TuftsDaily02.03.14

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THE TUFTS DAILY

TUFTSDAILY.COM

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014

VOLUME LXVII, NUMBER 10

Where You Read It First Est. 1980

TCU Senate update The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate at its meeting yesterday unanimously passed a resolution calling on the administration to reform Tufts’ on-campus voter registration process.

“Currently, there is no centralized and organized voter registration system on the Tufts University campus, which creates an obstacle to voting for the student body,” the resolution reads.

The resolution proposes that students should be able to register their personal information into the Integrated Student Information System (iSIS), which would then process voter registration forms. It also suggests that University President Anthony Monaco appoint a voter registration director from the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service to oversee the process.

“I’m very excited to be moving forward with something which I think is long overdue,” said sophomore Senator James Golden, who wrote the proposal.

“Expressing your right to vote is integral, and this registration, as well as the reforms that will come with it, will hopefully streamline that process and make it more efficient for students to be able to vote.”

Diversity Council Affairs Officer Darien Headen, a junior, announced that three students have been chosen to be on the committee for selecting the university’s Chief

Diversity Officer. The committee, which consists of senators, community and trustee representatives, will be chaired by Nancy Wilson, a special advisor to the Provost.

The trustee representatives will present their personal projects to the Board of Trustees tonight.

“I’m excited to present and hear what the Board has to say,” trustee representative Rose Mendelsohn, a senior who is helping first-generation college students adjust to life at Tufts, said. “I look forward to continu[ing] to work with board members and move on to the next phase of the project after the presentation.”

The Senate allocated $1,250 to the Tufts Magic: The Gathering team to attend the Grand Prix Montreal competition next month; $4,300 to the biotechnology group iGEM; $210 for Tufts Labor Coalition to attend the United Students Against Sweatshops Conference in Austin, Tex.; $1,950 for Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine to hire a speaker for Israeli Apartheid Week next month; $3,024 for Tufts Friends of Israel to attend the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.; $75,000 to Concert Board to hire the Spring Fling opening acts and $4,884 to the Tufts Debate Society to compete in tournaments throughout the year.

—by Josh Weiner

Anne Wermiel / Tufts Daily Archives

Introduction to Yiddish Culture, a course taught by Sol Gittleman, was canceled on the first day of classes after Gittleman experienced a setback in his recovery from hip replacement surgery.

Gittleman cancels spring Yiddish culture course after injury by

Kathleen Schmidt

Daily Editorial Board

Introduction to Yiddish Culture, a course taught for 42 years by the Alice and Nathan Gantcher University Professor of Judaic Studies Sol Gittleman, was cancelled on

Jan. 15 after Gittleman experienced complications with his hip replacement surgery.

After having surgery on Dec. 6, Gittleman said he expected to have recovered enough to teach his first class on Jan. 16, but he suffered two hip dislocations on Dec.

24, and an additional setback on Jan. 15, the day before his class was set to start.

“I was going into the office on the 15th, the day before my first class. I took one step down the staircase, my leg see GITTLEMAN, page 2

Sorority recruitment breaks records by

Alexa Horwitz

Daily Editorial Board

Caroline Ambros / The Tufts Daily

Students and alumni share stories about the late Lily Glidden (LA ‘12) during a candlelight vigil on the President’s Lawn on Saturday, Feb. 1.

Inside this issue

A record-high of 308 students participated in this month’s formal sorority recruitment. This number is an increase from the 185 girls who registered in 2012 and the 172 who registered in 2011, according to Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Su McGlone.

Ultimately, 216 girls received bids, with Alpha Phi giving out 57, Chi Omega giving out 53, Alpha Omicron Pi giving out 53 and Kappa Alpha Theta giving out 53, according to McGlone.

McGlone said she is not surprised by the spike in participation, which reflects a growing interest in Greek life at Tufts.

“We have been seeing an increase in numbers over the past several of years for both sorority and fraternity involvement on campus,” she said. “Greek organizations are doing great things and getting their names out in positive ways, and that

draws people to them.”

Kappa Alpha Theta was Tufts’ fourth and most recent sorority addition. McGlone cited the creation of Kappa Alpha Theta as one of the factors that has increased recruitment.

“People are excited about the new sorority on campus,” she said. “We’ve seen girls come into recruitment because they have more options.”

President of Tufts Panhellenic Council Jaime Morgen agreed with McGlone’s comments about the increased popularity of Greek life on campus.

“Girls are excited about joining any sorority now,” Morgen, a senior, said. “It’s becoming more of a presence on campus, and people want to be a part of it. It’s definitely more on everyone’s radar.”

According to McGlone, there are now roughly 600 girls involved in sororities on campus. Each sorority had almost 100 members before see RECRUITMENT, page 2

Today’s sections

Diversity Council releases its final report, and is committed to maintaining diversity on all Tufts campuses.

The third season of ‘Girls’ features more sophisticated plotlines.

see FEATURES, page 3

see ARTS, page 5

News Features Arts & Living Editorial | Letters

1 3 5 8

Op-Ed Comics Classifieds Sports

9 10 15 Back

The Tufts Daily

2

Gittleman hopes to teach course again next spring GITTLEMAN

continued from page 1

collapsed again, and it dislocated a third time,” he said.

Gittleman said he immediately realized that he would be unable to teach his Yiddish culture course this spring. “[My doctors] said it’s going to come out again probably and I decided then I can’t let the kids start class and two weeks into it, screw it up again,” he said. “If I’m going to collapse in class, that’s no good ...

The kids can’t rely on me in a class until I get this thing fixed.”

He said he is unable to drive or sleep on his side and cannot leave the house. While he will have to wear a large brace for three months, Gittleman is optimistic about his return. “[I’m] in tough shape from the navel down,” he said. “It’s miserable, uncomfortable and wretched, but if it all works out I should be back, ready to go.”

The late cancellation of the class posed scheduling problems for many students, particularly those who needed one more Judaic Studies course to graduate, according to Gloria Ascher, co-director of the Judaic Studies program.

Lauren Waldman, a sophomore who was registered to take the class, said she was frustrated by the late cancellation, but sympathetic for Gittleman.

“The only really annoying part was that I had to rearrange my schedule on such short notice,” Waldman said. “We got an email in the morning on the first day of class.”

Beyond the scheduling problems, many students said they were disappointed about the cancellation because of the class’ history at Tufts, and popularity, according to Ascher.

“It’s like an institution [at Tufts],” Ascher said. “You should take Yiddish Culture.”

Over the four decades Gittleman has taught the course, multiple generations of Tufts students have taken Introduction to Yiddish Culture.

“The last two years I’ve had maybe six to 10 second generation kids, children of parents who took the course,” he said. “So it sort of goes on for two generations.”

The Judaic Studies program did not consider finding a substitute professor for the course, according to Ascher.

“I don’t know if anyone even entertained the notion that someone could take it over,” she said. “It wouldn’t be that class, it wouldn’t be that course.

He has a very special point of view, a very special way of teaching.”

Gittleman explained that when he created the Yiddish culture course, he agreed that no one else could teach it.

“I invented it, I made it up myself, and there’s nobody else that could teach it but me,” Gittleman said.

He said he feels he owes the students one more Yiddish culture course and plans to teach it again next spring.

“This is my 50th year at Tufts,” Gittleman said. “I wanted to get through the 50th year at Tufts, you know, just to get through it. So now I’m only going to get through 49 and a half, so I owe Tufts at least one more semester.”

News

Monday, February 3, 2014

Visiting the Hill this week MONDAY Making Mugabe Play Whackamole: Civil Society, Technology and the Story of a Fraudulent Election Details: Chris Doten, a senior program manager for the National Democratic Institute’s Information and Communication Technology Program’s team, will discuss the election of Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe.

When and Where: 12 p.m.; Goddard 310 (the Crowe Room) Sponsor: The Hitachi Center for Technology and International Affairs Financial Technology: The End of Commercial and Investment Banking as We Know It Details: The Institute for Business in the Global Context will host a lecture on how technology is transforming commercial and investment banking.

When and Where: 5:30 to 7 p.m.; Cabot Intercultural Center Sponsor: Institute for Business in the Global Context Yelp at Tufts Tech Talk: Interplanetarization: Launching Yelp in the Klingon Empire Details: A representative of Yelp will speak about the company’s technology and culture and the possibility of expanding the company’s presence beyond Earth.

When and Where: 12 to 1 p.m.; Halligan Hall, Room 102 TUESDAY A Reading and Discussion with Rachel Kushner Details: 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Rachel Kushner will be holding a reading and discussion of her novel, “The Flamethrowers.” Her novel was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award and named one of the top five novels of the year by The New York Times When and Where: 4:30 p.m.; 48 Professors Row

Sponsor: Center for the Humanities At Tufts WEDNESDAY Pakistan: Past, Present, and Future Details: Hussain Haqqani, former Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, will speak about Pakistan’s relations with the U.S. He will also talk about his new book “Magnificent Delusions” and the current situation in the region.

When and Where: 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Sponsor: The Fletcher School Shadow Banking with China Details: Paul Schulte, a senior fellow with the Council for Emerging Market Enterprises will speak about shadow banking in China.

When and Where: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Sponsor: The China Club THURSDAY Cesare Vecellio’s Americans: Venice and the New World Details: Ann Rosalind Jones, Esther Cloudman Dunn Professor of Comparative Literature at Smith College will give a Tomasso Lecture on Cesare Vecellio.

When and Where: 5:30 to 7 p.m.; Granoff Music Center, Room 155 Sponsor: Department of Art and Art History FRIDAY A Conversation with Sara Sorcher (LA ‘09) a National Security Reporter in Washington, D.C. Details: Sara Sorcher, a national security correspondent with National Journal, a politics and policy magazine and newspaper in Washington, D.C., will hold an informal conversation and answer questions about being a reporter in Washington, D.C. and overseas.

When and Where: 12 p.m.; 95 Talbot Ave., Upstairs Conference Room Sponsor: Communications and Media Studies Program — compiled by Jei-Jei Tan

Students credit increased recruitment participation to procedural changes RECRUITMENT

continued from page 1

recruitment, and each gave out around 50 bids.

Director of Recr uitment for Tufts Panhellenic Council Alison Williams also credited the addition of Kappa Alpha Theta and the overall Tufts Panhellenic spirit for drawing more girls to the recruitment process.

“The relationship and friendships between the sororities have gotten better,” Williams, a senior, said. “It’s much healthier, and we worked hard to smoothly welcome Theta into Greek life.”

McGlone added that despite the addition of Kappa Alpha Theta, the guaranteed bid system is still in place.

“Girls who fully maximize their options and stay involved in the process will ultimately receive a bid, but not necessarily a bid to the organization of her choice,” McGlone said.

Morgen added, however, that if a Potential New Member (PNM) went through the process in previous years and dropped out, she is no longer guaranteed a bid.

“When a PNM previously had an opportunity to be in a sorority and turned the bid down, we see it as them no longer maximizing all of their options,” Morgen said.

Williams explained that there are other circumstances under which a bid is no longer guaranteed.

“If [girls] miss a party due to another commitment, [they] aren’t promised a bid,” Williams said. “We try not to hold it against them because it is a legitimate excuse, so they can still rank all parties they attend. If someone doesn’t feel like going to a party or if they are unhappy with their options, that doesn’t show well.

Courtesy of Nicholas Pfosi Photography

A record-high of 308 girls participated in this spring’s sorority recruitment process.

We encourage girls to have open minds and good attitudes.”

Although all the PNMs might not have been accepted into their favorite sorority, Morgen was pleased with this year’s turnout and process.

“We didn’t experience drama this year,” she said. “It’s been more relaxed, and — for the most part — girls have been happy with their choices.”

This year’s formal recruitment period was shorter than last year’s, according to Head Rho Gamma for Tufts Panhellenic Council, Alexandra Ho r ow i t c h .

She explained that Tufts Panhellenic Council changed the structure of recruitment week and removed a night of open parties.

“It’s now three days, and Bid Day is on Sunday,” Williams said. “I really believe this kept more people interested and in the system.”

Horowitch, a senior, said that the change likely resulted in fewer girls dropping out of the recruitment process. “ We’ve had a lot fewer girls drop this year, and I think that’s because in the past, PNMs were always intimidated by the length of recruitment,” Horowitch said. “This is a lot less overwhelming.”

According to McGlone, girls will now take part in the new member period after accepting their bids. She said the period will last up to eight weeks.

Alpha Omicron Pi President Hannah Arnow said she is excited for her sorority’s new members.

“The new member period is a time for our newest additions to learn about the sorority’s history and founders,” Arnow, a junior, said. “It’s a time of bonding, especially with big-little week.”

Features

3

tuftsdaily.com

Diversity Council final report demonstrates commitment to financial aid, inclusion by

Kendall Todd

Through its admission outreach, Tufts has worked to brand itself as a community diverse in more ways than one. Through its Council on Diversity, the Tufts administration has taken steps to ensure that the university’s reputation of commitment to diversity is a reality.

On Dec. 5, 2013, the Council on Diversity released its final report.

Formally launched in March 2012, the Council spent over a year researching both the compositional diversity of the university and the campus climate toward inclusion. The report found that a commitment to a “campus climate that fosters diversity” was a common theme across campuses and produced recommendations for how each one can improve.

Though the Council’s research relied heavily on numerical data, it also conducted campus surveys and discussion groups in order to determine student opinions regarding diversity at Tufts.

The Council organized three working groups that examined the university experience at the the undergraduate, graduate and administrative levels.

Dean of Multicultural Affairs and Global Health at the School of Medicine Dr. Joyce Sackey chaired the Graduate and Professional Student Experience Working Group and commented on the process.

“We combed through reams and reams ... of data,” Sackey said. “While Tufts is, in general, a welcoming place and actually has diversity as one of its expressed values in its mission statement, we could do a better job of increasing ... compositional diversity.”

While she emphasized the importance of compositional diversity in admissions practices, Sackey said that it is equally important to ensure that students feel supported by the university once they are here.

“It isn’t enough to just bring people here in numbers,” she said. “You need to create an environment where they all thrive — [where] each student, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, family of origin ... would feel supported, respected and ... like they could succeed here.”

Sackey noted that the university can learn from the Tufts LGBTQ community, which reported a high approval rate of their support structures in a survey.

“One group that appears to be feeling supported and ... satisfied [is] the students in the LGBTQ community,” she said. “That’s a group that we should study more in terms of what kinds of structures we have in place that make [LGBTQ students] feel supported and welcome when they come to Tufts.”

The Council is committed to increasing access to financial aid. In order to do so, the university established the Financial Aid Initiative in 2012 with the goal of raising $25 million in financial aid endowment — a goal that is to be matched by $25 million from unrestricted university funds. The initiative has already raised $22 million, according to a Dec. 5, 2013 TuftsNow article.

Another focus of the report is the addition of a Chief Diversity Officer, who will work under the Office of the Provost to oversee the implementation of the Council’s other proposals. Special Advisor to the Provost and Interim Dean of Tisch College Nancy Wilson is serving as head of the search committee for this new administrative position.

Wilson explained that the Chief Diversity Officer would be a part of the Council on Diversity and would be charged with creating a separate coordinating committee, which would deal with the “how-to” of implementing the recommendations outlined in the report.

Daily Editorial Board

Anne Wermiel / Tufts Daily Archives

Tufts Orientation programs seek to demonstrate that the university is a place of acceptance and inclusion.

“The diversity coordinating committee ... will really build a community of practice,” Wilson said. “It’s important to think of how [the Chief Diversity Officer] will actually get their job done.”

Wilson stated that she hopes the position can be filled before the end of this academic year. In order to do so, the university will hire a search firm to help refine the job description and narrow down the list of potential candidates.

“We’ve been interviewing several of those firms,” Wilson said. “They will work with us to finalize not only the job description — which is what this person will actually be doing — but also the position description, which is: ‘What’s the context for this? What are the expectations and why is the university doing this?’ Then, they will work with us to identify candidates.”

Adriana Zavala, an associate professor of art and art history, who chaired the Council on Diversity and headed the Undergraduate Student Experience Working Group, underscored the Council’s commitment to expanding financial aid. She noted that there is room for improvement.

“Increasing our financial aid budget and using funds to ensure that all students have equal access to the opportunities a Tufts education offers is an important challenge,” Zavala wrote in an email to the Daily. “[University President Anthony Monaco] has made significant progress in fundraising, but more work still needs to be done. I am inspired by how seriously President Monaco takes this issue [and by] what he has accomplished already in raising funds to increase the financial aid budget.”

Another financial issue that the report addressed is the barrier caused by application fees, especially to the graduate and professional schools. Sackey explained that application fees often bar potential graduate students from even considering Tufts as an option.

“In the big picture, it might not seem like $100 is a lot,” Sackey said. “But if you’re coming from an economically disadvantaged background, $100 here and $100 there can really add up. ... So you can imagine, if Tufts doesn’t waive its application fee, we [will] never see the application[s] from [those] particular student[s].”

“Tufts should at least have a mechanism in place to make us more friendly toward students coming from a lower economic status,” she added.

The report stated the Council’s belief that a “campus climate that fos-

ters diversity and inclusion is a collective responsibility of all members of the community.” To truly engage the entire community, a multidimensional approach is best, according to Zavala.

“An important challenge is how to engage all of our students in building a more inclusive and intersectional educational and co-curricular community,” she said. “Creating connections to curricular units and offering more courses that address these concerns — as well as attracting a broader cross-section of students to those courses — in the first year and beyond are also important next steps.”

Darien Headen, a junior who has served on the Undergraduate Experience Working Group for the Council on Diversity since his freshman year, shared Zavala’s sentiments that many of the report’s recommendations involve maintaining the availability of student resources and support systems. In particular, he pointed out the importance of keeping organizations like the Group of Six alive and strong.

“A lot of students do see [the Group of Six] as safe spaces, as safe havens, as places where [students] can be themselves around campus,” he said. “We need to be catering to students [and] making sure that we have systems and instructions in place so students can thrive — so all students can thrive, from any background.”

As the university moves forward with the information gained from the report, Tufts must make a strong effort to promote this inclusive and supportive environment, according to both Headen and Zavala.

“Tufts [has to] hold itself accountable for things on campus, especially involving diversity ... and to really selfreflect,” Headen explained.

“We have to work harder to engage all members of our community in these issues,” Zavala said. “Diversity is excellence.”

Sackey said she is proud that Tufts has produced this report and is confident that the university will remain dedicated to the cause.

“We were not engaged in an exercise in futility, where we [developed] a paper that would end up on a shelf somewhere and gather dust,” she said.

“In fact, what we were developing as a set of recommendations mattered to the university. ... There was a commitment at the very highest level to actually improve on Tufts’ diversity.”

Lex Erath | Sugar & Spice

Weathermen

I

magine walking down the streets of Boston one afternoon, minding your own business, and someone runs up to you and asks you to do the daily weather for the local news station. Maybe you’re holding an iced coffee, which you drop in surprise, or perhaps you pause mid-text and look up suspiciously, trying to spot the hidden cameras for the prank this guy is trying to pull on you. But this is no joke; their weatherman has just walked off the set after throwing a massive hissy fit and is refusing to go on.

You explain that you have absolutely no experience in meteorology, but the harried producer waves you off; you’re just as qualified as the last guy, he tells you.

So you shrug your shoulders and head upstairs to the studio, where you stand in front of a green screen, wave your hands around vaguely and speculate on the cold temperatures you expect Boston to see in the next few days of winter.

Sometimes I am convinced that this is how news stations choose their weathermen because, to me, there is no other explanation for how inconsistent their predictions are. To be fair, I’m sure that predicting the weather is not an easy task, even if you have years of training. It’s certainly not black-and-white, and I don’t blame the weathermen for not being able to tell me exactly how many inches of snow I should expect. I don’t mind their inability to predict precisely at what time of day the rain will begin. But what irritates me is that they pretend otherwise! Instead of admitting that the weather can be unpredictable, weathermen have developed all sorts of sneaky tricks to disguise their general cluelessness.

Trick No. 1: There is always, always, a chance of rain. You will never see zero percent on the forecast, because an ironclad promise like that generates the possibility of a prediction’s actually being wrong.

Even if there’s a seven percent chance of rain, they’re right. Or, on the flip side, if there’s a 90 percent chance of rain and the sky stays blue and cloudless: Hey, they never guaranteed rain!

Trick No. 2: Always give the widest range possible. For example, if there’s a snowstorm coming, tell viewers to expect between two and 14 inches of snow. That way, there is almost zero chance of your failing to predict the correct amount of accumulation! You sneaky devil, you.

Trick No. 3: When in doubt, go for the extreme. Have a warm front rolling in come mid-July that’ll slightly raise the humidity.

Make sure everyone knows exactly how unbearable the next four days will be and encourage viewers to flood the beaches.

Expecting a snowstorm? Inform your viewers of the recent spike in Yeti sightings and recommend making a trip to the supermarket to purchase emergency supplies in the case of a four-day snow-in. We humans are a decidedly pessimistic race and viewers will gladly eat up all the doom-and-gloom you’re dishing out. And if someone calls you out on predicting an apocalyptic hurricane that turned out to be a mild spring breeze, simply remind that Negative Nancy that it’s always better to overestimate — rather than underestimate — when it comes to natural disasters!

So, you see, there’s really nothing to being a weatherman. You’re all as qualified as I am — which is to say, not at all.

It’s best to just use your common sense. It will generally be hot in the summer, cold in the winter and somewhere in between the rest of the time. (Boston weathermen, you might want to write that down.)

And if you’re one of the few Jumbos who actually watch the news, keep your eyes peeled for yours truly.

Lex Erath is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at Alexandra.Erath@tufts.edu.

4

The Tufts Daily

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Monday, February 3, 2014

A Reading and Discussion with Author

Rachel Kushner Tuesday, February 4 at 4:30 pm Center for the Humanities Fung House– 48 Professors Row Reception to follow

Engineers: Apply for your Tufts Master’s Degree!

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FEBRUARY 14

Junior Jumbos! There’s still time to apply for the five-year combined degree BS/MS or BS/MEng programs.* Enhance your marketability for career advancement.

Get summer research funding (as an MS student).

Reduce your tuition cost.

Reduce your time to graduate with a master’s degree.

As a Tufts undergrad: • No GRE scores • No application fee • Only 2 recommendation letters required

Contact Associate Dean Karen Panetta at karen@ece.tufts.edu if you have any questions.

*GPA requirements calculated through fall semester junior year BS/MS: 3.60 minimum GPA; BS/MEng: 3.20 minimum GPA

http://go.tufts.edu/5year

Arts & Living

5

tuftsdaily.com

TV Review

Natalie Girshman | Love on screen

HBO’s ‘Girls’ grows up — kind of by

Love at first sight

George Esselstyn

Contributing Writer

“Girls” is back. As her comedy continues to follow the turbulent lives of four 20-something women in New

O

Girls Starring Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke

Airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO York, Lena Dunham — the show’s tour de force creator, writer and star — delivers a third season with as much raw and unrefined comedic flair — and heart — as ever.

Dunham plays Hannah Horvath — a college graduate with a liberal arts degree and a desire to write — who is striving to live without support from her parents. To pay the bills and pass the time, she works at a coffee shop in Brooklyn. Her former roommate and best friend, Marnie (Allison Williams), is recuperating from a painful breakup, longing to find purpose in her life. Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), an NYU student with a scarf collection and obsession with “Sex and the City” (1998-2004), is the group’s innocent anchor. Shoshanna’s cousin, Jessa ( Jemima Kirke), a free-spirited, drugaddicted British Bohemian, continuously finds herself shifting from place to place; we’ve seen her weather a failed marriage, a few odd jobs and — in season three — rehab.

The first two seasons enjoyed, and suffered from, a range of critical opinions. The show’s lack of diversity coupled with its self-entitled, privileged tone earned some negative reviews,

David Shankbone via Flickr Creative Commons

Lena Dunham, the creator and star of ‘Girls,’ delivers top-notch episodes in season three. while its unapologetic content and unlikely protagonist had others raving.

In season three, however, “Girls” appears ready to tackle some, if not most of its woes. The characters may

Restaurant Review

not be all that likable, but they are wonderfully messed up — which makes them real. The show catapults them see GIRLS, page 6

Album Review

Dum Dum Girls release nostalgic, infectious album

by Veronica

Little

Daily Editorial Board

Full of droning melodies, lackadaisical bass lines and shiny synth, Dum Dum Girls’ third full-length studio

Too True Dum Dum Girls Sub Pop

rating and was named Boston’s best Middle Eastern restaurant by Boston Magazine in 2012. Plus, getting a reservation requires thinking ahead — often, calling a week in advance won’t guarantee you’ll be able to get a table at the time you want. Fortunately, Oleana more than lives up to the hype — for anybody looking for a culinary adventure in Cambridge, Oleana is the place to go.

Tucked away near Inman Square, the restaurant is a 10 to 15 minute walk

release “Too True” is both fiercely nostalgic and outrageously lovable.

It’s hard to turn this album off, and for good reason: The tracks will undoubtedly remind listeners of the music their parents loved, but at the same time, they incorporate elements of more current music into the mix.

Basically, for modern-day hipsters — with their Canon AE-1 film camera, record player (because the sound is just ... better) and headband reminiscent of Woodstock — this album is perfection. However, you don’t have to be a hipster to appreciate the musical craftsmanship that went into the creation of “Too True.”

Dum Dum Girls — who received several accolades for their 2012 EP “End of Daze” — have made choices regarding their sonic identity that set them apart from the rest of the indiepop category. The vintage feel that permeates Dum Dum Girls’ entire discography may be a product of the

see OLEANA, page 6

see DUM DUM, page 6

Stephanie Rizzo via Flickr Creative Commons

Oleana’s spinach falafel is a delightful medley of textures and flavors.

Oleana impresses with varied, innovative menu by

Lancy Downs

Daily Editorial Board

Oleana is the kind of restaurant that could easily suffer from being overhyped. It boasts an impressive 28 Zagat

Oleana 13 Hampshire St, Cambridge, MA 02139

(617) 661-0505 $$$

ur second trope is one that starts off many classic love stories: love at first sight. Two strangers’ eyes meet across a crowded room, or on a train or city street, and their fate is sealed with one glance. It’s as beloved by the makers of Disney movies as it is maligned by legions of online commentators. In our current era of virtual connection — where it’s possible to discover Google and be disappointed in a new crush all in an hour — why does the idea of love at first sight linger on? And how can the dedicated scholar of love tropes best dissect it?

The most famous incarnation of love at first sight, and probably one of the main reasons it endures today, is “Romeo and Juliet.” Who doesn’t want to meet their soul mate by sharing a sonnet, having a romantic moonlit balcony rendezvous, getting married, having a lot of family members die and then committing double suicide because a friar wasn’t very good at planning? Well, maybe not the last part. Despite, or perhaps because of, its tragic end, “Romeo and Juliet” (1597) has become the classic love story. In the case of love at first sight, it could even be called the trope maker. Since then, hundreds of couples have locked eyes and fallen for one another, some of them even doing so with references to “Romeo and Juliet.” But the trope has probably been best expressed in the oeuvre of Disney. Cinderella and Prince Charming, Jasmine and Aladdin, Aurora and Prince Philip, Ariel and Prince Eric and practically every couple on “Once Upon a Time” (2011-present) — a TV show airing on ABC, which is owned by Disney — are prime examples of this trope.

Admittedly, love at first sight can be beyond frustrating as far as tropes go.

It can serve as a way of manufacturing chemistry between two characters — an instant connection replaces character development and frees the creator from having to bother with all the annoying details of how a relationship slowly develops. When one character needs to instantly trust another and flee the vampires, join the revolution or travel back in time with him or her, love at first sight can be an incredibly convenient plot device.

Most of all, though, love at first sight requires suspension of disbelief on a grand scale. Many of us don’t believe in love at first sight — I know I don’t. We’ve all experienced an instant attraction or an instant lust for someone, but instant love is a lot trickier. So often, our first impressions are mistaken; in fact, there’s an entire sub-genre of pop culture dedicated to disproving love at first sight (Disney’s “Frozen” (2013) and many of Jane Austen’s novels, to name a few).

Yet maybe the sheer impossibility of love at first sight is what keeps us believing in it. After all, we make wishes on falling stars, stop to pick up lucky pennies and flock to movies about men in tight spandex costumes who fight crime. Some people say that the media feeds us unrealistic ideas of love — and sometimes they do — but I think that with this trope, they offer up a promise that we all cherish. I believe that many of us hope that the fantasy we love will reflect itself in the life we lead.

And maybe one day our wishes will come true: we will meet a stranger’s eyes and feel an undeniable spark. And maybe they won’t. But maybe it’s worth watching all those imaginary couples because they allow us to hope for the kernel of truth hidden at the heart of each trope.

Natalie Girshman is a sophomore majoring in history and drama. She can be reached at Natalie.Girshman@tufts.edu.

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Arts & Living

Monday, February 3, 2014

Oleana provides customers with exceptional culinary experience OLEANA

continued from page 5

from the Central or Kendall T stops — so for those without cars, getting there does require a certain level of commitment. It’s certainly worth the effort, however; with its varied, distinctive menu and collection of mouthwatering desserts, Oleana provides customers with an exceptional dining experience.

Options for dinner are broken down into several categories: meze, fish, meat and sides. The best way to truly enjoy Oleana is to order several meze — appetizer-size dishes — for the table.

The options for meze are much more extensive and innovative than the other alternatives — and sampling several of these smaller plates allows patrons to fully experience the breadth of Oleana’s menu. (The restaurant’s staff recommends ordering two or three dishes per person.)

The spinach falafel, which

comes with tahini sauce, beet yogurt and cress, is an absolute must-have. The food is placed delicately on a thin piece of bread that patrons are encouraged to wrap around the falafel so that it can be eaten like a sandwich. It’s a remarkably savory combination — and for an extra kick of flavor, be sure to also eat the small pickle included on the plate. The result is slightly messy but entirely satisfying.

Other stellar options include the fried mussels and the muhlama, a Turkish-style cheese fondue. Beware of the fried hot peppers that accompany the mussels — accidentally biting into one can make for an unpleasant surprise — though, fortunately for those who shy away from spice, the Turkish tarator sauce can help reduce the heat. The muhlama, meanwhile, is a delightfully different version of the cheese fondue Americans may be used to eat-

ing. Garnished with vegetables, including a handful of flavorful Brussels sprouts, the cheese is filling but not overwhelming. Diners can choose to dip in bread or simply dig in with forks — either way, it is the kind of plate that gets scraped clean.

Dessert at Oleana is also not to be missed. The options are wonderfully diverse and equally appealing, which makes choosing one quite challenging. If indecision strikes, order the frozen olive oil soufflé with dark chocolate créux. The frozen soufflé is somewhat of a revelation. Indeed, this dessert, which boasts an exemplary combination of flavors and textures, as well as an unexpected presentation, is unlike any other.

Part of the fun of Oleana is being surprised by food itself.

This is the kind of restaurant where you never know how the dish you ordered will look when it comes out. For those unfamiliar

with Middle Eastern and Turkish fare, everything from the chickpea terrine to the lamb manti seems to defy expectations. The restaurant pleasantly catches its diners off guard — each meze is an utter surprise. The constant astonishment makes for an exciting and entertaining experience — especially for new customers encountering this innovative menu for the first time.

This being said, Oleana is not for diners who like to play it safe.

You will find no Caesar salads or cheeseburgers on the menu; in fact, there is no traditional American food to speak of. This is refreshing for those looking for a culinary change-of-pace, but if you are seeking a restaurant where chicken fingers or mac and cheese grace the menu, Oleana is not the place for you.

Oleana is also the rare restaurant that manages to prevent any chilly winter air from finding its way into the dining area.

Its warm décor creates a cozy, welcoming feel, and the staff is exceptionally friendly and helpful. The tapas-style dining makes for excellent conversation, but the noise-level remains a cheerful hum of chatter in the background — considering how full the room usually is, it is surprisingly easy to converse with everyone at the table.

Off the beaten path and a little pricey, Oleana might not be ideal for a college student on a budget; however for those interested in getting away from Davis Square it is a solid option. The food doesn’t disappoint — and it’s well worth the trip, especially if you can get mom and dad to pay next time they stop by for a visit.

Oleana is open for dinner Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. For any questions or to make reservations, call (617)-661-0505.

Unapologetic humor continues in new season of ‘Girls’ GIRLS

continued from page 5

into new situations, and new struggles.

The first episode of the new season opens with Hannah and her boyfriend, Adam (Adam Driver), asleep in bed. Any loyal watcher can see this as the first hint that “Girls” is taking big steps towards growing up. The unpredictable, slightly abusive and discomforting foundation of their relationship has matured into a healthy partnership.

As the episodes roll on, the four friends develop as characters as they confront their problems. As Hannah turns 25, she dons her “Birthday Bitch” hat and watches as unexpected events overrun her birthday party. David (John Cameron Mitchell), Hannah’s flamboyant eBook editor, shows up uninvited and starts a bar fight. In typical “Girls” fashion, chaos ensues, including a dancer who bites and a failed karaoke duet.

Hannah — who behaves obsequiously towards David in hopes of being published — discovers in the next episode that he is dead, found face down in the bank of the Hudson River. Her first reaction is to question to the future of her eBook.

What follows is one of the most triumphant episodes of the season to date.

As Hannah confides in her friends about

David’s death, we see an array of answers.

Some criticize Hannah for her selfish reaction, while others sympathize with her loss. Regarding death, Jessa responds, “It’s something that happens. It’s like jury duty or, you know, floods. They happen.” Ray (Alex Karpovsky), Hannah’s coffee shop employer, has a more critical approach to Hannah’s reaction to death: “Why don’t you place just one crumb of basic human compassion on this fat-free muffin of sociopathic detachment?”

As Hannah cartwheels through graveyards and tells stories of fake deaths, she grapples with loss in her own way.

Whether or not it’s the best method is an ever-present question in her life as she moves further into adulthood.

Her friends do the same. In episode five, Jessa announces she is going to apply for a job at a children’s clothing store — a declaration that Shoshanna, citing her cousin’s criminal record, loudly protests. Elsewhere, Marnie adopts a kitten and Hannah meets with a new editor hoping to resuscitate her ebook.

So, for now, the unapologetic “Girls” is growing up. The show is self-aware — and for that we can be grateful. Now we’re allowed to laugh at the blatantly entitled, selfish characters as they witness life and its unpredictable moments.

Wally Gobetz via Flickr Creative Commons

HBO’s ‘Girls’ has received mixed reviews for past seasons.

‘Too True’ is latest attempt to bring past to present DUM DUM

continued from page 5

member’s origins in Los Angeles — a city consumed by the former glories of the golden age of Hollywood and haunted by the free-love movement of the ’60s: Dum Dum Girls were born in the cradle of wistfulness. Lead singer Dee Dee Penny seems to channel everyone from Stevie Nicks and Pat Benetar to Billy Idol and Iggy Pop on “Too True.”

Penny and the girls sound completely overcome by the past — and in this latest attempt, they pay homage to their roots, while also reinventing the genre in which they’re working.

It’s not that Dum Dum Girls is a cover band of sorts, stealing styles and refashioning them as relevant and hip. What Dum Dum Girls has done is far beyond imitation; the band has taken long-forgotten sounds and opened up the world of music for Millennials. In a music scene dominated by pop from artists like Katy Perry and Justin Bieber, Dum Dum Girls sounds bizarre and strange to many ears. Indeed, in their quest to rejuvenate some idealistic musical past, Dum Dum Girls is not alone.

Bands like HAIM and Best Coast — both proudly from

Courtesy Earlier.at via Flickr Creative Commons

Lead singer Dee Dee Penny brings back past sounds while creating new ones on Dum Dum Girls’ latest album, ‘Too True.’

California — have made serious waves in today’s music scene with their nostalgic tunes that transcend tastes. These musicians, channeling the postdisco pre-punk era of music,

owe their existence to bands like Fleetwood Mac and acts like Patti Smith. However, what allows groups like Dum Dum Girls to flourish — in what could be considered a hostile time

for American rock-pop — is the musical innovation and attention to detail that surrounds their journey to the past. Dum Dum Girls manages to borrow and extract the best parts of

this era and combines modern licks, riffs and techniques into the mix. Although they may owe their existence to the past, Dum Dum Girls is indubitably a band of the present and future.

The album is peppered with notable tracks and exceptional lyrics. On “Are You Okay?”

Penny croons to a infectious and romantic melody: “Sometimes my heart is pure / sometimes I know it’s not / sometimes it disappears / returns a lot.”

One of the best songs on the album is “Lost Boy and Girls Club.” The song sounds menacing and seductive, drawing the listener straight into the past with attention-catching synth, strong and guiding bass and hypnotic percussion. It is easy to sit and listen to the track over and over again, enjoying a different aspect of it each and every time.

Ultimately, Dum Dum Girls have forged a niche for themselves in the current music scene, one that will be fruitful as long as people crave nostalgia. “Too True” is easy to love and difficult to replicate. The past is coming back in spectacular fashion; this newest album makes it clear that you better get on the bandwagon before you’re left in the dust.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Tufts Daily

Arts & Living

The 2014 EPIIC Film Series on The Middle East and North Africa presents

An unlikely trio, an unshakeable friendship and family boundaries that prove deadly to breach.

A feature film about an unusual trio: DANIEL, a German photo-journalist in Istanbul without much knowledge about Middle Eastern values. CAN, a flamboyant, out and proud male belly dancer with lots of love and support from his family, and AHMET born to an eastern and conservative family whose quest for honesty and liberty results in a tragic end.

ZENNE Dancer was inspired by the true story of Ahmet YILDIZ, who was murdered for being gay at the age 26 by his own father in 2008.

Tonight, February 3, Barnum 008, 7:30pm with an introduction and discussion by

Sa’ed Adel Atshan Sa’ed Atshan has been a Lecturer in Peace and Justice Studies for more than five years at Tufts University and he has earned four “distinction in teaching” and several advising and mentoring prizes from Harvard. He has been awarded multiple graduate fellowships, including from the National Science Foundation, Social Science Research Council, Woodrow Wilson National Foundation, Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. He is the recipient of a Soros Fellowship for New Americans and a Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace. He has worked for the American Civil Liberties Union, the UN High Commission on Refugees, Human Rights Watch, Seeds of Peace, the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department, and the Government of Dubai. Atshan is also a member of Al-Qaws, an organization promoting LGBTQ rights for Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Territories. He is a postdoctoral fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.

For more information: tuftsgloballeadership.org or x73314

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THE TUFTS DAILY

Editorial

Editorial J.L. Hoagland Stephanie Haven Managing Editors Justin Rheingold Executive News Editor Daniel Bottino News Editors Jenna Buckle Abigail Feldman Daniel Gottfried Alexa Horwitz Victoria Leistman Annabelle Roberts Denali Tietjen Josh Weiner Sarah Zheng Meredith Braunstein Assistant News Editors Dana Guth Kathleen Schmidt Jei-Jei Tan Charlotte Gilliland Executive Features Editor Emma Arnesty-Good Features Editors Emily Bartlett Hannah Fingerhut Caitlin McClure Sabrina McMillin Jessica Mow Shannon Vavra Maya Blackstone Assistant Features Editors Sophie Laing Jake Taber Kendall Todd Lancy Downs Executive Arts Editor Brendan Donohue Arts Editors Veronica Little Dan O’Leary Drew Robertson Dana Guth Assistant Arts Editors Nika Korchok Wakulich Anthony Martinez Jake Indurksky Executive Sports Editor Alex Baudoin Sports Editors Alex Connors Ross Dember Sam Gold Zachey Kliger Kate Klots Aaron Leibowitz Tyler Maher David McIntyre Jason Schneiderman Alex Schroeder Alison Kuah Assistant Sports Editors Jorge Monroy-Palacio Maclyn Senear Chris Warren Nicholas Golden Executive Op-Ed Editor Tom Chalmers Op-Ed Editors Matthew Crane Scott Geldzahler Susan Kaufman Benjamin Boventer Cartoonists Amy Bu Keran Chen Jehan Madhani Kyle Allen Editorialists Jorge Monroy-Palacio Jonathan Moore Bailey Werner Caroline Geiling Executive Photo Editor Sofia Adams Photo Editors Ethan Chan Matt Schreiber Christie Wu Maya Blackstone Assistant Photo Editors Annie Levine Nick Pfosi Staff Photographers Kyra Sturgill Mitchell Katz Rachel Sheldon Alexander Kaufman Jake Hellman Aastha Chadha Ethan Chan Jade Chan Kristie Le Tanay Modi Blair Nodelman Joshua Podolsky Grace Segers

The Council on Diversity released its final report on Dec. 5, 2013, providing an opportunity to evaluate how well Tufts, an institution that predicates its excellence on its commitment to diversity, has met its goals. While doing so, we must not be distracted by data that illustrates diversity at a statistical level, but instead consider whether Tufts is taking adequate action to ensure that diversity is both present and promoted on campus.

Encouraging cultural, racial and economic diversity within the application pool and matriculating class is, arguably, half the battle to uphold the university’s commitment to promoting education among students from all walks of life. However, the university has a responsibility not only to

bring students of minority communities here, but also to ensure that they have a positive experience on campus.

Institutions like the Group of Six are essential in providing safe spaces for students in these communities. The LGBTQ community, for example, was featured in the Council on Diversity’s report as being praised by student members for offering support.

While support for the Group of Six — both social by the students and financial by the university — is absolutely essential, we cannot view it as an be-allend-all solution to the issue of diversity within the institution. We should consider the implications of having only six groups as the go-to spaces for minority communities on campus. If our groups are limited and delineated in such a

way that our communities still end up leaving people out, can the university ever truly become as “diverse” as it would like to be?

Safe spaces and centers for support for these groups are indispensable to the undergraduate population, but cultural diversity is currently limited, if not extrapolated, to the culture of the entire school. In order for minority students to thrive and have four years of truly positive experiences on campus, the university must focus on facilitating communication among the groups, the communities they represent and the university as a whole. Real diversity is more than just a broad spectrum of numbers and data; it is shared experiences, shared perspectives and, ultimately, shared understandings.

Jehan Madhani

Executive Multimedia Editors Senior Multimedia Editor Multimedia Editors Assistant New Media Editor

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Monday, February 3, 2014

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Off the Hill | University of Southern California

Law must address recent school shootings by

Athanasius Georgy The Daily Trojan

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Last month, a student at Purdue University opened fire on campus, fatally wounding a fellow student, according to The New York Times. A mere three days later, a man was charged with shooting a student at South Carolina State University. Despite the frequency of these tragic events, however, the discussion surrounding them is much of the same. Rather than brush off these shootings as common occurrences, society must address the lack of safeguards to prevent these atrocities.

For the past several years, gun control has been a contentious issue. Recent shootings in Aurora, Colo.; Newtown, Conn.; Purdue University and now South Carolina State University have shown how the gun control discussion has reached a stasis and that debate must shift from one of abstract ideology to one of substantial change. Gridlock on both sides of the argument has stagnated necessary and rational change.

A common platitude among gun owners is that “Uncle Sam” wants to take guns away.

Rallying cries of the Second Amendment and Big Brother clamping down on civil liberties have been digressions in the discourse of gun control. The idea that implementing stricter background checks and eliminating loopholes will lead to the end of guns as we

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

know it is a slippery slope. There is no call to eliminate guns altogether, but rather there are calls to institute logical restrictions and protocols that give citizens the right to bear arms while also protecting the population as a whole.

Some assert that restricting gun ownership takes aim at the wrong cause, arguing that “guns do not kill people — people kill people.” This is true. Yet, by the same token, cars do not kill people — drunk drivers do, and that is why we have safety measures in place that limit blood alcohol content levels, enforce a drinking age and raise penalties for breaking such laws. The public fully supports such measures because of a shared understanding that these deaths at the hands of drunk drivers can be preventable. Since 1973, drunk driving and related deaths have dropped by two-thirds.

If responsible regulations helped prevent deaths on the road, then there is no reason they cannot apply to gun control.

Universities must take steps in order to prevent such atrocities. After the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, most campuses across the country adopted alert systems to notify students and faculty of emergencies. Purdue has put such a safeguard in place and should be applauded for its swift reaction to the event — but that alone won’t solve the problem.

Rather, universal preventative legislation must be put in place for all universities.

If the 11,419 gun-related deaths last year are not enough of a compelling argument to enact change, then consider the shooting at Purdue. A shooting at a large research university really hits home. If such a tragedy could occur on a college campus such as Purdue, what’s to say it couldn’t strike other campuses?

Restrictions on the sale of ammunition can help prevent frequent shootings.

An assault rifles ban would eliminate any and all assault rifles. Why would someone need a weapon that can cause an absurd amount of damage and harm? More frequent and strict background checks can help prevent putting guns in the wrong hands. Loopholes at gun shows and having rifles available online at shooting ranges are among a series of steps that can be taken that will over time help stem the damages of gun violence. As people at Purdue tragically learned, a lack of basic mechanisms that prevent the presence of guns in locations such as a college campus can result in unnecessary death.

The consequences to public safety caused by guns should not be taken lightly. The Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms for a well-regulated militia.

Citizens have the right to own guns, but commonsense measures need to be in place that will help prevent death and mass carnage.

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Op-Ed Kevin Criscione | Ill Literates

#litdecline

S

Responding to the State of the Union Taylor J. Barnard

During Tuesday’s State of the Union address, I was proud to hear our president talk about the issues that matter to Americans, especially those that impact us as students. From the skyrocketing cost of college to the importance of raising the minimum wage, the vision the president laid out last week is distinctly American — infused with the optimism and pragmatism that has always kept our nation moving forward. President Obama’s continued, unwavering commitment to women’s rights, LGBT rights and middle-class priorities stand in stark contrast to the antiquated vision of America offered by congressional Republicans and Tea Party sympathizers. The president’s commitment to students is one of the most striking examples of this difference.

As a student attending Tufts on full financial aid and working two jobs to put myself through college, I understand the importance of protecting student interests. When Republicans in Congress toy with higher education, I can’t help but think that they don’t actually have students in mind. Republicans would much rather keep tax breaks for the wealthy by

than work across the aisle to address the significant challenges faced by young Americans. Time and time again they’ve shown their unwillingness to stand up for students. In 2014, we need to hold them accountable and give President Obama a Congress he can work with.

By making the issues so important to our generation a priority, President Obama has committed to leading our nation to a bright future. We know that the cost of college is unacceptably high and it isn’t going to go down overnight. But this president has put college affordability front-and-center, from creating a College Scorecard to helping inform students about financial aid opportunities to keeping student loan rates low.

When Republicans in Congress were ready to abandon us by doubling interest rates, President Obama stood up for us and saved money for students across the country.

Notably, the president also said that Congress needs to step up to boost our economy and help the American people.

By heeding the president’s call and raising the minimum wage, Congress would affirm that it is unacceptable for a person to work full time and still live below the poverty line.

Raising the minimum wage is especially important to young people, many of whom

mct

(myself included) rely on hourly jobs to help pay for their educations. Along these same lines, Congress should immediately renew emergency unemployment insurance. In Massachusetts, people have already lost these vital benefits. Without unemployment insurance, people may struggle to put food on the table for their families and lack resources like gas money to effectively search for jobs. Obstructionist Republicans are blocking these bills in Congress, and we should stand up to them — now is not the time to play political games while hurting our economy.

Throughout his presidency, President Obama has fought to expand opportunity for all Americans — especially young people. As a College Democrat, I’m fired up to continue to stand with President Obama in this fight. It’s our responsibility to hold Congress and Washington accountable to ensure that our futures are as bright as they can be.

Taylor J. Barnard is a senior majoring in philosophy and political science. He is the National President of College Democrats of America. He can be reached at Taylor.

Barnard_Hawkins@tufts.edu.

Off the Hill | University of Virginia

Dismount the high horse

by John

Connolly

The friends I have made at the University of Virginia run the gamut of high school education. I have friends who attended boarding school, friends who attended private day schools, friends who attended charter schools and friends who attended public schools. And while they are all very bright, their educational experiences differ in several notable ways.

An important component of quality education is the ability to converse well ­— a cocktail party skill. And in this respect — and I am using extreme generalizations here, where there are, of course, exceptions — my private school friends typically outstrip my public school friends. Their familiarity with upper-class social norms and polite, simple conversation is remarkable. They are schmoozers in the best sense of the word, masters of the five-minute conversation.

They make brilliant first impressions.

In contrast, my friends from public high schools largely do not possess the same social polish nor the occasionally stunning confidence that many of my private school friends display. They may not have traveled as widely as my private school friends, may not have the same cultural literacy and may even possess an inferior academic education.

But in many respects, I would argue that public education — particularly a public school of socioeconomic and racial diversity — offers an educational experiThe Cavalier Daily

ence that provides what private schools frequently lack.

I make this argument for numerous reasons. Chief among them is that while private school graduates might possess skills more conducive to business dinners and comparable social occasions (and again, not to belabor the point, but these are extreme generalizations), the public school graduate often possesses the skills to interact with a greater variety of people.

This, I think, is important. Whatever your political inclinations, it is disheartening to watch an American politician and think, “This guy is completely out of touch with what’s going on.” Think former President George H.W. Bush walking into a grocery store and being mesmerized by an electronic scanner — a device that had already been in grocery stores for at least 10 years.

Think of John Kerry in 2004, struggling to convey an “everyday guy” image in contrast to his hundred million dollar fortune and privileged upbringing.

At a time in American life where income inequality is at the forefront of the political agenda, and where debate over the War on Poverty — entering its 50th year in 2014 — dominates the news, those making the policies that impact underprivileged Americans should have some conception of the problems they are facing. Whatever you may think of New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, it is easy to admire his willingness to live in a Newark housing project. Not only did this bring him closer to voters,

but it also brought him face-to-face with the very issues they were facing — a rarity among politicians.

And the logic does not apply only to politicians. Business executives with some conception of “how the other half lives” might adopt different policies toward their employees. Teachers and professors at prestigious institutions who have experience dealing with impoverished peoples might be more willing to expose their pupils to these issues.

I have met many students at this university whom I know will reach great achievements in politics, in business and in other fields. But I worry that those who have no conception of poverty, no conception of what it means to live paycheck-to-paycheck and no conception of the struggles of the lower class and some of the middle class in America will initiate policies that will reflect their isolation from these problems.

That being said, I know that many of my friends who attended private school have had experiences volunteering and working in less privileged areas, and as I said before, some of my points in this column are largely generalizations. But I would certainly stand by the statement that exposure to different types of people is a necessary component of a complete education, particularly for those who, one day, will be leaders in our country. Private school, for all its benefits, might not offer this particular educational experience. Public school, for all its drawbacks, generally does.

ome quick Google searches (the source of all momentous research) about the decline of pleasure reading reveal some doomsday-like headlines: “The Decline of the American Book Lover,” “America Closes the Book on Recreational Reading,” etc. According to a recent study by the National Endowment for the Arts, these claims are at least partially substantiated by statistical evidence.

To quote a 2007 NPR report on the study, “On average, Americans spend two hours a day watching television and seven minutes reading.” Ouch.

The debate about the decline of literary culture in America is complex, and I don’t want to make any bold claims specifically about where the literary world is headed or should be headed. What I can provide for you are several thoughts that occurred to me while investigating the subject that I don’t feel are frequently voiced.

Point 1: There is no doubt these trends will be a serious issue in the 21st century, meriting a revitalization of literary enthusiasm and culture, especially among young children and adolescents. Somehow, I’m still optimistic. Though our collective attention may shift to newer and flashier media as time rolls on, I’m skeptical that our deep reverence for the written word will ever die.

Literature — both fictional and not — offers something more straightforward, honest and oftentimes more emotionally intricate than film or television (which often have to deal with the odd mechanics of big-budget production and cannot come from as personal a place) and other forms of storytelling can offer.

Point 2: I find that conversations about the alleged decline of literariness in our culture focus exclusively on the educated elite and ignore the underprivileged in our nation and the world who have throughout history struggled with issues of education and illiteracy. Resolving issues of basic literary education requires a fundamentally different discourse (one that I find far more urgent) than the one that is presently going on about how today’s college grads aren’t reading as many books.

Point 3: It seems to me that the broader problem in our society is not so much a deficiency of reading, but a deficiency of mindfulness. Although I would like pleasure reading to surge to the forefront of popular culture, I definitely don’t think that reading fiction is the only way to productively spend free time. Watching a film intently without distractions, listening to an entire album in one sitting, siphoning off enough time in a day to engage in a creative activity that you’ve never tried before or even just going on a phone-free walk in the woods — there are infinite ways to break out of our sensory-overloaded bubbles and improve our understanding of ourselves and the world. It’s not only reading, it’s anything that can take us away from ourselves for a few hours and show us something new about the world or ourselves. This process, less quantifiable than hours spent reading for pleasure, is what I fear may be on the decline in American culture. Damn Twitter.

Last point: Personally, I feel that our collective relationship with reading is constantly evolving and many functions that literature once performed have now been replaced by film and television and the Internet. Nevertheless, literature is an essential force in our society is here to stay.

Book of the Week: “How to be Alone” by Jonathan Franzen, a key influence on my thoughts about reading and mindfulness.

Franzen may be pretentious at times, but his collection of essays about American life and literature contains undeniably astute observations about the fate of literature, freedom and the individual in modern times.

Next: Is it worth it/no different/lame to use a Kindle or e-reader?

Kevin Criscione is a junior majoring in English. He can be reached at kevin. criscione@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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Monday, February 3, 2014

Doonesbury

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Wiley

Married to the Sea

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Monday, February 3, 2014

Monday, February 3, 2014

The Tufts Daily

Sports

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The Tufts Daily

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Monday, February 3, 2014

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Jordan Bean | Sacked

They owe us nothing

W

Nick Pfosi / The Tufts Daily

Junior co-captain Zachary Schweitzer was one of only two Tufts’ players to win a match this past weekend.

Jumbos go winless against difficult NESCAC competition MEN’S SQUASH

continued from page 16

able playing again, it became a lot easier for me to control the game and take it from there,” Advani said. “It was a very good match and I am glad that I was able to pull through.”

Schweitzer won a grueling four game match, after decisively winning the first game, losing the second 11-6 and taking the match 11-3, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9.

“I was pretty beat, but all of the intense fitness sessions I did whilst abroad last semester really came in handy when my back was against the wall,” Schweitzer said. “Ten or 15 more errors and the match could’ve gone either way, to be honest.”

In the first round of the NESCAC Championship on Friday, Tufts drew Bowdoin, a school they had competed

against in late November. Bowdoin, ranked 21st nationally and seeded sixth at the tournament, was too strong of a first round opponent.

“Bowdoin is a very strong team, the winters in Maine really toughen up those kids, and it really showed out there on the court,” Schweitzer said.

Though Bowdoin lived up to expectations, freshman Josh Lee forced the closest match of the day as he won 31 points across four games, but ended up falling 11-3, 10-12, 11-8, 11-8.

After their 9-0 loss to Bowdoin in November, Tufts had believed they could pull out a few wins this time around — but Bowdoin proved to be too talented.

“Bowdoin is a great team,” Advani said. “Honestly, I went into the match thinking that Zach [Schweitzer] and I

Jumbos strive for consistent intensity in remaining games MEN’S BASKETBALL continued from page 16

points and five blocks, while Ferris scored 19 points on the day. Cohen finished with six assists, six rebounds and four steals for the Jumbos. Tufts was plagued by poor 3-point shooting throughout the contest, hitting just six out of the 27 attempted shots from outside the arc.

The night before, however, in nearby New London, Conn., the Jumbos were able to pick up their second-straight conference victory over the Camels, 66-51.

Tufts came out with a completely different demeanor, playing steadfast defense to set the pace for a strong performance.

“On Friday I think we brought a lot of defensive energy. It all started from there and our offense sort of followed,” said Firempong, who scored six and had five assists in the victory. “A great offensive team such as Conn., we came out and I think we were able to hold them to 20 points under their average on the year. We brought a lot of energy defensively and our offense was able to get in transition.

We were able to get some easy buckets early on.”

The Jumbos were able to keep the Camels scoreless until the 16:30 mark of the first half, forcing two turnovers in the process. The Camels did not reach double digits until over 10 minutes into the game, by which point the Jumbos had built an eight-point lead.

Conn. College, however, would go on a 12-7 run to shrink the lead to just five at the 4:10 mark after senior guard

Mark Vadas hit a pair of free throws. Six points from Cohen in the last three minutes of the half, along with a 3-pointer from senior forward Tommy Folliard and a pair of free throws from sophomore guard Stephen Haladyna, put Tufts up by nine going into the break.

From that point on it was all Tufts, as the visitors stretched the lead to as much as 24 points on two separate occasions in the second half. Sabety once again led the way for the Jumbos in scoring, finishing with 18 points, while Haladyna and Cohen added 14 and 10 points, respectively. Tufts also continued their strong defensive performance on the other end of the court, as Conn. College shot just 20 percent from the field in the second half.

Next up for the Jumbos will be a matchup in Cousens Gymnasium against the visiting UMass Dartmouth Corsairs on Tuesday night. With just five regular season games remaining, and a spot in the NESCAC Championship tournament at stake, the Jumbos must be playing with more passion in order to secure a spot in the postseason.

“It’s about coming out every game and treating every game the same regardless of the team we’re playing and regardless of whether we’re on a winning streak or not,” Cohen said. “Nothing should change in terms of our energy and how hard we play every game. For the next couple games we need to make sure we bring that high level of energy because that’s when we’re at our best.”

could pull off the wins in our matches but their team has improved tremendously. They played some great squash and we were just not able to play at the same level that they were playing at.”

Next up for the men’s squash team are matches against two other local rivals, MIT and Northeastern. In late November when multiple Tufts players were studying abroad, Tufts lost to both MIT and Northeastern 6-3.

“Now we have players that weren’t here in the fall we hope to do better,” Kardon said. “Historically we have had close matches with MIT, but it was the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve lost to them. We are going to rest up and are going to try to get mentally prepared for these matches.”

Late game runs seal wins for Jumbos WOMEN’S BASKETBALL continued from page 16

remaining, and they would never look back.

Tufts forced some timely turnovers in the final stretch and made their free throws to secure a hard-fought 56-49 road win. They finished the game on a 32-13 run.

“These games showed a lot about our character,” Kanner said. “Wesleyan and Conn. were two great teams that were not going to back down. It shows how we’re going to react when we’re not up by 20, and we need to pull out a close game. It shows a lot about this team and our resilience.”

One of the advantages the Jumbos have that allows them to stay in games like these is their well-rounded team.

“It’s awesome to play on this type of team because there’s no pressure on any one player to carry the whole team,” Kanner said. “It’s tough for opponents to narrow in on one player because everyone is capable of putting up big numbers. It’s just a question of who’s feeling it on any given night.”

Tufts will travel to Rhode Island College on Tuesday before returning to NESCAC action this weekend when they take on Hamilton and Williams on the road.

“We have a lot of goals, but the only thing we’re thinking about right now is the shortterm,” Kanner said. “We’re trying to put in great practices, keep getting better and not take any steps back. We have a tough game against Rhode Island this week, and that is our focus.”

e love our athletes, but they don’t have to love us back. We want them to care about the games as much as we do, but they don’t have to.

We’re under the assumption that the game is as life or death for the athletes as it is for many fans worldwide, but it is not.

The game is a job for which they get paid, and often that’s the end of it.

Fans get frustrated and disappointed when they confront the reality of the situation. Reporters and news anchors created a controversy this past week when Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch made the conscious choice to participate to the minimum during media week.

I’ve heard it argued that he’s an embarrassment to the sport or that it’s his job as a player to speak to the media. His job is, at its core, to take a football and run it as hard and long as he can until he’s tackled.

By obligation from the league to avoid a fine, he showed up to the event. It’s clear that he doesn’t feel comfortable speaking to large crowds, so who are we to make him do it and judge him when he chooses to avoid it?

I’d like to see all his critics do his job for a living. They are paid to be in front of a camera, behind a radio microphone, or displayed in the local newspaper. It’s comfortable for them to talk to an audience.

I’m sure that they would be much less comfortable lining up behind the quarterback staring a 300 pound lineman in the face, yet they have no problem calling someone else out.

Another event to cause a stir locally was the return of the Brooklyn Nets to TD Garden for the first time since Pierce and Garnett’s departures. However, some comments were made not only about them but also about how Ray Allen could’ve received the same treatment as them had he not chosen to go to “rival” Miami.

Allen was not a lifelong Celtic. He had no draws to the city outside of his short stint there. He bounced around from the Bucks to the Supersonics, then to Boston before now settling in Miami. He didn’t owe it to the fans or anyone else to resign.

How quickly fans forget the situation that the Celtics themselves put Allen into.

They signed a player who had many of the same strengths he did and would consume minutes available for Allen. He saw an opportunity to play on a clearly superior team, be a key role player and be with a team where he was respected and wanted, so he took it.

Imagine a scenario where you work for Company X. Company X hires a younger, smarter employee to do 90 percent of the work you do. You would likely feel distanced and unwanted. If Company Y swooped in offering a position with slightly less money but a more successful company, brighter future and working with the individual who is currently the best in their craft, you would be hard pressed to find someone that would blame you for leaving.

Athletes live a life that we will never understand. While we can only dream of what it would like to be playing in front of 80,000 people fervently cheering our name; to them it is their job. They don’t owe it to us to stay in a city they were (through no choice of their own) drafted into, nor do they have to pretend that it’s anything more than a job to them if it’s not. It’s time to let the feeling go that they’re indebted to us, because they’re not, but until next time to these fans — you’re sacked!

Jordan Bean is a sophomore majoring in economics. He can be reached at Jordan.

Bean@tufts.edu.

Sports

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tuftsdaily.com

Women’s Basketball

Tufts stays perfect with road victories over Wesleyan and Conn. College by

Zachey Kliger

Daily Editorial Board

The fourth-ranked women’s basketball team withstood two tough road tests over the weekend against NESCAC foes Connecticut

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL (18-0 Overall, 6-0 NESCAC) at Middletown, Conn., Saturday Tufts Wesleyan

30 27

32 26

— —

62 53

at New London, Conn., Friday Tufts 20 Conn. College 21

36 28

— —

56 49

College and Wesleyan University to improve to 18-0 on the year.

The Jumbos have made a habit this year of putting teams away early in games. Entering this weekend’s action, 12 of their 16 wins had come by at least 15 points. Outside of a gritty seven-point win against Amherst at home on Jan. 17, they had yet to face many opponents that could pose a legitimate threat to their perfect season.

Saturday’s game seemed no different as the Jumbos traveled to Wesleyan to take on the 12-6 Cardinals. The Jumbos came out of the gate on fire, scoring the game’s first 10 points.

The Cardinals responded with an 8-0 run of their own in just over one minute to cut the deficit to two points. The teams played it close the rest of the way, and Tufts entered the break with a slim 30-27 edge.

Just as they had done to start the game,

Tufts opened the second half on a run, scoring the first six points to extend the lead to 36-27. The lead ballooned to 13 with 10:25 to go, but the pesky Cardinals orchestrated yet another run to pull within five points at 56-51 and put the Jumbos on their heels. After the teams traded empty possessions, senior guard Liz Moynihan hit a huge 3-pointer to put the Jumbos back up by eight. With just over a minute left, Moynihan’s shot proved to be the dagger, as Tufts held on for a 62-53 win.

Junior guard Kelsey Morehead played all 40 minutes in the contest, scoring eight points, along with six assists. Juniors Hayley Kanner and Hannah Foley recorded their customary double-digit scoring total, tallying 13 and 11, respectively.

In Friday’s matchup against Conn.

College, Tufts took control in the early parts of the game with an 11-2 run. But with strong play on the defensive end, Conn.

College was able to slowly climb back into the contest, closing the half on a 19-9 run and giving its home fans something to cheer about heading into intermission.

Trailing by one at the break, the Jumbos came out a bit sluggish, getting careless with the ball on offense and allowing the Camels uncontested looks from the floor on defense.

The home team opened the frame on an 11-4 run, extending the lead to 32-24 with 16:32 remaining. Tufts head coach Carla Berube called for a timeout, and after her pep talk, the team that came out of the huddle once again resembled the squad that had yet to drop a game on the year.

“It’s tough to go and play in a gym that you don’t practice in. You’re not used to it,” sophomore guard Melissa Blotner said. “But we have

Matthew Schreiber / The Tufts Daily

Junior forward Hayley Kanner provided stout interior defense for the Jumbos, recording five blocks over the weekend. to be able to adjust and not change our game a few times as the teams traded baskets for most of the second half. Trailing 44-43 with based on where we are playing.”

Sparked by sharp shooting from Kanner just over six minutes remaining, the Jumbos and strong play down low from freshman forced a turnover and were able to get it to phenom Michela North, the Jumbos fought North down low for an uncontested layup. their way back into the game, rattling off five Two more trips to the charity stripe on the quick points and a 12-4 stretch over the next next two possessions helped the Jumbos five minutes to tie the game at 36 with 10:53 build a 48-44 edge with just over four minutes left to play. see WOMEN’S BASKETBALL, page 15 The Camels held strong, regaining the lead

Men’s Basketball

Tufts splits weekend road games in Connecticut by

Alex Schroeder

Daily Editorial Board

Riding its first NESCAC victory into a weekend of games on the road, the men’s basketball team defeated Connecticut

MEN’s BASKETBALL (10-9 Overall, 2-4 NESCAC) at Middletown, Conn., Saturday Tufts Wesleyan

42 51

31 35

— —

73 86

at New London, Conn., Friday Tufts 36 Conn. College 27

30 24

— —

66 51

College on Friday night before falling to Wesleyan the next day, dropping the Jumbos to a tie for eighth place in the conference.

Despite starting the weekend with a defensive stand, limiting the Conn.

College team that is third in the league in 3-point shots made and averages 68.6 points per game to just five 3-point-shots and 51 points, the Jumbos fell to a red-hot Cardinals squad the following day. The two games were completely different stories for the Jumbos, who failed to bring the same intensity into Saturday’s game.

“Friday night we brought a lot of energy and then Saturday, first half, we didn’t bring a lot of energy. I think that was the reason why we won Friday and the reason why we lost Saturday,” senior tri-captain guard Kwame Firempong said. “Coming off of a late game Friday night and then an earlier game Saturday afternoon, it’s all about having energy. It’s all about us bringing our own energy in the first half, especially on the road.”

Wesleyan took charge right from the getgo, taking the lead a minute and a half into the game and never looking back. Sophomore guard Jack Mackey of the Cardinals put his team up quickly with a 3 -pointer at the 18:29 mark. It would be the first of six for Mackey,

who shot 67 percent from behind the arc and led the team with 20 points.

It was not just Mackey, however, who shot lights out for the Cardinals — the whole team torched the Jumbos, shooting sevenfor-11 from downtown and 20-for-31 from the field in the first half.

Though Wesleyan was able to extend its lead to as much as 14 points in the first half, Tufts was resilient on the offensive end of the court. Freshman center Hunter Sabety went six-of-seven from the field and accumulated 13 points by halftime. A 3-pointer from junior guard Ben Ferris with just over a minute left in the half cut the Cardinals’ lead to just six.

That was as close as Tufts would get all night. Wesleyan continued its prolific shoot-

ing in the second half as well to take home its third-straight conference victory, ending the game at 58.9 percent from the floor and with six players in double figures.

“Part of that’s on us, to not let them get a lot of those outside looks,” senior tri-captain guard Oliver Cohen said. “They did shoot the ball really well, but we [have to] come out with better energy than we did today and have more pride defensively. They were hitting some shots and ... we were just letting them have them.”

The lead stretched to as much as 25 before Tufts was able to grind out a final score of 86-73. Sabety finished with a game-high of 22

Men’s squash

Tufts falls in early rounds of conference tournament

by Jorge

Monroy-Palacio

Daily Editorial Board

Anamaria Murphy / The Tufts Daily

The men’s squash team played four matches in as many days this week, losing to cross-town rival Boston College before playing in the NESCAC Championship.

With the disappointing loss to BC on their minds, Tufts entered the NESCAC Championships eager to compete. In the consolation round on Saturday, the team faced first-round loser Connecticut College.

In the second time the two teams competed this week, history repeated itself as the Jumbos fell again to the Camels. Despite the loss, the team felt that they might have had an edge going into the first-round consolation match.

“Last week we played them at Conn.

[College] and they have really funky courts there so we thought we had an advantage today, but they came out very competitive,” junior co-captain Elliot Kardon said.

Sophomore Aditya Advani and junior cocaptain Zach Schweitzer pulled out wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles. Both players had also won their matches against Conn. during last week’s match, and aimed to do better this time around.

“I won in five against Conn. last week, and Aditya [Advani] won in four. This weekend I won in four and Aditya in three, so I would definitely say that a one-fifth and one-fourth game differential improvement is something to be proud of,” Schweitzer said.

After their loss to Conn., the team was set to play 24th ranked Hamilton, a school they hadn’t played all season.

Once again No. 1 Advani and No. 2 Schweitzer were the only Jumbos to win their matches. Advani won in a long and competitive five game match, where he lost the first two games before he came back to win the last three.

“I was able to regain my composure after losing the first two and once I was comfort-

Freshman center Hunter Sabety was unstoppable down low, as he led the team in scoring against both Wesleyan and Conn. College.

see MEN’S SQUASH, page 15

see MEN’S BASKETBALL, page 15