2011-12-08

Partly Sunny 46/28

THE TUFTS DAILY

TUFTSDAILY.COM

Thursday, December 8, 2011

VOLUME LXII, NUMBER 59

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Chaplaincy considers student concerns regarding Tufts Christian Fellowship/InterVarsity relationship, alleged discriminatory practices by

Brent Yarnell

Senior Staff Writer

University Chaplain David O’Leary is looking into the relationship between InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF) and its affiliated chapter, Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF), after students raised concerns that IVCF staff members wield undue influence over the student group and that both organizations conduct discriminatory practices.

O’Leary initiated a series of discussions with TCF and IVCF leaders after hearing student concerns about the groups’ relationship and discriminatory practices last month. O’Leary said he is now determining whether the concerns are valid, and given his plans to leave Tufts at the end of the semester, will brief his successor on the issue if a conclusion is not reached by the semester’s completion.

This process follows a Tufts Community Union (TCU) Judiciary complaint lodged by four students on Nov. 19, alleging that TCF’s constitution contradicts university policy by requiring that members of the Vision and Planning Team (VPT), its student leadership, uphold specified religious tenets.

The students rescinded the complaint lodged with the Judiciary two days later, opting instead to await the results of O’Leary’s inquiry and pursue their own discussions with TCF’s leadership before considering further action with the Judiciary, according to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community Representative Grainne Griffiths, one of the students who lodged the complaint with the Judiciary.

Such concerns are not entirely new; TCF gained national attention in 2000, when the Judiciary ruled that TCF and IVCF staff member Jody Chang had denied Julie Catalano (LA ’01) a leadership position on the basis of her sexual orientation.

Following a series of hearings, the Judiciary placed TCF on probation.

The Judiciary determined that TCF discriminated against Catalano because it held her to different standards from a heterosexual student, but held that university policy allowed student organizations to mandate that leaders hold certain beliefs so long as all students are held to an equal standard.

The group subsequently

Courtesy Wai Cheng

Tufts Christian Fellowship’s relationship with its parent organization is being looked into by the University Chaplaincy. adopted a new constitution that affirmed the university’s non-discrimination policy, implemented a more democratic leadership selection process and lessened IVCF’s influence on the group.

Concerns regarding discrimination in leadership selection Article IV of TCF’s constitution dictates that the group does not “discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, national

or ethnic origin, age, sexual orientation, disability or an individual’s previous affiliations in criteria for membership, assignment of votsee TCF, page 2

BU professor discusses ramifications of Arab Spring by

Patrick McGrath Daily Staff Writer

Boston University Professor of International Relations and Anthropology Augustus Richard Norton last night delivered a lecture on the Arab Spring, offering his assessment of the recent social and political changes in the region, as well as his prognosis for its future.

At the lecture, hosted by the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Norton discussed the unprecedented scale of labor protests, strikes and demonstrations that raged throughout the Arab world this past year. These movements gained momentum through the increased availability of both social media and WikiLeaks, he said.

“Inspiration for rebellion grew locally,” Norton said, adding that the toppling of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime was not a catalyst for the recent popular uprisings.

The protests were partially fueled by a widespread dissatisfaction with U.S. foreign policy and a desire to be free of foreign influence, according to Norton.

“Many people have negative views of the United States,” Norton said.

The United States’ longtime

Josh Berlinger/Tufts Daily

Boston University Professor of International Relations and Anthropology Augustus Richard Norton last night discussed the impacts of the Arab Spring. support of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak undermined the country’s popularity among Egyptians, Norton said, adding that the United States should have recognized that the former dictator would capitulate to popular demands. If the United States had recognized this earlier, Egypt’s per-

ception of the United States may not have been damaged or questioned in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, according to Norton.

Norton said he believes the United States needs to reconsider how it sees the region and should adopt a more grassroots approach to its foreign policy.

The radical growth and changing dynamics of political Islam in the Arab world has led many Islamist political parties to favor a democratic form of governance, as many believe it is in their best interest, he said.

“The mainstream among the Islamists is politically pragmatic,”

Norton said. “Once the political stage opens up, we shouldn’t be surprised to find divisions not just among secularists and nationalists, but among the Islamists as well,” Norton said.

He said that the nature of the elections and the development of constitutions in Tunisia and Egypt will be crucial to their future, stressing that a legitimate democratic process is necessary for long-term stability.

“Elections are products of a process of engineering,” Norton said. “Election design is very, very important.”

Norton said that the new political leaders in Tunisia and Egypt want their nations to prosper and join the modern world, but that old regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain who have resisted political reform are simply trying to clean up their acts.

Norton concluded his talk by emphasizing that changes in the region are still far from complete.

“We’re watching a region that’s in midst of a transformation,” he said.

This transformation, he added, could be threatened by forces such as the Egyptian military’s desire to remain invulnerable in the reworking of the constitution. “There’s still a lot of work to be done.”

correction The Dec. 7 article “Women’s club volleyball denied Tier II status” incorrectly stated that the women’s club volleyball team’s Tier II status request was denied. The request was in fact not denied, but put on hold until next semester. A correct version is available online at TuftsDaily.com.

Inside this issue

Today’s sections

The Daily offers a comprehensive crash course in Tufts’ student government.

The Arts Department highlights the top 11 movies, albums and TV shows of 2011.

see FEATURES, page 3

see WEEKENDER, page 8

News Features Weekender Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 10

Op-Ed Comics Sports Classifieds

11 12 13 14

The Tufts Daily

2

News

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Tufts researchers argue for restrictions on antibiotic use on food animals Researchers at the Tufts School of Medicine in October released a review study that urges the U.S. government to adopt stricter regulations on farmers’ use of non-therapeutic antibiotics on food animals and fish farming in order to reduce antibiotic resistance, according to a Nov. 15 Tufts Now press release.

The review study, published in the journal Clinical Microbiology Reviews, cites numerous recent studies illustrating animal-tohuman spread of antibioticresistant bacteria and argues for further restrictions on non-therapeutic antibiotics in animals used for food.

“Antibiotic resistance is rapidly making many of our precious antibiotics useless,” co-author of the study Stuart Levy, professor of molecular biology and microbiology and director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at the Tufts School of Medicine, said in an email to the Daily.

“Action is needed on all fronts … to help preserve the antibiotics that we currently have, because few new ones are appearing on the horizon,” he said.

In the study, Levy and coauthor Bonnie Marshall argue that antibiotic-fed farm animals become a “factory” for resistant bacteria, which can spread to humans through direct con-

tact or indirectly, through food, water and the use of animal waste in farming.

The potential spread of resistant bacteria to humans makes antibiotics aimed at food animals “societal drugs,” according to Levy.

“This body of research supports tighter regulation of antibiotic use in animals so as to safeguard and keep antibiotics effective in the treatment of human disease,” Levy said. “Research into alternative methods of rearing and treating animals to reduce disease and decrease the need for antibiotics is important.”

The study also dispels fears that further bans on antibiotic use will greatly increase the cost of farming, pointing to European countries such as Denmark that experienced only nominal increases in farming costs after banning the use of non-therapeutic antimicrobial agents on food animals.

Levy, who orchestrated the first study of antibiotic use on farm animals in 1976, noted that recently the Food and Drug Administration has tightened their restrictions on antibiotic use.

“This is definitely a step in the right direction, but is still a long way from the complete bans that were instituted in parts of Europe over a decade ago,” Levy said. “I am still

MCT

A study by Tufts researchers calls for the government to increase restrictions on non-therapeutic antibiotics in food animals. hopeful that tighter regulations will occur in this country as well, and that continuous lowdose treatment of animals will be eliminated entirely.”

While the study focuses primarily on the dangers of nontherapeutic antibiotic use in food

animals, it acknowledges that irresponsible antibiotic use among humans remains a major contributor to antibiotic resistance.

“There is no doubt that human misuse and overuse of antibiotics are large contributors to resistance, particularly in rela-

tion to bacteria associated with human infection,” the study states. “Interventions in medical settings and the community are clearly needed to preserve the efficacy of antibiotics.”

—by Stephanie Haven

University examines questions regarding influence of national group over TCF TCF

continued from page 1

ing privileges or rank.”

Article VI of TCF’s constitution requires that VPT members “advocate and conform their lives” to the group’s five-part Basis of Faith and also “abid[e] by and advocat[e] traditional evangelical Christian norms of personal behavior,” including, among other things, “sexual chastity.” TCF’s Basis of Faith, is identical to IVCF’s Doctrinal Basis, as IVCF’s document existed prior to October 2000.

Griffiths, a sophomore, said the leadership requirements regarding religious beliefs and practices enable discrimination based on sexual orientation because sexual chastity norms are applied unequally to straight and LGBT students.

“Chastity is interpreted differently for straight people and queer people, being that if you’re straight you can still be chaste and have a typical romantic relationship, holding hands and stuff, but if you’re LGBTQidentified, then no contact. You have to be celibate,” Griffiths said. “That shouldn’t be happening under a non-discrimination policy which protects sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.”

Junior Brandon Archambault, one of the four students who submitted the complaint to the Judiciary, believes that TCF’s leadership requirements go beyond preventing LGBT individuals from acquiring positions on the VPT, but also discriminate based on other characteristics and behaviors.

“The constitution allows for discrimination on the basis of religion, sexual chastity and culture,” he said. “[If TCF held elections,] say someone is a Christian dating a non-Christian: they wouldn’t be allowed to run for a position. Say someone is gay: They’re not allowed to run for a position.

Say someone does not adhere to a conservative Protestant theology or Catholic theology: They wouldn’t be allowed to run for anything.”

VPT Member Wai Cheng, a senior, acknowledged that TCF’s sexual chastity requirements would permit students to engage in heterosexual relationships, so long as they were not sexually active and were letting God lead the relationship, but not same-sex relationships, adding that the rule reflects TCF’s religious beliefs.

“You can date, but according to our beliefs, in a heterosexual relationship,” Cheng said.

“It is basically an expression of our views as a religious group.”

Alex Nesbeda (LA ’06), current team leader of the IVCF staff at Tufts, explained that

“sexual chastity” traditionally means that one’s sexuality is “directed by Christ,” adding that IVCF and TCF interpret Scripture to mean that God intends for people to enter lifetime, one-man-one-woman marriages.

“If there’s a student who is sleeping with someone, I don’t care who it is, they’re not actually living a sexually chaste lifestyle …

If there’s a student who is actively engaged in a homosexual relationship, that’s also not sexually chaste,” Nesbeda said.

Nesbeda distinguished between cases where students consciously disagree with an aspect of TCF’s Basis of Faith, and those in which a student’s struggle may inhibit them from living out the Basis of Faith in a way that leadership requires.

“The first question is, ‘can you in good conscience believe and advocate for … our statement of faith,’ and ‘are you seeking to the best of your abilities to live out your faith?’” Nesbeda said. “The issue becomes when somebody says, ‘Actually no, I don’t believe in what the group is about,’ and then I’m like, ‘Well then, why would you want to be a leader of this group?’”

Some students may need to decide whether their own personal struggles could inhibit them from successfully fulfilling a leadership position, she explained.

“For me my question for them is, ‘Given the fact that you’re struggling with this issue, is it actually helpful for you to be a leader?’ And those are the kinds of pastoral questions that I talk with students about, because when you’re a leader, leadership is about not only getting up front and leading a Bible study, but it’s actually about living out what it is that you’re inviting others to live out, so if that’s something that is really difficult for you, maybe this is a reason for you to really work through those issues and then come on leadership later,” Nesbeda said.

Nesbeda believes, however, that all students can choose to uphold the tenets of TCF’s Basis of Faith. She noted that an individual’s sexual orientation does not necessarily preclude them from obtaining a leadership position.

“There are many people who are celibate who say, ‘This is how I identify myself, this is an issue that I’m struggling with, but I’m choosing to actually believe something, the statement of belief, and I’m choosing to live a certain way,’” she said. “That’s more than fine.”

Cheng said the requirement that VPT members uphold TCF’s Basis of Faith is an important component of the group’s ability to promote its evangelical faith.

“The purpose that TCF plays is that we are evangelical and we are Christian, and we do create a space for people at Tufts to come and explore that viewpoint,” Cheng said.

“As the leadership who plans those events, being able to say that yes, you do adhere to these views is important for the club to exist on campus.”

Nesbeda considers a group’s ability to define leadership qualifications necessary to protect religious freedom, as religious organizations need to have leaders who uphold their respective faiths.

“If we want to have a diverse community on campus, are we actually creating space for students with more conservative religious beliefs?” Nesbeda said. “If you take away norms for leadership you’re actually asking students to compromise the integrity of their faith.”

Questions about the IVCF/TCF relationship Griffiths also raised concerns that IVCF wields an inappropriate level of influence over TCF. Advisers to student religious groups at Tufts are prohibited from exerting a controlling influence, which could include directing the expenditure of TCU funds or selecting student leadership, O’Leary said.

“Chaplains, my chaplains, do not control their own religious groups. So I guess the question is, how much less should non-Tufts people be controlling a student group?”

O’Leary said. “If you look at the 2000 ruling, this was made clear.”

TCF voluntarily affiliates with IVCF and in turn receives IVCF resources, including IVCF staff members on campus as well as a framework, personalized leadership development and pastoral care, according to Nesbeda.

TCF’s constitution stipulates that IVCF staff members may attend meetings and advise the group’s members and leaders, but do not vote in TCF decisions, do not speak for the group in an official capacity, do not enter into binding agreements on behalf of the group and their participation in TCF is subject to the VPT’s approval. There are currently six IVCF staff members working with TCF, three of whom graduated from Tufts in the past five years.

Cheng described the relationship between IVCF and TCF as a partnership in which IVCF staff members provide valuable guidance, but VPT members make all final decisions.

“We do have our meetings, and they’re there for that,” Cheng said. “The Vision and Planning Team makes the decisions, but

they do advise us.”

“It’s obviously good to just have people to go to who have been here for several years to come and give us advice about the events that we are planning,” Cheng said. “With the Bible studies and stuff, it always helps to have someone more experienced looking over it.”

Griffiths raised concerns that IVCF staff members exert undue influence over TCF’s leadership selection process, whereby the VPT drafts a slate of candidates from an initial pool of applicants and then submits that slate for approval by more than 50 percent of TCF’s membership.

She expressed worries that IVCF unduly influences the selection of the slate, a process during which the VPT consults other TCF members and also IVCF staff members.

Cheng said the selection process started for him last spring when he submitted an application to the VPT and subsequently met with a VPT student leader and also with members of the IVCF staff to learn more about the position.

Initial conversations with applicants cover a broad range of topics, including the group’s statement of faith as well as whether the applicant is willing and capable of upholding the group’s ideals, Nesbeda said.

“Generally [VPT has] people go through the statement of faith as well, to what extent is this something that you can believe and advocate for, something that you’re about … the different lifestyle questions that come up in the behavioral norms section of this is what it means to live out your faith,” Nesbeda said.

Afterward, the VPT deliberates among itself and with IVCF staff before the VPT makes its final decision, she explained.

“The student leaders and the staff will talk through what are the issues that have come up for people, what are some things that may be helpful to have another conversation about because different people have thought about these issues differently,” Nesbeda said. “I provide advice and council, but I do not vote at the end of the day.”

Cheng said that such a thorough leadership selection process is warranted for TCF, because members of the VPT are not elected individually and act as a team. Therefore, it is important to ensure that they can work well together.

Cheng also said the leadership selection process for lower-level positions, such as leaders of small group Bible studies, is similar to that for the VPT.

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about the TCU Senate but were afraid to ask

Chelsea Stevens | Loud Noises

The end

Aside from presidential elections — and unless students are responsible for organizing the recognition or funding for a club — it’s easy to go through four years on the Hill without letting the branches of the Tufts Community Union student government enter the average Jumbo’s consciousness. Love them or hate them, though, knowing the branches of the TCU student government could come in handy, so listen up.

E

—by Victoria Rathsmill

Virginia Bledsoe/Tufts Daily

The Senate With 34 members, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate is the largest branch of the student government. The Senate has three main jobs: to allocate the Student Activity Fee, to act as a representative for the students to the administration and to lobby for projects on behalf of the undergraduate community.

Meetings Senate meetings are open to the entire student body, and are typically held on Sundays at 7 p.m. in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room. A standard meeting begins with reports from each of the members of the Senate Executive Board, informing the entire body of important news from the past week. In some meetings, the Senate casts votes on resolutions or on disbursements of the Student Activity Fee. Additionally, there is always a section called “Public Forum,” in which any student can voice their opinion to the Senate.

Important Facets of the Senate The Treasury: Every member of the undergraduate community pays $296 for the Student Activity Fee. The job of the Treasury is to allocate the approximately $1.4 million dollars in the annual Student Activity Fee budget to the over 150 TCU-funded groups on campus. The nine-member ALBO is an important committee of the Senate, headed by the Treasurer, which makes recommendations to the Senate regarding the funding for student groups.

Budgeting for student groups occurs in the spring, and during this time ALBO meets regularly with members from all TCU-funded student groups to determine a suitable budget.

Resolutions: A resolution is a piece of legislation that is discussed and voted on by the Senate. A resolution expresses the will of the Senate, states support for a project or calls for a change. Anybody can submit a resolution by contacting the Parliamentarian. Recent resolutions include the approval for the creation of an Africana Studies major, a call for increased web security and a revamped sexual assault policy.

Constitution and Bylaws: The TCU constitution outlines the structure of the TCU government. It sets up the institutions within the TCU, including the Senate, Judiciary and ECOM. In contrast, the bylaws, which are voted on every year by members of the Senate, establish the specific procedures by which the Senate functions. For example, the constitution mandates that the executive board must have specific positions, while the bylaws outline how many office hours the members of the Executive Board must have every week.

They also submit a report on the results of each conference. BILC conferences are meetings of Executive Board members of student governments in schools in the Boston area.

Committees within the Senate Administration and Policy (A&P) The six-member A&P Committee works toward significant improvements to campus, provides funding for extensive undertakings and deals with administrative policy changes.

Projects that the A&P Committee has recently worked on and continues to work on include restructuring the housing lottery and increasing key card access in dorms.

Culture, Ethnicity and Community Affairs (CECA) Chaired by the Diversity and Community Affairs Officer, the fivemember CECA committee attends to issues of diversity on campus and represents the interests of Tufts within Medford, Somerville and Massachusetts. Recent focuses of the CECA have been on improving the Women’s Studies program and increasing accessibility for handicapped students on campus.

Education The four-member Education Committee works with the office of the Provost, works to reform education policies at Tufts and aids in making tenure recommendations. Recent projects have included advocating for the creation of an Africana studies department and for revision of registration procedures.

Services The five-member Ser vices Committee works with the Office of Residential Life, the Office of Campus Life and Dining Services to improve the quality of life for students at Tufts. The Services Committee provides the shuttle to Logan Airport and South Station during Thanksgiving and spring breaks. Ongoing projects include expanding the number of businesses that use JumboCash and possibly reintroducing a Boston bus shuttle.

Student Outreach Chaired by the Senate Historian,

this five-member committee works to facilitate connections between the Senate and the rest of the Tufts community. Projects of the Student Outreach Committee include creating the annual Senate Survey to measure student feedback on the Senate and running the Leadership Dinner every fall.

Community Reps All TCU-recognized student organizations or Group of Six culture centers can petition to elect a Community Representative to reprsent their views and interest on the Senate. After a referendum was passed last year in a student body vote, community reps can also vote, with the same weight as senators, on all Senate affairs, including financial matters. They also sit on CECA and can also serve on other committees. This semster, three community representatives have served for the Asian American, Latino and LGBT communities.

Trustee Reps The role of the Trustee Representatives is to represent the Senate to the Board of Trustees. There are three Trustee Representatives, and each member works with one of the three different subcommittees on the Board. The representative to the Academic Affairs Committee consults with the Board on matters including curriculum, student affairs and faculty. The representative to the Administration and Finance Committee deals with budgets, investments and other financial matters.

The representative to the University Advancement Committee works with issues including public relations, fundraising and alumni relations.

BILC Reps The two Boston Intercollegiate Leadership Council (BILC) representatives help organize and ensure that a representative of the Senate attends BILC conferences.

The Judiciary The Tufts Community Union Judiciary has two main responsibilities. First, the Judiciary handles student clubs. In the fall, students present new or existing club ideas to the members of the Judiciary, and the body decides whether

to officially recognize them as a group.

In the spring the Judiciary does rerecognition to ensure that the clubs are still active. The second responsibility of the Judiciary is to adjudicate disputes within the student government.

The Elections Commission The Elections Commission (ECOM) is responsible for overseeing all elections within the TCU, including the election of members to the Senate, and internal elections. They promote

elections, make sure that candidates are following the agreed-upon rules, and ensure all of the candidates have the means to run a successful campaign.

xactly two weeks and 25 minutes from the moment I am banging out this last column — Dec. 20, 6 p.m., for those of you who aren’t reading over my shoulder — I’ll be passing in my last final paper and packing up for a relaxing winter break of family, friends and skiing. I am quite literally giddy with anticipation for the opportunity to put my brain on power-save mode and render physiological processes such as breathing, eating and maintaining homeostasis the most cognitively demanding tasks that I need to tackle for a month. Hallelujah, mazel tov and happy f---ing New Year to that.

But unfortunately, before that can happen, the amount of work I need to do is somewhere between hilarious and painful. Let’s face it: juggling two challenging final papers and two exams while defending a winning streak in Words With Friends is mentally exhausting. The countless weekends spent — note: not wasted — playing Bananagrams, rollerblading the Freedom Trail and generally doing nothing are finally catching up to me in the worst of ways. And now it’s crunch time.

Anyway, enough about finals. For lack of any great test-taking wisdom to impart, I guess I’ll wrap up with this: a quick list of what I’ve learned this semester.

Facebook statuses about how you pulled a really sweet all-nighter and made the deadline just in time don’t make you look cool.

Talking about going to the gym happens approximately twice as often as going to the gym, and this discrepancy increases the farther you live from said gym.

It’s almost impossible to submit a column for the Daily on time.

At 5 a.m. in the fall, the entire campus is covered in sprinklers.

An uphiller dating a downhiller constitutes a long-distance relationship.

The changing colored lights in Hotung cause weird hallucinations when the viewer is overtired.

In each class there will be one kid who always insists on interjecting annoying comments whenever the professor stops talking. Everyone else in the class dreams of punching this kid.

Sometimes the bananas in Dewick are small and perfect. And sometimes they are disgustingly, hilariously, frighteningly large.

I’m convinced that at least 10 people from my freshman floor transferred, dropped out or disappeared. This is a common side effect of sophomore year.

The thrill of trick-turning a cake from Hodgdon plummets after September of freshman year.

Going to Health Service for even the most minor ailment always results in a horrifyingly exorbitant bill.

You know your professor is a great lecturer if attendance on a class day is over 80 percent of attendance on an exam day.

No matter how long you’ve been waiting outside a dorm, as soon as you call a friend to let you in, some rando will come first.

No one is judging you if you sit in the dining hall alone on a weekday.

However, if you sit alone taking up a big table in the library during finals week, everyone will judge you and possibly hurt you.

You can walk in late and undetected to any lecture class unless it’s in Braker 001, because the door is in the front.

Exactly zero people care about anything written on Dabbut.com.

While the weeks seem to drag on forever, the years are flying by. Let’s enjoy them while we can.

Chelsea Stevens is a sophomore majoring in psychology. She can be reached at Chelsea.Stevens@tufts.edu.

4

The Tufts Daily

Features

Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Executive Board President (Tomas Garcia, senior) The primary job of the president of the Tufts Community Union is to represent the interests of the student body to the administration. Often, the TCU president is the only student in a room full of administrators. The president also presides over all of the meetings of the Senate, and is responsible for carrying out the TCU Constitution and for setting an agenda for the Senate.

Vice President (Wyatt Cadley, junior) The role of the vice president is to oversee all of the Senate initiatives, which are the projects of the various Senate committees. The vice president convenes a standing committee of all of the chairs of the committees, which oversees the implementation of all projects, and facilitates collaboration between the committees. The vice president also appoints senators to committees.

Treasurer (Christie Maciejewski, sophomore) The treasurer is chiefly responsible for financial matters regarding the allocation of the Student Activity Fee to TCU-recognized groups. The Treasurer is also the chair of the Allocations Board (ALBO).

Associate Treasurers (Ard Ardalan, junior, Matthew Roy, freshman) The role of the Associate Treasurer is to assist the Treasurer in fulfilling his or her duties.

Parliamentarian (John Peter Kaytrosh, senior) The role of the Parliamentarian is to act as an authority within the Senate on its constitution and bylaws — the procedures governing Senate. The Parliamentarian is also the Senate’s representation to the TCU Judiciary, and acts as an adviser to students who wish to draft resolutions.

Historian (Joe Donenfeld, sophomore) In addition to being the chair of the Student Outreach Committee, the historian serves as a link between the student media and the Senate. The historian also documents and publishes all of the public actions of the Senate.

Diversity and Community Affairs (DCA) Officer ( Joseph Thibodeau, sophomore) The DCA Officer is a brand new position that was created this year.

The responsibility of the DCA Officer is to represent the student body to the Senate on issues regarding diversity and community affairs.

virginia bledsoe/tufts daily

Weekender

5

tuftsdaily.com

Arts & Living

Tufts Art Gallery hosts innovative student theses Mixed media and complex themes dominate exhibit by

William Owen

Daily Staff Writer

The Tufts University Art Gallery is hosting the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) Thesis Exhibition from Dec. 1-18,

MFA Thesis Exhibition At the Tisch Gallery through December 18 Aidekman Arts Center 40 Talbot Ave. Medford, MA 02155 617-627-3518 and the exhibit is definitely worth a visit.

Four of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s artists, seniors Jane Alund, Youjin Kim, Jonathan Larkin and Katrina Neumann have their thesis projects featured in the gallery. Each artist has a highly distinct style, so wandering the gallery is a fun way to get a taste of all the art presented.

Kim proves her mastery of Penrose tiling in her thesis piece, “Penrose” (2011).

Penrose tiling is a mathematic pattern of non-periodic tiling, which can be found in some examples of medieval Islamic art. Kim says that “Penrose” reflects her multicultural experiences living in Saudi Arabia, Korea and the United States, as well as the tense relationship between the natural world and humanity.

“Penrose” is a mixed media piece using Douglas fir wood, rice paper and wire. The wood bench area indicates architecture, while the rice-paper back support represents a structure of the natural world. It is a gorgeous piece and reminds viewers of nature’s hegemony over humanity.

The rice paper looks like a massive yet beautiful fungus overtaking the wood bench. The irregular shape of the ricepaper back support represents the disorder of nature, which trumps the sterile, geometric bench. Penrose reminds us that no matter how much we like to think otherwise, the unpredictability of nature will always reign over our calculated and

contrived world.

In Alund’s “Portrait of My Beloved: An MFA Thesis Exhibition,” she studies the cost of growing up by examining the objects of our childhood, which she calls “lovies.” Lovies include stuffed animals and blankets that provide children the comfort they need to feel secure. Alund gathered forgotten lovies from dusty shelves, childhood beds and boxes in attics and basements for her miniature oil-paint portraits. Each oil painting comes with a relic of the original lovie — a thread, a fiber or a tag — encased in glass on a small black pillow.

Alund’s ability to capture the haunting nature of each abandoned lovie is incredible. The expressions on their faces are longing for love from those who no longer need them. “Portrait of My Beloved” deals with a fascinating and often unexplored subject matter: the beloved items people leave behind as they grow up.

Larkin’s “Above and Beyond: Hors de Combat” is an interactive piece that challenges what he calls “the traditional logic of the military video game.” His exhibit is set up like the living room of a typical gamer, with nondescript furniture and a fancy flat-screen television on a shelf.

Poker chips, a half-opened laptop, action movies, video games, a retro Nintendo console and a PlayStation are on the shelf opposite the couch. A video game, “Above and Beyond,” is set to play on the PlayStation, and as an interactive piece, the observer is supposed to play.

When I started playing, I immediately became engrossed in the dueling game.

However, I eventually looked around me and realized how strangely violent “Above and Beyond” was, particularly given the environment in which I was playing it.

Perhaps the intent of the piece is to make you question the glorification of violence in video games by placing that violence in an unusual context. Either way, it is a thought-provoking and interesting addition to the exhibit.

Neumann’s “Pri Blan” is perhaps the most prominent piece in the exhibit. The title of her exhibition is Haitian Creole for “Price of the White” and reflects its explo-

Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Jane Alund’s ‘lovies’ remind viewers of childhoods past. ration of the concept of the travel memoir.

“Pri Blan” uses mixed media, including projections of a tropical landscape on the gallery’s walls and a large drywall cube in the center of the room. The walls of the cube are destroyed, with large holes poked through and rubble littered around the floor. Pieces of the damaged wall are screwed back on in no apparent order. The interior of the drywall cube has wallpaper of the same tropical landscape scene found on the walls.

“Pri Blan” is a striking study of how many relate to their travel experiences.

Neumann describes her piece as a confrontation of “chromophobia,” or fear of colors. It is as though travel experiences are placed in an unstable cube that does not reflect the true indigenous culture or identity of the destination. It is an edgy and challenging piece to understand, making it all the more interesting and innovative.

Tufts students should absolutely plan a visit to the MFA Thesis Exhibition. The art on display reflects the talent and creativity of our very own student body and will only be at the gallery for a short period.

Restaurant Review

Lesley offers a mecca of Asian restaurants

Cheap prices throughout the mini-mall give Porter Exchange a leg up

by Samuel

Kelly

Contributing Writer

Porter Square is only the T stop between Davis and Harvard. However, Porter

University Hall 1815 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02140 $ Square provides a wealth of dining and shopping options that you can’t find anywhere else in the Boston area. One of these great opportunities is University Hall, a hidden mini-mall owned by Lesley University.

The Porter Exchange, as it’s also called, hosts a plethora of stores along with an awesome food court filled with small, independent Japanese eateries that appeal to students and residents beyond the Japanese community. Unlike a traditional food court, each of the eateries at Porter Exchange is like a mini-storefront with just a few seats inside. There’s quite a variety in the dining options in

ashley seenauth/Tufts Daily

Porter Exchange offers decent Asian cuisine at very affordable prices.

University Hall, ranging from ramen houses to sushi bars to Japanese bakeries.

The first restaurant that I tried was Sapporo Ramen.

Like many of the other ramen houses in the mall, the decor is sparse with a few posters of Japanese art on the walls. If anything, the place is a little grungy. On the up side, the ramen noodles that you can find at these restaurants are very different from the dried, pre-packaged variety that most college students are familiar

with. These noodles can come with roast pork, miso paste, curry seasonings, mung bean sprouts, corn, scallions and many more options. I decided on the spicy miso ramen and cold green tea.

After a few minutes, the waiter brought over an enormous bowl of soup. On top of a bed of noodles was a large portion of spicy ground pork, fresh scallions, corn and mung bean spouts surrounded by a salty, miso-infused broth. The ramen was very flavorful, and the pork

had a spicy, peppery flavor that wasn’t too overwhelming. The broth was rather salty, but some of the fresh ingredients helped subdue the briny flavor. At first, the diversity of toppings made the soup interesting, but after discovering all of the accompaniments in the first initial bites, it became monotonous and the huge amount of soup began to seem unnecessary.

Sapporo was definitely the busiest shop in the food court, and at just over $10 for a huge bowl of ramen and a cup of tea, Sapporo is at the very least a serious bargain.

The next place I tried out was Masa’s Sushi Bar. Masa’s has the distinction of being the only place in University Hall that serves sushi. I ordered a spicy tuna roll and was relatively impressed. I was initially a little concerned about the prospect of eating raw fish in a food court, but the sushi was well-crafted and the fish was fresh. The best part about my experience at Masa’s was definitely the price. Like most of the restaurants in the Porter Exchange, Masa is well within a college student’s budget.

Finally, after sampling the sushi and the ramen, I decided

that I had to try something from the final group of Asian restaurants in the mall: those with traditional hot entrees.

I sat down at ChoCho’s, just across the way from Sapporo.

ChoCho’s is one of the few locations in Porter Exchange that actually serves Korean, not Japanese, cuisine. I decided to get the chicken teriyaki bento box. Along with the chicken, the combo included rice, a salad, shrimp shumai, vegetable dumplings and miso soup, which proved to be passable, though similar fare is likely available at a number of different locations closer to campus.

What distinguished this meal special was, once again, the price. This entire meal along with a Thai iced tea came in at around $13.

The ambience in Porter Exchange is definitely interesting. The patrons are a mix of foodies seeking authentic Japanese food and locals craving the food they grew up with.

It’s a cool opportunity to have decent food at awesome prices, although none of the food is extraordinary. Still, the experience and the prices are enough to make this a great stop for Tufts students.

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Top 11 of 2011 | Best Movies compiled by

deeply psychological, taut film that looks at the end of the world through the eyes of a chronically depressed bride (Kirsten Dunst) and her immediate family. Despite the grim topic, the phenomenal imagery and rich characterizations in “Melancholia” make it one of the most striking films in recent years.

Daily Arts Department

1. “Moneyball”: The crowning achievement of the year so far is “Moneyball,” Bennett Miller’s adaptation of Michael Lewis’ 2003 book, “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.” The film follows former Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) as he takes an unorthodox approach to recruiting and drafting talent. Charismatic performances by Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman make this film a must-see, even for students whose favorite sport is Quidditch.

9. “Midnight in Paris”: Director Woody Allen explores his inner-Francophile in this sweet Parisian dramedy. The film, starring Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams, is perfect for art fanatics and English majors alike. As Wilson is transported into a 1920s artist salon, we are gifted with spot-on performances by Adrien Brody as Salvador Dalí, Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway and Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein, the eccentric mother of creative expression. Overall, “Midnight in Paris” is an optimistic and fantastical depiction of following your dreams and creating your own golden age.

2. “Drive”: Simplistic, modernistic and extremely intense, “Drive” is the year’s most pleasant surprise. Adding another notch in Ryan Gosling’s acting belt, the film is a fast-paced and gory showcase of its stars’ visceral talents. Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn accents the film with an off-putting Europop soundtrack that heightens the tension. For a thrill ride in a stylish muscle car with Gosling at the helm, catch “Drive” before the season’s up.

3. “Hugo”: Academy-Award-winning director Martin Scorsese took on light-hearted, kid-friendly “Hugo” to impressive ends. A take on the popular children’s novel, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” (2007) by Brian Selznick, this poignant 3-D adventure offers something for audiences of all ages.

Starring the precocious young talent Asa Butterfield, “Hugo” tells the tale of an orphaned boy living in a train station in Paris and follows his quest to find the heart-shaped key that he hopes will unlock a secret from his father.

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swarming around the film, and there’s a chance that “The Descendants” will take home the Big Kahuna for Best Picture.

5. “The Artist”: Directed by French director Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist” takes as its backdrop Hollywood of late ‘20s and early ‘30s. It follows the life of a declining male film star and rising female actress, focusing on an era of transition when silent films were slowly being replaced with talkies. Shot as a meticulous silent film in black and white, “The Artist” manages to convey

ladies of “Saturday Night Live” seem to know that catfights make for perfect comedic fodder. Taking cues from Tina Fey’s “Mean Girls” (2004), Wiig and Maya Rudolph uproariously depict a sad fact: Catty high school drama never truly dies.

7. “Win Win”: One of the most poignant and heart-warming stories to come out of the indie scene in recent years, “Win Win” follows the life of attorney and highschool wrestling coach, Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti). Struggling to make ends

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4. “The Descendants”: From the creator of “Sideways” (2004) and “About Schmidt” (2002), “The Descendants” proves that director Alexander Payne has an incredible knack for quirky dramedies. “The Descendants” follows George Clooney, a father of two young girls grappling with life after a terrible boating accident leaves his wife in a coma. Based on the 2007 novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, “The Descendants” shows that living in Hawaii isn’t always just sunshine and mai tais by the beach. Since the film hit the festival circuit, Oscar buzz has been

both a profound respect and remarkably faithful tribute to the golden age of cinema, all while offering relatable characters and an engaging watch.

6. “Bridesmaids”: Hands-down one of the best comedies of the year, “Bridesmaids” reveals the dark side of wedding politics, complete with hilarious drama, backstabbing and hair-pulling. Funnyman producer Judd Apatow and first-time writers Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig don’t hold back any punches in this battle of the bridesmaids. The leading

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10. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was a childhood staple, and as great as Tufts may be, there isn’t anyone who wouldn’t hop the next train to Hogwarts.

Who needs Natty Light when we could be drinking butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks? Why play hockey when we could be playing Quidditch?

What is a lecture on the History of Rock and Roll when we could be studying the History of Magic and casting spells in Charms class? The final installment of the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2” marked the end of an era.

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meet for his family, Flaherty’s life gains new meaning when he encounters Kyle Timmons (Alex Shaffer), a troubled teen.

Anchored by strong performances from the delightfully depressing Giamatti, newcomer Shaffer and hilariously blunt Bobby Cannavale, “Win Win” is a roller coaster of emotion.

8. “Melancholia”: Lars von Trier’s latest is one of the most unique apocalyptic films ever made. Trier turns Jerry Bruckheimer-esque genre expectations on their heads by delivering a

11. “The Tree of Life”: “The Tree of Life” centers on a boy growing up in the 1950s and how a devastating loss has shaped his adult life. Focusing on heavy themes of loss, innocence and love, the film moves slowly, cutting in abstract images of space, the big bang theory and awe-inspiring nature. Director Terrence Malick’s bold statement that films are for more than passive escapism sparked polarizing discussions about film across the world, making “The Tree of Life” a much less forgettable endeavor than the majority of popular flicks.

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Top 11 of 2011 | Best TV Shows compiled by

Daily Arts Department

1. “Parks and Recreation”: Ratings ain’t nothing but a number, especially for a show as genuine and funny as “Parks and Recreation,” or “Parks and Rec” to those in the know. Though character development hasn’t been an issue for “Parks and Rec” since its wobbly first season, it’s become a particular strength in the show’s fourth.

As Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) campaigns for mayor, she and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) juggle affairs of the head and heart, adding a sincere feel to their once contrived-feeling relationship. Meanwhile, “Parks and Rec” offers deeper portraits of ever-awesome Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), failed entertainment company co-owner Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) and resident health nut Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe), while still keeping things light with the pitch-perfect comedy of April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) and Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt). With such a stellar cast and lovably goofy moments, “Parks and Rec” has us voting Knope 2012.

2. “Breaking Bad”: The transformation of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) from a quiet chemistry teacher to a hardened methamphetamine cook has taken place over four compelling seasons. “Breaking Bad” is one of TV’s most interesting shows because it subverts one of the tenets of syndicated TV: to keep character identities stable. While Bart Simpson will always be Bart Simpson and Tony Soprano will always be Tony Soprano, “Breaking Bad” studies the metamorphosis of Walter White.

Cranston’s phenomenal performance makes White believable and compelling.

3. “Game of Thrones”: Now gearing up for its second season, “Game of Thrones” continues to combine brooding natural scenery with steamy layers of subplots.

Astonishingly modern for a medieval fantasy series, “Game of Thrones” breathes life into an era too often left to “Lord of the

Rings” and “Merlin” (1998) for interpretation. The perfect mix of scandal, humor and mystery, “Game of Thrones” continues to surprise and impress.

4. “Community”: “Community” has such a phenomenal ensemble cast that any one of its actors could carry the entire show alone.

The series has some of the wittiest oneliners, cleverest plots and most heartfelt moments on the small screen. It is the kind of show that isn’t afraid to be bold, daring and original. Its only flaw is that no one is watching — probably for the same mysterious reason no one watched “Arrested Development” (2003-2006) either.

5. “Louie”: In the depressing reality of modern society, nothing is funnier than laughing at another’s trivial misfortunes. “Louie,” the black comedy brainchild of stand-up visionary Louis C.K., shows what happens when single parents cannot acquire a Prozac prescription. The show is an introspective look at life as a middle-age stand-up comedian searching for meaning and humor in a seemingly insignificant existence. C.K. writers, directs and stars in each episode, many of which feature cameos from other popular comedians. The series offers a fascinating and funny change of pace.

6. “Homeland”: Think of “Homeland” as an anti-”24” (2001-2010). The series examines the psychological demand dealing with terrorism has on CIA operatives and the nation as a whole. Claire Danes gives one of her strongest performances on this show; she and the series keep viewers guessing from scene to scene. It is a show that is hard to stop watching and even harder to stop talking about.

7. “The League”: Incredibly raunchy and crude, “The League” is the quintessential frat-boy comedy. Six close friends in the same, extremely competitive fantasy foot-

alized in a way that’s extremely rewarding for regular viewers. Even those tuning in for a first episode are sure to be stunned by the show’s smartly scripted legal and family drama and its likable and comfortingly imperfect characters. Bonus points for Alan Cummings’ portrayal of Eli Gold, who recalls “Entourage’s” (2004-2011) Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) — except we actually like Eli. 9. “Sons of Anarchy”: After many considered its third-season trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland, a major misstep, turning the protagonists into pawns in a larger scheme, season four brought the gang — rather, club — back to Charming and smaller, more intimate stakes. Of course, on “Sons,” smaller stakes mean deals with a Mexican cartel and the Real IRA, but for the most part, the main characters were back in control, and the show was better off for it.

Courtesy Helen Sloan/hbo

ball league provide raucous debauchery.

With such a shoddy premise, viewers never expected FX’s late-night comedy to make it to a third season, but “The League” is as hysterical as ever. Most episodes feature gut-busting cameos from actors like Sarah Silverman, Will Forte and Ray Liotta, and athletes often appear as themselves (Sidney Rice and Maurice Jones-Drew appeared in the season’s premiere). Thus, “The League” does not limit itself to a football-loving fanbase, but delivers perverted comedy everyone can enjoy.

8. “The Good Wife”: It’s a credit to “The Good Wife’s” talented cast that the Emmy-winning Julianna Margulies doesn’t carry this stellar legal procedural alone. As old plot arcs and characters reconvene in its third season, “The Good Wife” becomes increasingly seri-

10. “Justified”: Gritty, dark and nuanced, “Justified” translates a decidedly Western story to into a TV series with surprising ease.

Based on Elmore Leonard’s short story “Fire in the Hole,” “Justified” tells the story of United States Marshal Raylan Givens after he is transferred back to Harlan, Ky, in the wake of a high-profile shooting. Now in its third season, “Justified” has already proven itself to be a classic as it tackles complex characters with ease and with more adrenaline than “Pulp Fiction” (1994).

11. “Boardwalk Empire”: When a show is created by a former “Sopranos” writer and its pilot is directed by Martin Scorsese, it’s going to have a lot of hype to contend with.

Fortunately, “Boardwalk Empire” has been able to live up to its promise with slowburning plot lines and detailed character insights. High production values make this show an aesthetically pleasing watch, but at the same time, “Boardwalk” is an extremely thoughtful character study. It’s a rare and rewarding mix.

Top 11 of 2011 | Best Albums compiled by Daily Arts Department

most renowned talents had an immense amount of pre-release hype. Kanye and Jay-Z saw that and decided to surpass expectations with a lyrically masterful, emotionally biting album.

Masterfully balanced, the album includes tracks ranging from the solemn, brooding “No Church in the Wild” to the infectious “Otis.” Also, it’s worth trying to catch the “Watch the Throne” tour, if you’re able.

1. “Bon Iver,” Bon Iver: Last year, Bon Iver helped Kanye West create one of the best albums of 2010. This year, Bon Iver claims the title for itself. With haunting falsetto vocals and an atmospheric musical sound that borrows from folk, rock, pop and alternative sounds, Bon Iver’s songs are beautiful in their frank portrayals of memories and emotional pain. Each track was crafted with care and intensity rarely seen in the music industry. It’s a classic record that is sure to launch the recently Grammy-nominated Bon Iver into the homes and hearts of many new fans.

2. “James Blake,” James Blake: Newcomer James Blake is already reinventing the electronic scene with his self-titled debut album. Its cohesive mix of soul, dubstep, ambient and gospel feels excitingly like a genre unto itself. Blake’s heartfelt vocals and his masterful use of minimal electronic elements create a passionate, striking album that opens up new possibilities for musicians in the future. Though Blake’s career is just off the ground, his is one of the most promising in today’s music scene.

3. “Biophilia,” Björk: No stranger to experimentation, Björk has been making headlines since the ’70s with her antics and bold new approaches to music making. On her eighth studio album, 2011’s “Biophilia,” Björk took a particularly innovative approach by releasing her songs as a series of iPhone apps. In addition to releasing a collection of partially completed songs that can be edited and added to, Björk transformed her songs into games, including one about a romance between a

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cell and a virus. As Björk continues her unconventional musical adventures, open-minded audiences have little choice but to listen, interpret and possibly save a cell from viral lysing.

4. “21,” Adele: Adele’s voice alone could make almost any record worth listening to. What makes “21” stand out even more — and helped make it the year’s top-selling album — is its fusion of soul, R&B, Motown and pop sounds to create music that is both invigorating and timeless.

The songs all swell with emotion and honesty, and they have the potential to engage everyone from students to seniors. There’s a reason “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” are two of this year’s biggest hit songs.

5. “Watch the Throne,” Jay-Z and Kanye West: This collaboration between two of the rap game’s

6. “Born This Way,” Lady GaGa: With the release of her second album, “Born this Way,” Lady GaGa reconfirmed to her loyal posse of little monsters that big is back and there’s no such thing as too many sequins. Debatable cover art aside, there is just something irreplaceably wonderful about GaGa and her perpetual lack of inhibition. From her infectiously catchy beats to her sky-high Alexander McQueen heels, nothing is sacred to the new queen of pop. She’s a “free b---h,” Baby, and we could really use more of that.

7. “King of Limbs,” Radiohead: “King of Limbs” was one of the biggest surprises of the year.

Fans expecting another “In Rainbows” (2007) were baffled by the new album’s sound, which juxtaposes Radiohead’s classic, ethereal soundscapes with jarring rhythms and minimalistic electronica. While “King of Limbs” is one of the band’s least accessible records, it rewards multiple listens more than most of their albums do, giving the listener a fulfilling experience once they have acclimated to the group’s new aesthetic.

8. “Wasting Light,” Foo Fighters: The heavy, powerful riffs characteristic of the Foo Fighters return once again on the band’s seventh

studio album, “Wasting Light.”

Frontman Dave Grohl’s harsh, raspy vocals meld miraculously with the repetitive basslines, pummeling listeners with headshaking, crowd-moshing soul.

This unique sound propelled the first two singles off the album, “Rope” and “Walk,” to the top of the rock charts. Plus, when he’s not rocking out as hard as anyone in the post-grunge hemisphere, Grohl finds time to make cameo appearances in films like “The Muppets” (2011).

9. “Goblin,” Tyler the Creator: Tyler the Creator’s newest release crafts an album around a conversation between Tyler’s Goblin/Tyler persona and his therapist alter-ego, who serves as a commentator and conscience throughout the album. The album has received criticism for its highly graphic and misogynistic material, but the insertion of a conscience into its narrative drive allows the transgressive to be progressive. Either way, the cameos, eclectic production and material in “Goblin” merit more than a cursory listen.

10. “Cults,” Cults: Cults debuted their first album in June, quickly catching on as the hit summer soundtrack for hipsters and indie folk alike. Their light and dreamy track, “Go Outside,” preceded the self-titled album on the Web and allowed for a decent dose of hype to grow before its full release. Switching between sing-along tracks and more heartfelt “screw you” jams, the album is anything but formulaic. The sentiments are youthful, the sound is catchy and the lyrics are relatable — and all without becoming forgettable mainstream pop.

11. “Thursday” and “House of Balloons,” The Weeknd: The fact that an unknown act can release two free mix-tapes in one year — and that these records can both become two of the most acclaimed and downloaded albums of the year — pays testament to The Weeknd’s enormous talent. With smooth, falsetto vocals and unpredictable and atmospheric productions, The Weeknd’s sound is unlike anything else today and unlikely to be replicated anytime soon.

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THE TUFTS DAILY Carter W. Rogers Editor-in-Chief

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Editorial | Letters

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Editorial

If allegations are true, TCF should be de-recognized

Several students last month filed a complaint with the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Judiciary against the Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF), alleging that the group’s practices for selecting its leaders violate the university’s non-discrimination policy. Students have also complained that the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF), the national organization of which TCF is an affiliated chapter, exerts undue influence over TCF and that the TCF relies too heavily on the IVCF for resources and support.

University Chaplain David O’Leary is looking into the matter. The students have rescinded their complaint until the completion of O’Leary’s investigation, at which time they may consider further action.

The complaint alleged that IVCF is too involved in the selection of TCF student leaders. TCF’s Vision and Planning Team (VPT) deliberates with IVCF staff members before selecting new student leaders, according to Wai Cheng, a senior and current VPT member.

Most troublingly, the complaint alleges that one criterion by which leadership applicants are judged is their adherence to “traditional evangelical Christian norms of personal behavior.” Cheng and Alex Nesbeda (LA ’06), team leader of

the IVCF staff at Tufts, acknowledged that based on that standard, students are allowed to engage in heterosexual relationships as long they don’t engage in premarital sex, but homosexual relationships are not permitted under any circumstance.

This practice undoubtedly violates Tufts’ anti-discrimination policy, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. If the Judiciary hears the case and finds the allegations against TCF to be true, we urge the Judiciary to revoke TCF’s funding and strip it of its status as a university-recognized organization.

The heavy-handed involvement of IVCF in TCF affairs is itself indicative of TCF’s questionable commitment to upholding the university’s anti-discrimination policy.

IVCF regularly publishes books by religious zealots masquerading as scientific experts that, among other absurd arguments, advocate treating homosexuality as a psychological disorder through psychotherapy and suggest that the inherent “maladaptiveness” of homosexuality is responsible for higher rates of depression and suicide among gays.

It’s difficult to fathom how TCF could comport itself in the spirit of the antidiscrimination policy if it leans so heavily on an organization so committed to

delegitimizing the LGBT community.

Moreover, we firmly believe that TCF’s policies for selecting its leaders constitute discrimination against the LGBT community. The university is rightly committed to upholding the rights of all students, regardless of sexual orientation, to participate equally in university activities.

Requiring that LGBT students essentially suppress their sexuality in order to participate fully in group activities flies in the face of that commitment.

This is not the first allegation of discrimination to come up against the TCF. In 2000, TCF made national headlines after the Judiciary determined that the group had denied a student a leadership position based on her sexual orientation.

Despite new language in TCF’s constitution affirming the university’s non-discrimination policy, the group’s disturbing practices for selecting its leaders do not appear to have changed.

We fully support the constitutional right of Tufts students to form a group that requires its leaders to adhere to evangelical Christian tenets of behavior.

However, the university is under no obligation to fund or sponsor such a group, and it should not do so if the group’s conduct is as flatly discriminatory as the complaints against TCF have alleged.

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Off the Hill | University of Connecticut

The rules of sleeping in beds by

BUSINESS Laura Moreno Executive Business Director Christine Busaba Advertising Director Saanya Gulati Receivables Manager P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

Holly Battaglia The Daily Campus

Sharing a bed with another person can reveal aspects of his or her life that would otherwise remain a mystery. It is the best way to find out if someone snores, sleeps with a stuffed koala or cannot control his or her bladder. It is also the only reliable way to determine the compatibility of your cuddling styles. In this article, I will outline the rules of co-ed sleepovers with a new person: 1) Look all around the room for hidden clues.

Does this person have any types of absurd shrines? Have they created an effigy of you upon which they cast spells?

Are they hoarding McDonald’s cups on their desk? Do they use a giant tub of protein powder as a doorstop? Be like Sherlock Holmes and piece together any evidence indicating that your crush is a loon. Decide at this point whether you are actually going to take them up on the invitation for a slumber party. I would

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.

like to say that most people aren’t nuts, but that would be a lie. It’s best if you can find out early on.

2) Don’t pack an overnight bag.

This makes you look presumptuous and desperate. Remember, you’re sleeping over someone’s place for the first time, not moving in. If you are really concerned about hygiene, just bring a toothbrush with you and steal some of their toothpaste.

3) Don’t sleep for a million hours.

I made this mistake this past weekend. At 1:30 p.m., my crush finally told me to wake up because he had to drive me home. I overheard his roommates talking about people “getting too comfortable” and could only assume they were referring to my lethargy. The lesson I learned from this is to wake up in a timely fashion and don’t loll around while your bed date is going about his or her daily tasks. This makes you look lazy and hung over.

4) Don’t preemptively remove your pants.

Pants are optional. Just know the

repercussions of removing them. “You have to know what you want before you take off your pants,” says seventhsemester undecided major and self-proclaimed “woo girl” Erica Zane. Taking off your pants sends a message that you are “DTF.” If that is not the case, then make your intentions clear. Also, don’t “surprise” your bed partner by getting fully nude and hiding under the covers, otherwise known as the “naked man” technique. While funny at times, it’s mostly just crude.

5) Don’t look really awful upon awakening.

If I plan on sleeping in someone else’s bed, I aim to wear less makeup than usual. Skipping the full-frontal smoky eye ensures that I won’t be mistaken for a Ke$ha come daybreak. If you have a ton of eyeliner and eye shadow on before sleeping in a dude’s bed, try really hard to wash it all off before you go to sleep. You will be glad when you wake up. If you are a guy and you don’t wear makeup, you will probably look exactly the same the next day and don’t have to worry about this.

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

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Op-Ed

The statue decision in context by

Angad Bagai | A Whole New World

Wyatt Cadley and Joseph Donenfeld

“How dare the [Tufts Community Union] TCU Senate spend $25,000 on a statue?”

This is a question that we’re sure is on the mind of many Tufts students right about now. While we, as the authors of this op-ed, do not have the authority to formally explain why the Senate as an entity voted the way that it did to fund the statue, we think that this campus deserves to know a little bit more background information about this proposal.

On Sunday night, representatives from the Senate’s Administration and Policy Committee — led by Senior Nathan Beaton — presented a surplus grant application seeking funds to build a statue of Charles Tufts. The sponsors of this request presented a series of arguments outlining a vision of how such a statue could benefit the Tufts campus. Some of the proposed benefits included: general campus beautification, an increase in school pride, paying homage to our progressive founder who sought to put “a light on this Hill,” the potential to generate additional donations from alums and as a way to leave an everlasting mark on this campus.

There was not universal acknowledgement on the Senate that such benefits would actually come to fruition, and many members of the Senate — and many members from the public who also attended the meeting — presented their own list of grievances about the project; this list included grievances such as: the project’s exorbitant price, its inability to promote school spirit, a bad use of the Student Activity Fee and the project’s failure to take into account the demands of the larger undergraduate student population.

While we acknowledge that there are many passionate supporters on either side of the aisle on this particular issue — we, as the co-authors of this op-ed, actually did not vote together on this matter; Wyatt voted in favor of $25,000 for the statue, while Joe voted in favor of $0 for the statue in the initial vote — we are not writing this op-ed to rehash some sort of debate. Rather, we want to explain and identify the opportunity cost of this proposal.

As many of you may know, the TCU receives almost all of its money from the Student Activity Fee. This is money that is earmarked on your Tufts bill to be spent on undergraduate student activities — for example, Tufts Dance Collective dances, Spring Fling, club meetings and so forth. However, at the end of fiscal year 2011 (in the Spring of 2011, fiscal year ’11) our treasury found out that there were dozens of student groups who failed to spend all the money previously allocated in their groups’ fiscal-year budgets.

In some cases, groups did not even spend 50 percent of the money allocated to them.

The ultimate consequence of the TCU coming in under budget in fiscal year 2011 was that the TCU had a significant surplus for fiscal year 2012. Over this past summer, our TCU Treasurer, sophomore Christie Maciejewski, developed a system that would allow student groups to have ample opportunity to access a roughly $450,000 surplus. This year, student groups have had the opportunity to apply for buffer funding, event grants and surplus grants. We have funded a variety of incredible campus programs and initiatives — for example, increasing the talent total for Spring Fling and buying a boxed van for JumboCast, and we look forward to seeing what student groups propose in the second semester.

However, at around 11 p.m. on Sunday night, when Senate first heard the statue request, there was still a significant amount of money available in the TCU surplus. The sponsors

Defying gravity…

S

wikimedia commons

of the statue application had agreed to move their proposal to the end of the Senate’s nightly agenda; and this was done so that the Senate could address the needs of all other student groups before making a decision regarding the statue.

Let us be as clear as we can: No student group was denied funding on the basis that money should instead be reserved for the statue.

Given the Senate’s recent budgeting history, most senators in the room recognized that if the money were not going to be allocated to the statue, then said money would not be allocated for student activities at all in this current fiscal year. Furthermore, many senators speculated that this money would likely go unspent even next year or the year after that. Many senators, including the two of us coauthoring this op-ed, recognized that the opportunity cost of the statue was two to three years in the future.

There is money that is going to be left unspent at the end of this fiscal year, and in turn that unspent money will rollover into next year’s surplus, and this money will remain unspent because the Senate will likely not hear enough student budget proposals that pass a very low standard of acceptability. Senate has no desire to create a year-to-year “slush fund” or deny worthy student groups money to program. However, without adequate demand from student groups, this money will likely remain unspent.

Make no mistake about it: The TCU is over-budgeted, and that is a serious problem. Thankfully, this year’s TCU Treasury has already committed to addressing this issue and will be instituting a series of reforms during the fiscal-year-2012 budgeting process.

While students are certainly entitled to their opinions on this contentious

issue, we hope that this can clarify some of the misperceptions floating around in our community. Instead of the debate being framed in the context of current activities versus statue; senators were instead asking questions such as: “should we be spending the Classes of 2011 and 2012’s money after they graduate” and “should we be using the Student Activity Fee to fund something which is inherently not an activity.”

We as Jumbos are all incredibly active and passionate students. We attend a university that leaves the allocating of the entire Student Activity Fee to students; we have a unique opportunity to think outside the box and see how far each dollar can go!

Does the thought of the TCU Senate doling out cash frighten you? Come to a meeting! Your voice will be heard.

Disappointed you cannot participate in voting? Feel like your opinions are underrepresented? Run for Senate!

The majority of Senate ran unopposed last year. In our eyes that is unacceptable. We are given incredible opportunities at this school and we have a responsibility to take full advantage.

Become inspired, collaborate and let’s help each other make our school the best it can be.

As always if you have questions or concerns about this issue or any other issue involving the TCU Senate, we encourage you to reach out to us personally or email tcusenate@tufts.edu.

Thank you for your time and we wish you nothing but success entering the final stretch of the first semester.

Wyatt Cadley is a junior who is majoring in economics and political science, and he is the TCU vice president. Joseph Donenfeld is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major, and he is the TCU historian.

tereotype: A fixed, commonly held notion or image of a person or group, based on an oversimplification of some observed or imagined trait of behavior or appearance.

Stereotypes exist everywhere. Whether it is through portrayals in social media or just the ideas one group holds of another different group. Certain groups of people based on their ethnicity or religion are going to be stereotyped for whatever reason.

Growing up in India, a country where most young people are expected to be doctors, engineers or go into some area of management, the fact that I’ve always wanted to be a writer has more often than not lent itself to comment on my “obviously being an underachiever.” “An art type” is the general stereotyping. Coming to Tufts, I was hoping to get away from the stereotype. The fact that I am Indian should not signify to others that I am an oddball for wanting to write instead of aspiring to an Indian Institute of Technology or an Indian Institute of Management.

Stereotyping ignores the uniqueness of an individual by painting all members of a group with the same brush. In a way, it can be good. If you’re Southeast Asian, it’s assumed you’re also ridiculously smart when it comes to mathematics or sciences. This may very well be true for a lot of Southeast Asians, but it does make it tough for those who are interested in history or anthropology. An article on Buzzle.com lists racial stereotypes that exist in the modern day, usually due to how such groups are portrayed in social media: “People of Hispanic origin do not have a good command over English and more often than not, are not fluent in the language” for one, and “Jews are often stereotyped as a community of greedy misers who refuse to part with the money that they make.” Another stereotype regarding Indians — “portrayed as a country of elephants, snake charmers, extreme poverty, pestilence and two million gods.” None of the above is necessarily true, but for many around the world, this is how these various groups are perceived.

Now, when you come to college abroad, of course there will be a large quota of international students — it is the case at any university in the United States. So given all these stereotypes, it would be all too easy to simply profile all Indians as coming from a country of “extreme poverty” or all Hispanics as people who have no “command over English.”

But in the last few months, what I’ve found here at Tufts is that this is definitely not the case. Perhaps it is because Tufts is a school where so many people are focused on international relations. People are conscious to avoid any kind of political incorrectness. That is one possible interpretation.

However, what I like to think is that Tufts as a school in general just fosters a culture of being interested and accepting of other cultures, as opposed to scorning them based on the already existing stereotypes.

When you tell people that you’re Indian and that Hinduism does feature a number of different gods, people of other cultures and religions are eager to learn more about each of them (even though chances are you won’t be able to name more than 10 yourself!). When you tell people that you’re Chinese and are interested in political science, nobody is going to look at you any differently, questioning why you’re not pursuing engineering. People at Tufts are just eager to learn more and be more open and nonjudgmental regarding what they don’t know. In the last four months, that’s probably what has struck me about Tufts the most — the accepting, harmonious nature of this great academic institution.

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

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, December 8, 2011

Doonesbury

Crossword

by

Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

Tuesday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Pulling your fourth consecutive all-nighter

Late Night at the Daily Wednesday’s Solution

Carter: “Sorry I didn’t pick up earlier. I just love listening to the Six Flags theme music.”

Please recycle this Daily.

by

Wiley

Sports

13

tuftsdaily.com

PROFILE

Women’s Basketball

Kwame lights the Jumbos’ fire by

Matt Berger

Daily Editorial Board

Since the beginning of his high school basketball career, Tufts point guard Kwame Firempong has often played in the shadow of others. Now, though, the sophomore has come into his own. He is gaining experience as the starting point guard and defensive leader for the men’s basketball team, which itself is emerging as a top team in the NESCAC. State champions It’s extremely rare for future college basketball players to be overlooked on their high school teams.

At Windward School in Los Angeles, however, Firempong started alongside four future Div. I players at one of the top programs in Southern California.

“My first two years, we were sort of building our program, our name and our reputation around the city,” Firempong said. “But by my junior year, we came into the season with a lot of expectations. We had a lot of talent and a couple big-name players on our team, so we set our goals pretty high for that year.”

After losing a few games early in the campaign, Windward responded with 19 straight wins to finish the season 29-6 overall. In the Division V state championship final against perennial powerhouse St. Joseph Notre Dame, the Wildcats out-rebounded St. Joseph, 37-20, en route to a 69-53 win and their first-ever California crown.

“It was pretty special for a small private school to win a state championship,” Firempong said. “It was definitely my most memorable sports moment in high school.”

That season, Firempong played with center Anthony Stover, guard see PROFILE, page 15

Jumbos take care of business in rout of Lions

The women’s basketball team is in the midst of a dominant stretch, during by

Zachey Kliger

Senior Staff Writer

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL (0-0 NESCAC, 6-2 Overall) Cousens Gym, Tuesday Emerson 15 Tufts 44

17 — 32 27 — 71

which it has routinely routed non-conference foes.

That trend continued at Cousens Gym on Tuesday night when the Jumbos trounced the Emerson Lions in convincing fashion, 71-32 for their sixth straight victory.

After getting off to a slow start, the Jumbos broke the game open with a 31-4 run in the final 12 minutes of the first half. Freshman guard Hannah Foley led a balanced scoring attack with six points in the opening frame. As a team, the Jumbos out-rebounded the Lions 27-12 in the first 20 minutes, boxing out their foes on both ends of the floor.

The Jumbos carried that momentum into the second half, extending their lead to 61-21 before head coach Carla Berube pulled her starters for good.

“We never want to come out of a game,” senior forward Kate Barnosky said.

“It’s definitely nice to get a rest, though, and get other players out there who

Alex Dennett/Tufts Daily

Sophomore guard Caitlin McClure notched a season-high six steals, and also tallied seven points and four assists in the win over Emerson. maybe don’t see as much playing time.”

When it was all said and done, junior guard Bre Dufault led the team in scoring with 14 points. Foley added eight rebounds, while

sophomore guard Caitlin McClure tallied a seasonhigh six steals. Junior forward Olivia DiNucci was the Lions’ high-scorer on see WOMEN’S B-BALL, page 14

Men’s Basketball

Tufts fails overtime test against Plymouth State David McIntyre

Coming off a New England Big 4 Challenge title over the weekend, the men’s basketball team was looking to maintain that momenby

Daily Editorial Board

MEN’S BASKETBALL (0-0 NESCAC, 6-2 Overall) Cousens Gym, Tuesday Plymouth State Tufts

40 29 10 — 79 35 34 4 — 73

tum in its penultimate game before Winter Break. But the Plymouth State Panthers had other ideas, handing the Jumbos their second overtime loss of the year and downing Tufts for the third consecutive season.

Unlike last year’s matchup, which featured an 18-point comeback by the Panthers, this game was tight throughout and featured a thrilling end to regulation.

A notable storyline in the first half was the absence of sophomore point guard Kwame Firempong, who was a key factor in Tufts’ success over the weekend, scoring 32 points over two games. Firempong was taking an exam, and Panthers sophomore guard Petey Skevas took full advantage, constantly slashing into the middle of the court and pushing the ball in transition to finish the half with 10 see MEN’S BASKETBALL, page 15

Alex Dennett/Tufts Daily

Senior forward Alex Orchowski logged an impressive double-double in his 33 minutes on the court, collecting a game-high 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Ben Kochman | The Wackness

The last punch

A

nyone watching a National Hockey League game has around a 50 percent chance of watching a bareknuckle fight break out, with the referees looking on and thousands of screaming fans giving a standing ovation.

I’m not telling you anything new if you at least casually follow hockey in North America. Though fighting is banned in collegiate leagues, youth programs and international play, on hockey’s biggest stage, the brawling is glorified. A fight earns a player five minutes in the penalty box, but the effect is negated by the other team’s player getting the same fate.

NHL teams employ “enforcers,” valued not for their stickhandling or skating but purely for their ability to intimidate opponents.

Such a player, who often would never get the chance to live out his childhood dreams otherwise, can earn millions of dollars per year in this role. A handful of concussions and some lost teeth are nothing in comparison to playing the game you love in front of adoring fans every night, right? Right?

You can probably guess where this is going. This weak-chinned columnist is going to excessively moralize about those hockey brutes and chastise fans for cheering on such blatant unsportsmanship. Aren’t athletes supposed to be role models? Think of the children! By gosh, if their heroes are brawling, they’ll start fighting too!

But that’s not me. If I ever run into Bob Costas, who went on a rant two weeks ago against the spirit of NFL touchdown dances, I’ll stop in my tracks, do the Jared Allen sack dance, rip a mock sword out of my pocket and mince the air in front of my face.

But the situation with hockey fighting is different. First off, NHL fighting is incredibly sportsmanlike, as bizarre as that sounds.

There’s an etiquette to it. Often, one player tugs on the jersey of another, and if the other agrees to fight the game grinds to a halt.

Referees hover, ready to break up the fight if the action stalls or one player falls to the ice. The gloves come off, and sometimes the players skillfully — and sort of intimately — nudge one another’s helmets off before the fists start flying.

Fans love the enforcers, and for good reason — they’re brave, underdog gladiators duking it out, spilling blood and teeth on the ice. Enforcers are the manliest in a sport filled with manly men. They are awesome, and watching them fight — like you haven’t already put “good hockey fight” into YouTube? — is incredible.

Before this week I supported fighting in the NHL, mostly from the perspective of a willfully ignorant fan. But after reading the full story of Derek Boogaard in this week’s New York Times (it’s in three parts, but easily worth the hour or so of reading), I’ve been convinced that someone needs to step in and stop the bleeding. Boogaard overdosed on painkillers in his Minneapolis apartment in May, at 28, in the prime of his enforcer career. Doctors analyzing Boogaard found chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is closely related to Alzheimer’s and caused by repeated blows to the head, in his brain. And Boogaard isn’t the only former enforcer with the disease.

Fighting isn’t “ruining the game” or anything cliche like that. Fighting is part of hockey, and it has been since the sport’s inception. All parties involved want to keep fighting in the game, at least according to an interview the Times did with Commissioner Gary Bettman, who thinks research on deceased hockey players’ brains is too preliminary for action.

But this is the same full-contact league in which players weren’t required to wear helmets until 1979. Until the rules are changed, enforcers will sign up for the punishment, and fans will have to choose: Do we cheer or wince?

Ben Kochman is a junior majoring in English. He can be reached on Twitter @ benkochman or at bkoch.tufts@gmail. com.

The Tufts Daily

14 Wanted

Sports

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$$ SPERM DONORS WANTED $$ Earn up to $1,200/month and give the gift of family through California Cryobank’s donor program.

Convenient Cambridge location.

Apply online: SPERMBANK.com

Admin/Assistant Clerk Needed.

Responsibilities include taking messages, preparing reports. Must be dependable, hard working, and self motivating. Inquiring applicants should reply to rullmanjoboffer@hotmail.com. classifieds policy All Tufts students must submit classifieds in person, prepaid with check, money order or exact cash only.

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Football

Gunnell brings pro experience, diversity to the staff

The black and white Reeboks are the only holdover from the past. Every other part of Rich Gunnell is squarely embedded in the future.

The football team’s assistant defensive line coach still wears the cleats he donned at Boston College — where he broke the Eagles’ all-time receiving record — to practice at Tufts, but they’re really the only physical reminder of Gunnell’s once-dominant days on the playing field.

Otherwise, he’s put aside days of burning ACC defensive backs in favor of pursuing a NESCAC coaching career.

“Once I was released from Kansas City, I still wanted to be around the game, so I figured there’s no better way than to coach,” said Gunnell, who signed with the Chiefs in 2010 before being released just prior to the regular season. “My whole career, people told me I would probably be a coach some day because of my knowledge of the game. Just being around a team is what I missed most about football, and coaching is definitely the best way to keep that going.” by

Alex Prewitt

Daily Editorial Board

On a tight-knit Jumbos coaching staff, Gunnell has found a home. During his days at Boston College, Gunnell played under current Tufts head coach Jay Civetti and finished with 2,459 career receiving yards, surpassing Pete Mitchell’s mark set in 1994.

After Civetti left to become the wide receivers coach at North Carolina State, he and Gunnell stayed in touch until they ran into each other at a summer camp at BC. Gunnell expressed interest in coaching, and Civetti brought his former wideout on as a defensive line coach, a position that’s drawn a few laughs from Gunnell’s friends but could pave the way for bigger jobs down the road.

“He’s always been a part of offense, and for his development as a coach, if you know both sides of the ball it adds more to your credentials,” Civetti said. “Rich has the opportunity to be a fantastic coach at any level, whatever he chooses to be right for him. I was giving him an opportunity to learn both sides of the ball, and given his intelligence and everything I knew about, I was confident that he’d succeed.”

Jumbos to host Bridgewater State on Saturday afternoon WOMEN’s B-BALL

Gunnell’s players have quickly taken to him, frequently asking questions about his days catching passes from Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan or his ephemeral stint in the NFL. And then there’s that ubiquitous video, the 14-second clip with over 87,000 views of Gunnell having a few choice words with former Notre Dame star Jimmy Clausen. It’s been brought up more than a few times among fellow Jumbos, but Gunnell has shrugged it off. After playing football for nearly two decades, he’s now tasked with learning the other side of the coin.

“I’m getting good experience around these coaches, seeing how much more preparation goes into it, because now you have to put 11 guys in the best position on the field instead of just yourself,” Gunnell said.

“Coming from programs such as BC, a lot of the guys who have seen me through that, I remember half of them were going home to YouTube me.

I’m trying to not put myself in that spot where they look at me as someone who just played at BC.”

see FOOTBALL, page 15

continued from page 13

the night with seven points.

Every Jumbo who stepped on the floor on Tuesday night found the bottom of the net.

This balanced scoring attack has helped the team throughout the first part of the season, and they will look to maintain a similar approach against tougher competition.

“I think that the team this year is very versatile on the offensive and defensive end,” senior guard Tiffany Kornegay said. “The fact that everyone has something they can bring to the table motivates us to work hard and get better. It’s different from past years when we had a stand-out offensive threat and defensive threat. This year we really focus on communicating and working together so we can get the job done.”

The team’s run-and-gun style of play has paid dividends to date. The Jumbos have scored 70 or more points in five of their eight games, ranking as one of the most potent offensive teams in the conference. If Kornegay and McClure continue to rack up the steals and create fastbreak opportunities, there is no telling how good this team can be.

The Jumbos, who have been firing on all cylinders as of late,

will not face a NESCAC opponent until Jan. 2, when they match up with Middlebury in the Maine Maritime Tournament.

Until then, the team is looking to clean up its miscues and build chemistry on the court.

“It’s hard maintaining focus when you’re beating a team by so many points, so you have to trick yourself into thinking that the game is tied 0-0, especially at the beginning of the second half,” Kornegay said. “Getting better every day in practice and games is our only option because the level of competition is going to double once we start conference play.”

With Tuesday’s loss, the Lions dropped to 3-5 on the year and extended their current losing streak to five games. They will return home to take on a struggling Endicott squad on a Thursday night.

Tufts, meanwhile, extended their winning streak to six games. In those contests, the Jumbos’ average margin of victory is just over 24 points. Their next test will come on Saturday when they battle Bridgewater State at 4 p.m. in Cousens Gym. “We’re playing well right now,” Barnosky said. “The key for us is to maintain this focus, and come out each and every game ready to play our game, regardless of the opponent.”

Editors' Challenge | Week 14 It seems today, that all you see, is violence in movies and football on TV. But where are those good old picking values, on which we used to rely? Luckily there’s the Tufts Daily Eds Challenge. Luckily there’s a group of sports editors who’ll positively tell you all the things that will make us laugh and cry, because we’re not as good as them. They’re the Eds Challenge gurus, back for one last round of picking before Winter Break rolls around and some deranged maniac climbs the Christmas tree in the town square because the Daily ran out of paper towels.

Up first is Daniel “James Woods” Rathman, who is so good at picking that we might as well name a middle school after him. Rathman’s at 129-63 overall following another solid 10-6 week, and he holds a one-game lead in first place. Rathman’s stellar prognostication has brought him so much success, that he ... oo a piece of candy. Oo a piece of candy. Oo a piece of candy.

Quickly clucking at Rathman’s heels is David “Ernie the Giant Chicken” McIntyre, who might as well be giving out coupons for free NFL picking advice given all the success he’s had. McIntyre sits at 128-64 overall, only one game behind Rathman after notching a 12-4 showing during Week 13. Will the feud ever end? Will hash browns ever be a different color? These are important questions.

Three games behind Rathman and two behind McIntyre, solidly alone in third place, is Kate “Barbara Pewterschmidt” Klots, who’s piled herself in riches to the tune of a 126-66 record thanks to a 10-6 effort last week, but everyone else in the Eds Challenge knows the truth: that she’s only in it for the money and doesn’t really love us. *Sobs deeply* Two games behind Klots is Aaron “Mort Goldman” Leibowitz, who at 124-68 overall is still one game ahead of Ethan “Stewie Griffin” Sturm, the most evil of all editors, who’s been silently plotting to take over the world thanks to a deathly combination of science rays and magic spells learned from his days at Hogwarts.

Standing out in the field, one game behind Sturm, is Alex “Trisha Takanawa” Prewitt, who OVERALL RECORD LAST WEEK

Daniel 129-63 10-6

David 128-64 12-4

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Cleveland at Pittsburgh N. England at Washington New England New England Baltimore Baltimore Indianapolis at Baltimore Miami Miami Philadelphia at Miami Tampa Bay Tampa Bay at Jacksonville Tampa Bay Houston Cincinnati Houston at Cincinnati New Orleans at Tennessee New Orleans New Orleans Detroit Detroit Minnesota at Detroit NY Jets NY Jets Kansas City at NY Jets Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta at Carolina San Francisco at Arizona San Francisco San Francisco Chicago at Denver Denver Denver San Diego at Buffalo San Diego Buffalo Oakland at Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay NY Giants at Dallas Dallas NY Giants St. Louis at Seattle Seattle Seattle

Kate 126-66 10-6

Aaron 124-68 10-6

Pittsburgh New England Baltimore Miami Jacksonville Houston New Orleans Detroit NY Jets Carolina San Francisco Denver Buffalo Green Bay Dallas Seattle

Pittsburgh New England Baltimore Miami Jacksonville Cincinnati New Orleans Detroit NY Jets Atlanta San Francisco Denver San Diego Green Bay NY Giants Seattle

Ethan 123-69 11-5

will now throw it back to the studio for another weather update with Ollie Williams ... Ollie?

“WHETHER!” Thanks, Ollie. That wasn’t confusing at all. And now, Lauren “Greased Up Hearing-Normal Guy” Flament will attempt to run her way into first place, but she’ll have a hard time doing so with that 120-72 overall record.

After a 9-7 week, it seems that Matt “Quagmire” Berger’s chances at scoring — giggity — are quickly flying away like a bird. And that’s the word. B-b-b-b-b-bird bird bird. Bird is the word. B-b-b-b-b-bird bird bird. Bird is the word. Bird. Word. Bird is the word. Up next is Ben “Meg Griffin” Kochman, who sits tied with Berger at 117-75 and just can’t be noticed by anyone in the Eds Challenge family. Kochman’s chances for success are quickly becoming a tall order. Like when that giraffe ordered a cheeseburger from Ronald McDonald.

SCENE CHANGE: A GIRAFFE is at a MCDONALD’S window, ordering from RONALD MCDONALD. RONALD: Wow, that’s a (Ronald winks at the camera, hamming it up) TALL ORDER. Both GIRAFFE and RONALD freeze, laughing cheesily at each other in a hearty guffaw, as the theme music plays and announcer speaks: “This has been another episode of Tall Order, the story of Jerry the Giraffe who can’t seem to make his way in the human world. Tune in next week, when Jerry gets too drunk and has to vomit, but it takes an hour because giraffes have really long throats. And now, back to our regularly scheduled Eds Challenge.”

One game behind Kochman and Berger is Annie “Lois Griffin” Sloan, the stereotypical rouge-haired mother of the group who’s vaulted herself up the standings thanks to an 11-5 showing in Week 14. And in last place, clearly the most popular kid in school but also the worst at picking games, is Claire “Connie D’Amico” Kemp, who sits in last at 113-69 overall.

Guest-picking this week is Andrew “Evil Monkey” Paseltiner, who seems to have little value other than standing and pointing at people with a menacing look on his face.

Alex 122-70 11-5

Lauren 120-72 10-6

Matt 117-75 9-7

Ben 117-75 9-7

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh New England New England New England New England New England Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore Miami Miami Miami Miami Miami Jacksonville Jacksonville Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Houston Houston Cincinnati Houston Houston New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans Detroit Detroit Detroit Detroit Detroit NY Jets NY Jets NY Jets NY Jets NY Jets Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Carolina Atlanta San Francisco San Francisco San Francisco San Francisco San Francisco Denver Denver Denver Denver Chicago San Diego San Diego Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay NY Giants Dallas NY Giants NY Giants NY Giants Seattle Seattle Seattle Seattle Seattle

Annie 116-76 11-5

Claire 113-79 9-7

GUEST Andrew Paseltiner

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh New England New England New England Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore Miami Miami Miami Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Jacksonville Houston Cincinnati Houston New Orleans New Orleans New Orleans Detroit Detroit Detroit NY Jets NY Jets NY Jets Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta San Francisco San Francisco San Francisco Denver Denver Denver San Diego Buffalo San Diego Green Bay Green Bay Green Bay NY Giants NY Giants Dallas Seattle Seattle Seattle

The Tufts Daily

Thursday, December 8, 2011

15

Sports

Firempong’s breakout key to Jumbos’ NCAA Tournament hopes profile

continued from page 13

Malcolm Washington and forward Wesley Sanders, who all went on to play Div. I basketball at UCLA, Penn and Harvard, respectively.

(Besides being a future Ivy League player, Washington is also the son of actor Denzel Washington.)

Windward’s best player in 2008-09, though, was clearly then-senior guard Darius Morris, who was ranked as the No. 15 senior point guard in the country by Rivals.com and averaged 27 points per game as a junior.

Firempong, who has stayed in touch with Morris, looked up to the star guard as his mentor on the court.

“I learned a lot from Darius,” Firempong said. “I feel like a lot of my game is modeled off of his game, and he’s always who I looked up to because he was a year older than me.”

Morris chose the Michigan Wolverines out of a plethora of Div. I offers and made an immediate impact during his freshman season. After a breakout sophomore season in which he averaged 15 points and nearly seven assists per game and was elected to the All-Big Ten third team, Morris elected to leave Michigan early and declare for the 2011 NBA Draft. Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 41st overall pick, Morris is now playing professionally for the team that he and Firempong followed for years.

“Not only is [Morris] in the NBA, but he’s on my favorite team,” Firempong said. “It’s pretty surreal to be honest, and it’s kind of scary.”

“An energy guy” Firempong did not undergo nearly as intense a recruiting process, and he ended up applying to Tufts after only a few brief conversations with head coach Bob Sheldon and assistant coach Matt Malone. An Inglewood, Calif., native, Firempong visited nearly a dozen East Coast campuses on a college trip with his high school classmates but was instantly drawn to the Hill.

“I visited Tufts for the first time, and I really loved the campus and the atmosphere,” Firempong said. “And then, senior year came around and I decided to apply and thankfully got in. Tufts seemed like the best fit for me, and I’m glad to be here now.”

In the end, the combination of Tufts’ academics along with Firempong’s desire to play basketball at a high level sealed his decision.

After seeing Firempong play at a basketball camp between his junior and senior years of high school, Sheldon and his coaching staff knew that they were also interested in the dynamic point guard.

“He wanted pre-med, and he wanted to go where he could play,” Sheldon said. “So this kind of was a good fit for everyone. Kwame is a little different from some of our other guys because he’s really athletic. He’s an energy guy who can push the ball, so when we saw him we were excited.”

At the beginning of his freshman sea-

son, Firempong — nicknamed “Kwam” by Sheldon — impressed the Jumbos’ coaches with his speed and agility. His athletic ability manifested itself mostly on the defensive end, where, even as a freshman, Firempong established himself as one of the team’s best defenders after finishing the 2010-2011 season with 33 steals, second on the team behind now-senior tri-captain guard Amauris Quezada.

“He’s able to defend very well, and he can just keep guys in front of him,” Sheldon said.

“He can change the course of a game with his defense because of what he can do to the other team’s point guard.”

Freshman slump, sophomore sensation Firempong’s constant high level of energy, however, sometimes got the young point guard in trouble on the offensive end. He was second on the team in turnovers with 63 and struggled with his decision-making and ball-handling as he adjusted to collegiate competition.

“When he came in, he played a little out of control,” junior forward Scott Anderson said.

“He always was a good defender, probably one of our best defenders for sure, but he was a little out of control and had a good amount of turnovers. He probably wasn’t going to get a lot of playing time because of how out of control he was, but that’s something he’s definitely worked on this summer.”

With a year of college basketball under his belt, Firempong spent his summer playing with BTI, an elite AAU team based in Southern California. According to Malone, Firempong’s summer experience vastly raised his level of play.

“I think he learned how to run the show with some really good players around him,” Malone said. “He just came with so much more confidence this year. We were kind of waiting for him to get there, but now he goes out and gets after it. I think our guys wait for him to get us going.”

Anderson — who has benefited from many of Firempong’s 35 assists this season — believes a freshman slump is natural for players who have not yet adjusted to the grind of the NESCAC season.

Last season, Firempong found himself in a familiar supporting role. He started just three times and averaged only 18.1 minutes per game in a complementary job as the backup to then-freshman point guard Oliver Cohen, who drew 19 starts. Both players have a set of unique strengths; Cohen is a better outside shooter who likes to slow the pace and manage the offense, while Firempong looks to push the ball and slash to the basket.

“We like the situation that we’re in because Kwam and Oliver split time last year and they’re going to split time this year, but they’re both such different players,” Sheldon said.

Having put his freshman slump behind him, Firempong is enjoying a breakout soph-

Gunnell’s position to support diversity in athletics FOOTBALL

continued from page 14

According to an email sent to the Tufts community on Nov. 30 by Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney, Gunnell was hired as an athletics intern, a position that Civetti said the department helped create to foster diversity within the program.

“My office funded this position for two years out of discretionary funds to help support diversity in athletics,” Dean Berger-Sweeney wrote in an email to the Daily. “[Athletics] Director [Bill] Gehling has told me that coaching staffs in the NESCAC do not represent the diversity of the students that play in the league.

He wanted to create a position to both support our Tufts athletes (who come from diverse backgrounds) and provide an opportunity for training to increase diversity in coaching staffs in Division III.” Gunnell, a New Jersey native, hasn’t created a specific timetable for his coaching career,

but he sees parallels between Civetti’s path — going from Boston College grad assistant just years ago to Tufts head coach in January — and his own, which is just beginning.

“It’s nice for me to see where he came from, how he started off,” Gunnell said. “Just being here, I hope that I can gain some experience coachingwise, enhancing my ability to coach, the best ways I can teach the players how to play. If I’m here for an extended time, hopefully I can help turn the program around.”

According to Civetti, Gunnell has already been an integral component in doing just that.

“I think the kids have enjoyed having him around. There’s certainly a bit of they look up to him because of where he’s been and what he’s done,” Civetti said. “The guys have respected that and appreciated that. Rich Gunnell is as no-nonsense as it comes, pretty motivated and [a] straight-forward guy, and I think that’s something that his players have noticed.”

Alex Dennett/Tufts Daily

Sophomore point guard Kwame Firempong’s (No. 12) late free throws helped clinch the New England Big 4 Challenge title for Tufts. omore season, averaging 10.5 points, 4.4 assists and 1.4 steals thus far. He is also excelling in clutch situations. With 25 seconds left against Babson on Dec. 3, Firempong hit two free throws to extend the Jumbos’ lead to four. With six seconds left, he hit two more to ice the game and give Tufts a 54-48 win.

“I think I’ve been more patient this year,” Firempong said. “Last year, I was moving too fast trying to use my speed. I need to be able to hit my spots when I want to score and when I want to get my teammates involved.”

As a team, the Jumbos also seem to be on the rise. Tufts is off to a solid 6-2 start overall and has benefited from increased depth at every position.

“Best-dressed” team leader As Firempong continues to change his game, one thing about the point guard remains the same — his fashion sense off the court.

“Kwame is the best-dressed guy on the team on and off the court,” Sheldon said.

“Always matches top to bottom from day to day. He’s got a Burberry top; I mean who has a Burberry top? And the first time last year on the road trip, he wore a bowtie; who wears a bowtie? Kwame does and he tears it up. He’s got to have at least 30 pairs of shoes.”

But as Firempong continues to impress his coach off the court, he is doing even better by stepping into a leadership role on it. In team huddles during games, Firempong — not Sheldon or a senior captain — normally motivates the team.

“When we put our hands in, somebody says ‘focus on three’ or ‘defense on three,’” junior forward Scott Anderson said. “[Kwame] is one of those guys who always steps up and says something right away. You can tell that’s

something he was used to doing more so than other guys.”

“I’ve sort of always been a point guard, and I’ve always accepted that leadership role, so I guess I’m just used to it,” Firempong said. “Even on my high school team when I had numerous amounts of talent, I was still somewhat the leader on the court.”

Due to his improved offensive consistency, Firempong has been rewarded with increased playing time this season. He has started every game except for Tuesday’s 79-73 overtime loss to Plymouth State, to which Firempong arrived late due to an academic conflict. According to Sheldon, Firempong has sky-high potential that can be reached if he improves his one weakness.

“I think All-NESCAC is his ceiling, but he needs to work on his outside shooting a little bit,” Sheldon said. “Right now, I think teams are going to back off of him. If he can knock it down, and they have to get up on him, then he’ll be able to blow right by.”

Both Firempong and the Tufts men’s basketball program are striving toward new heights this year. Last season, the Jumbos were merely looking to put a disastrous 20092010 season behind them and show improvement. This year, however, Sheldon and the squad like their position in the conference and have established a clear goal.

“We told the guys this year that we want a NCAA tournament bid,” Sheldon said. “We like where we are in the league ... We want to go out and be a dark horse in the league and try to earn respect. If we get some wins, that will change things a little bit.”

If Tufts achieves its goal of stepping out of the NESCAC shadows, it’ll be in no small part due to their new starting point guard doing the same.

Jumbos hope to bounce back Saturday against MIT MEn’s basketball continued from page 13

points. The Jumbos didn’t do much to help themselves either, shooting just 31 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes.

“We couldn’t protect the middle of the floor at all, which is something we try to focus on in our pregame meetings. [Skevas] just kept getting into the lane and making plays for his teammates,” junior guard Alex Goldfarb said.

“But we needed to get the ball inside, which we didn’t do, and we didn’t shoot that well from the perimeter.

Firempong arrived in the second half, just when the team needed him, as the frenetic pace of the game seemed to benefit the Panthers, who used a combination of offensive rebounds and individual plays from Skevas to build a 54-43 lead with 12:49 left on the clock.

After Firempong entered the game with 9:06 remaining, Tufts managed to shave the deficit to 58-57 with just under seven minutes to play. However, Plymouth State instantly responded, and two

free throws from senior forward Jesse Sabolis give the Panthers a daunting 67-61 lead with two and a half minutes to play.

Orchowski, who netted a game-high 17 points, converted a three-point play to halt Plymouth State’s momentum. Then, after Firempong stole the ball and completed a layup to bring Tufts back within a point, Sabolis made arguably the most impressive play of the game, executing a perfect read, intercepting Firempong’s pass and rushing the length of the floor for a dunk.

“Kwame brought some good energy to the team, but again, we didn’t bring the energy for the full game,” Orchowski said.

“Especially considering that this was a home game, that was unacceptable.”

The slam put the Jumbos down by three with just 26 seconds to go, but Tufts bounced back quickly, as Goldfarb hit a clutch, wide-open three-pointer to tie the game.

Skevas’ buzzer-beating layup rimmed out, sending the game to overtime.

Unfortunately, the Jumbos

struggled in the extra five minutes, and Sabolis’ layup 1:23 into overtime put the Panthers ahead for good, as they closed out the game 79-73. The loss was bitterly disappointing for Tufts, especially considering that the Jumbos had more rebounds, assists and steals than Plymouth State.

“Basically, they outworked us in this game,” Goldfarb said. “We’ve got to be better prepared from the start and play 60 minutes of strong basketball, especially on defense.

We would play good defense for 30 seconds and then give up an offensive rebound and an easy putback.”

The Jumbos will have an opportunity to improve on Saturday at home against MIT in their last game before winter break. The team will be looking to end the calendar year on a high note, especially after the lackluster finish against the Panthers.

“We see this as an opportunity to make up for tonight,” Orchowski said. “We want to end on a good note before the break, and we need to come out with much more energy against MIT.”

16

The Tufts Daily

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Thursday, December 8, 2011