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THE TUFTS DAILY
TUFTSDAILY.COM
Monday, November 24, 2014
VOLUME LXVIII, NUMBER 52
Where You Read It First Est. 1980
Relay for Life hosts JumBonnaroo festival by Sophie Lehrenbaum Contributing Writer
Tufts Relay For Life hosted its biannual JumBonnaroo music festival on Nov. 21 and 22 to raise money for the American Cancer Society (ACS). The musical performances, which took place in fraternities Theta Chi and ATO of Massachusetts, featured Tufts bands Rollersnakes, Waldo, Market Basket and Shark Saddle, and served the dual purpose of spotlighting talent at Tufts while raising money and awareness for the ACS, according to Relay For Life Special Events Co-Chair Benjamin Silver, a junior. Silver, the event’s primary organizer, said the idea was first implemented last spring in an effort to directly engage the Tufts campus with Relay throughout the year. This year’s event sold out of individual tickets and wristbands for two-day access, boasting 436 attendees and garnering $2,482 in proceeds, as well as an immeasurable amount of buzz across campus, Silver added. “I rebranded [JumBonnaroo] from an event called ‘Party For Life,’ which Relay For Life used to do, where we had philanthropy parties at different fraternity houses,” he said. “I moved the emphasis away from the drinking culture aspect of the parties to the music, to something that the school was more comfortable being behind and promoting. And I think that made it really successful.” Along with Special Events Co-Chair Sabrina Pearson, a
sophomore, Silver explained that he has been working to organize the event since the start of the semester and hopes to see JumBonnaroo expand in the future. “My job as a special events chair for Relay is to promote Relay throughout the year before the event in April, and this is really a good opportunity to do that,” he said. “So rather than just do it once in the spring, I want to do it twice a year to help brand Relay.” The whole event was contingent upon securing the right bands and fraternities to host them, according to Tufts Relay for Life Co-Chair Elana Shapiro, a senior. Theta Chi Social Chair Jason Rathman said that cancer is a salient philanthropic issue within his fraternity this semester and is of particular interest to brothers, so it made sense that Theta Chi would host Waldo and Rollersnakes on Friday evening. “We have two philanthropy chairs, and our recent event was a Tufts Zombie Run … and all of the proceeds from that went to benefit the Dana Farber Research Institute and the Jimmy Fund,” Rathman, a sophomore, said. “So cancer is something that is pretty important to our house. We have a lot of brothers whose families have been affected by cancer, so it was sort of just an obvious thing that this would be part of a social philanthropy event.” Rathman also emphasized that the event showcases Greek organizations in a more positive see JUMBONNAROO, page 2
Tufts CSRD holds teach-in on Ferguson by Patrick McGrath Daily Editorial Board
The Tufts Center for the Study of Race and Democracy (CSRD) hosted a teach-in on the events, context and implications of this summer’s conflict and the ongoing situation in Ferguson, Mo. in the Terrace Room on Friday afternoon. The event was broken up into three panel discussions, featuring both student and faculty hosts. The first panel, titled “Students and Political Activism in the Wake of Ferguson,” was student-run. The second, titled “Ferguson in Context: Race, State Violence and Civil Rights,” featured Professor of History Peniel Joseph, Associate Professor of Art and Art History Adriana Zavala and Associate Professor of Education Sabina Vaught. The third panel, titled “Resistance
after Ferguson: Combating Structural Racism in the 21st Century,” was conducted by Joseph, Associate Professor of Psychology Samuel Sommers and Professor of Classics and International Relations Bruce Hitchner. The third panel focused on the larger significance and structural issues highlighted by the events in Ferguson. “What I wanted this panel to talk about … [is] this idea of resistance, the idea that this is not just a moment but is really part of a long movement, a human rights movement,” Joseph said, adding that the panel would discuss effective means to combat structural racism, state violence and structural inequality. Hitchner drew a comparison to the Civil Rights movement in see FERGUSON, page 2
Alex Knapp / The Tufts Daily
Tufts Off-Hill Council, which is headquartered at Hillside House (Commuter House), hosted its first-ever Fall Fest on Saturday afternoon, with activities and food for Tufts community members. The event featured activities including horse-drawn hayrides, cornhole, an ugly sweater contest and a potato-sack race, according to Chiamaka Chima, a first-year graduate student
and a house manager of the Commuter House. Other culture houses at Tufts, including the Russian Culture House, the German Language House, the French Language House and the Japanese Language House, brought their own foods, and event coordinators gave out $25 to $50 gift cards from their local sponsors, including Boston Burger Company, Sound
Bites, Whole Foods and Stop and Shop, she said. Chima added that the event was intended for unity, fun and philanthropy, as it also donated food to local food pantries. She said that she considered it to be a success and hopes to make it a tradition. —by Patrick McGrath
Tufts Against Genocide hosts talk on Native American genocide by Patrick McGrath Daily Editorial Board
Speaker and storyteller Donna Edmonds Mitchell, also known as Minoweh Ikidowin (Cloud in the Wind), presented a lecture on Thursday evening in the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center about identity and colonization in North America, titled “Thanksgiving and the Native American Genocide: an Evening with Minoweh Ikidowin.” The event was sponsored by Tufts Against Genocide (TAG). Mitchell began the talk by emphasizing the importance of thinking with one’s heart, noting that Western ideology does not teach individuals to think in such a way. “I want to ask you all to put down your intellectual ideas, and everything that I share with you today and that you share with me — I want it to come from your heart,” she said. Mitchell encouraged students to reflect on their own origins, and audience members went around the room stating their ethnicities. She also asked them to think about their studies and career pursuits. “So you are here learning a career, but a career is not who you are as a human being,” she said. “Who you are as a human being is that thing that
Inside this issue
has grown with you from the moment you could talk, or run or play.” Western education has taught individuals to bury down what it is that is important to them, according to Mitchell. “I’m here to tell you or suggest to you that if you’re manifesting a career by the very value of its monetary worth and you don’t love doing it, please don’t do it,” she said. Mitchell underscored the importance of honoring other individuals’ experiences, even if they are different from one’s own, adding that actions speak louder than words, particularly in today’s digital age. “When you operate with your heart, you actually are operating with the thing that my creator has given you to protect yourself, your conscience, your intuition,” she said. She acknowledged, however, that the world is experiencing difficult conditions today. “You’re living in the best of times and the worst of times right now, where everything in the world is collapsing in on itself,” she said. “You’re the generation that’s going to have to hold it up.” Mitchell also cautioned the audience against overly strong attachments to materiality. “You become a better human being by using less material
things,” she said. “Don’t waste your life on anything that you don’t love.” Next, Mitchell transitioned into a discussion of the consequences of colonization in North America. “Most people don’t realize that native people, even during the time of colonization and conquering, we did not look at skin color,” she said. “We looked at hearts and whether your word was honorable — if you did what you said you’d promised you’d do.” According to Mitchell, Native Americans originally set to befriend and welcome the people coming to North America prior to colonization, noting that individuals such as the Vikings and Russians came to trade in exchange for goods that both parties wanted. “But then you had a group of people that came because of religious persecution,” she said, noting the arrival of the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Mass. Mitchell explained that these settlers had come seeking religious freedom, but upon arrival, they began to take away the ability of Native Americans to worship and have freedom of religion themselves. “And not only that, to then judge us by the color of our see GENOCIDE, page 2
Today’s sections
The Hillside House provides an important community space for students who commute.
The men’s soccer team advances to its firstever Final Four.
see FEATURES, page 3
see SPORTS, back
News 1 Features 3 Arts & Living 5 Editorial | Op-Ed 8
Op-Ed 9 Comics 10 Classifieds 11 Sports Back