TuftsDaily09.30.13

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THE TUFTS DAILY

TUFTSDAILY.COM

Monday, September 30, 2013

VOLUME LXVI, NUMBER 17

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Turnitin tool on Trunk monitors plagiarism by

Daniel Bottino

Daily Editorial Board

The university introduced an interface between Trunk and Turnitin.com, an online plagiarism-prevention technology, at the start of the fall semester.

The change was made in an effort to provide faculty with a more convenient way to use the Turnitin program, according to Sheryl Barnes, interim director of Educational and Scholarly Technology Services.

“We realized that without a huge amount of additional cost or effort, we could make a connection between Trunk and Turnitin, and therefore allow this additional functionality for the community and convenience of the faculty,” she said.

Barnes noted, however, that the version of Turnitin available on Trunk lacks the full functionality associated with Turnitin’s website. While the Trunk version has faculties for detecting plagiarism, it does not allow online grading, commenting and other options offered

by Turnitin.

“If [faculty] wanted to use [Turnitin] just to run assignments that students turn in through the Turnitin databases and make sure that everything’s okay in terms of originality, they can do that right from within Trunk,” Barnes said.

Faculty will also still have the option to use the full Turnitin website as in previous semesters, Barnes added.

Since Tufts has used Turnitin.com prior to this year’s enhancement, the Educational and Scholarly Technology

Services did not have to seek explicit permission to proceed with the Trunk integration, according to Barnes.

“This [integration] was just an enhancement ... there was no additional process that was really needed,” Barnes said.

Barnes explained that Turnitin is not mandatory on the Trunk site but can be activated through a simple process. The application is listed under tools in the editor site on Trunk. “[Faculty] have to turn it on,” she said.

“It’s not turned on automatically.”

While most faculty were pleased with the addition of Turnitin, some faculty may be disappointed that not all features of the website were accessible on Trunk, Barnes said.

“It might have been possible to manage expectations a little bit better about what we were actually going to be providing,” Barnes said.

The new Trunk feature has spurred mixed reaction among Tufts faculty.

Lecturer in the Department of History David Proctor said he did not feel comfortable using Turnitin — through Trunk or otherwise — in his courses and will not be doing so this year.

“I just have an issue with students having to submit their work to some big entity,” he said. “As a student, I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that with any of my work, and so as a faculty member I can’t in good conscience support something that I can’t see as acceptable,” he said.

Assistant Professor of History Alisha Rankin, on the other hand, was pleased see TURNITIN, page 2

TCU Senate update The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate yesterday evening held its second meeting of the year, featuring a series of elections and investigations into ongoing campus issues.

The Senate first heard from guest speaker Director of the Office for Campus Life Joe Golia, who outlined his goal of working with TCU on developing schoolsponsored events. Golia applauded Fall Gala as a significant improvement from Fall Ball, but noted that some neighbors complained about noise from fireworks.

He suggested that Fall Gala could be a model for future school-sponsored events, including the possible replacement for Winter Bash.

A discussion of an upcoming referendum regarding Tufts’ investment in the fossil fuel industry followed, including addresses from members of Students for a Just and Stable Future.

Senate also addressed a resolution submitted by senators John Kelly, a junior, and sophomore Erin Dimson-Doyle, proposing revisions to the transgender student housing policy. The resolution urges that the school take measures to create “a safe, welcoming and comfortable home for students who are transgender.” The resolution passed 26-0.

A series of candidates running for the open positions of diversity and community affairs officer, Allocations Board member and assistant treasurer then delivered statements on their running platforms.

Several candidates for diversity and community affairs officers tied their qualifications to their experiences as racial and

sexual minorities, as well as their involvement with organizations such as the Africana and LGBT Centers. The Senate selected juniors Darien Headen and John Kelly, as well as sophomore Hira Qureshi for the positions.

Many freshman candidates for the assistant treasurer and Allocations Board positions cited their previous leadership positions in high school.

Freshmen Isabella Kahhale and Shai Slotky were ultimately elected to the Allocations Board, while sophomore Samuel Berzok was named assistant treasurer.

TCU President Joe Thibodeau, a senior, began the final section of the meeting by delivering the president’s report. He identified advancements the school had made over the summer, including the addenda to the school’s alcohol and sexual assault policies.

The Treasury announced a decision to move $200,000 to the pre-supplementary fund, making the Senate’s budget $300,000 for the fiscal year. The Senate then assessed monetary requests from several student groups, including Applejam Productions, the Pre-Law Society and Tufts Urban Policy, Planning and Prosperity.

During the historian’s report, senators announced attendance policies that would go into effect as of that night. Among these was a new rule that all senators with three or more unexcused absences would be subject to the impeachment procedure defined in the TCU Constitution.

—by Josh Weiner

Inside this issue

courtesy Andrew Schneer

The Tufts Robotic Sail Team built model sailboats with kids on the Academic Quad yesterday to celebrate the 11th annual Community Day at Tufts.

Local residents flock to the Hill for Community Day

by Josh

Weiner

Daily Editorial Board

The 11th annual Community Day at Tufts, an open event co-sponsored by the Office of Community Relations and the cities of Medford and Somerville, yesterday afternoon attracted thousands of local residents to the Academic Quad.

The event’s attendance this year was the strongest it had been in years, thanks largely to the favorable weather that past Community Days have lacked, according to Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel.

“It’s the first sunny day we’ve had in three years for this event, and I think it makes a big difference,” she said. “We’ve probably had between 2,500 and 3,000

people in attendance.”

Rubel, who has overseen the event since its inception, said the purpose of Community Day is to attract people from neighboring areas to the Tufts campus, as well as give them the opportunity to enjoy themselves and learn something new about the university.

Rubel also emphasized the high level of interaction among several student organizations throughout the day.

“It’s really Community Day within the university as well,” she said. “It takes people from lots of different departments to make this happen.”

Jamal Halawa, a Somerville resident who attended Community Day with his family see COMMUNITY DAY, page 2

Art Gallery to introduce new mural

by Yunan

Zhang

Contributing Writer

The Tufts University Art Gallery will this week unveil a freestanding mural adjacent to Mayer Campus Center, entitled “Summer in New York” by graffiti artist Abby Andrews, known as ABBY TC-5.

The mural interprets the play “Welcome to Arroyo’s” by Obie Awardwinner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristoffer Diaz, which will be the Department of Drama and Dance’s fall production next month, according to an Art Gallery press release.

Assistant Professor of Drama and Dance Noe Montez, who will direct the Tufts production, explained that ABBY’s work well represents the play’s strong female protagonist.

“One of the lead characters ... is a female graffiti artist who is a tornado of intensity, so we were delighted to find a female graffiti artist who began her career in New York City at a time when women rarely participated in tagging

subways, walls and buses,” Montez said.

The play “Welcome to Arroyo’s” centers on the mystery of Reina Rey, a fictitious Puerto Rican rapper and DJ who can perform in English and Spanish and who plays an essential role in the development of hip hop, Montez said. In the show, Reina Rey disappears in 1980 and is never seen again.

“ABBY found Reina to be a powerful figure in her absence and created this mural, which captures different aspects of Reina Rey’s life and artistic legacy, in order to envision the cultural impact of this female Boricua superstar,” Montez said.

According to Director of Galleries and Collections Amy Schlegel, the mural reflects the main themes of the play, especially the role of Latina women in the worlds of hip hop and graffiti. The artwork reads from left to right, mirroring the show’s narrative arc from the past of the Bronx and the birth of the hip-hop movement, to the play’s setting near the bar “Arroyo’s” in Manhattan’s see MURAL, page 2

Today’s sections

The Tufts chapter of Generation Citizen sends students to local schools to improve civics education.

The season premiere of ‘Glee’ still doesn’t bring back the magic of season one.

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Op-Ed

1 3 5 8

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

9 10 11 Back

The Tufts Daily

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News

Monday September 30, 2013

Visiting the Hill this week TUESDAY “Interference: When Masculinity and Being Gay Collide” Details: Wade Davis, an openly gay former National Football League (NFL) player, will discuss his experience of being secretly gay in the NFL and how his personal story connects with the larger challenges faced by the LGBT community.

When and Where: 8:00 p.m.; Distler Performance Hall Sponsors: Social Justice Leadership Initiative and Tufts Entertainment Board WEDNESDAY “Richard E. Snyder President’s Lecture

featuring United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia” Details: United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will present a lecture titled “Interpreting the Constitution.”

When and Where: 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.; Gantcher Center Sponsor: Richard E. Snyder President’s Lecture Series THURSDAY “Water Wars in Massachusetts: Reforming Water Management in a Blue State” Details: Julia Blatt, executive director of the Massachusetts Rivers Alliance, will

discuss Commonwealth allocation reform and the ways in which the state doles out the right to use water.

When and Where: 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.; Lincoln Filene Center Rabb Room Sponsor: Environmental Studies Program and Tufts Institute of the Environment “Transition Away From Fossil Fuels and Towards Resilience” Details: Rob Hopkins, founder of the international Transition Towns Movement, will discuss how communities are transforming their economic, energy and food sources to be sustainable. Community leaders, including

Mayor Michael McGlynn of Medford and Mayor Lisa Wong of Fitchburg, will host a panel discussing strategies for local resilience and sustainability.

When and Where: 7:30 p.m.; Cabot Intercultural Center, ASEAN Auditorium Sponsors: Tufts Peace and Justice Studies program, Transition US, Post Carbon Institute, New Economics Institute, Institute for Policy Studies, Tufts Institute of the Environment, Tufts Office of Sustainability, Stockholm Environment Institute.

—compiled by Denali Tietjen

New mural reflects Drama Department production MURAL

continued from page 1

Lower East Side.

Schlegel said that Montez reached out to her last spring with the idea of collaborating with the Tufts Art Gallery.

“I quickly realized that commissioning a graffiti or street artist to create a mural that would interpret or narrate the main themes of the play would be an exciting and novel way to connect the Gallery’s temporary public art projects series with the curriculum and the performing arts at Tufts,” Schlegel told the Daily in an email.

Both she and Montez felt that a graffiti artist would best represent the “grittiness” of the play, according to Schlegel.

After consulting with graffiti art experts, Montez and Schlegel developed a list of candidates and agreed on ABBY TC-5 to create the mural and contribute to the scenery of the onstage production, Schlegel added.

The new mural will replace one titled “Merrily...,” installed by artist Raul Gonzalez III in the summer of 2012.

Schlegel explained that the murals allow the Art Gallery to collaborate with other parts of the university without being permanently responsible for the works.

“Our temporary public art projects series allow us to both commission new work for specific, perhaps underutilized sites and to extend our mission beyond the Aidekman Arts Center so that more members of the Tufts community can know what we are up to,” she said.

ABBY, who is part of the graffiti collective “The Crazy 5,” holds a degree in graphic design and has designed packaging and promotional work for companies like Sega and Concord Records.

She last year lectured at Davidson College on her experience as a female graffiti artist and design professional.

ABBY will discuss her work and its rela-

Courtesy Abby Andrews

Artist Abby Andrews, also known as ABBY TC-5, works on the new graffiti-art mural near the Mayer Campus Center. The mural, which will debut this week, is based on a Tufts Department of Drama and Dance play. tionship with the play in a lunchtime conversation with Montez on Oct. 25 in the Art Gallery.

According to Montez, it is important to showcase ABBY’s work, as it represents an under-appreciated art form.

“In New York City, there have been

repeated attempts over the past 40 years to characterize graffiti as pretty vandalism and to dismiss the form too easily without giving thought to the voices and ideas that the from empowers,” he said.

Montez encourages students to stop

Twenty student groups perform for local families COMMUNITY DAY

continued from page 1

for the first time this year, said he appreciated the chance to experience the Tufts campus.

“It’s nice that Tufts opens up its doors and shows people around,” he said. “It’s a beautiful campus, and it’s great to be able to be a part of it for the day.”

The event featured a number of crafts for children at the Kids’ Activity Tent, ranging from pumpkin decorating and simple chemistry experiments to engineering workshops and constructing buildings from marshmallows and spaghetti.

Other booths promoted organizations from Tufts and the greater Boston area, including Fan the Fire, Go Green Medford, the Sharewood Project health care organization and the Somerville Mathematics Fund.

Erica Voolich, president and founder of the Somerville Mathematics Fund, said the day is an opportunity for her organization to connect with members of the community.

“It’s nice to be able to be meet people from the Medford and

becca leibowitz for the tufts daily

Kids at Community Day could decorate pumpkins at craft tables.

Somerville communities and to tell them more about the math fund,” she said.

Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) had its own stand, where officers distributed

and appreciate ABBY’s intricate mural.

“I hope that people will take the time to look at ABBY’s piece and see the complexity and details in the lettering, because I think that the piece reinforces the promise of graffiti and street art as a high art form,” he said.

police-themed rulers, stickers and coloring books for children. TUPD Sergeant Duane Weisse said he enjoyed participating in the event for the second straight year.

“The day has been spectacular,” he said. “The weather’s great, people are having a good time and it seems like a lot of people have come out to enjoy the event.”

Twenty student performance groups, including the Tufts Symphony Orchestra, La Salsa and Traveling Treasure Trunk, provided entertainment during the event. The Tufflepuffs, Tufts’ resident Quidditch team, taught children a simplified version of the game, known as “Kidditch.”

Senior Kaveh Veyssi, president of the a cappella group sQ!, said that the day’s performances were the first oncampus gig of the year for the majority of performance groups and believes it was the ideal way to start the semester.

“This gig is by far our favorite of the year,” he said. “There’s nothing we enjoy more than coming out here and performing for all of the smiling people and families.

There’s literally nothing better.”

Turnitin tool gets mixed reviews TURNITIN

continued from page 1

with the greater convenience and accessibility of Turnitin on Trunk.

“In principle, this is fantastic,” she said. “I love this idea.”

While noting that Turnitin’s online grading feature is helpful, especially in large lecture courses, Rankin explained that her main reason for using Turnitin is to detect and deter plagiarism.

Rankin also appreciated the new simplicity of the system.

Instead of having to submit papers to both Turnitin and Trunk, students now only have to visit the Trunk site.

Rankin regrets only that Trunk cannot allow students to view originality reports or submit essay revisions to Turnitin, because the final drafts would be viewed as plagiarism from the first draft, she said.

“It is much more practical, but has a lot less functionality than it did before,” she said.

Features

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tuftsdaily.com

Lex Erath | Sugar and Spice

On commuting

T

Courtesy Shannon Ludeman

With the help of student Democracy Coaches involved in Generation Citizen, middle and high school students in local schools have facilitated changes in their communities.

Generation Citizen brings civics education to local schools

Political participation by American youth is on the decline: The number of 18-to-24 year olds who voted dropped by over four percent between 2008 and 2012, according to a U.S. Census report. In light of this trend, Generation Citizen — a national organization with a student chapter at Tufts — is working to improve civics education in schools across the country. Founded in 2008, Generation Citizen sends college students, called Democracy Coaches, into high schools to encourage young students to take an active role in congressional reform and truly engage in democracy.

Gillian Pressman, the program’s director for the greater Boston area, told the Daily that schools lack effective civics education programs.

“There is very little civics that happens at schools,” she said.

Generation Citizen informs students who may not have otherwise had access to civics education about the political process, Pressman said.

The students are then more likely to get involved and vote in the future, she added. “[Motivated students] elect to get involved, and the most disenfranchised students don’t ever get civics,” Pressman said.

Co-founder and Executive Director of Generation Citizen Scott Warren, who first began the program as a student at Brown University in 2008, told the Daily that he was motivated by his upbringing in Latin America to create Generation Citizen.

“I grew up in Latin America ... I saw a number of emerging democracies ...

I was inspired by the excitement I first saw in Kenya and Ecuador,” he said.

After witnessing the first democratic elections in Kenyan history, Warren noticed that young people in the United States did not share this same enthusiasm for elections because they were not being taught how democracy works.

The program has grown rapidly since

by Sophie

Dasinger

Contributing Writer

its beginnings at Brown University; it is currently operating out of Providence, New York City, the greater Boston Area and most recently the San Francisco Bay Area. The organization first came to Boston in 2009 — approximately a year after it was founded — and the Tufts chapter formed on campus just one year later.

There are now eight chapters in the Boston area, Pressman said. Northeastern University was the first school in Boston to establish a branch, with Emerson College and Bunker Hill Community College the most recent additions.

Junior Ben Berman, a member of Tufts’ Generation Citizen chapter, said he first joined the program because of its focus on education.

“I had been involved with some similar programs, and I was interested in education,” Berman said. “I got involved through the Tisch Scholars program and fell in love with the it.”

Students are increasingly becoming involved in Generation Citizen on campus. In the past year, the size of the Tufts chapter has more than doubled, according to Berman.

To get involved with Generation Citizen, students must apply to be a Democracy Coach within their college chapter. Pressman emphasized the intensity and difficulty of the job, as coaches are expected to teach fundamental skills, such as problem analysis, to young students.

“For people who want a challenge, it’s a really tremendous experience,” Pressman said.

Berman described the Democracy Coach experience as highly rewarding.

“Generation Citizen teaches an integral part of a student’s knowledge in a setting that is different from a traditional classroom,” he said.

The program culminates in Civics Day, an event at which the young students present the projects they have been working on throughout the semester.

Berman, for example, returned to KIPP Academy Lynn Middle School, a charter school in Lynn, Mass., to watch his former students present their proj-

ects on Civics Day. He cited this as one of the most rewarding aspects of the program.

“Seeing the amazing things they accomplished was impressive and empowering to me,” he said.

Warren agreed, noting that the presentations reflect the mission of Generation Citizen.

“I was really inspired by when [democracy] worked and individuals came together to make a collective difference,” he said.

Pressman cited a variety of projects that the students undertook. In Malden, Mass., Generation Citizen students successfully advocated for funding a teen center, and students at Boston Public Schools pushed for single-stream recycling, which later became school policy.

Generation Citizen teaches students that they are capable of making lasting changes in policy, which can work as a stepping-off point for enacting legislative change, Warren said.

“The [Democracy Coaches] help high school students get more excited about participating in politics,” he said.

Volunteers working with Generation Citizen have developed their own assessments for measuring students’ progress as they go through the program, according to Pressman.

These assessments test civic skills, civic knowledge and civic disposition.

This July, Generation Citizen received a grant from the John S. And James L. Knight Foundation to conduct a longitudinal evaluation of the students after they finish the program.

Pressman stressed, however, that much evidence of the program’s efficacy comes from students’ actions rather than pure statistics. Berman also defined the success of the program as when the Generation Citizen mission gets pushed beyond the initial engagement between the young students and their Democracy Coaches.

“Students are really excited by the end of the semester ... to take on another project without the program in the classroom,” Berman said.

his summer — wow, that feels like decades ago already — I took a class at Tufts, and since I live about an hour away, this meant I had the distinct pleasure of commuting to campus four days a week.

When I was little, my dad’s daily commute was an hour-plus drive into Boston.

For some unknown reason I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Commuting!

Who wouldn’t want to spend two hours of every day trapped on the highway with 3,000 of their closest friends? It sounded very adult and very glamorous to six-year-old me. So, full disclosure, I might have been just a little excited for my first drive. I mean, commuting had to be just a little fun, right?

Wrong. Turns out commuting meant the 45 minute drive I expected took two hours, talk shows instead of Top 40 on the radio and a lot of cranky business people who definitely weren’t interested in waving back at me (turns out Boston commuters aren’t looking to make friends, who knew?).

There was also a whole host of logistical problems to consider. Depending on traffic conditions, which are about as dependable as the Joey being on schedule, my drive could take anywhere from half an hour (I speed, see previous column “On Massachusetts drivers”) to two hours. So there were days where I was late and had to endure the accusing stares of my classmates as I slunk in mid-lecture. But other days, I would be early. And we’re not talking 10 minutes — ridiculously early, as in, an hour early. So when my professor came in 45 minutes before class to set up his slides, he’d look at me, brow furrowed, and wonder who the hell was this overeager nerd who showed up to summer school before he did?

Jumbos, you know commuting on any level is awful. There’s something about a midwinter 8:30 a.m. trek to Bromfield-Pearson or a 10-minute awkward power-walk from Olin to Cohen that makes me want to rip my hair out, or at least plan my class schedule a little better. But there are some upsides to commuting as well.

To be honest, it really reaffirmed my faith in the human spirit. I know that right now you’re wrinkling your forehead and readjusting your flimsy newspaper, certain you haven’t read correctly. Let me explain.

There’s this one stretch of highway that’s always backed up for at least two miles in the right lane, because everyone and their grandma gets off at exit 14; apparently it’s the place to be. Like everyone else (with a shred of decency) who needs to get off at exit 14, I head over to the slow lane as soon as I see the back-up starting. But there are some — how do I put this politely enough that I won’t get edited? — jerks who will avoid the traffic and wait until the very last minute to cut into the right lane, saving themselves 20 minutes of stop-and-go while slowing down us honest people even more.

But the best feeling, the absolute best feeling, is when an entire twomile line of cars joins together as one to prevent the jerks from cutting in; when 50 drivers all stoically inch up to the bumper of the car in front of them and ignore the glares of the wouldbe cutters. And you’re sitting in your car halfway back in the line, thinking, “stay strong, brothers and sisters, stay strong!” Those are the days that you might just finish your commute with a self-satisfied smile on your face.

Lex Erath is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at Alexandra.Erath@tufts.edu.

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TV Review

‘Glee’ premiere has high points, fails to produce momentum by

Falcon Reese

Daily Editorial Board

There must be some statute of limitations on how many times a television show can be renewed for another season

Glee Starring Lea Michele, Jane Lynch, Matthew Morrison

Airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on Fox with only the quality of its first to serve as justification for doing so. Unfortunately, “Glee” seems to be immune to that particular brand of logic. In fact, the show seems to be immune to most brands of logic — logical dialogue, logical plot points and logical character development, just to name a few. And despite a few shining moments, last Thursday’s season five premiere of “Glee” was no exception to that pattern.

Let’s be real: “Glee” was good once. Not just good, but really good. For a single season, it was a shining example of consistent, quality television. Then, instead of hitting its stride, it devolved into a mass of cringe-worthy dialogue and contrived, nonsensical plotlines. The writers lazily tried to squeeze too many stories into single episodes at the expense of wellpaced action. Now, the show is almost physically painful to watch — which is a shame, because, save for the writers, its cast is full of truly talented people.

Those writers tend to focus on flashiness instead of substance, and, subsequently, have created multiple “tribute episodes,”

Courtesy Livin’_Fearlessly via Flickr Creative Commons

After Cory Monteith’s sudden death in July, writers planned a tribute episode to the actor called ‘The Quarterback,’ which will be the third episode of the season. the latest of which was Thursday’s premiere devoted to the music of The Beatles.

With each tribute “Glee” does, there is some wildly transparent attempt to draw comparisons between the life of the artist or band in question and the lives of the various glee clubbers, who prance through scenes manufactured solely to make those parallels relevant.

Album Review

For instance, when the ever-peppy and possibly pedophilic Mr. William Schuester (Matthew Morrison) announces to the group that they will be spending two weeks singing Beatles’ songs, his students immediately respond by trying to personally relate to the Fab Four — wheelsee GLEE, page 6

Movie Review

‘Cloudy with a Chance’ sequel will delight by

Ryan Hastings-Echo Contributing Writer

Commercials and trailers portray “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” as a ridiculous series of puns and pratfalls, and they are absolutely spot-on.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2

Courtesy mp3waxx.com via Flickr Creative Commons

On his new album, Drake finally embraces his position at the top of the R&B game.

Drake shows evolution on ‘Nothing Was the Same’ by

Marcus Budline

Daily Editorial Board

Kanye West’s third studio release, “Graduation” (2007), was a declaration that he had finally grown up. In the last piece of

Nothing Was the Same Drake Cash Money Records his “College Dropout” trio, West finally shed his insolence and frustration to stake his claim as the most influential rapper alive.

This album marked a turning point, a point

Directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn Starring Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Will Forte, James Caan, Andy Samberg

where West no longer felt the need to rap about every anxious thought and instead was confident in his place at the top of the rap game.

While West’s anxieties on his first two albums were about his thirst for fame and his outsider status in the rap world, Drake, the man for whom West paved the way, has instead expressed his own anxiety about whether he really wants that fame. In 2011’s “Take Care,” he dedicated nearly 20 songs to pondering that question, asking whether he could ever embrace his inevitable stardom. It was a dark, emotional record, but one that showed Drake as more honest and open than any rapper since West.

In “Nothing Was the Same,” Drake’s

In this animated sequel, inventor Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader) is back on the big screen in yet another unfortunate situation — his notorious machine that transforms water into food has reactivated, and is now producing food monsters that have taken over his home island. These monsters are learning to swim, and it is only a matter of time before the whole world is overrun by double bacon “cheespiders” (cheeseburger spiders with French fry legs). The only way for Flint and his friends to stop these creatures is by shutting down the machine once and for all. Along the way, he uncovers a large cast of “foodimals,” including peanut butter and jellyfish, “shrimpanzees” and a mischievous yet affectionate strawberry.

Fittingly, food puns permeate the entire movie and serve as its main source of comedy. Yet despite this lighthearted humor, “Cloudy 2” still has a sensitive side, and it possesses a sense of self-awareness and satire not normally found in children’s movies.

see DRAKE, page 6

see CLOUDY, page 6

Ryan Buell | This Week in Hip-Hop

Love for the underground

T

he rise of the Internet and social media has brought drastic changes to the music industry. Album sales are being displaced by free downloads, both legal and illegal, as the means for music distribution. Radio plays have given way to YouTube views as the measurement of an artist’s popularity. Even the once indomitable record companies are losing their power due to the rise of independent artists and labels.

All of these trends are making it easier than ever for an underground musician to “blow up” and reach an ever-expanding audience.

And yet there are still exceptions. Sometimes all the talent in the world isn’t enough to propel an artist to music’s forefront. Case in point: Mississippi rapper Big K.R.I.T. Renowned within hip-hop circles for his passion, lyrical depth and production work, K.R.I.T. (which stands for King Remembered In Time) has yet to see any significant mainstream success, despite his outstanding body of work. Frequently compared to Southern hip-hop legends UGK and OutKast, K.R.I.T. has the full skill set: a characteristically smooth Southern flow, a penchant for trunk-rattling bangers, an ability to conjure deeply personal and nostalgic lyrics, a phenomenal ear for sampling and production and an unmatched hunger that is reflected throughout his work.

Anyone that gives his music the time of day it deserves will surely agree that he is one of the best rappers of the new generation.

So why then, if what I say is true, haven’t more people heard of him? Foremost, K.R.I.T.’s formula was never one designed to reach mainstream success. His production work relies heavily on sampling, which can make clearing songs on for-purchase albums troublesome. This helps explain why K.R.I.T.’s main body of work is in the form of free mixtapes. Furthermore, he isn’t one to compromise his sound or creativity in search of radio spins. As a result, he receives limited promotion from his label, Def Jam, possibly due to a perceived lack of commercial viability. His commitment to his home state of Mississippi compounds this issue, because there is a bias towards rappers from big cities, particularly those with a strong hip-hop past. K.R.I.T. has resisted pressures to change his regional alliance to a more prominent hip-hop hub, such as Atlanta. Though record labels may view these “issues” as commercial liabilities, for K.R.I.T., they are just examples of how he remains true to his music and to his fans.

These factors — lack of promotion, problems with sample clearance, label pressures for a commercially viable single — combined to make his debut for-purchase album “Live from the Underground” relatively lackluster and commercially unsuccessful (it has sold 83,000 copies to date).

Big K.R.I.T.’s most impressive work, however, can be found on his free mixtapes. Two of his early mixtapes, “K.R.I.T. Wuz Here” and “Return of 4Eva” are considered modern classics by many hip-hop heads, myself included. For the new listener, I recommend the songs “American Rapstar,” “Dreamin’” and “Neva Go Back” as his most accessible listens. With that being said, there is hardly a track worth skipping on either of these free albums. The same can be said of the mixtape “4EvaNaDay,” a personal favorite. The project blends soulful ballads (“Yesterday”), passionate pleas for recognition (“Handwriting”) and head-nodders meant to blow out your speakers (“Temptation”). Every song is evidence of K.R.I.T.’s undying commitment to his music.

Rare are artists that I fully and wholeheartedly believe in, but Big K.R.I.T. is one of them. In a rap game dominated by the false and fake (cough Rick Ross cough), K.R.I.T. is a refreshing taste of truth and realness. If even one more person learns to appreciate the brilliance that is K.R.I.T.’s music, I will consider this column a success. The time to remember the King is now.

Ryan Buell is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Ryan.Buell@tufts.edu.

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Monday September 30, 2013

‘Cloudy’ delivers quirky fun, despite mediocre character development CLOUDY

continued from page 5

The writers know their audience and do a great job of balancing both funny and emotional scenes. And though a six-year-old viewer might miss these sentimental moments entirely, their more mature peers will certainly notice them.

Perhaps the only flaw of “Cloudy 2” is the sheer amount of characters in the movie. Fans of the first film will be pleased to see many main old characters return, and new viewers will quickly become infatuated with their quirky charm. However, in addition to the original group, writers have added the new characters of Chester V — world class scientist and Flint’s lifelong idol — and his orangutan “right hand woman,” Barb, to the mix. Compared to the first “Cloudy,” which devoted a large period of time to character development, “Cloudy 2” seems almost eager to marginalize the non-essential members of Flint’s gang. Major players get large amounts of screen time, but less integral characters are pushed to the side. Problems involving supporting characters are solved almost as soon as they arise, allowing the viewer little time to see Flint’s friends in action. Good storytelling and strong protagonists save the continuity, but expect to see less from some fan-favorite characters.

Courtesy Sony Pictures Animation

Audiences will enjoy watching the adventures of unlucky inventor Flint Lockwood and his friends.

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” (2009) was one of Sony Pictures Animation’s first intensive forays into 3D technology, and the sequel bears the same striking attention to detail.

Small “Easter eggs” inserted throughout the film depict comical tableaus that are easy to miss.

Those who saw the first movie

will recognize the rat-birds and walking television, both of whom make appearances in the second installment, and may also notice that a certain bus driver seems to pop up in all sorts of places. In making “Cloudy 2,” it seems that the animators worked closely together with the writers to ensure that almost every

‘Glee’ tribute episode produces few highlights, lacks substance GLEE

continued from page 5

chair-bound Artie Abrams (Kevin McHale) even goes so far as to say, “And Ringo Starr was a sickly kid, which probably meant he was sitting down a lot.”

It’s like they’re not even trying.

Either that, or the show’s writers may not possess a working familiarity with the definition of the word “subtlety.”

However, if the viewer can overlook — or at the very least, mute — the show’s mandatory overdose of the ridiculous, then the season premiere is actually not awful. At least this time the episode was not dragged down by unnecessary plotlines, as it usually is.

So then what were the highlights of the episode? The musical numbers, for one. Whatever the quality of its writing, “Glee” has never lacked talented singers or poignant performances.

Of particular note was Rachel Berry’s (Lea Michele) hauntingly beautiful rendition of The Beatles’ “Yesterday,” after she is confronted with the realities of being a working actress and realizes that she may not land her dream role as Fanny Brice in the revival of “Funny Girl.”

The developing romance between Artie and cheerleader Kitty Wilde (Becca Tobin) also introduces a depth rarely seen on “Glee.” Faced with the possibility of losing her standing in the hierarchy-obsessed high school if she is seen dating someone at the bottom of the social food chain, Kitty asks Artie to keep their relationship a secret.

Naturally, the glee club members find out and convince Artie that he deserves better. However, instead of caving to a vapid stereotype, Kitty gives a refreshingly honest speech about how social standing is everything in high school, and if she’s going to give that up, she wants to be sure that she really likes Artie first — and then freely admits that she does before kissing him in front of everyone.

The last worthwhile moment of the episode revolved around Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) getting back together after

Courtesy Adam Rose / FOX

Fan-favorite Blaine (Darren Criss) performs a Beatles’ song in the season five premiere of ‘Glee.’ their breakup at the beginning of last season. Although their reunion duet could win several “cutest couple” awards, it’s the final scenes of the episode that pack in the most heartfelt punch: Blaine proposes to Kurt, and he says “yes.”

Cue The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love,” and Kurt forgets just how crazy it is to get married at 19. Who wouldn’t say “yes” with rose petals falling in your hair, and every person you ever knew helping your boyfriend sing you a love song on a grand, dramatic staircase? It’s certainly the sweetest and most gratifying scene of the episode.

Noticeably absent from the pre-

miere was the late Cory Monteith, who passed away in July. A special episode commemorating the death of his “Glee” character, Finn Hudson, will air Oct. 10.

Unfortunately, this episode’s relative quality is no saving grace — it’s doubtful that the audience can hope for more than sporadic highlights and cheap ploys.

“Glee” has spent the past three years playing with its viewers’ expectations, firmly positioning itself in an inescapable alternate reality chock-full of forced musical-character analogies and excessive plot — and it doesn’t look like that’s about to change anytime soon.

moment contains intricate visual details that will keep viewer interested and attentive throughout.

Although there are some issues with sub-plots and side characters, overall, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” is both humorous and endearing. Both hardcore “Cloudy 1” fans and newcomers alike will love the kid-friendly characters and

engaging plot. Though “Cloudy 2” appeals to a wide range of ages, it is ultimately a children’s movie and,its biggest fans will undoubtedly fall between ages six to 12. All in all, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” serves up some great puns wrapped in a fairly good plot, a side of morals and just the right amount of cheese.

Album showcases new, dynamic Drake DRAKE

continued from page 5

newest release, the Toronto-born rapper is back to prove that he can indeed handle the success he has achieved.

“Tuscan Leather” is the album’s strong opening salvo, a hollow, yet synth-y offering that stretches past six minutes and features Drake asking repeatedly how much time he can spend on the intro. “This is nothing for the radio, but they’ll still play it though,” he says, and he is absolutely right. Apart from its singles, “Started from the Bottom” and “Hold on We’re Going Home,” the record contains very few clear contenders for airwaves — yet it is still likely to top the charts.

“Started from the Bottom” is a musical outlier of the album — one of few songs in which Drake raps nearly exclusively. But as a piece of the “Nothing Was the Same” puzzle, it fits in perfectly, with Drake embracing, rather than questioning, his steps to the top from Toronto.

On “305 To My City” he demonstrates his devotion to his hometown even more. Employing a sloshing beat to offer strippers tickets from Miami to Canada, Drake says, “I’ll make the calls to get y’all through customs.”

“305 To My City” is part of a standout second half of the album that includes the pulsing sounds of “The Language,” on which Drake uses a Migos-inspired flow to brush aside up-and-coming rappers. It’s one of two tracks on the album, along with “Worst Behavior,” that features trap-fueled drums and rhythms and shows Drake at his angriest. While staying generally within the melodious R&B lane he has created for himself, Drake uses these types of tracks to show the breadth of his ability, as he transitions seamlessly in and out of harder hip-hop.

Drake returns to the melodies on the haunting “Too Much,” which features Sampha crooning a beautiful chorus that seems to explain Drake’s ethos for “Nothing Was the Same.” “Don’t think about it too much,” he sings — but Drake just can’t help himself, and he instead uses the track to open up about his family and contemplate his start in rap. The

Courtesy Tony Felgueiras via Flickr Creative Commons

Drake has continued his legacy of producing great rap records. obsessions and anxieties are still present throughout the album, but now Drake is able to sprinkle them in only when necessary — a West-like leap of self-control.

This is evident in “Pound Cake,” featuring Jay-Z. The last time the two shared a track (on 2010’s “Light Up”) Jay assumed the role of mentor. But three years later, with Jay’s raps less creative and Drake’s always improving, the Canadian rapper steps up to the challenge and matches him on a verse that shows just how far he’s come. “Tables turn / Bridges burn / You live and you learn,” he raps, combining three clichés to prove to listeners that he has developed as both a rapper and an individual.

That line basically sums up exactly how this album works: Sure, there are still the classic Drake clichés — “Next time we talk, I don’t wanna just talk, I wanna trust” comes to mind — but the raps are introspective in the right way and point to a man becoming comfortable with his success and his position in the rap world.

And where is that position, exactly? Well, “Nothing Was The Same” makes it clear that he’s dangerously close to the top.

As he puts it on “The Furthest Thing,” Drake is “somewhere between psychotic and iconic,” but all the evidence from this album shows him trending away from the former and towards a confident, thoughtful rapper in complete control of his craft.

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Hannah R. Fingerhut Editor-in-Chief

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editorial | op-ed

Monday September 30, 2013

Progress toward combating plagiarism

This year, Tufts has integrated Turnitin, an Internet-based plagiarism detection service created by the company iParadigm, with Trunk.

Turnitin operates by comparing a student’s paper to millions of other papers in a database of peer-reviewed articles and student papers submitted by other users of Turnitin. The system is paired with an advanced algorithm to detect copied words, functioning as an antiplagiarism tool. Professors who submit students’ papers to this system receive originality reports in return, while the papers are kept in iParadigm’s evergrowing database.

Upon entering Tufts, students complete an academic integrity workshop during orientation that describes what exactly plagiarism is and the university’s disciplinary punishments for it. To ensure that all students receive this information, the university makes the session a mandatory event, a wise idea — the more

students know about plagiarism and its consequences, the fewer instances there are of accidental and purposeful plagiarism. Academic integrity is a crucial value that students must uphold, so linking Trunk with Turnitin can provide many academic benefits. The link conveniently allows professors to maintain academic honesty among students. However, there are some ways that the maintenance of academic integrity at Tufts, with Turnitin as an instrument, can improve. While professors aren’t here to explicitly teach how to avoid plagiarism, students should be reminded as to which practices constitute plagiarism and have tools such as Turnitin’s “originality reports” made available to them. Being accused of plagiarism is a serious offense and should not be based solely on a computer printout. Students should have access to the report tool before submitting their papers, which will prevent the rare-butdocumented false positive reports of pla-

giarism and re-educate students on how to correctly cite sources, as well as what does and doesn’t constitute plagiarism.

In addition, students may be unaware that any personal information they may use in papers is being stored offsite on a database without their explicit permission. While there is legal precedent in favor of Turnitin from past court cases, it would be more ethical to inform the students that their work is being used in this way and encourage them to avoid revealing any personal information in their work.

It would have been better if the administration informed students of this change so that they could protect themselves and their personal information, but overall, the integration of Turnitin into Trunk is not anything to be viewed in a negative light. Any easy and inexpensive tool that accurately cuts down on plagiarism and boosts academic honesty is something to be praised.

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Off the Hill | University of Minnesota

The student-athlete dilemma

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The Minnesota Daily Editorial Board in college athletics programs, abuse The Minnesota Daily

For years, various sports commentators, newspaper columnists, players and fans have been trying to crack the student-athlete conundrum. The issue is figuring out a way for college students who participate in high-revenue Division I sports to be treated as students, with academics being their No. 1 priority, without being taken advantage of as they bring in billions of dollars to their schools.

It’s understandable that many fans and players feel it is unfair that coaches and athletics directors are paid multimilliondollar salaries while the players do not receive a penny.

The shocking extent of how winning college teams can pay off big was demonstrated when University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino bought the Louisville sports information director a $50,000 car to say thank you after Pitino’s team won the national championship. Because of NCAA rules, Pitino could not extend similar gestures to any players of the basketball team.

The problems Many Division I student-athletes receive athletic scholarships, and in many cases full rides — a big deal given today’s inflated tuition rates and the growing necessity of a college diploma in today’s workforce. However, when there are such massive financial stakes

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and corruption are almost inevitable.

When boosters of college athletics offer players cash under the table, it’s hard for student-athletes to say no. Every year, it seems, there continue to be NCAArelated scandals at various colleges and universities involving compensation deals and recruiting violations.

Earlier this month, a report by Sports Illustrated revealed shady practices within the Oklahoma State football program, including a number of star players allegedly receiving $25,000 under the table annually. Also in the report, ex-players claimed that tutors and even an assistant professor completed homework assignments for team members.

While the extent of the potential infractions at Oklahoma State is extreme, student-athletes receiving payments or having their schoolwork done for them is not uncommon.

In 1999, the NCAA gave the University of Minnesota four years of probation after it learned the men’s basketball program was involved in “widespread and intentional” academic fraud. Earlier that year, the Pioneer Press reported that a tutor had admitted to writing more than 400 papers for players over five years.

More than a decade later, it’s clear that academic fraud continues to be a problem in Division I sports.

Potential solutions Rather than try to solve the problems of college athletics by making student-

athletes more like salaried professional athletes, colleges should place more emphasis on their academics and regular student life. This can be done in a number of ways.

In June, the Minnesota Daily reported on a culture shift that led to significant academic improvement of the Gophers football team. Head coach Jerry Kill said that simply making players go to class had a big impact.

“It’s amazing what happens when kids go to class, are on time and do what they’re supposed to,” Kill said in the June article.

The Minnesota Student Association has also made it easier for players to participate in student life. Last week, the Minnesota Daily reported that MSA unanimously passed a new bylaw allowing university athletics teams and spirit squads to apply for voting representation in student government.

The NCAA, as well as a number of athletics departments, has done a poor job emphasizing the importance of academics in the lives of studentathletes. They have subsequently created a culture in which under-thetable payments and academic fraud are not uncommon.

However, coaches, administrators, students and players can change the shady culture of college athletics by demonstrating their commitment to the ideal that academic careers take priority over athletics.

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Off the Hill | University of Iowa

Walt Laws-MacDonald | Show Me The Money!

Chipotle harms farmers, agriculture

Easing into recovery

T MCT

by

Matthew Nelson Iowa State Daily

Chipotle Mexican Grill is a worldwide restaurant chain known for both its burritos and its message. According to their mission statement, Chipotle “promotes food with integrity, serving the best sustainable food and using ingredients that are raised with respect for the animals, the environment and the farmers.” Recently, however, Chipotle has, in this humble farmer’s eye, lost their integrity and is sending the wrong message.

As some of you know, or perhaps do not know, Chipotle is coming out with a new game for smartphones called “Scarecrow.” In this app, the main character is a Scarecrow who can no longer do his duty of scaring off birds from a cornfield.

With his old job gone, he must now work in a “factory,” producing processed food made from the “farm.” The point of the game is to work against the “factory farm” to provide an “alternative to the unsustainable processed food” in which his world is run by. To go along with this game and as a message of where it stands on agriculture, Chipotle made an animated video as promotion. (This video is available on Chipotle’s website.)

In the video, there are three features that are not only untrue and damaging

to farmers, but they show the misguided ideals that the leadership of Chipotle has bought into. In the beginning of the video, it shows a modern, dark, dirty city filled with factories surrounded by a barren landscape. Nothing is green, no houses are visible and it looks like a desert. This says the company believes farmers are harming their environment and decimating the Earth. No farmer in the world sets out to ruin the land they own. While I admit, some farmers are better stewards of the land than others, let’s look at it this way: If a farmer makes his living by feeding people, and his land is what makes this possible, then why would he not care for it? It is his livelihood, and without it, life as we know it wouldn’t exist.

The second is a rather disturbing scene, showing two robots injecting a chicken with a syringe full of what is assumed to be growth hormone, as after the chicken is injected, it doubles in size. What they are showing, then, is illegal. It is illegal to use growth hormones on poultry in the United States. And even if they were legal, there would be no reason to use them.

According to the University of Georgia, they “would have negative growth impacts, negative health effects and would simply not be effective.” Then why, Chipotle, is this shown in your video?

The third is the Scarecrow himself. The

Scarecrow is made to represent the average American Farmer. The farmer is no longer portrayed as he is now, a hardworking, honest, family-loving man. He is shown as a factory worker, punching in his card, boxing up prepackaged food and destroying the very environment he loves so much. Is this how Chipotle sees farmers? Better yet, is this how the world sees farmers? I would like to think not.

When it comes to keeping their word, Chipotle is beginning to lose track of honesty and integrity. Just this year, they began to serve beef products made from cattle that received antibiotics. They cited that the high costs of “organic” beef and the low availability of such livestock drove them to this decision. Farmers who raise livestock organically incur huge expenses. This is due to the high cost of raising cattle on grass, which is hard to find and not very efficient. The other costs associated with being certified organic drive many wouldbe organic farmers away.

So, Chipotle, how are you meeting your mission statement and your goals? Is your video showing “factory farms,” a barren landscape and illegal injections of chickens helping farmers? Is it so wrong that farmers wish to keep their animals alive and well through the use of antibiotics, when it’s the same purpose we use them for? I think it’s time Chipotle started helping farmers instead of hurting them.

Off the Hill | University of Minnesota

There’s more than STEM research by

Trent M. Kays

The Minnesota Daily

For those in higher education, research can feel like something they own. It becomes a calling card, central to one’s career. With the new trend of open access gaining ground, research accessibility can be a tricky issue in academic politics.

If research isn’t open access, one can request access from academics, but this isn’t dependable. This sort of access is piecemeal and asks a lot out of other academics. Even when work is published in large academic journals, it is still regulated and closed off from the general public. Arising out of this quagmire is a serious and ethically complicated question: Does the public deserve access to academic research?

On one hand, higher education and the academy exist to serve the greater community. On the other hand, researchers dedicate a lot of time and energy to work that rightly warrants value. So, who is more deserving? When it comes to federally funded research, the greater community is more deserving.

Or, so Congress seems to think.

Earlier this year, Congress oversaw the introduction of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act. This bill, FASTR, would make federally funded research freely available online to the greater public. As Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the bill sponsor, explained, “The FASTR act provides that access because taxpayer-funded research should never be hidden behind a paywall.”

I certainly agree with Wyden. It seems only reasonable that research funded by taxpayer dollars should be available to the public.

Unfortunately, I don’t think FASTR goes far enough. The issue of open access is a prickly one for some researchers. FASTR

fails to adequately include humanities and social science research.

The primary focus of the bill is on STEM-related (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) research.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, as our country is obsessed with STEM at the moment.

The focus is not just in title, as the act focuses on agencies with large expenditures — more than $100 million — that overwhelmingly include STEM-related research institutions.

However, STEM fields aren’t the only fields that conduct federally funded research. It doesn’t matter what field a researcher is in. If research is conducted with federal funding, it would need to be open and free to the public within six months of publication.

But, open access is part of a larger problem within higher education. I suppose it has to do with how we want to see universities and higher learning institutions. To me, it seems reckless and disingenuous to not make available research to the greater community. This includes humanities and social science research.

State universities are expressly culpable, especially land-grant institutions.

Land-grant universities were founded with the express goal of serving the community in which they exist. This includes land-grant employees as well.

Research in any college should be available to the community in which it was conducted. Otherwise, what’s the point?

There are some who would resent this openness. For whatever reason, some feel that their work exists only in a selfish “mine” mentality. I understand this feeling well. We work and obsess over our work, so it is only natural for it to feel as if we are the only ones who could understand it. But this is simply

an illusion.

Indeed, what Wyden signaled with the naming of FASTR is that humanities and social sciences research doesn’t matter in the same way as STEM research.

Tragically, research done in the humanities and social sciences is nothing more than a sideline of musings. It’s infuriating but not unexpected.

As a researcher — one who often straddles both the humanities and STEM — I can’t think of one reason to not have my research published in open-access venues. Perhaps my idealism rules me, but it seems to me that it’s my duty to let the community that supports me know what I’m doing and why I think it’s important.

Therein lies the problem: Articulating the importance of one’s research can be tremendously difficult. Many will say they’re contributing to the body of knowledge. Okay, but what does that mean, exactly? I think there is value in all research, but I also think there is value in being able to articulate its importance.

I appreciate what FASTR will do, but it’s not enough. The U.S. government can’t mandate that all research be open access because they don’t fund all research. But do higher education and the academy really need someone to tell them to let the community in? Are higher education and the academy that self-interested?

Humanities and social science research has value. Among other things, it clues us into the suffering and beauty in the world. It encourages us to change what we can. However, the value of research is lost when it lives not in the public and with the community, but in closed-off academic journals that few will probably ever read.

If higher education and the academy truly valued research, it would be available not just to the privileged few but to all of humanity.

he Federal Reserve controls the stock market. This may sound like a bold statement — and it would have been an even bolder one just a few years ago — but it has rung true since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2007.

As the major indices rise and fall with every note of optimism or speech of caution, the Federal Reserve’s influence becomes more and more clear. So, what does the Federal Reserve do?

The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States — essentially, it controls the flow of money around the country.

The Fed is a totally separate entity from the Treasury, which collects taxes and issues debt. Unlike the Treasury, the Fed cannot be used by the U.S. Government as a policy tool.

Congress cannot go to Chairman Bernanke and ask for looser monetary policy. Instead, the Federal Open Market Committee — a 12-member group within the Fed (four of whose members cycle in and out yearly) — decides how to control the government’s monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve has three main policy tools: open-market operations, the discount rate and the reserve requirement. To oversimplify, open-market operations and the discount rate both focus on the interest rates that banks charge — these interest rates affect a chain of other interest rates, from savings accounts to home mortgages. The reserve requirement essentially dictates the ratio of capital to debt a bank must keep on hand — 10 percent would mean a bank could loan out $90 for every $100 in deposits.

The Fed’s biggest tool, however, began much more recently: quantitative easing.

The Fed first instituted quantitative easing when they had pushed their conventional policy tools to near their limit — interest rates simply cannot be lowered below zero. With the post-crash economy barely alight, the Fed needed a new source of fuel to throw on the fire.

Like most of the Fed’s expansionary policy, quantitative easing pushes lenders — banks, mortgage issuers and other wary financial institutions — to lend more money. Though quantitative easing — or QE, as the media has dubbed it — has a noticeable effect on interest rates, the program’s primary goal is to increase the supply of money that these institutions can lend out. Traditional economic theory posits that lending money will encourage investment, growth and hopefully recovery.

The market crash of 2008 drove investors away from risky assets — like stocks or mortgage-backed securities — and into arguably the safest investment available: the debt of the U.S. Treasury. Instead of holding cash reserves, which they could lend out, banks now held treasury notes. With interest rates already at a low of a quarter of one percent, the Fed pushed banks into loaning money again by purchasing those treasury notes, thereby increasing bank reserves.

The first round of quantitative easing began in November 2008, with the purchase of $600 billion in mortgage-backed securities. After “QE1” ended, the Fed felt that additional rounds of quantitative easing were needed to keep the economy going. QE2 followed, and we are currently in the midst of QE3. This round has earned the nickname “QE infinity,” since the Fed has not given an official end date for the policy.

The Fed currently purchases $85 billion in debt per month and recently put off a possible reduction — or “taper” — until at least next month.

The Fed holds more than $3.4 trillion in securities, which breaks down to $1.3 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and most of the rest in Treasury debt.

The Federal Reserve cannot force banks to lend out this money. But when faced with the alternative — slow growth and a recovery that could last decades — the Fed has decided to do everything it can to keep the economy afloat.

Walt Laws-MacDonald is a junior majoring in quantitative economics. He can be reached at Walt.Laws_MacDonald@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.

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Monday September 30, 2013

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Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

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Married to the Sea

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SUDOKU Level: Stalking the film crew as they move around campus.

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Alex: “I’m just saying — I want some ‘me time’ right now.”

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Wiley

The Tufts Daily

Monday, September 30, 2013 Services 1. Sonny’s Barber Shop. Look Good – Best Haircuts Around! 5 Minutes from TUFTS – 282a Main st.

Medford. MA. See Joe Jr. Walk in’s always Welcome! Highly Skilled Barber at Your Service! Open Tuesday- Saturday (617) 515. 2955

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Sports

Housing

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3. Large 7 Bedrooms, almost on campus. FREE Parking and Washing Machine with Dryer. 2 Bathrooms. Call 617-448-6233

classifieds policy All Tufts students must submit classifieds in person, prepaid with check, money order or exact cash only.

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

Jordan Bean | Sacked

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Christie Wu For The Tufts Daily

The Jumbos picked up two wins over the weekend of play, beating NESCAC opponent Conn. College in straight sets and non-conference foe UMass-Boston in four.

Jumbos tied for first in NESCAC VOLLEYBALL

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of the favorable schedule. “We love playing in our gym, and the support from the community has been wonderful. I think playing these early matches in a familiar and supportive environment has definitely helped build up our confidence.”

The Jumbos leave that environment behind after completing a stretch of six straight home matches. Their next game is at Williams on Friday night, followed by a Saturday afternoon game at Amherst. Both opponents figure to offer stiff competition, but coach Cora Thompson is excited to see her team prove how good it can be

New Western Conference displays talent, depth NHL

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one that wasn’t thrown off by years of expansion. The NHL achieved that goal but wound up with 16 teams in the East and just 14 in the West, but eight teams will still make the playoffs from both conferences. Among those eight, the top three in each division and two wild-card teams will make it into the postseason, setting up an MLB-like chase for the wild card that should heat up late season action.

The Eastern Conference Last year, the Bruins came out of the East by riding an incredible defensive effort throughout the playoffs, and that will likely be the key to their attempts to repeat. They’ve opened with a monstrous 6-1 preseason that demonstrated just what can happen when Tuukka Rask is in top form with Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara in front of him. They’ll be one of the favorites but will have to work hard to improve what was a somewhat middling offense last year.

In addition, they’ll struggle most with overcoming the true favorites in the East, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Although the Bruins were able to shut down Pittsburgh in the Conference Finals, the Penguins were the East’s most consistent team last year and look poised to replicate that success. With Sidney Crosby in great form and Evgeni Malkin continuing to improve, the Penguins should have the strongest offense in the league, a unit that led the East with a +43 goal differential last year.

Expect the Penguins to come out on top in the East, with the Bruins, Rangers and Flyers clustered together near the top.

The Western Conference The West is still led by last year’s champs, the Blackhawks, who paced the league with 77 points a season ago and look poised to put together one of the most realistic title defenses of the last decade. With Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane still around, it would be incredibly unlikely to see the Blackhawks experience any sort of significant drop off.

But the West is deep, and the Blackhawks will be fending off charges from a number of playoff-tested teams, including the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings possessed the puck for 56.3 percent of play last season, a number that will stay similarly high with Simon Gagne and Jonathan Bernier returning, suggesting that they will be likely to carry on their success from last year.

But the biggest threat may come from the St. Louis Blues, a team that struggled in the playoffs last year but looks ready for success this season.

Led by Alex Pietrangelo, the Blues’ defense is what will anchor this team and give it a chance against Chicago’s strong side up front. Furthermore, the Blues added Derek Roy at center in an attempt to shore up an offense that troubled them at times in the last two years of playoffs.

Although there are fewer teams in the West, the conference is extremely deep and will be full of great matchups. The Blackhawks, Kings and Blues look to be the favorites, but the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks and Ottawa Senators will be in the hunt, making for an entertaining race for the top seeds.

away from home.

“It has been nice to be home so often at the start of this season, but we are excited to take the show on the road too,” she said. “It will be fun to travel with our team while we continue to compete against some great conference and regional rivals. We will be ready when the time comes.”

Jumbos lose late lead at Bates FOOTBALL

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up a first down. And on 3rd-and-2 from the Tufts 3-yard line, with 1:17 remaining, Curit barreled up the middle to reach the marker. Two plays later, freshman Ivan Reese scored the game-winner.

“I thought we were a better team yesterday,” Civetti said. “But the better team should be the team that won — and [Bates] finished, and we didn’t.”

Remarkably, Rando broke loose on the subsequent kickoff return, reaching the Bates 41 with half a minute left. At the 11.2-second mark, Doll found Kenyon at the 25-yard line and Tufts called its final timeout. But Doll was unable to hit Cooleen in the end zone, and then, as time expired, his completion to junior Zack Trause came up 10 yards shy.

It was a well played, entertaining game that went down to the wire, and in the process the Jumbos displayed their identity on offense while benefitting from months of preparation on defense.

“For the first time here in a long time, knowing what it was like to be ahead and to be in a position to win a football game legitimately was there,” Civetti said. “It was different than [the overtime loss against] Colby last year. [We] legitimately earned the opportunity to win the game.”

Coming away empty-handed stung for the Jumbos, and the five players interviewed all agreed that moral victories are nothing to strive for. Still, Tufts came awfully close to shocking the NESCAC world.

Next week, if they continue to move forward in their home opener against 0-2 Bowdoin, the Jumbos may finally get the kind of win that counts for something.

Writing the unwritten

s happens several times a year, a benches-clearing brawl occurred in a baseball game this past week.

Often the instigator in the fight has broken an unwritten rule. Wait, you may ask, how can you start a fight over something if it’s not actually a rule?

Great question. The answer is that I don’t know. This particular incident involved a player watching his home run a little too long and mouthing off to the players on the field.

This is after earlier in the season he was hit by a pitch by the same pitcher. Brian McCann decided to take the situation into his own hands by physically confronting the offender, Carlos Gomez of the Brewers, and refusing to allow him to cross the plate.

My response when I saw the video consisted of two parts. First is that if a pitcher doesn’t want a player to show him up, don’t give up a home run. Good advice, right? Second was what gives Brian McCann the right to decide that Gomez’s actions were wrong and deserved to be challenged before touching home plate?

Is McCann the moral police on the field?

Does he get to decide what’s right and wrong between the lines? Unwritten rules allow for different interpretations of the same play. It makes something out of nothing and leaves everyone worse off for it.

Major League Baseball services such a diverse selection of players that it’s nearly impossible to have everyone on the same page with these “unwritten” rules. Players span from locations such as Japan, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and from California to New Hampshire right here in the United States.

Each player grew up in a different program. They were taught the game in different ways by different coaches in different systems. Are you starting to see a theme here? Each player comes from a different background with a unique way of playing the game — but they’re all expected to know the same unwritten rules.

Even the rules that are supposedly known among the league aren’t agreed upon. How long is too long to watch a home run? Is it three steps? Four? A pitcher can hit a player after his teammate is hit but can’t admit it after the game or he’ll get suspended?

Baseball players are too sensitive to other players celebrating an accomplishment. This problem doesn’t happen in the NBA or NFL. When a player hauls in an impressive touchdown catch, he celebrates with his teammates while the defense heads to their bench looking for a way to stop them next time.

After a momentum-changing three-pointer or monster dunk, the players on one team will get excited while the other team looks the other way as if it didn’t happen.

Yet, when a baseball player watches a home run it all of a sudden gets personal. The other team has to get revenge by starting an argument or hitting him next time up. They feel the need to complete the cycle of the unwritten rules.

Let me write out a simple message to the league. If you don’t want a team celebrating on your field, don’t let them win. If you don’t want a player showboating a home run, don’t let him hit it. Yes, I understand that they’re not trying to let them hit a home run or clinch a playoff berth, but accept that the player got the best of your pitch or team and move on.

A rule book is established for a reason.

It allows a sense of order in a game that is usually moving at high speeds. Respect and enforce the rules that are written. Reject the notion that there are additional rules that aren’t. Until next time, those who try to enforce these so-called unwritten rules — you’re sacked!

Jordan Bean is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at Jordan.Bean@tufts.edu.

Sports

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tuftsdaily.com

Football

Late touchdown drive spells Jumbos’ demise at Bates by

Aaron Leibowitz

Daily Editorial Board

Tufts lost at Bates on Saturday.

The streak extended to 25 games. A loss is a loss.

But this one felt different.

FOOTBALL (0-2 Overall, 0-2 NESCAC) at Lewiston, Maine, Saturday Tufts 3 Bates 14

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3 — 16 6 — 20

The Jumbos played better than they have in three years, and for much of the game, they were the better team.

Ultimately, the Bobcats drove 96 yards and scored the goahead touchdown with 42 seconds left to win, 20-16. With one more break, Tufts would have prevailed. There have not been many times since Sept. 25, 2010 when you could say that.

“I think we definitely took a step in the right direction,” fifth-year tight end Nick Kenyon said. “There are no moral victories, but I think you could take a lot away.”

Junior Jack Doll broke a school record for completions in his third career start, converting 46 of 67 passes for 397 yards. In the third quarter, Tufts outscored Bates 10-0 to pull within one point, 14-13, as Doll led successive drives of 94 and 71 yards.

After struggling in the Jumbos’ 52-9 defeat at Wesleyan in Week

1, Doll proved Saturday that he’s the right man for the job. He hit Kenyon seven times for 97 yards, junior Greg Lanzillo seven times for 84 yards, sophomore Jack Cooleen nine times for 69 yards and freshman Mike Rando seven times for 37 yards.

Any questions about Doll’s ability to lead the offense were answered.

“He works tirelessly during the week,” head coach Jay Civetti said of his quarterback. “His energy, effort and focus are beyond expectation. It was great for him to get a little bit back.”

Doll, ever humble, credited his teammates.

“We have so many good receivers and so many guys that can catch the ball,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who it is; I have confidence that they’ll catch it and that they’ll be in the right spot.”

Meanwhile, Lanzillo and Cooleen each had the best performance of his career. Like Doll, they were quick to point out the depth of the Jumbos’ receiving corps — 11 different players caught a pass on Saturday — but Civetti suggested that those two guys in particular had a chip on their shoulder after a quiet performance at Wesleyan.

“They took that first game personally,” Civetti said. “We don’t really talk about the past, but I told them it was okay if they kept a couple things in their back pocket. I think that was evident.”

It was a tale of two offensive styles at Garcelon Field on Saturday: While

Tufts’ no-huddle attack approached 400 yards passing and rushed for just 80, Bates’ triple option rushed for 317 yards and threw for 96.

On the opening drive of the fourth quarter, with the Bobcats leading 14-13, the Jumbos marched from their own 33 into Bates territory. After Kenyon made a nineyard catch, Bates sophomore Tucker Oniskey pried the ball loose; it bounced 15 yards forward to the 18-yard line, where Kenyon eventually fell on it.

Three plays later, freshman Jackson Bockhorst nailed a 27-yard field goal — his third of the day — to give Tufts a 16-14 lead.

Bates responded by moving into Tufts territory, but the Jumbos earned a stop to set up a 37-yard field goal try. Senior Charlie Donahue had hit his last 11 attempts, but this one was tipped and came up short.

On the ensuing possession Tufts was forced to punt, and freshman Willie Holmquist hit a beauty to pin the Bobcats back at their own 4-yard line. Down by two, Bates had 6:25 to score.

To that point, Bates’ longest drive had been 48 yards. But the heavily favored Bobcats executed when it mattered most.

On 3rd-and-6 from the Bates 30, sophomore Patrick Dugan hit senior Kevin Davis in stride along the left sideline, inside the Tufts 40. Then, on 4th-and-2, senior Ryan Curit broke a couple of tackles to pick

Oliver Porter / The Tufts Daily

Despite coming up just short against Bates Saturday, the Jumbos look forward to their home opener against Bowdoin this weekend as an opportunity for the first win of the season.

see FOOTBALL, page 11

Inside the NHL

Volleyball

Tufts takes two wins, sweeps doubleheader by

Tyler Maher

Daily Editorial Board

Tufts volleyball won both of its games this weekend, improving its record to 11-4 overall and moving into

VOLLEYBALL (11-4 Overall, 3-0 NESCAC) at Cousens Gymnasium, Saturday UMass-Boston 25 18 7 7 — Tufts 18 25 25 25 —

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at Cousens Gymnasium, Saturday Conn. College Tufts

MCT

Captain Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins will look to avenge last year’s early playoff exit at the hands of the Bruins when they take the to the ice on Thursday.

Realigned NHL gets under way by

Marcus Budline

Daily Editorial Board

Since 1998, no team has repeated as Stanley Cup Champion. So much depends on a hot hand in goal or a surging offense that the regular season winds up as a prelude to the long stretch that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But with the pucks set to drop on Tuesday evening, the Daily is here to break down the storylines heading into the season and take a look at which squads will play a part in determining the 2014 champ.

Realignment Before looking at how the teams stack up, it’s key to examine just who they’ll be competing against and how the schedule will play out. This offseason, the NHL went through with its delayed realignment plan, splitting into just four divisions over two conferences: the Atlantic and the Metropolitan in the East and the Central and Pacific out West.

The goal of realignment was to line up teams within the same time zone and to make a more logical schedule, see NHL, page 11

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a tie for first place in the NESCAC with Williams College.

The Jumbos swept Connecticut College in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, needing just three sets to dispose of the visiting Camels and remain undefeated (3-0) against NESCAC competition. The third set was the closest, with Tufts rallying from an early deficit to edge Conn.

College 25-23 and finish off the sweep.

Junior Hayley Hopper totaled a whopping 15 kills — no other Jumbo had more than seven — and distributed them evenly with five in each set. The outside hitter also notched a teamhigh 12 digs.

The Jumbos turned in another strong performance in the second game versus UMass-Boston. After dropping the first set 18-25, Tufts bounced back to take the second set by the same score.

The Jumbos then put together their two best sets of the season, winning each one 25-7 while scoring 20 kills in 33 attempts.

This time, Tufts won behind a more balanced offensive attack. Freshman

Elizabeth Ahrens and junior Isabel Kuhel led the way with nine kills apiece while Hopper added eight more to her impressive total. The trio got plenty of help from sophomore setter Kyra Baum, who compiled 32 assists to go with her eight digs and two aces.

Kuhel, who made an immediate impact after returning from a 15-day injury absence, said the UMass-Boston game was her favorite part of the season so far.

“They are a great team and have given us a lot of trouble in the past,” Kuhel, the middle hitter, said. “We proved to ourselves just how much we can accomplish if we play consistently at a very high level.”

The Jumbos’ play has been consistent through the first half of the regular season, as the team has not lost consecutive matches so far. Many on the team believe their strong play is linked to the stellar chemistry that formed during the preseason, a bond that has only grown stronger as they have gained more experience with each other on the court. Captain Virginia Clay, the team’s lone senior, praised the ability of her teammates to come together and play as a unit.

“I think one of our biggest strengths this season is our dynamic,” she said.

“We get along very well, and there’s definitely a strong sense of cohesion on the court when we play. Communication and competitive energy have also been incredibly important to our success, and we’re constantly working to excel in those areas every time we step out onto the court.”

Clay also credited the boost felt when playing at home in Cousens Gym, where Tufts is 7-2 so far.

“It’s been awesome being able to play at home this month,” Clay said see VOLLEYBALL, page 11