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THE TUFTS DAILY

Phishing email scam targets Tufts students

by Melissa Kain

Assistant News Editor

On Tuesday, April 7, many Tufts students received a scam email, which appeared to be sent from the address alert@ tufts.edu and told students that someone was trying to replace the security information in their email account. The email told recipients that if they had not replaced the security information, they needed to verify their account information by clicking a link in the email. This email was signed by the “TUFT Email Team,” and provided a phone number, adding to the apparent legitimacy of the message.

According to Sergeant Joe Tilton, TUPD did not conduct a full investigation into this email scam.

“It … appeared to be a scam from the onset, so we had Tufts Technology Services (TTS) [investigate],” Tilton said.

According to Tilton, the email was a phishing scam, which is a common type of email scam. Phishing scams are designed to collect personal information from those targeted and usually appear to come from a legitimate source. see PHISHING, page 2

TUFTSDAILY.COM

thursday, april 23, 2015

VOLUME LXVIV, NUMBER 58

Community rep. positions still unfilled

by Kathleen Schmidt News Editor

Shortly after midnight, junior Brian Tesser won the election for Tufts Community Union (TCU) President. But in an election held on April 7 for several Senate and other TCU positions, five of the six community representative positions went unfilled.

Community representatives come from the Asian American, Africana, Latino, women’s, LGBTQ and international communities — the same communities that comprise the Group of Six. Representatives are full senators with the voting powers and responsibilities of other senators, according to junior Paige Newman, chair of the Tufts Elections Commissions [ECOM].

Senate Diversity and Community Affairs Officer Allison Aaronson, a sophomore, said that in the April 7 election, only the position of international community representative was filled.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot,” she said. “I’m really alarmed by it.”

Aaronson attributed the lack of interest in running for the position of community

representative as a combination of factors such as lack of transparency in Senate, impatience with Senate operations and impressions of Senate as a harmful space for minority students.

“I think part of it is that community reps didn’t have great experiences on Senate this year and therefore weren’t going to recommend it to other people to do and aren’t rerunning,” she said. “And I think that’s partly because we didn’t start off the year really educating the body about anything, so it wasn’t a very intentional space.”

Former LGBTQ community representative Renee Vallejo, a junior, said they decided not to run again in order to avoid being in a space that could be mentally harmful, silencing and invalidating.

“I served as LGBTQ community rep, but I only ran because if I had not no one else would have, and the community would have been without a rep,” Vallejo told the Daily in an email. “At the time a friend of mine was on Senate, so there was at least one person that I knew I had in my corner of support. This see ELECTIONS, page 2

Evan Sayles / The Tufts Daily

Student activists marched from the Mayer Campus Center to Ballou Hall on April 22 to call for university divestment from fossil fuel.

Protesters stage sit-in, demand divestment

by Kathleen Schmidt News Editor

This morning, a group of 33 students, mostly members of Tufts Climate Action ( TCA), entered Ballou Hall to demand that the university completely divest from fossil fuels over the next five years.

The movement is being spearheaded by sophomores Brian McGough and Shana Gallagher.

According to Gallagher, the campaign to divest has been going on for the past three years and has included a student referendum, a Tufts Community Union ( TCU) Senate vote, a faculty petition and alumni petition.

“We think it’s wrong for our school to be funding the climate crisis and destruction of the environment and commu-

Assistant News Editor

Courtesy Maya DeBellis

Tufts Sustainability Collective hosts Earth Fest Sustainability, Tufts Bikes, Tom Thumb’s Student Garden and Boston Organics.

“TSC has been actively reaching out to various groups on campus because we believe that everyone has a part to play,” Earth Fest Director Ashlynna Ng, a first-year, said.

“Everyone has the capacity to make a difference just by being conscious and making small changes in our lifestyles.”

“Lots of students, faculty and even some non-Tufts students learned about how to lead more sustainable lifestyles

and made pledges to do so [at the fair],” Ng said, adding that over 100 pledges were made.

Other highlights included free vegan cookie samples from TuftCookie, according to Ng. “The Tufts community is concerned about social justice, but environmental problems affect marginalized populations disproportionately,” she said.

“Moving forward, environmental justice should have a bigger place on our campus.”

Inside this issue

­— Jei-Jei Tan

nities around the world, and so we are just hoping to get commitments from our school to move forward on divestment,” she said.

This is the first action in a series of movements called the “month of escalation,” during which students throughout the country have been pushing for their schools to divest, McGough said.

Student activists at universities in the Northeast and around the country, including at Swarthmore College and recently at Harvard University, have staged sit-ins calling for fossil fuel divestment that have lasted several days or longer.

“Our pressure on the administration doesn’t end with the sit in,” McGough said. “We’re see DIVEST, page 2

Engineers Without Borders hosts second 5K

by Gabriella Zoia

Tufts Sustainability Collective (TSC) is celebrating Earth Fest this week to commemorate the 45th annual Earth Day. Events include locally sourced food at Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall, a virtual reality simulator of the life of a factory-farmed chicken and an edible campus tour led by Department of Biology Professor George Ellmore.

The Earth Day Fair, held yesterday on the Academic Quad, featured a clothing swap by the Eco Reps as well as information and activity booths by groups such as the Office of

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

The Tufts chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) hosted a 5K run and walk last Sunday, April 19 around the Medford/ Somerville campus to raise awareness about the organization and to raise funds for the group’s projects, according to junior Mary O’Kane, one of EWB’s fundraising chairs. EWB, an international interdisciplinary organization, seeks to take engineering outside of the classroom at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels to implement projects around the world.

“We do all of our own fundraising, so it’s one of our main goals,” O’Kane said. “We use TCU [Tufts Community Union] funding for prototyping our projects, but we have fundraised all of our travel through grants. Last year Matt [Walter] and I raised close to $13,000 in grants.”

The Tufts chapter of Engineers Without Borders currently has two ongoing projects: one in Uganda and one in El Salvador.

A third is tentatively planned in the Dominican Republic.

Sophomore Emma Inhorn, a member of EWB, said that the Uganda project involved creating a water pump system for a village in Shilongo.

“They get their water from a borehole, and our project was to improve timing so that they could get their water faster and improve access,” she said.

Senior Matt Walter, also an EWB fundraising chair, explained that the project in El Salvador is similarly aimed at improving access to water.

“We implemented water tanks to improve both quantity and quality of water in the entire community [that we were working in],” he said. see ENGINEER, page 2

Today’s sections

Next year, the QSA looks to restructure in order to better connect queer students, especially first-years, with resources on campus.

SOC cultivates talent across diverse dance styles, which it will showcase tonight and tomorrow in “We Mean Business.”

see FEATURES, page 3

see WEEKENDER, page 5

News 1 Features 3 Weekender 5 Arts & Living 6

Editorial | Op-Ed 10 Op-Ed 11 Comics 12 Sports Back

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Thursday, April 23, 2015

News

Protesters occupy president’s office to push for fossil fuel divestment DIVEST

continued from page 1

not going anywhere, so we’re going to get what we want and we’re going to continue to pressure the administration until they divest.”

Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell said that while the university was open to the possibility of investing in other, more sustainable options, it is not financially feasible to do it at this time.

“It would really change the way we invest significantly if we were to go to a fossil-free policy for our endowment,” Campbell said.

Gallagher is confident the university is capable of divestment, pointing to other organizations such as universities, churches, corporations and cities that have successfully done so.

Gallagher would like to see the university contact other schools that have divested and work with Cambridge Associates, an investment group that handles part of Tufts’ endowment and that has offered its clients help to divest from fossil fuels.

According to Campbell, a working group was put together last year to investigate and extensively research the repercussions of divestment.

“If we did it now it would have a negative impact financially on the returns that our endowment could earn, and we didn’t feel that financially we should take that risk,” she said.

Gallagher disagreed, saying the university has depended on this argument to shield its actions.

“We know we can divest from fossil fuels without putting our endowment at risk,” Gallagher said. “That working group report that they came up with was very much, again, something that ‘they’ came up with.”

Nicholas Pfosi / The Tufts Daily

Protesters debrief during the Tufts Climate Action sit-in of Ballou Hall on Wednesday, April 22.

Gallagher said that even if changing the university’s investment strategy is risky, the benefits of divestment outweigh that chance.

“Even if there were some slight [financial] risk involved, the moral implications of what we are funding with our dollars that we invest in Tufts and Tufts is then investing again in this industry that pays millions of dollars to spread misinformation … is unacceptable,” she said.

Campbell pointed to other ways the university has worked toward sustainability, such as the new cogeneration

Open TCU seats to be filled in fall election ELECTIONS

continued from page 1

past year we had a few community reps step down from their position because of how harmful it was to them as minorities.”

Newman saw the lack of candidates as a result of failures in communication on the part of Group of Six centers to their members.

“I sent multiple emails to each of the Group of Six centers in the weeks leading up to the election, asking them to talk to their groups,” she said. “I sent them all the information they needed … none of them would even answer an email to get back to me, and one or two did, but by the time they did it was after the election.”

According to Newman, the position of international community representative has only existed for two years, while the others have existed for much longer.

First-year Amaya Contreras Driggs, the newly elected international community representative, said she ran on her own initiative as opposed to receiving information on the position from the International Center.

“It was more … like all [of ] the sudden I decided I wanted to run … no one really encouraged me for it, no one really told me about the position, it’s just by coincidence that I decided to go for it,” Driggs, a first-year, said.

Daniel Vargas, former Latino community representative, suggested the lack of interest is due to students feeling that Senate is not the place for them to voice their concerns and to poor advertising for both the position and the elections.

“A lot of community reps have left the positions particularly throughout last semester … and I don’t know for sure [why] but I do know that there’s been a sentiment that it’s very difficult for community reps to be heard during Senate meet-

ings and sometimes even to be acknowledged,” Vargas, a firstyear, said.

He added that the environment of Senate was a contributing factor for representatives deciding not to run for re-election.

“The role that they … have to play as community representative is either not understood by senators or sometimes not taken seriously, and so there’s a lot of frustration that comes from being in that kind of position,” Vargas said.

According to Newman, the five open seats will be part of the election next fall.

“I think we’re going to have to do more in-person visits to the centers, which we don’t usually do because normally they’re fine about answering our emails … but clearly this shows us that we need to go in and have a faceto-face conversation and really emphasize the importance of this,” she said.

Vallejo stressed the importance of senators receiving training and doing work surrounding cultural sensitivity.

“There were countless moments over the course of the year when community reps would voice their concerns around their safety and validity,” they said. “The offender would apologize and ask to be called out if they did it again, and we would be right back at it again the next week.”

Aaronson said that next year there would be several changes to make the Senate environment more intentional, hopefully increasing interest in the community representative position. These changes include pushing elections back two weeks at the beginning of the year, focusing the Senate retreat on creating an inclusive space and improving communication about the positions with the Group of Six well before elections begin, she said.

plant under construction, the sustainability council chaired by the president, the sustainability fund and the largescale solar project happening on the Grafton campus, among other efforts.

She said she believes these tactics are more effective than divestment in fighting climate change.

“We’re very respectful and aligned with the students’ concern about climate change and the importance of our world doing something about that, and I think that Tufts has behaved very responsibly,” she said.

McGough suggested that these efforts were an attempt to “greenwash” the university while it continues to place investments in unsustainable companies.

“More than that, speaking specifically to divestment as the most important tactic … part of creating a just university is, yes, solar is important, yes, the sustainability fund is important, but you can’t have these things without also pulling your investments from the very companies that these technologies and these funds are working against,” he said.

Gallagher concluded by reaffirming the students’ determination to pressure Tufts to divest from fossil fuel corporations.

“I think students around the world and around the country … would conclude that there’s nothing more that we can be doing, that would have a bigger impact, than divestment,” Gallagher said. “That’s why as great as the other initiatives are, they’re not enough, and we’re going to stay here until we get divestment.”

Later in the day, students from the Prison Divestment Coalition and TCA held a rally outside Ballou Hall in support of the sit-in under the title “Injustice Is Not an Investment.”

Demonstrators identified themselves as all part of the fight against the corporatization of Tufts and made calls against university greenwashing and janitor cuts while circling the building and chanting slogans in support of divestment.

Inside Ballou Hall, Campbell told protestors that no additional students may join the sit-in inside the hall, and students who leave the building will not be allowed to re-enter.

Students advised to verify sources of suspicious emails

PHISHING

continued from page 1

“[These emails] are set up on a host system somewhere, and if you respond back to it, there’s no way of really tracking it back to them, so they have someone host it on their website … If you respond to it, and give your personal information, they’ll just take that and data resource it and see what’s valuable to them,” Tilton said.

According to Tilton, TUPD did not send out a notice about the recent scam email. He also said that TUPD tries to avoid sending out too many alerts about phone and email scams.

“How many times can we tell you that there are scams out there?” he said. “If we feel that it’s really necessary and a lot of people are falling victim to it, or there’s a way that we can’t take that or TTS can’t take it down off the host system somehow … then we will put a notice out to the community.”

According to Tilton, finding out who creates these emails is difficult because the hosts hide

their identities. He added that phone scams are equally difficult to track.

A phone scam that occurred earlier this year also targeted Tufts students. These calls were from scammers pretending to be police at Tufts or police in Medford and Somerville. Those who received the call were told that there was a warrant for tax evasion for their arrest, and that they needed to pay in order to resolve the issue. Tilton said that the FBI is currently investigating this scam.

According to Tilton, the best way to avoid scams is to verify the source of the information.

“Verify who the information or the email is coming from,” he said. “If it seems like someone is asking for your personal information and having you fill that out and verify your usernames and passwords … any place [that] would never ask you for your username or password … Trust your instincts.”

Anna Cramer, a sophomore majoring in psychology, received the scam email and said that she

was surprised by how legitimate it appeared to be.

“I thought it was real, so I started freaking out because I thought that my security had been hijacked through my email,” she said. “I spent … a good 10 minutes trying to read through and see if there were any typos or anything, to see if it was fake, and then [I] kind of let it go, because it didn’t seem right.”

According to Cramer, shortly after receiving the email, she heard that other girls in one of her classes had received it as well.

“The email looked very legitimate,” she said. “I don’t fall for things like that easily, but it looked really real.”

Tilton said that using common sense is crucial for internet safety.

“I think that all in all, the internet is a [great] place … for criminals to lurk and take advantage of people that are unsuspecting … use caution, make sure that you verify the information … use some good common sense,” he said.

Engineering group completes projects in Uganda, El Salvador ENGINEER

continued from page 1

“Unfortunately, we had to put our project on hold after the implementation part due to political tensions.”

Three to five students travel to the site for each project, Walter said. The trip can be one of three kinds: an initial assessment trip, an implementation trip or a monitoring trip, he added.

“The assessment trip comes first to assess the situation and talk to the local community,” Walter said. “That’s between two to three weeks. After we

design a project back at Tufts, the implementation trip [takes] roughly three weeks to implement the program. Then, we have a monitoring trip a year later to assess the change.”

Although this was only EWB’s second 5K, O’Kane emphasized that the organization reaches out to the community and tries to get their name out on campus in many other ways.

“We participate in Community Activity Day (sic), Read by the River and Kids Day, as well as have representatives at all the engineering events,” she said.

Inhorn said that Engineers Without Borders hopes to attract more non-engineering students to bring different perspectives to their projects.

“One of the things we want to make known is that … we have a lot of nonengineering majors, and we want more non-engineers involved because of the different ways in which they contribute,” she said. “We don’t only have the technical students, but we need the cultural, political and health aspects as well.”

Features

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Lex Erath | Sugar & Spice

Presidential

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Nicholas Pfosi / The Tufts Daily

The QSA aims to serve as a resource for students, helping them navigate queer communities and student groups at Tufts.

Queer Students Association refocuses role within Tufts LGBTQ community

by Greta Jochem Features Editor

Tufts QSA, an acronym which formerly stood for “Queer-Straight Alliance,” has recently changed their name to “Queer Students Association” and altered their group’s organization to better meet the needs of queer students on campus.

According to one of the group’s leaders, junior Julia Fowler, before the name change, the QSA had not felt as though it functioned quite as well as members wanted.

“So as we are restructuring it, we are really interested in making it a focus, a hub for queer students,” she explained. “Sort of a place where, especially for incoming freshman, but any interested student, can find what part of Tufts queer culture they want to be a part of. We can help them find that.”

Fowler also pointed out that according to the TCU, even before the revaluation, the group wasn’t technically listed as the Queer-Straight Alliance

by TCU. “We just sort of realized that technically, they have us down as Queer Students Association,” Fowler continued. “It’s sort of been a running joke, but as we were thinking of restructuring we thought, maybe we like that better!”

In the past, QSA has held a weekly discussion group, but — according to current plans — these meetings will be eliminated next semester.

“We found that in the past the space wasn’t as intentional as we had hoped for, and it really wasn’t serving the needs of students here at Tufts,” QSA leader and junior Bruce Bausk said.

“And we already have so many discussion groups through the LGBTQ center … [that] are run well and are well attended.”

In addition to QSA, according to the LGBT center’s website, these groups for queer students on campus include Ace Space, women’s group, Bisexual/Pansexual Students Group, LOQSOCA (Loving Ourselves as Queer Students of Color in Action), T-Time discussion group, Students Who Are Questioning or Coming Out, Team Q and Rainbow house, all with their

own focuses under the umbrella of the LGBT community.

Bausk said that, instead, he hopes the QSA can serve as a way to help students find these existing resources.

“Since those [resources] are already in place, we felt that QSA would function better as a means to direct students to existing groups rather than attempting to have a discussion group that wasn’t working,” he said. “There’s just a lot of smaller groups we feel are run well … and are well attended.”

The group’s new functional goals represent a significant transition for the QSA. “This is a big change … this is a complete restructuring and rebranding we are doing to create a more effective and more intentional space for queer students on campus,” Bausk said.

These changes to the group were detailed in its event, “Tufts Queer Student’s Association: What’s New?” on Sunday, April 19, during which Bausk was elected as President and Fowler was elected as Treasurer.

Although the group’s name and organization is changing, they are still planning to hold events and workshops, as well as bring speakers to campus.

“Through TCU, we have access to the resources to bring valuable programming and queer targeted events to campus,” Bausk said.

This semester, the QSA brought in Mark Travis Rivera, an activist, choreographer and writer, to speak in March about self-love and selfcare and its importance in the role of leadership, in an event entitled “Love is an Act of Leadership.” They cosponsored events through the LGBT center like Sarah Schulman’s talk on April 15 called “Hearing Palestine: A Queer Jewish Woman on the Politics of Solidarity.”

QSA also hosted their annual drag show this past Saturday and plan to continue the event in future years.

According to Fowler, this summer they are planning to march in Boston Pride as a group. Bausk and Fowler also expressed interest in a QSA-hosted queer-focused activities fair at the beginning of the semester to connect

students, especially underclassmen, to different resources on campus.

As for meetings, QSA plans to have biweekly or monthly meetings in which anyone is welcome to attend and propose queer-focused speakers, activities and events. Events hosted by the Queer Students Association will connect with other queer-focused groups on campus to coordinate and work together. According to Fowler, they plan to have representatives from other queer-related groups serve on their board to provide input on how to run events and allocate spending.

Tara MacKenzie, a sophomore, was present at the “What’s New?” event.

“I think the new structure of the QSA is just what our community needs,” she said. “The change in framework will be extremely beneficial in uniting and organizing the many groups we have on campus that haven’t interacted much in the past.”

MacKenzie does worry that the removal of the weekly discussions does away with a broader space for those who aren’t comfortable attending more specific discussions and meetings.

“My only concern about the new structure is that there will no longer be a general discussion based group on campus,” she said. “QSA used to serve as a place where people of any identity could come to share and learn about different LGBTQ issues. I’m worried that ditching this framework will eliminate a space for those who don’t feel comfortable participating in or who feel like they don’t completely fit in the more specific groups at Tufts.”

However, she also expressed appreciation for the new structure in which new students will be able to use QSA as a hub through which they can find especially specific groups.

“I also think it’s awesome … especially since some groups aren’t frequently advertised or are new and haven’t had much exposure yet,” she said. “This could be really great for freshmen or for others who have wanted to be more engaged in the queer/ trans/ace community but didn’t know what opportunities exist or how to get involved.”

here are some people who take pride in their appearance — those people that always look perfectly put-together, never have a bad hair day, and are constantly taking irritatingly attractive pictures. Prominent examples include celebrities, politicians, and celebrity politicians. I of course am not one of these people; you will most often spot me in my natural state, workout attire.

(Gym clothes are a sneakily effective way of fooling people into thinking you’re athletic and motivated, when in reality you’re just too lazy to put on pants that require a zipper. This is a strategy I employ far too often.) In the light of our recent TCU election, it occurred to me that my affinity for leggings and neon sneakers probably precludes me from ever running for office — which is a shame, as I think I would make quite the candidate. In fact, allow me to convince you right now.

But, hey, what’s a political campaign without promises you can’t keep? If I were Tufts president, my first action would be to abolish all classes beginning before 10 a.m., because that’s just inhumane.

I would also prohibit classes on Fridays because that’s an equally cruel and usual punishment. Although I would very much like to impose a blanket ban on all lab classes, I recognize that these labs provide practical experience for many majors, like chemistry or physics (see, I can even talk like a politician when I need to!). Since misery loves company, however, I decree that everyone should have to suffer as I did — now all majors will be required to take at least a year of labs. Want to major in American studies? Great, just make sure you register for orgo!

And since every effort to accurately track or improve the reliability of the Joey has failed thus far, I would instead take action to install gambling centers at every Joey stop, where you can make an over/ under bet on how late the next bus will be. This will teach valuable risk analysis skills to students in all courses of study, although my econ major buddies will definitely have the advantage. Late for your interview in Boston? No biggie; you’ve just won the biggest pot of the semester because the Joey never came!

Most importantly, I would demand that the administration support the installation of a Dunks in each and every academic building. Let’s be real; there’s never a time where every classroom in Eaton is being used, and this would improve productivity tenfold. (It’s also a magical ability of Dunkin’ Donuts to sustain a seemingly unlimited number of adjoining shops with no decrease in profitability — just take a walk down any street in the Tristate area for proof.) Since I do care about the environment, however, everyone would of course be using reusable iced coffee tumblers that they can refill every three hours.

In conclusion, my final action would be to restructure the distribution requirements so that everyone graduates with at least a semblance of a clue of how to survive in this dog-eat-CleverDog kind of world. Required classes would include Manipulation 101, Tax Evasion, and Introduction to Commuting.

So, you see, I would make quite the admirable candidate after all, even though I don’t own one set of pearls. Maybe it’s time for Tufts — and America — to step away from its traditional image of the perfect presidential candidate. Maybe it’s time for us to push forward into a better tomorrow, to work together to — Nope, sorry, can’t even spout that crap for a whole paragraph. To be honest, this is my thinly veiled totalitarian takeover, but at least you can say you voted for the winning dictator! #lex2016

Lex Erath is a junior majoring in economics and biopsychology. She can be reached at alexandra.erath@tufts.edu.

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Spirit of Color really does mean business

by Josh Morris

Assistant Arts Editor

“S-O-CEEEEEEEEEEE!” A familiar call you might hear on campus year-round is sure to be heard even more often this week as Spirit of Color (SOC) puts on their semester show entitled “We Mean Business.” The show — scheduled for Thursday, April 23, and Friday, April 24 — always garners attention from a wide variety of students on campus, perhaps a direct result of the diversity of the group itself. From members of Greek life to a cappella stars to LUX models, SOC manages to cover all bases in terms of its membership.

Founded in 1993, SOC’s goal was to create a “means of cultural expression through singing acting and dancing,” according to the group’s website. Once the average Jumbo gets through their first year, it is safe to say that most students on campus have at least an idea of what Spirit of Color is and its purpose on campus. But according to its current members, what is SOC really? In an interview with the Daily, Daniel Camilletti, a sophomore and recent permanent member of the group said it is “definitely … a hip hop and contemporary group [that is] one of the more talented groups on campus.”

“To me, SOC is really a family first and foremost,” senior Emily Rennert reflects. “We are such a cohesive group and one of the reasons our shows are so successful … is because we all work so well together.”

Sitting in on an SOC rehearsal, it is easy to see just what these two members mean when they speak of these aspects of the dance group.

Early on a Sunday morning in the aerobics room of Hill Hall, Nicki Minaj can be heard providing a wake up call for the 26 current SOC members. Unlike the rest of the campus on a weekend morning, SOC is brimming with excitement, seemingly unable to stop moving at all. Rennert and junior Hayley

Grossman, an assistant director of the group, lead the troupe in rehearsing one of their pieces for “We Mean Business.” SOC is an entirely student-run organization, a dynamic which might normally come with some difficulties in instruction. But it’s a different story in SOC. “For any choreographer there’s never really an issue; there’s a huge level of respect,” Rennert said about the group’s strong dynamic. “I started choreographing my sophomore year … I had seniors in my dance who listened and were ready to work.”

The dancers of SOC were certainly ready to work in Hill Hall last Sunday morning. Although Grossman and Rennert stood at the front of the group instructing the dancers in rolls, twists and ball-changes, each individual member seemed to take the choreography into their own head, attempt it a few times on their own until it seemed right and then proceeded on to the next few steps.

This pattern of cohesive independence continued for the majority of the dance’s walkthrough. When it was time to put what they had learned to music, the music began and, almost magically, all individual dance performances coalesced into one seamless group performance in which every member relied on one another in a way that their previous rehearsing might not have demonstrated.

Boys, girls, seniors, sophomores and everyone in between came together to work on a piece and perform as one functioning body.

SOC conducts their rehearsals Thursday though Sunday. Some members are involved in all of the pieces, some in only one or two. Any member that has been involved two semesters in a row can choreograph a piece. Although the majority of their work is centered around the end-of-semester performance, the group has been attempting to participate in competitions outside the university. Sophomore Oliver GonzalezYoakum, an assistant director of

Caroline Geiling / The Tufts Daily Archives

SOC’s Spring 2014 performance — “20 Going on Legendary” — showcased the group’s unique blend of dance genres; now, the group describes how they have elevated their work to a new level of excellence. the group, explained that these competitions do not normally align with their rehearsal schedule and would require them to produce pieces of higher quality and quicker paces. Regardless of these factors, SOC is continuing to seek out these competitions.

After recently being inducted as a permanent member, a prestigious accomplishment, Camilletti spoke about the rigorous audition process that allows for the creation of such a talented group.

“I auditioned four times,” Camilletti said. “It’s a five-hour process where you audition for two [separate] pieces … and then there’s a callback. It’s really tough and competitive.”

Camilletti added that in order to become a permanent or official member, dancers must make it past auditions for two consecutive semesters.

“If you make it and go abroad, you have to audition two more

times [to be considered an official member],” he said.

Clearly, SOC membership is no easy feat, and it is a standard on which members of the dance group pride themselves.

Although SOC has strong ties to hip-hop culture, the group has also been known to incorporate genres of music and dance as diverse as its members, ranging from jazz to ballet, tap to modern.

But on a campus teeming with performance groups, what sets SOC apart?

According to GonzalezYoakum, SOC stands out because it “has dancers that come from really different and diverse backgrounds … you can have a salsa dancer next to a modern dancer next to a ballet dancer.”

He further postulated that — in contrast to SOC — groups like Sarabande are perhaps stricter about the styles of dance they choose to perform and empha-

Caroline Geiling / The Tufts Daily Archives

SOC performers go through a rigorous audition process before becoming permanent members of the group.

size extensive previous training in modern dance, ballet, jazz, etc. Meanwhile, SOC maintains less regimented requirements of exactly how much professional training a member needs to have; sometimes, members have no real professional training at all.

“I tell this to anyone that tells me they want to try out for SOC … ‘you have to dance first and foremost, but it’s really about your facials,’” Rennert said. “There is just … so much energy up on that stage.”

She believes this is just one of the many aspects that allows SOC to grow and develop as its own independent group. Formal requirements aside, it still takes a significant amount of work.

“It feels very grown-up in a sense that, along with mastering the dance moves, you have to ensure that the show itself is successful as a whole,” Gonzalez-Yoakum said of his position as an assistant director for the group. Along with Grossman and director Bridget Brazil, he is responsible for a wide variety of logistical tasks including reserving spaces for rehearsals and the performance itself, finding techies and stage managers and promoting publicity. Needless to say, their jobs entail more than just going through the motions.

What can the audience expect from “We Mean Business”?

“I’m obsessed with this show,” Camilletti exclaimed. “There’s a wide range of styles … a little Latina flavor … some hard hitting hip-hop, some pretty soft contemporary.”

Gonzalez-Yoakum elaborated further about the anticipated quality of this semester’s performance.

“Something happened this semester in which the quality of every single piece just changed … everyone seemed to try just a little bit harder,” he said.

While there is only one dance in which all members perform, Gonzalez-Yoakum has noticed a change in attitude across SOC, one that is sure to lead to an increase in quality of the performance.

SOC’s show, “We Mean Business,” will be performed tonight at 9 p.m. and Friday at 9:30 p.m. in Cohen Auditorium.

Tickets are free and available at the Cohen Box Office. The show will also feature performances

by Envy, Blackout and Sarabande.

Arts & Living

6

tuftsdaily.com

Artsy Nugget

Canadian author Lynn Crosbie to release fictional story based on Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain

by Anjali Nair

Assistant Arts Editor

Recently, ’90s grunge giants Nirvana have been placed, once again, at the forefront of news media world-wide.

Though it’s been 21 years since Kurt Cobain tragically committed suicide, hordes of fans old and new still ache to know every minute detail about the late frontman. The multitude of conspiracy theories, exhaustive biographies and fanfictions don’t ever seem to satisfy this craze. The most recent wave of nostalgia has arisen due to “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” (2015), a purportedly honest and unfiltered documentary about the iconic musician, co-produced by his only daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.

Set for release in the United States on April 24, the film will feature previously unreleased songs, home videos, live footage and more. The film’s upcoming release has been covered extensively in the media, already winning stellar reviews, fueling the still raging Cobain frenzy and trapping the man in the legendary status he never wanted to attain.

A lesser-known kindling to this fire, however, is slightly more unexpected than the umpteenth retelling of the Cobain story. In a play on the song “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” performed by Nirvana on the 1994 album “MTV Unplugged in New York,” a new novel imagines a reincarnation of Cobain in the modern day. The book, written by University of Toronto Professor Lynn Crosbie, is a fantastical tale about teenage heroin addict Evelyn Gray, who ends up in a hospital.

There, Gray starts a relationship with a fellow patient, Celine Black, who just so happens to be Kurt Cobain reincarnate.

bswise via Flickr Creative Commons

“Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” is a new novel featuring the reincarnation of Kurt Cobain and plenty of other bizarre fan service, scheduled for release in May. And not in a metaphorical sense — in the book, Black really is Cobain’s ghost.

Before writing off the novel as yet another middle-aged women’s unsettling fanfiction — which it may well be — it’s important to note that Crosbie is well-regarded for her prose. With multiple poetry col-

lections and novels published, as well as acclaimed journalistic works, she may have the writing chops to execute this strange plot line.

Since the book does not come out until May — conveniently timed in relation to “Montage of Heck” — curi-

ous readers can only speculate as to which direction the story will follow.

Whether it’s humorous, self-aware or tragic in its delivery, the novel and the film are surely the most unique Cobainrelated artifacts to garner public attention in recent years.

Spotlight

Events Box

Julia Stein performs her heart out with TDC, Tufts Takht, Wind Ensemble

What's up this weekend

Michael James Courtesy Julia Stein

Julia Stein dances her heart out on stage in Cohen Auditorium.

by Jennifer Straitz

Assistant Arts Editor

Tufts University will surely miss the energy of senior psychology major Julia Stein when she makes her way into the real world this May. But Stein isn’t getting sentimental quite

yet. In an email interview with the Daily, she not so solemnly reminisced about her time dabbling in various artistic groups at Tufts, from Concert Board to TDC, Tufts Takht (Arabic Music Ensemble) to Wind Ensemble, as well as her various artistic influences along the way.

Says Stein, “In high school … I joined the ‘Treble Makers’ a cappella group. The only way I weaseled my way into the group was because I can beat box and hum at the same time, so I convinced the group to let me in as a two-for-one deal. Freshman year I tried out for almost every a cappella group, some of the dance teams, whatever you would qualify BEATS as, and failed miserably.”

“Resilience” is Stein’s middle name, however, and she quickly found her place with one of the most infamous Tufts dance groups: TDC. “Freshman year I joined TDC my fall semester, in the ‘Hyphy with Class’ dance. Little did I know this would become such a defining part of my Tufts experience. Every semester after that I was in two dances, and then started choreographing my sophomore year. Now I’m on the executive board!”

Aside from TDC, Stein notes, “[I am] most proud of the work I did as Concert Board cochair with my better half, Mark Joshua Bernardo … It was such a great experience to be a part of planning the large-scale concerts here at Tufts, from picking the artists and tending to their occasionally absurd hospitality needs to running an organization with passionate members.”

The last feats she hopes to accomplish before graduation?

“I want to beat the reigning champ at ping pong and plan an awesome Senior Week!”

Looking to make your weekend artsy? Check out these events!

Tuftonia’s Day 2015: Start celebrating Spring Fling weekend at Tufts Freshman Class Council’s Tuftonia’s Day. There will be free food, carnival rides, artist booths and lots of fun activities.

(Friday at 5 p.m. on Fletcher Field. Admission is free. No tickets required.)

Spring Fling 2015 Ft. Kesha, Misterwives and Lauren Lane: The biggest Tufts concert of the year is here, and it’s going to be a glitter extravaganza. Tufts University Concert Board is bringing Kesha, Misterwives and Lauren Lane to the Prez Lawn for Spring Fling. Tufts Battle of the Bands 2015 winner, Rollersnakes, will open the show. (President’s Lawn at noon on Saturday. Doors open at 12 p.m. and close at 3:30 p.m. Valid Tufts ID required for entry. Tickets are on sale online and in the info booth in the campus center. Tickets are free to Tufts undergrads. Tufts students can buy guest tickets for $30 each. Guests must be 18+.)

New at Noon: Resilient Ruminations — Ants in the Kitchen: Tufts Composers celebrate spring with a fun mix of compositions. According to the event page, the show will feature works by “Eli Boninger, Cagdas Donmezer, Allie McIntosh, John McDonald, Ryan O’Connell, Jeffery Shivers, Lincoln Gray and Megan McCormick as performed by Elizabeth Reian Bennett, Emmanuel Feldman, Yoko Hagino, Kristofer Siy and Philipp Stäudlin.” (Friday at noon in Distler Performance Hall. Admission is free. No tickets required.)

It’s All Child’s Play: Tufts Opera presents a unique melange of two one-act operas: Ned Rorem’s “Three Sisters who are not Sisters” (1968) and Franz von Suppé’s “The Finishing School” (1978). Carol Mastrodomenico serves as stage director and Thomas Stumpf serves as music director for the performance.

(Tonight and Friday at 8 p.m. in Distler Performance Hall.

Admission is free. No tickets required.)

Choreographers’ Showcase: The Tufts University Department of Drama and Dance presents the Spring 2015 Choreographers’ Showcase. Members of the Studies in Dance Composition Workshop will perform their original dances for the spring showcase, under the direction of Daniel McCusker. (Sunday at 7 p.m. in Jackson Gym Dance Lab. Admission is free. No tickets required.) ­—by Nika Korchok

Thursday, April 23, 2015

The Tufts Daily

7

Arts & Living Nikki Blank | A SWUG's Life

Top Ten

Top 10 ways to prepare your body for Kesha Finals got you down? Fear not, because Kesha is coming on Saturday to save us all from the doom and gloom. She is our saviour. She is the light at the end of the tunnel. She is the hero we need AND the hero we deserve. We must celebrate this joyous occasion of the coming of the great “Warrior” (2012) by honoring her in every way possible. “But how do I make myself worthy of presentation to the goddess of glitter?” you ask. Not all humans are capable of this great feat (but most cats are). There is, however, a way. I present to you: the top 10 ways to prepare yourself for Kesha.

1. Load up on body glitter. Go to Amazon right now and, if you haven’t already, order a set of body glitter or three because you will want to immerse yourself in the glitter culture that will take over this campus on Saturday.

2. Watch the Just Dance videos for “C’mon” (2012), “Die Young” (2012), and “Timber” (2012) religiously until you can do them in your sleep. You want to be prepared for these songs!

You don’t want to be the only one who doesn’t know how to “swing [their] partner round and round” properly, do you?!

3. Buy a ton of glitter to throw everywhere. Add regular glitter to your Amazon order. You’re going to want extra glitter that’s not going on your body to throw at your friends, neighbors and random passersby who have no idea what’s going on but will be forced into fabulousness nonetheless.

4. Cats. Get one, tattoo one on your arm, or stick them on your sweatshirt. Get some cat stickers (think Lisa Frank – her artwork is an incredibly accurate representation of the spirit of Kesha depicted on a folder). Only in this way can you join Kesha’s cat cult. It wouldn’t hurt to buy a laser cat. Together, we can rule the galaxy!

therefore, in order to emulate the full essence of her being, you must do it.

8. Yell “Timber!” every five minutes. But instead of a tree falling down, it will just be a pile of glitter. You better still move and dance, though.

9. Replace every S with a $. In all your texts, replace every S with a $. You can do this for your essays as well. I would also recommend doing this in your everyday speech, but you might have to get a bit creative because the letter ‘S’ is very common in the human language…

6. Become glitter. Or just skip Amazon and dissolve into a giant pile of glitter.

Become a true American hero.

10. Check with P. Diddy to ask how he feels every morning, and then do what he says. If he’s just like, “I like to take a nice brisk walk and then read a good book,” then that’s kind of anticlimactic and ill-fitting for the events unfolding on Saturday, but at least you will know how to “wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy.”

Bonus: Buy a rubber unicorn head. If we get enough people to do this, we can reenact the video for “Blow” (2011). Someone get me a gun that shoots rainbows.

7. Brush your teeth with a bottle of Jack. It’s Kesha’s morning routine, and

—by Jessica Mow

5. Put edible glitter into everything you eat and drink. Oops, go back to Amazon.

I forgot — you need to buy edible glitter so that not only can you WEAR it but you can INGEST it too! I can’t guarantee it meets all dietary restrictions but if you won’t eat glitter for Kesha then GTFO.

TV Review

'Orphan Black' season three premiere worth the wait

by Merilla Michael Daily Staff Writer

“Orphan Black” (2013-present) is arguably the best science fiction series currently on air. The combination of incred-

Orphan Black

Starring Tatiana Maslany, Dylan Bruce, Jordan Gavaris, Maria Doyle Kennedy

Airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. on BBC America ible acting from the star Tatiana Maslany, the compelling script and the show’s unpredictable storylines make each episode better than the last. “Orphan Black” follows the story of Sarah Manning (Maslany), a young, single mother who, along with her foster brother, Felix (Jordan Gavaris), has been struggling to provide for her daughter, Kira (Skyler Wexler). One night, Sarah witnesses the suicide of her apparent doppleganger, whom she learns to be a local police detective, Beth Childs (also played by Maslany). Sarah assumes Beth’s identity, initially hoping to inherit some of her money and to discover if and how the two are related.

After much investigation, Sarah realizes that she is one of many clones living around the world who have been created by the Dyad Institute, a biotechnology research institution whose main goal is to use the creation of

clones to control the nature of human evolution. To make matters more complicated, a religious cult of Proletheans believes the clones are unnatural and is killing them off one by one. Currently, there are five known relevant, living clones: Sarah, Cosima, a brilliant scientist, Allison, a suburban mom, Rachel, the executive of the Dyad Institute, and Helena, who was previously an assassin trained by Proletheans but who has left that life to become part of a family with the rest of the clones.

At the start of this current third season, Cosima is extremely ill with a currently untreatable disease that is unique to the clones. The clones have discovered that the military, similar to Dyad, has created a male faction of clones, some of whom have gone violently rogue in search for information on the cloning projects. One of the clones, Rudy (Ari Millen), is broken out of Dyad by his brother, Seth (also played by Millen), and nearly kills Sarah and Kira. Sarah decides that it is too dangerous for Kira to stay with her, and in a gut-wrenching scene sends Kira away with the child’s recently re-emerged biological father Cal (Michiel Huisman).

The writers waste no time in this season premiere, diving head-first into the turbulent storyline. “Orphan Black” produces only one 10-episode season per year, so it is refreshing to have the writers immediately throw viewers into the action, as opposed to spending an entire episode recap-

Photo courtesy BBC America/TNS

Tatiana Maslany returns as Sarah, and several other clones, in the third season of BBC’s “Orphan Black,” which combines top-notch writing with masterful acting.

ping the previous season. The writing is complex and sharp, examining all facets of Sarah’s life. Each clone has their own separate subplot, which the writers make sure to flesh out to a meaningful level. Sarah’s relationships with her fellow clones have, over the seasons, become more intimate to the point where she now considers them her sisters. We see Sarah open up to the other clones in a way she hasn’t been able to open up to most of the people in her life.

Besides the clones’ dynamic relationships, “Orphan Black” explores the morality of the characters, primarily with regard to the idea of human cloning and how it affects the personal identity of those involved. Dyad sees the clones as simply props in a grand experiment, an easy task when one is unaware of the lives the clones have built for themselves. Rachel has managed thus far to emotionally separate herself from her sisters to a certain extent. Yet, now that she has actually met them in person, her betrayal begins to have mental repercussions on her. Similarly, a Dyad research assistant, Delphine (Evelyne Brochu), is assigned to befriend Cosima for research purposes but ends up falling in love with her. Her loyalty is torn between two opposing forces, a typical situation for many of the characters on the show. The cast is strong and diverse, with all actors portraying the subtle nuances of their characters.

The best part of the show is undoubtedly Maslany. There is no denying that she is an incredible actress, whom many fans believe was snubbed for an Emmy nomination over the past two years. At this point, she has played about a dozen different clones, five of whom appear regularly. As if that isn’t enough, Maslany masters scenes where she plays different clones conversing with one another.

Besides the striking differences in physical appearance, each clone has a different walk, accent, set of hand gestures and facial expressions that they make when exhibiting emotions. Maslany is able to portray each character’s particular mannerisms seemingly effortlessly. Her most mind-boggling performance comes when she plays one clone imitating another, making every character stand out and allowing the scene as a whole to come across as completely believable.

Maslany’s impressive portrayal of many characters, in combination with a strong cast and smart writing, makes “Orphan Black” a science fiction hit that everyone should watch. “Orphan Black” airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. on BBC America.

Your SWUG is my drug

D

ear SWUG, Is Kesha a SWUG? How do SWUGs celebrate Spring Fling?

SWUG Fling

Dear SWUG Fling, Kesha is probably the OG SWUG. She’ll disappear for like weeks at a time and have everyone wondering, “Whatever happened to Ke$ha?” and then she’ll just randomly pop onto the radio with a massive hit like “Timber,” (2012) then she’ll drop her iconic $ and disappear again to who knows where, until she decides to do the college spring fling circuit. That is pretty much the exact story of my senior year. We’re like twins, Kesha!

Also, just FYI, I’ve decided to go by $WUG now since I bought the $ at a garage sale in Medford and they said no returns.

Kesha is who she is, and tells us to be who we R…and we R SWUGS. She literally wrote us our own anthem, called “Your SWUG is my drug.” She just gets us! And while most Tufts students do not have Jesus on their necklaces (we more commonly own stars of David), we are known for making the hipsters fall in love. On Fling, we will party like our star, Kesha, cause we “Ain’t got a care in world, but got plenty of beer” (don’t worry Su, not from a frat). And just like Kesha, we also “Ain’t got no money in [our] pocket[s], but [we’re] already here,” because luckily, our fling tickets are freeeee!! And we are poor. Suck it, grad students and alums!

Kesha even wrote a song about coming to visit Tufts, when she sang, “There’s a place downtown, where the freaks all come around.” See?! She came to downtown Somerville to see us freaks! She appreciates our ‘Tuftsy’ quirkiness! She’s also a huge fan of Guster, so like, she really gets us Tufts SWUGs. Alright, TiK ToK on the clock, SWitches.

It’s time to turn up for Tufts’ best party of the year. It’s time for Kesha. Our Khalessi, our mother of SWUGS. Wondering how to celebrate like a $WUG? Here are some tips: Wake up on fling morning feelin’ like P Diddy. In SWUG language, this means getting ample rest on Friday night, and waking up refreshed and ready to “Blow” (2012) in the morning.

Please don’t brush your teeth with a bottle of Jack, because that seems nauseating at 7:oo a.m. So use some regular toothpaste, and chase it with a bottle of a boy named Andre. He’s yummier.

The ghosts of SWUGs past will be returning to campus for this muddy, glittery, jam sesh. Show them just how much fun you’re having by showering them in glitter and making them feel shitty about their 9-5 job. Then get really sad that in T-minus a month, we will be them. Go cry in a porta-potty, and tweet at Kesha for advice. Try not to get TEMS’ed.

That person who you had a crush on who came back for Fling three years after graduating? They’re still coming back to Fling three years after graduating…

BYO fanny packs, stuffed to the brim with nips, snacks and glitter, and we can make a [day] you won’t remember. But make sure to bring your selfie stick, so at least your phone will remember.

Make sure to hit every darty on campus, and laugh at every punny “This place about to ‘Bo” fling t-shirt.

Remember to wear sunscreen and sunglasses. Clouds don’t block da sun. They just pretend to.

Get a first-year to swipe you into Dewick before or after the concert to refuel. A large breakfast is encouraged. There is free pizza on the presidents lawn. Swipe a box or two, if you can.

Alright, $WUGs, let’s make the most of the [day], cause we’re going to graduate soon.

BRB crying on the ArcTrainer (it’s a workout, but for your eyes!)

XOXO, $WUG Nikki Blank is a senior majoring in English. She can be reached at nicole.blank@tufts.edu

8

The Tufts Daily

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Thursday, April 23, 2015

Thursday, April 23, 2015

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Orientation 2015 Support Staff Positions Available Help support Orientation 2015. Assist Coordinators with all logistics during Orientation week for the Class of 2019. *Must be available to move back to campus as of Monday August 31, 2015 and work through Monday September 7, 2015. * Cannot hold any other early arrival required leadership position or other employment during Orientation week. *Must be full-time undergraduate student for the 2015-2016 Academic Year. *Must be a student in good standing relating to academics and student behavior. *Paid position, $10.00 per hour.

For more information and application go to www.ase.tufts.edu/orientation or stop by the Office for Campus Life to pick up an application.

Applications due Monday April 27, 2015.

For further information please email orientation@ase.tufts.edu with questions.

Thursday, April

rd 23

Did You Know?

Tickets Are Available at:

www.tuftstickets.com or Campus Center Info Booth

Questions?

E-mail the Office for Campus Life at ocl.tufts.edu

Did You Know?

is the Last Day to get your one FREE Student Spring Fling Ticket by 5 pm!

10

The Tufts Daily

THE TUFTS DAILY Drew Z. Robertson Editor-in-Chief

Editorial

Jacob Indursky Reena Karasin Managing Editors

Audrey Michael Executive News Editor Daniel Bottino News Editors Jenna Buckle Shana Friedman Nina Goldman Stephanie Haven Patrick McGrath Justin Rheingold Kathleen Schmidt Jei-Jei-Tan Melissa Wang Meagan Adler Assistant News Editors Marianna Anthanassiou Melissa Kain Arin Kerstein Safiya Nanji Sophie Lehrenbaum Aaron Pomerance Emma Steiner Roy Yang Gabriella Zoia Jake Taber Executive Features Editor Lily Sieradzki Features Editors Hannah Fingerhut Jessica Mow Mengqi Sun Nicole Brooks Greta Jochem Arin Kerstein Assistant Features Editors Becca Leibowitz Yuki Zaninovich Nika Korchok Executive Arts Editor Dana Guth Arts Editors Grace Segers Nitesh Gupta Assistant Arts Editors Jessica Mow Anjali Nair Joshua Podolsky Jennifer Straitz Ross Dember Marcus Budline Alex Connors Wil Glavin Sam Gold Steven Hefter Alison Kuah Tyler Maher Alex Schroeder Maclyn Senear Chris Warren Ray Paul Biron Phillip Goldberg Josh Slavin Scott Geldzahler Susan Kaufman Olivia Montgomory Ruchira Parikh Ty Enos Fury Sheron Jennifer Lien Hannah Hoang Katie Matejcak Natasha Khwaja Bailey Werner

Executive Sports Editor Sports Editors

Nicholas Pfosi Evan Sayles Caroline Ambros Sofie Hecht

Executive Photo Editor Assistant Photo Editor Picture Tufts Editor Section Liaison

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Editorial | Op-ED

Editorial

Earth Day reminds us not to forget small impacts, what media can do

Yesterday during open block, members and allies of Tufts Climate Action (TCA) held a divestment rally and sitin as a part of continued efforts to put pressure on the Tufts administration to divest from fossil fuels. They also recently held a teach-in about the topic of climate action and the necessity for it to be recognized by administrative authorities and policy makers.

But while the campus conversation has been flowing on this topic for some time now among activist circles and members of TCA, the current state of discourse means that it takes Earth Day for the general public to really hear about and reflect on what the current status of climate change is. Regardless of the aid that large actions such as divestment may have on the planet, however, smaller actions, such as recycling, educating and making more conscious, eco-friendly choices with regard to commodities like bottles and cans,

can also be taken in order to help the earth. These actions cannot and should not ever be forgotten.

It is no secret that both the American public and policymakers often tend to not consider climate change as a pressing issue facing the country. But after a winter such as this, and as weather gets more and more extreme, it’s becoming clear that not only is climate change happening, but one “Earth Day” a year certainly will not make a difference. Climate change is given such little regard because it is a very long-term issue, while the things that cause it, such as big business and industry, provide many short-term benefits. Of course, businesspeople are not inherently evil, nor are they going out of their way to actively destroy the environment. It’s important that we make saving the earth just as profitable as it is crucial. With solar technology becoming cheaper and more efficient, we’re certainly approaching the end of the tunnel.

As a media publication, it is also our responsibility to recognize that not every story happens in the span of days, weeks, months or even years, and climate change features and stories shouldn’t be relegated just to when Earth Day comes around. Climate change is an ongoing issue, and one way to force people to recognize this is for the media to cover it fairly, as we would cover any other issue.

While divestment is important, what is perhaps just as crucial is education and changing the social attitudes toward climate change. Making this issue relevant and impending is certainly a challenge, but with evidence such as this extreme winter, perhaps climate activist groups will have an easier time convincing people of the importance of protecting the earth. Until that point, the editorial board urges students to recycle this copy of the Daily, and think about the small changes they can make to help our planet out not just on Earth Day, but every day.

JENIFER LIEN

Assistant Sports Editors

Executive Op-Ed Editor

Cartoonists Editorialists

Blair Nodelman Executive Jumbo Beat Editor Rachel Sheldon Senior Jumbo Beat Editor Aastha Chadha Jumbo Beat Editors Ethan Chan Jade Chan Kristie Le Tanay Modi Nimarta Narang Grace Segers

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Jewel Marie Castle Production Director

Molly Harrower Hannah Fingerhut Kathy Lu Lily Hartzell Reid Spagna David Westby Jonathan Heutmaker Joe Palandrani Arthur Beckel Aastha Chadha Nina Goldman Serena Kassam Michael Rubinstein Julia Russell Rachel Salzberg Jei-Jei Tan Caroline Watson Yan Zhao Andrew Kager

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BUSINESS

Chris Chininis

Executive Business Director Li Liang Receivables Manager Ariel Gizzi Ad Managers Kristie Le Ad Director Joshua Morris Amanda Saban Yiran Xu Daphne Zhao P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com

Letter to the Editor

The current TCU Constitution states that any candidate for president must be a current member of senate. While this is true, anyone interested in running for TCU President can run for senate the week before the presidential elections begin in order to be eligible for the presidency. So long as they are elected to senate that week, they are welcome to seek a candidacy for president regardless of the amount of time they have spent on senate.

However, the possibility of opening up the presidential elections to the general student body is something that Tufts Election Commission (ECOM) has discussed with the administration and will continue to do so in light of the recent uncontested election.

Best, Paige Newman and ECOM

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

OFF THE HILL | University Of Washington

Burying the death penalty

By Devin Edwards The Daily

Last week, the jurors deciding the fate of the surviving Boston bomber began deliberations. The prosecution wants Dzhokhar Tsarnaev charged with the death penalty, and there’s no doubt he deserves it: More than 200 people were seriously injured, some suffering lost limbs or their ability to hear. Three were killed outright, including an eight-yearold boy who was waiting for his dad at the finish line.

But for the victims of this barbaric terrorist attack, and for the sake of our democracy, we must not succumb to the death penalty.

For now, forget the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on death penalty cases, the growing record of horrifically-botched executions and hundreds of untold wrongful convictions.

Think about who we are proposing to execute.

We’re engaged with an enemy that doesn’t just fear death, but invites it as martyrdom. The death penalty is not a deterrent to terrorists who are willing to give their lives to fulfill their ideological missions. By executing them, we’re effectively giving them what they want.

Democracies must be held to higher standards. The death penalty is an outdated practice that belongs to the bloody days of Robespierre’s France and colonial America, yet the United States stubbornly lags behind the rest of the world’s modern democracies on this point. If the United States was in Europe, it couldn’t even join the European Union because abolition of the death penalty is a key requirement for membership.

It’s important for democracies to distinguish themselves from the dictatorships of the world. We must let the world know that we choose the humane way of progress, and that we don’t share the company of backward, execution-happy regimes like Saudi Arabia, Iran and North Korea. Otherwise, the democratic peace we yearn for will never be realized.

The United States, valuing its reputation as leader of the free world, has an incredible responsibility to prove its dedication to liberal principles. When we compromise our values at home — whether it’s state-sanctioned murder, mass surveillance, indefinite detainment without trial or torture — we are no better than our enemies. That is how you lose the “War on Terror.”

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters must be submitted by 2 p.m. and should be handed into the Daily office or sent to letters@tuftsdaily.com.

All letters must be word processed and include the writer’s name and telephone number. There is a 450-word limit and letters must be verified.

The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length.

ADVERTISING POLICY All advertising copy is subject to the approval of the Editorin-Chief, Executive Board and Executive Business Director. A publication schedule and rate card are available upon request.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

The Tufts Daily

Op-Ed

In a culture of corruption, Menendez least of our worries

by Sam Berzok Op-Ed Contributor

When I first read the reports of Sen. Robert Menendez’s (D – NJ) indictment, I thought it was an April Fools’ joke: “A Jersey politician charged with corruption,” classic! But when I realized that his 14 criminal counts were real, I still found the whole incident very humorous.

If you’ve ever watched “American Hustle” (2013), “The Sopranos,” (19992007), “Boardwalk Empire” (2010-2014) or ever talked with a friend from Bergen, Essex or Hudson County who “knows a guy,” it should come as no surprise that there is a culture of corruption ingrained in New Jersey’s public offices.

So it shouldn’t be too shocking that this stereotype is further bolstered by Senator Robert Menendez’s indictment on April 1st. And I’m not talking about the lame style of corruption that led Rep. Aaron Shock (R – IL) to resign last month for using taxpayer dollars to furnish his office with “Downton Abbey” (2010-) décor. I’m referring to the idea that still holds strong in New Jersey that “if you’ve got my back, I’ve got yours.

But if you don’t, you better watch your back.” There’s a long history of New Jersey politicians using public funds for private utility or direct money laundering. This corruption relies on two tenets: favors and loyalty. Not necessarily partisan loyalty either, a much more personal loyalty like we saw from some select New Jersey State Democrats who held strong in Gov. Christie’s re-election campaign back in 2013. I don’t laugh at the idea of corruption but I have decided that instead of hanging my head in sorrow at the failures of our government that I would laugh instead. So whose failures am I laughing at? I highly doubt that Sen. Menendez’s corruption case will end in a guilty ruling, so today I laugh at the money thrown down the drain by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The joint IRS-FBI Operation Bid Rig has been an ongoing investigation into political corruption in New Jersey in 2002. Since the inception of the operation, more than 60 public officials from New Jersey and New York have been

indicted. This stereotype and potential tip-off led the DOJ to look into New Jersey offices. However, it is still unclear what operation, individual or organization prompted the DOJ to conduct this personal investigation into Sen. Menendez’s affairs. And we should be skeptical of this DOJ investigation because it started with the allegation of Sen. Menendez soliciting prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. These claims were falsified this past summer when it was revealed that three women were paid to say that they slept with Sen. Menendez. Many members of the senator’s staff and colleagues agree with the conclusion that he has been the victim of this anonymous smear plot for three years now. My bet is that America’s champion Cuban senator and ardent adversary of the Cuban regime is being targeted with false allegations by the very regime we just re-established diplomatic relations with.

There is, however, another man in this story now and that is Miami ophthalmologist and long-time personal friend of Menendez, Salomon Melgen.

The charges of corruption filed against Menendez stem from gifts he received from Mr. Melgen. The Government claims that in exchange for these gifts, Menendez secured a port contract in the Dominican Republic and added amendments favorable to Mr. Melgen’s practice in a Medicare bill. But they will find it very difficult to prove without a degree of doubt that these particular gifts were the direct impetus for Menedez’s select policy changes. These two have attended weddings and family events together for years. Perhaps they believe the timing of the gifts and the actions of Menendez in the Senate are somehow linked, but convenient timing is not a full-proof case against the senator.

A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 52 percent of New Jersey voters believe Sen. Menendez should resign.

This is of course only two weeks after the DOJ issued its indictment, and the voters haven’t heard the senator’s side of the story yet. In addition, a majority of Democrats are standing by and supporting the senator’s innocence even if they

believe he isn’t the most trustworthy guy in the world. If you go to his campaign webpage, you are redirected to istandwithbob.com, a website dedicated to the Menendez solidarity movement. The front of the page is listed with quotes of support from high-ranking New Jersey politicians and Democrats.

One thing the DOJ could be spending more time and money on is prosecuting their officials in the DEA. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said “The Department of Justice may not be taking adequate steps to prevent its own employees from buying sex and thereby contributing to the demand for the human sex trade” in reference to the recent discovery that DEA agents had “sex parties” with Colombian prostitutes financed by the drug cartel lords. A majority of these agents testified that they did indeed participate in these prostitution circles, so why is the DOJ going to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on a fight they might lose when they could enforce accountability much more directly?

I also find it ironic, however, that so much attention is centered on this personal instance of supposed corruption when we see corruption in the face of most of our representatives everyday.

Menendez is being indicted for allegedly taking gifts from his friend to further his interests in legislation, yet the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United that we couldn’t call unlimited, publicly listed campaign contributions under the veil of ‘non-profit business’ or PACs corruption. President Obama comments that nothing “is more devastating to the public interest” than our representatives being bought out by special interests.

Menendez isn’t shaken by special interests, and he makes his decisions based on his personal convictions and his duty to the country.

So don’t expect a resignation from Hart Senate Office Building 514. Robert Menendez is a fighter: He has fought for immigration reform, the security of the United States abroad and the victims of Superstorm Sandy, and battled his way into the political arena. The DOJ just picked a nasty one against this New Jersey senator.

Op-Ed

The betrayal

by Zach Shapiro Op-Ed Contributor

I’ve written about Arab Israeli columnist and novelist Sayed Kashua recently. It is safe to say he has had less than an easy life. While some of his frustrations with the current Israeli government are grounded, I take issue with a number of his stances.

But for all the critique he levels at the country, he is insightful in his observation in Dancing Arabs (2007) that “My father says the best thing would be for our cousins in Tulkarm, Ramallah, Nablus, and Bakat el-Hatab to receive the same blue ID cards that we have. Let them become seventh-class citizens in the Zionist state.

He says it’s better than being third-class citizens in an Arab state.”

Though mentioned in passing as the final chapter of the novel comes to a close, this comment should not be taken lightly. On the contrary, the excerpt touches upon a greater truth about the Middle East that is oft ignored.

For all the talk of the importance of nuance in our discourse on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, from here at Tufts to the Middle East itself, scholars and activists time and time again choose to gloss over some Middle Eastern governments’ betrayal of the Palestinians.

The bitter truth is that many leaders in the Arab world and in Turkey have used the Palestinians as a political tool.

It is time they are held accountable for unkept promises and deceptive rhetoric.

When many Arab leaders suffer from low domestic approval, there is no option but to bash Israel. Cheap rhetorical solidarity is many Arab leaders’ weapon of choice when in need of a quick bump in the polls. Look no further than Saddam Hussein, who resorted to tirades and providing financial support to the families of suicide bombers.

Almost a decade has passed since his death. How true was the Butcher of Baghdad to his impassioned speeches? It’s pretty hard to believe he helped the Palestinian cause. Especially given the fact that he lobbed wildly inaccurate Scud missiles at Israeli cities during the First Gulf War, putting Palestinians at risk.

This trend persists to this very day, as a variety of Middle Eastern countries fail to provide relief aid promised to the people of Gaza. Al-Jazeera recently reported that “countries have given just 26.8% of $3.5 billion promised for rebuilding Gaza.” Meanwhile, the EU has already actually donated more than Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey combined. This should not surprise, since these three Middle Eastern governments combined have yet to give a single dollar.

I wish I could say that the betrayal stopped at inaction. On the contrary,

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Op-Ed

it runs much deeper. Palestinians in Jordan have historically faced brutal repression. For instance, the Black September terrorist group—responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games—“was named after the month in which the Palestinians were driven out of Jordan,” according to a BBC report. In Syria, Palestinians in the Yarmouk Refugee Camp face devastation as ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Syrian government fight for control of the city. All the while, governments across the region turn their backs as the situation worsens.

I take issue with much of the condemnation of Israel. Whether in mass media or in discourse on campus, people get it wrong for a number of reasons. As much as I want to discuss this at length, I’ll leave it for another op-ed.

I am sorry to say that no matter how hard some try, the world will continue to find ways to erroneously lash out at Israel. I don’t expect the truth to prevail in that discussion. I expect facts to be pushed aside as acerbic rhetoric takes control.

As people continue to wrongly single out Israel, I ask that they are at least honest about the regional deception: numerous Arab and Turkish governments’ manipulation and neglect of the Palestinian people.

Pooja Sivaraman and Rebecca Solomon | New York Style Delhi

Going out with a beep

P

ooja: Today I discovered my new favorite song: “Loud Places” by Jamie xx ft. Romy (2015). If this is common pop knowledge to you, please excuse my residence under a rock; however, today was the first day I realized that Jamie xx was formerly a part of the latter part of his name (which is why his album art always has a fragment of The xx’s album cover art). For some reason, today, I was also convinced that The xx, though they claim to co-exist, no longer exists. If Jaime and Romy are pairing up — where is Oliver Sim?! Qureshi already left, so what if it’s a trend?! I could not find any information confirming this belief, which brought relief. The end of The xx would be the end of something beautiful, as is the end of New York Style Delhi.

Not to compare our writing to the genius that is The xx — but we have had quite a successful column, not to mention that our “Intro” (2009) was our biggest hit. The end of our column is Far Nearer (2011) than one could have believed and Gosh (2015) darn if we weren’t All Under One Roof Raving (2015). Only joking, we are quite sad to see this era come to an end, even if only for a summer. So, here go the final rounds.

Dear NYSD, hmu.

Pooja: Dear reader, I would absolutely love to hit you up, but sadly this is an anonymous forum. That being said, we have realized that many take advantage of the fact to treat it like their online diary.

We have juicy details (some including names) about people’s love lives and their transgressions. Obviously our moral obligation to those so generously submitting to our forum prevents us from posting any of these in print. However, this is just a shout out to all the “anonymous” posters out there — keep submitting because it is Rebecca and my main source of entertainment. That being said, keep an eye out for our special edition column next week that posts our un-answered questions.

Dear NYSD, What is YOUR question?

Rebecca: I wanted to answer this question philosophically or use one of those lofty, grand questions, like, “What is life?”

However, I am not philosophical, so I’ll ask a question that has been recurring in my week: “Which fire alarm’s battery is dying in my house?” A beep occurs every twenty seconds, only when I am home alone; I know this implies that one of the smoke alarm’s batteries are low. I cannot find the dying one. I have gone through my whole house with a chair (I am too short to access the detectors otherwise) and waited for the beep, so far nothing. I have a theory that it is in the basement but the basement is unfinished and gives me the heebie jeebies, so I just do not go down there. So I guess I am doomed to a life of beeping?

Dear NYSD, Want to be on top?

Rebecca: Though I fear that this question has some sort of innuendo built into it, I am going answer it as though Tyra Banks were asking me as I walked down the catwalk, towards the judges of ANTM. Obviously, duh. Though I am too short and lack the grace to be a model, I think that I could be a great hand model; my nails are always trendy.

Rebecca: That’s all we have for now, I just realized that summer is dangerously close, and I am not bathing suit ready. If you have any questions about this article, come find me in the gym. Who am I kidding, I’ll be the one in the Tisch stacks with Chipotle.

Pooja Sivaraman is a junior majoring in economics. She can be reached at pooja. sivaraman@tufts.edu. Rebecca Solomon is a junior majoring in economics. She can be reached at rebecca.solomon@tufts.edu.

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

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The Tufts Daily

FOR RELEASE APRIL 23, 2015

Crossword

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

On the Hill

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis

ACROSS 1 “Carrie” Oscar nominee 7 Letters about time 11 __ Fit: video exercise game 14 Acid neutralizer 15 Restaurant chain named for a Mozart opera 16 It’s often cured 17 *Skedaddling 19 Physician’s org.

20 Snack brand creator Wally 21 Karaoke option 22 Take one’s sweet time 24 Half a score 25 Auction cry 26 Lamp emission, if you’re lucky 27 *Food often served with ranch dip 30 __ Navidad 33 First-line national anthem word 34 Prefix with caching 35 With 38-Across, band with the hit “Radioactive,” and a hint to the ends of the answers to starred clues 38 See 35-Across 41 First-line national anthem word 42 Pigs out (on) 44 __ attitude 45 *Weigh, with “at” 50 Sensible 51 Stats for Mike Trout 52 Meditator’s intonations 55 Sand bar 56 Appear 57 Purveyor of many flat packs 58 Burst 59 *Real ordeal 62 Part of UCSD: Abbr.

63 Cheese that’s sometimes stuffed 64 Begin gently 65 Cut 66 Smashes 67 They’re often ruled

Comics

Thursday, April 23, 2015 Ty Enos and Vincent Carbone

4/23/15

By Julian Lim

DOWN 1 Occupied, as a table 2 Nice pen 3 Firestone Country Club city 4 Spam holders 5 Lilly of pharmaceuticals 6 In a way 7 Played the part of 8 Asset in a castle siege 9 Chi follower 10 Shower problem 11 Beating heavily, as with a sledgehammer 12 Post-apocalyptic Will Smith film 13 “Perhaps” 18 __ of Mexico 23 Young Darth’s nickname 25 Singer Quatro 26 Church attachment?

27 Popular 28 Took charge of 29 Just fair 30 __ bump 31 Phishing scam, e.g.

32 Church attendees

Wednesday’s Puzzle Solved wednesday’s Solution

©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

36 “O Holy Night,” for one 37 Journalism VIPs 39 Far from fails 40 It’s often bought at an island 43 Horror movie sounds 46 Dam-building org.

47 __-skelter 48 First fratricide victim 49 Loosen (up)

4/23/15

52 1930s migrants 53 Worthiness 54 Composer Saint-__ 55 Org for strays 56 Place that gave its name to a cat breed 57 “Say that’s true ... ” 60 No for the healthconscious 61 Retired NBAer Ming

THAT SCRAMBLED WORD GAME

by David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

Unscramble these four Jumbles, one letter to each square, to form four ordinary words.

©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.

SERYDS

Level: Designing a Spring Fling tank.

BINGOX “

Yesterday’s

-

Ans. here:

Now arrange the circled letters to form the surprise answer, as suggested by the above cartoon.

-

CUPHO

SUDOKU

Check out the new, free JUST JUMBLE app

ATAEB

”

(Answers tomorrow) Jumbles: IRONY MUSHY PERSON SOCKET Answer: The staircase wasn’t going to be finished on schedule because of all the — MISSTEPS

Late Night at the Daily

Wednesday’s Solution

Jewel: “It hurts if I touch it.”

Please recycle this Daily.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

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Steven Hefter | The Association

Brooks is done, but who is surprised?

S

Courtesy Owen Elliott

Sophomore Owen Elliott’s seventh-place finish coupled with first-year Taylor Nordan’s victory locked up Tufts’ team win.

Weekend’s victory shows promise of improvement GOLF

continued from back

Inn Invitational on April 10-11. The team, coached by Bob Sheldon, ended the spring season on a high note with this victory.

When asked about his thoughts on this season, Elliott was optimistic about the team’s improvement.

“It has been a big step in the right

direction,” he said. “We have placed ourselves at the door of breaking into the elite ranks in the NESCAC and qualifying for NCAA next year.”

Nordan agreed with the sentiment. “[This] season has been better than years past,” he added.

Both Elliott and Nordan are already looking forward to next season.

When asked how they felt about the

team’s future endeavors, both golfers responded positively.

“I don’t want to make predictions, but we are in a better place now to make the jump up to the top tier of teams in the NESCAC than Tufts golf has been in a long time,” Elliott noted.

Nordan agreed, adding that he hoped the Jumbos would be the best team in the NESCAC and qualify for nationals.

Athletic community continues to bring in powerful speakers HERREN

continued from back

times, committed seven drug-related felonies and was temporarily homeless. He’s been in and out of rehab, attempted to kill himself at least twice and was pronounced clinically dead for 30 seconds after overdosing and crashing his car into a cemetery fence.

He’s disappointed his family, friends and teammates more times than he can count.

“I had failed at everything in my life,” Herren said. “I went from being my town’s biggest hero with the biggest dreams to being its biggest embarrassment and disappointment.”

Bringing Herren to Tufts was a collaborative effort by the Tufts Athletic Department, Department of Health Promotion and Prevention along with the Dean of Students Office.

According to senior Carla Kruyff, cocaptain of the women’s soccer team, the idea of having Herren talk at Tufts was originally proposed at a Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Development meeting. After having Katie Hnida — the first female Div. I player football player — speak in the

fall, SAAC sought another inspirational figure for its speaker series.

“When Chris Herren’s name was brought up, there was a positive feedback from the group, and his story of fighting addiction seemed particularly inspiring,” Kruyff said. “A member who had heard him speak before had incredibly positive things to say about his presentation, and his message fit the theme of ‘wellness’ that NESCAC schools are working with this year.”

Gracie Marshall, a senior tri-captain of the softball team, followed up by reaching out to Herren’s people to get a rough estimate of his price. Although it was determined to be outside the SAAC’s budget, collaboration between different departments raised the necessary funds.

“The departments … agreed that the topic of overcoming substance abuse was one that should be addressed to college students,” Kruyff explained.

“We all hoped that Chris Herren’s story was one that everyone could learn something from.”

Herren’s tragic story is an important one for college students to hear.

Drug and alcohol abuse is common

on college campuses, where students develop hard-to-break habits.

“We wanted students to make sure they were leading healthy lifestyles first and foremost,” Kruyff said. “We wanted students to know they can ask for help if they need to and to know that there are resources available. If there are students that are struggling through substance abuse, Chris Herren’s story of recovery gives them something to identify with or at the very least reminds those students that they are not alone.”

Tufts Fan the Fire helped promote the event, which was free and open to the public. Based on the positive reactions of those in attendance, Herren’s presentation was a tremendous success.

“That was really good,” Steve Howard, a senior, said. “By far the best speech I’ve ever heard.”

Herren’s life has been the subject of ESPN’s Emmy-nominated documentary “Unguarded” (2011). He has also co-authored a memoir entitled “Basketball Junkie” (2011) with Bill Reynolds, who covered Herren’s junior year at Durfee High School in an earlier book, “Fall River Dreams” (1994).

Jumbos have historically successful weekend MEN’S TENNIS

continued from back

After defeating No. 32 Washington and Lee 8-1, Tufts capped off the weekend by making history with its win over Williams.

The victory over Williams was extremely special for a Tufts team that had often been unable to compete with the four-time national champions over the past several decades.

“It is definitely a great feeling,” Jacobson said. “It’s a culmination of all the hard work that we have put in this season and that the upperclassmen have put in for the last three years. We have a new coach and a new culture around this team, and we’re not going to just roll over to a team like Williams. We played great tennis and came out with a great result, so we’re all pretty thrilled about that.”

Ali was also excited about the victory, but insisted that it’s most

important for the Jumbos to maintain focus.

“I hadn’t really thought about all that before,” Ali said, speaking about the Jumbos’ rare win over the Ephs.

Tufts’ last opponent is No. 8 Bowdoin, another strong team that sports an 11-4 record and a 4-3 record in the NESCAC. “We have to continue playing confidently,” Ali said. “It’s nice to go into this playing on a four-match winning streak, but we have to play like it’s our last match.”

The Jumbos will look to rely on their leadership and growing experience as the most important part of their season approaches.

“Definitely having Rob and [senior co-captain Brian Tan] at the helm has helped, especially during the tough part of the season,” Gupte said. “They reassured us that we are good play-

ers, and even though things don’t go our way sometimes, it is important to keep practicing and working on getting better and thank God we were able to get a win streak going.”

Gregor is also pleased with the leadership and growth of the team.

“The team really took accountability and responsibility to do the little things and to put it on themselves,” Gregor said. “It was due to the strong leadership of Rob and Brian, who are doing a ton of things behind the scenes to keep the team tight-knit and keep the morale up. That is way beyond anything I am doing, and the whole group has bought into what it takes to be successful. It’s not over, but we’ve taken the first steps and hopefully it continues.”

Tufts will face off at Bowdoin on Friday at 1:00 p.m. for the team’s final match of the regular season.

cott Brooks was fired yesterday as the coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder after narrowly missing the playoffs on the final night of the regular season. Surprisingly enough, Brooks had been the fourth-longest tenured coach in the NBA prior to yesterday. The coach who has kept his job for longest is Gregg Popovich, who has been in command of the Spurs dynasty since December of 1996.

After that, the waters get a little muddy.

Erik Spoelstra has been the coach of the Miami Heat since April of 2008, making him the second-longest tenured coach in the league. I don’t know about you, but that seems a little short. How has no coach been able to keep a job for more than seven years? This is the first year that Spoelstra did not make the playoffs in his seven years in charge of the Heat and his first season in the post-Lebron era. I believe that Pat Riley has faith in his young coach, but how many more losing seasons would it take for Riley to start searching for a new coach? I’m not sure, but in today’s win-now NBA climate where the margin for error is so small I would not be surprised if it is sooner than most people think.

The Thunder might be touted as one of the most underachieving groups in the history of the league if they do not achieve anything more than what they already have. Led by Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, with MVP candidate James Harden coming off the bench, the team went from being an eight seed in the 20092010 playoffs (the first playoff appearance in franchise history) all the way to the NBA finals in 2012. They lost, ironically, to Spoelstra’s Heat. After trading Harden after the 2011-2012 season to the Houston Rockets, the team reached the Conference Semi-finals and Conference Finals in the next two seasons, respectively.

To be fair, Durant has been sporadically injured, including for most of this season, a year after his MVP campaign. But that does not matter today. If you want to keep your job, you have to win games with the players you have. No ifs, ands or buts. In the number five spot of the longest-tenured coach list is Monty Williams of the New Orleans Pelicans, but that does not mean he has not been close to losing his job.

In fact, it has been reported that GM Dell Demps and Williams were told that they would be fired if the Pelicans did not make the playoffs this season. There was no insurance for injuries or anything else, including the fact that the Pelicans played in a division in which every other team made the playoffs. The Pelicans clinched the eight seed in the West, which eliminated the Thunder from the playoffs. But imagine if Anthony Davis had been injured for as many games as Durant had been this season. Would the situation be different?

Would Brooks, the NBA Coach of the Year just five years ago in 2010, still have his job?

I would venture to say that he would.

Nine NBA coaches were hired in 2014, with nine more being hired in 2013. That means that eighteen teams have experienced coach turnover in the past two years.

Patience from owners is dwindling and in a time when the NBA brand is expanding and cashing in, teams do not want to be stuck in the lottery for long. Unfortunately for coaches, that means two options: Win or go home.

Steven Hefter is a junior majoring in economics. He can be reached at steven.hefter@tufts.edu.

Sports

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tuftsdaily.com

Golf

Nordan, Tufts victorious in Providence

by Priyanka Dharampuriya Daily Staff Writer

Courtesy Tufts Athletics

Chris Herren spoke about his history of drug abuse at Cousens Gym on Tuesday night.

Herren hopes to help students rebound

by Tyler Maher Sports Editor

The overarching message of Chris Herren’s emotionally charged, 90-minute presentation at Cousens Gym on Tuesday night was “Be yourself.” The audience, comprised mostly of Tufts athletes and coaches, hung on Herren’s every word as he shared his tragic life story of substance abuse, family neglect and a squandered NBA career — a nightmare he could have avoided had he not felt the need to change himself with drugs and alcohol.

“My whole life, I wanted to be a pro,” Herren said. “I just wish I was a pro at being me.”

The presentation began with a five-minute video interspersing Herren’s basketball career highlights with clips from his new career as a public speaker. By Herren’s own account, he gives 250 talks a year, sometimes speaking as often as 10-12 times per week.

“It’s a responsibility that I don’t take lightly,” the 39-yearold father of three said.

Sober since Aug. 1, 2008, the former NBA player and recovered drug addict has dedicated his life to traveling the country in hopes of discouraging young athletes from using drugs and alcohol. Over the past five years, he has addressed nearly 1 million people, ranging from

middle school students to Div. I college athletes to NFL players. His talks have inspired countless young people to turn their lives around and have prevented several from committing suicide.

“I do this in the hopes that one kid will walk out of here tonight and say, ‘I want to be better,'” Herren explained. “I honestly believe I’m making a difference in their lives.”

Herren is living proof that no matter how terrible things get, it is always possible to get better. The onetime Boston Celtic nearly lost his life to heroin and OxyContin addiction. He overdosed four see HERREN, page 15

Runners were not the only busy athletes over marathon weekend. The sunny Saturday and Sunday in Rhode Island were home to the Wildcat Spring Invitational and the first team tournament victory for the Tufts program since 2007. The tournament was hosted by Johnson and Wales University at the par71, 6,495-yard Cranston Country Club. While Tufts had a very successful tournament, firstyear Taylor Nordan led the pack as the top individual finisher in the event. Nordan shot a 74 on Saturday and a 71 on Sunday for a combined total of 145, the lowest score at the tournament.

He narrowly beat Kevin Wheeler of Nichols College, who scored a combined 146.

“I didn’t really have any expectations, just go out and play well,” Nordan told the Daily in an e-mail.

“We [could not] qualify as a team for the NESCAC championship, so this spring was about playing well and proving to ourselves that we have the ability to win.”

Sophomore Owen Elliott, who has himself had a stellar spring, was impressed with his teammate’s clutch play.

“Taylor’s 71 on the second day in the wind was remarkable,” Elliott said. “Also, the performance freshman Michael Lefkowitz put in was amazing in his first tournament of the spring.”

Lefkowitz shot a fiveover-par 76 to tie for 12th on Saturday and then shot an 80 on Sunday for an impressive 156 total. Junior Jay Wong had a consistent weekend as well, shooting

two 79s as the fourth Tufts scorer on both days.

Elliott also had a successful weekend, shooting a 71 on Saturday, the first day of the tournament, and then shot an 80 on Sunday, putting him in seventh place overall. With four Jumbos posting scores in the 70s, the team ended day one in first place.

“We all hang out before and after the round. But during it, we are out there by ourselves,” Elliott said. “It’s funny, I was standing on the 18th green the second day and I hadn’t played great, so I thought we were out of contention. I had no information about how anybody else on the team was doing until I made that last out, and I heard we had won.”

It turned out to be a great day across the board, as all four of Tufts’ scorers finished in the top 30 out of the 104 golfers in the field.

The first-place finish was an exciting one for the Jumbos, who last won a tournament at the Husson Tournament in Maine on Oct. 7-8, 2007. While now-junior Brendan Koh won the Rhode Island College Spring Invitational in April 2014, no other golfer from Tufts placed first until Nordan’s victory this weekend.

Both Nordan and Elliott described the win as a season highlight. This year, the Jumbos also tied for fifth out of 17 at the Rhode Island College Invitational at Valley Country Club, Warwick, R.I. on April 3-4. The team also tied for eighth of 17 teams at UMass Dartmouth at the Hampton see GOLF, page 15

Tennis

Tufts defeats Williams for first time since 1989

by Ray Paul Biron Assistant Sports Editor

The men’s tennis team defeated No. 20 Bates College yesterday afternoon 7-2 and NESCAC rival No. 14 Williams College 6-3 on Sunday to improve to 8-6 on the season and 4-3 in the NESCAC. It was the first time the Jumbos have defeated the Williams Ephs since 1989.

The No. 30 Jumbos began the match with their signature strong play in doubles, sweeping behind an 8-5 victory from junior Nik Telkedzhiev and firstyear Rohan Gupte in the No. 1 match, an 8-4 victory from junior Nick Cary and sophomore Benjamin Battle in the No. 2 spot and a final victory of 8-5 from first-years Zain Ali and Griffin Brockman on the final court.

The Jumbos then went on to win three of the six singles matches to take the 6-3 victory. Gupte defeated Williams’ junior Rohan Shastri 6-4 and 6-3 on the second court to put a Jumbo victory within reach. Junior co-captain Rob Jacobson and Jay Glickman then secured the victory with 6-4, 7-5 and 6-2, 6-4 wins, respectively.

The victory over the Ephs was Tufts’ fourth win in a row after the team suffered a five match losing streak earlier this month. After a 0-3 start in the NESCAC and a last-place position in the standings, the Jumbos won their next four matches, moving into sixth place and play-off contention.

The past weekend was extremely busy for the Jumbos, as they played four matches in three days. The

players knew if they wanted to have any chance of competing for a spot in the postseason they would have to win the majority of those games, but few expected to win all four.

“It feels very good,” coach Karl Gregor said, “It was a very busy and challenging weekend, but our team had been prepping for that the whole week. We knew it was going to take a 15-person team effort, because there is just no way we could have our starters play four matches in four days. It was great that we dug further down in our lineup and had our non-starters step up, and then our normal top six guys stayed sharp and really peaked against Williams. The reason we were able to beat Williams was because the whole team believed we could, and everyone went out and did their part.”

Gupte acknowledged that the team was feeling pressure going into the weekend.

“Honestly, we were on the ropes,” Gupte said. “We knew we had to win matches to make the NESCACs, but I am glad that we came through.”

Tufts began the weekend with a solid 7-2 win against Colby on Friday. The Jumbos then took on the Conn. College Camels on Saturday, defeating them in a convincing fashion as well, losing only in the No. 1 singles match. Sunday proved to be a super day for the players, as they had a match against Washington and Lee University in the morning and against Williams in the late afternoon.

Caroline Geiling / Tufts Daily archives

see MEN’S TENNIS, page 15

Junior Nick Cary was essential to the team’s winning weekend.