction is the Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center), which opened in August 2020. Colby was founded in 1813.

Connecticut College Opposite of the Mules up north, the Connecticut College Camels are the southernmost NESCAC school, located in New London, Conn. Founded in 1911, the Camels have 28 varsity teams, 424 All-Americans, seven individual national champions and 13 Olympians. Sailing alum-

16 Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Sports

tuftsdaily.com

Tufts welcomes two-time Olympian Gaurika Singh into the Class of 2025

by Nicole Setow Sports Editor

Among Tufts University’s talented incoming class, only one first-year has “2x Olympian” in her Instagram bio. That student is Gaurika Singh, an 18-year-old swimmer that proudly represented Nepal in the 2016 Rio Olympics and returned as the nation’s flag bearer this past summer in Tokyo.

Since Singh started competing at age 12, one might assume that the decorated athlete was born swimming. In reality, Singh’s swimming career wouldn’t have kicked off without the help of bribery and dessert.

When she began swim lessons at age seven, she used to cry every time she dove into the pool. It wasn’t until her mother started coaxing her to lessons with the promise of ice cream that she started to embrace the water. Now, instead of being a source of stress, swimming is a tool Singh uses to maintain good mental health.

Considering Singh’s remarkable international swimming career, her mother’s dessert scheme certainly paid off. Singh medaled four times at the 2016 South Asian Games, and at age 13, she was the youngest Olympian to compete in Rio’s 2016 Games.

She added four gold, two silver and three bronze medals to her collection after competing in the 2019 South Asian Games. Yet, perhaps her most impressive accomplishment to date was being named Nepal’s flag bearer at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Singh said, “swimming [at the Olympics] wasn’t the hard part.” Sitting for interviews and proudly waving Nepal’s flag in front of a global audience was far more nerve-wracking for the 18-yearold. After overcoming her fear of tripping over her stunning, full-length, traditional dress, Singh recalled the immense sense of pride she felt during that surreal moment. Receiving this honor was particularly meaningful for Singh as a Nepali citizen who grew up in the Western hemisphere.

Throughout her adolescence, Singh noted that since she grew up in London, people do not often view her as a Nepali citizen despite the Nepali citizenship being the only one she holds. From eating Nepalese food with her family most days of the week to dedicating herself to extensive charity work and advocacy for her nation, it is evident that behind Singh’s British accent is a person who takes great pride in her Nepali identity.

Thus, for Singh, carrying Nepal’s flag on the highest stage felt like the greatest triumph over any doubters of her national pride.

After finishing her 100m freestyle heat in Tokyo with a time of 1:00.11 — setting the new national record in the process —

(COURTESY GAURIKA SINGH)

Two-time Olympian and Tufts first-year Gaurika Singh, an 18-year old swimmer, represented Nepal in the 2016 Rio Olympics and returned as the nation’s flagbearer this past summer in Tokyo.

Singh enjoyed her brief stay at the village, particularly the dining hall.

“The food there was incredible,” she said. “There [were] pastries, ice cream, cakes … and we just couldn’t eat for two weeks [before our heats, so] when the race finished, all the pizza [was] demolished.”

When she wasn’t in the pool training or fueling up at the dining hall, Singh was scoping out Olympic tennis players.

Though swimming is Singh’s choice of sport, tennis holds a special place in her heart — as demonstrated by the sheer excitement she exhibited when talking about some of her favorite players: Novak

Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Naomi Osaka. Four-time grand slam singles champion Osaka particularly inspires Singh not just due to her on-court dominance, but also because of her advocacy for mental health awareness.

“In sports we don’t really talk too much about mental health, so it’s just amazing that she’s done that,” Singh said.

Now, Singh is hoping to apply what she has learned from her extensive swimming career to her collegiate experience. What initially drew her to Tufts was the institution’s commitment to both academic and athletic excellence.

“I know [with] being a student-athlete, the word student comes first,” Singh said.

“There’s a lot of other aspirations I do want to pursue, and Tufts seemed to marry both academics and swimming really well.”

Perhaps most importantly though, was the sense of camaraderie that junior individual medley and butterfly swimmer Bella Preneta and junior freestyle swimmer Claire Brennan conveyed to Singh during recruitment season.

“I spoke to other recruiters … [but] no one spoke about the [university] like these two girls did about here, and it seemed like a family,” Singh said.

First-year Jumbo ‘The True Ninja’ Competes on ‘American Ninja Warrior’

by Ananda Kao

Executive Sports Editor

Standing atop the infamous 30-foot “Spider Trap,” incoming first-year True Becker hit his first-ever buzzer on “American Ninja Warrior” (ANW) Season 13 with Jumbo cheering him on from the sidelines. Becker, better known in the ANW community as “The True Ninja,” finished fourth during the second night

of the semifinals with a time of 4:44.29.

Additionally, he was one of three teenagers that made up the top four spots that night. This is the first season ANW has allowed younger athletes to compete.

Hailing from Concord, Mass. Becker discovered his passion for ANW in middle school. After watching the show with his friends, they decided to try it out at a local ninja gym in Newton, Mass. Although Becker played many of the traditional

sports growing up, none of them clicked for him the way that ANW did.

For some, training for their sport may look like hundreds of grueling hours of lifting in the weight room and running out on the field but for people like Becker, his training is just as fun as competition. ANW has transformed an obstacle course into something that only the top athletes can complete.

“I could talk about this forever,” Becker said of his favorite parts of ANW. “First

thing is that training is literally playing — I’m getting stronger by playing on obstacle courses, which is awesome … I’m doing obstacles because they’re fun and I want to and that’s amazing, I don’t know many sports that are like that.”

To advance his ninja career, Becker’s family converted their swing set into a backyard course in order to allow him see AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR, page 14