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tuesday, october 9, 2012

VOLUME LXIV, NUMBER 21

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Biology Department Somerville unemployment rate adds Boston Ave. facilities rises over summer months

by Julia

Evans

Contributing Writer

The Department of Biology’s new space at 200 Boston Ave. is nearing the end of construction, offering faculty and students expanded space and capabilities for collaborative research.

The overall construction on the fourth floor space is complete except for small renovations, such as the installation of new outlets, according to Michael Doire, research coordinator at the Advanced Technologies Laboratory in the new space.

The new laboratories boast state-of-the-art equipment such as centrifuges and two new tissue culture rooms, he said.

Though construction was previously scheduled for completion by the end of the summer, it will now be finished by the end of the fall 2012 semester, according to Juliet Fuhrman, associate professor and chair of the Department of Biology.

Three faculty members moved into the facility over the summer, and seven more will over the course of the next month, she said.

“The moving process is a struggle as we work to maintain strong connections with undergraduate and graduate students, but we want to get students excited about the potential for new research opportunities,” Fuhrman said.

The recently inaugurated Tufts Collaborative Cluster on Genome

Structure and Developmental Patterning will utilize the new space, she added.

“The laboratory is for people who are directly collaborating around the themes of cognition and development,” she said. “The goal was to design a space that promotes collaborative research.”

In addition to providing space for research projects, the new facility will hold graduate and higherlevel undergraduate biology seminars, according to Fuhrman.

“We have invested an endless amount of planning to make people feel comfortable as they move in,” Fuhrman said. “Also, the space is flexible to expand and contract as research and collaboration moves forward.”

Having an expanding department in the limited amount of space in Barnum Hall’s Dana Laboratory had been tough, according to Fuhrman.

“Maintaining high quality research programs has been very difficult in the past 20 years,” she said.

The new facilities not only offer an enhanced space for research but have also allowed the program to hire two new faculty members, according to Doire.

“There was certainly a mismatch in the growing number of faculty and amount of available

see LAB, page 2

by

Menghan Liu

Daily Editorial Board

Tufts seniors planning to stay close to school after graduation and live in Somerville will enter a workforce with a rising unemployment rate, according to statistics recently released by the state.

Somerville’s rate of unemployment rose to 4.5 percent this summer from 3.8 percent in May, although the city continues to have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the greater Boston area.

This increase is likely due to the seasonal adjustment that occurs during the summer, such as the influx of new graduates who enter the workforce, according to Somerville Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Stephen Mackey.

He added that compared to the national unemployment rate, which averaged 8.2 percent over the summer months, Somerville is doing relatively well on the employment front.

“Even if [the unemployment rate is] 0.01 percent, it means there are some people out there that are suffering,” Mackey said.

“But aside from the human story of any that are unemployed, the statistical story is often best viewed through a comparative lens ... in that regard and com-

GIS program becomes available to more undergraduates by

Xander Landen

Contributing Writer

The Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning (UEP) this fall is offering its first exclusively undergraduate Introduction to Global Information Systems (GIS) course due to persistent academic interest and flexibility in the operating budget, according to Barbara Parmenter, a lecturer of GIS courses in the UEP. Tu f t s’ A rc h a e o l o g y, International Relations and Environmental Studies programs, with approval from Dean of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger-Sweeney, expanded the GIS program to make it more accessible to undergraduates since graduate students usually fill GIS classes quickly during registration, Parmenter said.

GIS classes provide students with a variety of skills, including how to use and design maps and how to analyze data from geo-spatial technology, according to Parmenter.

“Students really seem to

Zhuangchen Zhou / The Tufts Daily

The Introduction to Global Information Systems course is for the first time being offered to undergraduates exclusively. enjoy GIS,” she said. “They tend to become invested in their graphics and spend a lot of time making them perfect. It’s also a class offered here where there’s no writing involved, which provides

a change of pace from other courses.”

Lecturer in the Center of Interdisciplinary Studies Carl Zimmerman, who teaches the

Inside this issue

see GIS, page 2

Wikimedia Commons

The unemployment rate in Somerville rose from 3.8 to 4.5 percent over the summer. parison, you have to draw favorable conclusions.”

In August, Somerville’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent from 4.5 percent. Only Winchester, Arlington and Cambridge had lower rates, at 4.0, 4.2 and 4.2, respectively.

Alison Harris, director of communications at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, provided a positive outlook, explaining that even with this summer’s spike,

over the course of the last year Somerville’s unemployment rate has lowered.

“Over the year, the unemployment rate in Somerville is down 1.0 percent from 5.3 percent in August 2011,” Harris told the Daily in an email. “The estimated number of unemployed residents is down 431, while the estimated number of employed residents is up 819.”

As the most densely populated see SOMERVILLE, page 2

TCU Senate awaits TCF constitutional changes, discusses video security The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate at its meeting last night discussed the suspension of the Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF) student group, as well as the upcoming installation of video security cameras on campus.

Judiciary Chair Adam Sax, a senior, updated the Senate on the Judiciary’s negotiations with TCF, which had its official recognition suspended following the discovery of TCF constitutional causes that violate the non-discriminatory clause of the TCU Constitution.

The clauses in question require that any TCF member wishing to run for a leadership position within the group abide by a series of evangelical tenets called a Basis of Faith. The Basis of Faith clause in TCF’s most recent constitution mimics a similar doctrine used until 2000 by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, a national group that TCF is a part of.

The Judiciary recommended that TCF remove or revise clauses within its constitution’s bylaws, which are legally binding, and move the offending parts to the group’s mission statement, which is not.

“The group can pick who they want to pick, but it can’t be explicitly stated in their constitution that the leaders need to fulfill basic requirements of the Basis of Faith,” Sax said at the meeting yesterday.

The Judiciary yesterday had not yet received word from TCF on whether they intend to implement the changes. Sax said if an agreement cannot be reached, the Judiciary would officially derecognize TCF. The Senate discussed a resolution opposing the Tufts University Police Department’s (TUPD) use of security cameras on the basis that it would violate students’ privacy and would not have a substantive effect on security on the Medford/Somerville campus. The resolution was remanded to the Senate Rules Committee so it can be reevaluated and brought up again at the meeting next week.

The Senate approved an allocation of $1,703 from the supplementary fund to the African Student Organization to cover travel expenses requested by the student step team BlackOut for travel to a competition in Tennessee this month.

The body also approved $118 to the Tufts chapter of Liberty in North Korea for tabling costs, a documentary screening, speaker fees and fundraising, as well as $250 to Students for Justice in Palestine to contribute to fees charged by Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions Jeff Halper, whom SJP hired to speak at an event on Oct. 10.

—by Martha Shanahan

Today’s sections

The issue of student loans is a pressing one for young voters in this presidential election.

“Babel” is a solid sophomore effort for Mumford & Sons.

see FEATURES, page 4

see ARTS, page 7

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Op-Ed

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Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

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Students benefit from undergraduate GIS instruction GIS

continued from page 1

undergraduate GIS 101 class, believes it is important for those with an interest in the program to get a taste of it as early as they can in their academic career.

“I think it’s useful for students to take this course,” he said.

“It’s a way of looking at the world through spatial relationships, and organizing thought.”

Zimmerman recommends that students interested in databases, computers, how humans and the environment impact the world, or how the world is organized consider taking the course.

GIS 101 teaching assistant Carolyn Talmadge noted that although the course has in the past been composed of mostly graduates, the current undergraduate group is particularly adept with the material.

Graduate students in the course are often given larger projects and spend more time learning material on their own, while the undergraduate specific course focuses on smaller projects with more discrete learning goals, she said.

Students in the class range from computer science to environmental studies majors, according to Zimmerman.

Robert Joseph, a sophomore political science major is taking GIS 101 this semester because he looks to one day start a career as an urban planner.

“This class is supremely applicable to any subject.

It’s really helpful to examine all sorts of environments using this technology, and we’re learning at a very good pace,” he said.

School of Engineering graduate Adam White (E ’09) was one of the few undergraduate stu who had the opportunity to take the introductory GIS course his senior year.

“As a student who had an interest in urban planning, geography and international development, the class taught me new tools that allowed me to conduct spatial research and mapping work,” White told the Daily in an email.

“I used some of these skills when I traveled to Haiti with [Engineers Without Borders] and [Research and Engagement Supporting Poverty Elimination] the summer before my senior year to map assets and challenges in a rural community in northern Haiti.”

White told the Daily he continues to use the skills he gained from the GIS course after graduation.

“By making these classes available to undergraduates, we can have more people thinking about geography in other fields,” he said. “GIS is a way of looking at data and the world that crosses most social sciences and the natural sciences having those skills available to all sorts of different students will enable them to look at their field differently spatially.”

Visiting the Hill this Week WEDNESDAY “An Evening With Mel King” Details: Mel King, senior lecturer emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, social activist and author, will be speaking about the development of community power and social and racial justice. He will draw on his personal experience in these fields to discuss education, electoral politics, universities and policy.

When and Where: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Alumnae Lounge Sponsors: Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning; the Arts, Sciences and Engineering Diversity Fund THURSDAY “Great Neighborhoods: Achieving Sustainable Development Through Local Action” Details: Ina Anderson, partnerships director of the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance (MSGA) and coordinator of the Great Neighborhoods program, will discuss how to combat climate change at the neighborhood level, as well as MSGA’s work in greater Boston area communities.

When and Where: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.; Rabb Room, Lincoln Filene Center Sponsors: Environmental Studies Program and Tufts Institute of the Environment “Why Latinos Will Decide the Presidential Election” Details: Matt Barreto, associate professor of political science at the University of Washington and director of the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity and

Race, will be speaking on the voting patterns of Latinos and how this will affect the presidential election.

When and Where: 12 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.; Alumnae Lounge Sponsors: Department of Political Science and the Latino Center SATURDAY “Tufts Lecturtainment Weekend Presents Bo Burnham” Details: Comedian Bo Burnham will be performing as a part of Tufts’ Lecturtainment Weekend. Tickets are available in the Mayer Campus Center for $10.

When and Where: 8 p.m.; Cohen Auditorium Sponsors: Tufts Lecturtainment Board SUNDAY “Tufts Lecturtainment Weekend Presents Jon Lovett” Details: Jon Lovett, comedian and former speechwriter for president Barack Obama, will be discussing the upcoming election and the relationship between comedy and politics. Tickets are available in the Mayer Campus Center for $5.

When and Where: 8 p.m.; Cohen Auditorium Sponsors: Tufts Lecturtainment Board

―­—compiled by Jenna Buckle

meagan maher / the tufts daily

Street musicians convened this weekend at the HONK! Festival, which merges street performance and activism annually in Davis Square. For more photos and coverage of the weekend’s festivities, head over The Tufts Daily’s blog, Jumbo Slice, at blogs.tuftsdaily.com.

Small Somerville businesses provide employment opportunities SOMERVILLE

continued from page 1

city in New England, Somerville boasts a 34,000-member workforce that outnumbers its 21,000 available jobs, according to Mackey.

The city’s largest employer is the City of Somerville, while Tufts University and Cambridge Health Alliance clock in second and third, respectively.

Despite its own limited job base, Somerville’s urban location near Boston has historically given its population closer access to major employers and opportunities, Mackey said.

“During the week, most of the people leave Somerville to go to work,” he said, pointing out that businesses in nearby Cambridge offer 100,000 jobs.

Even so, Mackey said that Somerville continues to be viewed as a present and future small-business haven.

“That’s remarkable because it’s lived in the shadow of Boston and Cambridge,” Mackey said.

Many of the companies in

Somerville related to technology, engineering and communications hire fewer than 100 employees, according to Mackey. Although these small businesses hold promise for college seniors on the job hunt, often only bigger companies are on the radars of graduating seniors, he added.

Ngonidzashe Madungwe, a senior chemical engineering major, said he would prefer a smaller work environment but does not know where to look for those job opportunities.

“The job listings I see are usually the big companies, the ones that are actually established and advertised,” Madungwe said. “I haven’t ever actually seen a local ad for a company in Somerville.”

Mackey noted that Somerville is still recovering from the 2001 and 2008 financial crises, like the rest of the region and nation.

“It’s been a sluggish and worrisome recovery for some time now,” he said.

Despite global economic challenges, Mackey maintains a posi-

tive outlook about employment options in Somerville and its surrounding neighborhoods.

“We believe that Boston and Cambridge will continue to be important places in the region and world economy, and that Somerville offers a 21st century work style and lifestyle that young people and entrepreneurs are searching for,” he said.

Director of Career Services Jean Papalia also expressed optimism about potential employment opportunities for Tufts’ graduating seniors, even beyond Somerville.

“Tufts graduates seek jobs across the country and throughout the world,” Papalia told the Daily in an email, adding that she believes the recent fluctuation in Somerville’s unemployment rate will not impact the class of 2013.

Madungwe said he would consider searching for a job in Somerville.

“In terms of costs, staying away from the big city would be good,” he said. “Getting a job around here would be much easier in terms of commuting.”

New Boston Ave. biology lab offers space for collaborative research LAB

continued from page 1

space,” he said.

Barry Trimmer, professor of biology and director of the Neuromechanics and Biomimetic Devices Laboratory, permanently relocated from the Dana Laboratory to the second floor of 200 Boston Ave. in January. He agreed that the limited lab space in Barnum was a hindrance to the growing department.

“It has been hard to carry out first-class research in the Barnum laboratory because there is no space for equipment, vibration problems and 3-D printing,” Trimmer said.

The faculty members contributed to the design and construction of the facility, Fuhrman noted.

“Throughout the summer, the faculty members attended long meetings and worked side-by-side with the construction company to maximize the overall utility and efficiency of the new space,” she said.

The new facilities are designed to the standards of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification, according to Program Director for the Office of Sustainability (OOS) Tina Woolston.

The Department of Biology consulted with the OOS during the design

process to ensure that the standards of LEED Gold were met, Doire said.

Sophia Gordon Hall is the only other building on campus that meets the requirements for LEED gold, according to Woolston.

“While Somerville does not stipu-

late LEED regulations for new buildings, the prospect of having new facilities on the Tufts campus that meet the standards for LEED goal is a really great if students want to get involved in certification advocacy,” Woolston said.

Courtney Chiu / The Tufts Daily

Construction on the Department of Biology’s new laboratory space at 200 Boston Ave. is set to finish by the end of the semester.

The Tufts Daily

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

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HOST FOR THE ADMISSIONS OFFICE!

The Voices of Tufts Diversity Experience October 25th-26th An overnight program for prospective students interested in learning about diversity on campus

Volunteer to host at the Student Outreach website, webcenter.studentservices.tufts.edu/admissions/outreach/ hostsignup.asp?voices If you have any questions, please contact Naiara Souto at Naiara.Souto@tufts.edu

calling artists!

The Tufts

Africana Studies Program

is looking for a piece of original artwork with Africana themes for the Africana Studies October Celebration.

The piece can be in the form of a large art display/banner/poster; it must be at least 24x30 inches and should be wieldy. This is a wonderful opportunity to affirm and publicize your artistic skills!

Prizes:

짜 Winning Entry displayed prominently at Africana Studies events 짜 Winner announced at the Africana Studies October Celebration 짜 Winner Invited to the Africana Studies October Celebration 짜 Jumbo Cash Award

Entry Deadline is Friday, October 12th, 2012 Contacts: Program Director: Paula Aymer- paula.aymer@tufts.edu Program Assistant: Ursula Griffiths-Randolph- ugrandolph@gmail.com

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high Overwhelmingly student debt proves significant campaign i$$ue

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by

Lily Sieradzki

Daily Editorial Board

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or many students, the beginning of each academic year brings more than just new classes, new professors and new living spaces. It also adds the weight of tens of thousands of dollars in student debt. Student loans are a crucial tool in the face of huge and rising tuition prices, but the inevitable outcome — substantial debt — creates a crippling financial burden on large numbers of young people.

According to a March statement by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, total outstanding student loan debt has reached one trillion dollars, topping most other forms of consumer debt. As college tuition costs continue to increase and the economy remains unstable, more students take out loans, on which they subsequently default. According to the Federal Reserve Board of New York, of the 37 million student borrowers nationwide with outstanding debt, more than 15 percent have at least one loan account that is past due.

Tufts students are not exempt from this trend. Tufts does not offer need-blind admissions, meaning that admissions officers are aware of the number of prospective students seeking financial aid to an institution whose tuition and fees have inched up over the years.

Tufts’ total cost for the 2012-2013 academic year sits at over $56,000, placing it among the country’s priciest universities. According to Director of Financial Aid Patricia Reilly, close to 40 percent of Tufts students graduate with some form of student loan debt. The average total debt from both Tufts and federal loans and grants amounts to nearly $17,000, Reilly said.

Junior Walker Bristol sees the tangible effects of those statistics.

“Personally, I’m really fortunate [because] I won’t have extraordinary debt when I grad-

uate,” he said. “But I have some friends who will [graduate with] enormous debt.”

Senior Benjamin Serrano receives financial aid in the form of loans and grants from the federal government, as well as loans from Tufts.

“I need financial aid to attend Tufts,” Serrano said. “I wouldn’t be able to go here otherwise.”

Student loans can be broken down into three broad categories: federally guaranteed loans distributed through banks and other lenders, federal loans distributed directly by the government (Stafford loans) and private loans. The government also distributes grants, known as Pell grants, to low-income students.

with the fact that it’s a very expensive thing to provide higher education.”

According to Portney, the federal government has two options for lowering college costs: subsidize them further, which would add to the already enormous federal deficit, or cut college programs. Neither of these choices seems feasible, he said.

“If you want your tuition to be lower at Tufts, it can be lower, but then you’ll have to cut departments, you’ll have to cut faculty, you’ll get a lesser education,” Portney said.

“I’ve been on various budget committees at Tufts and there’s not a lot of fat on the Tufts budget, it’s a very lean budget.”

During his term, President Barack Obama has made several changes

BERNITA LING FOR THE Tufts Daily

Information gathered from the Tufts University Fact Book compiled by the Office of Institutional Research and Evaluation.

In 2009, the Obama administration pushed the House of Representatives to pass legislation that would increase federal direct loans and cut out banks as the middlemen for lending.

Professor of Political Science Kent Portney said that despite encouraging measures like these and talk from both Democrats and Republicans about making college affordable and easing student debt, the fundamental problems remain unresolved.

“I think the rhetoric that you hear coming out of Washington far outstrips anything that’s being done,” he said. “Nobody that I’ve heard in Washington has come to grips

to help students with their loans and debt.

According to his official website, these include the Income Based Repayment (IRB) plan, which lets students cap their required monthly loan payments at 10 percent of their income, and Public Service Loan Repayment, which forgives all student loans within ten years for those working in public service fields.

Portney explained that Obama’s apparent commitment to easing the burden of student debt, as well as the pre-existing tendency for younger voters to vote Democratic, could work to his advantage in next month’s election.

“I think it’s pretty clear that the Obama campaign has tried to mobilize young people, college students, around issues of financing higher education because it’s such a salient issue for so many people,” he said.

“Almost from the day he took office, he tried to make sure that this was his issue, that he would own this issue.”

Bristol agreed that student loans have increasingly become a decisive campaign issue for many students.

“The student vote goes naturally to the left, but as students grow more and more disillusioned with they way things are, there are people who are voting based on student loans,” he said.

The campaigns of Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney both emphasize their commitment to higher education, with goals such as higher graduation rates, reduced costs and financial support.

However, each candidate proposes methods that are drastically different.

Some of Romney’s proposals include restoring the role of private lenders in federal student loans, simplifying student aid by cutting education tax benefits, instating stricter limits on federal grant eligibility and cutting IRB and loan forgiveness programs such as Public Service Loan Repayment. Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s congressional budget plan would restrict eligibility for Pell grants, preventing up to one million lowincome students from receiving this aid.

“Ultimately, I think the Republicans and Romney tend to see the federal [student loan] program as part of big government and they want to cut that,” Portney said. “If you look at the Ryan budget, there are substantial cuts to federal student loans, to Pell grants. So how will students be affected? It will be harder to get loans.”

Meanwhile, Obama signed legislation in 2010 that expanded direct government lending and has proposed increasing the maximum Pell grant amount in line with inflation and rising tuition costs. This sum-

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Higher education costs and resulting increases in student loan debt prove to be a heavy burden on students across the country.

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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

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Tumbling through Tufts

H BERNITA LING FOR THE Tufts Daily

According to the Federal Reserve Board of New York, the outstanding student loan balance has reached $870 billion, which now exceeds other forms of consumer debt. Total automobile loan balance is $730 billion and total credit card balance is $693 billion.

mer, Obama pushed a measure through Congress that prevented interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans from doubling from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.

Romney has also made controversial remarks surrounding student debt. Last spring, he told Ohio students at a campaign stop to “take a risk, get the education, borrow money from your parents if you have to, start a business,” a quote since reapportioned by the Obama campaign as a point of contrast between the sitting president and his Republican rival.

In the Massachusetts race for Senate, the respective positions of Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren fall mainly according to party lines. Brown (LA ’81) opposed the bill stabilizing interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans, a bill for which Warren has voiced support.

According to Portney, the rise of tuition costs is an economic problem that cannot simply be stopped by either a Romney administration or a second Obama term.

“Even if Obama is elected, I think that trend is going to continue. The best Obama can do is slow down that trend,” he said.

“The only thing that can stop this is if Congress and the state legislatures realize the shortsightedness of what they’re doing and start to subsidize higher education.”

As they stand now, high costs, loans and formidable amounts of debt are all issues that will continue to impact students across the country, even influencing career choices. Senior Lecturer of Education Steve Cohen said that many college students feel compelled toward high-income jobs as a way to deal with their debt.

“I would never say that I’m the spokesperson for your generation, but as I look at kids that have come through my classes and my own kids, I would say there is real pressure for a lot of students,” he said.

“You’ve got to get a job that’s well-paid, and that’s really hard, and that does limit options.”

Portney agrees, attesting that the values of the coming generation of young professionals are impressionable.

“As a cohort, as a generation, you will be saddled with huge debt,” Portney said. “It means that every college student will feel the pressure to go into a profession where they can make more money rather than less money ... That has implications for the character of our society.”

Serrano, who is majoring in English and plans on becoming a teacher, said that he has received incredulous reactions to

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Source: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York

his liberal arts major and relatively lowincome career goal.

“I keep getting told, ‘Oh, you’re doing English, that’s risky,’” he said. “When people hear vague majors like that, they say, ‘You’re not going to be able to get a job that will let you pay off your loans because your major won’t give you a real job.’”

Cohen cited his experience talking to many students who aspire to become teachers and the obstacles they face.

“Some of them actually have very little parental support for that, because they say, ‘Well you’re a teacher, how’re you ever going to send your kid to a place like [Tufts]?’ which is not a bad question -- it’s really hard,” he said.

According to Bristol, looming debt and a poor job market are overwhelming for many students, as they seem entirely out of individual control. “[There are] these unfeasible expectations,” he said. “People always say, ‘The young people, the students, they’re going to build the economy back up’ — how can we possibly maintain those expectations?”

Both Bristol and Serrano are in the process of applying to graduate school, which can add a huge amount of debt because most graduate schools do not offer need-based financial aid, according to Reilly. Graduate students do not receive subsidized federal loans, meaning that their interest is constantly accruing, Reilly said.

“What’s sometimes scary is when we have graduate students in the arts and sciences that are getting master’s [degrees] and Ph.Ds in fields that might not be as lucrative, and they’re borrowing a lot of money,” Reilly said. “Those are the students I worry most about, because they don’t have a lot of financial aid and they are borrowing $40,000 or $50,000 a year, in order to get a degree that might not get them a job.”

However, Reilly explained that relatively few Tufts students who receive federal aid default on their loans. The Cohort Default Rate, or CDR, is a government program that calculates the percentage of students at a given school defaulted on their federal loans. The national CDR is around eight percent, while the Tufts CDR is 0.8 percent.

Tufts offers several financial aid programs to help students manage their loans and pay off their debt, according to Reilly.

The Loan Repayment Assistance program gives aid grants to Tufts graduates who

work in public service and are paying off their student loans. Tufts has also recently teamed up with American Student Assistance to offer a new program called SALT, which gives students online tools for debt management and financial literacy.

This program can help calculate how to incorporate paying student loans into a student budget.

Yet the bottom line is that the high cost of tuition simply prices out low-income students, Portney said.

“There is a dominant view in this country that, although you hear all this talk about the importance of education both to our individuals and to our economy, when you cut through the nonsense, all they’re really saying is if you can’t afford a college education then don’t get a college education,” he said. “The idea that everyone who’s qualified should get a college education, that is long gone.”

Bristol also expressed frustration at the unequal playing field when it comes to college debt and paying it off.

“That’s the narrative of the American dream — you go to college and then you climb up the social ladder. It’s an image of equal opportunity,” he said. “[But] people aren’t coming from the same opportunity to pay off their debt, people aren’t treated the same when it comes to student loans.”

Tufts is not immune to these larger societal inequalities, according to Portney.

Although Tufts switched to a need-blind policy in 2007 and 2008, the Office of Admissions reverted back to need-aware admissions in 2009.

The change did not hold because it was established as a “spend-down program,” University President Anthony Monaco told the Daily in an article published last April.

The funds for the program came from a large donation to the university and once they were exhausted, need-blind admissions were discontinued. Monaco estimated last spring that to practice entirely need-blind admissions, Tufts would need $400 million of endowment strictly allotted for the program.

Portney feels that as a result of needaware admissions, the university only accepts students within a certain financial range in order to meet its annual operating costs.

“Tufts doesn’t admit poor people,” Portney said. “It’s hard for us to acknowledge that sometimes, but Tufts doesn’t admit poor people because they can’t pay the bill or even a portion of it.”

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BERNITA LING FOR THE Tufts Daily

ave you ever searched the tag “Tufts” on Tumblr? The results are a portal into the worlds of freshmen who post endearingly about experiencing their first college classes, learning the meaning of the word “recitation” and nervously auditioning for campus groups like Hype and Shir Appeal. That search will also show you the blogs of students at Tufts studying abroad in their junior years and even the alumni who decide to dedicate a post to fondly reflect on their years at their alma mater. As voyeuristic as it may sound to navigate the personal pages of your fellow yet unknown Jumbos, I can’t help but feel connected to these people in a powerful way.

Danah Boyd, author of “Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites” (2009), argues that social media is so alluring not because of the technology itself, but because of the way it connects us to other people. We do not check our Tumblr newsfeeds for the novelty of using an advanced algorithm that collects posts from separate blogs and merges them onto a single page all for our convenience. We use Tumblr and similar platforms to bring us closer to what is going on in the lives of those we care about and feel tied to.

For those of you who are not familiar with how Tumblr works, it is a micro-blogging platform where you can post images, videos, music and texts. Basically, if it is too big to tweet and too short for a substantial blog post, you would post it to your Tumblr.

I use Tumblr as a means of keeping up with fashion, music and food, as well as a way of glimpsing into different people’s lives. I enjoy it because it is a visual and easy way of collecting photos as well as searching through tags.

That is not to say that Tumblr is without fault. Tumblr’s concept of liking and reposting easily buries the identities of the creative sources of content and removes the pressure of posting original work.

Essentially, one can simply download a photo and then repost it as his or her own. Some have argued that the rise of social media has led to fewer incentives for people to be creative on their own when it is much easier to go online and consume all that is readily accessible. Why bother to spend the time to sit down and try to express myself when I can just repost a series of photos that I like?

Tumblr can feel like an ambush of filtered vintage photos, of the latest celebrity playlists, of candid photographs of fashionably dressed people.

Basically, these blogs become magazines of many separate topics without any of the editorial component.

But seriously, all conflicts aside, I highly recommend that you check out tumblr.com/tagged/tufts. A few days ago a fellow Jumbo had posted an animated gif of Dumbledore dancing, with a caption that read, “GUYS I MADE THE TUFTS COMPETITIVE QUIDDITCH TEAM!!!!!”

But my favorite posts by far are those of high school students who post on Tumblr about how they are anxiously waiting to receive their acceptance letters to Tufts. They remind me of how happy I was when I myself got that letter — the beginning to the journey that has ensued over these past four years.

I may not know the name or recognize the face behind whoever’s Tumblr it is that I am reading, yet I connect with that stranger’s excitements and anxieties of being a Jumbo, because we’ve all been there too.

Yuri Chang is a senior majoring in international relations. She can be reached at Yuri.Chang@tufts.edu.

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Arts & Living

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Album Review

Mumford & Sons branch out on ‘Babel’ Band backs gripping lyrics with complex instrumentation by

Kate Griffiths

Daily Editorial Board

English folk rockers Mumford & Sons shot to fame after touring their debut album “Sigh No More” (2009). Coming

Babel Mumford & Sons

Glassnote Records from the burgeoning folk scene in London, the band soon proved that it was more than apt at delving further into this genre of music. Renowned for their use of banjos, mandolins and other conventional folk instruments, Mumford & Sons emit a rich, fully satisfying sound on each song.

Their new album “Babel” is a progression from Mumford & Sons’ debut in both mood and instrumentation.

“Sigh No More” was a glorious cacophony of haunting and evocative songs, with lead singer Marcus Mumford’s voice weaving in and out of the music with meticulous care. “Babel” is less about the buildup; the songs no longer leave you edging forward in your seat waiting for that moment when the instruments all crash into tune together. Instead, that combination is there from the beginning, making the songs satisfying, but somewhat less so, as they are less reliant on careful buildup.

From the first song, it is clear that the sound on this album is massively different. Mumford & Sons were never famous for their upbeat and cheerful lyrics. In fact, Marcus Mumford draws inspiration from mildly depressing novels such as “The Grapes of Wrath” and “East of Eden” by John Steinbeck and various works of Shakespeare.

The band draws on classic texts for gripping and moving lyrics, and it also looks classy while doing so — waist-

UrbanicaMX via Flickr Creative Commons

“Babel” sees Mumford & Sons growing musically while retaining their hallmark sound. coats, ties and tweed are a trademark, and pleasing, look for the band.

The first song on the album is the title track, “Babel,” and it sets a triumphant tone for the album. Resonant guitars and Mumford’s joyous vocals establish a completely different atmosphere than any song the band has previously made. “I never lived a year better spent in love/ Cause I know my weakness, know my voice/ So now believe in grace and choice,” Mumford sings before following his delivery up with a whoop of joy.

Film Review

‘Pitch Perfect’ hits all the right notes by

Natasha Jessen-Petersen Contributing Writer

As far as comedy is concerned, “Pitch Perfect” (2012) is a knockout and manages to achieve what recent

The next song, “Whispers in the Dark,” is slightly more reminiscent of previous Mumford & Sons work due to its quiet introduction while Mumford sings over a guitar. However, as the song progresses, more and more instruments are added until the banjo is jittering away in the background. “I Will Wait” is a commanding listen, the chorus of which should be listened to on full volume for the complete effect of Mumford’s voice and the backing trumpet. see MUMFORD, page 8

TV Review

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ premiere resolves cliffhangers by

Akshita Vaidyanathan Contributing Writer

“He’s not going to die.” “Don’t die. Please.”

These words dribbled from

Pitch Perfect

Grey’s Anatomy

Starring Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Rebel Wilson Directed by Jason Moore

Starring Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh, Justin Chambers Airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC

college comedies have generally lacked: humor.

The storyline revolves around the exploits of a college a cappella group.

Although it can be superficial at times, the film resonates with the audience because of the surprising depth of its characters and the creative talent working behind the scenes. Kay Cannon, the Emmy-nominated writer of NBC’s hit series “30 Rock,” successfully weaves together a script that simultaneously mocks the ridiculous nature of a cappella competitions while acknowledging the importance of their development within the musical world.

Director Jason Moore furthers the powerful script by drawing on the musical successes of shows such as “Glee” and simultaneously trying to contemporize

the genre. Additionally, the musical sets are entertaining, clever and deliver a soundtrack that is just as compelling as the film itself.

Based on the book of the same name

by GQ senior editor Mickey Rapkin, “Pitch Perfect” humorously details the innards of the competitive collegiate vocal world. Rapkin’s nonfiction book chronicles Tufts’ own Beelzebubs, along with a cappella groups from

desperate viewers’ lips as they watched the season premiere of “Grey’s Anatomy.” With the start of the show’s ninth season, viewers were taken along on a whirlwind of heartache. Although they were more than likely relieved to find that most of their favorite characters were still alive and kicking, “Grey’s Anatomy” fans despairingly had to bid adieu to some of the characters they have grown to love and adore over the past eight years.

In last season’s finale, many of the protagonist doctors — Meredith (Ellen Pompeo), Derek (Patrick

see PITCH, page 8

see GREY’S, page 8

Rubenstein via Flickr Creative Commons

NBC writer Kay Cannon has woven an a cappella classic with her latest screenplay.

Joe Stile | BASSic

Seeing sounds

A

few days ago, Adele released her hotly anticipated single for the latest James Bond film, “Skyfall”.

Although some movie singles are exceptional despite being completely unrelated to the film they appear in — remember that R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” was written for “Space Jam” (1996) and Aaliyah’s “Are You that Somebody?” was first put out on the “Dr. Dolittle” (1998) soundtrack — there is a unique magic to songs that find a way to incorporate aspects of the movie they’re written for.

Adele’s voice is a perfect aural representation of the archetypical Bond girl.

On “Skyfall,” it’s sultry and seductive with an alluring coldness. She sounds like a Siren when she sings, “You may have my number, you can take my name/ But you’ll never have my heart.”

In two lines, Adele captured the Femme Fatale persona better than Lana Del Rey could on an entire album. You can try to love her, but you’re going to get hurt in the process. She is incredibly tantalizing, despite her warnings.

A lavish, seventy-seven piece orchestra helps Adele create a bold, sweeping soundscape. The song has the feeling of a major motion picture score; it even starts off with a dramatic horn crescendo before dropping into a more piano-based ballad. It creates an atmosphere that instantly transports the listener into the Bond universe.

The song accomplishes this transcendent effect partly through its inclusion of samples from the original James Bond theme song, which was written by composer John Barry for “Dr. No” (1962). The song’s lyrics also help — they were cowritten by Adele and Paul Epworth, who worked on her Grammy-winning record “21” (2011).

The words start off as a semi-story that quickly draws the listener in. It’s like being thrown into the middle of an ongoing movie, as the listener is told that things are crumbling around him. The earth is shaking, but he’s going to be okay because Adele is standing strong by his side.

The lyrics are sensationalized at times and the love is over-the-top, but it all works well because it connects Adele’s highly emotional style with powerful images that preview the newest Bond film.

The song does a good job balancing Adele’s performance and its previews of the film. The echoing of Adele’s lines by the background singers in the chorus is reminiscent of popular songs from the early 1960s, when the Bond films started to become a Hollywood staple. It also mirrors the chorus of Adele’s biggest hit, “Rolling in the Deep,” where the background singers chant behind Adele, “You’re gonna wish you, never had met me.”

This song, like many of Adele’s songs, has a retro feel, which adds layers to “Skyfall” by hinting at the long line of Bond films throughout the ages without ever pandering to the legacy or feeling outdated. Overall, the effect gives the song and its presentation a classy, timeless feel.

After the record-shattering success of “21,” it would seem that whatever Adele did next could never possibly live up to the debilitating hype that that type of achievement creates. This is exactly why following “21” up with the Bond theme song is such a smart move, as it takes some of the pressure and expectations off Adele and puts them on the film, instead. “Skyfall” is about Adele, but it’s just as much also about the Bond franchise.

“Skyfall” is a single that’s engaging in its own right and that will also draw attention to the film, which is the most anyone could ask of a movie’s theme song.

Joe Stile is a political science major and English minor. He is a senior and can be reached at Joseph.Stile@tufts.edu.

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The Tufts Daily

Arts & Living

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

‘Grey’s’ takes risks in sentimental ninth-season premiere GREY’S

continued from page 7

Dempsey), Cristina (Sandra Oh), Mark (Eric Dane), Lexie (Chyler Leigh) and Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) — were in a shocking plane crash that yanked viewers straight of their seats. Grey’s fans shed copious tears as Mark declared his eternal love for Lexie while the life slowly left her eyes. Since Mark and Lexie were one of the couples that viewers constantly rooted for during previous seasons, Lexie’s sudden death definitely crushed the hearts of many “Grey’s Anatomy” lovers.

Following her death, the season ended with Arizona getting trapped under the plane wreckage, Derek enduring horrible arm injuries and Mark nearing death due to his severe heart issues.

One thing is for sure: Shonda Rhimes, the show’s creator, certainly knows how to end a season.

After an arduous four-month wait, season nine’s premiere takes place 30 days after the plane crash. In the aftermath, Mark lies in an unresponsive coma, Meredith has turned into an austere attendant feared by all the interns who call her “Medusa,” Derek’s arm has just healed, Cristina works in a hospital in Minnesota and Arizona is nowhere to be found.

The distressing episode is peppered with succinct moments of hope and joy.

We see that Doctor Bailey’s (Chandra Wilson) relationship with Ben ( Jason George) is flourishing and she has gained the comical nickname of BCB — which stands for Booty Call Bailey.

When this “new” Bailey is compared to the Miranda Bailey from season 1 of “Grey’s,” one can see how much her character has developed over time. She has developed from a tyrannical resident to a loving fiancee.

Additionally, the premiere introduced viewers to this year’s new Seattle GraceMercy West interns, who will certainly be playing a larger role since many major characters were lost last season. There were definite glimmers of hope and moments of happiness in the premiere. Like the introduction of the interns, these glimmers all predict that the rest of this season will not be as depressing as the first episode. Still, you

keeptvnow via Flickr Creative Commons

“Grey’s” left audiences guessing Doctor Arizona Robbins’ fate after last season’s finale. really never know with Shonda Rhimes.

Each episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” reminds the viewer that Rhimes is masterfully good at creating unyielding tension. Throughout the episode, viewers remained in the dark as to the eventual fate of Mark Sloan as well as the whereabouts of Arizona Robbins.

Arizona’s death is a possibility, as Callie (Sara Ramirez) loses her temper and weeps in the ever-dramatic storeroom of the SG-MW hospital at one point in the episode.

On top of all of that, Derek’s hand

Music and humor blend harmoniously in ‘Pitch Perfect’ PITCH

continued from page 7

the University of Virginia and the University of Oregon, but the film fictionalizes Rapkin’s story as it explores the underground, competitive a cappella subculture.

Oscar-nominated Anna Kendrick stars as Beca, an aspiring DJ forced by her professor father to attend the fictional Barden University in Carolina.

Though the story of her parents’ recent divorce is underdeveloped, Beca uses the divorce as an excuse to rebel against a conventional college experience, much to her father’s chagrin. Eventually, he promises her that if she gives Barden a legitimate chance, he will consider allowing her to drop out and move to Los Angeles to pursue her dreams of becoming a DJ. In an attempt to appease her father, Beca auditions for the old-school and outdated all-girls a cappella group, The Bellas.

From the start, The Bellas are cast in the shadows of the immensely popular all-male a cappella group, the Treblemakers. Loosely based on Tufts’ Beelzebubs, the Treblemakers are bold and contemporary, a direct contrast to the more conventional Bellas. In an attempt to modernize the group, Beca suggests that The Bellas use her mashups to give the girls a competitive edge. What ensues is an intense rivalry between the two a cappella groups and a forbidden romance between Beca and Jesse (Skylar Astin), Beca’s coworker and a Treblemakers member.

Since Jesse wants to write music scores, he decides to work together with Beca at the school’s radio station.

Over the course of the film, their love for music translates into a friendship that encourages the two to discover

the importance of music through the a cappella world.

Each member of The Bellas has a distinct personality, and the eclectic group really only comes together when its members harmonize and sing. Though each of the girls has her moments of quality comedy, it is Rebel Wilson — starring as the self-named Fat Amy — who shines above the rest. Rather than joke solely about her weight, she creates a powerful and confident character that delivers a number of clever punches and strong one-liners along the way. Wilson really is the highlight of “Pitch Perfect.” Her dynamic acting cements her place as one of Hollywood’s top comediennes.

That said, not all of “Pitch Perfect’s” jokes hit the right note. For instance, Beca’s roommate, Lilly (Hana Mae Lee), a quiet girl who embodies a number of Asian stereotypes, says a couple of things that are uncomfortable and offensive.

Though the film often crosses the line between clever humor and discomfort, “Pitch Perfect” still manages to deliver most successful jokes that comment on contemporary issues.

“Pitch Perfect” is exactly what young comedy desperately craves: a clever, cool film that provides jokes without following the cliche plotlines ubiquitous in recent comedies. The characters are not continually intoxicated and the girls have fun even when they’re not at a party. Furthermore, the movie’s romance is of secondary importance to everything else happening with Beca and The Bellas.

Early on in the film, Jesse proclaims that “endings are the best part.” This statement does not hold true for “Pitch Perfect” — the best part happens to be the entire film.

trembles during a surgery, implying that it will never fully heal. Finally, Cristina and Meredith have yet to recover from their traumatic experience, thus resulting in their inability to travel anywhere.

All of these dramatic subplots culminate to build tension that you could cut with a knife.

This season premiere of “Grey’s Anatomy” ends on a shockingly miserable note, making it clear that Rhimes seems to enjoy suddenly terminating some of her major characters. The show’s most beloved male character, George O’Malley

(T.R. Knight), died in season five and this year audiences have lost a lot more.

Killing off main characters is a huge risk.

But the show has transfixed fans for eight years, so Rhimes must be doing something right.

If this first episode was any indicator of how the rest of the season will pan out, this year of “Grey’s Anatomy” is definitely going to be heart-wrenching and emotional, with many moments of both delight and sorrow. It is likely that by the end of the season, viewers will be drowning in their own sentimental tears.

Mumford & Sons’ ‘Babel’ expands on trademark sound MUMFORD

continued from page 7

“Holland Road” and “Ghosts That We Knew” both tone down the upbeat guitar to focus more on the bare bones of Mumford’s voice over a keening piano. Toward the end of the latter song, the band members harmonize while they sing, “Hold me still bury my heart on the cold/And hold me still bury my heart next to yours,” proving that it isn’t just lead singer and band title inspiration Marcus Mumford who has vocal talent.

The next few songs, while enjoyable, do not stick out as much as the beginning and end of the album. “Hopeless Wanderer” is where the album picks up again: a song with beautiful harmonies and an intense conglomeration of guitar and banjo, although it has an unfortunate pronunciation of “fast” during the chorus. “Broken Crown” harkens back to the sound of “Sigh No More,” starting with a plain-

tive guitar and Mumford’s imposing vocals clearly taking ownership of the song as he sings “So hold my hand/ Consign me not to darkness.”

For an album that was highly anticipated worldwide, the overall sound might be slightly disappointing for those who were expecting a carbon copy of “Sigh No More.” Although the album lags slightly in the middle, most of the album’s twelve songs are single-worthy and stick with you after listening.

This sort of music that relies so heavily on various instruments sounds its best at as loud a volume as your speakers can realistically manage, so if Mumford & Sons have never struck a chord with you, just try turning it up.

This band has dug out a niche for itself in the music industry and taken ownership of popularizing this style of music. So far, Mumford & Sons have been immensely successful.

Ultra 5280 via Flickr Creative Commons

Lead singer Marcus Mumford’s passionate vocals are a highlight of “Babel.”

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

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editorial | op-ed

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Editorial

Obama’s plan for student loans a better solution

Student loans are a hot-button issue in this year’s presidential campaign. In last week’s presidential debate, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney proposed only slightly different solutions on topics like energy, health care and private sector job creation, yet the pair of candidates possess almost opposite views on Pell Grants, Stafford Loans and the system of student debt and student loans in general.

Evaluating the candidates’ plans side-byside, Obama’s plan for student loans promises to be best for college students.

Romney’s plan, entitled A Chance for Every Child, seeks to restore the roll of private sector student loaners, effectively reversing Obama’s attempt to cut them out of the process. Rather than utilizing direct government loans, Romney seeks to channel government money into rewards for private loan offices like banks that offer reduced rates. Romney’s plan also supports devoting less to government-issued loans for higher education institutes and more to vocational schools, online education and private on-the-job training. Failing that, there’s Romney’s now-notorious advice from a few months ago on the campaign

trail: to “borrow money, if you have to, from your parents.”

According to a speech Obama made in May, the President believes that “higher education can’t be a luxury — it’s an economic imperative that every American should be able to afford.” Obama seeks to reduce reliance on private sector loans and, perhaps most importantly, create a safety net for college graduates working in a public service field. Obama’s pay-as-youearn Income Reimbursement Plan caps monthly loan repayment at 10 percent of one’s income — which is crucial, considering the difficulty of landing a high-paying job fresh out of college in today’s job market.

Obama’s plan also includes a 20-year loan forgiveness plan, wherein students with outstanding debt 20 years after graduation who have promptly paid their monthly loan repayments can have their debts erased.

Although the Congressional Budget Office’s website says removing banks as the middlemen will save taxpayers around $58 billion dollars over the next decade, Romney still believes that having banks intimately involved and receiving rewards is the best way to tackle the issue of student loans. The

problem with that notion — and his plan in general — is that it does not place students as the priority. By lowering the amount of the Pell Grant and raising the monthly repayment cap, Romney makes it clear that his allegiance lies not with students, but with lenders.

On the other hand, Obama has made it clear through his policies and re-election platform that the way to improve the job market and the country lies in the hands of our youth — a group that cannot spend or innovate if it is drowning in debt from banks, which by and large do not provide long-term forgiveness plans. By removing the subsidy to banks, Obama’s plan simplifies the process and provides a better safety net for students.

The Nov. 6 election could spell out big changes for Jumbos, who attend one of the most expensive universities in the nation.

On average, Tufts students graduate with $17,000 in debt, but perhaps increased federal grants and protection from overwhelming debt can help assuage those fears.

Viewing the facts, it’s clear that Obama’s student loan plan empowers the student more than Romney’s does.

Louie Zong

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Off the Hill | University of Houston

Veteran still suffers cruel punishment by

Nick Bell

The Daily Cougar

Pfc. Bradley Manning made headlines in 2010 when he was arrested for the leak of around 250,000 private documents concerning operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to the website WikiLeaks, known for its mission of transparency in government. Manning was arrested on May 26, 2010 and has been under U.S. military detainment ever since.

Recently, Manning’s defense attorney, David Coombs, filed a motion stating that Manning’s charges should be dismissed because his right to a speedy trial has been completely violated.

“As of the date of this motion, Pfc. Manning has been in pretrial confinement for 845 days,” Coombs said. “With trial scheduled to commence on Feb. 4, 2013, Pfc. Manning will have spent a grand total of 983 days in pretrial confinement before even a single piece of evidence is offered against him.”

Whether he is labeled a whistleblower or a cyber terrorist, the handling of such a nonviolent criminal case by the military’s judicial

system is absolutely horrendous. The underlying motive for journalists and the press is to inform an otherwise uninformed democratic society so people within can choose their political candidates accordingly.

Never in the history of the U.S. has any administration utilized the Espionage Act so frequently as President Barack Obama’s administration, and the exponential expansion of information into the hands of people through technology undoubtedly plays a role in the increase of these cases.

It’s ironic that Manning’s imposition of restraint could be more than 630 days before the trial for exposing the espionage acts of our government and then get charged as a spy. We are entering a new age where government officials cannot protect their classified information from the people, and we are starting to see an increased vigilance among the Internet community as a form of civil disobedience. Users’ understanding of the Internet is increasing at a remarkable degree. The advances have been rapid, and it’s getting harder for anybody, including our government, to hide anything.

Manning’s case proves that Internetrelated activities are going to fall under everincreasing scrutiny until it is no longer a forum for the people. Granted, Manning most likely had animosity toward the military and his peers because of the treatment toward his alleged “gender confusion,” as the military calls it. Wherever his motives to leak the information came from, Manning kept the military’s over-reaching arm in check.

The crimes blatantly committed on the videos are far worse than anything Manning has done, but none of these personnel were convicted or tried for any of these crimes.

This case will undoubtedly set a precedent to decide how much the government can get away with in regards to military operations and prisoner detainment. While the media tried to generate ad revenue off other stories like the Trayvon Martin case, the Manning case fell to the wayside. It’s easy to get the public riled up over issues like race, but getting the public riled up against the military-industrial complex is against the corporate conglomerates’ and governmental institution’s interests.

Correction P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

In the article “Weekender | Talking drugs with the king of psychedelia” that was published Thursday, Oct. 4, it was stated that Shulgin’s Aleph series had caused multiple deaths due to the drugs’ enzyme inhibition correct. In fact, this effect is actually true of Shulgin’s 2C-Ts; there are no known deaths associated with Shulgin’s Alephs.

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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

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Op-Ed

Why we need an individual mandate by

Craig Frucht | Road to November

Magic

Ariel Branz and Adam Shoemaker

Health care is a basic human right, and though the United States is still miles away from equity of access, “Obamacare” is a necessary step in the right direction. Romney’s explanation of his alternative plan in last Wednesday’s debate seemed to be, “Let’s keep all the good parts of Obamacare, but leave it up to each state to do what it wants.”

The problem with this approach is that states may choose not to legislate an individual mandate, a controversial component of Obamacare that requires everyone to purchase health insurance or else pay a penalty. Among those exempt are people with financial hardship whose incomes are below the tax-filing threshold and for whom the cheapest plan costs more than eight percent of their income. Romney’s website cryptically addresses the individual mandate, stating that we must “end tax discrimination against the individual purchase of insurance.” Translation: He doesn’t like the individual mandate but doesn’t quite want to say so. The real question worth asking, though, is not about the individual mandate. It is the fundamental question: Is access to health care a basic human right? If it is, the individual mandate is necessary.

Here’s why: The biggest challenge to equal access is providing coverage for the poor.

Without health insurance, people with low incomes tend to have more health problems because they lack access to preventive care. Their problems become so severe that they often end up in emergency rooms, incurring high costs that they are unable to pay. The poorest are covered by Medicaid, but the others place an enormous burden on hospitals, and in turn on taxpayers.

For this reason, the individual mandate is particularly aimed at low- and middle-income people to make sure

I

MCT

they obtain insurance coverage. If they have a medical disaster, the high costs fall on insurance companies, not on the individuals or taxpayers.

People buy insurance because medical emergencies and costs are unpredictable. Health insurance companies can only pay these costs by covering a large and varied population, most of which is healthy at any given time. The larger the healthy population is, the lower the premiums will be. If there is no individual mandate, some healthy people may choose not to buy health insurance because they don’t want to pay the premiums. They would rather risk getting sick.

In this scenario, there is a smaller pool of healthy people, so the insurance company must raise premiums to continue to cover the costs of the sick. If premiums go up, more healthy people decide to drop their coverage and this cycle, known as the death spiral, continues. In the private health

insurance market, the plan goes out of business.

The individual mandate makes sure most people have health insurance, creating a large pool of healthy customers that drives down premium costs.

Furthermore, by increasing preventive care, it makes people healthier, thereby reducing the burden of avoidable hospitalizations on taxpayers. This allows the government to allocate its resources to programs such as Medicaid that provide insurance for those who cannot otherwise afford it. If the United States is to catch up to most other highincome nations in protecting the right to equitable access to health care, we need to keep the individual mandate.

Ariel Branz is a sophomore majoring in community health. She can be reached at Ariel.Branz@tufts.edu. Adam Shoemaker is a sophomore majoring in community health. He can be reached at Adam.

Shoemaker@tufts.edu.

Off the Hill | Harvard University

Aftermath of the first presidential debate by

David Freed

Harvard Political Review

Two days have gone by since the first presidential debate. Since, we have political pundits decrying Obama’s passive tactics, a new Twitter account for Silent Jim Lehrer and a series of Big Bird memes.

Public backlash was strong against Obama, and commentator Andrew Sullivan even suggested that Obama might have lost the election Wednesday night. However, when sorting through these myriad opinions, it is important to use a historical viewpoint and to also view the debate with perspective.

Yes, Romney won. While Obama effused confidence in his plan and maintained a calm demeanor, there was something listless about his movements all night.

Perhaps unaware that, for the first time, debates would be viewed on split-screen television, Obama spent much of the night looking down and taking notes while Romney was talking. He was unprepared for Romney’s blatant denial of Obama’s assertions that the plan Romney champions would add $5 trillion to the deficit through tax cuts for the rich, repeating it as though stunned when Romney insisted this wasn’t the case.

To his credit, Romney — who trailed Obama in the polls coming into the night — played the attacker from the beginning and went after the President’s record on issues from the economy to energy policy.

He was animated from the onset and nothing, not even moderator Jim Lehrer, stopped him from a harrowing attack on Obama’s record. The aggression was borne out of desperation; Romney had steadily been falling further and further back in the polls since the Democratic National Convention, and nothing truly positive has bolstered his campaign since.

Yet, if the expectations for Romney had not been so low coming into the debate, would we have been all that surprised?

The knock on Mitt is his inability to empathize with his constituents -- his comments about the “47 percent” refueled criticism that he is out-of touch -- but he displayed a talent for debating during the Republican primaries. His one gaffe, offering to bet Rick Perry $10,000 on an outcome, was tactless but displayed his comfort on the stage.

You could have watched this debate without sound and proclaimed him the victor, much as you could during the Republican primaries. Here Mitt looks more comfortable than at formal functions; his body language is positive, and his expression reflects his eagerness for confrontation. Obama’s reputation as a great orator is well deserved, but Romney is no slouch in this department. Had we come into this debate acknowledging Romney’s skills, perhaps the result would not have been so shocking.

Similarly, it is important to acknowledge the nature of the first debate. The discussion topics — the economy and health care — lent themselves to a discussion of Obama’s record. They are major topics in the election, no doubt, but topics that Obama was unable to turn into a discussion of Romney’s history. Phrases like “the one percent,” “Bain Capital” and “the forty-seven percent” were conspicuously absent from the president’s lexicon as he abstained from a full-on attack of Romney’s record.

The first debate routinely goes in favor of the challenger, and there are two more to come. In the meantime, Obama will likely regroup and prepare to come out focused and on the attack from the first question. In the first debate, as The

Atlantic’s James Fallows writes, challengers are “elevated simply by being matched on equal footing with the president.”

Obama was also forced to publicly argue with someone directly opposed to his views for the first time in four years, while Romney spent his winter crisscrossing the country swapping intellectual banter with Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich. While not the liberal standardbearer Romney faced Wednesday, the trio provided a diverse array of attacks on Romney’s record he quickly learned to parry and avoid.

Polling shows a wide discrepancy in the number of Americans who declared Romney the victor — as much as three to one by CNN’s estimate — but we should view these findings with caution. A simple random dialing method of polling American households still riding the emotional crest of the debate is insufficient evidence for how this will affect the race moving forward. The number of undecided voters remaining is a minute fraction of the total electorate, and few committed votes likely switched sides after Wednesday night.

Media hyperbole like Sullivan’s draws good ratings but is too preemptive. There are three more debates and, if the 67.2 million Americans that tuned in Wednesday night are any indicator, the country will be watching. Next week’s matchup of two political bulldogs in Joe Biden and Paul Ryan should set the tone for a more adversarial Barack Obama and Mitt Romney matchup the week after.

Certainly Romney outperformed expectations, but lest we forget, some were on the edge of declaring the race over as little as a week ago. The first debate favors the challenger, the second the incumbent.

This story is far from over.

don’t know what you’d call the opposite of a magic trick, but it’s what we got from President Obama last week. The same president that electrified crowds on a storybook run to the White House four years ago sucked the air out of the room in the first of this month’s three presidential debates.

But this will not be a column about Obama’s torpid performance. By all means, enough has been written already. Nor will it be a column about Jim Lehrer’s ability to moderate a debate, which can be likened charitably to Bobby Valentine’s ability to manage a baseball team.

This is a column about magic — the kind of magic that allows Mitt Romney to tell 27 lies in 38 minutes on national television and then be declared the winner of something.

When you think about the message that each candidate delivered Wednesday night, it makes perfect sense that Romney’s would be more popular. Obama’s core idea was that with hard work and hard choices, we can continue on a slow but promising path to recovery. Romney’s was that he will make every good thing that voters want to happen come true as soon as he walks into the Oval Office.

So it’s no wonder people found Romney more exciting, especially since Obama’s expression by the end of the debate looked as though he had just witnessed a wounded animal slowly die.

But if Romney’s to be believed, then it’s entirely possible — easy, in fact — to give the wealthy windfall tax breaks without adding a cent to the deficit; to turn Medicare over to private insurance companies without endangering seniors’ healthcare; and to achieve universal health coverage without an individual mandate, a government-run insurance option or any other kind of regulatory oversight.

Many Democrats complained after the debate that Romney’s positions had tacked sharply to the left. That gives him too much credit, in my opinion, because it implies at least some degree of ideological coherence.

Romney’s ideas reflected none of the realities of governing in a hyper-partisan climate or the sacrifices that are necessary for progress to occur. The only guiding principle in his positions was that they’re all popular and, when combined, utterly unachievable.

Instead of discrediting Romney’s extravagant claims, however, or at least pointing out how inconsistent they are with his past positions, most of the media — even liberal MSNBC — was content simply to contrast the two candidates’ body language and declare a victor based on it.

Then, two days after the debate, the government released its September jobs report, which showed that the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined from 8.1 percent to 7.8. Instead of celebrating this news, many prominent Republicans alleged a liberal conspiracy, not unlike the one that supposedly led to Obama’s strong polling numbers last month.

There’s no need to waste page space discussing this senseless theory. Right-wing Republicans are welcome to pretend that economic growth is only possible under a Republican administration, and they can pretend that Obama is a failure, a foreigner and a corrupt socialist.

They will also pretend that Romney magicked himself into office with the nicesounding promises he made on the debate floor last week. The polls, however, don’t bear them out: Romney gained ground, to be sure, but his numbers have already leveled off, and Obama retains a slight lead that he is unlikely to relinquish.

Obama was caught off guard last week by lies that surpassed even Romney’s standards of outlandishness. There are still two debates left in the race, and Obama is a man who, above anything, hates to lose. Next week, he’ll be armed with a more compelling vision of America’s reality, and Romney’s grab bag of vague reforms will seem feeble by comparison.

Craig Frucht is a senior majoring in psychology and political science. He can be reached at Craig.

Frucht@tufts.edu.

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OP-ED

Bare feet: just watch what you eat

My Op-Ed NADIA DI MARCO

I am currently sitting in the Tower Café mortified and surrounded by bare feet.

There is a girl to the left of me bobbing her head to the music surrounding her ears. She is completely oblivious to the fact that her bare, wiggling toes are less than two feet away from my face.

She’s not even comfortable. She keeps adjusting, readjusting and moving around.

Perhaps it’s a new trend? To my right there is another young girl resting her bare feet on the marble table.

On the table.

The very same table upon which this girl’s feet are splayed is one where I ate many a time last semester. I’m not alone in my repulsion; I see the girl sitting next to her eyeing her feet as well, but she’s just oblivious. That’s two people in a five-foot radius with zero consideration for their fellow neighbors.

When I sit on an airplane and the person (usually a kid) next to me has his or her bare feet on the tray table, I get the same feeling of disgust. I don’t understand why anyone

would think that it is okay to throw their feet about in public.

Do people like the thought of licking other’s people feet? (Let’s leave kinky cases out of this.) How about the thought of smelling other people’s feet? No, no, no! In our society, feet are known to be dirty, smelly and unpleasant; I mean come on, I don’t even want to be close to my own feet.

By the way, as I type, the girl next to me just moved her foot even closer to me!

Why don’t people get it? It is just plain common sense! You would think attending Tufts University would be enough to figure out that being barefoot in a café is not only rude, it’s despicable. It says, “I don’t care about anyone but me and my own comfort.”

Imagine going into work and putting your bare feet on your desk or going to a client’s job site, or anywhere else professional.

Imagine walking into your dean’s office and he or she has his or her bare feet on the desk.

It would never happen, because it’s not okay.

We are here to get ready for the real world.

Speaking from experience as a Resumed Education for Adult Learners student, you

can trust me, people: No one will take off his or her shoes in a professional atmosphere.

My rampage has turned into concern; these kids need to understand it’s not okay. When their rude habits leave Tufts, they’re in for a big surprise.

Is it that unreasonable to ask that people keep their shoes on in obvious places? Take ‘em off at the beach, at home or in a Japanese restaurant — I don’t care! But please keep them on when you’re next to the poor girl on the couch trying to concentrate.

And for crying out loud, please keep them off the table!

I came in here just to eat my lunch and read some books for class, but I got too distracted by disgust. To vent, I decided to write this piece. I’m not the type of person to say, “Can you please get your feet out of my personal space?” I’m shy, hate controversy and I can’t go around telling everyone I see with bare feet that they are rude and inconsiderate. I see enough people reading the paper that I figure if my rampage does get published, the bare feet people might read and understand what they are doing wrong.

And just in case you are someone who

All of my thoughts on the important issues on campus, like Dewick’s panini machines Obama for (vice) president

MATTHEW LADNER

On Monday, Will Ehrenfield voiced his support for Sen. Barack Obama in the coming Presidential campaign (“Obama for president”, Sept. 10). I too, at one point, supported Obama in his bid for the White House. He is an intelligent, charismatic man whose greatest political asset is indeed his criticism of the war from the start. And he may be the harbinger of great change to Washington. That’s why he’d be a great vice president for Sen. Joseph Biden.

I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that many people are not familiar with Sen. Biden; in fact I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that many people are not familiar with most presidential candidates, Democrat and Republican.

The media, in their attempt to focus on Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton, former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have allowed candidates such as Sens. Biden, Christopher Dodd, Sam Brownback, and former Ark. Governor Mike Huckabee to fall through the cracks. However, attention needs to be paid to these “also-rans,” because among them lies the best man to lead our country.

It is true, Biden did vote to authorize the war in 2002. When asked about this vote, Biden says that, as President, he too would have asked for the authority to go into Iraq. He simply would not have used it. It is also true that he voted for the special funding bill earlier this year, while Obama and Clinton did not. He explained this in a debate soon after, saying that he “knew the right political vote.” But he also knew that a large portion of that funding would be going to better equipment for our soldiers.

Biden is the only candidate with a viable, possible plan for post-Bush Iraq. N. M. Governor Bill Richardson wants to leave within 6 months of being inaugurated. Unfortunately, that’s physically impossible. There are simply too many men to be withdrawn in 6 months. If all of the troops are withdrawn right now, as soon as possible, we’re going

“I would like to tell you that the war is for you or for us to win. If we win it, it means your defeat and disgrace forever as the wind blows in this direction with God’s help. If you win it, you should read the history. We are a nation that does not tolerate injustice and seek revenge forever. Days and nights will not go by until we take revenge as we did on 11 September, God willing, and until your minds are exhausted and your lives become miserable.”

(Osama bin-Laden, January 19, 2006) If you feel a slight rumbling beneath you at this very moment, do not be alarmed. It is simply the collective reverberation of proud Americans from previous generations turning over in their respective graves.

Our nation has lapsed into a fit of defeatism and self-proclaimed declinism as our politicians and, more tragically, our citizens have forgotten the courage, values and resolve that propelled our country to greatness.

Even worse, we have betrayed our forefathers’ confidence in the righteousness of fighting on freedom’s behalf — a confidence that once instilled courage in the hearts of American revolutionaries despite the seeming impossibility of victory and later invigorated Allied forces fighting fascist enemies in Europe and Asia.

We are assured of America’s defeat daily in Iraq, not by our enemies on the battlefield, but by a growing contingent within the Democratic Party. It is this lot — led by Sen. Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. John Murtha and the party’s presidential candidates — who insist on the futility of U.S. military and Iraqi political efforts alike.

They insist on the rapid withdrawal of troops from battle.

They insist that staying in Iraq to fight extremism, to deter Iranian interference, to run with the current wave of military momentum and to build on popular uprisings against alQaeda throughout the country (or, what residents of the now famous Anbar province call the “Great Awakening”) is contrary to American security interests.

Sean O’Loughlin is a freshman who has not yet declared a major.

Nadia C. Di Marco is a sophomore majoring in clinical psychology.

It’s time to wake up: Iraq, jihad and America’s choice

SEAN O’LOUGHLIN

to need a lot of helicopters.

Saigon told us that much. We cannot simply up and leave. But it’s clear that staying the course and continuing the surge is not working. The notion of a “strong, central, democratic” Iraqi government is simply naïve. It will not happen in our lifetime. The Biden plan is the only option.

The Biden plan is simple.

Imagine a country with a national government, but also with distinct regions, each with certain jurisdiction, that is complementary to, yet still subordinate to the national government. If this sounds familiar, you may live in the United States of America. This is also what it says in the Iraqi constitution. The Bush administration has said that for the Iraqi constitution to be implemented, the national government needs to be strong enough to enforce security throughout the country.

But as the success of al-Anbar province has shown us, security is built from the ground up, not the top down. The Biden plan does just that.

Biden was elected senator in 1972. He has served as chair of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee. What our country needs most right now is foreign relations experience, and Biden’s got it. He is the best man, Democrat or Republican or Green or Bloomberg, to sit in the Oval Office.

For more info, please visit joebiden.com.

ANNIE WERMIEL/TUFTS DAILY

doesn’t notice the barefoot problem, be aware they are out there, so think twice before eating on a table on campus.

It is in this certainty of defeat, however, that the broader implications of a precipitous retreat — and make no mistake, bloodthirsty terrorists aching to extend their jihad would understand our withdrawal as nothing less — are lost. What is remarkable is how salient these consequences are, yet how obfuscated they become in the midst of political posturing and rhetorical pandering.

There is little question within American military circles, and on the streets of Baghdad, that U.S. forces are the dam preventing unmitigated sectarian violence and the Talibanization of Iraq.

To leave now, to abandon the progress that our troops have recently made on the security front, to simply throw the country into the wind, is to condemn hundreds of thousands, if not millions, to unfathomable misery. For the sake of comparison, think Rwanda, Darfur or Bosnia.

Interestingly enough, these are thoughts that seem to weigh insignificantly on the conscience of Sen. Obama, who indulgently lauds himself as a champion of hope. His hope is an audacious brand indeed.

The reality is that we are in the midst of the first great war of the 21st century. It is a war of ideology as much as it is a contest to be won on the battlefield. And whereas Iraq may not have been the frontline of this struggle in 2003, it is the theater of the conflict today.

On one end of the spectrum is the United States, defending the rights of ordinary Iraqis and committed to the creation of a stable ally in a region otherwise defined by dysfunctional government. While American-style democracy may never take root, Iraq still clings to the prospect of representative politics.

Amazingly, after four years of devastating violence, Iraqis continue to show resolve and an admirable determination to emerge from the shadows of despotism and terror.

At the other end of this spectrum are the existential enemies of human progress. Peddling an antiquated ideology of extreme Islam and preaching a virulent message of hatred, the warriors of Islamism draw on a totalitar-

ian vision of societal order that is, at its most basic level, a fantasy. Their unrelenting pursuit of a long-dead caliphate is glaring in its denial of modern political realities and the overwhelming power of the Western world. However, this delusional ideology sanitizes indiscriminate violence and brutality, deeming them obligatory within a framework of “defensive” jihad against Islam’s enemies.

In fomenting civil war in Iraq, al-Qaeda and its proxies seek to engender despair, inefficiency, insecurity and resentment — the air to their militant fire. We must realize the simple truth that just as Iraq is our frontline against terror, so too is it the terrorist’s against Western civilization.

After turning back the “effeminate superpower,” their next step is cleansing the Holy Lands of infidel blood and ousting a Saudi regime that is, unbelievably, inadequately Islamic. From Mecca to Egypt to Jerusalem and beyond, the caliphate is to be extended and its enemies destroyed. Thus, looking to those among us who frown at American military gains and find a perverse vindication of their anti-war politics in every truck-bomb that claims innocent Iraqi lives, we find a segment of our country definitively unprepared to face civilization’s enemies.

It is true that our predicament is a frightening one. Armed with a dangerous irrationality and a passion for martyrdom, the jihadists are decisive and resolute. There is no appeasing this enemy. There is no reasoning with it. There is no compromising and there is no coexistence.

Surrender or Persevere.

These are the only options and the choice is ours to make.

In choosing the path to victory, however, one thing has become increasingly clear. In November 2008, American voters will have to send the Democrats the very same message that must thunder in the ears of those extremists who dare to wage war against the United States of America: “You cannot win and you will not prevail!”

Matthew Ladner is a junior majoring in international relations.

OP-ED POLICY The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Friday. Op-Ed welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be no more than 500 words in length. Editorial cartoons and Op-Eds in the form of cartoons are also welcome. All material is subject to editorial discretion, and is not guaranteed to appear in The Tufts Daily. All material should be submitted by no later than 1 p.m. on the day prior to the desired day of publication. Material may be submitted via e-mail (viewpoints@tuftsdaily.com) or in hard-copy form at The Tufts Daily in the basement of Curtis Hall. Questions and concerns should be directed to the Op-Ed editors. The opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Tufts Daily itself.

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Bowdoin rushing attack too much for Tufts to handle FOOTBALL

continued from page 16

“I don’t think we made the plays,” Civetti said. “I don’t think we did a good job at the wide receiver position.”

Those outside threats have been a huge asset throughout the season for the Jumbos — last week, Dodds threw for 363 yards to eight different receivers.

But in a game where they weren’t playing from behind, those receivers just couldn’t find the pockets of space on the flanks that they’d become so accustomed to.

Junior Pat Nee led the receiving corps with six catches for 56 yards, but his play still was not enough to bolster an offense that received its first major contributions of the season from the running back position from freshman Justin Weaver.

“Justin came in and did a great job,” Civetti said. “He runs hard and works hard at it. His

running ability is fantastic.”

Weaver racked up 66 yards on 18 carries to go along with five receptions for 25 yards and a touchdown in his first playing time wearing Tufts’ name across his jersey.

But unfortunately for him and the Jumbos, Weaver’s counterpart had a far more prolific outing in what was also his first playing time of the season.

Donnarumma picked up 137 yards on 32 carries for the Polar Bears and combined his performance with 73 yards on 17 carries from his backfield-mate, senior Greg Pierce, to gash the Jumbos’ defense.

Tufts has now faced three of the top five rushing offenses in the NESCAC and has contributed heavily to those successes with their ninth-ranked rushing defense.

“The defense struggled a bit in the run,” Civetti said.

“Up front we’re so inexperienced and so young. We

played a lot of guys that hadn’t played a lot of football in the past two weeks.”

Those inexperienced players got the Jumbos close to the finish line, but instead the Jumbos saw what was perhaps their best opportunity for a win in the next few weeks slip away.

“I thought we should’ve won the game,” Civetti said.

“I thought we were the better team.”

After three games, the Jumbos stand at 0-3 and stare down the league-best Trinity Bantams at the end of this week, but Civetti remains encouraged by his team’s persistence and growth.

“I know we’re getting better, and I can see it,” Civetti said. “But sometimes we just need the ball to bounce our way. We’re not getting any of the breaks, and when we do get a little bit of a break, we’re not capitalizing.”

caroline geiling / the Tufts Daily

Freshman forward Allie Weiller scored in overtime to give the Jumbos their first conference win of the season, reviving their hopes of qualifying for the NESCAC tournament.

Jumbos get first conference win of season in overtime WOMEN’S SOCCER continued from page 16

oliver porter / the Tufts Daily

Tufts had a chance to win Saturday against Bowdoin but fell short in the fourth quarter and dropped to 0-3.

the season, and thrusting them back into the race for a spot in the NESCAC Championships.

It was an emotional victory for a young Jumbos team that has seen so much heartbreak early in the season.

“That was probably the best feeling I’ve ever experienced playing soccer,” Weiller said.

“The whole team ran onto the field, and I felt like I was being suffocated by the hugs and the happiness of every person, including my coaches. We’ve struggled to find wins and find goals, even though we are a good team, so to have that finally pay off for us inspires us to do better.”

The win was well-deserved, following a dominant second half from Tufts. The Jumbos had taken all seven corners and outshot the Camels 7-6.

Sophomore Nikki Blank had hit the post, while a shot deflected away by Conn. College keeper Natalie Signor landed in the box but away from the feet of any Tufts players.

“There was definitely frustration,” Weiller said. “Nothing was going in for us. We were there, but we just couldn’t get it into the goal. For that to happen constantly over a period of time begins to eat away at you, but we knew we were so close and that it was going to happen eventually if we kept fighting.”

The first half was more even, with the Camels getting the lion’s share of corners and shots on goal. Tufts junior goalie Kristin Wright was forced into seven saves on the day, but was never truly tested, with most of the attempts coming fairly harmlessly from distance. In the end, she earned her third straight shutout and now has not allowed a goal in 320 minutes.

“We’re feeling really good about [our defensive perfor-

mance],” Wright said. “It’s always great to come out of a game with a shutout, and even more so when you really don’t have to touch the ball because your defense is taking care of things so well.”

Coming off a three-game unbeaten streak in which they’ve outscored their opponents 5-0, the Jumbos have plenty of momentum heading into their final four regularseason games. But the hill to a spot in the conference tournament gets steeper from here.

After a non-conference game on Tuesday against Endicott, the team travels to leagueleading Williams on Saturday.

They close out their season with games at home against Hamilton and Bowdoin, currently sitting in fourth and fifth, respectively.

“We are a really good team, and we can hang with any team out there,” Weiller said. “Our record doesn’t show that, but we are much better team than what’s our paper. Our heart’s there, our effort’s there, and it’s now just about focusing and getting the goals.”

Tufts is currently tied for ninth place in the league, and will need to crack the top eight to qualify. That will require getting results in at least two of the three NESCAC matches, undoubtedly a tall task. But the team will be buoyed by its recent success, as well as its play against Amherst, a game that was much closer than its 2-0 final score.

“We definitely can come out strong against them,” said Weiller. “We know how we played against Amherst, and we know that it’s there. There were just a few unfortunate things that happened in that game. A lot of times, the scores that have come out on paper haven’t reflected how we’ve played, so we’re feeling pretty good.”

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The Tufts Daily

15

Sports

Men’s Soccer

Jumbos slump to draw against Camels Tufts only gets one point from matchup with Conn. College by

Matt Berger

Senior Staff Writer

Hoping to build on its 4-0 victory over Bates on Sept. 30, the men’s soccer team, who entered this weekMEN’S SOCCER (5-1-3 Overall, 3-1-3 NESCAC) at New London, Conn.

Tufts 0 1 0 0 — 1 Conn. College 0 1 0 0 — 1

end’s match 5-1-2 overall and 3-1-2 in league play, traveled to Conn. College on Saturday to face a Camels’ squad that was winless in conference matches with just a 0-2-3 record. Hardly an offensive powerhouse, the Camels had scored only one goal in their previous five league matches.

But this time was different, as the Camels looked impressive throughout the game and stunned the Jumbos by scoring in the 61st minute.

And even though the Jumbos responded just a minute later, tying the score at 1-1, 50 minutes of scoreless play ensued, forcing Tufts to settle for a disappointing 1-1 draw.

“With the talent that we have, we all were clearly disappointed with the result and even more so with our collective performance,” senior co-captain midfielder Rafa RamosMeyer said. “We were outworked by a very energetic and tough team that jumped on our inability to score in the first half.”

The Camels were the better team throughout the first half, outshooting the Jumbos 6-3 overall and ending the game with a 3-2 in shots on goal.

Still, neither team looked particularly dangerous offensively after the first 45 minutes of play.

First-half struggles have become a problem for the Jumbos this season.

Tufts has scored just five first-half goals, compared with 10 in the second half. The Jumbos have also produced only 43 shots in the first half, as opposed to 81 after halftime.

“We’ve definitely noticed it throughout the season,” junior midfielder Scott Blumenthal said. “We have been talking a lot as a team about how it is that we can get quicker starts, and we need to figure out how to play consistently for all 90 minutes.”

The Camels finally opened up the scoring in the 61st minute off of a corner kick from the left side. Sophomore defender Doug Garabedian took the kick and was credited with the assist on the play, as the ball swung from left to right through traffic in the box and ultimately fell to the foot of freshman defender Colin Patch, who chipped in the shot to beat junior goalkeeper Wyatt Zeller for the score.

The Jumbos responded just over

oliver porter / the Tufts Daily

Despite facing a team that had only scored two goals in conference play, the men’s soccer team only managed to get a draw against Conn. College. a minute later, however, when Blumenthal scored his second goal in as many matches.

Senior co-captain defender Pat Bauer, who earned the assist, created the chance with a strong cross into the box from his position on the left side. Blumenthal controlled the pass and chipped the ball into the back of the net to beat junior co-captain goalkeeper Casey Marini and level the score at 1-1.

“Earlier in the game, I had noticed that the back post was very open,” Blumenthal said. “I got to the back post and saw [Bauer] had gotten open at the top of the box, and he played a great ball over the top to me.”

Despite the even nature of the match, the Jumbos had opportunities to win the match at the end of regulation and in overtime. Marini made a diving save on a shot from Blumenthal with just 1:11 left in regulation, one of his six throughout the match.

In the first minute of the second overtime period, sophomore forward Maxime Hoppenot fired a hard shot from about 20 yards out but was beaten by Marini, who punched the ball over the crossbar to preserve the draw.

Conn. College also had a great chance late in the match. In the 82nd minute, junior midfielder Kevin Burt hit the post on a shot from close range. Junior forward Billy Hawkey controlled the rebound but sent the point-blank try just over the bar.

In overtime, Tufts did a good job of neutralizing the Conn. College attack.

The Camels were unable to record a

shot throughout the two extra periods.

After starting the season 4-0-0 and earning a national ranking for the first time in several years, the Jumbos are now clearly in the midst of a mid-season struggle, recording a 1-1-3 record in their last five matches against a few teams that are generally expected to finish in the bottom half of the NESCAC standings.

The biggest problem for Tufts has continued to be its offense. With the return of Hoppenot, Blumenthal, sophomore midfielder Gus Santos and junior midfielder Jono Edelman, among other scoring threats, the Jumbos might have expected to be a more dynamic offensive unit.

But besides a four-goal explosion against Bates, Tufts has scored just six goals in their other six conference matches.

According to Ramos-Meyer, the Jumbos will need to play more consistently overall to generate more scoring chances.

“In terms of going forward, we need to become a lot stronger mentally,” he said. “We need to be completely engaged in our games from the first minutes until the last.”

The Jumbos play again on Wednesday at Suffolk, a team that they trounced 6-1 last season and should be expected to handle easily once again.

Tufts’ next true test comes on Saturday, however, when the Jumbos travel to face Williams, a perennial NESCAC powerhouse that boasts a 5-0-2 conference mark this season.

Perkins’ goal sends Jumbos to eighth straight win FIELD HOCKEY

continued from page 16

into overtime because we have already played two overtime games,” Cannon said. “We just had to be patient and find a way to break through.”

Finally, the Jumbos found an opening. After Tufts broke up a Conn.

College penalty corner, they quickly pushed the ball through their transition game, finding Perkins.

The reliable senior then took charge, breaking through and launching an unassisted strike past Napolitano.

“Conn.’s goalie had a phenomenal game, and their defense was incredibly tough,” Perkins said. “With fewer players out there in overtime, we were finally able to spread the field more.

So when our defense broke up the Conn. corner, they were able to send an outlet to Missy Karp. She quickly transitioned and sent a beautiful ball into some open space, giving me a one-on-one with the goalie.”

Perkins now sits atop the team scoring leaderboard and has combined with fellow senior Lia Sagerman for 12

goals and four assists, good for fourteen points apiece.

“Our chance came when we caught Conn. in transition,” Cannon said.

“We got a quick free hit and then a couple of passes, and we were up the field. Kelsey did a really good job moving the goalie and when she realized [Napolitano] was going down and lifted it.”

With the long-awaited goal, the Jumbos surged to their eighth straight victory.

After breaking into the national Top 10 last week, the team has its eyes on the upper tier of the conference rankings going into playoff season.

Currently, No. 2 Middlebury and No. 16 Trinity have the top spots on a lock, sporting 7-0 and 6-1 records in the NESCAC, respectively.

But Tufts, which sits in a thirdplace tie with perennial powerhouse Bowdoin, has the opportunity to break through with three of the conference’s weaker teams on the backside of its regular schedule.

In the coming weeks, Tufts will play

at Williams before hosting Bates and last-place Hamilton.

While no team in the NESCAC can be underestimated, if the Jumbos continue to play to their full capabilities, they should have some breathing room heading into their final regular-season matchup against No. 6 Bowdoin.

First, however, Tufts turns its attention to a Tuesday matchup with nonconference rival Wellesley.

After an exhausting overtime game on the road, the home contest will no doubt be a relief, but the Jumbos are confident that the tests they have faced will help them heading into postseason play.

“Playing so many close games and getting so much OT experience will definitely benefit our team in the long run,” Perkins said. “When you get deep into the season and then into postseason play, every game is a battle. Every team is playing to stay alive.

Having so much experience in onegoal and tied games will help us keep our composure down the road.”

Aaron Leibowitz | The Fan

What we inherit

O

n May 11, 1996, as a wide-eyed, chubby-cheeked four-year old, I went to my first Major League Baseball game. Sitting next to me on that warm Saturday afternoon were my dad and both my grandfathers, and I watched, mesmerized, as the New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-6.

The way I watched the Mets that day, I imagine, is similar to the way my grandfathers had once watched their beloved Brooklyn Dodgers: in awe of the sights and sounds of the ballpark, overwhelmed by the crowd and, most of all, enamored of the godlike figures on the field.

Soon enough, those figures would become my heroes.

Fast forward 10 years, and my dad’s dad — my grandpa — was taking me to Mets Spring Training in Florida. There, I was on cloud nine. How could I not be? My heroes were playing baseball just a few steps away. I got as many autographs as I could, and when a player tossed me a ball, I felt like I’d hit the jackpot.

Now, jump ahead six more years, to last Wednesday. On this particular afternoon, the Mets played the final game of their 2012 regular season, defeating the Miami Marlins 4-2 to finish a disappointing year on a high note.

Also on Wednesday, my grandpa passed away.

Much like the Mets’ season — like every Mets season — his life was long, but it ended far too soon.

There were two things that I could count on my Grandpa to do every time I saw him. First, he’d give me a hug and tell me how wonderful it was to see me.

Second — and no more than 10 seconds later — he’d sum up the state of the Mets in a single sentence.

“So, the Mets just can’t score enough runs to win ballgames.”

“So, it looks like this Matt Harvey can really pitch.”

“So, this Mets bullpen has been a big disappointment.”

No matter what the observation was, good or bad, he always made it casually and with a smile. It was simply a part of his greeting, like asking ‘How are you?’ — a topic that inevitably would be addressed in greater detail once we both had a chance to sit down.

A couple of years ago, as a gift for me to use in college, my Grandpa bought me a Slingbox so that I could watch the Mets — our Mets — on my computer, even in the heart of Red Sox Nation.

Last Wednesday, with him on my mind, I sat down at my desk and turned on the game. Ike Davis, Scott Hairston and Andres Torres each hit home runs.

Ruben Tejada had three hits. Jeremy Hefner got the win and Bobby Parnell picked up the save.

Those people — the Mets — used to be my heroes.

But Mike Piazza came and went.

David Wright, my favorite player of the moment, will not be a Met forever. Even Shea Stadium is no longer standing.

As it turns out, my heroes are the three men who took me to see the Mets play the Cubs on that May afternoon in 1996, when I was wide-eyed and chubby-cheeked.

Without them, there would be no baseball. No Mets, no Spring Training, no Slingbox. And without baseball, I wouldn’t have inherited a small but significant part of my grandpa’s legacy.

Today, as a reminder of that legacy, a brick which my family bought for him a few years ago lies in the walkway outside Citi Field. It reads: “Bernie Leibowitz Our Mr. Met Love, Your Amazin’ Kids and Grandkids.”

Long after David Wright’s career is over, that brick, and that legacy, will live on.

Aaron Leibowitz is a junior majoring in American studies. He can be reached at Aaron.Leibowitz@tufts.edu.

Sports

16

INSIDE Men’s Soccer 15

tuftsdaily.com

Football

Victory slips away from Jumbos in fourth quarter by

Marcus Budline

Daily Editorial Board

Heading into this past Saturday’s game, head coach Jay Civetti’s plan for his team was simple: play smart FOOTBALL (0-3 Overall, 0-3 NESCAC) at Brunswick, Maine Tufts Bowdoin

0 3 7 0 — 10 3 7 0 7 — 17

football, play fundamentally sound football, tackle well and put yourselves in position to win the game in the fourth quarter.

The Jumbos did just that. But they still fell short.

It sure didn’t seem like the Jumbos were following his requests for smart football after the first play of the game, when a pass from junior quarterback Matt Johnson off of a reverse was picked off to start the afternoon.

But after that early throwaway, the Jumbos settled down and cured their first quarter woes to keep the game close throughout.

Although they were in good position, a tie game in the fourth quarter quickly turned sour, and a final Bowdoin drive turned the matchup into Tufts’ third loss of the season, 17-10.

The Jumbos had held down the Polar Bear offense for 55 minutes, but there was nothing the defense could do to slow Bowdoin down at the end of the game. The Polar Bears got possession at their own 40-yard line and opened the drive up with 31 yards on three quick plays,

including a 17-yard pass to sophomore tight end Matt Perlow down the middle and a 12-yard first down run by senior running back Zach Donnarumma.

After those quick gains, the Polar Bears pounded the ball with their rushing attack, slowly picking up two more first downs and punching the ball across the goal line with 2:36 to go on a run that put them ahead for good.

“We just needed a stop and we didn’t get it,” senior defensive back Sam Diss said. “There were a few times where we should’ve made a play on the ball carrier, but we let them squeak out for the first down.

They were running the ball well, and we couldn’t come up with that thirddown stop.”

Diss finished the day with a teamhigh 10 tackles to go along with an interception, but found himself questioning his success after another loss for the team.

“No matter how well you play, there’s always a point in the game where we need to make a stand,” Diss said. “We didn’t really come through with that this week, so it kind of washes the game right out the door.”

This was true on both sides of the ball, as the Jumbos struggled in crucial moments to make plays that could have turned the game in their favor. Senior quarterback John Dodds completed 21 passes, but the Jumbos accumulated only 124 passing yards, suggesting a somewhat lifeless downfield performance.

Another Week, Another Back In each of the Jumbos’ first three games this season, a running back with limited experience has been thrown into the fire. All three have answered the call.

Against Wesleyan in Week 1, it was sophomore Zach Trause who stepped up. Week 2 against Bates, it was junior Marcel Pitre. And on Saturday at Bowdoin, it was first-year Justin Weaver who took advantage of his opportunity by gaining 91 all-purpose yards, including five receptions for 25 yards.

Week 1 vs. Wesleyan

Sophomore Zach Trause

Junior Marcel Pitre

Freshman Justin Weaver

see FOOTBALL, page 14

18 rushes, 66 yards 5 receptions, 25 yards 91 all-purpose yards

N/A

all photos courtesy tufts athletics

Kate Klots

The No. 9 field hockey team rocketed to 5-1 in the NESCAC Sunday, and, as usual, it took the victory in dramatic fashion.

FIELD HOCKEY (8-1 Overall, 5-1 NESCAC) at New London, Conn.

Women’s Soccer

Women’s soccer nabs second victory by

Ethan Sturm

Daily Editorial Board

As the whistle blew for the end of regulation in its road match again Conn. College on Saturday, the situWOMEN’S SOCCER (3-5-2 Overall, 1-5-1 NESCAC) at New London, Conn.

Tufts 0 Conn. College 0

1 — 1 0 — 0

Reigning NESCAC Player of the Week and senior co-captain Kelsey Perkins notched a goal in the 85th minute to give the Jumbos a win against the Camels — their third overtime conference victory in as many weeks, extending the Jumbos’ overall record to 8-1.

As they have for the majority of the season, the Jumbos dominated possession and consistently pressured the opposing defense but showed the same inability to cash in on those advantages down the stretch.

Tufts outshot host Conn. College 24-1, and Tufts sophomore keeper Brianna Keenan made a single stop to preserve the shutout.

Camels goalkeeper Becca Napolitano, however, proved a constant thorn in the Jumbos’ side. The sophomore denied senior Rachel Gerhardt and junior Emily Cannon four shots each, making 23 stops throughout the contest to hold Tufts scoreless deep into extra time.

The Conn. College defenders, led by sophomore back Mallory Kosow and junior midfielder Andrea Hoisington, played strong shutdown defense, denying

7 rushes, 3 touchdowns

3 rushes, 3 yards, 0 touchdowns

Week 3 at Bowdoin

Daily Editorial Board

0 0

9 rushes, 47 yards 7 receptions, 57 yards 104 all-purpose yards

3 rushes, 5 yards 1 reception, 0 yards 5 all-purpose yards

Week 2 vs. Bates

Jumbos dominate Camels, finally break through in overtime Tufts 0 Conn. College 0

2012 Standout Game

Career Totals Entering Season

Field Hockey

by

The Jumbos have been out-rushed 739-135 in their three losses, most recently losing the ground battle and the game, 17-10, to the Polar Bears. But now, the Jumbos know they have plenty of depth in the backfield, a strength they can utilize against some tough upcoming opponents.

Here, the Daily takes a look at three halfbacks who have emerged from seemingly out of nowhere and made an impact on a team that has often needed a boost.

- by Aaron Leibowitz

Oliver Porter / The Tufts Daily

The No. 9 field hockey team thoroughly dominated Conn. College, but didn’t wrap up the 1-0 victory until the second overtime off a goal from senior forward Kelsey Perkins. duke it out with the Camels in extra time.

Tufts 25 penalty corner opportunities.

“It was definitely frustrating when In the first period of extra time, neiwe realized how many shots we took ther team managed to find the back and how few they had,” Cannon said. of the net. The Jumbos got three shots “But we slowly got a little closer to scor- on cage, all of which were rejected by ing and knew we were going to break Napolitano. Meanwhile, Keenan was through. Their goalie played really well. forced to come up big, making her first and for a lot of the game we just couldn’t and only stop of the day to hold things at 0-0. get a shot in the back of the net.”

After 70 minutes of regulation, the “We were definitely confident going game remained tied. In a now-familiar chain of events, the Jumbos prepared to see FIELD HOCKEY, page 15

0 0

1 0

-— 1 — 0

ation seemed all too familiar for the women’s soccer team. In a season defined by bad breaks, this game — the team’s eighth in which they had failed to score in regulation and their third to go to overtime tied 0-0 — was beginning to feel redundant.

But as the team huddled up before the extra period began, there was no sense that the players were getting down on themselves. Only one message was stressed: urgency.

“We tell each other, ‘Let’s not wait 10 minutes. Let’s get this done in the next 30 seconds,’” freshman forward Allie Weiller said. “So we took that out with us on the field.”

Words swiftly turned into action on the pitch, as Weiller received a pass and turned in space. She challenged a defender and managed to free herself up. Seizing her opportunity, she let one fly — and watched as the ball flicked off the tips of the goalie’s outstretched hand. The ball lost most of its momentum but still had just enough to trickle across the line for the decisive goal, earning the Jumbos their first conference win of see WOMEN’S SOCCER, page 14