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tuesday, november 12, 2013

VOLUME LXVI, NUMBER 44

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

Tisch College appoints alumni to board by

Alexa Horwitz

Daily Editorial Board

Three new members of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service’s Board of Advisors — Selina Chow ( J ’78), Stephen Demirjian (LA ’83) and Diane Hessan ( J ’76) — officially began their terms on Oct. 22.

According to Interim Dean of Tisch College Nancy Wilson, Chow, Demirjian and Hessan bring diverse active citizenship experience to the board.

“We look for board members who will serve as support systems of advice to the Tisch College,” Wilson said.

“The board members come from fields and backgrounds that are relevant to the work that we are doing.”

The new appointments bring the total number of board members to 27, Wilson said. Each member works to set a high standard for higher education’s role in civic engagement.

Wilson explained that, when selecting new board members, Tisch College looks for people who will serve as ambassadors for the college, provide financial support and give advice.

While the three new members happen to be alumni, members do not have to be graduates of the university to be considered for the position, she said.

The new board members come to Tisch College with different philanthropic and employment backgrounds, according to Wilson. Chow serves as board president of the Boston Chinatown Ne i g h b o r h o o d Ce n t e r, an organization that services over 2,300 people in the Chinatown and Quincy areas. Demirjian is on the Board of Directors of the Frances Ouimet Scholarship Fund and serves on the Trust Board of the Perkins School for the Blind. Hessan is a member of the Tufts Board of Trustees and serves on the boards of Panera Bread, the Advertising Research Foundation and Horizons for Homeless Children.

“We look to have a diverse board,” Wilson said. “We don’t want all of our members working for non-profits or private sector organizations. We look for a balance between males and females, conservatives and liberals.”

Wilson said she generally finds potential board members through current members who know people interested in joining. Other times, people reach out to the college with the hope of getting involved.

Hessan hopes to expand Tisch College’s impact and demonstrate that active citsee TISCH, page 2

Posner honored with Corporate Social Responsibility Award by

Abigail Feldman

Daily Editorial Board

Former Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner spoke about his work at the New York University’s Stern School of Business last Friday in the Cabot Intercultural Center.

At the event, the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL) honored Posner as this year’s recipient of the Boryana Damyanova Award for Corporate Social Responsibility.

IGL Director Sherman Teichman began the presentation by introducing Posner and his past involvement with the university. According to Teichman, Posner has twice before brought his expertise to the university to engage with students involved in the Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) and Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and Services (ALLIES) programs.

He also spoke briefly about Posner’s career and his influence on human rights policy.

“Posner has had a remarkable career of courage and integrity from his early days fighting abuses in Uganda as a student up to what he’s doing today,” Teichman said.

Member of the IGL’s Advisory Board Bruce Male (LA ’63) presented the award to Posner after describing how the award came to be. Male, who is also a Trustee Emeritus of the university, explained that the award was named for student Boryana Damyanova from Bulgaria, whom he sponsored to come to the university in 2003.

At the time, Male said, Tufts had no financial aid for international students. He became Damyanova’s “local dad” as she began a promising academic career as an international relations and economics double major. In 2005, however, Damyanova was struck by a motor vehicle and killed near campus. Her father in Bulgaria created the award to memorialize his daughter.

After thanking Teichman and Male for their introductions, see POSNER, page 2

Ethan Chan for the Tufts Daily

The Tufts Advocates for ROTC annual Veterans Day ceremony took place yesterday morning on the Memorial Steps.

Annual ceremony honors veterans

by Josh

Weiner

Daily Editorial Board

Members of the Tufts community recognized Veterans Day yesterday with a special service on the Memorial Steps hosted by Tufts Advocates for ROTC, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

The ceremony is held annually to provide students, faculty, staff and alumni with the opportunity to honor the services of the

nation’s veterans. Students in Tufts ROTC, hosted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), attended the event.

The service began with a flag passing ceremony. Vice President for University Advancement Eric Johnson accepted the American flag on behalf of distinguished alumna Eleanor Short (J ’88), who could not attend the event, according to Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences James Glaser.

Glaser said that the flag used in the ceremony will be donated to the Tufts archives for posterity.

The attendees then proceeded to the Coolidge Room in Ballou Hall for the remainder of the service. Senior Hans Ege Wenger, a member of Army ROTC’s Paul Revere Battalion, served as master of ceremosee VETERANS, page 2

TCU Senate Update

Senate passes resolution for shuttle service to Boston The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate at its weekly meeting last night passed a resolution calling for the school to run a shuttle service into Boston on Friday and Saturday nights. The proposal suggests that the service would operate at later hours than Boston’s public transportation.

TCU President Joe Thibodeau, a senior, addressed last weekend’s incident in which the passengers of a motor vehicle harassed a group of Tufts students with violent language and racial slurs. Thibodeau expressed his support for the victims and vowed that the community would remain vigilant in its fight against racism.

He also described the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) assembly, which he and three other senators had attended last weekend. Thibodeau said the event gave him insight into how elements of the university — such as Student Services, the Office of Residential Life and Learning and the alcohol and sexual assault policies — compared to those of other

Inside this issue

for the Anime Boston convention. The Senate voted to deny the funding, stating that it would be inconsistent with Senate policies to honor allocation appeals of this nature.

The Allocations Board unanimously voted to grant $250 to Students for Justice in Palestine and $4,515 to the Queer Straight Alliance to fund guest speakers. The body also voted to provide Tufts Middle Eastern Dance $180 for classes.

The meeting concluded with the recognition of three student organizations: Tufts Health Advocates, which promotes student activism and interaction with the administration; Mujeres, an organization for Latinas and the Tufts Education Society, a support group for students who want to study education.

NESCAC schools.

Trustee Representative Lia Weintraub, a senior, outlined her progress in urging the university to help secure internship grants for students during its upcoming capital campaign.

Trustee Representative Rose Mendelsohn, a senior, said that her Trustees group, including University President Anthony Monaco and members of the the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, discussed ways to best promote on-campus diversity and inclusion.

During the committee reports, representatives addressed issues such as the positive reception of the Senate Services Survey, the upcoming Student Leadership Dinner on Nov. 21, the possibility of developing a professional association for Latino students and the Culture, Ethnicity and Community Affairs Committee’s recent collaboration with the Tufts First Generation College Student Council.

The Allocations Board assessed a request of $600 in funds from Tufts Anime Brigade

—by Josh Weiner

Today’s sections

The Bubs celebrate 50 years of singing at Tufts.

Eminem’s new album reels from controversy but displays strong lyricism.

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Op-Ed

1 3 5 8

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

9 10 11 Back

The Tufts Daily

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News

Visiting the Hill this week TUESDAY Divest the Commonwealth: A Panel of Local Climate Heroes Details: Massachusetts state legislators Senator Ben Downing, Senator Patricia D. Jehlen, Representative Denise Provost and Representative Carl Sciortino will discuss state divestment and local and statewide efforts to address the climate crisis. Dessert will follow the panel. Students must RSVP. When and Where: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Cabot ASEAN Auditorium Sponsors: Tufts Divest for Our Future, Tufts Institute of the Environment and Tufts Urban Planning, Policy and Prosperity (UP3) WEDNESDAY Distinguished Poet Series — Featuring Rowan Ricardo Phillips Details: Poet, essayist and translator Rowan Ricardo Phillips will speak.

When and Where: 4:30 p.m.; Fung House

Sponsor: Center for the Humanities at Tufts (CHAT) THURSDAY Rooftop Farming: Utilizing Unused Urban Space to Grow Food While Providing Environmental Benefits Details: Higher Ground Farm’s Founding Farmer John Stoddard will discuss why rooftop farming can be part of the solution to the dietary, food security and environmental issues commonly faced by urban areas.

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 Managing a Global Bank in an Era of Regulatory Flux: Risks, Challenges and Opportunities Details: Jeffery Carp (LA ’78), executive vice president and chief legal officer at State Street, will speak. Students

must RSVP and arrive in business casual attire.

When and Where: 6 p.m.; Mugar Hall Room 200 Sponsor: Institute for Business in the Global Context FRIDAY Tufts Muslim Students Association: Annual Eid Dinner Details: Chaplain Dave Coolidge of Brown University will speak about Islam and culture in the modern world at this fundraising dinner event.

Dinner will be followed by a performance by the Moroccan Nasheed group, an Islamic vocal group accompanied by Arabian instruments.

When and Where: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Interfaith Center Sponsor: Tufts Muslim Students Association

-— compiled by the Tufts Daily News Department

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

New board members bring expertise to Tisch College TISCH

continued from page 1

izenship and giving back is not limited to non-profits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Her goal is to ensure that the college attracts more than just students who are interested in social entrepreneurship or non-profit organizations.

“I want people to realize they can do this while working for a for-profit organization,” Hessan said. “More people should use their positions in the workforce to give back to society and provide for social justice.”

Both Demirjian and Hessan plan to help students involved with the Tisch College gain the necessary tools to be engaged in the community.

“The most important thing is working with the rest of Tisch College’s Board of Advisors to make the pro-

Posner describes work in fields of business, human rights POSNER

continued from page 1

Posner spoke about the context for his work at the Stern School of Business, where he worked to launch the first Center for Business and Human Rights.

He began by giving a short history on the ideology behind human rights organizations. Not until Franklin Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Speech in 1941 did discussion of human rights as a world issue really exist, he said.

“The human rights idea in the world in which we’re discussing is really, in terms of human history, a very new concept,” Posner said.

In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that both internationalized the conversation about human rights and recognized them as something that all human beings are born with, he said.

While governments began the conversation, today it is nongovernmental agencies that have made progress in preserving these rights. When Posner first became involved in the field during the 1970s, very few of these organizations existed in regions of Africa and Asia.

“Now with the exception of probably North Korea, there are groups in every country in the world doing women’s rights, children’s rights, environmental rights, gay rights, human rights,” Posner said. “The world has changed because non-governmental activists have forced

United States Mission Geneva via Wikimedia Commons

The IGL last Friday honored Michael Posner, former assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, with the Boryana Damyanova Award for Corporate Social Responsibility. change for the good.”

On the other hand, non-government affiliated organizations have also caused much harm in the past few decades. Extremist groups such as al-Qaeda are more difficult to handle than state organizations, Posner explained.

“They don’t have a flag,” he said. “They don’t come to be diplomatic. They really don’t care at all about the Universal Declaration [of Human Rights] or human rights treaties.”

Much of Posner’s work at the U.S. Department of State has had to do with managing the relationship between states and the private sector, he said.

According to Posner, of the hundred largest economies in the world, half of them belong to

private companies.

“I kept saying to people in the State Department, ‘Why do we have an ambassador to Benin and not one to Walmart,’” Posner said. “Walmart’s clearly having more of an effect.”

As companies begin taking their business to other countries around the world, the issue of human rights responsibility becomes problematic. While governments are supposed to be primarily responsible for their people’s welfare, Posner said, the fact of the matter is that many of these countries are not strong enough to protect themselves.

Private companies often do not pick up the responsibility.

“What we have is a range of places where very, very big private entities are coming into very, very

poor, disadvantaged countries where governments are not doing what they need to do to protect their own people,” Posner said.

The issue of human rights in business therefore becomes a very practical one, Posner said.

Company heads must know what their duties are when a person is killed in one of their factories, or when the National Security Agency orders them to hand over confidential information.

At NYU Stern, Posner hopes to teach students to conduct business while being mindful of these issues.

“I want to promote American products,” he said. “I want to promote the American economy. I want to make sure we have a strong balance of payments.

But I also want to make sure we’re consistent with our own values and principles.”

Posner described a conference held at Stern last month to reference examples of pertinent issues involving human rights in business. The conference came about as a result of tragedies involving garment factories in Bangladesh.

Formerly the 10th poorest country in the world, Bangladesh in the last several years has begun reforming its economy by becoming the world’s second largest garment producer.

“It’s pulled people out of extreme poverty — that’s the good news,” Posner said. “The bad news is that they’re doing it at a price.”

While many workers, most of them young women, have jobs

Members of Tufts community join to honor veterans VETERANS

continued from page 1

nies for the event. He invited Gregory McGonigle, the university chaplain, to present the ceremony’s invocation.

Gresh Lattimore (F ’65 ’70 ’72), the chair of Tufts Advocates for ROTC, spoke of his committee’s efforts in uniting numerous factions of the Tufts community, including members of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts alumni who have served in the military, members of the Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES) and current ROTC cadets.

“The ROTC committee is building bridges across these groups,” Lattimore said.

Glaser introduced the event’s main speaker, Admiral James Stavridis (F ’83, ’84), dean of the Fletcher School.

Before turning over the ceremony to Stavridis, Glaser read aloud from a

vignette written by a relative, which he felt reflected the essential purpose of Veterans Day. “The loss of a loved one is beyond man’s healing, and the accompanying medal is of slight value,” Glaser read from the letter. “But not so of its message.”

Stavridis thanked Glaser for his remarks. During his speech, Stavridis saluted former and current military members for their services and applauded the United States’ efforts in maintaining positive relations with its veteran community.

“Today, it is very hard to think of another nation that spends more time and resources ... taking care of its veterans,” he said. “Thank you to nonveterans for [your support].”

As a Greek-American citizen, Stavridis said it was appropriate for him to share a story of an ancient Athenian

navy, which confronted an invading fleet from Persia. Outnumbered five to one, the Athenians took courage in the thought of fighting for their wives, children, parents, cities and freedom.

“The next day, they destroyed the Persian fleet and saved democracy,” Starvridis said.

He explained that the story of these Athenian soldiers — volunteers who felt compelled to fight for their freedom — embodies a message that remains pertinent to this very day.

University President Anthony Monaco concluded the ceremony by thanking Tufts’ veterans for their lifelong contributions.

“I think military service really does reflect Tufts values ... and one of those is a commitment to active citizenship,” he said. “Your contributing to peace in times of conflict around the world is

gram even better and to offer more students at Tufts the ability to become active citizens and understand the importance of being involved in the greater community,” Demirjian said.

Chow believes that students learn life skills by giving back to the greater Boston community.

“When you attend Tufts and are able to be civically engaged and interact with people from different backgrounds, it makes you a much more valuable person,” she said.

Wilson’s objective over the next several years is to attract a wide range of alumni to the Board of Advisors.

“We mostly have people that have graduated with a degree in Arts and Sciences or Engineering, but we would love to have people who graduated from other Tufts programs,” she said.

for the first time in their lives, the country’s poor infrastructure cannot effectively manage working conditions. Old 10-story buildings built on top of garages are collapsing on their workers and factory fires are killing people nearly every month, Posner said. This past April, 1,100 workers in the Bangladeshi Rana Plaza were killed when the building, home to some of the biggest brands in the world, collapsed.

To work to solve this issue, Posner helped to create a conference where officials involved in the incident had two days to discuss ways to prevent future occurrences. Bangladeshi factory owners, big brand representatives, government officials, academics and consumers, among others, joined in the conversation. The discussion, Posner said, forced the companies to reexamine their business procedures.

While Posner appreciates activism through social entrepreneurship, he hopes that more business students involved in human rights will join large companies like Walmart and General Electric, which have greater effect on the world. He believes that there’s a growing market for people interested in directing human rights campaigns within these organizations.

“Companies are realizing that their world has changed,” he said.

“There has to be an external dimension to what they’re doing.”

At the end of the presentation, Posner opened the discussion for a question and answer session.

really a unique way of giving back to the world and to the Tufts community.”

Following the ceremony, several members of the Tufts community recognized the importance of hosting this commemorative event each year.

“I think, for me, it reminds me of the far-reaching implications of military service,” junior Eddie Lowe, who is a member of the Army ROTC, said.

Member of Tufts’ Board of Trustees John Bello (LA ’68), who participated in ROTC, said he was proud to support the program which made it possible for him to attend Tufts as an undergraduate and which has continued to influence him throughout the years.

“I wouldn’t have missed this for anything,” Bello said. “Anything possible I can do to support the program that made it possible for me to go here ... I will go to any lengths to help.”

Features

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tuftsdaily.com

Petar Todorov | Lab Notes

Back from the dead

D

Kyra Sturgill / The Tufts Daily

Though the Beelzebubs and the Jackson Jills have been around for 50 years now, students predict that new groups will easily assimilate into to Tufts’ a cappella scene.

A cappella scene keeps traditions, breaks new ground by

Caitlin McClure

Daily Editorial Board

A cappella has exploded as an iconic collegiate symbol over the past several years, and Tufts is no exception. With a cappella’s long history on the Hill, there is much to celebrate on campus.

The Tufts Beelzebubs marked their 50th Anniversary on Nov. 2 at the New England Conservatory Jordan Hall for the Intercollegiate Sing, in which the Bubs and six other collegiate a cappella groups gathered to celebrate the relationships they have formed over the years.

“The concert showcased some of the best collegiate a cappella groups and ended our 50th reunion on a perfect note,” Beelzebub Business Manager

Vinny Amaru, a junior, said.

Performing at the event were the Jackson Jills, Tufts oldest all-female a cappella group, along with groups from other schools, such as the Virginia Sil’hooettes, the Dartmouth Aires, the Yale Whiffenpoofs and the Boston University Dear Abbeys, according to Amaru.

The Jackson Jills also celebrated their 50th anniversary this past spring and were excited to be part of the Bubs’ event, according to Jills President Emma Wise.

“It’s really nice of the [Bubs] to think to have an event to thank other groups who have been along for the ride with them,” Wise, a junior, said. “It’s bringing together a bunch of groups from all over the country.”

“The relationships are such a big

part of what we do here, and it’s awesome that they commemorate that,” Jills Internal Business Manager Susie Church, a sophomore, added.

The event showcased different performance styles, vocal techniques and musical selections by bringing together so many groups.

“I think [it’s] fun to incorporate the Tufts a cappella scene and what we’ve been doing here for 50 years with groups that have been around just as long, if not longer, from other schools,” Amaru said. “I think we’ll take something away from each group and even incorporate it into our own performance.”

The Bubs have covered a lot of see A CAPPELLA, page 4

Taste of Tufts: Professor Kelly McLaughlin researches organ development

by Jake

Taber

Contributing Writer

Associate Professor of Biology Kelly McLaughlin last Friday spoke at the Experimental College’s Taste of Tufts series, discussing her research on the regenerative and developmental abilities of cell groups in South African Clawed Frogs (Xenopus laevis).

“We’re trying to figure out how organs are formed and, once they are formed, how they can repair themselves.” McLaughlin said. “The question that my lab is really asking is how you can take these cells that for the most part are very similar ... separate them, and create completely normal looking adults.”

McLaughlin described the cells’ abilities to differentiate themselves.

“At some point, those cells have to become different from one another ...

They have to know who they are and who their neighbors are,” she said.

McLaughlin’s work examines organ formation in three different processes: development, regeneration and remodeling. For a group of cells to develop into a certain, structure they have to be stimulated in certain ways.

“If I’m going to be a heart cell, I need to know that I’m going to be a heart cell,” she said. “The cells around me have to not only know that I’m a heart cell, but that they’re not heart cells. There’s going to have to be some give and take between the cell ... and the environment.”

McLaughlin provided an artistic metaphor for attendees of the lecture.

“We have these undifferentiated cells ... and we’re then going to make an organ field,” she said. “One way to think about it: You’ve got this block that you’re going to sculpt ... As you keep sculpting, you’re going to get more and more defined structures ...

In many ways, that’s what happens with development.”

This process is not only complex, but also robust, she said.

“One of the weird things about [the Xenopus frog] is that it develops outside of moms; it’s easy to manipulate,” McLaughlin said. “You can actually take a chunk of tissue at (an early) stage, put it in a dish, and if I take the right chunk of tissue, I can actually get a heart to develop apart from the embryo.”

According to McLaughlin, the frogs are the lab’s model system, as the spe-

cies is used in all of their experiments.

Xenopus frogs have been taken to the international space station and were the first vertebrates to be cloned. More importantly, she said, their developmental process shares some important similarities with that of a human.

“The genes that I’m studying in Xenopus are actually very similar to the genes that humans are using in order to make their kidneys or hearts,” McLaughlin said. “It isn’t a mammal, and yet [it’s] very applicable for understanding human development.”

Unlike a human, however, a Xenopus in the tadpole phase possesses remarkable regenerative qualities. These are not typically found in vertebrates — invertebrate species like the flatworm are better known for them — but McLaughlin’s tadpoles displayed the ability to regrow lost or damaged organs in the lab.

In a recent experiment on a Xenopus tadpole, parts of its kidney structure were surgically removed; after three weeks, the missing tubules had completely regrown and were found to be entirely functional. see RESEARCH, page 4

inosaurs occupy a special place in the mind of every kid who grew up in the 1990s. Jurassic Park brought them back from the dead. Michael Crichton, who wrote the original novel, is often praised for making this process believable. Until recently, most people, including scientists, would have stated that cloning an ancient life form from preserved tissue would be theoretically possible, albeit in the realm of science fiction. We may have even expected it until Morten Allentoft of the University of Cambridge noted that DNA has a half-life of about 500 years; as a result, DNA from 68 million years ago when dinosaurs walked the Earth is long gone. But there is hope for other animals.

An emerging “revivalist” scientific movement has focused its attention toward bringing back newly extinct species. The diverse group of molecular biologists, geneticists and conservation biologists was brought together

by National Geographic this past March and reached the conclusion that the necessary tools are available.

One species that is being actively studied with this goal is the North American passenger pigeon. These birds were the cheapest source of protein in the USA at the start of the 20th century. By 1914, overhunting had driven their huge population into extinction.

(The buffalo escaped this fate largely because of the shock caused by the disappearance of this once-abundant bird.) Their remains can be seen in museums around the world, and scientists have used them to sequence the genome with the intent of rebuilding it. Once the life code of the organism is reconstructed, it can replace the DNA in another pigeon egg, which will then hatch as a passenger pigeon.

Although the revival of a passenger pigeon is probably a few years away, “de-extinction” has already been performed. In 2000, the Pyrenean Ibex became extinct when the last survivor of the species was crushed by a fallen tree. The species was cloned in 2009, almost a decade after the death of the last specimen.

Although the clone did not survive longer than ten minutes, it was a milestone for the field. Further technologies would allow the recreation of species such as the wooly mammoth, the thylacine (Tasmanian wolf), dodos and others. It won’t allow us to build a Jurassic Park, but it could be used to prevent the extinction of various rhino species, which still exist but do not have the ability to mate.

Just like most scientific advancements that tinker with life, these ideas have not come without controversy. Proponents claim that the revival of extinct species would preserve the biodiversity of ecosystems. There is supporting evidence for this, since the disappearance of the wooly mammoth resulted in the transformation of the tundra into forests.

Furthermore, supporters push the idea that de-extincting one species will allow for the future conservation of others.

These are valid points; however, opponents have pointed out that de-extinction takes an approach that only focuses on superstar animals like the awe-inspiring mammoth while neglecting the smaller, less-exciting plants and animals which co-habited their ecosystems. Since these life forms do not currently exist anywhere on Earth, releasing them would be akin to releasing an invasive species.

Ultimately, however, they argue that being able to bring back animals from the dead in the future will put governments on the slippery slope of allowing the destruction of the extant specimens and their habitats today.

In this author’s opinion, it would be neat to see the vast majority of extinct species in zoos. Mammoths, giant ostrich-like moa and Steller’s sea cows must have been a sight to behold, before our ancestors summarily wiped them out. The ability to right the past’s wrongs, however, should not be a carte blanche to destroy today’s ecosystems.

Petar Todorov is a senior majoring in chemistry. He can be reached at Petar.

Todorov@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

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Features

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

McLaughlin conducts influential research on frogs RESEARCH

continued from page 3

“What we’ve been working on ever since, is trying to find out how,” McLaughlin said.

The scope of McLaughlin’s research also includes remodeling, or the ways in which the developmental process can be altered, often to bizarre effects.

“We’ve taken a gene that a jellyfish normally expresses, and we’ve put it under a promoter for muscle,” she said.

“You get these glowing, beating hearts and living tissue.”

According to McLaughlin, working with pores of a cell can alter the process.

“We can add a particular drug and plug up [a cell’s] pores, and we can influence molecules moving in and out of the cell,” she said. “You can get extra eyes all over a tadpole just by manipulating whether or not the pores are open.”

Indeed, a result of one such experiment was the growth of

a third eye on the tail of the subject tadpole, McLaughlin explained.

“With a similar approach, we’ve been able to make [one with] two hearts,” she said.

McLaughlin’s research also examined the unwanted remodeling effects of some chemicals. Along with a team of undergraduates, she recently studied the effects of chemicals in the herbicide atrazine on native frog populations.

The experiments concluded that atrazine causes death by interfering with tadpoles’ genetic pathways.

“As it turns out, this herbicide ... tries to tell the tadpole, ‘You need to go through metamorphosis,’” McLaughlin said.

“It interferes with pathways that are, basically, part of the metamorphosis pathway ... It rearranges all its organs at a stage at which it’s not competent to do so.”

The application of these

research findings is, while admittedly not imminent, certainly important, according to McLaughlin.

“Some of these things can actually be used for developing therapies and treatments,” she said. “We’re working on a frog model system because it’s a system we can use to ask and answer questions. Other people are asking similar questions in different organisms and finding similar answers, and that’s actually pretty powerful.”

McLaughlin expressed enthusiasm about the potential for her research to make a lasting impact in her field.

“No, I [can’t] make a human eyeball in a dish using this, but this information could lead to something like that, way in the future,” she said. “You don’t know what’s going to be cool until it’s a year later and you end up with something you didn’t expect.”

courtesy experimental college

Associate Professor of Biology Kelly McLaughlin last Friday delivered a Taste of Tufts lecture about her research on cell groups in South African Clawed Frogs.

New Disney a cappella group plans to start its own traditions A CAPPELLA

continued from page 3

ground in the past 50 years — most recently providing the vocals for the all-male Warblers in FOX’s “Glee” (2009-present) in 2010 — but Amaru explained that reflecting on the Bubs’ history is important to understanding why the group is so tight-knit.

In the fall of 1962, a collection of Tufts students who would become the Bubs gathered to sing in the basement of West Hall, naming themselves Jumbo’s Disciples: The Beelzebubs.

“Knowing how you got from 1962 performing in West Hall to 2011 performing on Glee ... is really important and one of the things I’m most proud of,” Amaru said.

The Bubs have pushed the boundaries and brought attention to collegiate a cappella during their 50 years as a group. In the early ’90s, the Bubs were one of the first groups to use vocal percussion, according to Amaru. He also cited the Bubs’ ability to consistently deliver fun and unique performances.

“Yeah, we sing and we’re all relatively good singers, but it’s the performance,” he said. “It’s the Bubs encapsulating having so much fun on the stage, giving it your all, having that energy bouncing around ... I think that is a big part of the Bubs’ success.”

Amaru pointed out that the Bubs have even broken ground in the recording world, like when former Bubs member Ed Boyer (LA ’04) produced their album “Code Red” in 2003.

“It was really something different because it was really produced, more so than a cappella had ever been before,” Amaru said. “That really changed how groups record, how much production goes into each recording, what you can push the limit to.”

Despite these ventures, however, maintaining tradition is important to both the Bubs and the Jills. Members of both groups mentioned initiations and rituals that have been passed down, as well as an active alumni network.

“It might not seem like age would have that much of an impact on the way a group operates or sings, but I think it really makes a difference,” Wise said. “We have so many traditions and so much experience. Things have been taught to us and given to us, and we are lucky to have inherited this wisdom.”

With nine groups, Tufts is host to a more robust a cappella scene than most other schools, according to Wise.

Despite the large number of groups, however, Church noted that there is little competition within the a cappella scene at Tufts.

“We build really nice relationships with the other groups on campus,” she said.

“We have a lot of things in place to make sure we’re not competing with them. We don’t sing the same songs, we go to all of their concerts. We’re all different, and we all do our own thing really well.”

Church said she sees a high level

Zhuangchen Zhou / The tufts daily

The Beelzebubs on Nov. 2 marked their 50th anniversary at an Intercollegiate Sing with six other collegiate a cappella groups, including the Jackson Jills. of camaraderie within the a cappella community on campus.

“I think the support here is so unbelievable and really special,” she said.

“I’ve never been at a college gig where there’s as much support and excitement on campus for a cappella in general.”

Another unique feature of Tufts a cappella culture is a unanimous agreement to no longer compete in collegiate-wide a cappella competitions.

“None of the Tufts groups actual-

ly compete, so at Tufts it’s just more fun,” Amaru said. “Competing for some groups is really important, and I think it’s definitely important for the a cappella scene, but I’m really happy that Tufts has strayed away from it.”

Amaru explained that too much focus on competition can limit a group’s ability to develop a large repertoire, since it must dedicate all its time to practicing and choreographing three or four main numbers.

“Our motto is ‘fun through song,’ and we felt that if we were competing and trying to win and get awards, it takes away that aspect,” he said.

Wise also believes that the a cappella scene at Tufts has a supportive atmosphere. “[Competitions] are against what we stand for,” he said. “We are very aware of other groups, but we appreciate the art and are supportive of other groups both on campus and at other schools.”

Although some of Tufts’ a cappella history dates back to half a century ago, newer groups have joined the community. S-Factor is one such group, founded six years ago as an all-male group dedicated to the music of the African Diaspora. S-Factor Business Manager and junior Paul Perrone said that despite the group’s shorter time on campus, history still plays a large role in their identity.

“The history of the groups is a huge part, especially because of the type of music we sing,” Perrone said.

The founding members of S-Factor saw a gap in the music scene on campus that matched up with the type of music they wanted to sing, according to Perrone. They then took the initiative to start an all-male group, similar to the all-female group Essence, to add more of that dynamic to Tufts’ a cappella scene, he said.

Within the past month, freshman Prastama Perkasa founded a new a cappella group called Enchanted to specialize in Disney music.

“I saw this video once of a UMass Amherst group,” Perkasa said. “They didn’t focus on Disney a cappella, but they sang this one Disney medley, and it was amazing. Thinking back to my childhood, I know most people can connect with Disney, so that’s how I started with the idea.”

About a month ago, Perkasa secured Tufts Community Union recognition for Enchanted. She looks forward to starting the group off with its own set of traditions.

“I want to be like the founder of the Beelzebubs and come back here at [age] 70 after 50 years,” Perkasa said.

Although the group’s composition is young, with 10 freshmen and one sophomore, according to Perkasa, Enchanted hopes to establish itself as a part of the a cappella community.

Wise believes that Enchanted will have little trouble making a name for itself on campus.

“It’s always tough for a new group to start out ... but all it really takes is a cycle of four years, and people don’t even know how old groups are,” she said. “They will just get absorbed by the a cappella community.”

Church expressed support for the newest addition to Tufts’ a cappella scene.

“They are bringing their own thing to the table with the Disney theme,” she said. “If that’s what they are going to have fun doing and want to put the dedication into, then I’d say go for it.”

Arts & Living

5

tuftsdaily.com

Album Review

Eminem’s first album in three years a success

by Josh

Weiner

Daily Editorial Board

For someone who once vowed that his lone alternate profession to being a rapper would be “a f****n’ rapist in

The Marshall Mathers LP2 Eminem Aftermath Records a Jason mask,” it’s remarkable how little turbulence Eminem has caused in recent memory. His year-long Rihanna-assisted comeback in 2010 notwithstanding, the best-selling rapper in history has spent the better part of a decade on the outskirts of the rap music scene — a far cry from when he was overwhelmingly at its forefront at the opening of the century.

Sadly, the man born Marshall Bruce Mathers III has been subject to a wide range of personal demons, including a second divorce, battles with drug addiction and the loss of his best friend. All of these have combined to significantly limit the output of one of hip-hop’s most phenomenally gifted and troubled megastars over the latter half of his career.

With the release of his first album in three years, “The Marshall Mathers LP 2,” will it be time to exorcise these demons?

Hard to say. It’s doubtful that this album — or any rap record in the foreseeable future, frankly — will be able to generate the level of commercial success and cultural backlash that defined Eminem’s signature release, “The Marshall Mathers LP” (2000). But 13 years later, the album’s sequel offers plenty of reminders of

Scott Kinmartin via Flickr Creative Commons

The notorious white rapper continues to deliver aggressive and ground-breaking lyrics. what first made Mr. Mathers one of the most magnetic and unavoidable figures in the hip-hop landscape — reasons that extend well beyond his status as “the” white rapper.

On this record, Eminem finally manages to embrace his role as an emcee, after having contemplated leaving it behind for so long. Whereas his more recent albums, “Relapse” (2009) and “Recovery” (2010), have displayed signs of skepticism, with lyrics like “ ... I may be done with rap / I need a new outlet ...” and “F**k you hip-hop / I’m leaving you / My life sentence is served,” the verdict here is different: “Don’t know what the f**k I would doing if it weren’t rap

Movie Review

/ Probably be a giant turd-sack.”

Indeed, there are plenty of moments on “Marshall Mathers LP 2” which prove that if anyone was born to rap, it’s Eminem. At this point, he refuses to let anyone deny him his rightful place in the upper echelons of hip-hop. On 2002’s “Til I Collapse,” he told listeners, “In this industry, I’m the cause of a lot of envy / So when I’m not put on this list, the s**t does not offend me.” However, that is clearly no longer the case: “F**k top five ... I’m top four / And that includes Biggie and Pac ...” he raps on “Evil Twin,” adding “And I got an see EMINEM, page 6

TV Review

‘Ravenswood’ delivers cliche horror, suspense by

Dana Guth

Daily Staff Writer

“Ravenswood,” ABC Family’s new spin-off of the immensely popular “Pretty Little Liars”

Ravenswood Starring Nicole Gale Anderson, Tyler Blackburn, Britne Oldford

Airs Tues. at 8 p.m. on ABC Family Courtesy Marvel Studios

make it difficult to weave it into the other Marvel franchises without overshadowing them. But “Thor” managed to transcend these issues with impressive action scenes and strong performances from Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston as Thor and Loki, respectively. It’s sad, then, that the sequel, “Thor: The Dark World,” does so little to surprise its audience.

“Thor: The Dark World” expands upon the successful elements of the first movie — specifically the film’s intense aesthetic.

Indeed, far more time is spent in Asgard and other CGI realms of Thor’s universe.

Admittedly, the setting is amazingly intricate, and the film owes a huge debt to its designers. But the amount of time devoted to these computer-generated

(2010-present), had potential.

Riding on the creepy coattails of its mother series’ Halloween special, the show wasted no time establishing its darker, more supernatural tone. Unfortunately, the drama’s attempts to thrill and chill fall flat, and by the end of the pilot episode, the main characters’ fateful plunge into the depths of Ravenswood’s river drowns what could have been a perfectly satisfying teen show.

“Ravenswood” — a suitably unoriginal title (the town neighbors Rosewood, where “Pretty Little Liars” is set) — centers on Caleb Rivers (Tyler Blackburn), the parentless heartthrob of the original series. His ever-so-trusting girlfriend, Hanna (Ashley Benson), encourages Caleb to stay in the graveyard town to help out kindred spirit Miranda Collins (Nicole Gale Anderson), a ruggedly beautiful misfit on whom fingerless gloves and raccoon eyeliner have never looked more fashionable. Miranda

see THOR, page 6

see RAVENSWOOD, page 6

‘Thor: The Dark World’ is content to rest on its laurels rather than surprise the audience or move the franchise forward.

‘Thor’ sequel does little to move franchise forward

Since the release of “Thor” (2011), the franchise has become one of Marvel’s most successful. This was somewhat unexpected. After all, Thor is a god from Norse by

Anthony Martinez Contributing Writer

Thor: The Dark World Directed by Alan Taylor Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston mythology, not a well-known superhero — something that seems fairly unoriginal from a marketing perspective — and the epic scope of Thor’s universe would

Megan Clark | Where’s the Craic?

‘Breakfast on Pluto’

B

reakfast on Pluto” (2005) follows the life of Patrick “Kitten” Braden, a young trans-woman living in a small town just south of the Republic-Northern Ireland border. The film was written and directed by Neil Jordan, who also wrote and directed “The Crying Game,” (1992), which I reviewed last week and which similarly explores gender identity. While I was somewhat conflicted about “The Crying Game,” I wholeheartedly love “Breakfast on Pluto.”

“Breakfast on Pluto” is a movie that purports to challenge gender-normativity and actually does. The audience is expected to have more of an affinity for Kitten than for her friends, family or boyfriends. Thus, the film focuses on how Kitten views herself as opposed to how others view her. “Breakfast on Pluto” is based on a novel of the same name, in which Kitten narrates her own story.

The film version is divided into multiple sections with chapter titles, such as “In Which I Was Abandoned” and “My Foster Mother’s Shoes,” with Kitten often narrating the beginning of each section.

Kitten’s story begins on the doorstep of a church where her mother abandons her as a child. A verbally abusive foster mother subsequently raises her. Kitten also struggles in her Catholic school, where the boys and girls are separated according to gender. Nonetheless, Kitten manages to create her own niche within the confines of this system. Placed in the boys’ program, Kitten lobbies to take Home Economics with the girls and learns to make her own clothes.

Although Kitten’s environment throws many obstacles in her way, “Breakfast on Pluto” presents her as a three-dimensional person instead of as a victim. It subverts the “outcast trans-person” narrative, in which transgender characters are deemed “the other.” Kitten is not a loner; she has a tightknit circle of friends whose evolution as a group is chronicled throughout the movie.

After Kitten’s friend Lawrence is killed by a bomb, she moves to England to look for her mother. A love song aficionado, Kitten expects life to emulate these songs and presents her search for her mother as a great mystery, calling her the “Phantom Lady.”

She also finds solace in fantasies, including one very funny sequence in which she envisions herself infiltrating the IRA and killing all its members with a spray from her Chanel No. 5 bottle. This combination of naïveté and optimism propels Kitten through her quest, despite the many challenges she faces.

She stumbles through life, falling into situation after situation, some quite funny and others quite horrible. Kitten’s loneliness in England leads her to latch onto anyone she can, including the policemen who arrest her and the men who pay her for sex.

Kitten eventually locates her mother but does not reveal her true identity when she goes to meet her. Upon her own admission, Kitten moves to England looking for her mother, but ends up finding her father — a flawed yet loving priest who comes to England in order to bring her home. By the end of the film, Kitten has created her own unique family unit. She lives with her father — the town priest — her childhood best friend and her best friend’s baby, whom she helps raise.

My one issue with “Breakfast on Pluto” is Kitten’s apparent chastity. While the book depicts many of Kitten’s romantic encounters with men and women alike, the movie refuses to even show her kissing anyone.

The movie did not have to be as explicit as the book, but the absence of any onscreen romantic interaction seems to imply a lingering discomfort with non-normative gender identity. While I find this lack of romantic representation problematic, I still enjoyed the humorous and heart-rending study of self-definition and self-expression that “Breakfast on Pluto” provides.

Next week’s film: “Circle of Friends.”

Megan Clark is a senior who is majoring in English and history. She can be reached at Megan.Clark@tufts.edu.

The Tufts Daily

6

Arts & Living

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Eminem’s new album impressive continuation of stellar career EMINEM

continued from page 5

evil twin, so who do you think that third and that fourth spot’s for?”

Tough question. But Eminem certainly does his part to back up that boast time and time again on this album. It’s hard to imagine any other emcee pulling off the combination of speed rap, rhyme scheme and verbal energy to the mind-blowing extent that Eminem manages on “Rap God” and “Berzerk,” among other tracks. At age 41, his versatility as a rapper remains as singular as ever.

Always renowned for his storytelling gifts, Eminem shows audiences what he’s made of with tracks like the introspective “Legacy” and “Stronger Than I Was.” The standout, though, has to be the sevenminute album-opener, “Bad Guy.” After long deliberating a sequel to his signature single, “Stan,” off of his first album (Lil Wayne stepped up to the plate with his own take on the topic, 2011’s “Dear Anne”), Eminem finally pulls off the feat by rapping as Stan’s little brother, Matthew, who is bent on avenging Stan’s death.

The original remains quite possibly the most hair-raising rap song of all

thecomeupshow via Flickr Creative Commons

Over a decade after his debut, Eminem tries to replicate the shock and awe that his first albums incited.

time. Amazingly, the sequel finishes not far behind.

Like his last album, “Recovery,” “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” includes several collaborations that may seem odd and overly commercial on paper, but work surprisingly well on the record. Fun.’s lead singer, Nate Reuss, is featured on “Headlights,” a sorrowful reflection on Eminem’s relationship with his mother, and Reuss’s contribution makes the song all the more affecting and memorable. “The Monster” builds well upon the masochistic themes of Slim Shady’s past duets with Rihanna. And it goes without saying that “Love Game,” the first-ever Eminem-Kendrick Lamar faceoff, is a must-listen.

In the end, while this 21-track album may have been better off with about five fewer songs — although, to be fair, this same critique could be applied to more than one of his past records — “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” still emerges as one of the most satisfying entries in this iconic emcee’s catalogue. It’s the “tragic portrait of an artist tortured / Trapped in his own drawings,” as Eminem himself explains on the opening track.

The results are admirable.

‘Thor: The Dark World’ has few surprises THOR

continued from page 5

JJ Duncan via Flickr Creative Commons

‘Ravenswood’ is not on track to thrill audiences in the same way its mother series ‘Pretty Little Liars’ has.

‘Pretty Little Liars’ spin-off delves into supernatural RAVENSWOOD

continued from page 5

has come to Ravenswood desperately hoping to connect with her last living relative — a ghostly pale uncle who, like many of the town’s residents, could have stepped right out of an episode of “The Addams Family” (1964-1966). Not so shockingly, Uncle Collins (Steven Cabral) lives and works in a funeral home. While it’s clear he has a skeleton (or two) in his closet, his expressionless, clipped dialogue gives the character about as much emotional nuance as the corpses he oversees.

Ravenswood itself has no shortage of hair-raising characteristics. Aptly described by Caleb as “a town where people throw parties in cemeteries,” Ravenswood is a place where mossy tombstones line the streets. And if that’s not eerie enough, everyone’s ears seem to perk up at any mention of the area’s flood-plagued past.

It’s certainly not the most logical place for two teenagers to settle down.

Although Caleb seems to have left behind his many sinister pursuers in Rosewood, he soon discovers that with a new town comes a new, never-ending string of puzzling enemies and inexplicable happenings. There’s a mur-

derous widow, a vanishing tombstone that displays the faces and names of unwelcome visitors and someone (or something) lurking in the musty shadows of the Collins’ mansion.

No one is willing to disclose any useful information to Miranda or Caleb, save warnings to leave. The main characters, along with three friends, are united by a gloomy curse in a town “soaked” in death (another fitting line from Caleb). Mystery and suspense ensue.

If the phrase “Pretty Little Liars’ spinoff” is enough to make you roll your eyes, you will be equally unimpressed with the show’s reliance on tried-and-true horror staples.

The list practically writes itself. Cinematography reminiscent of the odd shots and angles of “Twilight” (2008), spooky old Victorian homes with creaky shutters (is it wind? Or something more ominous?), eternally rainy weather and a soundtrack replete with slow, discordant melodies and screeching violins plague every scene of the show. And anyone who has ever seen a scary movie knows nothing good ever comes from lone girls in basements.

Such calculated elements leave viewers far from the

edge of their seats. Although ABC Family would not be a suitable home for the more believable terror of “American Horror Story” (2011-present), the watered-down anecdotes of “Ravenswood” fail to produce the same lasting thrill that “Pretty Little Liars” does.

While many loyal fans of the pioneer series are continually dazzled by high-stakes drama piled on top of high school politics, teacher-student romances and eye-catching fashion, the heavier approach of “Ravenswood” does not have much to rest on.

Still, although “Ravenswood” does not exceed expectations, it will not necessarily let viewers down. “Pretty Little Liars” feeds off of a stubborn refusal to confront its central mystery — who killed whom? — a formula that might keep people tuned in to “Ravenswood” as well.

And since “Pretty Little Liars” purposefully drowns the issue with myriad plotlines that it abandons and picks up at will, the web of deceit has become so convoluted that a fresh start is needed to escape such a tangled knot.

“Ravenswood” offers that blank slate for those looking for casual suspense without having to catch up. How long this will last, however, is yet to be seen.

surroundings is somewhat sickening, with the whole production coming off as excessive eye candy. The special effects are nice, but being bombarded with a constant stream of green-screen effects makes the film feel gaudy and cluttered. This oversaturation detracts from the moments when the special effects could have been genuinely beautiful.

While special effects are abundant, plot is not. Coincidence ferries one plot development to another with aching artificiality. The “Nine Realms” happen to be aligning for the first time in thousands of years.

Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Thor’s love interest, happens to stumble upon the cataclysmic artifact needed to destroy the universe. Between long bouts of pseudoscience and the typical action movie tropes, “Thor: The Dark World” doesn’t have much character-to-character substance. Potentially compelling scenarios, such as Odin’s (Anthony Hopkins) disapproval of Thor’s choice in women or Loki’s problematic relationship with his foster mother (Rene Russo), are set up, but both of these are marginalized by a steady train of action scenes and serve only as superficial motivations to advance a crippled plot.

This latest addition in the Thor franchiseisnotably“sci-fi”compared to its predecessor. Sleek spacecrafts whip through Asgard while being repelled by volleys of laser cannon fire, and bodies are presented as holographic projections. This makes

for good action, but it invites far too many discontinuities into the film.

After watching people mounted on futuristic turrets and ships that fire blazing light from machine gun rotaries, it’s ludicrous to see guards equipped with archaic swords and shields. The dark elves — the ashenskinned, hook-nosed bad guys of the movie — actually have futuristic guns and grenades that cause things to implode violently into tiny vacuums. Why doesn’t anybody else?

Was the technology lost along with tactful storytelling?

Thankfully, the movie manages to crutch along on its smarmy sense of humor. A constant string of hilarity marks the film’s final showdown, as invisible portals between the worlds cause Thor and other characters to pop in and out of various locales in London.

Appearing spontaneously in the London Underground, Thor looks up at a woman standing in a subway car and asks, “How do I get to Greenwich?” Of course, he rides the subway to rejoin the universeimperiling battle. Moments like this, which mock the movie’s magnified sense of melodrama, help to keep the CGI-drenched action scenes palatable.

Action-packed, snarky and graced by Tom Hiddleston’s virtuoso smirking, “Thor: The Dark World” is exactly what you’d expect of a sequel to a comic book movie.

Whether this is good or bad, a few good laughs can’t rescue a franchise that is set on wallowing in its own conventions.

Courtesy Marvel Studios

Interesting character conflicts are established but never explored further in the new ‘Thor’ film.

The Tufts Daily

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

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Recipe for the Perfect Summer:

Tufts in Talloires Take Two Tufts Courses Add college credit

Mix with Talloires Campus in the French Alps Sprinkle in mountain hikes and lake views Whisk in distinguished faculty and interesting courses Sweeten with host families Bake in summer sun Serve in paradise.

Roundtable on Colonialism Professors H. Adlai Murdoch, Kamran Rastegar, Greg Thomas, Nina Gerassi-Navarro, Kris Manjapra, and Lisa Lowe Tuesday, November 12, 6:00-7:30 PM Cabot 206

Tufts in Talloires 2014 Information sessions in Tisch 304 from 12-1pm on:

This roundtable is an informal introductory discussion about basic concepts, approaches, and analytics for the study of colonialism. Participants will speak briefly about approaches to this study in their own teaching and research. Possible topics include but are not limited to: what "colonialism" means in specific areas of research, e.g., Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East; the languages for the study of colonialism (e.g., anti-colonialism, neo-colonialism, post-coloniality); the discussion of colonialism with reference to U.S. empire; the epistemological difference between knowledge about colonialism produced in the western university and in other universities or in less formal intellectual projects, such as social movements; Islamophobia and Negrophobia; state violence, past and present, e.g., global incarceration and colonialities of power; Native America and indigenous sovereignties; Third Worldist solidarities.

Wednesday, November 13th // Thursday, November 14th Tuesday, November 19th // Friday, November 22nd

No French required !

More information at: ase.tufts.edu/EuropeanCenter

108 Packard Avenue| (617) 627-3290 | france@tufts.edu

Monday November 11: Tuesday November 12: Wednesday November 13: Thursday November 14: Friday November 15: Monday November 18: Tuesday November 19:

10 am – 5 pm 12 pm – 8 pm 9 am – 5 pm 12 pm – 8 pm 9 am – 4 pm 10 am – 5 pm 12 pm – 8 pm

All Sessions in the Mayer Campus Center Room 112

RESERVE YOUR SPACE NOW AT www.ouryear.com (Enter Tufts Code 267)

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THE TUFTS DAILY Hannah R. Fingerhut Editor-in-Chief

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EDITORIAL | OP-ED

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Editorial

Recognizing peers, alumni who serve our nation

While students from George Washington University, Stanford University and other institutions of higher learning bemoaned their normal Monday schedules, Tufts students enjoyed time off yesterday to recover from midterms, catch up on their coursework and, most importantly, honor the soldiers who have served our nation on Veterans Day. It is encouraging to see that Tufts, with its well-advertised emphasis on global citizenship, takes the time to appreciate the defenders of the United States, while many other universities commemorate this holiday to a lesser extent.

Yesterday, the Veterans Day ceremony — hosted by Tufts Advocates for ROTC — brought together Tufts students involved in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program, members of the Tufts administration, the university chaplain and,

of course, veterans and alumni. All members of the Tufts community were welcomed. Students and faculty were able to attend this ceremony on the Memorial Steps due to the cancellation of Monday classes.

Tufts’ ROTC program was banned in 1969 as a result of anti-war sentiment in the wake of the Vietnam War. Consequently, Tufts students are currently associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) chapter of ROTC. This has not deterred students’ participation in the corps, however, as around 20 Jumbos were involved in MIT’s ROTC last academic year. The Tufts administration has recently taken proactive steps to ensure that these students involved in ROTC are recognized: As of 2011, membership in the program is noted on students’ transcripts.

Tufts’ Alliance Linking Leaders in Education and the Services (ALLIES)

also seeks to create civilian-military bonds and foster understanding on campus between students and members of the military, including their peers training in ROTC. In doing so, ALLIES creates a space where soldiers and students can come together for meaningful discussion.

This emphasis on honoring both ROTC cadets and members of our Armed Forces is not only laudable, but also encourages students to take the time to reflect on the importance of service members both within and outside of the Tufts community.

Groups like ALLIES and ROTC offer an accessible way for students to understand and connect with members of the military. This, coupled with Tufts’ celebration of its alumni veterans, contributes to the strong sense of community and inclusivity that is an integral part of our experience on the Hill.

Jehan Madhani

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Off the Hill | University of Minnesota

Rape culture exists by

Trent M. Kays

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

[Trigger warning: This article addresses rape and sexual assault.]

I grow weary of some arguments. As someone who studies rhetoric, this doesn’t surprise me. However, some fights are so boneheaded that I almost cannot approach them. Instead, I sit mouth agape, wondering in what universe such arguments would ever make sense.

One of these arguments is the debate around rape culture. In a letter to the editor in the student-run Badger Herald last week, University of Wisconsin-Madison political science junior David Hookstead called out the “myth” of rape culture. His troglodytic argument reminded me that our culture has a long way to go in understanding humanity. His op-ed, titled “Rape Culture Does Not Exist,” prompted appropriate outrage.

Hookstead relates the instance of a woman raping his friend, a male student-athlete.

Hookstead wonders why there is no outrage over a woman raping a man in the same way there is a man raping a woman.

Tragically, what Hookstead fails to realize is the silence that surrounded his friend’s rape is caused by rape culture. This is a similar silence that surrounds women who have been raped.

Hookstead’s tale is not evidence of the nonexistence of rape culture; it’s proof of it. I cannot take Hookstead’s argument seriously.

However, I take Hookstead’s ignorance seriously because it is dangerous.

Rape culture surrounds us in movies, in news stories, on social media and all around the world. Rape is an act of violence. Rape is the oppression of one’s will by another through sexual conquest. If you force non-consensual sex on someone else, you are a rapist.

If you slut-shame someone because of what they’re wearing, you are perpetuating

The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. EDITORIAL POLICY Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily. The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

rape culture. If you blame the victim for their rape, you are perpetuating rape culture.

These things, among others, serve as part of the fuel that drives this rape culture.

Indeed, if rape culture didn’t exist, rape would not be so pervasive. The myth that rape is simply a crime or act between individuals is destructive.

If so many individuals are raping so many other individuals, what or who is telling them such an act is OK? Rape culture and rape apologists.

The belief that rape culture is a creation of radical feminists in order to subjugate men is pathetic. While rapists are predominately men, even feminists acknowledge that women rape too. Men rape women; women rape men; men rape men; and women rape women. Sexual assault among transgender people or those with intersex conditions is also an issue.

We have a corrupt value system. We allow the oppression of women to continue even though we believe in equality. We tell women how not to be raped instead of men not to rape.

We let rapists go uncharged with a crime based on the misogynistic argument that the victim must’ve wanted it.

Any argument that a victim must have wanted to be raped is caused by rape culture. We let it happen, and the truth is in the statistics.

According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, one in six American women has been a victim of attempted rape or rape. Similarly, one out of 33 American men has been a victim of attempted rape or rape. These statistics are unacceptable.

It’s clear women are victims of reported sexual assault more than men, though an aspect of rape culture is the stigma against reporting it. Prison rape, for example, often goes unreported but may account for a large portion of instances of male rape.

If we were to take Hookstead’s argument seriously, we’d think that men were the great-

oppressed victims of domineering women.

But this likely isn’t the case, though I empathize with Hookstead’s friend. However, people of different genders deal with their own issues involving sexual assault.

As long as we continue to treat women as sexual objects to be used, we will continue to have rape. Our culture is absurd, and the idea that the victim of a crime is to blame for the crime is disgusting.

Do we blame the victim of a murder for their murder? Do we blame the victim of a kidnapping for their kidnapping? Do we blame a 12-year-old child for their molestation?

A 12-year-old doesn’t ask to be molested.

A 12-year-old doesn’t want to be traumatized by another’s oppression.

If you find these statements ridiculous, this is good. I hope you do, because they are ridiculous, and they are the same types of arguments people use to explain away rape.

Imagine being bombarded every day by sexualized images, discourses about how “sluts” are nothing and media about how men and women are actually equal. That culture would be a terrible one to live and work in. Such a culture allows troglodytes to post work that is blatantly oppressive or attempts to explain why rapists aren’t really rapists.

Such a culture would allow politicians like Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) to explain “legitimate rape” or treat sexual assault as just another conception method. Such a culture would often treat women as prey and men as predators, and it would foster submission as a way to build relationships.

Is that the kind of culture you want to live in? Well, you do. Welcome to rape culture.

We cannot begin to change this violent and oppressive culture until we recognize its existence and the underlying value systems that give rise to it.

Repeat after me: Rape culture exists, and we must change it.

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

The Tufts Daily

9

Op-Ed

Op-ed

Eloise Libre | Frankly Candid

Making progress on dangerous drinking by

Name theory

Tony Monaco

When I arrived at Tufts, I was immediately struck by the vibrant community — students who were impassioned, energetic and caring, and faculty and administrators who were deeply engaged with those students.

At the same time, I was concerned by the number of students who needlessly compromised their well-being, and that of others, by abusing alcohol. Tufts is by no means alone in this. Dangerous drinking is a concern on every campus in America. At Tufts, our students and staff have chosen to tackle this issue directly and collaboratively, and we have seen some encouraging signs that our efforts are working.

Data for the first seven weeks of the fall semester shows that overall alcohol violations and alcohol-related calls to Tufts Emergency Medical Services (TEMS) are the lowest they have been in four years (2013-2010). What happens at the beginning of the semester is often a good indicator of trends for the entire academic year. But we will need to continue to look thoughtfully at data to identify trends and determine where we are seeing success and where we should focus further attention.

The involvement of students has been key to the progress we’ve made so far. We cannot simply impose changes in social behavior; such change must be embraced by students themselves. Working together, students, staff and faculty have created and implemented interventional programs that address the problem on many fronts. For example: Our alcohol policy now clearly states that no one who seeks medical intervention for herself or himself or for others will receive disciplinary action and also provides that when a student requires medical intervention for drinking, it will be treated as a medical situation, not as a judicial matter. We hope this removes any hesitation about calling for assistance when necessary, and encourages students to look out for one another.

Students themselves decided to change the venue and atmosphere of the fall semester’s major social gathering, replacing Fall Ball with Fall Gala, a more sophisticated, on-campus event. Alcohol violations, calls to TEMs and hospital

I

MCT

transports were all down significantly compared with the previous year’s event.

The Department of Health Education, the Tufts Community Union, Tufts students and Tufts Marketing Communications created a social norms marketing program. The campaign, “We Are Tufts,” reinforces the fact that the student body as a whole behaves responsibly (thereby debunking the myth that excessive drinking is expected at Tufts).

Orientation and Pre-Orientation Leaders, Resident Assistants, Peer Leaders and others have been trained on Tufts policy, how to talk with first-year students about alcohol use and how as active bystanders to intervene in risky situations. We have also been encouraged by the continued participation and positive response of Greek life officers and chapters, who receive training in alcohol policy and the responsibilities involved in having a party before they are allowed to host such a gathering.

We know that students’ parents and families are an important influence on their behavior. For the second consecutive year, we sent the parents of all incoming first-year students a handbook with factual information about alcohol use and its physical and behavioral con-

sequences and guidance on how to talk with their children about alcohol use.

It is far too early to declare victory in the battle against dangerous drinking at Tufts. While alcohol violations are down significantly, alcohol-related transports to the hospital are actually somewhat higher than in 2012 and 2010. This may reflect our new alcohol policy that students are now more willing to call for assistance when a fellow student is in serious circumstances. But 59 violations of our alcohol policy in almost two months is still too many, while 31 hospital transports means that students are still putting their health and safety in jeopardy. We will need more data over a longer period of time to get an accurate picture of trends.

But the news is encouraging. I am proud of the way that our community has come together to deal with this difficult issue and grateful for everyone’s hard work. Together, we can continue to make progress to eliminate dangerous drinking at Tufts.

Tony Monaco is the president of Tufts University. He can be reached at Anthony.

Monaco@tufts.edu.

Off the Hill | University of Houston

Increased superficiality among today’s female youth by

Alex Meyer

The Daily Cougar

The latest YouTube trend is a deeply troubling phenomenon called “Pretty or Ugly,” in which young girls post videos of themselves for the sole purpose of gaining feedback on their appearance.

These “beauty assessments” have been multiplying for years, much to the dismay and bafflement of adults. They have even led to several performance artists’ impersonations of these “earnest” teens to experiment with their own results. The most shocking aspect of this trend is that it produces almost 3 million results when searched on YouTube, some with titles such as “The Power of Makeup,” “Watch Me Go from Ugly to Uglier” and “My Transformation from Ugly to Pretty.”

The age of participants ranges from preteens to young adults who seem to be genuine in their pleas for opinions. British artist Louise Orwin took it upon herself to explore this craze and was amazed at the comments her video received.

“I got torrents of abuse,” Orwin said. “I had to remind myself that it’s not me, it’s the character.”

What concerned Orwin the most was the meaning behind these videos — mainly, why girls are opening

themselves up for ridicule, assuming they know the risk of being judged by Internet trolls.

“One of the things that comes up time and time again when I interview teenage girls is that they feel a real anxiety about their online personas,” Orwin added.

Some have equated Orwin’s findings to “a new form of self-mutilation.” Other theories include that the participants are “crowd-sourcing their search for identity.” But even in the midst of the concerning hype, few adults have actually asked teens about the videos.

Slate Magazine’s Katy Waldman conducted an interview with a 14-year-old “Pretty or Ugly” YouTube star. The teen gushed to Waldman that posting her video was “one of the best decisions of my life.”

“I’m known more at school now,” the video’s starlet said.

When asked about the mean comments her inquiry garnered, the teen dismissed them, boasting, “I know I’m gorgeous ... like, so pretty. So what other people think doesn’t matter to me.”

And there lies the irony. If the public’s opinion of her appearance was of no significance to this specific young girl, there would be no point in uploading the video, other than to simply gain attention. If some of these “Pretty or Ugly”

YouTubers don’t need validation of their outward beauty, this must be a matter simply of “catastrophically externalized” self-obsession. It also demonstrates the negative effects of technology on our youngest generation.

Evaluating attractiveness has become second nature to almost everyone in the 21st century, with a helping hand from technological developments denied to previous generations.

Whether it’s a model in a magazine, a celebrity on television or even a friend on Facebook, we all make judgments pertaining to appearance — and more often than we realize.

This phenomenon might just be the origin of “Pretty or Ugly.”

Sophie Roessler, one of the first “Pretty or Ugly” participants to attract national attention, has since edited her video by adding a message for teen girls who are genuine in their search for acceptance. Her message is summed up with “love yourself for who you are.”

But this comes only after Roessler’s appearance on Good Morning America and a feature in Jezebel concerning her “performance piece.”

It seems to me that “Pretty or Ugly” is, among other things, a cry for recognition in a beauty-obsessed culture. So where will it end?

have a theory that if you have an unusual name, you are more likely to be successful in life. I have no empirical evidence of this, nor do I have any background in statistical research.

As an observant layperson, all I know is that the Eccentric Name Theory is overwhelmingly supported and true.

According to my theory, unusual names cultivate the potential for fame and success. While achievement is still possible from behind a label of generic blandness, people whose names do not fit the mold of cultural norms and commonalities are at a significant advantage for success.

This is especially evident in sports.

Koji Uehara, Bode Miller and Apollo Ohno are celebrities of athleticism and talent. Would they have been as successful with less exciting names? Probably, but I firmly believe that having an eccentric name plays a significant role in putting people ahead of the curve and predisposed to achievement.

My theory also applies in arenas other than sports. Who knew that Rivers Cuomo would grow up to become the lead singer and guitarist for the band Weezer? His talent may have been recognized early on, but his name reveals an inclination toward fame. According to my theory, the eccentric name inherently put Rivers at an advantage in developing his successful career.

Why is this? Are people who give their children eccentric names more adventurous in overall lifestyle? Are they less afraid to be different, and more inclined to push their children to do something significant in the world? Or, maybe, there is no correlation at all between the types of parents who are more likely to give their children unconventional names and those who are likely to foster success in their kids’ activities. Instead, it is possible that people with unusual names are more prone to developing a life as a celebrity simply because the rest of the world is more likely to remember them by their standout names. Either way, it is clear that possessing an interesting name benefits one’s possibility to develop renown.

For some, celebrities’ eccentric names fit their careers all too well, making their success even more memorable and their names even more recognizable.

Usain Bolt, Olympic runner, is the perfect example of this. Bolt? As a runner’s name? The fittingness of this label suits the sprinter’s career and generates spirit and support around his fame.

Sometimes, people create celebrity personalities for themselves by changing their names to something more memorable. Stage names, pennames and other made-up brandings that label people as anything other than their given name are, by no means, cheating. These people simply strategize the best ways to make others recognize and support them. Dr. Seuss understood this well.

But to all you Sarahs and Michaels out there, fear not! There are plenty of people who rise to the top of their respective fields despite having names that recur on the popular baby name list from 1960 to 2013. You may need to make yourself stand out in other ways, but there is still hope for your career.

The moral of this story is that everyone should take the Eccentric Name Theory into consideration when contemplating names for their children.

If you want your kids to go far in life, choose an uncommon name to maximize their potential for success. Take inspiration from Picabo Street, whose parents let her choose her own name as a toddler. She grew up to become a World Cup ski racer. Blue Ivy Carter will certainly make an impact on the world one day, as will North West — if they haven’t already.

Eloise Libre is a senior majoring in history.

She can be reached at Eloise.Libre@tufts.edu.

Op-ed Policy The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length. Op-Ed cartoons are also welcomed for the Campus Canvas feature. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. All material should be submitted to oped@tuftsdaily.com no later than noon on the day prior to the desired day of publication; authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions. Submissions may not be published elsewhere prior to their appearance in the Daily, including but not limited to other on- and off-campus newspapers, magazines, blogs and online news websites, as well as Facebook. Republishing of the same piece in a different source is permissible as long as the Daily is credited with originally running the article.

The Tufts Daily

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Comics

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Doonesbury

Crossword

by

Garry Trudeau

Non Sequitur

friday’s Solution

Married to the Sea

www.marriedtothesea.com

SUDOKU Level: Melting chocolate in your car on a hot day.

Late Night at the Daily

Friday’s Solution

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Follow us on Twitter at @LateNiteAtDaily

Adrian: “Ask him while he’s drunk and impressionable.”

Please recycle this Daily.

by

Wiley

The Tufts Daily

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Tufts sophomore midfielder Rachel Terveer nearly knotted the game at 1-1 as the first half drew to a close, but Bowdoin third-year keeper Hannah Gartner made a kick-save to deny the Jumbos the score.

Trailing by a single goal as they entered the second half, the Jumbos wasted no time in tying the game.

Tufts earned a quick pair of penalty corners, and senior co-captain midfielder Stephanie Wan fired off a shot forcing Gartner to make another save. Sophomore defender Alexandra Jamison pounced on the rebound, however, shooting it past Gartner to put the Jumbos on the board, pulling even with the Polar Bears.

But it took just four minutes for the Polar Bears to strike back. Junior forward Adrienne O’Donnell connected with a through-pass and tapped the ball past Keenan to give Bowdoin the lead at the 51:42 mark.

Five minutes later, Cannon pulled the Jumbos even again, converting another penalty corner opportunity into a score.

Cannon’s goal was the last time the Jumbos found the back of the boards, however. Eight minutes after Tufts evened the score for a second time, Riley finished her own shot, assisted

by O’Donnell, past Keenan to make it a 3-2 game. In the 66th minute, the Polar Bears added another insurance score from first-year forward

continued from back

Kimmy Ganong, who collected the rebound off an O’Donnell shot and beat Keenan to give the Polar Bears a two-goal advantage.

The lead held for the final four minutes, and the Polar Bears advanced to the NESCAC title game.

“Bowdoin is always a really tough competitor every year,” Cannon said.

“We battled the entire game, coming back from two deficits, but in the end, that one just didn’t go our way.”

Despite making a strong case for tournament contention, including a 9-1 regular season record in one of Div. III field hockey’s toughest conferences, Tufts had lost earlier than it had hoped in the NESCAC tournament. With No. 5 Middlebury clinching the automatic qualifier, and a likely bid going to the runner-up Polar Bears, it seemed unlikely that four NESCAC bids would be granted, and it appeared as though for Tufts, the postseason run might have ended right there.

The Jumbos gathered around their computers on Sunday evening, though, unsure of what news the selection committee would bring.

They wondered if they would even have a chance to defend their national title.

In the end, it was the Jumbos who earned the nod, while No. 6 Amherst, who defeated Tufts and Bowdoin during the regular season, was left out of the field of 16.

This Wednesday, Tufts will host

the Anna Maria Cats in a first-round contest on Bello Field. The Jumbos are looking to turn the tide quickly and return to the win column after Saturday’s defeat.

“We don’t know much about Anna Maria, and we haven’t seen them before,” Cannon said. “But to win any conference, you have to be good, so it’s definitely going to be a tough game. Playing a good team like Bowdoin and having them beat you always shows us where we can improve as a team, and where we can do better. That’s what we’ll be focusing on leading up to our game on Wednesday.”

Coach Tina McDavitt’s squad is confident, however. Just last season, the Jumbos fell to the Polar Bears in the same round of four during the NESCAC Championship, but earned an NCAA bid and went on to bring home the school’s first-ever women’s team national title.

“Saturday was a tough loss for us, but it showed us how important each game is from now on,” sophomore forward Hannah Park said. “We are ready to show everyone who we are and how strong of a team we are.”

“I know this team has so much more to give and to do,” Cannon added. “It feels great to be able to get a shot at progressing as a team together and to keep going. Especially for the seniors, it’s so important that we have one more shot to really go for it again in the NCAA tournament.”

Caroline Geiling / The Tufts Daily

Sophomore Allie Weiller contributed the assist on junior Caitlin Brandman’s game-tying goal in the first half. Middlebury, however, would go on to take the lead for good on a goal at the 55:28 mark to come away with the 2-1 win.

Panthers’ offensive prowess too much for Jumbos to handle WOMEN’S SOCCER continued from back

was one of the best the team has scored all season. The Jumbos didn’t hold on to the tied game for long, however, as Middlebury came out firing in the second half.

Middlebury’s aggressive offense led to seven shots on goal, forcing senior goalie Kristin Wright to make four saves total.

The Jumbos eventually succumbed to the attack, as Middlebury took the lead for good at the 55-minute mark when senior Scarlett Kirk beat a pair of defenders to challenge Wright one-onone. Her shot bounced off the crossbar

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Jumbos’ season continues with at-large bid FIELD HOCKEY

11

Sports

but was trapped and sent back into the net by sophomore Jamie Soroka for her fourth goal of the season.

Middlebury held onto its lead for the closing minutes of the game and neither team had a convincing shot at scoring for the remainder of the game. According to Brady, the team had to play more on the defensive end in the second half to fight against Middlebury’s pressing offense.

“In the second half we found ourselves having to play a bit more defensively,” Brady said. “They’re a good team, and we definitely had lot of opportunities in the first half that I wish we had put away.”

Despite the loss, the Jumbos came

away feeling good with how they had battled and the effort that they had put in to make it to the semifinals in the first place. It was the farthest that this year’s seniors have gone in the NESCAC tournament, and the success shows the progress the team has made this season. “[I’m] really proud of the team, this was the farthest we’d ever advanced since I’ve been at Tufts,” Brady said.

“I wish we had won, but I think it was a lot of hard work across the board, and the new players we had came in with a lot of enthusiasm. Everybody worked hard, and it was such a cohesive, good group.”

Aaron Leibowitz | The Fan

Football’s demise

I

t’s no one’s fault that the NFL as we know it will be extinct in 20 years. The players are just now starting to learn the full extent of the game’s dangers, and for most of them, the money and fame and ability to play a game for a living are too much to pass up.

The owners and NFL bigwigs haven’t exactly shown the utmost concern for player safety, but even now, with the league levying fines for reckless hits and paying big money to former players in court, the athletes will continue to feel the physical and mental effects of the game.

The fans — well, we can’t help ourselves.

Football is exciting. It’s become a bigger staple of American life on Sundays than going to church.

And what about the military, whose members get saluted too many times to count by the NFL and ESPN each weekend? What about the corporations making huge bucks off the Super Bowl? They all benefit from football in a big way, so of course they are going to support it.

For all of these reasons, the sport’s demise may take a while. But mark my words: Football will not withstand the test of time.

Here’s what’s going to happen. Over the next decade or so, we will learn more about the game’s devastating effects on current and former players. As the athletes age, many will endure nonstop, excruciating pain. Many will struggle with mental health issues. Many will die young.

The NFL will continue to try and patch up the problems as it gets hit hard in court.

Stricter safety rules will be implemented, eliminating kickoffs and enforcing suspensions for helmet-to-helmet plays.

But the problems will persist. Parents will begin pulling their children from youth leagues in waves, just as many parents won’t let their kids start playing in the first place.

At the same time, we will awaken to the fact that football — just like the military that the NFL promotes so ruthlessly — glorifies violence, macho culture (see: Incognito, Richie) and the merits of fighting through pain. We will realize that macho culture is destroying thousands of male brains and cutting short thousands of lives.

I wish there were a way to make football safe, or even passable, without completely ruining its essence. I love the game. But I can’t envision a viable solution. As long as football is played at full speed by full-grown men in pads and helmets, the carnage will continue.

I’m no scientist, but I can read the writing on the wall. A new book, “League of Denial,”

by Mark Fainaru-Wada and his brother Steve Fainaru, which was also made into a PBS Frontline documentary, details the harsh reality of concussions and football. Their research reveals that, of the ex-football players’ brains that have been studied, the great majority shows evidence of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy).

The NFL has tried to push back, denying responsibility and challenging the legitimacy of any study revealing the sport’s harms. But in late August the league and over 4,500 explayers agreed to a $765 million settlement over a concussion lawsuit. More litigation is on the way. Momentum is working against America’s favorite game.

As former Giants linebacker Harry Carson told PBS, “The NFL has given everybody 765 million reasons why you don’t want to play football.”

Say what you will about the players knowing the risks. Say what you will about America’s obsession with the sport — and yes, America is obsessed. But get back to me in 20 years.

Football — and far too many young men — will be shattered.

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

Sports

12

tuftsdaily.com

Volleyball

Tufts falls in NESCAC semifinals by

Tyler Maher

Daily Editorial Board

The Tufts volleyball season ended with a 3-0 loss to Williams College in the NESCAC Championship semifinals on

VOLLEYBALL (20-8 Overall, 7-3 NESCAC) at Williamstown, Mass., Saturday Tufts Williams

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at Williamstown, Mass., Friday Conn. College 21 24 30 27 8 — Tufts 25 26 28 25 15 —

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Saturday. The fourth-seeded Jumbos saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end, as they suffered their first loss since Oct. 12, finishing the year with an overall record of 20-8.

“The NESCAC playoffs are competitive, and at the end of the day it came down to ball control and energy,” freshman Elizabeth Ahrens said. “Williams was a great battle, and we definitely had some good moments against them.”

Most of those moments came in the first set, which was close but ultimately won by Williams, 25-22. The second and third sets were blowouts, with Tufts falling 11-25 and 8-25.

Despite the disappointing finish, several Jumbos still managed to play well.

Sophomore defensive specialist Carolina Berger served two aces and made nine digs, while classmate Kyra Baum facilitated the offense with 15 assists.

The first-seeded Ephs went on to sweep the Bowdoin Polar Bears on Sunday, winning their first NESCAC title since 2009.

Senior tri-captain Virginia Clay maintained that the Jumbos were just as good as the conference champions.

“Williams played very well this weekend, and they are a very talented team, but I know that we are just as talented and have just as much heart as they do, if not more,” she said. “Unfortunately, I think we let the pressure of the match get to us, and we lost the confidence that we needed to win.”

Tufts faced the additional challenge of playing a grueling quarterfinals match over Conn. College the day before. The Jumbos needed all five sets to dispatch the fifth-seeded Camels, who battled back after coming within one point of being swept.

Tufts got off to a great start, overcoming an early deficit in the first set to win 25-21. The second set went down to the wire, tied at 24 before junior hitters Hayley Hopper and Isabel Kuhel delivered consecutive kills to clinch the victory.

Up 2-0, the Jumbos were poised to finish off the sweep after taking a 24-16 lead in the third set. But Tufts faltered, allowing Conn. to mount an impressive comeback with eight unanswered points to tie the game. With momentum on their side,

the Camels staved off elimination with a stunning 30-28 victory.

The Jumbos rebounded from the crushing defeat to take a big lead early in the fourth set, but once again the Camels refused to quit. Conn. College went on to win another nail-biter, 27-25, and force a do-or-die fifth set.

The Jumbos jumped out to an early lead once more, and this time they didn’t look back, cruising to a 15-8 victory to finish off the resilient Camels. Kuhel contributed 17 of Tufts’ 51 kills, and Baum compiled 41 assists, lending a hand in over 80 percent of the Jumbos’ kills.

Clay thought a loss of composure on Tufts’ part allowed Conn. to creep back into the game.

“I think we wanted to win so badly that we let ourselves get a little bit frantic in the third and fourth sets,” Clay said. “In the fifth set, we knew we had to collect ourselves and come back with the same focus and energy that helped us to win the first two sets, and that’s exactly what we did.”

The team’s lone senior was happy to be a part of this year’s squad and predicted that the team will enjoy another excellent season in 2014.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this team and all of the hard work that each and every player has put into this season,” Clay said. “It’s been a wonderful run, and I have learned so much from my teammates and this program over the past four years. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for them.”

Caroline Geiling / The Tufts Daily

Junior middle hitter Isabel Kuhel racked up a match-high 17 kills in Tufts’ quarterfinals matchup with Conn. College.

Field Hockey

Jumbos look forward to NCAA Championship after NESCAC loss by

Kate Klots

Daily Editorial Board

What began as a heartbreaking weekend for the No. 2 field hockey team ended on a much higher note.

FIELD HOCKEY (14-2 Overall, 9-1 NESCAC) at Amherst, Mass., Saturday Bowdoin Tufts

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The Jumbos, who were eliminated from their conference tournament in the semifinal round for the second straight year, earned an at-large NCAA bid late Sunday night.

For Tufts, the squad’s first goal is turning Saturday’s loss to No. 4 Bowdoin into a teachable moment. In that contest, the Polar Bears notched three goals in the second half to put

the game out of the Jumbos’ reach.

“I don’t really know how to put it,” senior All-American center midfielder Emily Cannon said. “They were just so on. They played really solid hockey with such high intensity for the full 70 minutes. That’s what it came down to.”

Bowdoin threatened early in the contest, with Polar Bear junior forward Emily Simonton firing a series of shots at Tufts junior netminder Bri Keenan, who charged out of the cage to make the saves for the Jumbos.

The majority of the first half passed without a goal until Bowdoin earned a penalty corner opportunity in the 23rd minute. Senior co-captain forward Katie Riley inserted the ball to the top of the 16-meter circle, where junior midfielder Colleen Finnerty collected a misplayed ball and launched a long shot past Keenan and into the corner of the boards.

Caroline Geiling / The Tufts Daily

see FIELD HOCKEY, page 11

Senior All-American center midfielder Emily Cannon knotted the score at 2-2 in the NESCAC semifinal matchup before Tufts fell to Bowdoin 4-2.

Women’s Soccer

Tufts falls to NESCAC champion Middlebury in the semifinals by

Claire Sleigh

Daily Editorial Board

The women’s soccer team’s playoff run ended Saturday with a 2-1 loss to Middlebury in the NESCAC semifi-

WOMEN’S SOCCER (9-7 Overall, 5-5 NESCAC) at Middlebury, Vt., Saturday Tufts Middlebury

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nals. The loss in the semifinals marked the farthest Tufts has gone since 2009.

Middlebury went on to win the conference with a 1-0 win over Williams.

The sixth-ranked Jumbos came into

the game fueled by a 2-1 upset over the third-ranked Bowdoin Polar Bears in the quarterfinals. The first half looked strong for the Jumbos, as they held even with the Panthers, but the strong Middlebury offense eventually wore Tufts down in the second half.

“I thought we dominated and controlled the first half, and the second half was a good battle from each team,” junior Caitlin Brandman told the Daily in an email. “We didn’t capitalize on as many opportunities as we would have liked, but I think we really improved as a team throughout the season, physically and mentally, and I think this semifinal game showed that.”

Tufts had several chances to take the lead in the first half, with a clear opportunity to score in the first three min-

utes. Freshman Robin Estus beat her two defenders at the 18-yard line and fired off a shot that Middlebury senior keeper Elizabeth Foody managed to tip just over the crossbar.

Both Middlebury and Tufts pushed hard in the first half, with seven shots on goal for both teams. According to senior co-captain Blair Brady, possession time was about equal in the first half, with both teams making driving efforts and responding well to counter attacks.

“Middlebury moved the ball really well, but we did too,” Brady said. “There would just be times where Middlebury would possess the ball more, then [it would] switch back to us.”

Middlebury got its first chance 34 minutes into the game and opened up a lead off of a free kick from senior Julia

Favorito that classmate Sarah Noble was able to head in. It was Favorito’s seventh assist of the season, the most in the NESCAC this year.

Tufts rebounded before the half with a goal of their own to tie the game. A series of strong passes in the last minute and a half gave sophomore Allie Weiller the chance to slot a ball through the top of the box that Brandman picked up and put past the goalie.

“I looked up, saw the frame of the goal and Middlebury goalkeeper, and shot the ball into the lower right corner,” Brandman said. “Finishing that opportunity that my teammates created in a semifinal game was the best feeling.”

According to Brady, Brandman’s goal see WOMEN’S SOCCER, page 11