TuftsDaily11-30-2012

THE TUFTS DAILY

Cloudy 34/27

VOLUME LXIV, NUMBER 53

Where You Read It First Est. 1980 TUFTSDAILY.COM

FridaY, NOVEMBER 30, 2012

Student course evaluations to be completed online

by Stephanie

Haven

Daily Editorial Board

Courtesy Melody Ko

In response to mounting evidence that Lance Armstrong doped during his career, Tufts has rescinded the cyclist’s honorary degree he received in 2006.

Board revokes Armstrong’s Tufts degree In a Nov. 19 email from University President Anthony Monaco regarding the Board of Trustees’ meeting earlier this month, it was announced that the Honorary Degree Committee, with the unanimous vote of the Board, has revoked athlete, philanthropist and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong’s honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

The university awarded the degree to Armstrong during its 150th Commencement in 2006, at which Armstrong was the keynote speaker. Universities bestow these honorary degrees upon individuals who make distinguished contributions to society or who have set themselves apart in areas related to the humanities.

“The board concluded that, in the wake of the recent report of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and its acceptance by the International Cycling Union, Mr. Armstrong’s actions as an athlete are inconsistent with the values of Tufts University,” the email said.

Earlier this year, after the USADA concluded with evidence that Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs, he lost his seven Tour de France titles and severed ties

with the Livestrong Foundation charity, which he founded in 1997.

“A recommendation to rescind the degree was made by the Board’s Committee on Honorary Degrees and then reviewed by the full board, which made its final decision after thoughtfully considering the exceptional circumstances involved,” Tufts Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler said.

She added that the Board has notified Armstrong of its action.

At the 2006 Commencement, the university justified its gifting of an honorary degree to Armstrong, stating that he had conquered challenges in his health and career and supported cancer treatment and research.

“In addition to being an inspirational hero to millions of people who suffer from cancer, you are a legendary athlete and a truly deserving champion,” former University President Lawrence Bacow said while presenting the cyclist with the award at the ceremony.

To date, Armstrong has not publicly acknowledged the degree’s withdrawal or admitted that he is guilty of doping.

— by Brionna Jimerson

Tufts Free Compliments helps promote positive psychology on Facebook

by Jacob

Passy

Daily Editorial Board

For those in need of a smile, Tufts Free Compliments does the job nicely. This group, which is dedicated to brightening the days of Tufts students, can often be spotted holding signs and complimenting passersby outside of Tisch Library. Their most recent undertaking is the addition of a Facebook group to expand the reach of their compliments.

Marc Finder (A ’11) established Tufts Free Compliments in 2007, organizing the group based on the free complimenting efforts that were being made at other colleges, according to junior Alexander Most, who is a past president of Tufts Free Compliments.

Since its creation, the group has had a steadily growing presence on campus. Recently, it has attracted national media attention, specifically a Nov. 19 mention in USA Today College as part of its list of “6 Quirky College Clubs.” Despite the hype,

Most said that the club’s membership has been fairly small since its creation.

“Before, it was a much smaller group of people, and mainly friends of the people who did it would join in,” Most said.

This year, under the leadership of sophomore Brendan Conron, the group of free compliment givers has expanded significantly.

“It’s grown a lot this semester, and it’s great to see how far it’s come along,” Conron said.

Some students receive a free compliment and then want to join the group themselves, Most added.

“A good amount of people [that] do come [are] people who get a compliment and want to join in, but [Conron] also had a general interest meeting at the start of the year,” Most said.

According to sophomore Graham Starr, the public relations director for Tufts Free Compliments, social media see COMPLIMENTS, page 2

Inside this issue

For the first time, students will now complete end-of-the-semester course evaluations on the internet during their own time, rather than in class on paper. The aim of moving course evaluations online is to improve the efficiency of processing and accessing the evaluation data.

In previous semesters, professors allotted time for students to complete paper course evaluations in class. The forms, which are now available on Trunk, opened Nov. 26 and will close Dec. 10 at midnight.

“With all the changes that have been happening, with Trunk and [the Student Information System] (SIS), it seemed like the perfect time to change another old antiquated system,” Tufts Community Union ( TCU) Senate Vice President Meredith Goldberg, a senior, said.

Whereas the paper system was riddled with organizational issues, the online system opens up many new opportunities for accessing information about courses and professors, according to Professor and Chair of Geology Jack Ridge, the convener of the Education Policy Committee (EPC)’s Student Course Evaluation (SCE) Subcommittee, which leads the project.

For example, he said that digitizing the process will allow professors to see evaluations from their students within a week, rather than the months it previously took.

TCU Senate initiated the project in the fall semester of the 2009-2010 academic year, and the process has been ongoing since then.

With the heavy workload during finals period, many students said they do not have enough time to fill out such forms in class — a sentiment understood by those who worked to convert the system from paper to online, according to junior Christopher Ghadban, chair of the TCU Senate Education Committee.

“Allowing students time in class may help participation, but often time set aside in class is short and it prompts students to give very short written

responses,” Ridge said. “The Student Course Evaluation Subcommittee is hoping, like at other institutions, that the online written responses will be more reflective and informative.”

In an effort to prevent a decline in participation, some professors have offered to drop the lowest homework grade for students who forward them the Trunk emails confirming that evaluations are complete, Ghadban said.

However, at other universities that switched from paper to online evaluations, participation rates initially increased, Ridge said.

“It is my hope that students will realize how much of a benefit this is,” Goldberg said. “I hope the active citizenship and pride of Tufts will push through.”

Ridge said that, to increase evaluation completion rates in the future, the system may include an incentive as early as fall 2013, such as posting final grades earlier, to encourage more students to participate.

While this semester’s evaluations consist of the same questions asked in previous years about the course and the instructor with room for additional comments, the SCE Subcommittee plans to alter the list of questions for next year. These revisions will provide questions that better assess instructors and courses, as well as make suggestions for course improvements, Ridge said.

Although the committee is in the process of working out details, spring course evaluations will feature more qualitative than quantitative questions, Goldberg said, as well as fewer, but more in-depth, questions.

Goldberg said she hopes the committee can create a mechanism through which students will be able to access previous course evaluations, a step which could help during class registration.

However, Ridge said he and some other faculty do not think this level of accessibility would benefit students’ Tufts education.

“We detest evaluations where low response percentages are used to catesee EVALUATIONS, page 2

Courtesy Justin McCallum

Spirit of Color (SoC) performed last night in front of a sold-out crowd in Cohen Auditorium for the dance troupe’s fall show, titled “SoC Presents: Off the Record.” The second performance will take place tonight at 8 p.m.

Today’s sections

Boston Ballet ushers in the holiday season with its all-new “Nutcracker.”

Kate Gluckman (LA ’04) brings her defensive coaching style to Grinnell basketball.

see ARTS, page 3

see SPORTS, on back

News | Features Arts & Living

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Comics Classifieds Sports

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The Tufts Daily

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THE TUFTS DAILY Rebecca K. Santiago Editor-in-Chief

Editorial Ben Kochman Falcon Reese Managing Editors Jenna Buckle Executive News Editor Shana Friedman News Editors Lizz Grainger Stephanie Haven Amelie Hecht Daphne Kolios Patrick McGrath Laina Piera Martha Shanahan Melissa Wang Jenny White Menghan Liu Assistant News Editors Melissa Mandelbaum Audrey Michael James Pouliot Josh Weiner

News

Friday, November 30, 2012

Course evaluations to feature more in-depth questions EVALUATIONS

continued from page 1

gorize a course, [such] as what occurs with [RateMyProfessors.com],” he said. “We want to know what the class as a whole thought about the course.

Personally, I don’t want students looking at old course evaluations.”

Although the revamped online course evaluations are not finalized, those on the SCE Subcommittee hope the changing system will aid all members of the Tufts community.

“I think the future benefits, and the record keeping, we could have in online databases is so much better than we could have on paper,” Goldberg said.

“With the new course evaluations comes so many more possibilities.”

Daily File Photo

Student course evaluations will now be filled out online on Trunk rather than on paper.

Hannah Fingerhut Executive Features Editor Jon Cheng Features Editors Amelia Quinn Derek Schlom Lily Sieradzki Emily Bartlett Assistant Features Editors Alexandria Chu Jacob Passy Melissa MacEwen Executive Arts Editor Kate Griffiths Arts Editors Alex Hanno Joe Stile Matthew Welch Alex Kaufman Assistant Arts Editors Dan O’Leary Caroline Welch Jonathan Green Bhushan Deshpande David Kellogg Seth Teleky Yiota Kastritis Peter Sheffer Denise Amisial Jehan Madhani Louie Zong Keran Chen Nicholas Golden Scott Geldzahler NewtonPortorreal

Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editors

Cartoonists

Editorialists

David McIntyre Executive Sports Editor Aaron Leibowitz Sports Editors Ethan Sturm Kate Klots Zachary Kliger Alex Baudoin Jake Indursky Assistant Sports Editors Andy Wong Marcus Budline Virginia Bledsoe Caroline Gelling Oliver Porter Ashley Seenauth Kyra Sturgill William Butt Lane Florsheim Meagan Maher Gabriela Ros Clarissa Sosin Andrew Schneer

Executive Photo Editor Photo Editors

Assistant Photo Editors

Staff Photographers

Jodi Bosin Executive New Media Editors Brionna Jimerson Justin McCallum

Courtesy Brendon Conron

Since 2007, Tufts Free Compliments has been doling out positive remarks to passersby of Tisch Library.

Online complimenting campaign attracts attention

COMPLIMENTS

continued from page 1

PRODUCTION Alyssa Kutner

Production Director Elliot Philips Executive Layout Editor Jen Betts Layout Editors Matthew Cardarelli Gabrielle Cella Sarah Davis Shoshanna Kahne Sarah Kester Adrian Lo Danny MacDonald Reid Spagna Nina Goldman Executive Copy Editors Drew Lewis Lauren Greenberg Copy Editors Adrienne Lange Patrick McGrath

George Brown Executive Online Editor Darcy Mann Online Editors Daniel Kotin Executive Technical Manager

BUSINESS Christine Busaba Executive Business Director Simmone Seymour Advertising Director Li Liang Receivables Manager Shang Ming Wu Sales Director

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also played a major role in shaping the group this year.

“At the end of last year, our membership dropped and there was the possibility that we actually weren’t going to continue into this year,” he said.

“Using social media has been very helpful in getting people involved.”

Starr added that Tufts Free Compliments is now using social media as way to brand itself as “the premiere positive psychology group at Tufts.”

For Starr, positive psychology, a recent movement within the psychology community toward embracing existence, is at the core of the group’s mission. The field looks at the sources of happiness and seeks ways to improve satisfaction.

“I feel if people smile or chuckle, they will feel a little better,” Starr said.

“We want to be a cog in this machine that is positivity on campus.”

On Tuesday, the group began a new online service to spread happiness throughout the student body through a Facebook page called Tufts Compliments.

The idea initially came from sophomore Melissa Wang, who found out about the group during a visit to Tufts during her senior year of high school.

Wang is also a News editor for the Daily.

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.

“It was April Open House of my senior year after I’d been accepted to Tufts, and I saw complimenters holding up signs,” Wang said. “And that definitely made me like Tufts more.”

Wang didn’t join the organization until this year.

Since becoming a member, she has been inspired by the online free compliments initiatives found at other universities.

“I looked more into it, and apparently the idea originated at Queen’s University in Ontario,” Wang said. “I thought it would be a great thing to bring to Tufts because this new online free complimenting service just seemed like a natural add-on.”

Since it was created on Tuesday, the Tufts Free Compliments page has already attracted 650 friends as of Thursday morning and has helped expand the group’s reach significantly, Conron said.

“The big thing is not overwhelming people, and we try to maintain a comfortable environment where people can still get compliments and be happy with them,” he said.

Starr explained that the group works hard to maintain an anonymous process when it comes to receiving and posting the compliments. He said that anyone can send in a submission via a Facebook message to the Tufts Compliments page.

A member will then post the sub-

mission as a status update, tagging the person it concerns when possible, before deleting the original message to maintain the anonymity of the complimenting person.

“Anyone can send in anything about anybody, and it will be completely confidential,” Starr said.

“There’s no record of a person sending us something if they’re embarrassed about complimenting somebody.”

Starr found that the anonymous complimenting is helpful to boosting involvement in the group, since it makes the experience easier.

“Even if we don’t have a lot of people going to our weekly and bi-weekly complimenting sessions in front of Tisch, they can still make people feel good about themselves from their computers,” he said.

Senior Yulia Korovikov, who has always enjoyed the group’s presence and compliments, said she was excited to see the new online feature.

“There’s so much anonymous hate on the internet,” she said. “It’s nice to get some anonymous love as well.”

While these positive results do lead some to see this online campaign as the future of the group, for Conron, it doesn’t change the group’s fundamental effort.

“I think the core will always be the complimenting sessions outside of Tisch,” he said.

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Arts & Living

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Album Review

‘Instrumental Tourist’ showcases best of ambient scene by

Matthew Welch

Daily Editorial Board

Fractured, expansive and more than a tad lugubrious, Tim Hecker’s latest album, “Instrumental Tourist,” is a gem for anyone with a taste for the darker things in life, aurally speaking. A collaboration with fellow ambient producer Daniel Lopatin, aka Oneohtrix Point Never, “Tourist” is about as varied as you can expect to get within either artists’ oeuvre.

Alternating between desolate soundscapes and grating walls of noise, the album offers plenty of variety and detail. Though the sounds can stretch on for minutes upon minutes, Hecker and Lopatin offer such a nuanced, lively sonic palette that listeners will have more than enough to dig into for months to come.

The album opens chaotically with fuzz sounds quickly racing from side to side this is definitely a headphone album. “Uptown Psychedelia” sports delicately meandering synths that phase in and out as Hecker and Lopatin pipe in various electronic gobbledygook, making for a challenging, if engaging listen. The industrial grit of the opener quickly spools

Wikimedia Commons

Hecker displays varying timbre, contrast on latest album. out into the lushly arranged “Scene from a French Zoo.” Long, droning tones air out over a backdrop of anonymous electronic blips and bloops as Hecker

and Lopatin make the sounds more and more abrasive, building to a modest climax before dropping the listener back into the same tranquil sounds that started the track.

Despite the occasionally glacial pace of the album, this album is never boring. Ideas that seem like they’re running out of steam gradually gain life as subtle, new layers are added. The real joy of “Instrumental Tourist” is how cumulatively it builds its effect, and how immersive the music can be when the album runs its full course.

As “Tourist” gets further underway, Hecker and Lopatin gradually bring in clearer vocal work.

The album begins abstractly, with densely clustered sounds that bear almost no resemblance to anything one would encounter in vocal music. But soon enough, Hecker and Lopatin ease the album into more familiar territory as human voices, albeit heavily processed and obscured ones, begin to surface.

“Whole Earth Tascam” is unnerving and cathartic all at once. The female vocal samples that speckle the track shift between shifting melodies and fractured, unnatural phrases that can be pretty creepy.

Even if their work can give you the jitters, Hecker and Lopatin have a knack for creating strangely hypnotic tracks that stick with you.

The second half of the album strips away most of the overt industrial sounds of its introduction, all

the while retaining some of its edge.

“Ritual for Consumption” gives way to florid synth melodies that never quite soothe the listener, thanks to the sporadic craziness introduced by the producers. Pinging biwa samples cut through the mix along with occasional stabs from a dissonant synth. This is not your dad’s ambient record.

Listeners to Hecker’s previous material will hardly be surprised by “Instrumental Tourist,” but the addition of Lopatin gives him a scope of sound he didn’t always have. “Harmony in Ultraviolet” (2006) may be his best work, but it lacks the exploration and risk-taking found on “Tourist.” The album misses its mark on a few occasions, like the disjointed “GRM Blue II,” but when it succeeds it does so to great effect.

Between “Instrumental Tourist” and Brian Eno’s latest, “Lux” (2012), ambient music fans will have plenty to sink their teeth into over the next few weeks. Though hardly the liveliest of music scenes, ambient music has been a pretty consistent subset of electronic music over the past four decades or so, and no one could say that musicians of the caliber of Tim Hecker and Daniel Lopatin are beating a dead horse.

Ballet Review

No surprises, but plenty of sparkle, charm in Boston Ballet’s new Nutcracker by

Martha Shanahan

Daily Editorial Board

Boston Ballet’s world premiere of the new “The Nutcracker,” which opened last week and continues through the end of December, does just what it’s meant to do. The company’s artistic director and this production’s choreographer, Mikko Nissinen, has introduced no surprises in his re-choreographed version of the classic holiday ballet, focusing instead on keeping the predictable elements of the ballet to make it everything audiences would expect.

The ballet opens on a perfectly quaint, sized-down version of a doll maker’s workshop. It then takes the audience through a typical Victorian mansion, into a frenetic battle scene between the magically lifelike toy army and the posse of an opulent rat king and on an adventure through a glittering magical kingdom before bringing Clara, the ballet’s protagonist, back home.

There’s plenty of room for imaginative twists that remains unfilled. Given an opportunity to create a whole new production, Nissenen’s decision to play it so safe seems like a missed opportunity. What the show lacks in ingenuity, though, this new “Nutcracker” makes up for in skill

courtesy gene schiavone

Nissinen’s ‘Nutcracker’ is humorous and bombastic, but it remains rather disappointingly true to the classic ballet. and professionalism. Robert Perdziola’s new costumes, as well as the understated set he designed, are sleek and gorgeous.

Sunday’s cast showcased them brilliantly.

The dancers’ technique throughout begs no criticism. The company’s corps de ballet excelled under a forest of birch trees, and

COURTESY ROSALIE O’CONNOR

“The Nutcracker’s” technical prowess more than makes up for its overly familiar plot.

the company artfully produced falling flakes in the famous snow scene at the end of the ballet’s first act and again in various capacities after intermission. Led by Jonathan McPhee, the Boston Ballet’s Orchestra provided the dancers with a spritely interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s score.

In any professional “Nutcracker,” the highlight is, of course, the opportunity to watch a younger generation of dancers take the stage.

Boston Ballet School students dance the roles of children in the first act’s Christmas party.

They remain smattered throughout the rest of the ballet as pint-sized yet perfectly rehearsed members of the cast. Among them is the charming Eliza French as Clara, the story’s protagonist. French is once of several dancers taking the role this season, but she merits special attention for her joyful leaps and infectious smile. Also notable are the dancers who march and spin with impressive precision as soldiers in the first act’s battle scene. They do battle with an equally enjoyable cast of bumbling mice that hurl comically balloonsized onions and maraschino cherries, and set off smoky cannons while the now full-sized Nutcracker Prince (Yury Yanowsky) plays out his epic defeat of the rat king. Nissenen and Perdziola took special care in crafting the transition from ballroom grandeur to the sur-

real so that the performance remains playful.

When the mice first appear, it is one-by-one on the 12 strokes of a grandfather clock at midnight, each rodent striking a sillier pose than the one before it until, finally, number 12 appears in a square beam of light spread out like a decidedly Scott Brown-esque model on the cover of GQ. When the Christmas tree swells to dwarf the room, it’s truly a spectacle in set design and fiber optics.

Clara and her newfound prince are whisked away by jingling reindeer to the Nutcracker’s magical kingdom where Yury Yanowsky, ever effervescent and naturally buoyant, led a trio of Russian dancers that brought a spark of life to an otherwise predictable second act. The company’s skill in corps dancing re-emerged during the “Waltz of the Flowers.” Lorna Feij򭪠who performed on Sunday, was a brilliant Sugar Plum Fairy, sporting the centerpiece of Perdziola’s costume overhaul in a tutu that, according to the program notes, sports over 4,000 Swarovski crystals.

The company has officially ushered in the Christmas season with its new production — perhaps missing out on the chance to stand out, but capturing the spirit of “The Nutcracker” by sticking with tradition and charm.

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cont headline BASKETBALL

continued from back

press. That knowledge was put to the test on Wednesday night, when the Pioneers opened up their conference season against Knox College, a team that has recently implemented the “Grinnell system.”

“It’s another benefit of having our men’s program — we know the strategies that work against them,” Gluckman said. “Slowing down the pace of the game, making sure you’re rebounding really well on the defensive end, and also just staying composed and making sure they get fewer and fewer possessions.”

Facing off against a Prairie Fire team that averaged more than 85 points a game in conference play this past season, Gluckman’s team was able to execute her strategy to near perfection. They controlled the boards, slowed the game down and held Knox to just 25.0 percent from the field. It all resulted in a 78-75 victory, the team’s first of the season.

While Gluckman is there, Grinnell will always be full of contradictions. As the Pioneer men’s team continue to churn out results with mind-blowing statistics, Gluckman will have to prove that her system, molded by her days on courts of Cousens Gymnasium, also belongs with the best.

Mahoney’s dramatic victory spurs team against Wellesley swimming continued from back Hu took the 100-meter breaststroke with ease, and couldn’t keep herself from smiling when she heard her time on the 200meter. With a time of 2:26.45 in the 200, Hu dropped over four seconds from her time this year, set a personal record, beat the pool record and made the B cut on the Nationals team.

“Jenny [Hu] swam out of her mind,” Bigelow said.

Hu stressed that this meet was a success not only for her but for the whole team, with multiple personal records set and an energetic vibe throughout the meet.

“Everybody did really well,” she said. “We were all excited to race

Wellesley at home where there’s a bit of a home-field advantage.”

From the start of the meet, it was clear that Tufts was on its game.

The 200-meter medley relay team of senior KJ Kroetch, Hu, sophomore Kathryn Coniglio and freshman Sam Swinton took first place, with the B relay coming in third.

Tufts’ swimmers placed first in the majority of events, with the exception of backstroke, where the absence of powerhouse sophomore Samantha Sliwinski forced the other swimmers to step up.

While experimenting with younger members of her squad, Bigelow was counting on her team’s depth to come through against the Blue. The Jumbos showed strength in the distance freestyle

events, with freshman Sarah Mahoney pressuring Wellesley’s Ieva Galinyte, also a freshman, in the 1000-meter freestyle. Mahoney and Galinyte were neck-and-neck for a dramatic 11 minutes, with Galinyte out-touching Mahoney to win by .14 seconds.

In the next distance event, the 500-meter freestyle, it was senior tri-captain Christine Garvey beating Galinyte by three seconds.

Due to Tufts’ lack of diving facilities, the divers competed at Wellesley, which meant that they were without the support of their team, according to coach Brad Snodgrass. On the one-meter dive, senior Ali Maykranz risked a new, more complex dive, but failed to complete it.

“If she had done any other dive she probably would have been second or first, but she took the risk,” Snodgrass said. “In the end, it will pay off.”

Maykranz finished third in the one-meter behind the two Wellesley divers, but pulled through with another difficult dive in the 3-meter to finish in second place.

Despite some minor setbacks on the diving front, the Jumbos were still able to cruise to a victory with the first win of the season fresh in their minds. They are looking to this weekend’s MIT invitational meet as another chance to push themselves against teams they don’t see during the conference season.

Influence of new coaching staff seen as both teams win SQUASH

continued from back

Meanwhile, Chaudhry was not able to pull out an individual victory, losing in four close games to her Wellesley opponent 10-12, 8-11, 11-9, 9-11.

“It was a tough match, but with slight adjustments I know I could’ve pulled through with a victory,” Chaudhry said. “I definitely feel prepared for our contests this weekend, and know we can even pull out a 9-0 win against Wellesley next semester.”

But with two three-game victories for sophomore Paige Dahlman at No. 2 and senior Risa Myers at No. 6, the team was able to put together enough individual victories to win the match.

“While all the games in Risa’s match were won by a score of 12-10, it was wonderful to see her hold her own and win in three games,” Chaudhry added. “Wellesley has a very different style of play than we’re used to, but it was great to see everyone adjust so seamlessly.”

Rubine and Chaudhry attribute both their own and the team’s improvement to a deep

coaching staff, including Edwin Lennox and Eric Lamsa, both players on the Pro Squash Tour (PST). McManus, meanwhile, is the CEO of the Tour and has organized several outings for the team, including a trip to a match in the PST Boston Open.

“Coach McManus is doing a terrific job leading us, from bringing in top squash athletes to give us personal tips to keeping us organized and fit,” Rubine said. “Having assistants and top players like Edwin and Eric at all of our practices and matches has been amazing.”

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Sports

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Women’s Basketball

Conflicts of interest: Tufts alum stresses defense in coaching role at points-happy school by

Ethan Sturm

Daily Editorial Board

Jack Taylor of Grinnell College sent the sports world into a frenzy last week when he scored 138 points — an NCAA record — in his team’s 179-104 win over Faith Baptist Bible College. Taylor took a shot once every 20 seconds, and went 27-for-71 from beyond the arc.

The incredible feat was made possible by an offensive system for which the school has become well known. The Pioneers cycle in 20 players, 12 of whom are averaging at least 10 minutes a game, and run short, hockey-style shifts.

They institute a full-court press on every possession and are willing to concede an easy layup if the opposition breaks it. The goals of the system, according to a 2003 D3Hoops.com article, are 100 shots, 50 three-point attempts, 32 turnovers forced, a shot differential of at least 30 and a 33.3 percent offensive rebound rate in every game.

But sharing a home gym with the men is a women’s team of a completely different nature. The women finished the 2010-2011 season fourth in the conference in points allowed and were second last year. More comfortable in a dogfight than a shootout, the Pioneer women’s team and its opponent combined for fewer points on the night of Taylor’s record than Taylor himself scored.

“I just think about basketball a lot differently than our men’s coaches do,” women’s head coach Kate Gluckman (LA ‘04) said.

“There are some wonderful attri

Courtesy Tufts Athletics

Kate Gluckman (LA ’04, No. 20) was a key fixture on Tufts’ defense-minded basketball teams for years and has now transitioned to a head coaching role. butes to the system, but I think I’m much more old school in terms of my thinking about the game and what it means to be a basketball player and regulate the game.”

Gluckman had a long history at Tufts before being hired at Grinnell for the 2008-2009 season. She was a starter as a freshman at Tufts, and again started the majority of her games during her junior year ­­­­­— coach Carla Berube’s first year in the program. A 5-foot-10 forward, she averaged at least five points per game in three of her four seasons and was an active participant in the turnaround of the program, which went from nine wins in the 2001-2002 season to at least 17 in each of the next two.

“We certainly experienced a lot of growth in those first two years,” Gluckman said. “It was the start of where the program is today.”

Gluckman rejoined the team as

a graduate assistant for two seasons in 2006. In her second season as a member of the staff, the team completed its rejuvenation, making its only run to the Elite Eight in school history.

The NCAA Tournament was an especially busy period for Gluckman, who was simultaneously helping to run the team while applying and interviewing for head coaching positions.

“We had come back from qualifying for the Sweet 16, and in between the opening rounds and the Sweet 16, I flew out to Iowa and interviewed at Grinnell and was back in time for practice and no one knew a thing,” Gluckman said. “It was an exciting and exhausting time.”

Gluckman insisted that “the system” of the men’s team wasn’t a part of the job requirement. Still, she can’t avoid the

Squash

Men stay undefeated as women improve to 1-1

by Jorge Monroy-Palacio and Andy Linder

Daily Staff Writers

Though the winter season is barely two weeks old, the men’s and women’s squash teams have already gotten off to promising starts. And on Wednesday, both teams continued to build momentum, with the No. 29 men’s team improving to 4-0 with a win over MIT and the No. 24 women’s team moving to 1-1 with a win over No. 25 Wellesley.

For the men, the early-season success has been unquestionably led by co-captains Jeremy Ho, a junior, and Zachary Schweitzer, a sophomore, along with newly-hired coach Joseph McManus. Against the Engineers, Tufts benefited from wins by Schweitzer and Ho, as well as freshman Aditya Advani, sophomore Hugo Meggitt and freshman Brandon Weiss.

“The matches that we won were decisive wins, while the matches that we lost were generally in four or five games,” Schweitzer said. “It was a good sign that we were contentious throughout the whole lineup.”

Arguably the most impressive win was the one that clinched the match. Tied two sets a piece, Meggitt pulled out the win with an 11-7 fifth set.

“The last two games were drawn out to 2-2 and we needed one to clinch the victory,” Ho said. “Credit for pulling out the victory goes to an amazing performance from Hugo Meggitt at the No. 4 slot, who came back from 0-2. [Meggitt] did a great job, considering he just moved up the ladder from No. 6.”

The victory over MIT marks the fourth straight strong performance from the Jumbos, and was the first match where

they were realistically challenged by their opponents. Early-season matchups with No. 55 University of Vermont, No. 31 Boston University, and No. 34 Boston College were all won easily, but the triumph over the Engineers was a display of the team’s newfound focus under new leadership.

“To the last man, they have all been working hard in practice and they deserved a good start,” McManus said. “The captains were a key part in this because I was not hired until just before the season began.

Jeremy and Zach have done a nice job keeping the team focused and motivated.”

Meanwhile, the women’s team came into its second match of the season looking for a first victory after a close but promising loss to No. 22 Boston College, and the team captured that win, 5-4, over No. 25 Wellesley College.

“Coming into [the match], we all knew we needed to win,” senior co-captain Jessica Rubine said. “Everyone’s head was in it, and overall we played really solidly.”

Rubine certainly contributed to the victory, defeating her opponent in three games 11-3, 11-4, and 11-6 at the No. 1 position for the Jumbos.

According to senior co-captain Hafsa Chaudhry, Rubine’s improvement was evident and it was clear she knew how important an individual victory for her team would be.

“While I didn’t get to watch the whole match, I could tell [Rubine] was playing really well and certainly dominating the match,” Chaudhry said. “I’m extremely proud of her.” see SQUASH, page 7

stigmas that come attached to the school name.

“Every time I say I coach at Grinnell, everyone asks me if I run the system — that’s what Grinnell is known for,” Gluckman said. “It’s a campus phenomenon, and people get really excited about it.”

But Gluckman has not been swayed by her male counterparts. Her teams play a halfcourt, man-to-man defense that depends on quick-moving help defense from excellent individual defenders to close open lanes.

Like the Jumbos, Gluckman’s teams are content to play the possession game on offense, and since the 2010-2011 season, the Pioneers have topped 70 points just three times.

“I learned from Carla [Berube] that it doesn’t matter about the talent on your team,” Gluckman said.

“If you can have the students buy in and play defense hard and play it together, then you’re going to be in a lot of games that you wouldn’t otherwise be in talent-wise.”

“It’s a focus of ours every day in practice, it’s something we like to hang our hat on, it’s part of our team identity,” she added. “And that all comes directly from my experience with Carla.”

After going 4-19 in her first season coaching, the team has increased its win total every year, breaking .500 for the first time this past season with a 12-11 record.

The Pioneers also proved they can play hard above their level, and gave conference powerhouse St. Norbert everything it could handle early last season. Grinell trailed by just four with under three minutes to play before succumbing to defeat.

“We are growing this program at Grinnell, and certainly it’s been a slow road, but I think that we take steps each day towards being competitive,” Gluckman said. “The way we’re doing that is we’re playing better and better defense.

And while she talks to the men’s staff often, words like “press” are barely a part of Gluckman’s vocabulary.

“In my entire time as a player and assistant for Carla [Berube], I don’t think we pressed once,” she said.

While she might not always agree with it, Gluckman has a great deal of respect for what the men’s program does, as well as Taylor’s achievements, even if she doesn’t think she would have played him in the second half.

“Jack [Taylor] is a phenomenal basketball player, and we couldn’t be more excited for him and what he was able to achieve,” Gluckman said. “I think sometimes it’s a hard pill to swallow in terms of sportsmanship and knowing that this is what they do, regardless of the score. I know it’s something I sometimes struggle with.”

“But that shouldn’t take away from Jack’s performance and what he was able to do,” she added. “He shot the ball well, he drove the ball well and I really appreciated his team buying in and feeding him the ball. It speaks to them and their character.”

Gluckman also benefits from being in contact with the men’s team, especially because she can watch the squad’s opponents and learn about breaking the hard see BASKETBALL, page 7

Women’s Swimming and Diving

Jumbos sink Blue in nonconference dual meet by

Claire Sleigh

Daily Staff Writer

At the first of two home meets this season, the women’s swimming and diving team beat Wellesley, 171-127, for its first victory of the year. The win came down to a solid team effort across the board, thanks to freshmen stepping up in the distance and butterfly events, as well as junior Jenny Hu breaking the pool record in the 200-meter breaststroke.

For coach Nancy Bigelow, this meet represented a huge win for the team, which is still coming into its own after the loss of many strong seniors last year.

“The meet went beyond expectations,” she said. “We really stepped it up.”

Although Wellesley is not in the NESCAC, the Wellesley-Tufts meet is a yearly event that has fostered a healthy rivalry between the

two squads. The Jumbos haven’t lost to the Blue in 12 years, but with a younger team than usual, the Jumbos entered the meet uncertain. Multiple swimmers, however, set personal records and took on new events which contributed to the decisive victory for the Jumbos.

“We did really well and it was exciting to be home,” senior tri-captain Lizz Grainger, who is also a News editor for the Daily, said. “We are winning a lot of races, but they are really close. Every inch counts.”

Hu, who has been a major force in the breaststroke and 200-meter individual medley events for the last several meets, came in first in all three of her individual races and improved her times significantly in each of them. see SWIMMING, page 7

Courtesy Timothy Peng

The women’s swimming and diving team showcased its depth on Wednesday, easily winning in a non-conference dual meet with Wellesley.