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Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Tufts Admissions extends early decision deadline by Bella Preneta
Contributing Writer
Tufts’ Office of Undergraduate Admissions will extend its Early Decision I (ED I) deadline from Nov. 1 to Nov. 17 in efforts to recognize the effects of the COVID19 pandemic and recent natural disasters along the Gulf Coast and the West. JT Duck, dean of admissions and enrollment management at Tufts, cited disruptions in secondary education caused by COVID-19 as a principal reason for the extension. “Through closely following school district re-opening plans this fall, and in conversations with college advisors and prospective students, we learned of many schools that delayed the first day of fall classes by one or more weeks in order to accommodate COVID planning,” Duck wrote in an email to the Daily. “We heard countless stories from college advisors who had less access to their students than in a typsee DEADLINE, page 1
AARON APOSTADERO / THE TUFTS DAILY
Bendetson Hall is pictured on Oct. 25.
University committee builds on 2013 diversity report to encourage equity, inclusion by Yanqing Huang
Executive Layout Editor
University officials have convened a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Planning ad hoc committee this fall to identify solutions and action items necessary for Tufts to become an anti-racist institution. The committee is informed by the university’s 2013 Council on Diversity Report and seeks to address calls for change that have come directly from the Tufts community. The committee is composed of faculty, staff and students and is chaired by Bárbara Brizuela, dean of academic affairs for the School of Arts and Sciences, Nandi Bynoe, associate dean of diversity and inclusion and Jacqueline Dejean, assistant dean of research and assistant dean for diversity and inclusion. Brizuela, Bynoe and Dejean explained that the ad hoc committee is organized into three subcommittees, with corresponding areas of focus on faculty and staff, admission recruitment and retention and curriculum reform.
“Each of the subcommittees is designing solutions that address challenges identified in previous reports, as well as current challenges locally and nationwide in terms of racism and equity,” Brizuela, Bynoe and Dejean collectively wrote in an email to the Daily on behalf of the committee. They shared the urgency of the committee’s work in response to the current national dialogue and wave of calls for racial justice. “Clearly the events of the last several months have caused us all to look long and hard at the issue of systemic racism and our role in confronting it,” Brizuela, Bynoe and Dejean said. “The committee, the school and the university are committed to ensuring that Tufts is an anti-racist institution, and we believe the committee’s recommendations will play an important part in moving us closer to that goal.” Previous diversity, equity and inclusion efforts by the university include the reorganization of the six identity-based centers under the Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion, the founding of new academic programs and
departments and the creation of the role of associate dean of diversity and inclusion. Dean of Admissions and committee member JT Duck affirmed Tufts’ commitment to continuing to attract a diverse student body, as well as ensuring that the admission process is holistic, contextual and not discriminatory. Duck outlined measures the Office of Undergraduate Admissions is implementing to reach a more diverse applicant pool. “We also are already taking concrete steps,” Duck wrote in an email to the Daily. “Such as expanding our outreach with high schools that serve large numbers of Black or Indigenous students and building greater awareness of our Voices of Tufts Diversity Experiences program.” The committee also hopes to address curriculum planning and is working on a proposal to update the School of Arts and Sciences curriculum to be centered on equity and inclusion, according to Brizuela, Bynoe and Dejean. Professor and Director of the Graduate Program of Psychology
Ayanna Thomas, who serves as a faculty member on the committee, highlighted the importance of creating a supportive community at Tufts for conversations on diversity and inclusion. “Thinking about equity, diversity and inclusion should be inherent to all aspects of our university life, that it should be part of all the different courses that we take,” Thomas said. “We should create an atmosphere in the classroom and on campus that allows for us to share these different kinds of ideas in an environment that is open and welcoming to it.” Thomas believes that research should be more representative of diverse populations. “Most of psychological research has been conducted with a convenient sample of college students, mostly from the United States,” Thomas said. “[That] limits broadly the conclusions that we can think of and draw with regard to human behavior, generally.” Thomas sees the inclusion of underrepresented perspectives as a critical factor in education. “Thinking about research that’s coming from non-tra-
OPINION / page 7
FEATURES / page 3
ARTS / page 4
Editorial: Winter is coming
How to proctor during a pandemic
In combining art and software, Tufts alumna Janice Lourie represents what interdisciplinary means
ditional channels, so thinking about research that’s coming out of Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa and parts of South America had not necessarily been given a voice in our tradition,” she said. To include additional perspectives in its work, the committee welcomed input from students in a Sept. 21 email to the Tufts community. It gave students the opportunity to share their thoughts through email, an online survey or oneon-one meetings with committee members. The committee’s work and findings are still in development and will culminate into a Strategic Plan for the School of Arts and Sciences, which will serve as a roadmap to inform future decision-making. “We have been meeting regularly and are making good progress within our subcommittees,” Brizuela, Bynoe and Dejean said. “It’s premature at the moment to discuss potential solutions publicly because the committee is still deliberating, but we’ll be eager to communicate our findings at the appropriate time.” NEWS
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continued from page 1 ical year to discuss the college admissions and financial aid processes.” Duck also explained that students have faced difficulties registering and sitting for the SAT and ACT exams and that a deadline extension would accommodate this dilemma. He acknowledged that the extension could grant flexibility to applicants affected by environmental emergencies
along the Gulf Coast and in the West. Duck indicated that the current deadline of Nov. 17 is the most optimal for students applying ED I to Tufts. “Our new deadline is the latest feasible deadline we could provide that would still allow us to offer and conduct alumni interviews with interested applicants, acquire all supporting application credentials from schools, thoroughly read and discuss applications in our commit-
tee-based evaluation process, and render admission decisions by mid-December,” Duck said. Katie Shelburne, a firstyear, applied ED I to Tufts last year and believes the deadline extension will be beneficial for applicants. “I know when I was making my decision, I thought about it right up until the deadline and having an extra two weeks would have been super helpful,” Shelburne wrote in an electronic message to the Daily.
Sophomore Emma van Duijnhoven, who also applied ED I, echoed these sentiments. “Applicants have lost so many opportunities to get the feel of campus which was so important in my decision so I think it’s important to give them time to reach out to current students and learn more about the Tufts experience,” she said. Duck remains optimistic about Tufts’ ability to attract strong applicants in light of the pandemic.
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Features
Students, professors adjust to remote exams
3 Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Owen Bonk Since You Last Saw Me
Walking away
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EMMA BOERSMA / THE TUFTS DAILY
Two students head to Tisch Library on Oct. 18. by Emma Bittar and Julian Perry
Contributing Writer and Deputy Copy Editor
Since the start of the semester, Tufts students have faced a profoundly different college experience from years prior. Rules implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19 require Tufts students to attend classes and socialize in ways that are remote or socially distanced. Now, halfway through the semester, students are facing another aspect of college life changed by the pandemic: midterms. Unable to administer exams in person, as they might have in previous semesters, professors must choose from a variety of alternatives — each of which creates a distinct experience for their students. These range from assigning open-book, take-home exams, often without strict time limits, to making students take timed exams under the supervision of a virtual proctor. Jill Weinberg, assistant professor of sociology, chose the latter option for her Sociology of Law class. For their midterm, her students had to use the online proctoring software ProctorU. ProctorU places students under the supervision of a human proctor who watches through their webcams. This allowed her to administer a timed closed-note exam, as she would have before the pandemic. “I wanted to replicate the same types of assessments as I would if I were in person,” Weinberg said. On the students’ end, however, there are meaningful differences between virtual proctoring and in-person exams. Destiny Strange, a first-year, described experiencing this in her Spanish class, where exams are proctored over Zoom. “It really increases my testing anxiety,” Strange said. “I get really nervous so I look around a lot … and I don’t want [the professor] to think I’m looking at something.” ProctorU offers a similar experience for students as an exam over Zoom, but it differs in that students take tests with a proctor from the service. Ayomikun Adeyanju, a first-year, has taken exams through both formats. Adeyanju commented on their differences after taking an exam on ProctorU for her Principles of Economics class.
“I don’t see what was wrong with [Zoom], so having strangers proctor the exam is kind of weird,” Adeyanju said. Technology also creates problems, particularly for students who are new to the software. Weinberg described having students whose registration became difficult when they tried to use a personal email rather than their Tufts account, as well as students who were automatically assigned an inconvenient time slot because they forgot to sign up for an appointment. Still, she remained optimistic that these errors were a function of the software’s newness to many students. “When you’re dealing with a new technological tool, whether it’s a cell phone, ProctorU, etcetera, there are things that you don’t anticipate,” Weinberg said. Even for students who don’t face technological problems, taking exams online creates a fear of making mistakes that wouldn’t be an issue with an in-person exam. Naomi Meininger, a first-year, has taken exams on Zoom for her Spanish class. “I am afraid that I will accidentally click a new window when I’m trying to go back to zoom … and be marked for cheating,” Meininger wrote in an email to the Daily. Without an in-person exam room, students are also on their own in the search for somewhere to take the exam. This is particularly challenging for students living on campus. “I think that it’s always easy for people to say, ‘Oh, go take the exam somewhere else, don’t take in in your room.’ But that’s without considering that a lot of the spaces are already filled up, like at the library, Barnum and the SEC,” Strange said. “All of those spaces get filled up really fast, so a lot of the time the only space that you do have is your bedroom.” A professor’s choice of format for an exam involves more than just its logistical implications, however. Weinberg said her choice to assign exams on ProctorU, balanced with other assignments, was to improve learning outcomes for her students. “I still have a pedagogical strategy of having different assessments that speak to the variety of learning styles,”
Weinberg said. “Sometimes, having an assessment where it’s more under time constraints is better. Conversely, I understand that there are some students who don’t work well under stricter time constraints.” The choice of some professors to assign less supervised exams, meanwhile, also carries implications for quality of education. Strange felt this with her chemistry class, where the exams are “open book and open internet.” “It’s very much a double-edged sword because you can come in unprepared with the idea that you’re going to look it all up, but you only get one hour, so you’re not going to finish if you look up every question,” Strange said. Meininger’s calculus class also has open-note exams, but she saw this as an opportunity to shift the focus of what students need to be prepared for. “I like it because the test was more conceptual than typical math tests,” she said. “By having access to my notes, I am able to double check the basics so I can apply the information to harder topics.” On both sides of the Zoom screen, students and professors see managing academics in this environment as a challenging experience and understand others who are struggling in the transition. “Testing is hard for everyone, especially during a pandemic,” Strange said. “But it’s really tough for teachers to make sure that we’re learning.” Weinberg, meanwhile, expressed an openness to listening to her students, and potentially planning her spring teaching with their feedback in mind. “This is new for a lot of faculty, but it’s also our obligation to hear what the students are experiencing on the ground,” she said. Weinberg was also clear in her view that lessons from this semester would continue to be relevant ahead, for students and professors. “A lot of our classes may be online again in the spring. Hopefully not in the fall, but we should anticipate the worst,” Weinberg said. “[ProctorU] is a tool that, if not in my class, students are going to potentially see in other classes … it may be something we’re going to have to live with for a while.”
he power of a long, meandering walk is often underestimated. One of my favorite authors, Rebecca Solnit, wrote an entire book about walking called “Wanderlust” (2000). It’s something that all of us do every day, something ordinary and unremarkable. It’s an activity in service of a basic need: getting from one place to another. So, what’s the big deal? Even before quarantine made walking one of the only things that kept me sane, it was still an important part of my life. I often have difficulty shutting the world out and being present, and walking affords me the space to separate myself from my erratic consumption habits. It’s in a sweet spot: active enough to fend off restlessness, and monotonous enough to avoid distraction from an album, a podcast or an audiobook. On walks, I can truly listen. Walking taught me the beauty of listening to albums track by track. It’s one of those habits I have that people sometimes shake their heads at, like following recipes to the letter or reading tea boxes to see what they recommend as the steeping time. I’ve learned that some of the best albums sequence tracks to tell stories, to give the ear crescendos and decrescendos, highs and lows that flow onward toward their final tracks. Walking gives me the discipline to study these things that are often lost to playlistification. I’ve found the patience for podcasts on walks. I love “The Writer’s Voice” (2004–), a podcast by The New Yorker that showcases short stories read by their authors. A few weeks into my subscription, it made me laugh when I realized I was subconsciously picking routes that corresponded with the lengths of the stories. There’s something very satisfying about the author delivering their last line right as you reach the doorstep. I also enjoy “Las Culturistas” (2016–), a silly, conversation-based podcast hosted by comedians Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. It’s not earth-shattering stuff — they mainly discuss media and celebrity culture — but its occasional broaching of underrepresented topics and people surprises me. It feels sort of sad to admit that hearing other people’s organic, buffer-free conversations makes me feel less alone, but I’m willing to own that if this encourages readers to try it. The walk is important in and of itself, but some of its best work is done in the aftereffects. There’s very little that is romantic about the world we currently live in. Life often feels flat, meaningless. The comforts of home become obsolete when you never leave them. Walking through my front door, hanging up my coat and starting the tea water is a practice that brings me a feeling of beautiful normalcy in its own little way. I got up, had somewhere to go, and returned with a clearer mind. Walking away can’t solve all your problems, but sometimes, it’s exactly what you need.
Owen Bonk is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. Owen can be reached at owen.bonk@tufts.edu.
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Arts & POP ARTS Pop CULTURE Culture
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Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Janice Lourie: A pioneer in the fusion of art, software
AARON APOSTADERO / THE TUFTS DAILY
Janice Lourie’s Metalworks (2009) in the medium of metal prints (12 pieces) is pictured in the exhibition “The Woven Image,” located at Tufts University Art Galleries in the Aidekman Arts Center, on Oct. 27. by Ramona Meng Xi Contributing Writer
When the image of verdant and tender burgeons fuses with a minimalistic composition of clean-cut metal edges, a clash of two objects that are almost on the opposite spectrum of characteristics, they compromise into an artwork with a sense of neutralization and mutual acceptance. It blurs reality, raises the awareness of coexistence and assigns abstraction with meaning. The exhibition “The Woven Image,” located at Tufts University Art Galleries in the Aidekman Arts Center, presents the recent graphic artwork by Tufts alumna Janice Lourie (J’57), who weaves together various
types of media, disciplines and technologies. The exhibition is available from Sept. 8 to Dec. 18, 2020. A virtual tour on the Tufts University Art Galleries website is also an option for people who are in a different city or country. At first glance, Lourie’s artworks are geometric, abstract and slightly bewildering. Blocks and layers of colors, shapes and lines serve as the basic composition. The whole picture might look surreal and confusing, but Lourie’s inspirations and sources for her multimedia graphic art are in fact based on simple dayto-day matters. Her work “Out My Window,” on display in the Aidekman Arts Center, is a digital print that showcases fragments of build-
ings in New York City. By photographing her neighborhood in Manhattan at close range and digitally processing those images together, Lourie creates a sense of abstraction by distorting our established impression on buildings. It is true that when you are submerged in an environment for a long time, you gradually lose the spark of curiosity and appreciation that you once had. Lourie’s reconstruction through fusion thus ignites a new perspective to view her old surroundings. What’s special about this exhibition is that it also celebrates the 50th anniversary of Lourie’s groundbreaking software development that secured IBM’s first software patent for an auto-
mated, computer-driven loom. Indeed, Lourie’s fields of expertise in computer science, music, weaving and graphic art reflect her approach of fusion not only in her artworks. As a weaver during her childhood and a pioneering computer scientist at IBM, Lourie developed a revolutionary software system that could help textile designers to visualize their intended pattern instantly. With the new system, designers could preview their designs electronically and select their desired pattern and weave structure. Then, the system would send the data to a loom or other automated weaving device. Compared to the traditional manual method of weaving it bit by bit without knowing whether the ongoing
weave pattern would support a design, Lourie’s invention freed up designers’ time and creativity. “You could say everything I’ve done is connected by the idea of fusion,” Lourie explains in the exhibit. Her innovative spirit allows her to create things that are influential and powerful by aggregating and utilizing the distinctive characteristics of different fields. Fusion means breaking the normality and creating something that embodies an unprecedented implication. Through Lourie’s fusion of artwork and the software industry, she opens up new possibilities and eliminates matters of obsolescence, which always kindles a sense of wonder among us, the audience: What could be next?
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Wednesday, October 28, 2020 | Arts & Pop Culture | THE TUFTS DAILY
Netflix’s ‘Grand Army’ examines, condemns systemic injustice by Phoebe Yates
Contributing Writer
Content warning: This article discusses trauma, sexual assault, homophobia and racism. From “The O.C.” (2003–07) to “Gossip Girl” (2007–12), “Dawson’s Creek” (1998– 2003) to “Friday Night Lights” (2006–11), TV shows chronicling the highs, lows and sheer melodrama of high school are nothing we haven’t seen before. In recent years, the wild success of HBO’s “Euphoria” (2019–) –– the Zendaya-led teen drama that featured frank depictions of mental health, sex and the importance of body glitter –– has precipitated a wave of new titles offering a diversity of storytelling and a desire to dig deeper. Such is the case with Netflix’s new original show “Grand Army” (2020). The series, centered around a Brooklyn high school of the same name, follows a group of teenagers as they navigate not only the usual coming-of-age fare, but also an intense traumatic experience after a bomb is set off outside of their school. Helmed by showrunner Katie Cappellio, “Grand Army” is based on her 2013 stage show “Slut: The Play,” which incorporated personal stories from teenage members of her all-female theater troupe to paint an innovative and heartbreaking portrait of sexual assault. Although the play –– called “truthful, raw, and immediate” by Gloria Steinem –– followed 16-year-old Joey del Marco (played in “Grand Army” by the captivatingly chaotic Odessa A’zion), “Grand Army” expands beyond this story into many other threads, following five teenagers as they cope with the aftermath of the bombing and their own comings of age. “Grand Army” does a fairly seamless job of weaving these personal stories with larger themes of systemic injustice. One story follows Sid (Amir Bageria), an Indian American teenager struggling to come to terms with
Julian Levy Keep the Cameras Rolling
Satirizing Trump’s America with ‘Borat’ Just as the jester uses his inherent silliness to make fun of the king, so does Sacha Baron Cohen to reveal the absurdity of the philosophy of many Americans toward COVID-19. Borat, the alter ego Cohen has become synonymous with, has proven with his second official outing that the character’s original film was not just lightning in a bottle. The crude, vulgar and, to many people, off-putting,
both his own sexuality and the onslaught of xenophobia brought on by the recent terrorist attack. Another follows Dom (Odley Jean), whose crush on charismatic Black Student Union president John Ellis (Alphonso Romero Jones II) is complicated by her family’s dependence on her for financial support. Though at times the activism storylines can feel a bit heavy-handed, like when Joey distributes “free the nipple” T-shirts to confront a teacher who made sexist comments, more often than not this blend of the personal and the political hits home. When Jay (Maliq Johnson) and Owen (Jaden Jordan), two student musicians, are suspended for accidentally losing Dom’s wallet, Jay’s realization that he might be losing his best friend to the school-to-prison pipeline is nothing short of heartbreaking. Despite fighting against very real systemic injustice –– homophobia, racism, sexism and the recent terrorist attack outside their school, for starters –– the teenagers of “Grand Army” are by no means perfect activists. Though Joey fights diligently against slut-shaming throughout the series, it is her own testimony that lands Jay and Owen in trouble in the first place when Dom’s wallet is lost. Leila (Amalia Yoo), a freshman grappling with the perils of hookup culture and her complex identity as a Chinese girl with Jewish adoptive parents, finds herself not believing Joey when the latter goes public with her story of sexual assault. Many other television shows might have championed Joey’s fight against slut-shaming without underlining just how white feminist it really it is. In this way, “Grand Army’s” strongest asset is the shades of moral complexity it lends its teenage characters; just calling yourself ‘woke’ doesn’t mean you actually are. They are learning how to stand up for themselves and one another, even though they don’t get it right every time.
exterior is a vessel for surprisingly deep social commentary. So why has this iconic Kazakh reporter remained relevant 14 years later? The stupidity and ignorance that has defined his existence is still, against all odds, not immediately apparent to many people in the United States. The events leading up to the global pandemic in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (2020) make the reaction of the American people feel believable and tragically inevitable. The movie follows the titular Borat along with his daughter, Tutar, on a mission across America to deliver her as a bride to Vice President Mike Pence. The outlandishness only continues from there. Through his inventive disguises, Cohen’s Borat is able to infiltrate the public through the lives of many different people, and reveal the ignorance or downright vileness that lies within each of them.
VIA IMDB
A promotional poster for “Grand Army” (2020–) is pictured.
When Borat orders a chocolate cake to give to Mike Pence, he asks for an incredibly antisemitic message to be written atop it. His commitment to the character and the almost earnest demeanor with which he plays it relaxes the person he’s attempting to fool. The woman seems confused at first, but then goes about writing the message with what seems to be a smile on her face. There’s a seemingly embarrassing pride in her expression when she displays the finished product. Similar to almost everything else in 2020, the filming of the new Borat movie was briefly interrupted by COVID-19. While for most television shows and movies this meant halting production indefinitely, there was something perfectly fitting about the ensuing environment for Cohen’s showcase of Trump’s America. A stand-out moment comes as he attempts to
blend in at a conservative rally. Borat sings about former President Barack Obama and how he should be in jail, and refers to COVID-19 by offensive names that Donald Trump himself has uttered. The song’s many lies and hateful things only excite the crowd more as the falsehoods increase in severity. Borat is able to bring out the sides of people that they may not outright admit; if someone’s performing it to a crowd, it can’t hurt to sing along, right? They allow any semblance of a filter that they have to come off, untethered by social concern. The reason that a character as outrageous as Borat is able to induce this false sense of security is pretty depressing: They’re as ignorant as he. If someone with absolutely no awareness is able to bring out someone else’s darkest side, then that really is just their natural state. The problem is that COVID-19 has amplified the negative effects
of this kind of behavior. While damaging and hurtful to many people before, the lack of regard for others now has the potential to kill over one thousand people a day. With stakes heightened to such an extreme, there is an imperative to hold one’s fellow citizens accountable. To expect anything other than misinformation, hate and resentment as a response to COVID-19 would be to ignore what the country was like before it. Movements like the anti-mask movement were bound to happen during the pandemic. But as long as there are ill-informed people hurting the well-being of the country, Sacha Baron Cohen will be there to expose them. Julian Levy is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Julian can be reached at julian.levy@tufts.edu.
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THE TUFTS DAILY | FUN & GAMES | Wednesday, October 28, 2020
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tuftsdaily.com LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Alex: “They f---ing broke the word search!”
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Difficulty Level: Four hours of consecutive Zoom meetings before 1 p.m.
By Annabel Nied
Tuesday’s Solution
Tuesday’s Solution
CORRECTION A previous version of the article titled “Sharp from the Sofa: An ode to Ryan Fitzpatrick” misspelled Walter Payton’s name. The article has been updated to reflect this change. The Daily regrets this error.
CROSSWORD
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Opinion
7 Wednesday, October 28, 2020
EDITORIAL
Caroline DePalma Philosophy in Focus
As winter approaches, provide students with safe options to socialize
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BY ANNABEL NIED spaces and encourage students to spend time outdoors at night. Tufts should also look into implementing space heaters and heated benches in outdoor spaces to offer warm, socially distant areas to gather. Lastly, Tufts should consider constructing temporary covered spaces, such as weather-resistant canopies, where students can gather no matter the weather. This is an option plenty of Boston restaurants have already pursued to allow for warm outdoor dining. In places like Tisch Roof and the President’s Lawn, these additions would effectively encourage safe habits for socializing during the winter. Another option to consider is opening more indoor, socially distant spaces to meet. Currently, the Mayer Campus Center is a good example of an open, safely distanced space for students to study and catch up with others. Tufts should replicate this setup in other open spaces, such as the Remis Sculpture Court in the Aidekman Arts Center. While students are allowed to reserve study
spaces to work in, there should be more accessible ways for students to socialize indoors. As outdoor opportunities to socialize become limited, students must also remain diligent in following campus guidelines and health protocols. This includes getting vaccinated for the flu before Nov. 19 and only relaxing social distancing requirements when within residential cohorts. However, following health guidelines will be particularly difficult during winter months if alternatives are not promptly put in place by the university. The new challenges posed by this upcoming winter remind us that Tufts’ success may not necessarily be permanent. As the year progresses, Tufts must dynamically find solutions to the everchanging problems presented by the pandemic, including the inevitable challenges of socializing in cold weather. Doing so will establish Tufts’ long-term resiliency as a hybrid campus moving forward.
ION OF STA IAT TE OC
n “Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation” (1789), Jeremy Bentham raises this point in the context of his defense of Utilitarianism: “Is it possible for a man to move the earth? Yes; but he must first find out another earth to stand upon.” My first interpretation of Bentham’s statement was that the need for finding another Earth makes moving the Earth impossible. A few years ago, the idea of Donald Trump becoming the president of the United States was as unthinkable as the Earth shifting beneath our feet. Clearly, it must be possible to move the Earth, but this does not make Bentham wrong. The second statement is not a disqualification of the first, as I had previously thought. It’s a condition. A man can move the Earth, but only if there is a second one already in place. It is extremely easy to want to return to the worldview a lot of us had prior to Trump’s presidency, a time that we now call “normal.” I want to caution against this wishful thinking. It does us no good to long for the way things felt before Trump moved our Earth. Using Bentham’s reasoning, Trump is a result of the normalcy we had then, not a digression from it. In order to move the Earth as drastically as he did, he had to be standing on another one that was there for taking. Trump did not create many of the problems that we now associate with him. Systemic racism, unemployment and inadequate funding for public health existed long before his presidency. It is not useful to pretend that those things were abnormal before Donald Trump became the predominant reason for them. Trump stood for everything that was wrong with our country and exacerbated it: casual racism and sexism, bigotry and the prioritization of economic goals over environmental and human needs. His platform embodied these notions when he campaigned, and national support for him is grounded in these beliefs. If you say you want a “return to normalcy,” you’re saying that you want to move the Earth as well, just in the opposite direction of how Trump did. Though I do hope it’s clear that it needs to be moved somewhere different from where we were back then. Since we are trying to move the Earth as well, let’s take the same strategy Trump used. We can stand on everything that is awful about our present society, and get to work moving the Earth to a place where those problems are minimized. It’s not enough to go back to where we were before, as that is what brought us here. Instead, our focus should be on dismantling the Earth Trump stood on to put us here. This means we also have to challenge the norms that paved the way for his rise to power. I hope it’s obvious that the direction we should move the Earth in is a lot better than our normalcy ever was.
TERS RES FO
NATIONAL A SS
A significant challenge of reopening any college campus during the pandemic is finding an appropriate balance between implementing health and safety measures and still allowing students to socialize. Thus far, Tufts has arguably succeeded in finding this balance; even with relaxed social distancing requirements within residential cohorts, opening campus spaces and in-person events, Tufts has maintained an exemplary seven-day unique-individual positivity rate of 0.02% as of Oct. 25. But a New England winter is approaching, and with it fewer opportunities to socialize. As temperatures drop and daylight disappears, students will be left with limited options to safely congregate outdoors. In tandem with the recent classification of Somerville as a “higher risk” zone for COVID-19 and the impending flu season, this renders it even more critical that Tufts provides students with options to safely socialize this winter. In warmer months, distanced options to socialize are much more accessible. This fall, Tufts encouraged outdoor social distancing by scattering Adirondack chairs across campus and providing students with blankets. As the gathering of students on the President’s Lawn and the Academic Quad in the early weeks of the semester demonstrated, this was a widely-used and effective way of socializing while still distant. But without ways to gather outside in the colder months, this will change, as students and community members will turn to socializing and eating indoors. To sustain recent progress containing the spread of COVID-19, Tufts must provide students with more options to socialize as winter nears. Furthermore, as a result of Tufts’ decision to keep campus open after Thanksgiving, many students may stay on campus for the remainder of the semester. For these students, it may mean forgoing spending the holidays with family, an isolating reality of the pandemic. On top of providing options for students to socialize in the cold, Tufts must also organize socially distant gatherings and events for those who are away from home for the holidays. First, Tufts should pursue options that make outdoor spaces habitable during the cold winter months. As Tufts Community Union (TCU) President Sarah Wiener suggested in a TCU meeting last week, Tufts should invest in outdoor lighting fixtures, such as string lights, to light up outdoor
Rethinking a return to normalcy
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Caroline DePalma is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Caroline can be reached at caroline.depalma@tufts.edu.
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Sports
8 Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Nicole Setow Wonder Women
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tuftsdaily.com
NFL Week 7 Recap: Patriots dynasty is dead
Tatyana McFadden
atyana McFadden may be the closest person to an actual superhero whom this column will cover. Many refer to her as the fastest woman in the world, and she certainly has the accolades to support it. The wheelchair racer became the first ever to win major marathons in Boston, London, New York and Chicago all in the same year (2013), and she then repeated this Grand Slam in 2014, 2015 and 2016. She has also won 17 Paralympic medals –– one of which is actually a 2014 Winter Paralympic silver medal in cross-country skiing–– since she made her debut as the youngest member of the United States 2004 Paralympic Team. Her success across two vastly different disciplines speaks volumes about her willingness to challenge herself. Not many world-class athletes have the skills or ambition to qualify in multiple sports, much less reach the podium, but Tatyana McFadden made this feat look easy. Now she’s searching for gold again as she trains for the Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games. It’s worth noting that before McFadden represented Team USA, her journey started in a Russian orphanage. She was born in 1989 with spina bifida, a spinal defect, which left her paralyzed from the waist down. The orphanage was unable to provide her with a wheelchair, so McFadden learned to walk on her hands –– likely developing some of the physical strength and mental resilience to become the fierce competitor that she is today. After moving to Maryland with her adoptive mother, Deborah McFadden, Tatyana McFadden tried her hand at hockey, basketball and swimming among a handful of sports. While many athletes may “live to play,” McFadden played to live. Her doctor explained to Deborah McFadden that Tatyana McFadden’s insufficient access to medical care in the first years of her life would cause her to have a short lifespan. In hopes of defying those expectations, Deborah McFadden enrolled her in various activities to help build her strength. Then, when she fell in love with wheelchair racing as a high school athlete, she faced yet another obstacle. She wasn’t allowed to race among her peers. Instead, athletic directors forced her to race alone at each meet. So, at the age of 15, Tatyana McFadden successfully sued for her and all other para-athletes to have the right to equally compete in high school athletics with dignity and respect. Considering her accomplishments both on and off the track, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that McFadden is one of the most remarkable and prolific athletes there are. She absolutely dominates competitions of speed, stamina and endurance. What is likely most impressive, though, is her vision: It’s clear watching her race that she always knows exactly when to pull ahead of her competitors, and she also has the strength to pull it off. She is so incredibly disciplined in her training regimen and efforts; it’s apparent that she digs deep for every inch of distance she covers, and it’s mesmerizing to watch. In retrospect, McFadden did more than just defy the odds; she absolutely crushed them. Nicole Setow is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Nicole can be reached at nicole.setow@tufts.edu.
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The Patriots’ Julian Edelman is pictured on Oct. 6, 2019. by Emma Joyce
Contributing Writer
Sunday scaries in New England The San Francisco 49ers, led by former Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, defeated New England by a whopping score of 33–6. The Patriots defense gave up 467 yards to the 49ers, and quarterback Cam Newton was intercepted three times before eventually being benched. Sunday’s game was the biggest margin in a home Patriots loss since Bill Belichick arrived in 2000, and they have a threegame losing streak for the first time since 2002. The 49ers are not a bad team by any means, but things are definitely not looking good for the Patriots. Although Newton is definitely not entirely to blame, he must figure out what isn’t working in order to help the Patriots move past their unusual start to this season. To make matters even worse for Patriots fans, their former quarterback Tom Brady threw for four touchdown passes in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 45–20 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. The Buccaneers now lead the NFC South and have proven to be a potential Super Bowl contender this season. Their team will only continue to get better with wide receiver Antonio Brown, who is expected to make his Tampa Bay debut Week 9. With that painful recap for Patriots fans now over, let’s take a look at some of the highlights from Week 7 in the rest of the NFL. One undefeated team remains The formerly undefeated Seattle Seahawks lost to the Arizona Cardinals in a thrilling overtime game Sunday night. Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett led the offense with three touchdowns, and DK Metcalf showed incredible speed that saved a pick-six after Cardinals safety Budda Baker intercepted quarterback Russell Wilson. These efforts weren’t enough to stop quarterback Kyler Murray and the rest of the Cardinals from coming back from a 20–7 deficit in the second quarter. Wilson had three intercep-
tions in the game with one coming in the final minute of overtime that led to the Cardinals’ game-winning field goal. Cardinals 37, Seahawks 34. Besides the Seahawks, the other two undefeated teams going into Week 7 in the NFL went head to head in another exciting matchup. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans finally played their game that was originally slated for Week 4 but was postponed due to multiple positive COVID-19 tests among the Titans. Pittsburgh’s offense dominated the first half, but the Titans were able to come back and put themselves in a position to tie the game at the end of the fourth quarter. However, kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed a 45-yard field goal attempt with 19 seconds left in the game that secured Pittsburgh a 27–24 win. The Steelers are the only remaining undefeated team in the entire NFL, but we will see how long their perfect season lasts as they have a tough matchup versus their AFC North rival, the Baltimore Ravens, next week. Falcons choke again In classic Atlanta fashion, the Falcons made an unfortunate mistake that allowed the Detroit Lions to capitalize on the last possession of the game. Falcons running back Todd Gurley couldn’t stop himself from scoring, and remembered too late to go down before the goal line. Now, one may be confused as to why it was a bad thing for the Falcons to score. Isn’t the whole point of football to try and score as much as possible? Well, in this case, if Gurley did not score, the Falcons could have run out the clock and won off of a short field goal. Instead, they gave possession back to the Lions with just over a minute remaining, who were able to score a touchdown at the end to win 23–22. The NFC East is a joke If you needed another reminder of how much of a joke the NFC East is, boy are you in for a treat. Another foreseeable loss this week was handed to the Dallas Cowboys by the Washington Football team. After Cowboys quarter-
back Dak Prescott suffered a serious ankle injury Week 5, backup quarterback Andy Dalton was forced to step up. Unfortunately, Andy Dalton left the game this Sunday after a hit to the head by Washington’s Jon Bostic. The Cowboys, who have already struggled enough this season, now have to rely on their third-string rookie quarterback Ben DiNucci. Washington earned its second win of the season 25–3. With a 2–4–1 record that puts them in a position to win the division, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New York Giants 22–21 Thursday night. The main highlight from this game, however, was Giants quarterback Daniel Jones showing incredible speed during an 80-yard run in the third quarter. He got so excited that he tripped with no defenders in sight. The game actually ended up being very close, with the Eagles scoring a touchdown in the last 40 seconds to secure the win. It will be a very close race to see who wins the division and then loses in the first round of playoffs to a decent team. Browns win and lose The Cleveland Browns went neck and neck against AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals, but edged out a 37–34 win after quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a game-winning touchdown to Donovan Peoples-Jones at the very end of the fourth quarter. Mayfield threw five touchdowns that tied a franchise record, but Bengals rookie Joe Burrow also had a very impressive game (406 yards) that gives Cincinnati something to be hopeful about. However, the main story of this game is the injury that Browns star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (OBJ) suffered after attempting to chase down a Bengals defender after an interception. The Browns announced Monday that OBJ has a torn ACL and will miss the rest of the season. With this being an unusual winning season so far for the Browns in a tough AFC North division, it will be interesting to see how the loss of OBJ affects the team.