2011-04-28

Thunderstorms 67/55

THE TUFTS DAILY

TUFTSDAILY.COM

Thursday, April 28, 2011

VOLUME LXI, NUMBER 57

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Social action class protests plastic bag use on campus by

Rachel Rampino

Daily Editorial Board

Student environmental activists gathered yesterday in various areas on campus to protest Hodgdon Good-toGo’s use of plastic bags and to garner student support for the effort to abolish them.

“We’re trying to ban plastic bags at Tufts; they’re found in too much abundance on this campus,” junior Alisha Sett said.

The students, part of a Tufts class called Environmental Justice and U.S. Literature, are looking to lead a charge to reduce plastic waste on campus.

The students held their protests on the Tisch Library patio, on the Mayer Campus Center upper patio, and in the Dewick-MacPhie and Carmichael Dining Halls, using displays consisting of posters and plastic bags to grab attention.

The students also collected signatures on a petition asking the Tufts Community Union ( TCU) Senate to assist in banning plastic bags from Hodgdon Good-to-Go, Sett said.

“We’re starting with Hodgdon, a place people go all the time,” Sett said. “People pick up a Gatorade, throw it in a plastic bag and walk out — there’s no need for it, no point.”

Freshman Rahiel Tazele signed the petition outside of Tisch.

“We don’t need them; it’s an unnecessary waste of a plastic bag,” she said.

“I can just carry the food myself.”

The class hopes to educate students and also encourage behavioral change, Sett said.

“We’re first educating people that they’re using all these plastic bags … where they [are] going and who are they’re affecting. It’s not only people far away … but also very close to here,” Sett said. “It’s educating people that Tufts has a big impact on a daily basis.”

Sett said she hopes the petition will encourage the Senate to write a resolution in support of their cause, she said. The class has already collaborated with students who have lobbied the Senate on the use of plastic bags on campus.

“We’re partnering with people who have been working with the [TCU] Senate on this for a long time to help spur momentum,” Sett said, adding that she considered today’s effort a success.

“We’ve had a lot of people come up and sign the petition,” she said.

The movement represents the final class project of the students in the Environmental Justice and U.S. Literature course taught by Professor of English Elizabeth Ammons.

Students are given free reign to choose the focus of the project, Ammons said.

“The class ends with student-conceived and -organized social action. see PLASTIC BAGS, page 2

courtesy Brad DeBattista

Students gather on the roof of Tisch Library last year to celebrate April 20, during which participants traditionally smoke marijuana.

Students question TUPD’s unexpected 4/20 response by

Martha Shanahan

Daily Editorial Board

Students present on the roof of Tisch Library last Wednesday, an unofficial holiday to celebrate marijuana culture, have raised questions as to why Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) this year responded more vigilantly than they could remember in years past to students smoking marijuana.

According to TUPD Capt. Mark Keith, TUPD officers aimed to pursue mari-

juana smokers more persistently after having just that day learned of the tradition of gathering at midnight and 4:20 p.m. on the holiday.

Keith said that while TUPD has been aware for several years of the April 20 tradition and had stationed officers across the campus in response, it had not generally collected IDs or apprehended students specifically at a midnight or 4:20 p.m. gathering. see 4/20, page 2

Recent Yale death triggers machine safety re-evaluation

by Jenny

White

Daily Editorial Board

Danai Macridi/Tufts Daily

As part of an environmental justice course, students yesterday collected signatures for a petition encouraging a ban of plastic bags at Hodgdon Good-To-Go.

Inside this issue

The recent death of a Yale University student in a university laboratory has prompted institutions nationwide to reassess machine shop safety protocol. For its part, Tufts officials remain confident that its existing safety policies will guard against such tragedies on the Medford/Somerville campus.

Yale senior Michele Dufault died April 12 while using a machine in a chemistry laboratory. An investigation determined Dufault’s death was caused by asphyxiation after her hair became caught in the fastspinning components of a lathe, a machine that shapes material, such as wood or metal, and choked her to death.

According to various news reports, the Yale accident occurred around 2 a.m., when Dufault was alone in a campus lab. The university is now conducting a review of its machine safety procedures and policies.

In the wake of the incident, Tufts has determined its own current safety policies, which impose strict regulations on student machine use, to be sufficient precautions for its on-campus machine shops.

“Tufts has a very good record on student injuries associated with shop work,” Stephen Larson, director of Tufts Environmental Health and Safety (TEHS) said. “One of the reasons there hasn’t been a fatality or life-

changing injury has to be more than luck.

Tufts buys good equipment, trains faculty, staff and students, sets up shops correctly, and … we’re not allowing students to work alone.”

The Yale tragedy has prompted Tufts administrators to ask departments to reexamine safety protocols.

“The senior administration and academic administration asked me to review what’s happening today with respect to shop safety in Medford,” Larson said. “We reviewed and discussed with shop supervisors. We made clear what each supervisor and department is doing in terms of safety.”

TEHS staff, Larson said, conduct routine inspections of each campus machine shop and laboratory at least once per year.

There are three machine shops on the Medford/Somerville campus. The Bray Laboratory Building’s machine shop is the only one open to students. The remaining two — a small shop that belongs to the theater department and one located in the Science and Technology Center (Sci-Tech) — may only be operated by professional machinists.

Access to the Bray Machine Shop is limited to daytime hours, and machine shop coordinator Jim Hoffman monitors each machine.

A variety of Jumbos, including undersee MACHINES, page 2

Today’s sections

Newsweek says over a third of Americans would fail the citizenship test — how do Tufts students stack up?

The ninth annual Boston independent film festival is upon us and the Daily has your guide.

see FEATURES, page 3

see WEEKENDER, page 5

News Features Weekender Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 10

Op-Ed Comics Sports Classifieds

11 12 15 19

The Tufts Daily

2 Police Briefs Dude, where’s my bike?

Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) at 3:07 a.m. on April 15 responded to a report from a student that his bike was missing from the Lewis Hall lobby. The bike was retrieved from another area of the lobby, where a nearby student initially claimed ownership over it. That student later admitted to officers to attempting to take the bike; TUPD filed a report with the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs.

Watering the lawn Two TUPD officers at 1:56 a.m. on April

20 spotted a student standing on the sidewalk of Packard Avenue urinating on the Gifford House front lawn. The officers filed a report with the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs.

Joint effort TUPD officers found approximately 150 to 200 people congregated on the Tisch Library roof at midnight on April 20. Upon witnessing a number of individuals smoking marijuana, TUPD asked the crowd to disperse. Several students refused to leave the area; four were written up for marijuana possession.

One student refused repeated requests to leave the area and would not show his identification to the officers. He then tried to walk

News

away from the officers, and an officer handcuffed him. The student eventually produced his ID. The officers reported the student for possession of marijuana and refusal to identify himself and released him.

Later in the day, officers spotted another large gathering of approximately 300 students on the Tisch Library roof counting down until 4:20 p.m. At that point, several students lit up smoking materials. Officers then walked through the crowd and wrote up 11 people for possession of marijuana.

Do not disturb TUPD officers at 3:23 a.m. on April 22 found a male student sleeping outside on the ground in front of Metcalf Hall. The

TUPD says it was unaware of midnight, 4:20 p.m. gathering traditions; students remain skeptical 4/20

continued from page 1

“We didn’t know that there was a midnight hour gathering and a 4:20 gathering,” Keith said. “We may have had people up there in the past throughout the day, just kind of checking on things.”

“The only thing that changed is that our awareness was increased as to some of the events that occur up there,” Keith said.

TUPD officers this year congregated on the roof at midnight and at 4:20 p.m. to break up gatherings of students smoking marijuana and, in one case, apprehend a student. Students who witnessed the events in previous years said that officers present did not discipline or approach anyone in the crowd and generally did not collect IDs at the midnight or 4:20 p.m. gatherings.

“Last year, when I was a freshman … they had a cop on a motorcycle stationed on the roof, and, quite literally, 200 to 300 people were smoking pot,” Ben Van Meter, a sophomore who was also present on the roof this year, said.

Sophomore Alex Baskin, who serves as the co-president of the Tufts chapter of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, offered a similar account.

“I do know that they [TUPD] have stood idly by before,” Baskin said.

A group of approximately 150 to 200 students on Wednesday gathered on

the roof shortly after midnight to celebrate, according to TUPD Sgt. Robert McCarthy. TUPD asked the students to get rid of their marijuana and disperse and disciplined one student who did not heed the officers’ requests.

“One of the officers encountered someone who was ignoring him. …

He walked away, the officer tried to take him by the elbow … he put out his arm towards him, hit him on the head or the hat … and he took that as an aggressive move,” Keith said. “For the officer’s safety, he took down and handcuffed him.”

The student was later released, Keith and the student, who asked to remain anonymous due to the illegal nature of the activity, said.

Following the incident at midnight, Keith said, TUPD researched the holiday’s traditions online.

“After the incident on Tuesday night, the next morning we did a little research and found on the Internet that in the two previous years, evidently, there was a large gathering up there as well,” Keith said. “[We hadn’t been aware of it] until we saw it on YouTube.”

Keith said he decided to prepare approximately five officers to report to the roof at 4:20 after their research resulted in them finding that students planned to be there.

“We found some information that people were calling for a gathering at 4:20,” Keith said. “I think there were

maybe five of us that went up there … [and] I think some Student Services staff were there,” Keith said.

Van Meter and other students present at the event in previous years said they were skeptical that the tradition had passed unnoticed by TUPD until this year.

“I think that’s blatantly untrue,” he said.

“I know that that’s been the tradition for a while. There’s no conceivable way they didn’t know this was a tradition.”

Baskin was similarly unconvinced that TUPD could have been unaware of the annual 4/20 events.

“My understanding is that this has been going on for at least a handful of years,” Baskin said. “This is hundreds of people we’re talking about. … It happens at midnight; it happens again at 4:20.”

The student who was handcuffed just after midnight on Wednesday said the TUPD officer who handcuffed him admitted that the officers have in the past felt uncomfortable about standing by without apprehending the smoking students.

McCarthy said TUPD provided the university with approximately 11 students’ information and that the decision to punish them lies with the university.

“That’s up to the Dean of Student [Affairs] Office,” Keith said.

Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman could not be reached for comment.

Thursday, April 28, 2011 officers woke him up, and the student walked home.

TUPD Presents: Sorry for partying TUPD officers at 1:06 a.m. on April 24 responded to a report on West Adams Street to find Somerville Police Department officers already on the scene. The Somerville officers issued the house residents with a city ordinance for a noise violation.

—Compiled by Brent Yarnell based on reports from Tufts University Police Department

See tuftsdaily.com for an interactive map.

Students encourage peers to ban plastic bags in Hodgdon PLASTIC BAGS

continued from page 1

The goal is taking a stand for environmental justice,” Ammons said. “The project involves deciding what they focus on and then organizing and taking the message to other people.”

The course combines environmental studies, English literature, peace and justice studies and women’s studies, Ammons said. Students study the disproportional impact of environmental hazards on poor communities and people of color, she explained.

“It’s the concept and worldwide movement for equity for all people in terms of both environmental benefits and hazards,” Ammons said.

The fact that specific communities are experiencing all the negative impacts is unjust, Ammons said. Costs and benefits should be shared equally by everyone, she said.

“It is unjust that these groups are bearing the burden of environmental damage in the form of environmental damage, toxins and food scarcity,” Ammons said. “These are huge problems created by human beings, so human beings have to be the ones to bring about positive change.”

Laina Piera contributed reporting to this article.

Safety officials remain confident in existing machine shop safety rules at Tufts MACHINES

continued from page 1

graduates, graduate students and faculty of mechanical engineering, as well as groups such as the Hybrid Racing Team and the Robotics Club, use the machines under Hoffman’s supervision, the only time such machines are accessible, he said.

“When Jim leaves, there’s a panel that controls all power for all the machines, so he powers down the whole room,” Simon Metcalf, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, said. “You can’t use any equipment when he leaves.”

When the shop is available to students during the day, student use is restricted to those who have been trained by shop staff on safe operation, whether in a class or personal instruction, according to Mechanical Engineering Coordinator Vincent Miraglia.

Hoffman said he retains full discretionary power over equipment use.

“If someone looks intimidated by the size of the machine or the noise, or looks nervous, I won’t let him on a machine,” Hoffman said.

Miraglia said all prospective shop users are required to attend shop safety lectures, go over lab safety guidelines and take a test.

Finally, each student receives hands-on instruction tailored to individual machines, including a manual lathe and milling machine. Ultimately, however, students must internalize the safety precautions and hold themselves accountable, Miraglia said.

“I’ve seen so many accidents in my life — you have to be responsible for yourself,” he said.

Larson believes that Tufts is taking every proactive measure possible to ensure safety in its machine labs, but he admits that accidents are never fully preventable.

“There are no absolutes,” he said.

“We have a good safety record because of our strict adherence to rules,” Miraglia said.

The shop has had one minor accident, a cut hand requiring stitches, during his 33-year tenure, he said.

“Tufts has effectively shielded itself from what happened at Yale,” Metcalf said.

The most sophisticated machine work on campus happens at the Tufts University Machine Shop in Sci-Tech, run by Shop Supervisor Denis Dupuis and machinist Scott MacCorkle. The shop focuses on high-energy physics projects but also creates pieces for different constituencies on campus, such as chemical engineering and psychology, or other institutions like Harvard University and Brandeis University. Students are not allowed in this shop, according to MacCorkle.

Tufts has both manual and computeroperated lathes on campus. The Computer Numerical Control lathe located in Sci-Tech, acquired by Tufts last year, is different from the manual machine that killed Dufault, as it is modernized for safety standards with a protective barrier between the operator and the mechanism to prevent most dangers.

MacCorkle warned that these computerrun machines are safer, but not perfect safeguards.

“If the wrong person is using these machines, they’re all equally dangerous,” MacCorkle said.

Both MacCorkle and Metcalf emphasized that no matter what policies are in place, there is the unavoidable chance that an accident could happen anytime.

“These are very, very powerful tools,” Metcalf said. “It’s often easy to forget that tools you’re working with will cut your arm off in a blink of an eye.”

“The one time you’re rushing, you’re trying to get something done, that’s when accidents happen,” MacCorkle said.

Bruce Wang/Tufts Daily

A manual metal lathe located in the Bray Laboratory Building machine shop is similar to the machine that killed Yale senior Michele Dufault on April 12.

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Can Tufts students outperform average Americans on a basic citizenship test? by

Romy Oltuski

Daily Editorial Board

Talk about civic pride.

Last month, Newsweek asked 1,000 Americans to complete a basic U.S. citizenship test. Thirty-eight percent of them failed. The Daily administered a shortened version of the same test to 225 Tufts students in order to observe whether a narrowed demographic, specifically one confined to an institution of higher learning, would yield results reflective of greater political knowledge.

“I expect them to do pretty similarly, actually,” Deborah Schildkraut, associate professor of political science, said, in conformity with a number of other members of the Tufts professoriate. Schildkraut noted a visible deficit in general political and historical knowledge even within educated circles and, more specifically, even within the political science track at Tufts.

The results of the test, however, showed that Tufts students did in fact outscore Newsweek’s “average American” — by 61 percent. The subjects who participated in the Daily’s abridged survey outperformed Newsweek’s group by exceptionally steep margins on certain questions, including “Who was president during World War I?” to which only 20 percent of Newsweek participants but 70 percent of Tufts participants responded correctly, “Woodrow Wilson,” and the question “What is the economic system in the United States?” to which only 33 percent of Newsweek’s participants but 85 percent of Tufts participants replied correctly, “capitalist or market economy.”

The average American did, however, stump Tufts when it came to the question, “Whom did the United States fight against during World War II?” Sixty percent of Newsweek’s subjects but only 53 percent of Tufts students were able to name all

three major axis powers correctly.

Moreover, the nine questions that comprised the Daily’s abridged test were answered correctly by what some deemed a disappointing aggregate 38 percent of Newsweek subjects — but also by just under 62 percent of Tufts students.

Schildkraut explained that many students, and citizens in general, are simply not knowledgeable about elementary aspects of American history and politics.

“When I teach my political psychology class, which is an upper-level class, the first thing I do is give students a survey with basic knowledge. On some things they do pretty well, and on some, I’m shocked. I ask them how many people can name their representatives in congress, and very few people know,” she said.

The resulting, and perhaps easy, conclusion at which many analysts have arrived is that the country’s education system is to blame. Newsweek columnist Niall Ferguson, for one, pinpointed a leading cause for the magazine’s findings in the school system’s “boring” textbooks, which, he reported, teach children to think of history as just that — boring.

But while a naturalization test is a good indicator of a group’s general political knowledge, Schildkraut said, Americans’ unfamiliarity with such information implies less about their education and more about the way they make choices.

The American school system does cover a lot of the test’s ground at one point or another, but, after time, she said, people let go of information that’s not integral to their daily lives.

“I think it’s a reflection of how much people tune politics out of their lives once they’re out of a class on the subject.

People are busy people,” she said. “There’s a lot of psychology research that indicates that after some time, people begin to tune out everything, whatever topic they learn

about in school.”

Additionally, Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences James Glaser pointed out, it would be difficult to glean much about the American education system from a test completed by a group of Tufts students because many Tufts students were not educated within that system.

“Because some portion of our student body are not American citizens, if they’re included in your denomination that’s going to have an effect on your numerator,” he said. “I have some international students, and some of them don’t know that much about governmental law. Hopefully they become exposed to it in college.”

Even among native-born Americans, though, the school system is only one contributor to the way people accumulate political knowledge, Schildkraut said, and therefore only one potential part of the reason why so many people’s mental textbooks are missing pages. Another educational tool that somehow escapes blame, she said, is the media, whose habit of targeting already-in-the-know news consumers makes it difficult for people with less political knowledge to break into an informed lifestyle.

“Media is very geared toward political insiders,” Schildkraut said. “Newspapers write stories that pick up on current events and don’t provide context. So much of it is soap opera about what someone said yesterday, what they said today. It’s geared toward political junkies.”

But, according to Steve Cohen, lecturer of education, all of these musings and theories are more or less useless because the entire citizenship test is useless itself.

“I don’t think that [standardized] tests are very effective ways of telling us anything. They give us a little bit of informasee CITIZENSHIP, page 4

Street Smarts: Tufts’ sartorial scene

Ever notice the Jumbos on campus who put more into their wardrobes than a momentary thought about which pair of sneakers doesn’t clash with their sweatpants? We have, and some of their sartorial styles caught our eye.

Compiled by Romy Oltuski

Photos by Justin McCallum

“I just wear what I like. This coat, for example, I bought in Antigua in Guatemala for three dollars.”

—Averi Becque, sophomore

“I go to my internship straight from class, so I’m wearing something appropriate for both. I love my shoes. They’re hot pink, and they were a birthday gift and remind me of that when I wear them.”

—Paige Haverstock, senior

“What I thought of when I got dressed this morning was how I didn’t want to wear pants. It’s very lazy chic.”

—Anna Stone, first-year Fletcher student

See Jumbo Slice at blogs.tuftsdaily.com for the full shoot.

Yuantee Zhu | What Would Yuantee Zhu?

Worried on West Adams

D

ear Yuantee, It’s come to my attention that someone has been writing a column in the Daily under my name without my knowledge, and I suspect it’s my housemates.

I would have sought your advice sooner, but until now I assumed the exclamations of “good job” and “you’re the man” I would hear on a weekly basis were referring to the incredible presentation I gave on new potential cures for Parkinson’s disease. Not that I’m complaining.

I’ve had a great semester unknowingly leading a double life as Tufts’ best sex columnist since Steve Miller. People buy me drinks. I get many first dates. I had a threesome with two girls once. People mistake me for the drummer of legendary Tufts band Knives For Sale. I can go on and on. Hence, Yuantee, my moral dilemma: Do I report this fraud to the Daily?

Keep quiet and continue to reap the benefits of my burgeoning popularity? Beat the bejeezus out of my so-called friends until one owns up? What, mighty sage of the undergraduate world, should I Zhu? —Worried on West Adams WW, This is my last column before the all-important commencement issue, WW, so consider yourself fortunate I chose your letter over the others. “Horny Howie on Fairmount” asking me how to facilitate an orgy with his housemates and the girls across the street was deeply considered, though in the end, the solution (advertising on TuftsLife) seemed too obvious to waste 600 words on. Sorry, “Horny Howie.”

The answer to your predicament is slightly more complicated. I am a man of ethics, principles and pleasure and can thus manufacture an argument for each of the three options you proposed.

Your “so-called friends” sound like douche bags, but at the same time, it’s important to keep things in perspective. Perchance what happened to you wasn’t such a bad thing. Think of the actual consequences of your friends’ deceptive behavior. You’ve had people buy you drinks. That’s the greatest, tastiest gesture of appreciation a person can receive at a bar.

You’ve met plenty of women. You must realize by now, from both real life and reading this column every week, that getting a date with a beautiful woman is one of the scariest, most testing experiences of my readers’ lives. Plus, everyone likes threesomes and Knives For Sale.

It’s also important to consider the stage in the game. There’s a month left of school.

Remember, there’s only one way to change the past, and that is to forget. Or as Arthur Miller once said, “Why, the past is always changing — nobody remembers anything.” You choose what you want to remember. Remember all the times your friends were good to you.

Remember the times they carried you on the Appalachian Trail before sunset, when they lovingly misled you into the dung-littered valley. Remember how they warm-heartedly opened the door for you when you rang the doorbell. Remember how they caringly ate your chicken nuggets without asking. I’m sure there are other great times.

Nevertheless, they deserve to be punished, just not by the Daily or anyone else but yourself. You should absolutely beat the living bejeezus out of them. If they ride bikes, slash the tires. If they drive cars, slash the tires and carve your name into the leather seats with your knife for sale. Indignantly refuse to ever do another dish. Stop paying their bills. Compete for the affection of the girls they’re after (and reread my previous columns to make sure you win). Defecate on their faces while they sleep, reminding them that you’re going to be a doctor, and they’ll always be patients, slowly dying as you bathe in money.

Then, lastly, unapologetically, buy them all a round of drinks. Hug it out, have a laugh, remember the good times and toast to the future.

At least, that’s what I would Zhu.

Yuantee Zhu is a senior majoring in biology.

He can be reached at Yuantee.Zhu@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

4

Features

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Tufts students outscore average American in ‘basic’ political, historical knowledge CITIZENSHIP

continued from page 3

tion about factoids that people remember,” he said in an email to the Daily. “Students have been asked to answer questions like these for decades. They always do badly.

Then experts complain that Americans know nothing. Then they make a fuss about everyone knowing facts. Soon they go on to other things, and, in another decade or so, they suddenly discover that Americans know nothing. The same dance follows.”

And indeed, tests of such nature leave little room for valid academic debate and entirely obscure their subjects’ thought processes. In keeping with Newsweek’s answers, for example, only students who answered that “communism” was the United States’ primary concern during the Cold War were marked correct, though participants who replied “nuclear warfare” were certainly not, by definition, incorrect. Similarly, because many students defined “axis” erroneously within their answers, only those who identified Germany, Japan and Italy by name received credit for knowing America’s WWII opponents, although students who replied more ambiguously may well have known the answer.

In their answers, many participants expressed doubt that the questions asked were common knowledge or, moreover, important — a sentiment with which Cohen agreed.

“People remember stuff that they need.

The idea that, because most Tufts students took AP U.S. History that they remember what the Crittenden Compromise was, is, I’d bet, not true. Is it important that everyone know that? I don’t think so,” he said. “To think that most Americans should know the precise details of the Missouri Compromise seems a little silly.”

But that’s not quite fair, according to Schildkraut, Glaser and a number of students, who explained that Americans’ lack of familiarity with a certain type of knowledge does not reduce that information’s importance. Political knowledge is fundamental to participation within one’s political realm, which is to say, one’s country,

Q1: What happened at Constitutional Convention?

the

Q2: We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?

Q3: Who was president during World War I? Q4: During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?

Q5: Whom did the United States fight against during World War II? Q6: What did Susan B. Anthony do?

Q7: What is the “supreme law of the land”?

Q8: How many amendments does the Constitution have?

Q9: What is the economic system in the United States?

Compiled by Romy Oltuski; Design by Andrew Petrone

Schildkraut said.

“Knowing about the structure of your government is important knowledge for citizens to have. There are times when they may need to have access to government, and it makes it easier if you know how your government works,” she said.

Senior David Stern pointed out that, too often, people’s lack of awareness interferes with their efforts to contribute to society in a meaningful, and respected, way.

“I think it’s important for civic character and the fact that we live in an American society that we should at least know these basic things about our history,” he said.

“Look at Michele Bachmann. She thought that Lexington and Concord were in New Hampshire. On one hand, she’s trying to be a politician, and on the other hand, she’s trying to represent the real America. And if you don’t know basic stuff about American history, you don’t have the right to make that claim. It’s dangerous.”

The question that was raised most often in response to the test’s results, however, was not whether its questions are important but whether people trying to obtain American citizenship should be required to pass a test that many current citizens cannot.

Cohen, along with many students who completed the test, dismissed the idea as unfair.

Glaser, however, said that, in order to be involved in American politics and society, one must be politically aware, and an application for citizenship should express an interest in political involvement.

“People should be constitutionally and governmentally literate to be full citizens in this country, so I don’t think it’s unfair.

Given how controversial issues of immigration are, if you’re going to engage in that conversation, you should have some basic knowledge,” Glaser said.

Schildkraut, in agreement, sees the citi-

All residence halls and houses will be closing for the summer on Saturday, May 14th, @ NOON Unless you are a senior, please make your travel plans accordingly.

If you plan to stay in your room after this time, you must submit an application to The Office of Residential Life and Learning, South Hall, X7-3248.

Key Return Carmichael Key Slot (Uphill) Room 158

Campus Police Front Desk Open 24 hours

Hodgdon Key Slot (Downhill) Room 139

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520 Boston Ave.

Quiet Hours 23-hour Q100uiet Hours Shhh…

Quiet hours begin on Sunday, May 1st at 11:00pm and continue through Saturday, May 14th

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You will be charged for any keys NOT Returned at the end of the semester!

Please be respectful of your fellow classmates!

Please contact Residential Facilities with any key related questions X7-3992

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zenship test as largely analogous to taking the SATs in order to get into college.

Most American students were required to memorize political history in the past, she said, and people going through the process of naturalization must do just that — and are free to forget that information after the test.

“I do think its fair to ask newcomers to study them, and I think it’s fair to ask nativeborn citizens to study them, which we do in public school. It’s like a muscle,” she said.

“If you don’t use it, you’re going to forget it.

Most students probably knew this at one point and then forgot it. And that’s what most people trying to become citizens do: They study and then they forget it.”

In Schildkraut’s view, though, the question of the citizenship test’s “fairness” leads to another one — one that could improve Americans’ political awareness altogether: “The other question is should we ask citizens to take the test every ten years or so?”

Weekender Arts & Living

5

tuftsdaily.com

AUSTINFILMFESTIVAL.COM design by Elliot Philips and Leanne Brotsky

by

Mitchell Geller

Daily Editorial Board

It’s easy to get caught up in the fact that it’s springtime.

It’s getting warmer and suddenly all of the most appealing activities are happening outdoors. The flowers bloom, the sun shines, the breeze blows young love. It’s hard to concentrate on anything when the birds are chirping and the girls are looking good. But never mind that: For the next week, consider forgoing the sunshine, the birds and pretty girls and instead consider sitting inside in the dark.

That might sound miserable in light of the beautiful season, but hear me out: The Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFB) is back for its ninth year, taking over venues all over Boston from the Somerville Theatre in our very own Davis Square to the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, the Stuart Street Playhouse, the Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Massachusetts College of Art. This year’s festival, which runs for the week starting last night (April 27) through May 4, features more than 50 narrative features and documentary films, as well as an expansive short film program and a number of exciting panels and parties.

While Boston may not be known for its film culture, the IFFB grows in size and stature each year, drawing more exciting films and larger crowds with each annual installment. With many screenings already sold out (don’t worry, if there’s something you absolutely need to see, there’s still hope: Rush tickets are available shortly before show time for most screenings) and a jam-packed schedule, this year’s festival promises to be quite the experience.

Tackling an expansive festival like the IFFB might be daunting, but it should be a criminal offense to miss out on the opportunity to attend an event as exciting and important as this. The following is a handy guide for both first-time festival goers and seasoned vets for this year’s IFFB (a perfect post-Spring Fling event or nice relaxing study break, perhaps!).

Keep An Open Mind This is an independent film festival, so chances are good that you haven’t heard of many of the films that will be playing over the next few days all across the Hub. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t good.

On the contrary, many films that were screened at past festivals were later picked up for wide distribution. Last year alone, the fest played host to the Oscar-nominated “Winter’s Bone” (2010) and commercial hits like “I Am Love”

(2009) and “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” (2010). Two years ago saw “500 Days of Summer” (2009), “The Brothers Bloom” (2008) and “In the Loop” (2009). None of these movies were major hits or the hottest tickets of the festivals, and all went on to win major accolades upon their wide releases. Who knows what you could stumble across this next week?

But keep in mind that not every movie that plays will be right for you, and you should be sure to read up on the films.

Do Your Research While some films will be having their world premieres at the IFFB, many of the films are currently making the rounds on what is known as the festival circuit.

They’ve been shown at fests before, and they will be shown again, and with each screening, the number of reviews that are available increases. Check out the festival’s website (www.iffboston.org) and read the descriptions there. Each film is profiled with its own page, most featuring trailers and blurbs. If something catches your eye, look into it more and read some of the aforementioned reviews — actually, read a lot of reviews to get a holistic picture of the film.

Maybe one critic doesn’t share your taste in movies and hated a movie that you’d actually love.

But even if you don’t want to ruin the exciting uncertainty that comes with festival attendance, you should pick a few films you want to see because, as sad as it is, the truth is you can’t see everything.

Schedule Your Time Between April 27 and May 4, festival attendees will have 23 narrative features, 35 documentary films, 27 short films, three panels and six parties to choose from, held at various locations and times all over Boston. It would be humanly impossible to do everything, so planning is of major importance.

There isn’t much to say beyond this. Just make sure to plan, but also have a backup plan: Try to roll with the punches.

Be Flexible Some films you want to see will sell out, and you will have to wait in rush lines, and, while sometimes you’ll get lucky and score a seat, sometimes you won’t get in. “El Bulli: Cooking in Progress,” for example, is already sold out, as is the festival-closing “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop.”

These are hot-ticket films, and there’s not much you can do to make sure you’ll get to see them.

While there may be nothing you can do if something is sold out, you can guarantee that you’ll enjoy your time at the festival if you aren’t too rigid about your

plan. Again, an open mind is your best friend at the IFFB. Who knows, you might just come away a little happier thanks to unforeseeable circumstances. Make the best of it.

Documentaries Are Your Friend If you randomly pick a theater and a timeslot, chances are, based on the statistical breakdown, you’ll see a documentary.

This year’s festival is definitely documentary heavy, featuring a dozen more docs than narrative features. The festival opened last night with a documentary (“Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey”)

and will close next Wednesday with a documentary (the previously mentioned Conan O’Brien film). The documentaries are some of this year’s most exciting films, covering every topic imaginable, from dancing detectives to culinary mad scientists to rock bands, horse trainers, coffee burn victims, newspaper production, basketball players, immigrants, superheroes and linguists.

Even if you choose to see only one film at this year’s IFFB, it should probably be a documentary.

Keep these rules in mind, and you’re guaranteed to have a good time at the festival.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the multitude of choices, check out some of my film picks from this year’s IFFB:

of says it all. Narrative feature showing at 9:30 p.m. on April 29 at the Brattle Theater.

“El Bulli: Cooking in Progress” (2010): Gain access to the behind-the-scenes workings of chef and gastro-magician Ferran Adrià’s famous El Bulli restaurant in Roses, Spain. Documentary feature showing at 7:00 p.m. on May 2 at the Somerville Theatre.

“The Trip”: Director Michael Winterbottom presents a mostly improvised companion piece to his 2005 film “Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story,” starring that film’s versions of this film’s costars, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. It promises to be very funny and not nearly as confusing as it seems. Narrative feature showing at 7:15 p.m. on April 29 at the Somerville Theatre.

“Fanny, Annie & Danny” (2010): A darkly comedic look at a family struggling with the pursuit of perfection. Narrative feature showing at 8:00 p.m. on April 30 at the Somerville Theatre.

“Heaven + Earth + Joe Davis” (2010): Joe Davis works where science and art collide to make something greater than we can imagine. Documentary feature showing at 7:00 p.m. on April 29 at the Brattle Theatre.

“Page One: Inside the New York Times”: Director Andrew Rossi gets access to the New York Times media desk to explore what’s really going on with print media.

Documentary feature showing at 7:15 p.m. on April 29 at the Somerville Theatre.

“Raising Renee”: An artist is faced with keeping a difficult promise just as her career is taking off. Documentary feature showing at 5:00 p.m. on May 1 at the Somerville Theatre.

“Terri”: Terri is an awkward teenager going through some hard times. Luckily his principal is played by John C. Reilly, and his uncle is Creed from “The Office.”

Coming of age ensues. Narrative feature showing at 7:00 p.m. on May 3 at the Stuart Street Playhouse.

“The Troll Hunter” (2010): Norwegian mockumentary about, well, the title sort

“The City Dark”: Do we really need to be able to see the stars? A look at artificial light and our changing habitat from one of the minds behind “King Corn” (2007). Documentary feature showing at 7:00 p.m. on April 29 and 12:30 p.m. on May 1 at the Somerville Theatre.

“Color Me Obsessed”: The Replacements may not be very well known today, but they have fans in high places. Filmmakers rely wholly on the band’s famous fans to tell their story. Documentary feature showing at 6:45 p.m. on April 28 at the Somerville Theatre.

“Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop”: Documentary following O’Brien on his cross-country tour following the end of his stint on the “Tonight Show.”

Documentary feature showing at 8:00 p.m. on May 4 at the Coolidge Corner Theater.

(Tickets to regular screenings are $11 at the box office, $10 online, $15 for opening/closing night tickets. Box office hours are available online at www.iffboston.org.)

—by Mitchell Geller

The Tufts Daily

6

Weekender

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Dance Preview

Study up on swag with Spirit of Color at its spring show by

Rebecca Santiago

Daily Editorial Board

Think that you know all there is to know after spending the past week holed away in Club Tisch? Tufts’ dance troupe Spirit of Color (SoC) isn’t so sure. Grab a pen, a notebook and your sickest pair of kicks, because tonight, SoC is about to teach you a lesson — in swag.

This spring, SoC’s biannual show is titled “Get Yo A$$ to Class,” and through it the troupe aims to raise the general level of awesomeness on campus and among members of the student body. The plan seems to be that they dance awesomely, and the audience watches and learns. Fair enough.

The vibrancy of SoC’s show should be proof enough that the group is licensed for the task at hand. Although the funky lighting and the streetchic costumes (which embrace everything from club-worthy metallics to white buttondowns and khakis) add ambiance to the performance, unbridled flair is at the heart of SoC’s dances, and their penchant for that flair cannot be denied. The group seems as concerned about conjuring a mood as it is about showcasing its dance skills, and as a result, the audience gets the

Justin McCallum/Tufts Daily

SoC knows a thing or two about swag. best of both worlds.

A diverse mix of dancing backgrounds enables the troupe to craft wildly creative

dances. For example, sophomore Kyle Carbone, who cochoreographed the opening dance, “Gender Studies

101: Sassy Dude Complex,” described the piece as “basically a juxtaposition of fierce, sassy dancing with hard-hit-

ting ghetto hip-hop.” The stylistic fusion he hints at is far see SOC, page 9

Top Ten | Celebrity Weddings We’d Rather See

Movie and Book Review

The day the whole world has (for some reason) been waiting for is almost here.

The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton will take place tomorrow at Westminster Abbey, but we at the Daily Arts Department can’t help but feel less than enthusiastic. Instead, we came up with 10 celebrity weddings we would rather anticipate/watch/fawn over.

10. Condoleezza Rice and Quentin Tarantino: Because we all know Quentin would make a great documentary about this whole endeavor, complete with awkward encounters with a certain former president.

9. Lindsay Lohan and Marilyn Manson: He has a thing for redheads, after all.

8. January Jones and Jon Hamm: It’s hard to tell whether Jones would be as icy as Betty Draper, but something tells us Hamm would be more Dick Whitman than Don. rottentomatoes.com

Luckily for Tufts students, Robert Pattinson appears to be quite friendly with Jumbos.

‘Water for Elephants’ film doesn’t live up to book, though neither is perfect

Daily Staff Writer

A traveling circus in the Depression era is the setting, a passionate love triangle is the story’s engine, an elephant by

Nadezhda Kazakova

Water for Elephants Starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz Directed by Francis Lawrence that understands commands in Polish is the most endearing character: These are the main ingredients in the historical novel “Water for Elephants” (2007), which found its way to the big screen last Friday.

The readers of Sara Gruen’s bestsell-

er are excited to watch the movie adaptation, while motion picture fans will consider buying a paperback copy to delve into the missing details. Although telling the same story, the book and the movie “Water for Elephants” have different emphases, leading the audience to a different, but by all means unforgettable, experience.

Right from their opening scenes, the novel and the movie set up two contrasting moods. Readers are presented with the day of a circus disaster and Jacob Jankowski admitting he kept the secret of a murder for 70 years. Alternating between the nursing home and his memories from 1931, the old Jankowski reveals how he became involved with the menagerie of the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.

In contrast, the first minutes of the movie are rather slow, as an elderly man stares at a circus ticket booth in

the rain. Going inside the manager’s office, he begins reminiscing about his experiences at an infamous circus during the times when this was the preferred type of entertainment. Maybe in order to please the younger viewers, the narrator’s voice switches to the young Jacob, who learns during his last veterinary medicine exam at Cornell that his parents have died in a car accident. For the rest of the movie, the narrating velvet voice of Robert Pattinson in the background engages us in a more immature, but often refreshing, viewpoint on the happenings.

The plot speeds up significantly when Jacob hops on a random train at night, only to discover it is actually a mediocre traveling circus in desperate need of a vet and a central show act. While staying in the workers’ car, he develops a network of friendsee ELEPHANTS, page 8

7. Mel Gibson and The Beaver: One damn fine beaver puppet + crazy = forever.

6. Kate Middleton and Carrot Top: Because we know Brits are suckers for prop comedy ... and ginger kids with social problems?

5. Gwyneth Paltrow and Cee-Lo Green: That night at the Grammys was just the beginning of something beautiful. Let’s start imagining what their children would look like...

4. Prince William and Amy Winehouse: If he tried to make her join the royal family, she’d probably say yes, yes, yes.

3. Tom Cruise and John Travolta: Handsome movie star heart throbs who are both obsessed with scientology? It’s a match made in ... well ... a closet.

2. Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake: A royal wedding we’d actually care about — the prince of Pop and the princess of whatever it is that Britney does.

1. Arts Department and Owls: A wedding for the ages.

—compiled by the Daily Arts Department

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Tufts Daily

7

Weekender

Album Review

Mitchell Geller | Makes it Rain

Haters make the world go ‘round

T

amazon.com

‘Cannibal Courthsip’ by Dengue Fever offers an unparalleled mixture of Cambodian and American ties.

Exotic sound sets Dengue Fever apart

With latest album, band proves whole is greater than sum of its parts

Sultry. Beachy. Exotic. These words are what come to mind when describing Dengue Fever. The globe-trotting, by

Melissa MacEwen Daily Staff Writer

Cannibal Courtship Dengue Fever Fantasy Records Cambodia-enthusiasts are back with the release of their fourth album, “Cannibal Courtship.”

With its roots firmly dug into a longlost era, Dengue Fever is more a romantic bundle of myths and memories than fact.

While visiting Cambodia, Ethan Holtzman was inspired by local music and wanted to bring its flavor back to the United States.

Along with his brother Zac, he searched for a vocalist who could sing in Khmer and discovered Cambodian-born karaoke singer Chhom Nimol in Long Beach.

With Chhom singing, Zac on backup vocals and guitar, Ethan playing the Farfisa organ, the band coalesced in 2001 as a fusion of Cambodian pop and psychedelic rock.

Staying true to its roots, the band’s music was sung exclusively in Khmer until the release of its third album and frequently included covers of popular ’60s Cambodian pop songs. Dengue Fever has successfully

tapped into both American and Cambodian fanbases, with Cambodian fans in particular enjoying the nod to the Beatles-inspired pop music of their youth.

Though the band’s music has always seemed at home drifting between American indie music and old-school Cambodian jams, Dengue Fever finally seems to have mastered the art of their musical blending on “Cannibal Courtship,” more than ever before. From opposite sides of the planet, Dengue Fever draws scales, lyrics and layerings that have no real right to be together and makes them into a mix all its own.

“Cannibal Courtship” has more lyrics in English than do any of the previous albums, which should make the album more accessible for some fans. Still, the lyrics are the least important part of Dengue Fever’s musical equation. Far more important, for example, is the play between Grateful Dead-esque riffs and Khmer on “Durian Dowry” or the pairing of flamenco in “2012 (Bury our Heads)” with deadpan, hypnotic (English) lyrics and a killer sax solo.

The English lyrics may make the music more accessible, but if anything, they seem to have an intentional dissonance with much of the music they are worked into.

Singing, “I want to be flirting with girls and catching diseases” on “Only a Friend” makes the cultural gap almost awkwardly obvious; overall, the album’s lyrics tend to make the music simultaneously poppy and cynical.

“Cannibal Courtship” also shows the

further development of Dengue Fever’s musicianship, especially on darker tracks such as “Sister in the Radio” and the instrumental “Kiss of the Bufo Alvarius.” Even the album’s last track, “Durian Dowry,” possesses a combination of unexpected textures unknown to Dengue Fever’s previous albums.

On “Sister in the Radio,” Chhom’s remarkable range adds a soulfulness that would make translating the lyrics completely superfluous. Over bluesy guitar, her voice soars and weaves with a gorgeous musical complexity. Similarly, on “Kiss of the Bufo Alvarius,” dreamy surf-rock meets jazz and bongos for a swaying, drifting rhythm that feels more vintage film noir than indie.

It is this retro musical darkness that is arguably the most strangely wonderful part of the album. Dengue Fever so confidently and whole heartedly embraces a genre entirely outside of the contemporary scene that its music unquestionably stands up on its own as the last remnants of an elaborately harmonized ’60s pipe-dream.

“Cannibal Courtship” is still indie music but not in a way that any other band has successfully pulled off. Dengue Fever finally seems to have settled into a niche all of its own with “Cannibal Courtship,” and it will be interesting to see what it does with its musical hybrid in the future.

More now than ever, Dengue Fever has proven that the whole really is more than the sum of its parts.

From the Office of the Tufts Daily Dear Tufts Connections, Thank you. Thank you for another opportunity for digitally induced romantic awkwardness. As if Facebook stalking, unsavory Craigslist exchanges, “adult” dating sites and CollegeACB weren’t enough to exploit modern society’s lascivious desires in new and interesting ways, you have to come along and give us this.

For the unfamiliar, Tufts Connections (tuftsconnections.com) is a new site that allows users to create a private list of Tufts students they’d like to “get with.”

Whenever someone on your list puts you on theirs, you both get an email stating

your mutual interest. Wow, this makes life a lot easier. Meeting people in real life is so passe, after all.

Aside from the cringe-inducing awkwardness of this new service, you get the possibility of talking to the object of your affection in person afterward! You probably have to have an all-or-nothing attitude, because there’s no way small talk is an option after that email lands in your inbox. Talking about the weather doesn’t seem too relevant when your recently bridled lust was divulged by an eloquent email-sorting function.

In a perfectly humorous world, the same people who created Jumboleaks

would take their computer-hacking skillz to the next level and open up this site for some transparency that Tufts students actually care about. We doubt we’ll be putting Monsanto Corporation on our hookup list, but you’ll just have to wait and see! Fingers crossed.

Once again, thanks Tufts Connections.

You’ve brought our love lives into the 21st century, when they probably would have rather stayed in the 19th. But, then again, we’re suckers for sonnets. Guess we’ll just be reading them on Twitter now.

Sincerely, The Daily Arts Department

he other day I saw Gucci Mane sneering at me from the cover of the latest issue of The Source and was completely helpless, so I bought it without pause: Gucci Mane is too much to resist.

Gucci Mane (born Radric Davis), for those unlucky enough to not be in the know, is a rapper (longtime readers will remember this from the intro column).

That is to say that Gucci Mane is one who raps.

That is to say that he is one who often says words in an order such that they sometimes rhyme and often sound connected, related and clever.

He doesn’t have much talent to speak of, but he is sort of the best. Gucci Mane personifies the old maxim that showing up is 50 percent of success. He releases mixtapes at an astronomical rate: On Oct. 17, 2009, he released three mixtapes (all equally great and hypnotizingly stupid) for free, the Cold War trilogy of “BRRRussia,” “Great BRRRitain” and “Guccimerica.” It’s moves like those, coupled with Gucci’s whole demeanor (the constant repetition of his catchphrase, “Brrr!”, the tattoo of an ice cream cone on his face and his general success) that make many wonder if somehow Gucci might actually be a genius.

Or maybe he’s just some idiot who hit on the cultural zeitgeist.

Or maybe being the most brash and brazen is the other 50 percent of success.

Whatever it is, Gucci Mane is inarguably successful. But success doesn’t come without detractors. For every Gucci fan, there is a Gucci hater. Every time I want to call him a genius, I also want to call him an idiot.

Contemplating my own relationship with Gucci Mane, I opened the April issue of The Source. The first thing I saw was a pull-quote from the rapper himself: “I actually welcome [criticism] as a part of success. I don’t want everybody to like me.”

It’s like Katt Williams says: You need haters to know that you’re doing something right. It takes something notable and worthwhile to make people pay attention long enough to open their mouths and say something nasty.

Whenever Gucci does anything, rap commentators get up in arms either defending or lambasting him. He is quite possibly the most divisive figure in hip-hop today. And it’s this very divisiveness that makes him so unifying, because we can all agree that Gucci is important: Love him or hate him, he means something.

He closely follows in the footsteps of figures like Galileo Galilei, Che Guevara, Ronald Regan, Malcolm X and Jesus Christ, and his revolution is in the name of gangster rap.

But Gucci isn’t the only one with haters. Lately, I’ve been lucky enough to have some of my own (to quote Maino, “Hi Hater!”). I’ve written “Makes it Rain” for a full academic year now, and over that time I’ve gotten plenty of positive feedback and encouraging words, but more excitingly, just as many nasty emails, comments and remarks.

Each barb fuels the fire, and I wish I could trade some of the random people who have stopped to chat after recognizing me from my ridiculous columnist picture for another Internet schmuck to tell me that I suck.

I’m not going to pretend that a couple of detracting comments are the same as an entire community saying that I’m an idiot, but I get the sense that that would be empowering. Gucci doesn’t let the hate stop him for a minute, though: There is a track on “The Return of Mr. Zone 6,” Gucci’s latest album, called “This is What I Do.” He makes no apologies for what he does, merely stating that he does it.

And come to think of it, actually, that sounds stunningly similar to something that a man much more divisive than Gucci (or I) once said: “I am that I am.”

Mitchell Geller is a senior majoring in psychology and English. He can be reached at Mitchell.Geller@Tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

8

Weekender

Thursday, April 28, 2011

rottentomatoes.com

Robert Pattinson stars in ‘Water for Elephants.’

Both movie and book versions of ‘Water for Elephants’ have shortcomings ELEPHANTS

continued from page 6

ships. Whereas many of the supporting characters present in the book might blend into one in the film version, Jacob retains his standing as a just and compassionate companion.

The movie decides to give priority to the protagonist’s romantic relationship with the equestrian star Marlena, played

by Reese Witherspoon. In an attempt to make this romantic drama a box office hit, director Francis Lawrence misses the point. Not only does Jacob’s attraction to the married woman become obvious far too quickly, but Pattinson and Witherspoon lack the necessary chemistry on screen. The love spark is terribly lost in the age difference

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between the actors, their mechanical acting and some awkward dialogue.

Luckily, Christoph Waltz shines with a villainous brightness as Marlena’s charming and dangerous husband, August. Initially, he takes Jacob under his wing and together they train the new elephant Rosie to become the show’s star animal performer. However, August has his moments of unwarranted rage and excessive violence, which make him a character of extremes. With his inscrutable smile and confident posture, Waltz portrays this schizophrenic behavior very well.

Moving away from the character development to the setting, the book’s vivid descriptions of the atmosphere on the trains and during the Depression

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already sets a high bar for the movie’s interpretation. Gruen delivers believable insight into the period’s problems, such as perilous alcohol abuse, unemployment and mistreatment of workers.

Through the depictions of the performers’ complex movements in the various acts, she brings the circus’ magic to life.

The movie also excels at building a setting that is truthful to the novel.

Some of the most breathtaking scenes involve dozens of men erecting the giant circus tent and exotic animals completing artistic tasks. The time period becomes even more realistic on the big screen with the addition of various accents and slang expressions in almost every character’s speech.

While the novel is a page-turner and

the movie is definitely above average, both pieces have several shortcomings.

On one hand, some of the dialogue in the book remains predictable, and there is room for deeper symbolism and more metaphoric language. On the other hand, the motion picture employs a disturbing amount of animal violence and fails to evoke the audience’s sympathy for Jacob.

Overall, one needs to both read the novel and watch the movie in order to understand all nuances in “Water for Elephants.� The presence of the elephant Rosie might make this holistic experience especially enjoyable for Tufts Jumbos: With her intelligence and sensitivity, Rosie is undoubtedly one of the most memorable characters for book readers and movie fans alike.

The Tufts Daily

Thursday, April 28, 2011

9

Weekender

What’s up this weekend?

Looking to make your weekend artsy?

Check out these events!

“Get Yo A$$ to Class”: Spirit of Color (SoC) is banding together to solve the problem of a perceived lack of “swag” on campus with its spring show, which will also feature guest performances by Pulse, Blackout, Sarabande and Thee Slap Bracelets. (Thursday at 9 p.m. and Friday at 6 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium. Two tickets free with Tufts ID.) “Bubs in the Pub”: Come watch the

Beelzebubs perform their last on-campus show of the year. The set will feature the Bubs’ repertoire from the entire school year, including songs that have recently been featured on Fox’s “Glee,” for which the Bubs sang backing vocals. (Friday at 9 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium. Tickets $6 with Tufts ID, $16 without, at the Mayer Campus Center info booth.)

“The Mash-Up”: Boston’s Best College Comedy: The Bare Bodkin Theatre Company sponsors a monthly comedy show featuring stand-up, sketch and

improve groups from Boston-area colleges. Tufts junior Matthew Nazarian is hosting the event, which will also feature senior Brian Agler, junior Ian Donovan, sophomores Clay Grable and Matt Stofsky and senior Irene Richardson. (Friday at 10 p.m. in Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room. Admission is free.)

“Spring Fling”: The time is finally here!

Tufts Concert Board presents the biggest concert of the year, featuring student band Explicit opening at noon, DJ and instrumentalist RJD2 at 1 p.m., Tufts Battle of the

Bands winner The American Symphony of Seoul at 2:15 p.m. and headliner The Roots at 3:15 p.m. (Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. on the President’s Lawn. Tickets are free for Tufts students at the info booth.)

“Big Eyed Phish plus Danny Ross”: New York-based up-and-coming musician Ross will open for the Dave Matthews tribute band this weekend in Cambridge.

(Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Middle East Upstairs. 18+. Tickets $12.)

—compiled by the Daily Arts Department

SoC aims to teach Tufts the art of swag with exciting mix of dance styles SOC

continued from page 6

from exclusive to his piece; the show includes elements of ballet, step, salsa and more.

Fortunately, the inclusion of multiple styles never leads to the show feeling disparate. Director Juliana Davis, a junior, said that the process of uniting the dances under a common theme was actually extremely difficult and that the show’s mock-scholastic theme evolved from the storylines of two dances (one takes place in middle school, and the other tells the woefully familiar tale of Tufts, finals and stress).

Though SoC conceived of the theme after all the dances were composed, a natural language seems to emerge from the show — could it be the language of swag? — and it really does feel didactic, in the best possible way.

One especially moving and intellectual dance is “Self vs. Society,” choreographed by sophomore Gabriela Ros and senior Diego Chacon. In the piece, dancers mimic the motions of a sinister machine and restrain other dancers with black scarves to leave a striking impression. “It’s about a revolution, and one group of people being con-

trolled by another,” sophomore Caitlyn Doucette, who named the dance as her favorite, said. “I think they did a really good job of representing that struggle and leaving the ending up in the air.

You don’t really know what happens.”

What else does SoC have in store for its audience? There’s a glamorous piece set to a mix of Ke$ha songs, which begins with Carnevale masks and fans and ends with a sexy, skinbaring clubbing vibe. There are a few really exquisite segments of ballet and lyrical dance, which evoke a transient wistfulness. There’s a catfight, a stage dive (from the stage to the raised arms of people also standing onstage, which is way more impressive a feat than a normal stage dive), a spread-eagled lift, a John Legend song…

But enough peeking at my paper. Go check the show out for yourself.

SoC is performing “Get Yo A$$ to Class” tonight at 9 p.m. and tomorrow at 6 p.m. Two tickets are free at the Cohen box office with a Tufts ID; a third ticket, or tickets without an ID, cost $5.

Most importantly, don’t be late — you don’t want a tardy on your permanent record, do you?

Justin McCallum/Tufts Daily

Spirit of Color will present ‘Get Yo A$$ to Class’ tonight and tomorrow in Cohen Auditorium.

723 Jumbos have made a gift.

Can we count on you before 4/30?

Members of these organizations have supported the Tufts Student Fund Alpha Omicron Pi Alpha Phi Alpha Tau Omega Alpine Ski Team American Society of Civil Engineers American Society of Mechanical Engineers ARC Association of Latin American Students (ALAS) Breakthrough Engineers Without Borders Essence

EWTS Friends of Israel Her Campus- Tufts Hillel Inter Fraternity Council Leonard Carmichael Society Men's Basketball Team Mock Trial Pens, Paint and Pretzels Pre-Medical Society President's Marathon Challenge Society of Women Engineers

SPEAC Swimming and Diving Team The Sharewood Project Tufts Bikes Tufts Order of Omega Tufts Republicans Tufts Roundtable Tufts Sailing Tufts Science Magazine Tufts Writing Fellows Women's Crew Team Women's Tennis Team

Join your classmates in giving back!

And have your gift matched by $30 from an alumnus donor.

IN PERSON Visit our table at the Campus Center or a drop box in Tisch Library or Hillel Center

ONLINE www.tufts.edu/givenow Select “School of Arts and Sciences” or “Engineering,” then select “Student Fund”

JUMBO CASH Swipe a donation at the Campus Center Info Booth

Questions? studentfund@tufts.edu

TEXT TO GIVE Text “Tufts” and your full name to 20222 to make a $5 donation.

The Tufts Daily

10

THE TUFTS DAILY

An unacceptable opacity in policy

Editor-in-Chief

Managing Editors Martha Shanahan Executive News Editor Michael Del Moro News Editors Nina Ford Ben Gittleson Amelie Hecht Ellen Kan Daphne Kolios Kathryn Olson Matt Repka Corinne Segal Jenny White Brent Yarnell Elizabeth McKay Assistant News Editors Laina Piera Rachel Rampino Minyoung Song Derek Schlom Executive Features Editor Jon Cheng Features Editors Sarah Korones Emilia Luna Romy Oltuski Alexa Sasanow Falcon Reese Assistant Features Editors Angelina Rotman Sarah Strand Amelia Quinn Ben Phelps Executive Arts Editor Emma Bushnell Arts Editors Mitchell Geller Rebecca Santiago Matthew Welch Allison Dempsey Assistant Arts Editors Andrew Padgett Joseph Stile Ashley Wood Rebekah Liebermann Bhushan Deshpande Larissa Gibbs David Kellogg Rachel Oldfield Jeremy Ravinsky Daniel Stock Devon Colmer Erin Marshall Alex Miller Louie Zong Craig Frucht Kerianne Okie Michael Restiano Joshua Youner

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editors

Cartoonists

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Editorial

Alexandra W. Bogus Editorial Mick Brinkman Krever Saumya Vaishampayan

Editorial | Letters

Each year on April 20, Tufts students gather on the Tisch Library roof to engage in the annual “4/20” celebration, an unofficial holiday in which many people engage in marijuana use. Some students came to the roof this year with the expectation of smoking marijuana, others attended to watch the event and socialize, but no students headed to the roof with the expectation that they would be handcuffed and tackled to the ground

by Tufts University Police Department ( TUPD) officers. Unlike in previous years, this spring’s 4/20 celebration was marked by intense enforcement from TUPD officers, the presence of administrators and one instance of physical force and handcuffing that left students, many of whom had experienced a peaceful event for the past few years, flabbergasted.

TUPD officers alleged that the student in question was ignoring officers’ demands and that he acted aggressively toward an officer who was attempting to apprehend him. In addition to the one instance of handcuffing, TUPD officers stopped several students who appeared to be smoking marijuana and took about a dozen Tufts IDs, according to TUPD Capt.

Mark Keith. The Daily does not criti-

cize TUPD officers for doing their job and enforcing the university’s policy on marijuana use on campus. But on a day that has historically been marked by a liberal attitude toward use of the drug, students were taken off guard by officers’ sudden insistence on cracking down. Students have been celebrating 4/20 on the library roof for years without experiencing much reaction from TUPD, and this sudden change put them at a disadvantage.

Though Keith said that he knew about the day’s relation to marijuana use, he told the Daily that TUPD was unaware of the tradition for students to gather on the roof at midnight and 4:20 p.m. Students who have attended the event in previous years, however, told the Daily that there has always been a police presence during the celebrations, but that officers have typically just stood by, opting against disciplinary measures in large part.

Because officers have more or less allowed students to participate in the festivities on the roof in previous years, a sense of ease developed among students. It was only natural that they would believe that officers would turn a blind eye to marijuana use this year as they have in the past.

If TUPD wanted to crack down on

4/20 activities, the university should have warned students that there would be consequences for those smoking marijuana on the library roof. The university already frequently sends emails regarding the potential consequences for excessive intoxication at special events, and there is no reason that it could not have given students fair warning that TUPD’s actions would change this year.

This incident highlights a recent pattern of TUPD’s tendency to act more aggressively and enforce policies more stringently than in the past without giving students prior warning.

Much of the reason that December’s Naked Quad Run was so chaotic was because the administration decided to end the event early without warning students, leading to confusion and students’ run-ins with TUPD officers.

TUPD and the administration cannot turn a blind eye to certain behavior for several years and then suddenly expect students to be accountable for the actions that have been essentially permitted previously. If TUPD wants to make broad enforcement changes, the university needs to warn students ahead of time rather than punishing them for behavior for which they had not previously been disciplined.

Community Union presidential endorsement, too?

I recommend the Daily overhaul its editorial page policy. Introduce editorial dissents or editorial columnists, like numerous other college newspapers allow. The Harvard Crimson and MIT’s The Tech may be good models. Get the op-ed page more actively involved in sparking discussions, as I recommended in an op-ed earlier this semester (“Are op-eds for anger or understanding?”, Feb. 7), so there is more counterbalance to any editorial position.

Most importantly, define exactly what an editorial represents. Editorials represent the views of the team who writes editorials. Define who that team is, and consult with some of our expert journalist alumni if need be. That way, when

there’s a contentious issue, the Daily’s editorial page can take a stand — for the sake of publishing informative opinions about our Tufts community.

Now, please write an editorial about the organizing at April Open House. Or two or three. If you need more room, take some of the space the op-ed page uses to print other college newspapers’ national op-eds. The number-one goal of the editorial and op-ed pages should be presenting reasoned, intriguing ideas and opinions about campus life, no matter what side becomes the Daily’s “official opinion.”

erin marshall

Editorialists

Ben Kochman Executive Sports Editor Philip Dear Sports Editors Lauren Flament Claire Kemp Alex Lach Alex Prewitt Daniel Rathman Noah Schumer Ethan Sturm Matthew Berger Assistant Sports Editors Aaron Leibowitz David McIntyre Ann Sloan Meredith Klein Virginia Bledsoe Jodi Bosin Danai Macridi Dilys Ong James Choca Lane Florsheim Meagan Maher Justin McCallum Oliver Porter Ashley Seenauth Aalok Kanani Andrew Morgenthaler

Executive Photo Editor Photo Editors

Assistant Photo Editors

Staff Photographers

Kristiina Yang Executive New Media Editor

PRODUCTION Andrew Petrone Production Director Sarah Davis Executive Layout Editor Leanne Brotsky Layout Editors Adam Gardner Jason Huang Jennifer Iassogna Sarah Kester Alyssa Kutner Steven Smith Rebecca Alpert Assistant Layout Editors Jennifer Betts Shoshanna Kahne Mackenzie Loy Alexia Moustroufi Emily Rourke Alexandra Husted Executive Copy Editor Sara Eisemann Copy Editors Niki Krieg Andrew Paseltiner Zehava Robbins Elisha Sum Ashley Cheng Assistant Copy Editors Benjamin Considine Linh Dang Patrick Donnelly Lauren Greenberg Drew Lewis Rebecca Raskind Melissa Roberts Alexandra Salerno Alison Williams Stefanie Yeung Darcy Mann Executive Online Editor Emily Denton Online Editors William Wong Ammar Khaku Executive Technical Manager Michael Vastola Technical Manager

BUSINESS Benjamin Hubbell-Engler Executive Business Director Laura Moreno Advertising Director Dwijo Goswami Receivables Manager P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, It is ironic that a diversity of opinion caused the Daily to remain silent on an issue of diversity (“Letter from the Managing Board,” April 26, 2011).

I have never believed that editorials should even attempt to reflect the collective opinion of the masthead. There are too many people, and many of them are in content roles that should prohibit them from trying to sway the tone of an editorial. A paper has a group of editorialists for a reason — to deliberate and to make the tough calls, even if it means a bitter, narrow vote. If the editorialists were as narrowly divided over Tomas Garcia vs. Ben Richards, would the Daily editorial page give up on writing a Tufts

Sincerely, Christopher Snyder Class of 2011

Correction

Yesterday’s article “Garcia elected TCU president in landslide” incorrectly stated the number of voters in the TCU presidential election. In fact, a total of 1,593 undergraduates voted.

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. EDITORIAL POLICY 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. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must be submitted by 2 p.m. and should be handed into the Daily office or sent to letters@tuftsdaily.com.

All letters must be word processed and include the writer’s name and telephone number. There is a 450-word limit and letters must be verified.

The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length.

ADVERTISING POLICY All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editorin-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director. A publication schedule and rate card are available upon request.

The Tufts Daily

Thursday, April 28, 2011

11

Op-Ed

Provost search committee should make racial issues a priority

By Josephine Herman, Elizabeth Shrobe and Howard Levine The Tufts community earlier this week received an email announcing the launch of a search committee to find a permanent replacement for outgoing Provost and Senior Vice President Jamshed Bharucha. As white students, we have found from our own experiences that the Tufts community generally avoids race as a topic and therefore chooses to actively ignore how race operates within all of our lives at Tufts. Currently, we see the social and academic climate at Tufts characterized by a defensive and hostile racial environment resistant to change. With the arrival of a new president and the ongoing search for a new provost, the administration has the opportunity to shift the campus to one that actively engages racial issues.

We call upon the provost search committee to prioritize candidates who will fight to make the racial climate within this university one that is supportive of all members of the Tufts community. In order to make our feelings clear to the administration, we will be sending a letter with similar sentiments to the provost search committee, as well as to incoming President Anthony Monaco and other university administrators.

University President Lawrence Bacow and Bharucha, who have served together since Bharucha’s appointment in 2002, have moved Tufts forward as a premier academic and research institution, promoting active citizenship as a guiding philosophy at Tufts.

While we acknowledge the progress Tufts has made in this regard, we believe that the university still falls short of its espoused commitment to active citizenship due to its avoidance of engaging or improving racial issues on campus.

As sophomores reflecting back on our first two years, we feel Tufts has not lived up to its mission statement, which advertises “a commitment to humanitarianism and diversity in its many forms.” Looking forward to the fall of 2011 and the years to follow, we see enormous opportunity for Tufts to take action long overdue in the direction of achieving racial equality on this campus.

In the coming years, we would like to see

Aalok Kanani/Tufts Daily

a strong commitment not only to greater diversity among the student body and faculty, but also a focus on shifting the racial climate to one of openness and discussion.

This year, a large number of high-level administrators from across the university will be leaving. The significant number of vacancies in the Tufts administration presents the university with an opportunity to hire new administrators who bring fresh perspectives that allow for greater focus on racial issues. We strongly urge Presidentelect Monaco and the search committee for the new provost to make it a top priority to hire someone with a proven commitment to improving race relations. He or she should have a track record of tackling these issues and addressing them with action.

In both social and academic spheres, the campus climate is hostile to students of color. We define racism not only as individual acts of aggression but as a system deeply ingrained in institutions like Tufts that leads to the subordination of people of color as well as the privileging of white people. Racism of both forms, both individual acts and institutionalized, exists at Tufts. There are more blatant acts of racism on a consistent basis than the average white student may be aware of, such as racial slurs directed toward students of color. There are also many ways in which racism is invisibly integrated into the university, such as the white, Eurocentric focus of

the undergraduate curriculum. According to the Department of History website, for example, there are six core faculty members in the history department who specialize to some degree on Europe, versus one who focuses on Latin America.

For us — three white students — the environment is conducive to learning and growth in ways that are not available to our friends and peers of color. Throughout our time at Tufts, we see white students benefiting from multiple privileges that are out of reach for students of color. We are never called upon to speak on behalf of our entire race in both social and academic contexts, we are never stopped late at night by the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) and asked for our student IDs, and we never have trouble seeking out an advisor of our race — in any department. According to the “Retention of Faculty and Students of Color at Tufts University” task force in 2009, Tufts has the largest disparity between students of color and faculty of color by percentage among peer institutions.

The choice of provost will set the tone for other hiring decisions and therefore for the university climate at large. The provost has a multitude of responsibilities related to faculty and curriculum, and whomever the committee appoints will have a large part in directing the priorities of the university. In addition to the provost’s role of

contributing to faculty hiring decisions at all 10 schools, in the coming year he or she will play a prominent role in the hiring of the deans of the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service and the Friedman School of Nutrition. Prioritizing the hiring of a diverse group of administrators and faculty would be a significant step toward creating a campus climate inclusive of all community members. The new provost will also have the opportunity to revitalize the Office of Institutional Diversity, whose director position is currently vacant. This could provide accountability in creating a racially supportive campus environment.

If improving racial climate is made a university priority with programming and curricular changes, students will be forced to think about the effects their actions have on the overall campus atmosphere. One of the difficulties in getting students to examine their own roles within the system of racism is that there is currently no impetus for such reflection. Finding a provost who is committed to racial diversity and exploring racial inequities will lead to the hiring of faculty who will more actively engage with the issues of race in all disciplines. This constant engagement with race will prompt a deeper reflection among members of the student body on their own behaviors and racial locations.

In the matriculation address to the class of 2013, Bacow said, “Try to make a difference during your time here and beyond.”

We must start that change here and now.

We are at a critical point in Tufts history. The choice of provost and his or her future decisions will determine the future of the university. The decisions this leader makes need to acknowledge and improve the current racial environment. We call on the university to choose leaders who open and engage in dialogue about race. Let’s start holding our university accountable to the mission statement to which it subscribes.

Josephine Herman, Howard Levine and Elizabeth Shrobe are all sophomores. They are majoring in American studies and art history, Americans studies and peace and justice studies, and psychology, respectively.

Be gay in whatever way you want to be by

Lina Stolyar

I found Molly Wallace’s review of ABC’s “Happy Endings” (“No happy ending in sight for ABC’s latest,” April 25, 2011) incredibly offensive. In particular, the description of Adam Pally’s character, Max, rubbed me the wrong way. For those who did not read the review, it read, “[Adam] Pally steals the show with his nonstereotypical depiction of a gay character. Max is Dave’s bro-ish and sloppy best friend, an incredibly refreshing departure from the flamboyance so often seen in primetime (a la Chris Colfer in ‘Glee’ or Eric Stonestreet in ‘Modern Family’). I would go so far to claim that Pally gives the most realistic portrayal of a gay character on television …”

These comments seem to imply that there is a right and a wrong way to be gay, which of course is not true. The character of Max is just one depiction of a gay man, while Kurt from “Glee” or Cameron from “Modern Family” are two other, completely valid portrayals of gay men. While “Happy Endings” should be commended for taking a different approach to how homosexuals are portrayed on TV, their take is not better nor is it more realistic.

Personally, I know many gay men who, by the reviewer’s standards would be categorized as flamboyant (though truthfully, I don’t think they are all that flamboyant). They are not “bro-ish” nor are they “sloppy,” but they are still very real. They are also individuals, who shouldn’t just be called a stereotype as if that is some sort of dirty word.

There also aren’t enough gay characters on primetime for the reviewer to make such a sweeping generalization about what is “so often seen on primetime.” GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, reports that for the 2010-2011 season, gay characters made up exactly 3.9% of all scripted regulars on primetime television.

courtesy adam taylor/abc

And even with so few gay characters (23 to be exact), the reviewer chose the two that best fit her example. Why ignore Oscar from NBC’s “The Office” or Calvin from ABC Family’s “Greek?” These two characters do not fit the stereotypical flamboyancy mentioned by the reviewer, yet they are somehow overlooked as “refreshing” depictions of a gay character on television.

In addition, by writing off Kurt and Cameron as just another two flamboyant gay men, the reviewer shows that she is unfamiliar with the historical context of camp and flamboyance. Andy Medhurst, in his brilliant essay on camp, “Batman, Deviance and Camp,” explains that historically, camp has been used as a means of survival and

self-defense. He states that “camp answers heterosexual disapproval through a strategy of defensive offensiveness … confirming that not only do queens dare to exist, but they flaunt and luxuriate in their queerness.”

Richard Dyer expands on this sentiment by saying that camp allowed gay men to have fun and be unambiguously gay, but it also allowed them to use wit to “make fun of themselves … to keep the seriousness of their situation at bay.” Prior to the Stonewall riots and the rise of the gay rights movement (and even today), being that identifiably gay could be considered very progressive and political.

I am not saying, however, that today, every flamboyant gay man acts in that manner to be political or self-protective; regarding flam-

boyance as just style without any substance, and therefore something undesirable, is just plain uniformed.

Ultimately, there is no “most realistic depiction” of a gay person. “Happy Endings” should be applauded for portraying a gay person on television considering how underrepresented the LGBTQ community is, but it is not the reviewer’s place to judge the portrayal’s accuracy. So, be gay in whatever way you want to be. I think that Dyer sums it up best when he says “you have to let people be gay in the way that is best for them.”

Lina Stolyar is a junior majoring in psychology.

Op-ed Policy 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. Op-Ed cartoons are also welcomed for the Campus Canvas feature. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. All material should be submitted to oped@tuftsdaily.com no later than noon on the day prior to the desired day of publication; authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. Submissions may not be published elsewhere prior to their appearance in the Daily, including but not limited to other on- and off-campus newspapers, magazines, blogs and online news websites, as well as Facebook. Republishing of the same piece in a different source is permissible as long as the Daily is credited with originally running the article.

The Tufts Daily

12

Comics

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Doonesbury

Crossword

by

Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

by

WeDNesday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Tray-sledding on the President’s Lawn

Late Night at the Daily Wednesday’s Solution

Kochman: “My fan base spreads like good mustard across the sourdough bread of Tufts’ campus.”

Please recycle this Daily.

Wiley

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Tufts Daily

13

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The Tufts Daily

14

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Tufts Bikes - The creation of a bike-share program on campus!

Tufts Mountain Club (TMC) A new minivan!

Crafts Center - The purchase and installation of a range of things including: new vents, new sinks, a concrete patio, a card swipe system, installation of internet etc.!

The Tufts Robotics Club The purchase of a laser cutter for the bot lab!

!

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Tufts University Football Club (TUFC) - The purchase of a 12-person van for all Tier II Clubs!

Leonard Carmichael Societ y (LCS) - The purchase of a new minivan!

Media Advocacy Board (MA B) Lab - An overhaul of curtis hall including: new furniture, new computers, new paint/carpeting, a card swipe system, a film dolly, remote broadcasting equipment$

$ $$$$J,,/;()&5$*+66&3$N+'5F$WZ[=X\X@Z]$

Thank you all for the incredible opportunity this year. I am proud of the work we accomplished and the position we’ve left the Senate in moving forward.

By Samuel Wallis, TCU President

Sports

15

tuftsdaily.com

Women’s Tennis Feature

Conquering with kindness: The joys of being Julia Browne

With a winning grin and nearly unbeatable talents, this is how Div. III’s best female tennis player lives by

Alex Prewitt

Daily Editorial Board

The rock star’s ramen is getting cold.

Too busy reflecting on her career, Julia Browne hasn’t touched her meal for over an hour now, let alone noticed that the evaporating broth is rapidly drying out the frizzy noodles.

From the outside, the quaint darkgrey apartment on Winthrop Street with the red door, three potted plants on the front steps and picture of a shirtless male model in the first-floor window appears just like every other on the outskirts of campus. Everything seems familiar, from the empty pots on the stove to the tennis bag out front. But to be in this home is to become simultaneously immersed in greatness and happiness, qualities that in this bubbly blonde, like the noodles she leaves to get soggy, come prepackaged.

It’s initially unclear whether the noticeable warmth in the room is a manifestation of steam from Browne’s rapidly cooling noodles. Then you realize that it’s probably just the sheepish-yet-welcoming grin that makes you feel like you’ve been lifelong buddies.

Because the best Div. III women’s tennis player in the country might also be the friendliest.

Virginia Bledsoe/Tufts Daily

Teammates of Julia Browne say her calm and collected on-court demeanor gives her an advantage over opponents. Given her unsurpassed individual success, it appears to be working.

Break ’em with silence Trying to get Browne to miss ranks is among the legendarily impossible things

The Daily’s Executive Sports Editor Ben Kochman challenges NCAA singles champ Julia Browne to a match. To see what went down, check out blogs.tuftsdaily.com/thescore.

in this world, right next to time travel and flying pigs.

The way the senior tri-captain speaks of her game, it sounds like an evil plan — a method of attack predetermined by a psychological mastermind well-versed in the art of torture. Don’t show any emotion.

Always return shots. If anger surfaces, walk calmly to the fence, away from the oppo-

Women’s Tennis

nent. It’s all part of the strategy. Break ’em down with silence. Stoicism triumphs over antagonism for the player who’s spent four years conquering with kindness at Tufts.

Most of the time, the attitude — or lack thereof — is more about respect than anything. Browne has no tolerance for unsportsmanlike conduct; that’s why she carries herself so graciously. Apologizing after a ball hits the net and bounces over is commonplace. So is the refusal to show up her opponent with bragging or excessive emotions.

Watch the video of Browne’s 2010 NCAA Singles Championship match with Williams’ Grace Baljon and the qualities that earned her the Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship become clear.

“A lot of people enjoy playing against players who throw their racquet and get really frustrated, because that gives you more motivation,” Browne’s former doubles partner and one of her best friends, Meghan McCooey (LA ’10), said. “If you watch Julia play, even if she’s playing her worst tennis, you’d never know, because she keeps it all behind a stone face.”

“I have been looking at that for four years, trying to copy that. It’s incredible,” said senior tri-captain Edwina Stewart, Browne’s housemate and close friend.

“Coming out here and seeing her wandering around the court as if she’s playing a casual set in the park when she’s playing for the national championship is kind of cool to watch.” see BROWNE, page 16

Baseball

Bobcats swept in senior home match Tufts stays hot with win over Wesleyan by

Ann Sloan

Daily Editorial Board

Coming off a disappointing 8-1 loss to No. 2 Williams on Saturday, No. 5 Tufts reboundWOMEN’S TENNIS (13-4, 6-2 NESCAC) Voute Courts, Tuesday Bates Tufts

0 9

ed by sweeping lowly Bates 9-0 yesterday in their final regular season match of the season.

The win brings the Jumbos’ record to 13-4 overall and 6-4 in the NESCAC. “It’s really exciting to end the season with such a great win, especially it being a home match. … Starting over spring

break, we’ve done really well this season, and it’s good to end the regular season on a high note,” senior tri-captain Julia Browne said. “It gives us confidence looking towards the post-season.”

Browne and freshman Shelci Bowman grabbed the first win of the day at No. 1 doubles with a commanding 8-1 score. The No. 3 doubles pair of sophomore Janice Lam and freshman Samantha Gann followed that with an 8-4 win.

Sophomore Lindsay Katz and junior tri-captain Jenn LaCara had more difficulty in the No. 2 spot but managed to pull out a close 9-7 victory.

Freshman Eliza Flynn is Katz’s usual doubles partner, but she was sidelined due to a torn labrum in her right hip.

Despite ultimately getting the win, Katz was disappointed with the closeness of the match.

“It was good to win, but I was just playing off. I wasn’t playing aggressively enough.

[LaCara] and I have not played together recently, so it took time to adjust to each other’s play,” Katz said. “I think my confidence was also shaken coming off of [Saturday’s loss to Williams].”

Following the doubles sweep, Tufts performed in the same dominant fashion during singles play, winning all six singles matches.

Browne, Katz and sophomore Lauren Hollender had quick wins at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 singles respectively, each only giving up one game. Gann and senior tri-captain Edwina Stewart added two more wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles.

At No. 3 singles, Bowman played a three-set match but see WOMEN’S TENNIS, page 17

by

Daniel Rathman

Daily Editorial Board

One measure of a baseball team’s strength is its ability to bounce back from adverBASEBALL (20-5-1, 9-0 NESCAC) Huskins Field, Monday Wesleyan Tufts

1 5

sity. Tufts (20-5-1 overall, 9-0 NESCAC East) was stunned

by Brandeis in an 11-3 loss back on April 20, snapping a 14-game winning streak.

But the Jumbos have now rebounded with three wins in

a row.

Tuesday’s matchup against Wesleyan was the first taste Tufts has had this year of NESCAC West competition.

The Cardinals (15-15 overall, 5-4 NESCAC West) are currently third in their division, but they still have an outside chance of sneaking into the postseason tournament.

Hence, the Jumbos certainly wanted to make a strong impression.

Seniors Derek Miller and Pat O’Donnell — who pitched the first six innings of the game for Tufts — did just that.

Miller worked two frames and then O’Donnell picked up the next four as the duo shut out the Cardinals on just three see BASEBALL, page 18

INSIDE NHL

Semifinal showdowns set after first-round series go the distance by

Matt Repka

Daily Editorial Board

Well, this has been a wild ride so far.

The much-anticipated first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs concluded last night, and it did not fail to deliver on excitement.

Of the eight playoff series, half went the full seven games and two more went six.

Fourteen games were decided in overtime and three of these took two overtimes to settle. Yes, it has been a heart-stopping week for hockey fans all over North America.

But now we move on to the conference semifinals. Eight teams are now twelve hard-fought wins from the Stanley Cup. A look back at the first-round, and some more predictions for the round ahead:

Eastern Conference

1. No. 1 Washington Capitals (4-1) vs. No. 5 Tampa Bay Lightning (4-3): This week has been marked by an eerie lack of tension in Washington. The Capitals eliminated their first-round opponent, the New York Rangers, in just five games. For a team that hadn’t dispatched a playoff opponent in fewer than seven since the 1997-98 season, it’s a rare chance to rest, heal and look ahead to the second round.

It’s almost all positives — for now, at least. 22-year-old goalie Michal Neuvirth is coming off a stellar series in which he outdueled All-Star Henrik Lundqvist. The team is in rare form defensively, including the penalty kill.

On the other side of the table, fire up EA Sports’ “NHL 11” video game, or any iteration for several years now, and take a look at the game’s team ratings. One team has always been consistently better in the video game than in reality for many years, and that’s Tampa Bay — a collection of longtime stars and heralded rookies that represent enormous potential on paper.

This year, the Bolts are living up to that potential. 3-1 down to the Penguins, they stormed back in style, putting up eight goals on the road in Game 5 and shutting the Pens down in Game 6 before blanking them in Game 7. With Pittsburgh behind them, they have the leadership and the stamina to make a deep run.

Tampa will test the top-seeded Caps

— there are no easy matchups in the playoffs. But when everything’s right with Washington, they’re a supremely difficult team to beat, and that’s where the Caps are at right now.

Prediction: Capitals in six 2. No. 2 Philadelphia Flyers (4-3) vs. No. 3 Boston Bruins (4-3): The Flyers emerge from a tough sevengame series with the Buffalo Sabres in which they came back from 3-2 down to win in the decisive Game 7. Despite the victory, there’s not necessarily a lot to take away from this series momentum-wise.

The Flyers struggled with the lower-seeded see INSIDE NHL, page 19

The Tufts Daily

16

Sports

Thursday, April 28, 2011

After Tufts, turning pro the next step for the Jumbo who’s done it all BROWNE

the real moments I know I’m going to cherish from college tennis are what I experienced with my team because it’s something really special that a lot of people never get to experience.”

The memories will last forever, but the moment is quickly disappearing. In mid-June, Browne will move in with her younger sister in Atlanta to join the professional circuit. After a month of training, she’ll play in three $10,000 tournaments in Atlanta, Indiana and Missouri, hopefully working her way up to biggermoney events.

Aside from stories from her father and the occasional tournament played over break, Browne has been exposed to pro tennis in some of the most unlikely of circumstances. For the past five years, the Browne household has hosted Francesca Schiavone, the No. 4-ranked player in the world and 2010 French Open champion, or Nadia Petrova, a two-time French Open semifinalist, while they competed at the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows. Shy and star-struck at first, Julia quickly warmed up to the visiting pros, grilling them on their experiences, hitting with them on a few occasions and even playing some pingpong.

As she prepares to leave the team atmosphere she loves so dearly for a more individualized experience, Browne has few expectations for her journey, aside from continuing her biggest passion.

“It’s hard to put a number where I want to be ranked or anything like that, but I always joke with my dad that when he finished playing, he was ranked No. 500 in the world, so I’m going to play until I’m 499, then I’ll retire.”

Her teammates see a slightly different future.

“For her, there is no maximum,” Hoguet said.

continued from page 15

As Browne clinches the national title with a nifty backhand slice that skips on the line, she jogs to the net, hand extended for a handshake and hug to her friend. No dropping to her knees to thank the heavens — it’s just another day and another win.

“I don’t think it’s unique just to me, but I do think it’s rare,” she says. “I think that sometimes people get too caught up in being competitive or trying to gain an edge on their opponent that they don’t think they can be nice. Just because you say hello to someone at breakfast doesn’t mean they’re going to think any differently of you when you step on the court. I just don’t think the two are related.”

Get to know Browne off the court, and she becomes anything but silent and emotionless, always ready to pick someone up and lend a hand.

“She’s a rock star,” said Stewart, whose British accent makes it seem like she could very well be talking about The Beatles. “She really is, in every sense. If you asked me who would I be out of anybody in Division Three, in a heartbeat, in every respect, I would choose to be like her.”

Proof of her loyalty and dedication to the team is emblazoned in the 13 pieces of jewelry she wears, each with its own symbolic connection to those closest to her. The shamrock bracelet in aqua — her favorite color — from her parents; the championship ring; another ring, a present from Stewart; a brown and blue bracelet from junior Nathalie Schills; another bracelet from freshman Samantha Gann; one necklace from her grandparents; and the other from her best friend back home. And, of course, those trademarked earrings she wears on the court, a gift from McCooey.

“The teammates that I’ve had here are definitely going to be friends for life, and I think that’s really rare and special, and I would not trade that for anything,” she says.

‘Dad, I think I’ve peaked’ Perhaps this path to greatness was preordained. When Julia was two years old, her father suspended a tennis ball from the ceiling in the basement and bought her a plastic racket. At an age when most are learning to formulate sentences and walk down stairs, Julia Browne was busy hitting forehands.

Richard Browne always considered his oldest daughter to be a late bloomer, believing that she would continue getting better throughout college while others peaked in their late teens. The former professional tennis player and University of Wisconsin graduate was never the type to push his daughter onto the same path he blazed, so she only started taking lessons when she was 12 or 13. When she declared her intentions to play collegiate tennis, however, it became all tennis, all the time.

“She was angry at me, saying, ‘But dad, I want to be good now,’” Mr. Browne said. “I would tell her to go back and look at the top-ranked 14-and-unders and see how many of them are playing good tennis in college, and she realized that losing right now isn’t that important. In the end, she’s smiling now.”

Smile. It’s a world eternally linked to the girl with the golden hair and the golden grin. It seems to run in the family; her father’s enthusiasm radiates through the phone, slicing through the receiver as he recollects the genesis of his daughter’s success.

Virginia Bledsoe/Tufts Daily

The first thing you notice about Julia Browne is her smile, that wide grin that rarely shows up during matches but is commonplace with friends and family.

“Our experience together through tennis has been a gift,” he says, admittedly fighting back tears in the process. “The fact is we had tennis also as a vehicle through which to interact and get to know each other. A lot of times parents try to instill things in their children and teach them lessons in life, and the kids don’t want to hear it. I have to say that we’re both very lucky that she gravitated towards tennis.”

When Julia was 16, she lost a match to someone on the junior circuit whom she had previously beaten. A teary-eyed daughter approached her father and made a declaration.

“Dad, I think I’ve peaked. I think that’s as good as I’m going to get,” she said.

“I basically just laughed at her,” Mr. Browne recalls. “She got angry, and I told her that, no, I think there’s a lot more room, a lot more potential there.”

Flipping the switch Julia Browne has no offseason.

Or, to be more accurate, according to her father, she doesn’t understand the concept of an offseason. To wit, Mr. Browne remembers his daughter calling him at 9 p.m., following a full day of practices and classes, while she drives to hit with a local professional at a nearby club, just to get another hour of work in.

Cliches about “going the extra mile” pale in comparison; she goes the extra 40 minutes each way, just to play after dinner.

For the player whom coach Kate Bayard and former teammate and assistant coach Laura Hoguet (LA ’10) each indepen-

dently call the hardest worker they’ve ever seen, such is routine. Browne came to Tufts after being spurned by larger schools; Bucknell wasn’t confident she could make the lineup, and the Brown coach told her not to even bother applying.

Big mistake.

As Bayard sits in her office, she reflects on Browne’s career with a constant smile, almost in disbelief that she’s coached someone who, in every sense of the expression, has mastered the chase to perfection.

“She’s definitely someone who is rare, who stands out not just in terms of her accomplishments but overall as a person,” Bayard says. “She’s always practicing with a purpose, no matter what. She just has it innately in her; she’s always wanting to get whatever she can out of every moment on the court.”

Just like her national-caliber talents, so too is her attitude world-class. Fraternizing with the enemy is seen by some as a violation of the competitive spirit, but Browne views it as a necessity. She’ll strike up conversations with fellow NESCAC players, a trait learned from her father.

Browne’s ability to seamlessly transition between the intense, honed-in tennis player on the court and the kind, caring one the minute she walks beyond the service line is hardly lost on her teammates.

“The second she steps off the court, she’s this smiling little blonde girl … a regular college student,” Stewart says. “But during matches, it’s like a different

state of mind. She definitely has the ability to switch from one to the other. I think if she was like that off the court, she wouldn’t be surrounded by as many people or be as close to many people.

But because she’s able to have both sides, everyone loves her.”

Attaining 499 For all the individual achievements in her career, the one that Bayard calls the best in Tufts women’s tennis history, and the moment that stands out most in Browne’s mind, surrounds a match she lost. Not exactly a typical answer, especially given the NCAA title and 89-20 career singles record. Then again, Browne isn’t a typical teammate.

Her sophomore year at team regionals against Bowdoin, Browne succumbed to an arm cramp and fell in singles, leaving the Jumbos down 4-3 with Erica Miller (LA ’10) and McCooey remaining, each down a set and losing in the second.

“It’s hard to even put it into words, but they both ended up winning their matches in thirdset tiebreakers, and it was literally the most incredible team moment I have ever witnessed,” Browne says. “And then we all ran on the court. It was as if we had won the national championship, it was that emotional. It was just the epitome of what a team is really like.”

With her career at Tufts winding down, it’s the team moments that stand out the most for the player with the unsurpassed individual achievements.

“I wouldn’t trade any of the individual success I’ve had, but

Into the future The weather wholly unsuitable for tennis outdoors, Tufts’ April 19 home match with national No. 1 Amherst was moved inside into the Gantcher Center. On the near court at first singles, the slot in which Browne has taken up residence for the past four years, her opponent is getting frustrated and increasingly vocal. Browne, on the other hand, has no need to talk to herself or scream in anguish; her skills speak enough volumes this day and every day.

At one point, a siren goes off inside the gym, a shrill, ear-piercing fire alarm that turns heads of competitors and spectators alike.

But Browne is too busy to notice, too focused to care about the noise. She toes the line again, utterly honed in on the imminent task at hand. She’s on the verge of breaking her opponent’s serve in the first set.

On the sideline at the net sits McCooey. Together, they won consecutive doubles titles at the 2008 and 2009 ITA National Small College Championships, the program’s first two national championships, and they’re together again on their old indoor stomping grounds.

After dominating a first-set tiebreaker, Browne walks off the court, that legendary smile gradually widening with each step.

Reaching a seated McCooey, who holds her hand up in congratulations, the enthusiasm carries the moment too far — Browne whiffs on the high-five attempt.

No matter. Together, the old partners break into laughter, and Browne can, at least for the moment, rest easy.

Another set in the bag for the rock star who’s won so many already.

The Tufts Daily

Thursday, April 28, 2011

17

Sports

Jumbos, defending champ Browne prepare for post-season WOMEN’S TENNIS

continued from page 15

ultimately came out on top, winning the tiebreaker 10-7.

The match against Bates marked not only the end of the regular season for Tufts, but also the last home match for the seniors.

“I was definitely really sad when the match was over. I have had a lot of memories playing on these courts and for this team,” Browne said. “But I’m glad that we have a ways to go in the

season, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the team matches that we have.”

Tufts still has the NESCAC and NCAA championships to prepare for and look forward to, providing the team with another opportunity to play Williams or Amherst, the only conference teams that the Jumbos have fallen to.

The team sees yesterday’s win over Bates as a reminder of their capabilities and talents.

“We have a lot of confidence in our team. We’re playing a lot fresher, and

we’re heading into NESCACs really eager to get some wins,” Katz said.

Last spring, Browne won the NCAA Div. III championships in singles play, earning her the ranking as the No. 1 singles player in the nation. Having already achieved so much, Browne feels easygoing heading into the postseason.

“I feel the least amount of pressure I’ve ever felt [going into Nationals].

These are my last few college matches, and I just want to keep the season going as long as possible,” she said.

Andrew Morgenthaler/Tufts Daily

Freshman Shelci Bowman, here in a match earlier this season, won in three sets yesterday as Tufts routed Bates 9-0.

SCHEDULE | April 28 - May 4 Thurs

Fri

Sat

Sun

MON at Eastern Conn.

State 7 p.m.

Baseball

vs. Bowdoin 3 p.m.

vs. Bowdoin noon, 3 p.m.

Softball

at Trinity 4 p.m.

at Trinity noon, 2:30 p.m.

Men's Lacrosse

at Bowdoin 7 p.m.

NESCAC Qtr. Finals 1 p.m.

Women’s Lacrosse

vs. Bowdoin 3:30 p.m.

NESCAC Qtr. Finals TBD

TUE

WED at Wesleyan 3:30 p.m.

vs. Colby 11 a.m.

Scoring is easy.

Just trust the experts at THE SCORE. blogs.tuftsdaily.com/thescore the Daily sports department’s place for the latest info on all things sports

David McIntyre | The Beautiful Game

The debt explosion

W

ith the debate in Washington raging over the country’s rising debt and the effects of the Great Recession still being felt across the world, it’s not very surprising that some soccer clubs are getting into serious financial trouble. However, while governments of the world talk of bailouts and austerity plans, no such measures are coming to the soccer world, where debt has ballooned so large that it threatens to radically change the sport as we know it.

The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of clubs in Europe, from giants to minnows, are heavily, heavily indebted. Take the case of Real Madrid, one of the most successful clubs of all time: According to the club’s 2008-09 financial statements, it has $414 million in debt despite earning over $500 million a year in revenue. FC Barcelona, Real’s big rival, is even worse off, owing $648 million, and was forced to take a $214 million loan earlier this season to make sure it remained solvent.

How is this possible? Real Madrid and Barcelona are two of the most popular clubs in the world, generating hundreds of millions in jersey sales, broadcasting rights and sponsorship deals, on top of the ticket sales at their respective stadiums, which are two of the biggest in Europe. How did they get into such debt?

The answer is as simple as it is troubling: huge transfer fees and player salaries.

Despite the red ink on their balance books, Real Madrid and Barcelona both spent over $90 million on transfers last summer. Even as the debt piles higher, fiscal responsibility is almost a taboo at the big clubs, which feel that they always need to buy new players to remain successful. Their policy has become to spend money now and always put off the consequences.

That attitude does not only exist at the big clubs. For example, collectively, the 20 teams of the English Premier League have a debt of $4.45 billion. In La Liga, that figure is $4.65 billion. And overpaying for players in big money transfers isn’t the only problem: Clubs routinely spend close to all of their revenue on player salaries.

For example, Atlético Madrid, Sevilla and Valencia, all relatively successful and well-known Spanish clubs, spent more money on salaries than they took in in revenues over the course of the 2008-09 season. Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers both have wage bills that come within $1.5 million of revenues. I could go on and on with the examples, but it just paints a more depressing picture.

At this point, the majority of the clubs in the major leagues of Europe are facing serious financial trouble. Besides clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea that are run by tycoons with a seemingly endless supply of money, teams will have to undergo significant changes, in both attitude and economic model, to fix their fiscal problems.

Recognizing that fact, UEFA has instituted a “Financial Fair Play” system that will take effect by the 2012-13 season. In an effort to stop the reckless profligacy of most the major clubs, UEFA will ban from European competition any club that spends more than it takes in in revenues.

But this system has several loopholes that will undoubtedly be exploited by clubs, most prominent of which allows clubs to keep accruing debt after 2013 so long as their owner agrees to cover it.

In other words, clubs are going to keep spending themselves into the ground until a wave of financial collapses sweeps across the sport. And the signs of that meltdown are already spreading: Portsmouth went into bankruptcy last year, and Liverpool was within a few days of doing the same if John Henry had not intervened and bought the club.

Until clubs learn the lesson the hard way, and see the effects of their irresponsibility, they will keep on spending until they drive the whole system into the ground.

David McIntyre is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at David.McIntyre@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

18

Sports

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Jumbos show off skilled outfield and pitching but leave 10 of 15 runners stranded BASEBALL

continued from page 15

hits and no walks while striking out seven. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Donnell was credited with the win and is now 3-0 on the season. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wesleyan is an aggressive hitting team, so I was trying to get ahead of hitters and then keep them off-balance with my offspeed stuff,â&#x20AC;? Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Donnell said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you fall behind into fastball counts, they can really hurt you, but fortunately that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen too often.â&#x20AC;?

The seniorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; strong work enabled the Jumbos offense to build an early lead against the Cardinalsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; starter, freshman Chase Levi, who took the loss and fell to 1-2. Tufts plated two runs in the first and added another pair on the second, giving the pitching staff all the support it needed on a blustery afternoon at Huskins Field.

Senior centerfielder David Orlowitz collected two singles in the early going, driving in a run with each of them. Senior co-captain shortstop David LeResche helped both of the rallies along with singles of his own, and Wesleyanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defense â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which botched two cutoff plays and committed a throwing error on senior outfielder Chase Roseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s infield single â&#x20AC;&#x201D; did the rest.

Still, given all the base runners they earned, the Jumbos were disappointed in their inability to put the Cardinals in a bigger hole. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were able to put the pressure on them early by scoring runs in the first few innings,â&#x20AC;? junior Matt Collins, who raised his batting average to .330 with a 2-for-4 day, said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always nice to take an early lead, but we also missed several opportunities to score

Andrew Morgenthaler/ Tufts Daily

Senior centerfielder David Orlowitz leads the Jumbos with a .333 batting average after the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 5-1 win over Wesleyan on Tuesday. more in those early innings by leaving guys on base.â&#x20AC;?

The Jumbos stranded 10 of their 15 base runners on Tuesday and will need to improve on that ratio to extend their new three-game winning streak. They managed to push across an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning, when junior co-captain third baseman Sam Sager singled, stole second, advanced to third on a deep flyout by Rose and scored on an infield single

by Collins.

Freshmen Christian Sbily and Dean Lambert took over on the mound for the sev-

enth and eighth, respectively.

Both pitched well, though the Cardinals were able to break the shutout with an unearned run off Sbily. Senior Ed Bernstein pitched a scoreless ninth, with coach John Casey looking to keep his closerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arm fresh even though it was not a save situation.

The pitching staff benefited from a stellar performance by the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outfielders, who battled the wind to make numerous impressive catches on the run.

Orlowitz showed off his range in centerfield throughout the game, while senior leftfielder Ian Goldberg stole the show in

the eighth. Goldberg sprinted deep into the leftfield corner to steal what wouldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been a double away from Wesleyan junior Noah Feingold. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As a pitcher, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always a great feeling knowing you can attack the strike zone, because the guys behind you are going to take away one or two balls that should be hits every time,â&#x20AC;?

Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Donnell said.

The game ended on a foul pop-up near the home bleachers

by Wesleyan senior rightfielder Justin Freres. The ball swirled in a gust and gave Collins plenty of grief, but the Hopkinton, Mass., native came down with it in the

Tufts on-deck circle to secure the 5-1 win. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was just glad to have made the play and gotten the last out of the game,â&#x20AC;? Collins said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The last thing I wanted to do was to give a Wesleyan hitter another swing, so although it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t very pretty, I was happy to have ended the game.â&#x20AC;?

The Jumbos will next be in action this weekend, hosting the Bowdoin Polar Bears in a battle for the NESCAC East division title. First pitch on Friday will be at 3 p.m., and a doubleheader is scheduled to begin Saturday at noon on Huskins Field.

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t End the Semester With Theft!

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The Tufts Daily

Thursday, April 28, 2011 Housing

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All classifieds submitted by mail must be accompanied by a check. Classifieds are $15 per week or $4 per day with Tufts ID or $30 per week or $8 per day without. The Tufts Daily is not liable for any damages due to typographical errors or misprintings except the cost of the insertion, which is fully refundable. We reserve the right to refuse to print any classifieds which contain obscenity, are of an overly sexual nature or are used expressly to denigrate a person or group. Questions? Email business@tuftsdaily.com.

Canucks, Bruins squeak by; Caps, Wings rolling as conference semifinals approach INSIDE NHL

continued from page 15

Sabres, getting shut out twice and cycling through three — yes, three — goaltenders in the course of seven games.

But there are positives, too. Danny Briere has found his form as a clutch playoff performer. Captain Mike Richards escaped suspension by the league for a questionable hit, so there’s that. And after a scrappy series, an emphatic 5-2 Game 7 win is a confidence booster.

The Bruins escape from a hard-hitting series with Montreal that saw them drop the first two games at home. Montreal answered a Bruins Game 5 overtime win with a defensively solid Game 6 victory at home, forcing last night’s Game 7 win, again in overtime.

Tim Thomas has been solid and occasionally spectacular. The team has the necessary edge to it, too — Milan Lucic escaped suspension for a dirty hit that prompted his ejection, and Andrew Ference got fined $2,500 for giving an entire arena the finger during a goal celebration. Humor aside, the Bruins are showing they’ve got the right blend of agitation, toughness and offensive firepower to succeed.

It’s tough to have a whole lot of confidence in a Flyers team that limped into the playoffs and hasn’t picked it up since, so this is a tough call. The Bruins have superior goaltending, and that may be the difference.

Prediction: Bruins in six Western Conference 3. No. 1 Vancouver Canucks (4-3) vs. No. 5 Nashville Predators (4-2): The Vancouver Canucks have already experienced more playoff drama in their first-round series with the Chicago Blackhawks than many teams do in an entire playoff run. The Presidents’ Trophy-winning Canucks jumped out to a 3-0 series lead over the defending champion Blackhawks, to the surprise of relatively few. But then the Hawks surged back, winning three straight games in confidence-shattering fashion to force a Game 7 in Vancouver.

Thanks to a bit of Alex Burrows overtime magic, the Vancouver Canucks scraped out a 2-1 win even after Chicago captain Jonathan Toews’ miraculous shorthanded goal with less than two minutes left. With the series over, an entire city is breathing easier.

Nashville, by contrast, is unburdened by colossal expectations. The

MCT

Roberto Luongo hopes to keep the Canucks rolling deep into the NHL playoffs.

4. No. 2 San Jose Sharks (4-2) vs. No. 3 Detroit Red Wings (4-0): Vancouver wasn’t the only team that struggled in finishing off a lowerranked opponent. The Sharks battled the Anze Kopitar-less Kings for six games that saw multiple overtimes and the pulling of goaltender Antti Niemi from multiple games. Inconsistency — whether in net or the team as a whole — was the hallmark of the Sharks’ efforts, and it took an overtime Game 6 winner to pull the team through to the next round.

Conventional wisdom holds that these Red Wings, while talented as ever, are aging to a point that threat-

team is riding high after dispatching the Anaheim Ducks in six to notch their first playoff series win in franchise history. Norris Trophy-nominated defenseman Shea Weber and Vezina Trophynominated goaltender Pekka Rinne are holding together a solid, defensively minded corps of players that could give the Vancouver offense fits.

Vancouver may supposedly have its mojo back, but there are lingering doubts over goaltender Roberto Luongo’s mental toughness. If this series gets tough — and the Predators should make it so — expect a hard fight, but the Canucks are too talented to stop here.

Prediction: Canucks in six

ens their effectiveness in a playoff round. Conventional wisdom has so far been irrelevant, as the Wings swept the Coyotes with frightening efficiency. The second round will prove whether that result was due to the Wings’ might or an epic Phoenix collapse that started with goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.

This is a tough matchup for the Sharks, who are still looking to deliver on perennially high expectations. The veteran Wings have the advantage of rest, but this series will come down to which Sharks squad shows up. If it’s the “good” Sharks, they’ll pull it out. If not, expect a short series.

Prediction: Sharks in seven

StatISTICS | Standings Men's Lacrosse

Women's Lacrosse

(12-1, 8-0 NESCAC)

NESCAC OVERALL

Tufts Amherst Trinity Middlebury Wesleyan Colby Conn. College Bates Bowdoin Williams

W 8 7 6 5 4 3 3 2 1 1

L 0 1 2 3 4 5 5 6 7 7

W L 12 1 12 1 11 2 9 3 9 4 6 6 8 6 6 8 4 8 2 10

Individual Statistics G A P

D.J. Hessler Sean Kirwan Ryan Molloy Kevin McCormick Matt Witko Alec Bialosky Geordie Shafer Sam Diss Nick Rhodes Andrew Fiamengo Team Goaltending Patton Watkins Steven Foglietta

26 45 25 27 21 9 6 5 3 2 181 GA 57 52

37 1 17 7 10 5 3 4 3 2 98

63 46 42 34 31 14 9 9 6 4 279

Sv S% 99 .635 79 .603

NESCAC OVERALL

Trinity Bowdoin Colby Middlebury Tufts Amherst Bates Williams Conn. College Wesleyan

W 8 6 6 5 5 4 3 3 0 0

L 0 2 2 3 3 4 5 5 8 8

W 13 11 11 9 10 9 8 8 5 6

L 0 2 2 4 4 4 6 7 9 8

Individual Statistics G A P

Lara Kozin Casey Egan Kelly Hyland Kerry Eaton Steph Perez Gabby Horner Kaitlyn Leidl Mary Kate Gorman Eliza Halmo Sterling Champion Team Goaltending Sara Bloom Tess Shapanka

29 36 65 31 19 50 20 17 37 34 26 8 32 27 5 28 23 5 16 8 8 13 11 2 8 8 0 4 2 2 192 106 298

GA 102 22

Sv 60 28

S% .370 .560

East Tufts Bowdoin Trinity Bates Colby

W 9 7 5 2 0

L 0 1 7 7 8

T 1 0 0 0 0

W 20 19 16 13 10

L 5 7 14 14 17

West Amherst Middlebury Wesleyan Williams Hamilton

8 8 5 2 1

1 4 4 7 8

0 0 0 0 0

19 13 15 19 8

6 9 15 10 19

NESCAC

USILA Div. III Men’s Lax

Softball

Baseball

as of Apr. 25, 2011

(19-15, 6-2 NESCAC East)

(20-5-1, 9-0 NESCAC East)

(10-4, 5-3 NESCAC)

T 1 0 0 0 0

East Trinity Tufts Bowdoin Bates Colby

W 7 6 7 2 0

L 2 2 4 6 8

T 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0

West Middlebury Amherst Williams Wesleyan Hamilton

11 5 5 3 0

1 4 4 6 9

0 25 4 0 0 13 14 0 0 16 13 1 0 9 18 0 0 5 20 0

OVERALL

NESCAC

OVERALL

W 19 19 20 10 7

L 9 15 15 10 16

T 0 0 0 0 0

Individual Statistics AVG HR RBI

Individual Statistics AVG HR RBI

David Orlowitz Matt Collins Chase Rose Frank Petroskey Sam Sager David LeResche Eric Weikert Ian Goldberg Tom Howard

.333 .330 .315 .291 .290 .288 .274 .253 .221

2 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 0

18 21 23 8 23 9 12 13 7

Lena Cantone Emily Beinecke Jo Clair Lizzy Iuppa Mira Lieman-Sifry Izzie Santone Sara Hedtler Kayla Holland Chrissie Massrey

.458 0 .413 2 .396 15 .327 0 .323 0 .300 0 .271 0 .237 0 .214 1

Team

.279

7

146

Team

.304 18 157

Pitching Derek Miller Edward Bernstein

W L ERA SO 2 1 2.25 22 1 0 0.00 29

Pitching Izzie Santone Rebecca DiBiase

W L ERA SO 9 2 2.09 44 4 8 2.95 61

31 15 39 5 16 8 12 5 10

Ranking, team (No. 1 votes) 1. Salisbury (6) 2. RIT (6) 3. Tufts (2) 4. Stevenson 5. Cortland 6. Dickinson 7. Stevens 8. Roanoke 9. Amherst

IWLCA Div. III Women’s Lax as of Apr. 25, 2011

Ranking, team (No. 1 votes) 1. TCNJ (20) 2. Hamilton 3. Trinity (Conn.)

4. Cortland 5. Salisbury 6. Franklin & Marshall 7. Gettysburg 8. Colby 14. Tufts

NCBWA Div. III Baseball as of Apr. 24, 2011

Ranking, team (No. 1 votes) 1. Marietta (12) 2. Christopher Newport (11) 3. Shenandoah (1) 4. Kean (1) 5. Texas-Tyler 6. Linfield 7. Eastern Connecticut 8. Heidelberg 17. Tufts

20

The Tufts Daily

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Thursday, April 28, 2011