Nobel laureate Eugene Fama discusses recession, populism see FEATURES / PAGE 4
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Jumbos sweep Bates in 1st series after Spring Break
Ariana Grande’s new tour a visual, musical feat see ARTS&LIVING / PAGE 6
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VOLUME LXXVII, ISSUE 43
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
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Tentative agreement reached in dining negotiations, strike averted by Alexander Thompson News Editor
Tufts University dining workers, represented by UNITE HERE Local 26, reached a tentative agreement in contract negotiations with the university after eight months of talks, lifting the threat of a strike that dining workers voted to authorize two weeks ago. The agreement was announced in a joint statement by the two sides in an email sent to the Tufts community on Friday, March 29. “We are proud that good faith negotiations by both sides have reached a successful conclusion. We look forward to continued collaboration as we move ahead,” the statement read. The email, signed by University President Anthony Monaco and Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell, went on to summarize the agreement. According to the summary, the university has agreed that it will raise base pay over four years and allow dining workers to switch from the Tufts University health plan to a healthcare option offered by UNITE HERE Local 26, though workers would be given the opportunity to retain their current plan at the same rates.
The summary also stated that the university will convert 50 workers on temporary contracts, who currently make up a significant percentage of Tufts Dining employees, to regular employees. Issues of wages, healthcare and temporary contracts have been the key points holding up the negotiations since last semester, Mike Kramer, the lead negotiator for UNITE HERE Local 26, has told the Daily in interviews and emails since January. The members of UNITE HERE Local 26 will now have the opportunity to review the agreement before a ratification vote that will take place on Wednesday, according to Trisha O’Brien, a dining service attendant at Kindlevan Café and a member of the the union’s bargaining committee. After the announcement of the agreement, both the workers and their supporters in the student body were exuberant; a group of workers and activists participated in what O’Brien described as a “victory lap,” which was met with cheering and clapping from students as it made its way through the dining halls. A video posted this morning on UNITE HERE Local 26’s Facebook page shows workers and Kramer celebrating
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Left to right: Denise Seta, Mehmuda Kanyat, Josephine Norton and Tina Lavanga celebrate the announcement of the tentative agreement at Hotung Café. and performing the “unity clap” moments after the agreement had been reached, during which the workers clapped faster and faster in unison and cheered. O’Brien said that she was overjoyed that an agreement had been reached and praised her co-workers, UNITE HERE Local 26 and students for their support during the many months of negotiations.
“We are unbreakable. That’s what we started with, that’s what we ended with and we all stuck together. We are so happy, we can’t believe it,” she said. “It was scary at times, but we held together.” O’Brien said she was especially pleased with the concessions made by the university on wages, which will now be collec-
The Cannabis Debate discusses marijuana’s past, future by Ryan Shaffer Staff Writer
Over 200 people registered to attend The Cannabis Debate, an event hosted by the Experimental College (ExCollege) to discuss the changing landscape around medical and recreational marijuana, according to an email sent to registrants. The event, which took place on Friday, was part of Voices from the Edge, an annual lecture series that “showcases individuals who innovate, break new ground, and lead the way,” according to the event program. The Cannabis Debate lecture event stems from the ExCollege course of the same name that was offered during the spring 2019 semester and co-instructed by Ernest Anemone and John De La Parra. The debate consisted of a two-hour panel discussion followed by two breakout sessions. During the breakout sessions, attendees participated in 30-minute discussions with panelists, who were experts in their fields, addressing topics such as law and justice, regulation and politics, and business and health.
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Panelists included Tufts’ Professor of Political Science David Art, Commissioner on the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (MCCC) Shaleen Title, entrepreneur and marijuana advocate Aja Atwood, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins, Founder and Executive Director of the National Council For Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls Andrea James, Founder of Integr8 Health and medical physician Dustin Sulak and MIT Research Scientist and Co-instructor of the ExCollege course De La Parra. Moderated by Anemone, an ethnobotanist, attorney and co-instructor of the ExCollege course, the panel discussed policy, racial disparities in the enforcement of drug policies and the changing national attitudes toward marijuana. “Today is not going to be about legalization versus prohibition because as a country we have kind of moved past that,” Anemone said. “Today we are going to be talking about what it actually means to legalize marijuana.” The event was opened by Dean of Arts and Sciences James Glaser, who For breaking news, our content archive and exclusive content, visit tuftsdaily.com @tuftsdaily
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addressed changing attitudes toward marijuana. “I would say this is a domain that has changed so very much over my lifetime,” Glaser said. “I remember as a teenager my mother warning me against the dangers of marijuana.” Glaser added that his mother, who now uses cannabis lotion for arthritis, has changed her attitude toward marijuana. Art weighed in on the topic during the discussion, saying public opinion and the national discussion of marijuana policy has shifted rapidly in under a decade. “The change has been radical and quick and as quick as any change in American politics recently,” Art said. “In 2010, it was two-to-one against legalization; in 2018, it has flipped. In Massachusetts, the debate now is about social justice and reparations.” Regarding the legalization and transition of marijuana sales from underground markets to a regulated market, Title said the process has been slow. As of Feb. 28, 49 registered marijuana dispensary applications have been
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approved for sales across the state. Title said the transition allows for a well-regulated market beneficial to all. “For young people who choose to use cannabis … it’s better if it’s a regulated product that has been tested, that is labeled, that will give you a consistent experience,” Title said. Entering the market, however, can be a difficult process for businesses, according to Atwood. Atwood said her locality only allows for one recreational license, and that upon applying, businesses must execute a Host Community Agreement (HCA). An HCA is an agreement between the business and the municipality regarding the business’s operations and fees. Atwood said the process to secure an HCA put her in a “sort of limbo” between a “hesitant town” and the MCCC. According to Atwood, more pathways should be opened for people to enter the business. “A lot of the people trying to get into the industry are focusing on licenses,”
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Aja N. Atwood, CEO and Co-Founder of Trella Technologies, LLC, addresses the audience at the Cannabis Debate hosted by the ExCollege in the Distler Performance Hall on March 29. Aneurin Canham-Clyne Mikaela Lessnau Kaitlyn Meslin Amulya Mutnuri Elizabeth Shelbred Simrit Uppal Shane Woolley Arlo Moore-Bloom Yuan Jun Chee Ryan Eggers Liam Finnegan Jeremy Goldstein Savannah Mastrangelo Maddie Payne Haley Rich Brad Schussel Josh Steinfink Sam Weidner Julia Atkins Tim Chiang Jake Freudberg Noah Stancroff Helen Thomas-McLean Alex Viveros Daniel Nelson Madeleine Oliver Christine Lee Anika Agarwal Ann Marie Burke Mike Feng Ben Kim Max Lalanne Meredith Long Julia McDowell Evan Slack Kirt Thorne Caleb Martin-Rosenthal Ann Marie Burke Annette Key
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continued from page 1 Atwood said. “We need other things to be developed for this industry to thrive.” Throughout the event, panelists reflected on the racial disparities of enforcing drug policy while also discussing the potential role of current and future marijuana policy in addressing those disparities. According to a 2016 report by the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission, 75% of those serving mandatory sentences for drug offenses are
black or Latinx despite only being 22% of the state’s population. The enforcement of drug policy has left a deep impact on minority communities, according to James. “We have to understand the disruption of the war on drugs and mass incarceration that has mostly targeted minority communities, in addition to the family disruption,” James, a formerly incarcerated woman, said. “I would hope that we would begin by [stopping the use of ] people’s past histories as a
reason to preclude them from moving forward.” For Rollins, the communities most affected by the enforcement of marijuana policy should be the ones to benefit most from the growing industry. “Now everyone making money in cannabis is white; so it is a racial disparity … If there is something that we as people of color should be making money on, it is the stuff that you arrested and prosecuted us for,” Rollins said.
The tentative agreement was met with celebration by the many Tufts Dining workers on temporary contracts, as it means they may be converted to full-time employment if the agreement is ratified, meaning that they could receive higher wages and more benefits and will no longer have to reapply for their jobs every semester. Tina Lavanga, who works on a temporary contract at Hotung Café, said she was “lost for words” after hearing of the agreement. “It’s wonderful. Our paycheck is going to be more, we’re going to be eligible for benefits that we weren’t before. Everything that a regular worker gets, we get … it’s amazing. After working [at Tufts] for 11 years, I get this,” she said. Workers also expressed relief that a strike had been averted. Two weeks ago, the workers had voted overwhelmingly to authorize the UNITE HERE Local 26 bargaining committee to call a strike, and some preparations took place this week, including a meeting on Tuesday held by Tufts Dining Action Coalition ( TDAC) to brief students on a possible strike and a “practice” picket by workers that had been scheduled for this afternoon. “Every [dining worker was] really happy and crying because no one wanted to go on strike and everybody was just overwhelmed — we were all overwhelmed,” O’Brien said. “Because a lot of people live paycheck to paycheck, and it was going to be a hardship for them, but they were going to do it.”
It is unclear how the two sides reached a breakthrough, but many workers and students attributed it to the actions and protests that have put pressure on the Tufts administration and marked the campaign. O’Brien said that the backing of the students was crucial. “Without the students we wouldn’t have this contract, because they backed us 100% … I don’t know what we would’ve done without them,” she said. Throughout this week, groups of students organized by TDAC confronted senior Tufts administrators in Ballou Hall and across campus demanding action in the talks. Jaclyn Tsiang, a junior and member of TDAC, told the Daily that she thought it was only through workers and students coming together that the campaign was ultimately successful. “Tufts can say that they care about the dining workers, but if we’re being honest, they were not going to settle for the workers’ demands. At the beginning, they rejected all of them. It’s taken a lot of work and sacrifices to get here,” Tsiang said. Jesse Ryan, another member of TDAC, said that the mood on campus after news of the agreement broke was electric. As for TDAC, Ryan said the next step was to celebrate the tentative agreement with the workers in the coming days. “Students and workers made this happen,” Ryan said.
Tentative contract agreement includes increased wages, fewer temporary contracts, access to union's health plan
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continued from page 1 tively bargained instead of being merit-based and the decision of Tufts Dining managers, which she said would prevent retaliation and discrimination. According to O’Brien, workers will see wages go up by $1.25 the first year, then $0.95, $1 and $1 in the successive years under the tentative agreement. Patrick Collins, executive director of public relations for the university, confirmed these numbers in an email to the Daily. O’Brien and Collins also said that healthcare could be more affordable under the tentative agreement, as the workers would be able to purchase a union-backed plan with lower premiums than the Tufts healthcare options, and that the university would pay up to 95% of the cost after four years depending on the plan, an increase from the 62% Tufts currently pays for some of the health plans, O’Brien said. Christine Tringale, a night cook supervisor at Hodgdon Food-on-theRun, saw relief for her family in the new union healthcare option that would be offered. “For my family, the insurance was really high and it made it hard to save money and ever be comfortable,” Tringale said. “So now that my insurance is going to be cheaper and I’m going to be making living wages, I’ll be able to probably go on vacations with my family, spend more time [with them] and do things that I want to do.”
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TCU Senate calls for Tufts’ investments to be carbon neutral, debates funding new Hall Councils by Robert Kaplan
Assistant News Editor
The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate met to hear a resolution calling for carbon neutrality in Tufts investments; to discuss a funding request for the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL) to fund its Hall Council and Residence Hall Association proposal; and to hear several supplementary funding requests on Sunday night in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room. The resolution, titled “S. 19-7 A Resolution Calling on Tufts University to Transition to a Carbon-Neutral Endowment,” was authored by juniors Hanna Carr and Erica Nork, sophomores Abby Raymond, Sophia Carroll and Lindsay Naher and first-years Rachel Wagner, Grace Anderson, Alyssa Attonito, Temple MillerHodgkin and Colton Wolk. The resolution was adopted by the TCU Senate with 24 senators in favor and none opposed. Carr explained the authors’ rationale for writing the resolution, which follows a similar one passed by the TCU Senate in 2013 calling for full divestment from the fossil fuel industry. “It is far too risky and a breach of fiduciary responsibility, as well as a breach of active citizenship, to remain invested in fossil fuels,” Carr said. “The time for Tufts to de-carbonize its endowment is now.” Later, TCU President Jacqueline Chen and Vice President Adam Rapfogel presented the ORLL’s funding request to the TCU Senate ahead of its upcoming budget meeting. According to Chen, the informal discussion that followed was on whether to fund the initiative and how much would save time and speed along the budgeting process next week.
Chen and Rapfogel explained that the initiative would enable first-year students to plan and lead their own programming in their respective residence halls, while also providing the opportunity to hold leadership roles in a Hall Council that would oversee a given residence hall and the Residence Hall Association that would oversee all of the Hall Councils. According to Chen, ORLL requested funding for as much as $23,900 to cover the program, though the TCU Senate considered allocating significantly smaller totals. TCU Senator Karan Rai explained that he was opposed to allocating any amount towards the new program “This is literally throwing money at a problem … Tufts has little community and [is] just hoping something works,” Rai, a senior, said. “We shouldn’t fund this it at all. If this is successful this year, we can fund it next year.” LGBTQ+ Community Senator Kathleen Lanzilla added that substantial totals could be better applied towards other organizations that build community on campus. “If we were to give more money to the Group of Six instead … I think that that’s a way to create community for the groups that are underrepresented and marginalized on this campus,” Lanzilla, a sophomore, said. However, Rapfogel said that initial funding was a prerequisite to a fair evaluation of the program. “We need to have a good year of this,” Rapfogel said. “It’ll be pretty bad if they don’t have enough money to make it good, and if they have a good year by [TCU Senate] only spending $3,000, then it’s more likely [that] it will be good.” Ultimately, TCU Senate voted to include $3,000 in its upcoming budget for use towards the program, with 16 senators in favor and nine opposed.
Additionally, Chen also reminded the TCU Senate about the upcoming elections for all TCU Senate, Judiciary and Committee on Student Life positions this month. Chen explained that the Elections General Interest Meeting will be on April 2 at 9 p.m. in Braker 001. The Candidate’s Meeting on April 10, at 9 p.m. and the Candidate’s Forum on April 16 are in the same room. TCU elections will follow on April 17, throughout the day until midnight. Before the end of the meeting, representative for the School at the Museum of Fine Arts Maia Lai informed the TCU Senate of upcoming elections for student government. Notable among the offices available is a new position open to dual-degree students, Lai, a junior, explained. According to Lai, candidates will be able to obtain packets to run for office on April 3, which is due for return on April 10. Elections will be held at SPROM on April 12. TCU Senate also heard 11 supplementary funding requests from student organizations. Pulse, an Indian classical dance group, requested $150 to cover the cost of jewelry in its performance costumes, according to an Allocations Board (ALBO) report. The requested total was passed by acclamation. TuftScope Journal requested $269.15 for a panel event on immigration, according to an ALBO report. The ALBO recommended total of $264 was passed by acclamation. According to an ALBO report, Global China Connection requested $1,590 for a national conference in Washington, D.C. The ALBO recommended total of $1,400 was passed by acclamation. Buddhist Mindfulness Sangha requested $1,680 for an off-campus retreat in North Andover, Mass. According to Rai, the group’s emphasis on meditation would
be difficult to accomplish surrounded by the distracting atmosphere of campus. The ALBO recommended total of $1,479 was passed by acclamation. Japanese Culture Club requested $1,265 for an upcoming retreat, according to an ALBO report. The ALBO recommended total of $1,114 was passed by acclamation. According to an ALBO report, Men’s Club Volleyball requested $3,000 for an upcoming competition in Denver, Colo. The ALBO recommended total of $2,640 was passed with 17 senators in favor, six opposed and two abstaining. Rock Climbing requested $11,455 for an upcoming national competition in Tennessee, according to an ALBO report. The ALBO recommended total of $9,359 was approved with 25 senators in favor and none opposed. The first of two requests from the Queer Students Assocation was for $50 as an honorarium for speaker Eran Efrati at its upcoming event with Students for Justice in Palestine, according to an ALBO report. The honorarium was approved with 23 senators in favor, one abstaining and one opposed. The second request from the Queer Students Association was for supplementary funding to cover performance, food and decoration costs at its upcoming 2019 Drag Show. The ALBO recommended total of $872 was approved with 24 senators in favor, one abstaining and one opposed. According to an ALBO report, the Crafts Center requested $600 for two new sewing machines. The TCU Senate approved the request, which passed by acclamation. Future Histories Literary Magazine requested $2,250 to cover spring issue printing costs, according to an ALBO report. The TCU Senate approved the ALBO recommended total of $2,250 with 17 senators in favor and eight opposed.
Eboo Patel discusses interfaith in a changing America in Distinguished Speaker Series talk by Hannah Uebele News Editor
Eboo Patel gave a talk called Division or Unity: Religious Diversity and the American Promise last night in the Breed Memorial Hall as part of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life Distinguished Speaker Series and the University Chaplaincy Russell Lecture on Spiritual Life. Patel is the founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core and served on Former President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council. University Chaplain Reverend Greg McGonigle introduced Patel, saying that he hoped that Patel would “help us engage about where we are personally and as a campus with interfaith.” McGonigle explained how Tufts has seen increasing involvement with interfaith programs, as programs such as the Conversation, Action, Faith and Education (CAFE) pre-orientation grow every year. McGonigle added that 80% of incoming Tufts students want the univer-
sity to know what their religious affiliations are and that 60% of students are interested in some form of interfaith engagement. Patel brought attention to the fact that religious communities have created and contributed to numerous organizations and institutes across the country — ranging from disaster relief efforts to places for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. “Religious communities play an absolutely central and essential role in American civil society, and as those communities start to erode, what happens to American civil society?” Patel said. “Participation in religious communities is falling, and that’s going to have an impact on civil society.” Patel also explained how the increasing amount of religious diversity within this country creates a need for leaders that can bring interfaith knowledge and understanding in common spaces like hospitals and schools. “We live in the most religiously diverse nation in human history at a time when
religion is a growing divide,” he said. “Just as multiculturalism has taken off, just as we are increasingly aware of various genders and sexualities, do we not think we’re going to need a similar level of interfaith literacy and leadership?” Patel questioned the definition of interfaith work, pointing out how progressives and conservatives alike use it to promote their beliefs and work toward their respective goals. He emphasized that diversity does not just mean engaging with people of different abilities, cultures, ethnicities and sexualities, but also with those of different convictions. “Diversity is not just the difference you like; diversity is being able to deal with people with very different ideas of how society should run. It’s the ability to engage those differences,” Patel said. He also examined what the future of America’s religious diversity will look like. “How do we build a healthy, religiously diverse democracy, and what kind of academic
preparation is required [for that]?” Patel said. He added that some aspects of American society are already on the right track. “I think that American civil society is one of the great geniuses of human civilization. We have lots of spaces that bring people who disagree on fundamental things together to do positive things together,” he said. Patel ended by saying that part of his motivation for speaking at Tufts was to create a conversation. “The single best part about working with really smart students on campuses is that I don’t have the answers — all I have to do is plant the question with you all,” he said. Celene Ibrahim, Muslim chaplain at the University Chaplaincy, highlighted Patel’s passion and innovative thinking. “Eboo has been in so many ways for so many of us a model of how to take a passion and turn it into a movement,” she said. “He’s someone who never hesitates to shift the framework or propose something that’s radically new or hasn’t been done before.”
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4 Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Allison Morgenstern Making my (Den)mark
O
Finland
ne of the coolest parts of the DIS study abroad program is that we have a lot of traveling built into our academic schedule. This past week, I went on a class field trip to Finland. I remember when I signed up for this particular core class on child development, I was kind of iffy about Finland. Some of the other classes planned to travel to London, Paris, Switzerland and other ‘mainstream’ places. I didn’t have any specific expectations for Finland, but as it turns out, Finland is quite amazing. One of the highlights of my trip was a Finnish cooking class. For those of you who don’t know me, trying new foods is not my specialty. Of course, I opted to bake the bilberry pie (yes, bilberry, not blueberry) instead of one of the unique Finnish dishes. To summarize the experience: I didn’t burn anything; I accidentally measured out a liter-carton of milk into a liter measuring cup because I didn’t read the carton; and I successfully made vanilla sauce on the stove without letting it overflow. I even surprised myself and tried some Finnish meatballs and I liked them! I was very proud of myself — and so was my whole class, because they usually spend most group meals teasing me about being so picky. My favorite part of this trip was our time at Pekka’s Place, a nature campsite in one of Finland’s national parks. I would not consider myself an outdoorsy person, but I absolutely loved this place. When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by Pekka, a 60-ish-year-old man who, as my teacher remarked, is the real-life version of the Lorax. He showed us around and fitted us all with a pair of snowshoes. I’ve snowshoed once before in my life but never on a frozen lake before. We waddled clumsily through the snowy woods, like a line of ducklings following a mother duck, until we reached the lake. The weather was also ideal — that’s right, it was not freezing the whole time in Finland. I probably could’ve shed my parka if I wanted to. After snowshoeing, we had an even more Finnish experience. I’ve never been a huge fan of saunas in the U.S., but I’m definitely going to have to try this sauna thing in Copenhagen, too. There’s a whole process: You warm up in a sauna, then sprint to the frozen lake, climb down a ladder, through a hole cut in the solid ice, almost freeze to death in the water and then run back to the sauna or hot tub. I think the Finnish are immune to the cold because they also do this whole thing without any clothes, which is way too crazy for me. We finished off the night with a great homemade meal, including fresh cinnamon buns for dessert and a class singalong in an outdoor hut. Plot twist: I slept in this outside hut. On reindeer hides. Wearing a sleeping bag suit. It may have been the worst night of sleep, but it was truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Allie Morgenstern is a junior studying child study and human development. Allie can be reached at allison.morgenstern@tufts.edu.
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Alumni Q&A: Nobel prizewinner in economics Eugene Fama by Anita Ramaswamy Managing Editor
The Tufts Daily (TD): What were some memorable classes or professors you had at Tufts? Eugene Fama (EF): I started out as a Romance languages major and then took an economics course, and I loved it, and ended up with a dual major. I fell in love with economics and I’ve been with it ever since. Harry Ernst was a very important professor, though he’s probably dead at this point. Lewis Manly was another one who was very good. I’m sure he’s dead at this point. TD: What personally motivated your path from studying Romance languages at Tufts to loving economics so much that it brought you to where you are today? EF: Well, I was getting bored with Romance languages, and I found economics exciting. When I went to interview for a job, it looked like a degree in economics would be much more profitable. But in any case, I wasn’t ready for a job, so I wanted to go to graduate school, and my professors at that time, Harry Ernst and Lewis Manly, [told] me to go to the University of Chicago, because they thought that was the business school that was more oriented towards academic work than the other schools I had been accepted to. TD: What research are you currently working on? EF: I’ve worked on lots of things since [receiving the Nobel Prize], and I’m currently working on how to measure risk and what the relationship is between expected return and risk. [That’s] the most simple way to put it; getting into any more detail than that would be probably not be appropriate for your audience. TD: What do you believe is the most misunderstood facet of your work? EF: Whether you’re talking about academics or practitioners. Academics understand it perfectly well, I think. Whether they agree with it or not, that’s a different story, but they understand it. Practitioners, well, they all have their own quirks, so I can’t really comment on that. It took a long time for these ideas to percolate through the business community. It basically took 50 years for the efficient markets hypothesis to permeate in any real way, but the risk and return stuff that I’ve been doing forever — that permeated pretty quickly. TD: Is there any reason you think practitioners misunderstood? EF: [Practitioners didn’t misunderstand], they just didn’t accept it because it hits them in the pocketbook. Basically it said that all of the active investing techniques did not work. You’re crazy to pay high fees for them when in fact you weren’t getting what you were paying for. So they didn’t like that message. TD: What would you most like to understand or explain about financial markets that you feel has not yet been understood? EF: Almost everything. The appropriate way to measure risk. I mean, I’ve been looking at this risk-return problem for 50 years, and I still don’t think I have it nailed. I doubt it’s possible to nail it, so that’s kind of ongoing research, and it’s likely to be ongoing long after I’m done with it. TD: In light of the 2008 global financial crisis, do you tend to believe that regulation improved the financial sector or that it went too far?
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Eugene Fama is pictured at a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in December 2013. EF: No, I don’t think it went too far. I would say that in some respects it went too far, but in some respects it didn’t go far enough. I think it’s still dangerous in terms of the amount of leverage that’s in our financial sector. If there were another crisis, [financial institutions] would get bailed out again, and that’s something that they like, so there have been some of us that have said all along that basically the ones that are too big to fail should hold enough equity so that they can’t fail. But we’re nowhere near that. We’re still in a fairly dangerous position if we run into another episode like they did in 2008 and 2009. TD: So you believe there could be room for further regulation? EF: Well, they looked at the wrong stuff. They’re looking at detailed regulation when the basic regulation is [that] you have to have enough equity in there so that the debt doesn’t bring you down. I don’t think they really faced that, because they get lulled by the interest into thinking that somehow more leverage will hamstring the banks in what they do in terms of lending, [but] there’s an old Modigliani-Miller theorem that says that’s garbage. Basically, it could be all equity, and it wouldn’t change the amount of lending they would do. That’s going to be an ongoing fight, and hopefully not [one] to be tested with another crisis. TD: Critics of passive investing have raised concerns about a concentration of voting rights. In your view, should passive shareholders be allowed to vote and why? EF: Of course they should be. They’re shareholders after all. So I’m involved with an investment company, and we have 15 people who do nothing but look at these governance issues. So the bigger the fraction you own of a company, the more incentive you have to make sure that what they’re doing is something you agree with in terms of making sure the shareholders are better off. So I don’t see a problem there at all. It’s the opposite of a problem. The problem you have is the free-rider problem, where everybody owns such a small fraction and nobody has any incentive to be looking into
what’s going on. So I think all of the passive managers that I know of are deep into corporate governance; I mean, they’re really concerned about how a company is operating. You get complaints from people who want us to go back to active management, so they can get back their high fees. [Passive managers] are the same as active guys. The incentive is not different. You don’t want these [active] guys stealing from you; that’s what it comes down to. TD: Do you believe that at the limit there will always be room for active investors as necessary price-setters for the market? EF: There’s definitely a need for them, but the problem is that all the bad active managers have to be offset by good active managers. So if the bad ones dropped out, there’d be fewer good ones to offset them and keep the market efficient. So I don’t think we are anywhere near the point where this is at all an issue. There are active managers who do it anyway, but it could be just informed individual investors that keep the market efficient. TF: What is one piece of advice you would give to young people seeking to enter the finance industry, especially in investment roles? EF: Well, my general advice that I always give to young people is: Find something that you really like to do, because you’re going to spend a large fraction of your life doing it. And if you don’t like it, basically, it’s a third of your life; you’re going to be very unhappy. So I’ve been really blessed in the sense that I really love my work, so it’s not painful to sit down at my desk and work. It’s really a joy. That’s the general advice I give, and it would apply to people going into finance as well. If you’re going to go into finance, basically you need a good background in economics and some background in statistics. Those are the two things you’re going to be faced with throughout your career. I try to prepare my students in those terms for stuff that they’re likely to see in the future that we don’t even
see ALUMNI, page 5
F e tuftsdaily.com at u r e s
THE TUFTS DAILY | Features | Tuesday, April 2, 2019
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Eugene Fama speaks on economics, career experiences EF: It’s really baffling that somehow evidence doesn’t seem to change people’s opinions. What is the government really good at? I mean, why are you asking for more government? Does more government ever work? Or does it always work in unintended ways? I tend to lean to the latter myself, but I’m a libertarian, so I don’t trust [government]. But basically, the evidence is clear-cut. Capitalism makes people better off.
There’s no way around it. There’s a lot of envy going around, because the rich are doing very well. The poor are doing well, it’s just that they are not doing as well as the rich. I don’t know what the optimal amount of inequality is in order to make everybody better off. And that’s not a question that can be answered by the political process very well, either. But it really worries me that people don’t seem to learn from experience that
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socialism and more government basically were a complete disaster. There is no case of a socialist government that has ever worked in the long-term. So I don’t know what people are looking at. Socialism depends on people. Eventually you’re gonna get people in there who are going to steal everything. You see that in Venezuela currently; you saw that in the Soviet Union … So we’ll see how that turns out.
NATIONAL A SS
ALUMNI
continued from page 4 know about now. So, if they’re going to be prepared to deal with it, they are going to need a background in economics and statistics to do that. TD: What advice would you give to students graduating today in light of today’s economic environment and the growing challenges to traditional views of capitalism, markets and globalization?
FO
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6 Tuesday, April 2, 2019
ARTS&LIVING
tuftsdaily.com
Tuna Margalit Review Rewind
‘Synecdoche, New York’
T
he Movie: “Synecdoche, New York” The Year: 2008 The People: Philip Seymour Hoffman as the neurotic and death-fearing theater director Caden, Samantha Morton as the quirky, flirtatious box office staff member Hazel, Catherine Keener as Caden’s fed-up, maritally drained wife Adele; and Charlie Kaufman as the brilliant screenwriter and first-time director of the film. The Non-Revealing Plot: Theater director Caden is left by his wife Adele, who moves to Germany with their daughter and becomes a famous artist. In the midst of dealing with his wife leaving him, Caden receives a letter saying that he has been granted a MacArthur Fellowship for his rendition of the play “Death of a Salesman” (1949). He decides to use the award to make his own play, one that’s plot is autobiographical but its production blends the lines of reality and fiction. Caden constructs his new play in a massive abandoned warehouse while trying to come to terms with his own existence, the existence of everyone around him and his loneliness. Unofficial Genre: The movie is a drama that experiments with many ideas in its storytelling — from realism to meta-fiction to science fiction to surrealism to existentialism. Each moment is a weird, beautiful mix discerning what it means to be alive and what it means to die. My Opinion (Emotional): The director, Charlie Kaufman, does not tell the story of his characters; he uses these characters and their stories as vessels for his thoughts on life. Kaufman wants us to feel his ideas, the ones that are stated by the characters or just merely implied by their situations. He wants us to understand the great sadness that comes with being a human being, succumbing to the brutality of self-awareness. The movie also implies that self-awareness comes at a cost since it clouds our awareness of other people. The ideas here are rich and depressing, and the characters are meant to represent anybody who watches this film. I saw parts of myself and my mind in this film, which was a sign that it heavily affected me. My Opinion (Technical): The one area that the film runs into problems is the technical side of getting Kaufman’s ideas across. The movie is focused on transmitting many little messages while balancing a very loose way of telling a story. After all, there is a semblance of a plot to this film. In the last quarter of the film, it becomes very hard to keep up with. I suggest going into this film not caring about plot at all and merely trying to understand what Kaufman is trying to get say. Overall Rating: I’d give this film a 9.2/10 but I’d fully understand why one may give this film a 0/10. It’s admittedly bizarre and confusing, but, to me, it’s also brilliant, thought-provoking and affecting. If You Like This, You’ll Also Like: Once again, it’s low-hanging fruit to suggest work of the same person but my third-favorite movie of all time, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004), is your best bet. Tuna Margalit is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Tuna can be reached at yonatan.margalit@tufts.edu.
b
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AT FIRST I WAS EMBARRASSED. ME, A CAT, LIVING WITH A SINGLE GUY. BUT WHEN I WATCH HIM PICK SOMETHING UP WITH HIS HANDS AND EAT IT, I CAN’T HELP BUT LOVE HIM. — MARU adopted 01-10-10
Arts & Living
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 | Arts & Living | THE TUFTS DAILY
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CONCERT OVERVIEW
Ariana Grande’s Sweetener World Tour unabashedly demonstrates her perseverance
COURTESY OF VIP NATION.
The promotional poster for Ariana Grande’s Sweetner World Tour is depicted.
by Julian Blatt
Assistant Arts Editor
It is difficult to imagine the extent to which Ariana Grande has suffered the past two years. After the singer delivered a performance in Manchester as part of her 2017 Dangerous Woman Tour, a suicide bomber attacked the arena, resulting in the deaths of 22 innocent civilians. As if the Manchester events were not traumatic enough, Grande continued to experience misfortune and loss in 2018, including a failed four-month engagement to comedian Pete Davidson, as well as the accidental overdose death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller. However, rather than fleeing from the spotlight and disappearing into the shadows, Grande dedicated herself entirely to her music, somehow managing to release two full-length albums within a period of six months. Although “Sweetener” (2018) and “thank u, next” (2019) contain a plethora of power anthems and dance-worthy bops, they also encompass a wide variety of emotional ballads that allow the listener to not just understand but also empathize with everything Grande was thinking of and feeling during her time of need. Indeed, the singer some call the new “Queen of Pop” is fully prepared to tell her story, and she demands the world to pay her the attention she deserves. The Sweetener World Tour began in Albany on March 18, and arrived at TD
Garden two days later, making Boston the second stop of the entire tour. Thus, fans had no idea what to expect. However, it was clear from the opening acts that the concert was sure to be anything but lackluster. Normani, one of the headliners, delivered a particularly powerful performance. She began with a deeply moving tribute to Rihanna, a stunning medley of several of the artist’s most beloved songs, and then quickly transitioned to her own repertoire, which both paid homage to her former girl group Fifth Harmony and proved to the audience that her singing and dancing abilities are no less awe-inducing now that she has gone solo. Nevertheless, as soon as Grande rose up through a trapdoor on the stage and broke into the rousing opening verse of “God is a woman,” an enormous wave of energy crashed over the stadium — she had made a promise that she would bare her soul completely, and she did not intend to break it. Her voice rang out in its iconic breathiness while she serenaded us with nearly 30 songs, ranging across her entire discography. She wasn’t afraid to croon a high note, and she hit every single one. The choreography was a spectacle in and of itself. An expansive oval track extended from the stage, and Grande, along with her backup dancers, paraded around it, allowing audience members on all sides of the arena to admire her from a much closer perspective. Moreover, despite the
length of the concert, Grande never seemed to tire physically or emotionally, an incredible feat given both the intensity with which she began the performance as well as the show’s frequently poignant subject matter. In fact, the only song that caused her to weep was the stirring ballad “goodnight n go,” and she was able to collect herself almost immediately. Although her singing, dancing and overall stage presence were all equally fantastic, the area in which she truly shone was production. The lighting was terrific and perfectly tailored to the wildly shifting moods of each song, but the real standouts were the two gigantic orb-like set-pieces, one attached to the stage wall and the other suspended from the ceiling, that displayed beautiful images of the universe. The overall theme of the concert was based around space, a baffling choice until Grande sang “NASA,” an addictive bop that employs galactic symbolism as a metaphor for self-love and prioritizing one’s own mental and emotional stability over the desire for a romantic relationship: “You know I’m a star; space, I’ma need space.” Grande also incorporated props into her performances, such as the pink car from the “7 Rings” music video (with “Boston” playfully spray-painted on the side), and excited the audience with frequent costume changes, including the beloved black leather suit from her Dangerous Woman era. Most nota-
ble, however, were the video interludes sprinkled throughout the concert. The first was simultaneously adorable and hilarious — a home video recording of Grande in her early youth, acting out a skit she had improvised based on the film “Bruce Almighty” (2003). Admittedly, the second was somewhat more suggestive — a blackand-white, tongue-in-cheek cover of the Marilyn Monroe song “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.” These interludes allowed the audience to see a part of Grande that she cannot simply convey in her music, and also gave concertgoers a chance to refresh before jumping back in to the music. Undoubtedly, Grande has been forced to overcome a vast array of heart-wrenching obstacles in recent years. However, the Sweetener World Tour demonstrates that she is far from giving up. Instead, she has poured her heart and soul into her craft, and proved to the world that she deserves our attention and respect. As of the date of this article’s publication, she boasts a whopping 53 million monthly listeners on Spotify, more than any other artist. Indeed, in her number-one single “7 Rings,” Grande gloats, “Been through some bad shit I should be a sad bitch / Who woulda thought it’d turn me to a savage?” Like Rumpelstiltskin spinning straw into gold, Grande has miraculously transformed her immense suffering into enormous success, and she shows no sign of relinquishing her throne any time soon.
TRASHING ONE EGG WASTES 55 GALLONS OF WATER
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tuftsdaily.com
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 | FUN & GAMES | THE TUFTS DAILY
F &G FUN & GAMES
LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY David: “I think I’m the shit king of the office.”
SUDOKU
LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY
Aries (March 21–April 19)
News could astonish. Hide somewhere peaceful and quiet. All is not as it appears. Avoid rumors. Verify accusations from a second source. Wait for developments.
Difficulty Level: Feeling like an old man.
Monday’s Solutions Across 2. New Jersey 5. G.E.R.A.L.D. 7. Mint 9. Taurus 10. Slack Down 1. Yes 3. Sagittarius 4. Ancho 6. Lil David 8. Oasis 11. Curtis Hall basement
CROSSWORD
tuftsdaily.com
Opinion OP-ED
University should follow TCU Senate, increase Group of 7 funding by Grant Gebetsberger Our identity-based resource centers are struggling. As students seek to make sense of chronic underfunding, prolonged vacancies in center directorships and understaffing for centers that support some of the most vulnerable communities on campus, it is imperative that the highest levels of administration at Tufts commit to fully funding and staffing our identity-based resource centers to enable their crucial work. As the centers grapple with rapid turnover rates, understaffing and underfunding, there have been rumors that the university is questioning the necessity of the centers altogether. Any such questioning is severely misguided. To understand the commitment that students have to the centers and their communities, one needn’t look further than community members who have dedicated hours of emotionally intensive labor to strengthen community within their centers. Sylvester Bracey, a junior serving as the Africana community senator on the Tufts Community Union (TCU), described the importance of the Africana Center to him when he arrived on campus as a first-year and into today. “I needed to be able to walk into a place full of smiling black faces … [The Africana Center has been] one place you know you can let your guard down,” Bracey said. “We have to make Tufts into a space we want to be in. Community makes getting through this place possible for me.” Carolina Olea Lezama, a first-year actively involved with the Latino Center, spoke to why she cares about and invests in the center and her community. “The Latinx Center has become a home away from home, for me. After the departure of the director, I was able to hold a community event to ensure that the community could
come together and have a discussion on our needs,” Olea Lezama said. “We need space where we celebrate our identities and make it clear that the Latinx community exists at Tufts and is strong, united, and resilient.” Shannon Lee, a junior involved in the successful campaign to open up the Asian American Center at the Start House, talked about the need for community discussion and referenced the painful history behind the center’s creation. “The center provides a much-needed resource for Asian American students to explore critical questions about their identities,” Lee said. “When we think about the historical events leading up the creation of the Asian American center, and all the centers, its importance is even more evident.” Students have made it clear, both through words and tireless activism, that these centers are critical to the well-being of their specific communities and the Tufts community as a whole. Given the importance of the centers to students, it is essential that Tufts fully fund them. Currently, the Women’s Center directorship and the Latino Center directorship sit vacant, in addition to the upcoming retirement of Asian American Center Director Linell Yugawa. LGBT Center Director Hope Freeman, has graciously stepped up to serve as interim Women’s Center director, working simultaneously in two directorship roles. Beyond the vacancies in the centers’ top positions, none of the center directors benefit from the assistance of an associate director, unlike at Tufts’ peer institutions like the University of Pennsylvania. Without directors for the centers, an undue burden is shifted onto students, and centers cannot fully support the student populations which depend on them. Without associate directors, valuable time of current directors is taken by administrative work that they might otherwise have additional help in completing
at peer institutions. Beyond the lack of funding for crucial center staff roles, the failure to fund new furniture for the recently renovated Asian American Center further indicates the need for more resources. Students deserve to rely on fully staffed, furnished and funded centers to facilitate dialogues around identity, realize programming ideas and build community. Persistent underfunding at the centers is why I am proposing an additional $7,000 to the centers in the upcoming TCU Senate budget. Under this plan, $1,000 would go to each of the seven communities represented by TCU Community Senators for student-facing programming. This money would offset student programming costs, freeing up funding within center budgets, and support initiatives like community town halls, dinners, co-sponsoring student-driven speaker events and the Counseling and Mental Health Service/ LGBT Center fund for non-medical needs for transgender students. While this allocation is modest, it would affirm the commitment of TCU Senate and the student body to the centers in a concrete way. This funding comes at a time when the centers need it most. The university must do its duty and adequately fund the centers so that students do not need to divert funding toward essential organs that the university itself should already be supporting. Students, staff, activists and the TCU Senate remain committed to their centers. It is time for the university to reestablish its commitment to the center and provide them with the monetary resources they need and deserve in order to serve the needs of the student body and live up to its stated commitment to diversity. Grant Gebetsberger is a sophomore studying international relations. Grant can be reached at grant.gebetsberger@tufts.edu
CARTOON
Dear Right Airpod
BY MARIA FONG The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board. EDITORIALS Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. OP-EDS The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length and submitted to opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. ADVERTISING All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director.
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Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Noah Mills Spaceship Earth
Get mad about markets
A
s capitalism has grown and expanded in the past few centuries, it has sought new markets to privatize and sell its wares. Initially, land was a common market that became privately owned and then sold or rented to others. Labor also developed as a market, and under neoliberalism, aspects of our own individual identities have begun to be commodified and sold on the free market. Now, certain groups have suggested that in order to save the environment going forward, it too must become a market and that it can be saved through its privatization. However, the implications of this suggestion range far beyond the question of whose money is spent saving the planet, and its effectiveness at a base level is also questionable. If the environment were to be privatized, there would emerge new markets for its various (currently) public resources. Things like clean air and fresh water would become commodities — or at least more commodified than they already are — and our natural rights to them would disappear. This is the true consequence of creating new markets. It sets up a gate where there was not one before, and allows entry only to those wealthy enough to access what was once available to all. This is exemplified by water bottling companies that take water all could use and claim it for themselves, enabling only those who can pay for the bottled water to have access. Today there are 40 million food-insecure Americans who struggle to gain access to one of the essential components of human life, and if something like clean air could be privatized, people would be pressed to choose between food or clean air. Things that are necessary for human life simply should not be treated like commodities. Until this concept can be understood, Americans and people around the world will continue to go hungry, and if a private market is created for the environment, there is no doubt the suffering of disadvantaged people would only increase. One must also question how privatization would even help solve the environmental catastrophe we face today. Advocates for privatization, such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a group historically funded by climate change “skeptics” and ExxonMobil, argue that “the market is not perfect, but it is the best solution to our ecological problems. Only under a system where resources are privately held will people have the ability to accurately express their environmental values.” However, when we look at other markets, it is clear that the values of consumers are more often than not replaced with what companies tell us our values are. For example, most people do not want to use a phone that is made with environmentally damaging parts or unfair labor, but alternatives simply do not exist, and the barriers to entry to create an alternative product are simply too high. Until we put the people in charge of production, we cannot trust companies to behave ethically. Any ‘environmental company’ with a profit motive would ultimately sell out to the highest bidder, which in today’s society means oil executives and others who they were supposed to protect the planet against. People, not privatization, are the only path to fighting climate change, and we must resist any corporation or government that commodifies the things we need to survive. Noah Mills is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Noah can be reached at noah.mills@tufts.edu
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THE TUFTS DAILY | ADVERTISEMENT | Tuesday, April 2, 2019
Explore Earth and Ocean Sciences with us! EOS 1 will be offered this fall! There is one lecture (MWF 10:30-11:20am) and three lab sections (M, T, or W 1:30-2:45pm). View all our courses here: eos.tufts.edu/courses/
Commencement
Stop by Lane Hall or email lindsay.riordan@tufts.edu if you have any questions.
2019
Save the Date SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2019 Visit our website at: commencement.tufts.edu University Commencement Office telephone: 617-627-3636 e-mail: commencement@tufts.edu Don’t forget to stop by the Commencement Fair at the Campus Center on April 3 during Senior Days, to pick up graduation announcements and other commencement-related information.
Tufts Table. Walk in with one perspective. Walk out with several. Welcome to Tufts Table. Sponsored by the Office of the Provost and co-hosted by colleagues from across the university. Mon, April 8: Health Equity
Co-hosted by Tufts health sciences schools Arthur M. Sackler Center for Medical Education, Room 114, 145 Harrison Avenue RSVP: tuftstablehealthequity.eventbrite.com
Wed, April 10: Vulnerability
Co-hosted by Cummings Thrive and Tufts Veterinary Council on Diversity Jean Mayer Administration Building, Room 217, 200 Westboro Road, North Grafton RSVP: goo.gl/forms/1FBi7KT3AEM02mBH3
Join students, faculty, and staff to share a light meal and facilitated discussion at a community dinner. Establish connections among diverse members of the Tufts community and share perspectives on issues of local, national, and global relevance. Discussion highlights and observations will be shared on our website: provost.tufts.edu/tuftstable after each Tufts Table. Dinners take place from 6:00 PM–8:00 PM. Attendance is capped at 80 people.
Sports
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY
Jumbos return from Florida, go 3 for 3 against Bates at home
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Sam Weidner Weidner's Words
Load Management
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EVAN SAYLES / THE TUFTS DAILY ARCHIVES
Tufts infielder sophomore Mia Steinberg runs up the first base line in a game against Babson on April 17, 2018.
SOFTBALL
continued from back page we are as a team,” she said. “Our goal is to perform at our own level and set the tone of each game. I think as a whole, we have a high standard with what we know we can accomplish and I think we played how we wanted to this weekend. Of course, we know we still have things to work on, so our aim for this week is to continue to make progress with our team’s improvement and take what we learn in practice onto the field during games.” The Jumbos began the weekend with a resounding 8–0 victory over the Bobcats on Friday afternoon. Van Meter turned in an excellent performance, pitching a one-hit shutout in the mercy-rule shortened six-inning game. Tufts’ offense, led by Maggiore, dominated in their home opener. She finished with a remarkable four RBI in the contest. Della Volpe also put together a
strong performance, batting 2-for-3 and scoring three runs. These victories pushed Tufts’ overall record to an impressive 16–2, good for first place in the NESCAC East Division. Interim head coach Lauren Ebstein expressed her satisfaction with the three game series, but maintained the team’s on-to-the-next-game mentality. “We’re just trying to play one game at a time, so for us that was three games this weekend,” Ebstein said. “We don’t circle any one series more than the others. So we’re just taking it step-by-step, game-bygame, delivering a game plan and executing it. That will obviously be different this week for Endicott and Bowdoin than it was last week. Certainly, it’s nice to pick up those first three conference wins and to do that at home is always awesome. But I think the game plan differs from game to game, so we’ll just use what we did well and learn from what we didn’t do well and try to take that momentum into this week.”
In a conference Tufts almost always dominates, staying level-headed through the inevitable peaks and valleys of a season is an annual struggle. Regardless of the results, there is always room for improvement, and despite the success that the Jumbos have enjoyed thus far, Ebstein still sees untapped potential in her squad. “We’re going to continue to try to pitch the ball better and hit the ball better,” Ebstein said. “That’s the big scheme of things, but there are little things in both of those areas that we’ve talked about doing better and will continue to talk about doing better. Hopefully we can put a really powerful offense together with a really strong pitching performance and a solid defense come May.” The Jumbos will look to defend their top spot in the conference this week. They host Endicott College in a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader, with games starting at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.
Men’s track and field finishes 2nd at Snowflake Classic by Henry Molot
Contributing Writer
The Jumbos finished second at the Snowflake Classic this weekend, taking place at their very own Ellis Oval. It was the first outdoor meet this year. The event was most teams’ first New England meet of the spring season, featuring NESCAC rivals Amherst, Wesleyan, Conn. College, Hamilton and Trinity, among others. Despite resting many of their top distance runners, the Jumbos still had a stellar weekend full of championship qualifiers and PRs, and were only 6.5 points away from the meet winner, RPI. In the short distance events, the Jumbos got a first-place finish from the 4×100-meter team of juniors Jordan Abate and Rob Jones and seniors Andrew Kardonsky and Brandon Levenstein. The team’s 42.7 time is good for 36th in Div. III, while the same squad with sophomore OJ Armstrong instead of Levenstein currently holds the 12th best time in the event. Kardonsky continued his strong day by finishing second in the 100-meter dash with a 10.98 time, a mere 0.02 seconds off of Robert Allen of Trinity. Jones also ran in the finals of the event, finishing eighth to score a point for the Jumbos. Senior Josh Etkind had a standout day in the 100-meter hurdles, bounding to a first-place finish in 14.71 seconds. This mark launched Etkind into sixth in the Div. III rankings, the Jumbos best national finish of the
meet. First-year Riley Patten also had a stellar result in the hurdles, finishing second at the meet in the 400-meter hurdle event. The Groton, Mass. native now sits at the 20th spot in Div. III for the event, yet another national top 50 national finish for the Jumbos. The class of 2022 proved to be strong across the board: First-year Neerav Gade ran to a second place finish in the 5k with a time of 15:40.35. In the 10k, first-year Joseph Harmon finished in third with 32:33.14. The Jumbos collected four more first-place finishes in the field events, two at the hands of junior phenom Kevin Quisumbing. Hailing from Los Angeles, Calif., Quisumbing beat his best-ever hammer throw mark from last week’s meet in his home state, which won him his first-ever first-place finish in the event. The junior earned his second shot put victory in a row with a 15.24-meter heave. “I’ve just gotten a lot more confident with it, a lot more comfortable,” Quisumbing said. “I’ve started just leaning on my preparation and trusting my craft.” Quisumbing, who says he’s actually weaker this year despite putting up career numbers, is also a starting defensive lineman on the football team, which he recognizes as a huge mental advantage. “Just having such a good winning season in the fall gives me that confidence that I can go out there, and I can win,” he explained. In the long jump, sophomore Matthew Mantiega dominated with a jump of 6.86 meters, good for a career best and a nation-
al ranking of 16th. Mantiega finished first alongside senior vaulter Benji Wallace, who launched himself to an eighth career victory in the pole vault with a 4.4-meter mark. Earning victories in the field events as well as on the track was a big reason for the team’s strong day. The Jumbos’ consistent ability to score points across all disciplines was the most impressive thing coach Joel Williams saw this weekend. Williams understands the importance of building chemistry on a team where the skill sets of each athlete are all different yet equally important for the team’s overall success. “We encourage each other to learn each other’s PRs and goals, and that makes it easier to get excited and watch as many events as possible,” Williams said. “The guys know that every time someone has a breakthrough or comeback it strengthens the team, so they really rally around that.” In a meet so early in the season, it’s a great sign that the Jumbos can rest some top runners and still finish second, just a hair behind RPI, who eclipsed Tufts’ tally of 151 with a score of 157.5. “The competition isn’t all that important this early in the season,” Kardonsky said. “Instead, we’re focusing on continuing to improve our marks.” This weekend, some of the Jumbos’ top performers will trek to Princeton, N.J. to compete at the Sam Howell Invitational on Friday, while the rest will travel just a few T-stops away to compete against MIT, Bates and RPI at MIT.
n a recent interview with Frank Isola of The Athletic, Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant discussed Zion Williamson and the current state of the Lakers. What was particularly interesting was his take on “load management.” Load management is a new term that keeps popping up for players who sit out games simply to rest. It’s a vague term that does not exactly explain why the players don’t play; nevertheless, it’s a growing trend this year. Players like LeBron, Joel Embiid and Kawhi Leonard somewhat frequently take games off for load management. It makes sense for these organizations and their star players to be careful and do all they can to avoid injury, especially given the common narrative of one minor injury leading to the derailment of an entire season or even career. However, Bryant, as usual, had his own take on the new practice: “The only time I took a game off is when I couldn’t walk. The thing about taking games off is your games, your seasons in your career go by really, really quickly. So, you want to make sure you don’t miss any of those moments,” Bryant said. “The other part about that is there are kids in the crowd and families in the crowd … This will be the only time they get a chance to see you. They save up their hard-earned money to watch you perform. So, if you can walk and perform, get there and perform.” It’s unsurprising that Kobe, known for his legendary drive, doesn’t love the idea of taking games off for the purpose of rest, but he isn’t the only person who feels this way. Many fans and radio personalities come after players for taking the time off, making similar arguments to Bryant’s. The problem is that all of the arguments and criticism surrounding load management always rest on whether or not the player should be vilified for his decision not to play. Yet none of these players or organizations would even be faced with this decision if it wasn’t for the NBA overloading the season with far more games than any player should reasonably be expected to play. If the decision is between taking a few games off and disappointing a few fans or greatly increasing your risk of an injury that could potentially impact your career and life for years to come, any person would choose to take a couple games off. You typically aren’t concerned with the kids in the crowd when they’re weighed against your entire livelihood and passion. However, players are seen as being in the wrong for making a choice that any logical person would make while keeping their futures in mind. Players shouldn’t be blamed for a choice that they are forced into by the league’s scheduling. The NBA has done a good job of trying to cut down on backto-back games for teams; however, they need to continue working to decrease the number of games each year if they don’t want load management to appear more and more in the spotlight.
Sam Weidner is a junior studying mathematics. Sam can be reached at samuel. weidner@tufts.edu.
12 tuftsdaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
NBC Sports brings Premier League Fan Fest to Boston by Arlo Moore-Bloom Executive Sports Editor
Not even chilly midday showers could quiet or dispel the thousands of soccer fans gathered under the shadow of Fenway Park for NBC Sports’ Premier League Mornings Live Fan Festival this past Sunday. The Premier League Mornings studio team broadcasted live from the famed Cask ‘n Flagon sports bar, joined by WWE Superstar and Liverpool hypeman Sheamus. NBC Sports Group started its Premier League coverage in the 2013–2014 season on a three-year, $250 million deal; two years later, it was re-negotiated to a six-year deal worth about $1 billion, almost doubling the deal’s value, according to The New York Times. Though its games take place thousands of miles away, the Premier League has grown into one of the most watched soccer leagues in the United States, and much of its rise can be attributed to NBC Sports’ devotion to one of its most coveted properties. In its third edition this season and the first ever in Boston, the festival culminated in Liverpool vs. Tottenham, a perfect ending for a sports town whose favorite foreign soccer team may well be Liverpool FC. LFC Boston, Liverpool’s official supporter group, has 7,801 followers on Facebook — the next closest foreign team is Arsenal, with 2,671 followers. Although this is not a perfect metric, Facebook fan groups offer some perspective on a team’s popularity in American cities. “[Boston] is sports town,” Dan Palla, director of consumer engagement for NBC Sports, said. “But the connection that’s unique is the Fenway Sports Group and Liverpool. Coming into the portion of the season where every single match matters, the idea that the match we’re watching now has a huge impact on who lifts the trophy is a uniquely Boston-focused story.” The hopes for Liverpool’s title were restored when they won in added-time, and this revival was not lost on the vast majority of Liverpool fans who filled bars and an entire closed-off Lansdowne street. An American version of “He’s Virgil Van Dijk” drowned out the few Tottenham fans who celebrated with glee 20 minutes before, hoping to be the ultimate rain on an otherwise all-red parade. The atmosphere was festive throughout the day: Sheamus’ red mohawk and Liverpool crest bicep tattoos hyped up fans, as hot dog and pretzel stands kept them full. At Casket ‘n Flagon, children flocked to a skills challenge, a tattoo saloon, a photo booth and two Premier League trophies. At the Game On bar across the street, families
SEAN T. SMITH AND ANTON MARTYNOV VIA NBC SPORTS’ PUBLICIST
NBC Sports’ Premier League Mornings analyst Kyle Martino, WWE wrestler Sheamus, host Rebecca Lowe and analysts Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe are pictured at the Fan Festival held near Fenway Park on March 31. played corn hole, ping pong and massive connect four. According to Palla, it’s all part of the gold rush that NBC Sports sees in the Premier League. Redeeming the American Premier League experience out from dark bars and into the light of day is a crucial part of their strategy. “I lived in New York City and being in supporter bars, I didn’t realize that scene existed right around the corner from where I lived,” Palla said. “The games are in the morning, they’re played in England, and it’s just really difficult to really get it on display, especially as we can consume it. The idea was to see if public demand would be there. We very quickly realized that we were onto something.” After NBC Sports’ first Fan Fest in Manhattan in 2017, the Premier League came to NBC Sports and offered to be joint partners on the Fan Fest initiative. With its club connections, resources and personnel, the Premier League’s involvement adds another layer to the Fan Fest experience, according to Palla. “We’ve got six to seven clubs with boots on the ground here, and all 20 clubs have donated all of the merchandise to give away to the fans here. [Every Premier League club] who gets a chance to see it, to experi-
ence it on TV, they see we’re just scratching the surface on how epic this really could be,” Palla said. Over the two days of games, NBC reported over 12,000 total fans in attendance. Robbie Mustoe, an ex-Middlesbrough player-turned-analyst for NBC Sports Soccer, has lived in Boston for over a decade and has seen soccer grow stateside for years. “I’m sure there were lot of people watching Premier League 10 years ago. But with [NBC] bringing it, there are more games available,” Mustoe said. “It’s certainly growing. We laugh that we get recognized [more] on the street now than we probably ever did [as players].” On Saturday, the New England Revolution played against Minnesota United in Gillette Stadium, 27 miles south of downtown Boston. The game garnered a reported 11,571 fans. The comparison is apples to oranges, but it is worthy to mention: In an already-crowded sports market, the Premier League invasion — aided and fortified by NBC Sports — continues to keep fans enthralled with foreign, rather than domestic soccer. New England Revs’ biggest supporter groups, Midnight Riders and The Rebellion, have 2,920 and 3,342 followers on Facebook, respectively, com-
pared to Liverpool’s nigh-8,000 aforementioned supporters. At least that’s how Michael Enko, a Liverpool supporter at the Casket ‘n Flagon bar, sees it. Enko is a member of LFC Boston, and cited the Fenway Sport Group’s ownership of Liverpool as reason for his allegiance to the Reds. “It’s tougher to follow teams from other leagues,” Enko said. “They’re not as available, it’s harder to find them on TV. It’s a big part of why the Premier League is a big part to watch in the United States.” In an American soccer culture that’s often divided between Euro-soccer-snobs and MLS fans, Enko added that though he sees MLS making strides, the difference in product is hard to ignore. “[Soccer] is not the same as it is in Europe. Maybe once the sport starts to pick up. I think the MLS is making good strides — less of a retirement league — they’re getting some good young players like Almiron [who now plays for Newcastle in the Premier League]. They’re moving in the right direction, so we’ll see how it goes in the next 5–10 years.” For now, though, Enko is happy to chant American renditions of Liverpool songs alongside his fellow Bostonian-Kopites.
made mincemeat of the Bobcats in their home opening weekend. “Momentum is building — the team really wants to win,” Haghdan said. “We are excited to see where our season goes, and we know that if we want to compete nationally we have to take care of business in our region.” The Jumbos took on the Bobcats in a doubleheader on Saturday, snatching both narrow and blowout victories. The offense regained the intensity it lacked in the first Saturday game in the afternoon match-up, winning 11–1. Eight of their runs came in an explosive third inning, with nine of the first 10 Tufts batters getting on base. Among the many impactful offensive sequences were a two-run
home run from junior third baseman Jamie Stevens and an RBI double from junior first baseman Casey Maggiore. Three different Tufts pitchers controlled this game, limiting Bates to only three total hits. Sophomore pitcher Kristi Van Meter shone in her three innings of play, not allowing a single hit; it was not until the fourth inning that Bates scored its only run of the weekend. This performance pushed her overall record on the season to a stellar 7–1. Haghdan pitched a three-hit shutout in the first game. Through the first four innings she was nearly perfect, allowing only one Bates base runner because of a walk. Bates soon got back on track, loading the bases with only one out in the seventh, but Haghdan closed the game out strong with
consecutive strikeouts, ending Bates’ hopes for a comeback. Haghdan remains unbeaten this season with an immaculate 6–0 record. On the offensive end, the Jumbos scored in sporadic bursts across the two games. They scored all of their runs in the third inning of the first game, with sophomore second baseman Emma Della Volpe and sophomore shortstop Mia Steinberg delivering strong hits. Maggiore punctuated the inning with a two-run home run that also sent Steinberg home. Haghdan took pride in the team’s strong performance on Saturday. “I think we performed how we needed to in order to make a statement with who
Softball team sweeps Bates in 1st home series by Nate Hartnick Staff Writer
After closing out a successful week in Florida on a sour note with a pair of losses, the Tufts Jumbos swept the Bates Bobcats this weekend in a three-game series. A week of practice proved restorative and helpful following the arduous 15-game slate in Florida. Sophomore pitcher Kristina Haghdan noted the benefits of the rest. “We took care of our bodies [by] getting sleep and rolling out any knots, not pushing ourselves too hard in lift and just listening to our bodies,” Haghdan said. The Jumbos were hungry for the beginning of conference action, though, and they
see SOFTBALL, page 11